[RWBY] The Great Temporal Step-Sibling War!

[FinalFormer]

Cross-posted From the SpaceBattles Thread

Childhood Memories: The Honored One

- - - - - - - - - -
Amity Coliseum II. Above the Kingdom of Atlas. Theodore Arc-Schnee. Age: 17.

The yearly Vytal Festival was in full swing above Atlas. Students across all four academies were locked in the hear of battle in the early preliminary rounds. This generation of Hunters were shaping up to be some of the most formidable and inspiring yet.

But the one that stood out the most was considered a freak of nature. Even by the standards of combat rankings and Atlas' top Semblance researchers.

Given the nickname "Talent Incarnate" among his peers at Atlas Academy, he was Theodore Arc-Schnee. The eldest son of Winter Arc-Schnee and Jaune Arc.

"KYAAAA!!!"

"THERE HE IS!!"

"IT'S THE BOY GENERAL!!"

"HE'S SO HANDSOME!!"

Theodore turned his head towards his adoring fans, an impish smile spread across his face. He lowered his sunglasses and winked, the crowd cheering louder than before in response.

"KYYAAAAAA!!!"

"HE-HE WINKED AT ME!!!"

"NO!! HE WAS WINKING AT ME!!"

"THEO~!!"

Theodore smirked and the cheering grew even louder. He knew his family was probably watching and his mother was no doubt scowling but hey, he knew had the looks. Besides, his father and grandfather said women love a guy with confidence. It's not Theodore's fault he was an all-natural babe magnet.

"Seriously?," Snapping him out of his thoughts was his partner, Shu Wukong. The monkey Faunus had it up to here with this guy's showboating! All year, he's been flaunting his stupid dazzling blue eyes and his stupid abs around the whole school without a care in the world! "You need to get your head in the game!"

"Yeah, why focus on those floozies when you've got me!" Quinn Katt, his other team member, flirted. She's been trying to get his attention ever since they were assigned to the same team. Unlike their Vacuoan teammate, she's made her intentions clear! But Shu wasn't her biggest problem. It was the redheaded, green robed, axe-wielding tomboy vibrating with excitement.

"Alright, you've got this! Just remember what Mama said. Smash everything in sight!" Off to side, hyping herself up was Theodore's childhood friend and last teammate, Ingrid Ren. Together, they formed team TRQS. And it was a good thing too. Ingrid remembered Theo saying he'll be with her forever when they were kids. Her heart still fluttered to this day. She was hoping that when they were put on the same team, they would one day confess their love for each other in the heat of the Vytal Festival. But she never thought she would ever expect competition!

But Ingrid was patient and perceptive. She learned stuff like that from her parents. Mostly her mom! So she knew she'd have plenty of time to get her feelings out. Because despite being raised by the General of Atlas and the freaking Rusted Knight, Theodore could not notice the romantic intentions of his teammates.

"You act like I'm doing this on purpose," Theodore quickly dismissed Shu's annoyance. He doesn't know why she's getting so bothered. "I can't control what the ladies like. Blame my Dad, I get it from him."

Shu clenched her fist, her tail furled. She wanted to take her staff and swipe it across his stupid, handsome face! "Arrogance is that path to recklessness. If you--"

"True, but that's why Ingrid is my second in command. She knows me the best and Itrusther instincts when it comes to my strategies," Theodore cuts her off before she can finish. Ingrid faces the two and gives them a thumbs up. "Besides, judging by the weapons of our opponents, I'm fairly certain we can pull a win."

"How can you be so sure? We don't know what their weapons can do or what what their Semblances are?" Quinn states the obvious question. They've never seen team TMBR train during combat class and from what she heard through the gossip mill, they're the best team in Beacon Academy. Maybe even better than the legendary team RWBY!

"I'll come up with something on the spot." Theodore shrugged. That's usually how he comes up with his best plans. He remembered his mother telling him that when he was 10, and her advice has never led him astray so far.

This answer, however, was not enough for Shu. She marches toward Theodore, almost face-to-face. "You can't be that confident! A real leader would've figured out what their Semblances were already! What if we get taken out and it's just you vs them!? You'd lose!"


"AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE LAST MATCH-UP OF THE PRELIMINARY ROUNDS IS ABOUT TO BEGIN: TEAM TRQS OF ATLAS ACADEMY VS TEAM TMBR OF BEACON ACADEMY!!!" The announcer shouts. The time has come for them to show the world what they're made of.

Theodore looked over his shoulder towards Shu, her cheeks flushed at the sheer confidence in his eyes. He smirked and with the pride of an Arc-Schnee said "Nah, I'd win."

------------------------

It didn't make any sense, but they won. Team TRQS was the winner. Shu was still in disbelief at their victory. There was no way they should've won but they did. And it was all because of him. That... man.

Theodore and Ingrid were doing a stupid victory dance that was strangely well coordinated. Quinn was also dancing trying to impress her team leader. They were at one of the many food stalls on the festival grounds. Shu was pouting and had her arms crossed. "Are you three done yet? I'm starving!"

"Lighten up, will you? We deserve to celebrate a little," Theodore smirked. Seriously, monkey Faunus needs to loosen up a little. He knew she was raised by warrior monks or whatever but this is ridiculous. She should be ecstatic about making it to the semi-finals. "Honestly, after all this time, you should put your trust in me. After all I--"

"You fought well, Theodore."

The coldness of her voice caused the young man to stand up completely straight. His arms behind his back. He knew exactly who that woman was.

"Thank you, mother. I'm glad I didn't disappoint." Theodore's tone was much different from his usual free-spirited and braggadocios self. He was acting a like a completely different person. The woman was a very recognizable person. Her white hair and generals uniform was the only giveaway Shu and Quinn need to guess who she was. She was General Winter Arc-Schnee. The man next could only be her husband Jaune Arc.

"However, you could've won the fight much sooner if you properly utilized your teammates Semblances." Theodore interally winced at that. He trusted the combat capabilities of his teammates, so he figured that they can handle themselves.

"So, Casanova, couldn't help but notice the massive fan club you've got." His father teased. Theodore smiled at that.

"Well, you and grandfather did say that women find us Arc boys irresistible. I can't control the ladies like."

The irony of that statement was not lost on Jaune or Winter. Just from a glance, they could tell that his teammates were deeply infatuated with him. "Well, your mother and I have an important meeting to go to. We just wanted to see you and congrats on making it to the semi-finals."

"Yes. We'll leave to your... victory noodles," Winter gave her son a warm smile. Despite his cocky nature, which she's sure he picked up from his father, she will always be proud of her son. "We'll see you tomorrow, son."

"I'll see you then, mother. Father." Theodore said politely. He was hoping he could get breakfast with them. It's something he misses about living at home.

As the couple left, Winter looked over her shoulder one last time to see her son and his team.

"So... Those girls are--"

"Yup." Jaune immediately answered.

"And he doesn't--"

"Nope."

"... He really is your son."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Felt like I was obligated to title this one "The Honored One".

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The Safehouse

- - -

Cinder found herself pacing in the living room of the safehouse. Clenching and unclenching her fists and jaw. Her heart beat loudly in her ears. She tried anything to maintain her calm, but it all just seemed to burn away in the fires of her fear and anxieties.

Neo and Mercury watched from nearby, sitting on a couch. Neo was eating ice cream, as she almost always did. Mercury was fidgeting, trying to look like he was just reading his Scroll but it was clear his mind was elsewhere.

Probably the same places mine is, Cinder thought ruefully.

That the sociopath was considering things like defection...

She shook her head.

No. No, you can't think about that, she thought, you need to focus. Focus... You must have all your wits about you.

Salem had told her that her 'backup' had been nearby doing another job for her. That she would arrive soon. That more were coming to support her and the operation.

And more than likely would try to take all the power for themselves.

There was a knock at the door to the safehouse. Cinder steeled herself. She walked up to the door and checked the security camera screen. She rolled her eyes and opened it up. A shaken Roman Torchwick hurried in, looking flummoxed.

"You rang, your highness?" Roman asked dryly. Cinder scowled.

"Where have you been?!"

"Getting things set of course! You have any idea how much Dust we still have to move out to Mount Glenn?" Roman demanded. He lit up a cigar and took a long drag to calm himself, before shaking his head. "And it don't help the White Fang's all worked up! Screeching and baying like something happened! I-" He frowned and scanned the room carefully. He then looked over at Cinder with a raised eyebrow.

"Your Girl Friday's missing," he said.

"Yes, well..." Cinder clenched her fists, "She decided to betray us. She joined Ozpin."

"She WHAT?!" Roman yelped. He looked over at Neo. "What the hell happened?!"

"Time travel," Mercury deadpanned. Roman's jaw continued to hang open. He theatrically reached up and stuck his pinkie into his ear to clear it.

"I'm... Sorry, time travel?"

"Emerald and Cinder's future kids with this guy came back in time by accident," Mercury stated, as Neo licked her spoon clean. The assassin shrugged. "And so she changed sides. Our operation is totally compromised."

Roman's jaw went up and down a few times. He then looked over at Neo for confirmation. The pint-sized enforcer nodded with an excited smile. Roman again opened his mouth... But nothing came out. He sighed and walked over to the kitchen, all wooden boards and cheap linoleum. He opened a cabinet, pulled out some whiskey, yanked the cork out and began to down it almost feverishly.

Cinder and Mercury stared as Roman proceeded to guzzle the hard booze down. As one, they glanced at Neo. The shortstack shrugged.

Roman finally finished the bottle, and broke contact with a gasp. He set the bottle down, and looked intently at his boss, his subordinate/adopted daughter, and Mercury.

"Okay... Maybe you should take it from the top," Roman said.

"Hold that thought~!" A bright, chipper voice called out. Every weapon in the room was pointed at the entrance. Cinder's arrows appeared, and her flames ignited around her.

Standing in the doorway was a dark skinned girl with pure white hair that went down to the small of her back. She wore a purple pinstripe suit, neatly tailored, with a short skirt. Her dazzling aquamarine eyes gleamed with delight as she beheld the scene before her. She then bowed, showing off her substantial cleavage.

"Oh, my apologies, Lady Cinder! I should have identified myself!" She cheerfully walked over, heedless of the weapons pointed at her head, and held out a card. Cinder scowled, but very gingerly reached out to take it. She held it up to her Scroll and scanned it. The Scroll beeped, and Cinder slowly nodded.

"She's our backup," Cinder said quietly. Roman lowered Melodic Cudgel. Neo scowled, lowering her umbrella but very slowly. Mercury sat back down, but kept his feet up on the coffee table as he assessed the newcomer.

"I'm Iridescent! Call me Iri!" The girl gushed. "I'm ever so glad to make your acquaintance at last, Lady Cinder! I've heard so much about you!" She beamed. "Isn't it amazing to work for Queen Salem? I'm looking forward to this operation ever so much!"

Cinder's eyebrow twitched very minutely. The girl's enthusiasm and simpering already reminded her of Emerald... But where there was desperation in Emerald's eyes, she only saw predatory hunger in Iridescent's eyes. Like a big cat sizing up a potential threat, probing for weaknesses.

"I'm sure," Cinder stated flatly. "The current operation is known to our enemies, but it's too far along to stop. So we're going to accelerate our plans. We will also need to weaken the enemy forces significantly."

Iridescent beamed and nodded.

"I've looked over the tactical and strategic situation," she said brightly. She walked to the coffee table and set down a holo projector. She brought up her Scroll and the projector activated, already showing off images of the various Hunters and Hunters-in-Training at Beacon. "I've been doing my research based on their forces and ours. I have a few possible counters, if you would like to listen?"

Cinder very slowly nodded. She put on a winning smile.

"Of course. I'm certain we'll salvage this mess and still win our prize."

"Oh, and of course," Iri said brightly, "Getting the power of time travel! It's so incredible! I know what I'd like to change if I had that ability, don't you?"

The faces of Ash, Ashley, and Jaune jumped to the front of her mind. Cinder clenched her fists but her smile remained.

"Of course. Let's start from the beginning. Roman?"

Roman sighed. He pulled out another hidden bottle of whiskey... And a second. And a third. He then headed over to the nearest chair and collapsed in it. He nodded and waved his hand.

"Of course. Proceed," he sighed. He then paused. "Neo, you're not the mother of one of those kids from the future, right?"

Neo shook her head. She looked... Almost disappointed. Something that raised Cinder's hackles internally.

Why?! She demanded of herself. Why do you care?! STOP CARING!

Roman nodded.

"Good," He stated, "Otherwise we'd include a shotgun wedding in the plan. Before the shotgun."

Neo pouted. Cinder glared.

"I believe we have more important things to discuss," she stated coldly.

"Yes Lady Cinder! Right on!" Iri cheered.

Cinder sucked in a breath. This was getting even more dangerous. Usually the thrill of such games excited her. The look on the faces of those she outwitted and defeated just before she killed them was am ambrosia.

Not this time. Maybe not ever again.

Now? All she could do was what she had always done:

Survive.

- - -

The secret White Fang base in the Forever Fall Forest was bare bones and simple. An old base from when Vale had a much larger, more powerful military. The barracks and headquarters were still serviceable, and they were deep enough in the wild that they attracted little attention.

Adam Taurus was meditating in the old headquarters atrium. Here, plants were growing free and unrestrained, and light shone through the still intact windows overhead. It was almost peaceful... Yet he needed this solitude to focus his rage, not to gain peace.

Blake...

To think she had betrayed them, betrayed him. Ran off in the face of the grim necessity of their work.

His Aura flared like a bonfire before he brought it back down. His rage was only useful if it was focused, concentrated, and honed: Like a fine blade.

He envisioned that blade... How he would use it on Blake. Pinned down, tied up, helpless before him... She had enjoyed such things in the past. It was how he would break her.

How he would save her.

Yes... He would even take inspiration from her erotic novels. She'd love that-

His Scroll rang. He growled in irritation. He pulled it out and opened it up.

"This had better be-"

"It is," his agent spoke. Adam glared.

"You're not supposed to call me directly from Beacon. The risk is too high-"

"We have enough encryption anyone watching won't know anything. Long enough for this," The Faunus spy stated. "I thought it worth breaking radio silence."

Adam paused, weighed the situation, then slowly nodded.

"What is it?" He demanded.

The agent then told him... The impossible. Time traveling children from the future? It didn't make any sense...

But the urgency in the agent's tone and face made clear this was no deception.

After all the Semblances he had seen... Well... Time travel was hardly impossible, now was it?

"They are all children of Jaune Arc..." An image of a fairly unremarkable looking blond human boy with blue eyes, smiling awkwardly for the camera, appeared, "And at least eleven other women."

Adam's eyes narrowed a bit.

"Blake Belladonna included."

Adam's grip on his Scroll tightened.

"What," he hissed, his rage threatening to erupt.

"I got several pictures during the ruckus and an event after," the spy stated. These pictures appeared on the screen—each one of a trio or pair of teenagers.

All from a distance, but enhanced enough that features could be made out.

The one that caught his interest the most was that of Blake. She was standing in one of Beacon's many gardens, smiling softly at two blond cat Faunus. Both were around Blake's age. The shapes of their faces betrayed their relationship to Blake: Both every inch Menagerian aristocrat. Yet there was a bit of the human in their noses, eyes, chins, and of course, hair.

Her children with... Her children with...!

"He is dead," Adam stated, hard as steel.

"Ilia has also been captured," the agent went on, "It is possible the entire operation has been compromised, my Lord.

Adam glared hatefully at the image of Jaune Arc... Yet slowly nodded.

"All right. Keep me apprised. The plan continues. Do nothing to compromise your position."

"Of course, My Lord," the agent spoke, before the communications link went silent.

Adam stared at the images of the children, Blake... And Arc.

Time travel is real, he thought, Blake mated with... With this... Human... In the future... Had children...

He felt... A rush. As though he was standing at the threshold of the gods. Indeed, it was. To have such power... It was terrifying. Unbelievable.

Yet multiple children from multiple timelines meant... That the future was not set in stone.

Adam Taurus sucked in a deep breath. He focused his rage.

Blake... You fell for this... Interloper in the future. I won't let that happen. And in the end...

He envisioned his blade going through Jaune Arc... Those blond children becoming redheads...

He smiled darkly.

You will be mine.

- - -

A revised bit for how Adam learned of the situation. He'll have a chat with Cinder about it later but it felt better to focus on his character here. As well as establish a spy in Beacon.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Blake went off with Ilia and the rest of Team SSSN to discuss things privately. Meanwhile, the rest of the very large crowd came out into the courtyard with Ozpin leading them. The headmaster looked about the large assembly and cleared his throat.

"Well. That was educational," he said, "However, there is work to be done. Isabel? Glynda? Arjun and Saia? Qrow? Taiyang? Ghira and Kali? I will need you in my office please. We have much to discuss with James.

Weena stood at his side with Moses. She gave him a small smile. Ozpin cleared his throat.

"And Weena-"

"I'll be handling the lab," she said, "Just catch me up later. Moses needs some examination, anyway."

"I'll go with him!" Dorothy volunteered, taking the time shifting boy's hand and squeezing it with a smile. Moses coughed, as his half-siblings all stared.

"Uh, yeah, that-that'd be great! I..." He focused on Xander. "Your Semblance will help things go faster."

"As long as you two don't suck face," Xia snickered. Yang dopeslapped her. "OW! MOM!"

"Don't be rude," Yang sniffed, "Unless you make a pun. Then it's okay."

"Ugh," Xia moaned.

"Meanwhile!" Nick said cheerfully, as he wrapped an arm around Jaune's shoulders, "I'm gonna see how you've all been doing! We'll be sparring in the training field! Number 12, right?"

"It is still open," Glynda nodded, "But please don't destroy it this time?"

"That was mostly Saia," Nick grumbled.

"I said I was sorry!" Saia insisted with a sigh. She smiled. "But I will go along to make sure things don't get out of hand."

Arjun nodded.

"I'll relay everything to you after," he said.

"I expect good notes," Saia said cheekily, nuzzling her husband.

"I always produce the best," he chuckled back.

August grimaced. May blinked a few times.

"I... Wow... This is gross," August mumbled.

"Why?" May asked curiously. "I'm happy my parents are happy together!"

"Hopefully you won't find out," August groaned.

Ozpin then looked over at Willow.

"I would appreciate your presence as well, Willow."

"If it's about Jacques," Willow stated calmly, "I'd prefer we talk about that alone. I... I need to reconnect with my family and friends."

Ozpin slowly nodded. Isabel scowled at Willow, but the Schnee matriarch gave nothing away.

"Very well," Ozpin stated, "Everyone else? I'm sure you have a great deal to catch up on. I'll leave you to it."

"Besides," Arslan said with a broad smile, staring intently at Jaune and Nick, "I would love to test my skills against the Paladin Nick Arc!"

"Seeing him in action would be incredible," Logos agreed.

"Wait, your dad's a big deal?" Ruby asked. Jaune coughed.

"Uh, well-"

Nick shrugged as the party began to break up.

"Eh! I just did my part. AARN and STRQ? We did our best work together... Which I will tell you all about!" He grinned cheekily.

"That, and I wanna see which of my future daughters-in-law is the best at combat!"

"YEAH!" Nora cried, popping up with her hammer as Ren followed, "LET'S SEE IF THEY'RE WORTHY TO JOIN THE FAMILY, DAD!"

"AGREED, NEW DAUGHTER!" Nick laughed, high fiving Nora.

"Dad!" Jaune protested, "That's hardly necessary-!"

"LET'S GO!" Pyrrha, Arslan, and Yang shouted at the same time, before they glared at one another. Ruby had a familiar scary grin on her face that reminded Jaune and Julian of yesterday's brawl. Emerald wore a nasty smirk. May looked determined. Weiss was already assessing everyone like they were targets. Even Winter looked very focused.

The various future children exchanged some knowing looks. This did not fill Jaune with any confidence at all.

"It would be a great honor to challenge both Nick the Paladin and Saia the Witch Queen in a spar," Winter said. Nick laughed while Saia blushed.

"HA! That's the spirit!"

"Oh my," Saia shook her head, "I'm terribly out of practice... But I would love to show off for my daughter and grandson!"

"Witch Queen?" Weiss asked in disbelief. "Wait... She's that Witch Queen?!"

"It's amazing how little you actually know about anything," Emerald said dryly. Weiss fumed.

"Well if people would just talk it would make things a LOT easier! Besides! There are countless Arcs in Vale! How was I supposed to know Jaune was of the most famous ones connected to a King and Queen?!"

"Guess we'll have to start hitting the books," Yang grinned, "But only if we end up fighting in the library."

"YANG/MOM!" Groaned most of the people around her. Nick laughed.

"Good one!"

Yang shot a smug look at her fellow potential wives. Jaune gulped at the determined looks on everyone's faces.

Something tells me the war's not over... Not by a long shot, he thought. Where's Penny when I need her?!

- - -

Penny beamed as she projected her programming language in front of the young Whitley Schnee. The white haired boy eagerly drank it all up.

"What do you think of my coding?"

"It's sublime," Whitley breathed, "Especially the syntax. So intuitive! Do... Do you think I could see your full operating specifications?"

Penny blushed. Her Virgin Alarm went off. She then mechanically extended a hand and whapped Whitley across the face.

"GUH!" Whitley cried, as he was sent sprawling onto the floor.

"Kiyah! Wh-What kind of a girl do you take me for?!" Penny cried. She blinked.

"Strange. Why did that happen?" She scanned her systems. "Oh... It is part of my Parental Lock systems! I wish Father would explain why I have those. It makes searching for certain topics extremely difficult. I am sorry, Friend Whitley. Are you all right?"

"F-Fine," Whitley wheezed.

"Your face is very red. Your temperature seems to be increasing. Do you require medical assistance-?"

"N-NO!" Whitley shouted, getting up and rubbing his cheek. "I-I'm totally fine! Everything's normal! Because I am a normal human boy who doesn't get aroused by the idea of gynoids slapping me!"

Penny stared with her usual gentle smile. Whitley's face burned like it was on fire.

"Sensational!" Penny said, clapping her hands together.

Her sensors were still fixed on Jaune. She could arrive at his aid in moments if required, and would move to follow to better facilitate this. But interacting with Whitley was proving to be very interesting!

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -



The trip to Ozpin's office was fairly brief. The old wizard certainly knew his way around his castle, using secret doors and hallways Isabel had never seen in all her four years at Beacon. Even Arjun looked impressed. Given his Aura Sight, it couldn't have been easy to hide these passage ways.



They arrived in the office, only the ticking of the clocks filling the room for a time as Ozpin made his way to his desk.



Ozpin's Scroll buzzed, and he checked it. He sighed.



"I will be a few minutes, everyone," he said, "Just relax in the meantime. Glynda?"



"Of course Headmaster," Glynda said with a smile. Seemed that she felt a bit more comfortable in this situation. She waved her riding crop and summoned up her Semblance's power.



Several chairs appeared for everyone to sit on around the table, and like students back in school, they took their seats. Arjun took her right side, while Kali Belladonna took her left, while Taiyang and Qrow sat behind her. Kali beamed, even as Isabel began to develop a bit of a headache.



"I just wanted to say, Isabel," the faunus queen said, "We have heard of your incredible work in Menagerie."



"Thank you," Isabel said politely, "I had wanted to attend the International Regenerative Medical Association's Conference there last year but... Well..."



"The White Fang," Ghira rumbled, sitting next to his wife. Isabel nodded.



"Yes," she said. Kali nodded.



"I've looked up Arc-En-Ciel in Radian. It's very impressive work you've been doing for research," she said, "And on such a tight budget, too!"



"We only take donations that wouldn't be politically compromising," Isabel said carefully. "Even Arjun has to be careful with his support."



"I wouldn't want Arc-En-Ciel to be seen as an arm of our foreign policy," Arjun rumbled, his eyes narrowed.



"Of course," Kali agreed, "And given our current connection, we will need to be more careful in the future."



Here it comes, Isabel thought.



"Oh?"



"You might as well spit it out, Kali," Qrow chuckled, "She's onto you."



"Naturally," Kali said with a smile, "But one must stick to certain rituals when it comes to politics. Menagerie has been working very hard to be recognized as the Fifth Kingdom. If you established an annex of your hospital in Menagerie, that would go a long way towards that goal."



Isabel blushed.



"I-I'm not actually that famous or influential-!"



"Only because you have that frustrating Arc nobility," Arjun grumbled. "You're a daughter of queens!"



"And I have no throne," Isabel sniffed, "And I didn't start this to get famous or rich! Just to help people!"



"And we started Menagerie for the same reasons," Ghira agreed. "Our people deserve the best medical care possible. Faunus medicine is woefully unexplored. There are so many different twists to our physiology that having a doctor with your organization right in Kuo Kuana would be rewarding for both you and us."



Isabel sighed.



"I'm not against expanding the hospital," she said carefully, "But I'm not sure this is the time to be thinking about such things!"



Arjun shook his head, looking grave.



"We probably should be, Izzy," he stated, "After all. A war is coming."



Isabel took a deep breath. Kali nodded in agreement. Taiyang grimaced. Qrow sipped his flask.



"He's not wrong," Qrow stated flatly. "In every story from the kids, they say the same thing: Salem turns this secret war into a world war. A lot of people die. A lot of destruction happens. Expanding out the support system might help us win without so much loss."



"August also says her agents and the White Fang caused the Mistralian civil war and isolated the Kingdoms from one another with terrorist attacks and false flags," Arjun added grimly. He looked over at Ghira. "Making alliances stronger to resist this would also be wise."



Ghira locked eyes with Arjun and nodded back slowly.



"I also think that would be a good idea," Ghira said, "Pandu is one of the few human nations to trade with us. An official alliance would be very beneficial."



"It probably helps that the only reason you started trading is because Arjun overthrowing the Kauravas pissed off half of Mistral, so he needed cash and quick," Taiyang observed dryly. Arjun frowned, but slowly nodded.



"You are not wrong, Tai," Arjun stated, "Even with Vale's support, we weren't recovering fast enough."



"Of course that pissed off Atlas," Qrow stated with a shrug, "The fact you kept doing it didn't make things easier."



"Indeed," James Ironwood spoke as he entered the office, striding with his usual military efficiency, "That you continue to defy Atlas and Valean rulings on trade with Menagerie has always made Pandu a thorn in our side."



He locked his steely eyes onto Arjun.



"Your stubborness is one reason I have always counseled against bringing you into our fold," Ironwood stated coldly, his eyes narrowed. They focused on Ghira and Kali.



"And against bringing you two in on this," he added, "Given your inability to keep White Fang under control."



Ghira tensed and met Ironwood's gaze evenly. Kali's smile seemed far sharper. Arjun stared back at the general, his silvery-blue eyes lightly glowing. Isabel tensed, and put a hand on Arjun's forearm. The king didn't so much as twitch.



Please don't say anything stupid, please, Isabel prayed, not for the first time for her former teammember.



"Given that you have had a traitor like Lionheart operating with impunity in your group for decades," Arjun stated, "I wouldn't be talking right now about trust."



Damnit, Isabel swore.



Ironwood's eyes narrowed as his gunhand twitched. Glynda moved closer, her intimidating glare at the ready. Ghira and Kali sucked in breaths. Qrow cursed low under his breath. Taiyang rose and held out his hands.



"And we wouldn't know about that," Taiyang announced, "If our grandkids didn't time travel. So blaming each other isn't going to do any good, is it?"



Isabel sucked in a deep breath and again used her Semblance to calm herself. She stood up and nodded at Taiyang.



"He's right," she said. She looked at Ironwood. "Like it or not, we all have a vested interest in stopping Salem. Our kids are the ones who defeat her and save the world. We need to do everything we can to make sure that happens."



"Then the best approach," Ironwood said, "Is to bring Jaune and Moses to Atlas."



"What?!" Taiyang and Isabel sputtered. Ironwood nodded.



"We have the best security in the world. The best training facilities. The most scientific resources. We bring them all to Atlas, along with the other potential brides," he nodded to Glynda, "And we prepare for war."



"Now wait just a minute!" Kali insisted, "You do that and you'll just be broadcasting to Salem 'attack here!'"



"And you would argue that Menagerie is better?" Ironwood asked in a deadpan tone, "With White Fang operating with impunity?"



"Not impunity," Ghira stated, standing up to support his wife, "Indeed, that may be the perfect cover. And making Jaune and Blake's relationship public could give us the means to suppress White Fang! Get back control! That would solve a LOT of our problems given Salem turns it into her catspaw!"



"Think about it," Kali argued, glancing at Isabel briefly, "Our heiress publicaly engaged to a human with as many connections as Jaune would let us declaw White Fang for good! Denying Salem a vital asset!"



"Something you haven't been able to do for decades," Ironwood shot back.



Arjun rolled his eyes and stood up.



"Unlike Atlas with Doctor Watts, and Menagerie with White Fang," Arjun stated, "Pandu is not compromised by Salem's agents. Or at least not to the same extent as having our entire computer network under her control."



Ironwood winced at that, but he remained firm. Arjun glanced over at Ghira and Kali.



"Nor does the White Fang operate on our soil... Or have politicians in their pocket."



Ghira glared. Arjun shook his head.



"Besides, we have something neither of you have," and here he looked at Taiyang, "Ancient knowledge of the Silver Eyed Warrior Clan."



Taiyang's eyes widened.



"Wha-You do?!"



Ironwood frowned deeply. Kali shook her head.



"You mean, that ancient myth-?"



"It is no myth," Arjun said, "A Silver Eyed Warrior intermarried with my family long ago, and we have kept a Semblance based on it ever since. Not as powerful but of the same type. We have ancient writings that only a true Silver Eyed Warrior could interpret, and I myself can train both Ruby and May in the arts of sensing with it. We also have exceptional security and have allowed trade with all the Kingdoms-Even those who hate us." He gave Ironwood another glance. The general sneered.



"You were neutral because you had no other choice but to lower your standards," Ironwood growled, "And White Fang still operates out of your country!"



"We're cracking down on it as much as we can," Arjun stated calmly, "Perhaps if Atlas aided us in that, rather than denying trade, we could do better!"



"So now it is up to us to help you when you failed?" Ironwood demanded.



"My daughter is key to anything in the future," Taiyang argued, "We have to consider her powers, James!"



"They can be considered and trained up properly in Atlas!"



"Turn her into a science experiment, you mean," Kali sniffed, "We've heard what you did to your last Maiden!"



"That's not what happened!"



"Then what did?!"



Glynda and Isabel shared an exasperated look. Glynda nodded as the argument intensified. Isabel sighed, and channeled her power. Qrow gracefully moved out of the way as the doctor slammed her hands together, and with her brute strength the clap was as loud as a bomb.



Everyone stared at her. Isabel shook her head.



"Now that I have your attention," she said dryly, "We have a lot to discuss but arguing like petty children isn't going to help!"



"She's right," Glynda stated, "This horse trading isn't going to stop Salem."



"You've been fairly quiet, Glynda," Qrow observed. Glynda sighed.



"I know I am biased because I am directly involved," she admitted, "So I know anything I say will sound suspect."



"Yet you know me, Glynda," Ironwood said, "You trust my judgement-"



"Most of the time, yes," Glynda stated firmly, "But not when you're being influenced by your emotions."



Ironwood scowled in silence... Before he slowly nodded. Kali let out a sigh.



"You'll have to forgive my enthusiasm," she said, "It... It's not every day you're told that everything will turn out all right, and there's a happy ending in your grasp."



"Or rediscover your lost daughter," Arjun said quietly.



Isabel nodded.



"That's true," she stated, "But we have to work towards the future. So... Let's put everything on the table. Everything we know about Salem, about the futures, and about what will help."



Taiyang nodded too.



"That sounds good, Izzy," he said.



"You were always the bossiest one," Qrow opined.



Arjun nodded.



"Indeed, she was."



"Without question," Glynda deadpanned.



"Always," Ironwood added.



"One hundred percent!" Taiyang grinned.



Ghira and Kali tactfully did not comment, but their silence was telling.



The doctor's cheeks flushed red despite her Semblance.



"I'm not bossy!" Isabel growled, putting her hands on her hips. "I just knew what needed to be done! Besides this is my son and the fate of the world we're talking about here!"



The argument continued, though far less heatedly. Ozpin, hiding in a nearby alcove, sighed in some exasperation.



What was the phrase? Ah, yes.... Like herding cats.



- - -

 

[FinalFormer]

Cross-posted From the SpaceBattles Thread

Glimpses Into Another Timeline: Aslanmas Dinner- Ruby

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Arc-Rose Homestead. Radian, Vale. 10 Years After after The Defeat of Salem.

"Dammit!"

Ruby Arc-Rose shouted after cutting her finger. She really should've asked Yang for those cooking lessons when they were at Haven Academy. This was way harder than Jaune made it look!

"Ooooh. Mommy, you said a bad word!" Her son, Julian, chastised her for using foul language.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But Mommy hurt herself... again." Ruby apologized. She opened a drawer and put a band-aid on her cut. So far, Ruby had burned her hand taking the potatoes out of the oven, cut her fingers chopping vegetables twice, and bonked her head against an open pantry. But that's okay! They didn't hurt as bad as they looked.

"Mommy, how come you're not making cookies?" Julian asked. She always makes cookies!

"Well, your Daddy broke his arm on a mission and he's still fixing it. And your grandpa, grandma and Auntie Yang are taking care of your sisters. So, it's all up to your Mommy to save the day!" Ruby answered. While she wasn't a masterclass, triple-star chef like Julian, she wasn't a slouch! Sure, she was a bit of a klutz when it came to kitchen safety, but the results were always a warm, yummy family meal!

"What about Grunkle Qrow? Does he know how to cook?" Julian asked.

"Uncle Qrow isn't allowed in my kitchen. You know that Julian. Remember what happened last year?" Ruby said. Her dear uncle almost blew up her microwave after a drunken bet with her father-in-law. Suffice to say, both were promptly banned from entering her kitchen without Ruby or Jaune's supervision.

"Why don't you go check on June and Olive, Julian. They probably miss their big brother," Ruby requested. She knows Yang could probably use the help. Jume threw up on her boots the last time she took care of them. "Dinner is almost done."

"But I wanna help you make dinner." Julian crossed his arms. Why does he have to watch them. Auntie Yang was already doing that!

"You are helping me. I'm sure your Auntie Yang would really appreciate you help--"

"But I wanna help you make dinner!" Julian cut her off. He doesn't like it when she Ruby sighed. It looks like she's gonna have to pull out the big guns again.

"Julian, please check on your sisters. Will you do it for Mommy?" Ruby made her infamous and reliable puppy eyes. Even her baby boy wasn't immune to the most devastating weapon in her arsenal!

"O-ok, Mom." Julian said, immediately taken by the effects of his mother's big silver eyes. He ran out to the living room to do as his mother asked.

"You know, eventually he's going to learn how to do that," A voice came from behind Ruby. Her husband, Jaune had entered the kitchen. A smirk was on his bearded face. "And once he does, there'll be no stopping him."

"Which is why I have to up my game and out-puppy eye him! Did you ever think about that, Vomit Boy!" Ruby rebutted. She walked over and kissed him. "How's your arm?"

"A little stiff, but it'll do for now," Jaune flexed his mechanicical fingers. They moved slowly. "Bit of a rough patch job. My mechanic was busy. Said she needed to have some family time."

"She sounds like a very busy woman," Ruby smirked. She knew he was talking about her. She was the one who built and maintained his prosthetic. He even told her that she was the only one he trusted with it. "Especially since she and her husband are raising five kids."

Jaune looked at Ruby confused. Five kids? They didn't have five kids. It was just Julian, Pyrrha, June, and Olive. Unless...

"Really?" Jaune asked. Was this really happening?

"Yup." Ruby answered, adding emphasis on the 'P'. She went up on her tippy toes to kiss him. It was so unfair that he still kept getting taller. The two were locked in a passionate kiss when they heard a voice of their son.

"EW!!" Julian shouted with a look of disgust. "GRANDMA!! MOMMY AND DADDY ARE DOING YUCKY FACE THINGS IN THE KITCHEN!!"

"SERIOUSLY, JAUNE!? CAN THE TWO OF YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF EACH OTHER FOR MORE THAN TWO MINUTES!!" Isabel yelled from the living room.

"But if we did that, then you wouldn't be getting so many grandkids." Jaune yelled back.

As Jaune and his mother were bantering with each other, Ruby smiled at her family,
wondering if this is how her mother felt when they celebrated the holidays.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Another short holiday special. Hope you guys enjoy!

 

[AndrewJTalon]

"...And that's the basic rundown of what happened yesterday," Blake sighed as she finished her summary of the situation. The cat faunus had taken Team SSSN (plus Ilia) to the same gazebo she and her romantic rivals had used that morning in the Lynessa Garden. The location was intimate enough to be private but open enough that nobody would feel boxed in.

And by nobody feeling boxed in she mostly meant herself. Her children's stories had spelled out the need to be honest with herself in gritty detail, so she couldn't pretend her choice of venue was for someone else's benefit. She was the one who would have tried to avoid this necessary conversation, not anyone on Team SSSN (plus Ilia), so she had picked a place where she wouldn't feel much pressure to run.

"Man," Sun murmured from the seat across from Blake with Ilia lounging in his lap. The chameleon girl was sat sideways with her legs casually swinging in the air. Her right arm was hooked over Sun's neck with both of her hands resting on his chest framing the handcuffs binding her as if they were eye-catching jewelry instead of restraints. Sun seemed a bit distracted by this, which Blake could understand, but he wasn't so distracted that he couldn't continue the conversation:

"I mean when the twins showed up and told us what was going on I got the impression there was more than two futures involved, but eleven?" Sun shook his head in mild disbelief while a hint of awed respect flavored his voice, "And while I figured Jaune would have great game if he could just get past his awkward first flirtations it's still surprising to know there are futures where he caught the interest of a Professor and Atlas' top specialist."

"Why are you saying that like it's no big deal?!?" Neptune groused as he ran his hands through his hair, eyes wide and unfocused. The blue-haired boy then slammed his hand on the table as he squawked, "He managed to scoop up eleven ten-out-of-ten girls in one fell swoop! He pulled girls that had no interest in him before yesterday like Weiss and girls that aren't interested in relationships like Arslan! He's a menace!"

"So your upset that he pulled your latest ex and the one girl who's never been an option for you," Scarlet cocked an eyebrow, "Got it."

"Hey, Arslan was always an option!" Neptune objected, "I'm just looking out for her welfare! We're basically childhood friends!"

"In that she considered you an annoying little brother instead of a romantic possibility?" Scarlet again deadpanned.

"NO!" At everyone's looks, Neptune grumbled. "Okay fine, YES. She never looked at me romantically but I am allowed to be concerned about her, right?"

"Fair," Sun allowed.

"I believe this is her dream come true," Blake said carefully, "Given Jaune's father is a paladin of the church of the Broken Table and he eventually becomes one, too."

"Wait... His dad is that guy she mooned over in her kids books?!" Neptune cried. He sighed. "Well... Guess I can't compete with that. He'd better treat her right."

"He will, count on it," Blake agreed. "I know it."

Even before this, she couldn't imagine Jaune treating anyone badly. It made her want to know him more.

Neptune nodded.

"Good, good."

Scarlet smiled approvingly.

"You can be mature and sincere when you put your mind to it."

"I'm always mature!" Neptune defended himself. "And sincere! Like how jealous of that lucky bastard I am! That's sincere!"

"By all means," Sage deadpanned, "It reflects how mature you are as a man that you would consider his situation an improvement over yours."

"Thanks, I-HEY!"

The other members of Team SSSN chuckled at their blue-haired teammate's embarrassment, and the two girls joined in when Neptune's pout grew just a little too big.

As the laughter died down a serious look grew across Sun's face, and he gently got out from under Ilia as he sat her down in his freshly vacated seat.

"You need to tell Blake some of the things you told me yesterday," Sun admonished gently, "And this is probably the best time to do it. Me and the boys can swing around to the other side of the pond and give you two some privacy, that alright?"

"Yeah, that's alright," Ilia acknowledged as she sat up straight in her chair, placing her cuffed hands on the table before her.

"Good, good," Sun nodded as the rest of his team got up and left the gazebo. He fixed Blake with a look before he followed them, "You better have a real talk with her, no matter what the topic ends up being, alright? Cause if I come back and find you didn't cover what needs covering I'll have to start a diplomatic incident with your folks."

"A diplomatic incident won't be necessary," Blake reassured him with her best smile. Sun rose an eyebrow skeptical enough in its' curve that Blake faltered for a moment, but he didn't comment otherwise as he exited the gazebo, leaving the two girls alone.

Silence hung in the air between them, neither cat or chameleon confident with starting. Eventually Blake gestured for the other girl to speak, and Ilia found her words.

"Why, Why did you run?" The friend she left behind in the White Fang managed in a trembling voice, "Why did you leave all of us?"

Blake closed her eyes and grimaced as she forced the truth from her lips; "I ran... I ran because I always run. It's what I've always done and it's what comes naturally to me; finding a good reason to be anywhere besides the problems I don't know how to deal with. Heck, when I first joined the White Fang I was actually running from my frustrations with home; joining a good cause and fighting the good fight seemed easier than carrying on my disagreements with my parents." She wrung her hands together as she pressed on, "Then when Adam's rhetoric and actions started getting more and more extreme I got scared and did what came naturally; I found a reason to be someplace Adam wasn't."

"You really didn't feel safe with us?" Ilia asked, her tone leaving a 'didn't feel safe with me' hanging in the air.

"Ilia, I need you to understand," Blake riveted her eyes to her estranged friend, not allowing her gaze to waver for even a moment, "Yesterday my twins told me my life story the way they had learned it from Future Me; warts and all. As it turns out Future Me went into copious detail about the warts so what I'm about to say isn't in-the-moment passions, what I'm about to say is hindsight refined by decades of reflection."

Ilia frowned, yet the look in her eyes showed her thoughts were running through logic before they ran through emotion. The chameleon faunus motioned with a cuffed hand the age old signal to continue, and so Blake pressed on.

"I left shortly after I internalized that Adam had started to care more about hurting humans than helping faunus," Her voice trembled as she sat up straighter. "All our conversations went to the same places over and over again, and part of me realized that if I stayed a violent disagreement would be inevitable. Should I have stayed? Called him out and made the direction he was taking our cell a subject of public debate? Maybe I could have done that and steered our cell away from wherever Adam's taken it, or maybe that wouldn't have helped at all and we'd all still be where we are now. In any case my tendency to run kicked in, so we'll never know."

Blake fidgeted for a moment as she contemplated her next words. Ilia's expression was still more rooted in logical reflection than emotional processing, and her skin tone remained neutral in color which Blake took as a good sign.

Then Ilia heaved a heavy sigh through her nose as she buried her face in her cuffed hands, her skin rapidly flashing through a kaleidoscope of colors that Blake could not extrapolate in spite of her familiarity with how the chameleon girl's feelings affected her skin's tone. When the sigh ended her skin had returned to its' emotionally neutral state and she had again placed her cuffed hands on the table before her.

"If we're being honest with each other right now," Ilia began as she fixed Blake with a glare, "Then I can honestly say you leaving isn't in and of itself the reason I'm upset with you. I'm upset with you because you didn't talk to me before you decided to leave. I'm assuming you didn't because you thought I'd try to talk you into staying?"

"Yes," Blake confirmed with a frown.

"Right," Ilia squeezed her eye shut and sighed again before continuing, "I probably would have started off doing that, but if you had actually explained yourself and insisted I... I..." The chameleon girl opened her eyes as her skin and hair morphed to the greens and blues that Blake knew represented sorrow and regret, "If you had insisted on leaving... I would have left with you."

"What," the word slipped from Blake's lips unbidden, and once that was out more words tumbled after it. "But you, the way, what?" Blake shook her head and got her thoughts in order. "I never would have guessed that," the catgirl admitted, "With the way you always talked about The Cause, the way you talked about humans, you, I mean, you dismissed the foundations of the arguments I had rather forcefully during the zodiac roundtable."

"I know what I said then," The greens and blues of Ilia's skin and hair grew deeper as her voice trembled a bit. "I know, but we're being honest with each other right now... and the truth is The Cause... The Cause was always secondary to me... My first priority... My..." Ilia's colors shifted to a more embarrassed shade, "My first priority was... was always... spending time with you..."

Silence hung in the air.

"Wha...?"

"I idolized you okay!" Ilia's skin and hair flushed the reds and yellows of anger before returning to the colors of regret and embarrassment. "I idolized you. I, I worshipped the ground you walked on! When you threw away a draft of a speech cause it wasn't working I saved the papers and traced your cursive with my fingers!" Ilia's pupils shrank to pinpricks, "God's Horns and Antlers that's the creepy sounding part. I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that."

"Okay..." Blake managed as she processed what Ilia had just said. There was a lot to unpack from those short sentences, and if the full implications of them were true it begged the question, "...So why did you stay after I left then? If I was the chief reason you were there in the first place?"

"Without you... The Cause was all I had left," Ilia looked down at her hands as she spoke, and Blake suddenly felt silly for asking. All of Ilia's immediate family was dead, she didn't have anywhere to go even if she had wanted to leave the White Fang. "And it's not like I don't believe in The Cause... Although..."

Silence hung in the air again, and it hung for longer this time as Blake waited for Ilia to gather her thoughts.

"Yesterday made me question some things," Ilia finally admitted. She then held up her cuffed hands defensively as she continued, "Not the fundamentals of course! Even if Sun's teammates are some of the good ones the lines of division are still cut too deep for our peoples to live in harmony, and we need to take care of our own first." Blake decided to let that comment slide for the simple reason that the Ilia she had left behind with the White Fang would have never acknowledged that a human could even be one of the good ones, and to see even that amount of progress after only a day with Team SSSN was a promising sign. Ilia went on, "But with what Sun told me about how his life was made harder by the actions of the White Fang in his homeland, I'm starting to think we've been going about things the wrong way."

"You'll get no argument from me on that front," Blake allowed a small smile on her face. "Do you know what you need to do differently?"

"I'm still thinking about that," Ilia sighed as her colors once again returned to their default tones. "But I'd rather figure that out on my own instead of following you on this." Her skin and hair turned into the red and yellow of anger as she continued, "After all, at some point you'll just run off again and leave me rudderless if I tried that, wouldn't you."

Blake flinched and grimaced at Ilia's harsh tone. "I deserved that," She hissed out while bridling her reflexive surge of anger and forcing it down. With the anger pushed down she was left with regret, letting her speak in a truly contrite voice, "For what it's worth I'm sorry I left you behind. I know that doesn't really help the hurt, but I swear I'll find some way to make it up to you and I promise that my days of running from my problems are over."

"I'd like to believe that," Ilia frowned, her red and yellow coloration slowly getting lighter as she spoke, "But it's going to take time for me to trust that."

"That's fair," Blake drooped, "I'd be hesitant to trust me if I was in your position too."

Ilia snorted as her hair and skin turned to the colors of amusement, "That's an understatement. Do you have any idea how crazy you came across as yesterday? Two strangers show up with with an ex-friend of yours bound and gaged claiming that some human is your soulmate, and you instantly believe them? A few words and you're madly in love with some human himbo?" Ilia chuckled as she shook her head, "I mean I always knew you were a hopeless romantic but I never thought you'd move that fast."

Ilia's chuckling died down as she noticed Blake staring down at her hands, eyes shimmering like a lost kitten's as she fidgeted in place.

"To tell the truth," Blake began, "I moved so quickly because I had no reason to doubt my twins. They looked and smelled too much like Belladonnas for them to not be family, and the only way they could have been family is if their claims of time travel were real. I wasn't madly in love at the drop of a hat, I'd been presented with an unquestionable certainty that a future where everything in my life went right and I didn't mess anything up by running away or doubling down on the wrong choice, and all I had to do was reach out and take it." Blake looked up from her hands to Ilia's face, "I'm not sure I'm in love yet, and with ten futures besides mine I know I can still mess this up, but I can see a lighthouse on the horizon calling me to safety from the stormy sea. And even though I can mess this up the the storm at sea is still scarier than any potential reefs between me and the lighthouse. I don't know if I'm in love, but I know I can be, and so I must move forward."

"That's," Ilia seemed taken aback with Blake's declaration, "That sounds a bit melodramatic, but I guess this situation does call for some degree of melodrama."

"Oh don't act like you're not caught up in a melodrama too," Blake rolled her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ilia asked.

"You're being surprisingly compliant with Sun right now," Blake gestured to the handcuffs Ilia was still displaying like jewelry. "You have an explanation for that?"

"Oh, right," Ilia blushed as she started fidgeting with the chain of her cuffs. "So Sun's, Sun is, well he's sunny. He's kind. Funny. Even though I'm part of the White Fang and he consider's the White Fang his enemy he's been nothing but kind and supportive with me. We were complete strangers yesterday when you and your twins left me at the dock in the uniform of his enemy, bound and gaged completely at his mercy, and then he was merciful," Ilia shuddered a bit as if saying the word merciful gave her a pleasant shock. Her ponytail flipped forward, and she began to stroke it with her cuffed hands.

"That's where things started," Ilia smiled as her eyes glazed over a bit. "He could have done anything to me, and he used the power he held over me to make sure I was alright! Then he set me free and we talked all day and pretty much all night. I, I ended up pouring out all of my frustrations to him and he listened to them all without judgment, and he shared his different perspective without making it feel like criticism of my own." Ilia's eyes gained focus as her gaze drilled into Blake's own, "Blake, he makes me feel perfectly safe around him. This is a big deal. It could not be a bigger deal!"

"How is that?" Blake leaned forward with inquisitive eyes.

"Blake, some part of me has always been more comfortable letting others make decisions for me," Ilia explained. "It was easier, you know. Not having to think for myself. Before... before my parents died... I let the crowd I hung out with make my decisions for me, and you know how that turned out. I learned that day that you can't just give your will over to just anybody because your feelings about things will be forgotten in that transaction. Sun, he pays close attention and does everything in his power to make sure he knows how I'm actually feeling every step of the way. Even when he's been tying me up... especially when he's been tying me up he's been making sure every single thing that happens to me is my choice. I can surrender everything to Sun and not loose anything in the transaction."

Ilia's eyes had grown slightly wild during her explanation, but that wildness died down as she wrapped things up. "Blake, before yesterday I didn't think it was even possible to find somebody who could be trusted like that. There were... a couple of people I wished I could trust like that..." Ilia's eyes bore into Blake's own with a particular intensity as she said that, "But they all ended up proving that they weren't someone I could do that with." Ilia's gaze turned heavenwards as she groaned, "Blake, I found something absolutely perfect in a place I would have never ever looked for it. It's incredible, but I'm also terrified that the other shoe will drop and shatter this impossible perfection. My hindbrain is screaming caution but both of my hands have already grabbed on and I can't let go."

"The storm is more terrifying than any reef that might be between you and the lighthouse." Blake observed.

"That's... I guess that's right." Ilia ruefully chuckled a bit, "I guess both of us really are in a melodrama right now."

"Both of us are terrified of going forward, but we can't stop ourselves from making the next step."

"True, true."

"I guess common ground still exists between us then, so long as we're willing to be scared together."

"Common ground to what end?" Ilia asked.

"I swore I'd find a way to make it up to you for running away," Blake gave a hopeful smile, "I'd like for us to be friends again."

Ilia frowned in deep thought, bringing her cuffed hands to her chin.

The moment stretched.

"I'm not... entirely sure I'm ready for that..." Ilia admitted. "I want it. I really do... But you burned me pretty badly when you left without a word. That wound was healing... but it kind of reopened yesterday when you left me bound and gaged at the feet of a complete stranger. Sure Sun turned out to be amazing but the five minutes before I realized he was going to be merciful was still the most terrifying five minutes of my life so far. You put me through that."

Blake's cat ears drooped enough to dishevel her bow, "Then that's another thing I need to make up for. I'm sorry."

Ilia's expression was inscrutable for a moment before she gave a resined sigh, "Well... I did get Sun out of it, so I guess you're halfway there on that front. And us both being terrified of this situation is the simple reality we're living in... so I suppose it's better for us to be scared together than apart..."

"And if we're scared together, we can be courageous together," Blake added with hope in her eyes, "Because I've learned that courage grows from controlling your fears, and these fears will let us grow brave indeed."

"Did you just quote a book at me?" Ilia raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"No!" Blake blurted out too quickly. Ilia's eyebrow rose higher, and Blake's expression grew bashful, "Okay I did."

Ilia ruefully chuckled as she shook her head, familiar exasperation shining from her eyes.

"Right, just give me some space for a bit and we'll talk again when I'm ready," Ilia instructed. Then a hint of concern showed in her eyes, "Unless you don't trust Sun to be the one who helps me figure things out for some reason."

"Sun wears his heart on his sleeves, so what you see is what you get," Blake reassured her estranged friend. "There are no other shoes to drop with him."

Ilia sagged in relief at that. The she turned her gaze to the far shore of courtyard's pond and called out; "Sun! I think we're done here!"

Team SSSN returned to the gazebo, with Sun himself scooping Ilia up and returning her to his lap as he sat down. Ilia hooked her arm around his neck again and nuzzled his cheek as her hands returned to chest, proudly displaying her handcuffs like jewelry once more.

"Good talk?" Sun asked the chameleon girl in a gentle voice.

"It was," Ilia admitted.

"Did you cover everything you need to?"

"Everything I needed to cover today," Ilia nodded. "The rest can wait tell next time."

"Good, Good," Sun rumbled as Ilia pressed her ear to his chest to better hear that rumbling. "So Blake, what do-"

"MOM?" Leander's voice interrupted as the catboy stepped out from behind a lamppost he couldn't have possibly hidden behind, his sister coming out form behind the same lamppost only a few steps later, "Mom? Are you guys at a good stoping spot or do you need a few more minutes?"

Everyone in the gazebo exchanged looks before Blake responded, "We might be able to stop now, why?"

"You can't just leave Dad alone with all your love rivals for too long!" Leandra admonished, "We need to get you down to the training fields pronto!"

"Is that all? There's no reason to worry about leaving him alone with them," Blake smiled warmly at her twins.

"What!/What!" Leander and Leandra shrieked in unison as they entered the gazebo.

"Relax, kids. I'm a Ninja Catgirl Princess," Blake explained with a confident air, "That combination of traits makes me the sexiest lady out of all the girls Jaune has lined up. If this was a visual novel then any red-blooded man would play my route first. Jaune's a red-blooded man, so when he comes to me I'll be sure to put everything I know about seduction to work and I'll rock his world. And since this isn't a visual novel nobody will be able to reset things, meaning I'll be the girl that claimed his virginity. That first impression will give me a significant edge over the competition."

Leander and Leandra looked at each other like their mother was crazy. Team SSSN (plus Ilia) all gave each other dubious looks.

Blake frowned but addressed the biggest flaw she could see in her plan, "Alright so May Zedong being a Secret Princess reduces the value of the Princess part of the Ninja Catgirl Princess combo, but doesn't completely negate it. And Ninja Catgirl is still a potent enough combo on its' own to beat out the Forgotten Childhood Friends that Yang and Ruby have going for them. The reduced prestige I still get from the duplicate Princess is still more than enough to give me an edge over everybody."

"If duplicates negate sexy points then all you've really got is Ninja," Neptune noted in an intellectual voice.

"Does your nose work better than mine or something?" Blake snorted, "Cause I'd figure out if anyone else was a hidden faunus pretty quickly just by sent."

"Arslan doesn't hide the fact she's a faunus, she just doesn't think it's important enough to bring it up unprompted," Neptune shrugged.

That statement gave Blake pause, Arslan was somebody Neptune had known for years. If she was a faunus he would know.

"She doesn't smell like a faunus," Blake's objection felt shaky.

"You mean she smells like the prayer incense she burns every morning when she wakes up and before she goes to bed." Neptune supplied. The blue haired young man then continued, "Blake, do you really think in Mistral's political climate that our school would give the honorific of The Golden Lion Of Haven Academy to a human? Almost everyone in the Atlan clan is a Lion Faunus, and the majority of those who aren't are some other kind of big cat."

Blake starred at a space beyond Neptune's head with a truly blank expression on her face. Eventually her jaw moved and monotone words came out:

"So your saying that Arslan is a Catgirl Warrior-Nun?"

"Ahhh..." Neptune glanced back and fourth, weirded out by Blake's expression. Still he answered, "Yes. She is."

Blake stared off into space for another minute before she suddenly sprang to her feet and slammed her hands on the table, "God's Horns And Antlers! I'm NOT The Sexiest Lady In This Lineup! And The Sexiest Lady Will Expect Jaune To WAIT UNTIL MARRIAGE! IF SHE GETS FIRST DATE SHE'LL MAKE HIM WEAR A PROMISE RING AND EVERYTHING! I'M NOT READY FOR A SEDUCTION ON HARD MODE! AND I'M NOT READING THE WASP AND THE ORCID FOR HELP! NOT AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN!"

Blake turned to her twins with wild eyes, "WE NEED TO GET TO THE TRAINING FIELD PRONTO!"

"Follow Me Mom!" Leandra cried as she grabbed her mother's wrist and rushed to one of the supporting posts of the gazebo. Blake would later have difficulty explaining exactly what happened, but one moment Leandra was pulling her behind a wooden beam that shouldn't have been enough for them to disappear behind, and the next moment her daughter was pulling her out from behind a stone column with the training fields in sight.

Leander stepped out from behind the column a few seconds later and looked to the training field. "Oh good," He grinned, "They're still getting organized."

Blake's eyes locked on Arslan standing next to Jaune as a small hiss danced out of her lips from the back of her throat and her back arched a bit. Then she saw Arslan was currently talking to Pyrrha instead of the blond boy, and while the anger stopped growing it simmered into a steady growl.

"Wow, so much for Faunus Solidarity," Leandra dryly observed.

THAT jab brought Blake back to her senses, and her anger was replaced with embarrassment that only her twins would see.

"Right, she hasn't done anything yet. No need to get the claws out," Blake chuckled nervously as her children gave her unimpressed looks. Hoping to escape the mortification she felt she tried to strike up a conversation about something else. Fortunately she had a topic on her mind that she could quite easily ask them about.

"So, how do things turn out for Sun and Ilia exactly?" Blake managed to keep her embarrassment out of her voice as she asked the question. "I know you said they were married but how happy are they?"

"Very happy, and productive," Leander grinned. "They have seven kids, and they were talking about going for eight before our accidental time trip."

"Yep! Here, let me show you," Leandra messed with her scroll for a moment. She pulled up a photo showing Sun, Ilia, and a group of kids sitting down at a park bench obviously posing for the picture. The kids had a fairly even mixture of primate and reptilian faunus traits, and beyond those traits there was no question as to who their parents were.

"That's good," Blake smiled at her friends' family, but her eyes were drawn to what the two adults were wearing, "What's with the uniforms?"

"Ilia's the current head of Menagerie's intelligence devision," Leander explained, "And Uncle Sun's the guy who trains the Royal Guards."

"So I did manage to patch things up with Ilia," Blake smiled as a warm feeling grew in her heart. If things worked out in that timeline, they could work out in this one.

"You did," Leander confirmed, "Though there are a few things Ilia will never let you forget."

"Like what?"

Leander and Leandra smirked at each other and said nothing.

"Like What!?"

Niether twin said anything until they reached the training field, and when they did speak again it had nothing to do with their mother's questions.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Ozpin's Office



- - -



"... And so, the war has gone on since that point to the present day."



Ozpin's throat had been drying a lot more often these days. While he had kept up his skills as an orator (what politician didn't?), he had acquired enough clout and influence that it usually only took a few words to convince most people of his viewpoint and why they should agree.



With the exception of General James Ironwood (who was stubborn to a fault) and Councilman Rufus Winchester (who was stubborn as a mule). He was glad these men actually tended to agree with him on most items, otherwise he feared his throat would never recover.



As it was, explaining his sordid past and the nature of the threat they were up against, along with speaking with his potential future wife and son, was quite taxing.



So for once, his mug was full of water instead of hot chocolate, and he sipped it gingerly as his audience absorbed the conclusion to his story.



James was scowling deeply. Isabel looked deeply concerned. Ghira and Kali wore poker faces, but they were also troubled. Glynda was worrying her lower lip, while Qrow was drinking whiskey and Taiyang was frowning in deep thought. Arjun remained calm, but the tension in his body gave away his agitation.



James was the first to break the sudden silence.



"So, when you told me a conventional assault on Salem wouldn't work, it was because you had neglected to mention she was invulnerable."



Ozpin slowly nodded. The anger from the general was nearly palpable.



"And you didn't tell me this why?" James demanded.



Ozpin sighed as he set down his mug on his desk.



"Because in my experience, revealing that fact demoralizes my followers and makes them less willing to fight for what they see as a zero-sum game," he stated. He nodded to Isabel. "However, by chance or divine providence or the sheer insanity of the universe? We now have eleven possible ways of ending this conflict. Not just for a century, or a thousand years, but forever."



James worked his jaw and grumbled. Arjun hummed thoughtfully.



"I suppose there is that," he allowed. He frowned.



"Years ago, after we liberated Pandu, you did offer to let me in on a larger project of yours."



"I did, yes," Ozpin agreed. He glanced at Isabel, who nodded back.



"He made the same offer," Isabel said quietly. "But I declined."



"As did I," Arjun agreed. Ozpin smiled ruefully.



"You had done quite a lot for our cause already, as it turns out," the immortal stated. "The Kauravas were Salem cultists. Getting them out of power was a boon to all of humanity and Faunuskind."



"Yet you didn't press the issue?" Jame demanded. "A loyal king, one of the world's best doctors?"



"Well we're here now, James," Isabel sniffed, "And involved, whether we like it or not."



"Indeed," Glynda murmured.



Ghira raised an eyebrow at Ozpin.



"I can guess why you didn't reach out to us," he stated. Ozpin nodded as Ironwood scowled deeply.



"I had hoped that by allowing your daughter sanctuary, we could build bridges towards that end," Ozpin explained, "Though it would take a great deal of time."



James' scowl intensified. Glynda cleared her throat.



"What remains is to decide how to act upon this information," she said, stern but gentle. Ozpin nodded.



"Agreed. I believe we need to proceed slowly and carefully."



"If Salem already knows about time travel, and there is no reason to think otherwise," Ironwood stated firmly, "Then acting overtly is our only option. Subterfuge is pointless."



Arjun shook his head and rolled his eyes.



"Have you never heard the phrase 'all warfare is deception', General? You're being far too heavy handed! We cannot assume what she knows! And even if she knows about time travel," here he leaned forward, "there is a benefit to not acting rashly and pretending that we do not know that she knows."



"I am aware of many platitudes about war, Your Majesty," Ironwood replied tightly, "But in the real world, it is difficult to keep anything secret for long. We have been given a respite from a potentially devastating attack, for now, but Salem will contrive a new plan quickly. We cannot give her that time."



"At the same time, we can't fight with enemies in our midst," Ghira pointed out, and Kali nodded, "We must get our house in order before any offensive movements should be planned. Lionheart needs to be removed. Taken back here for questioning-We need to know everything he knows."



Ozpin slowly nodded.



"Agreed. We must assume he has been apprised of the situation-Salem or another of his spies would have told him. Until we can be reasonably assured we are no longer compromised, we must proceed carefully, James."



James' scowl grew deeper. Ozpin held up a hand.



"At the same time? You are right. We must also act decisively. Qrow? How confident are you about bringing in Leonardo alive?"



Qrow sucked in a breath through his teeth and shook his head.



"If he's been lying all this time? There's a lot of unknowns. I wouldn't feel comfortable going in without some backup."



Glynda set her jaw. She stepped forward.



"I can go with him-"



"No, your absence would be too obvious, Glynda," Ozpin stated, "And besides, you need to be here for your daughter and to defend Vale."



Glynda scowled a bit, but the conflict was clear. She slowly nodded.



"I'm rusty," Isabel said, "As is my team, but-"



"We could go," Arjun stated savagely, "Isabel, Nick and Saia would ensure I kept him alive."



Ozpin again shook his head.



"We've already had a massive firefight with your four involved," he sighed, "Subtle you are not, Arjun, Isabel."



"We were subtle plenty of times!" Isabel argued with a scowl. Qrow and Taiyang snickered with all the maturity you would expect of them.



"Sure you were," Qrow snorted, "You snuck into a castle and left it a giant pile of rubble after. What a complete mystery."



"Oooh!" Isabel growled, turning and glaring at Qrow. Ozpin hid a smile behind his mug.



"He has a point, Isabel," he stated.



"Then I'll go," Taiyang stated firmly. At everyone's looks, he shook his head.



"I'm still the Captain Huntsman of Patch. I've been getting back into shape. Qrow and I work together like we're telepathically linked. I'm the best choice."



"Your daughters," Isabel tried, but Taiyang smiled.



"My daughters have grown up strong in spite of me, not because of me. They'll be fine." He shrugged. "Besides, I am doing it for them."



James scowled. Qrow looked at Taiyang.



"You sure?" He asked.



Taiyang nodded firmly.



"I'm sure," he said.



Ozpin sipped his mug and nodded.



"Very well. You'll leave tomorrow night, when things have calmed down."



"We can volunteer some forces to go with them," Kali volunteered, but Ozpin shook his head. He held up a hand when James also opened his mouth to object.



"No. Speed and secrecy above all else is the best choice here. We don't know how far Lionheart's resources go."



"I could at least give them my airship," Arjun protested, "I could go along as a guide-"



"No, Arjun," Ozpin stated firmly. Arjun ground his teeth... Then nodded.



"Fine," he muttered.



"Nothing personal," Taiyang said quietly to Arjun, "Lionheart hurt me too... But not in the same way."



Arjun sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils and let it out. Isabel squeezed his arm comfortingly.



"You'd better give them a proper goodbye," Isabel stated with a threat in her voice. Taiyang nodded and smiled.



"I will... As well as some... Other business."



Nobody needed to be a psychic to know what other business Taiyang had. She was imprisoned at the bottom of this very tower, seething. Ozpin sought to break the melancholy as best he could.



"Besides," Ozpin said, "while you and your team are still quite formidable? This requires a more delicate touch. Also... You have a far more important job to do."



"And that is?" Arjun demanded. Ozpin nodded to Ghira, Kali and James.



"Announcing that Pandu, Vale, Atlas, and Menagerie will initiate formal diplomatic relations at the Vytal Tournament, of course."



"What?!" Ironwood demanded in disbelief. "You have any idea of how impossible that is?!"



Arjun sucked in a breath and looked over at Ghira.



"While we have a trading relationship," he said carefully, "Formal recognition would be a difficult pill to swallow for our parliament. Saia has been trying for years but we've barely moved the needle."



"We've been trying for almost twenty years," Kali sighed with a shake of her head, "Best we've gotten is a lukewarm sort of relationship with Mistral and recognition from Vacuo-Which is practically worthless given their government is about as strong as a sprig of catnip. To say nothing of the pro-White Fang elements in our government."



Ozpin leaned forward.



"I am prepared," he said, "To use every favor, every link, every means at my disposal to get Vale to recognize Menagerie and normalize relations. I can get the votes if I put my all into it. I was content to work on it slowly, but now we have no time. James? You have Willow Schnee in your corner. I'm sure between all of us, we can bully her husband and anyone else into it."



James grimaced.



"It's still a tall order."



"No doubt," Ozpin said, "But I will do everything possible to ensure you can make it pass. Arjun? You do work with the SDC anyway, you can also apply leverage."



"I will," Arjun agreed. Ozpin looked over at James.



"And you too have been trying to get Isabel Arc's medical expertise, James. Here is the perfect opportunity to obtain it."



He looked at Isabel, who flushed. Kali and James looked at her intently. She grit her teeth, clenched her fists... And then sighed.



"All right," she allowed, "If we can make this look like something other than a gigantic bribe-"



"They'll say it is anyway, that's just politics, dear," Kali said with a small smile. Isabel nodded.



"Then... Yes. I'll put my hat in the ring."



James hummed. He shook his head.



"It is still going to be difficult... But... It seems a little less impossible right now," he reluctantly admitted. "I will do my best, Ozpin, but you all need to deliver too."



"Agreed," Arjun said, frowning but less tense than before.



"It will also help sell Menagerie's Council on the deal," Kali said happily, hugging Isabel, "Oh, this is going to be wonderful!"



"Fantastic," Isabel deadpanned.



"The White Fang is still the biggest problem," Ghira pointed out, as Kali nodded. Ozpin shook his head.



"I am aware. But I have a plan to help with that... As well as prevent the rumors of time travel from spreading any further. No need to cause a panic if we can help it."



"And that would be?" Isabel asked. Ozpin smiled.



"Your husband is the key, actually."



Isabel grew an incredulous look. Arjun raised his eyebrows.



"How so?" Arjun asked.



"I believe you and Nick tried to make a formal marriage contract between Jaune and your daughter?" Ozpin asked lightly. Isabel glared hot death at Arjun.



"You what?!"



"We didn't go through with it!" Arjun said quickly, holding his hands up.



"But suppose," Ozpin said with a small smile, "You had? Indeed, suppose Nick Arc, who was infamous for going about, making friends, and agreeing to things when his partner and wife were not there to prevent it... Had signed marriage contracts with a great many families for his son?"



Many jaws dropped. Isabel was the first to get her mouth back into shouting order.



"Are you kidding me?! Who would believe that sort of nonsense?!"



"Which is more likely," Qrow asked with a smirk, "Time travel, or Nick Arc being dumb enough to sign marriage contracts for his son with multiple families and forgetting about it until now?"



Isabel opened and closed her mouth several times, her face flushed in rage. Arjun hummed.



"Honestly? I would be more surprised it hadn't happened sooner."



"Totally," Taiyang nodded.



"Indeed," Glynda deadpanned.



"I've known the man for a few hours and I wholeheartedly agree," Ghira nodded.



"Same!" Kali added.



"It would not surprise me in the least," Ironwood observed dryly.



Isabel threw her hands up in the air.



"I-You-URGH!"

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The timing for this one is a little fuzzy but it will fit into the story proper, I assure you.



- - -



Schnee Mansion, Atlas, Solitas



- - -



Jacques Schnee was not a man who wasted time on worrying. Worrying was a luxury even he could not afford. There was too much to do, too much at stake, to waste your energy on worry. He was the type of man who seized the day, who took every opportunity he could to improve his standing.



After all, it was a harsh, bitter world. He'd learned this early on: The only way to change your circumstances was by your own will.



Worrying robbed you of your will. Made you fear things that might not even happen.



Worrying over his family was irrelevant. As long as they functioned as he needed them to? They could attend to their own affairs.



It was how he had experienced life. He'd started with nothing, and now he was one of the most powerful men in the world. What did he care about their feelings? What mattered was that he knew what was best, and they just had to accept it.



Worrying. Bah.



All that said, Jacques Schnee did find himself a bit concerned when he returned home to a deserted house. He had hoped to catch some sleep and then see to Whitley before he resumed the economic conference: The possibility of a billion lien deal to expand his operations in Mistral was too important to miss for any reason.



He frowned as he saw that Whitley wasn't there to greet him as he entered the foyer. He tapped his Scroll and linked to the surveillance system Willow thought he didn't know about.



"Locate Whitley."



The computer processed things for a moment before returning:



"Master Whitley is not present."



Jacques' brow furrowed.



"Locate Klein."



"Mister Klein is not present."



"Locate Willow."



"Mistress Willow is not present."



Jacques worked his jaw. Whitley being gone? Well, a young man did deserve the chance to go out and attend to his own affairs, he supposed. As long as he was being productive and wasn't damaging the family name? Jacques could forgive a fair amount from his heir. Especially since he was far more compliant than his sisters.



Klein being gone? He could be off seeing to Weiss. The butler was an annoyance but too valuable to dismiss.



Willow being gone? Feh. Maybe the old drunk had gone off on a vacation. His agents would keep track of her.



All three of them being gone at the same time... With no alerts?



This was extremely unusual.



He tapped his Scroll again.



"Fafnir. Come."



It only took about five minutes for a familiar winged shadow to cross over the windows overhead. The front doors opened, and a tall, white haired figure strode in.



He was far taller than Jacques, and built like a tank. His advanced Atlasian Specialist-tier battle armor outlined his muscular form perfectly, from his strong arms to his broad chest. A shock of black hair, cut short but messy, waved from the top of his head over a stern pair of red eyes. Sharp ears like an elf's pointed out of his hair, like horns. A breathing mask covered up the rest of his face from his chin up to his nose, but faint scars still decorated his temples where the mask didn't fully cover. A large sword hung from his belt, encased in a metallic sheath. Large leathery wings rose up high on his back, before folding down around his shoulders like a cloak.



The dragon-like man dropped to a knee and bowed his head before Jacques.



"Master Jacques. What is it you wish of me?" He asked in a voice as rough as coal.



Jacques avoided rolling his eyes only through long practice, but a slight smirk was on his face.



"Rise, Fafnir. And how many times must I tell you not to do that?" He asked.



Fafnir rose, and stared intently at Jacques.



"I must show my fealty to my lord and master," Fafnir stated, "It is our way, as I keep reminding you."



"We both know you do it to annoy me," Jacques sighed. Fafnir's eyes betrayed nothing.



"Servants have their own ways of doing things," Fafnir replied. Jacques held in a sigh.



"Very well. Willow, Whitley, and Klein are all gone. I've checked my messages-Nothing."



Fafnir nodded. He strode over to the computer terminal near the grand staircase of the foyer. He held up an arm and a needle-like probe emerged from between his knuckles. He inserted it into the terminal's dataport, and his eyes flickered back and forth.



"They left last night after receiving a call from Beacon. User ID is Glynda Goodwitch," he reported.



Jacques' eyebrows rose.



"Show me the call," he ordered.



Fafnir nodded, and a moment later Jacques got a message on his Scroll. He opened it up and watched the recording.



His eyes widened with every passing minute of the recording. His jaw dropped in disbelief.



"Nick Arc's son?!" He snarled. "That-That buffoon?! THAT SCOUNDREL?! BOTH OF MY DAUGHTERS?!"



He remembered that blond idiot all too well. How he'd blundered into his attempts to court Willow during that assassination fiasco. He'd cost Jacques precious time getting Willow under his spell, and even now she would occasionally rant about how he could never measure up to some country bumpkin with an oversized sword.



I see... The idiot was playing the long game, Jacques growled to himself.



He looked urgently at Fafnir.



"Any news of this out of Vale?!"



"There are reports of a firefight at the Beacon landing pad," Fafnir reported, "Official statement is that it was a training excercise that got out of hand. However, there are some social media reports of various other fights, involving this Jaune Arc, Weiss, and what appears to be his mother, his father, and the king and queen of Pandu."



Jacques seethed. He immediately dialed Willow... Nothing. He dialed Whitley. Again, nothing. He even tried Winter and Weiss, but they didn't respond either.



"Damnit! This... This is a disaster!" He groaned. "That stupid woman!"



"Shall I prepare your ship for launch, Lord?" Fafnir asked, "To head to Vale immediately?"



Jacques opened his mouth... Then thought of the billion lien deal at the conference. He scowled deeply.



"No," he decided, "I will see this through. I've put too much work into this to give up now."



He glared at his top agent.



"You, however, will go and find out what the hell is going on!"



Fafnir again knelt and bowed his head.



"Of course, Master. And what of this Jaune Arc?"



Jacques frowned.



"I will need more information. However... I will NOT have an Arc sully the Schnee name. Pay him off. I will make sure the girls deal with their indiscretion quietly."



"And if he will not comply?" Fafnir asked.



"Then eliminate him," Jacques stated firmly, "Make sure it looks like an accident, but remove him."



Fafnir bowed again.



"As you wish, Master."



- - -



Jacques Schnee is inspired by Jack Frost, who is himself based upon Pakkasukko, a Scandinavian/Russian culture hero with a similar modus operandi. As a result, I have based Jacque's enforcer on Fafnir, a dragon from Norse mythology. He is quite literally Jacques' Dragon. We'll see more of him in the future but I wanted to establish things now.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Training Field 12 wasn't the most state of the art training field on Beacon's grounds. That didn't mean it wasn't well maintained, but it did mean that the equipment there was of the old and rugged variety that had proven it could take whatever punishments fully realized huntsmen and huntresses could dish out. Sure you could do more different things at the more modern fields, hard-light dust and holographic arrays could put some real variety in your training, but the most recently developed modern designs were all designs that hadn't been put through all their paces yet so if you wanted to go all out you were better off going to an older field.

Not that Jaune expected his father and godmother to go all out today, or at the very least they wouldn't go all out for him. A test of his skill wouldn't be enough to make his father sweat even if he gave it his all. He just hoped he had learned enough during his short time at Beacon to not disappoint.

"It's almost exactly as I remember it," Nick smiled as he looked over the facilities he had spent his school years perfecting the art of combat in. "I mean some things have gotten a new paint job, but it's like everything stayed where we left it." Nick's eyes then lit up as he noticed something on a particular stretch of wall running beside the field, and he pointed excitedly, "Look Saia! Look! That dent in the wall Izzy made with Mombi's face is still there!"

"Ah yes, that was the day Mombi tried to kiss you, wasn't it?" Saia recalled with a nostalgic glint in her eye.

Willow Schnee stumbled a step.

"I'm not sure," Nick admitted with a shrug, "All I remember about that day was how amazing Izzy's form was when she made that throw."

"It was a very good throw," Saia agreed before turning her attention to all the people who had followed them to the field. "That set of stands over there offers the best view of the field. Everyone who isn't fighting should find themselves a seat."

The civilians began to shuffle towards the stands with some excited chatter while those that qualified as huntsmen and huntresses remained on the field gathered around Nick and Saia. However most of Jaune's potential wives had stopped paying close attention to the pair after Nick had pointed out the dent in the wall, each of them giving it an appraising look.

"I could make that throw with Emerald," Yang mused as she sized up the other girls, "Weiss and May too."

Emerald glared, May squeaked, and Weiss shrieked in indignation:

"Not If My Glyphs Launch You Into That Wall FIRST!"

"I might be able to pick people up with Polarity," Pyrrha theorized with a dangerous glint in her eye, "Then I'd be able to make that throw with all of you."

"Yeah, well, I could get enough momentum with a Petal Burst to launch anyone that far!" Ruby boasted as her eyes faintly glowed with determination.

"While successfully replicating Isabel's feat would be impressive," Arslan opined as she rolled her shoulders, "It will be much more impressive to perform feats wholly unique to ourselves on a similar scale."

That set the girls' boasting and bickering in a new direction, with each girl espousing some new creative application of violence in a tightening spiral of one-upmanship.

"Saia, could you please make sure they don't hurt each other before we get started?" Nick asked his old friend, "I'd like to use their distraction to have a word with my son."

Saia nodded in answer and so Nick wrapped his left arm around Jaune's shoulder and lead him a few steps away from the crowd before he spoke in a low and gentle voice:

"Jaune, I know you only got your harem yesterday," Nick began, but Jaune opened his mouth in protest.

"It's not a harem Dad it's-" Jaune whispered back only to be interrupted as his father placed his right hand over his mouth in a classic shushing gesture.

"This fight wouldn't be happening if it was a harem," Nick nodded with the confidence of a man who knows things, "Or at least it wouldn't run the risk of turning nasty. They're fighting because they don't know where they stand with you and each other, but if you made it a for real harem they'd know where they stand and wouldn't feel the need to fight for a place to stand."

"That..." Jaune frowned and creased his eyebrows as his father pulled his hand away and let him speak, "...I guess that makes some sense..."

"And like I was saying; I know you only got your harem yesterday," Nick continued satisfied that his son was listening, "And on top of that you gathered all of them in one fell swoop! Taking those two things together and it's no wonder they don't know where they stand with you, because you don't know where you stand with them. Not fully anyways."

Jaune's frown became contemplative. His father wasn't exactly wrong. He had an idea of where he wanted to stand with all of them, some kind of equality would be ideal after all, but knowing where he wanted to stand didn't mean it was clear to any of his potential wives.

"So you need to fix that, starting now," Nick grinned. "This is a chance for the girls of your Harem to show off their fighting powers! Put everyone's strengths and weakness on display, and with that information you'll all know how to relate with each other better! That's how your mother and I first got to know each other! I mean before initiation she thought I was just some idiot with a sword, but after we fought off a hoard of monstrous Grimm together on that day she saw me differently!"

"...How did she see you differently?"

"She saw an idiot with a sword she could trust," Nick's smile grew fond. "We got along much better after that."

"Umm... Dad, that sounds kinda..." Jaune slowly objected.

"Jaune, we got married, so we had to have done something right," Nick reassured his son.

"I guess I can't argue that point," Jaune allowed, "But how does a big fight help us when we don't want them to fight each other?"

"Son, who said we were going to give them a chance to fight each other?" Nick's grin grew mischievous. "Each and every match today is going to be against me, Saia, or both of us." The paladin looked over to the arguing girls and saw how his old friend was managing them. Satisfied that things were well in hand Nick locked eyes with Jaune's only male teammate and waved the green clad young man over.

"Yes Mr. Arc?" Lie Ren asked as Nick pulled Ren and Jaune into a huddle.

"We need to organize Jaune's harem so they'll give the best possible performance against me and Saia," Nick explained. "Since Jaune's still figuring out where he stands with each of them we'll need your insights, so how would would you organize things? Solo duels? Teams? Partner Pairs?"

Ren hummed in thought for a moment, glancing to the still arguing girls before humming again.

"With Professor Goodwitch in a meeting and Cinder missing we have nine brides," Ren reasoned aloud. "That gives us two full teams and a spare. I'd say we let Winter do a solo duel while the rest of the brides fight as teams."

"Tell me why," Nick requested.

"Well solo duels wouldn't be that much different from organizing a tournament where they fight each other," Ren explained. "Baring a major upset the girl who would come out on top would either be Winter or Pyrrha, maybe Arslan or Yang. They'd be followed by Ruby, Blake, Weiss and then May bringing up the rear. Emerald's a wild card."

"And why are you placing them like that?" Nick prompted.

"Winter's one of Atlas' top Specialists, so that's straightforward enough," Ren answered. "Pyrrha has an undefeated record in the world's most competitive tournament scene. Arslan has always reached the finals in the same tournament scene as Pyrrha, and she's faced Pyrrha in the championship match more often than she hasn't; now that she knows how Pyrrha's semblance works she might be able pull off a win. In our school's combat class Yang's the person who places right behind Pyrrha the most consistently. Ruby, Weiss and Blake aren't that far behind Yang, though their exact positions in the rankings fluctuates. Ruby and Weiss are usually ahead of Blake thanks to Ruby's raw speed and Weiss' verticality, but Blake can overtake them in the right situations. From what I've seen May is an excellent sniper, but she's only adequate in melee. On top of that she doesn't have any mobility options to help her relocate if her sniper's nest gets compromised, and everyone here is capable of compromising her position."

Ren glanced back to the bickering brides, a mint haired thief in particular. "If you had asked me to rank Emerald the day before yesterday I would have put her right behind Blake when Miss Belladonna was having an off day, but in light of everything we've learned it's clear that she and Cinder were deliberately selling themselves short in combat class. And that's why she's a wildcard."

Nick looked to his son, "Anything your disagree with?"

"No," Jaune shook his head, "Ren's right. Solo duels would just end up like a tournament with everyone trying to outdo each other, and that risks stratifying them along Ren's predictions. If we want my potential wives to get along we need to have them support each other instead of competing against one another. Team fights would be best, and Winter can role solo this time so the two teams we'll have don't feel like she gave the other team an advantage. She can be part of a team next time."

"Then we know what we're doing now," Nick concluded with a nod and broke the huddle, pulling a drill sergeant's whistle from a shirt pocket.

Jaune covered his ears in preparation for the noise, with Ren following his example as Nick exaggerated the motions of bringing the whistle to his lips. Saia saw these exaggerated motions out of the corner of her eyes and covered her own ears in response.

The shrill sound of the whistle cut through the noise and brought the brides' posturing and oneupmanship to a screeching halt.

"Alright listen up and line up!" Nick bellowed in his best 'man who trains the town militia' voice. The brides followed his instructions while more than one of them put a hand to their ears to deal with the ringing.

"So how are we doing this New Dad?" Nora asked as she positioned herself at Ren's side.

"We'll start with Jaune," Nick began, "I'd like to measure his progress first. Then I'll be fighting Team RWBY, and that should give Arslan, Pyrrha, Emerald and Maia the time they need to organize themselves into the team I'll be fighting after RWBY! Winter! You seemed more keen on testing yourself against Saia than me, correct?"

"Yes sir!" Winter snapped off like the good soldier she was.

"Then the two of you will have a duel after I've tested the teams," Nick instructed. "If we still have time after that I'd like to see how the grandkids are doing, but we'll get that sorted when we get there."

"Alright, you heard my dad!" Nora proclaimed, "Clear the field so my brother can spar with our old man!"

And with that Jaune found himself alone on the training with his father as everyone else joined the civilians in the stands, his potential wives and future children each wishing him luck in their own ways as they left.

"I'll be fighting you with Nogg," His father explained as he reached not for the railgun sword on his back but for the bastard sword attached to his hip. Nogg didn't look like anything special as it was drawn from its' sheath, just a regular well cared for two-edged sword with a slightly longer blade, crossguard, and handle than the sword half of Crocea Mors. Appearances were not deceiving as Nogg was a fairly standard weapon only made special by the person who gave it to his father, the fact that it had been Nick's first real weapon and that it had served as the man's main weapon for years before he acquired his railgun sword Blont Joyeux.

Nick held Nogg in the air in front of him as he gave it a quick inspection in the pre-noon light as he instructed; "Let's start with a few warm up exercises. Show me your guard positions."

Jaune pulled Crocea Mors from its' place on his belt, drawing out the blade and deploying the shield. He held is sword in the ideal mid-guard position with the shield in the proper place.

"Ox guard," Nick prompted. Sword and shield moved smoothly in Jaune's hands to the new position, blade held high and pointed forward like an ox's horn. "Fool's guard," Jaune held his blade out low and forward with the point angled towards the ground, making himself look deceptively open while leaving himself protected. "Roof Guard," Jaune smoothly moved his sword high again with the blade pointed back over his shoulder, ready to fall forward in a devastating slash. "Near Ward," The blade moved down again, pointed behind him ready for an upward swing. "The Plow," Jaune moved back to the ideal mid-guard position.

Nick nodded in satisfaction before swinging Nogg in a slow and clearly telegraphed swing. Jaune easily moved to the right guard to block with his own blade. Nick swung again from beneath this time, and Jaune once again blocked with his blade.

The two of them fell into a rhythm. Nick would swing in a telegraphed strike and Jaune would block with his own sword or shield again and again, with each swing slowly becoming faster and faster until Jaune felt like he was having trouble keeping up. Nick then disengaged and gave his son a satisfied nod.

"Let's test your footwork and spacing now," Nick smiled as he held his blade out again. "Touch the middle of your blade to the middle of mine, and do your best to keep it there no matter where I move it or step.

Jaune did as his father asked, keeping their swords in contact as his father slowly moved Nogg around and began to step back and fourth. The two of them moved around in circles, lines and loops that resembled a dance that once again started slow and grew faster and faster until Jaune once again felt like he was having trouble keeping up.

Nick came to a halt and gave Jaune another satisfied nod, a small smile gracing his lips.

"I'll fight you on this level," His father surmised as the two of them separated. As the appropriate distance to start a duel grew between them Nick continued, "If you can land five hits on me without getting hit yourself and we'll call it your win."

"Five hits in a row, or just five hits?" Jaune asked as he adjusted his grip on Crocea Mors.

"Just five hits."

"Ring outs or my aura hitting the red is still my loosing condition?"

"That will work," Nick agreed.

"Alright then, I think I'm ready," Jaune took a steadying breath. "You ready?"

"I am," Nick smiled before yelling to the side, "Give Us A Signal New Daughter!"

"Got It New Dad!" Nora cheered as she hefted her hammer and swung it at a mighty gong that Ren had somehow procured while Jaune and Nick had been warming up. The low brass sound reverberated over the training yard.

Father and Son sprung forward as the noise reached their ears, and sword met shield...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Maharaja Palace, Hastinpur, Kingdom of Pandu, Southern Mistral, Animus

- - -

Lalbagh Garden was a beautiful space in Maharaja Palace. Tropical birds flew freely through the air betwen the trees, coming in every color of the rainbow. Flowers of every description filled the beds, tended by the finest gardeners in Pandu. Small ponds of fish dotted the grounds, their splashing delighting children who came to visit. Sacred shrines to Dharmist and Pathist deities offered respite and shelter.



Under one such shrine sat a dusky skinned back with raven black hair and a short cut mustache. His nose was beak like, his eyes black as coal. He wore dark reds under a golden tactical vest, inscribed with holy verse. A dark blue cloak hung from his shoulders. Specks of gray dotted his hair, marking him as older. He sat before the statue of Maia, one of the Dharma goddesses. Just as he had for many years now, he bowed his head and prayed.

Karna Kaurava had been taken into the Maharaja Palace when he was only six years old. His mother had been Kunti, same as Arjun, but his father had been Surya, of the Kaurava Clan. Kunti had divorced Surya and married Pandu when he came to the throne, after Surya had died in battle. His uncle, Duryodhana, had taken over the leadership of the clan after their exile from Hastinpur and the halls of power.



Karna had been put into foster care, in a sense, with his own biological mother and his step-father, the king, to try and mend the great feud between their houses. He had grown up with his half-brothers, Arjun being the one closest to his own age. As a result, they had grown up together, nearly inseparable. Despite being only half-brothers, they were as thick as full kin.



Neither had expected to be thrust into any position of authority. Their eldest brother Yudhishtira was destined to become king after Pandu, and so the princes had trained and enjoyed themselves. Karna wanted to be a royal guard, while Arjun had longed to become a pilot and Hunter. Their childhood memories were filled with laughter and joy.



Then... His uncle Duryodhana had come to him in the night. He told him that Pandu had murdered Surya. That the family was using him to keep his true family down. He had shown him the plight of the Kauravas: Reduced to mobsters and criminals in a kingdom they had ruled for centuries. Duryodhana told him he had been lied to, that the Kauravas were not monsters and Grimm worshippers! It was all lies.



Karna had believed them. Gods help him, he had. His own mother was distant with him, busy ruling the kingdom. His step-father was kind, but every interaction was now colored in the fact Pandu had murdered his blood father. And Arjun? Arjun never took anything seriously, content to live and play and laugh.



A seed had been planted in Karna. A seed that finally came to fruition when Duryodhana asked him to let his forces into the palace. His uncle promised they would only take hostages to get what they were owed. There were supporters from outside Pandu who wanted to return the Kauravas to their rightful place. It had seemed so easy! Karna didn't think, couldn't think, that his true family would be heartless monsters! He had let them into the palace...



And it turned into a massacre. Duryodhana had slaughtered everyone. He claimed it was self defense, that they had refused to surrender... But the bodies of his step-brothers and his mother, lying on the floor covered in blood, still haunted him.



Then came the new order. Loyalists were rounded up and executed with show trials, or tossed to the Grimm to be devoured. The people starved. Mistralian thugs were let in to help support the regime and brutalized their people. Karna had tried to speak up, tried to denounce this... And he had been silenced.



"After all," Duryodhana mocked, sitting on the throne with a smirk, "If not your family... Who would you turn to? Who else do you have left in this world that you have not betrayed? In the end, all you have... Is us."



Karna had no answer for that. His heart was torn in two, and he bitterly lamented ever being born. All the suffering and death was on his head, all of it his fault.



Yet he had one spot of hope.



Arjun and Saia had escaped. They had fled to Vale... And returned years later to reclaim the throne. Karna had helped them every step of the way in secret, to try and make up for his horrible crimes.



When they met again at last, Arjun had been prepared to kill Karna. Karna... Had accepted this. He had fought his brother, but he held back. After all, death was a fitting punishment for a traitor like him. A monster who had gotten his true family murdered... He had deserved no less.



He could still see Arjun standing over him, arrow notched, bow ready. They had fought in this very garden as Arjun made his assault. He could still see the blood on Arjun's brow, the wounds inflicted despite his Aura. Karna had closed his eyes, and prayed that his death would be enough penance.



That he could stop feeling this pain. Stop feeling this guilt.



"Arjun... Don't."



Karna had opened his eyes. A blond young man in blue and white Valean armor, a blue scarf waving from his neck and several swords on his back, had reached out to rest a hand on Arjun's forearm. Arjun gritted his teeth.



"He killed our family," he snarled.



"And it's killing him," the young man said, "Can't you see? How much it hurts him? Besides, he helped us get this far."



Two other companions of Arjun had appeared. Isabel Arc, their leader and healer, and Saia, Arjun's maid and Caster. They too looked to Arjun, eyes begging him to show compassion.



"I should die," Karna whispered, "It's the price I should pay... My horrible mistake..."



"Revenge isn't the answer, Arjun," Isabel said softly, "It won't bring back your parents... It won't fix anything. He helped us."



"Please, Arjun," Saia begged softly, "Please."



Arjun's cold eyes looked between his friends. They went back to Karna. The archer trembled. He took a long, deep breath.



"... I can't do it," he whispered, lowering his bow and arrow. "I can't... I can't kill more kin."



Karna had shaken his head, tears falling from his eyes.



"I deserve to die," he had insisted, "I deserve to! After everything I did... How can you spare me?!"



"Because they're right," Arjun sighed, "It won't bring back our family. It won't change anything."



"I can't live with what I've done," Karna murmured.



"Then you'll have to find a way," Arjun stated angrily, "Because I won't lose anyone else!"



A long and arduous battle with Duryodhana had ensued. Poor Saia had nearly been torn in half. Isabel had to regenerate almost all her limbs. Nick had fought on with most of his bones broken. Arjun had nearly bled out, as had Karna, from their injuries. The city had been wrecked as Duryodhana had even unleashed Grimm upon them and the populace.



But Duryodhana had been defeated. He had been imprisoned. Peace and freedom had been restored.



Karna had taken up his duty to serve his kingdom and his brother. To make up for all the terrible things he had done.



And to watch over the most precious thing in the kingdom to Arjun and Saia...



"Uncle Karna!"



Karna opened his eyes. A young boy of about thirteen rushed into the shrine, panting hard. He wore the purple and gold vestments of a Prince, but had discarded his gold laced headress. He quickly scooted behind the statue of the goddess Maia.



Karna smirked a bit.



"Abhimanyu," he scolded his nephew gently, "Are you hiding from your tutors again?"



"Yes!" Abhimanyu hissed, "And if you squeal on me, I'll-I'll have the guards put you in prison!"



Karna chuckled. A few of the guards ran by, one pausing by the shrine.



"Lord Karna? Have you seen Prince Abhimanyu?"



Karna debated if it would be true justice to turn his nephew back over to the tender mercies of his teachers for a few moments. He could feel Abhimanyu's glare through the statue. He smiled and pointed to his left.



"He went that way," he said.



"Thank you Lord Karna!" The guard replied, turning and rushing off. Karna watched him go. Abhimanyu slowly snuck out from behind the statue, and sighed in relief.



"Thanks Uncle," he said.



Karna rolled his eyes.



"You're as bad as your father, you know," he huffed. Abhimanyu grinned as he sat next to his uncle.



"You think so?"



"Yes," Karna sighed, "You're the Crown Prince. You need to take things seriously."



"I know," Abhimanyu grumbled, rubbing the wooden floor of the shrine, "But it's so boring! Uncle Drona's being all mean and grumpy just because Mom and Dad are away and he has to be the Regent."



He looked at his uncle eagerly.



"Can't you teach me some shooting or-or something cool? Maybe swords?"



"Only if you finish your studies," Karna stated firmly. "A king can't afford to be stupid."



"I'm not stupid!" Abhimanyu protested. "Besides, a king needs to know how to manage stuff more than stupid biology and junk. I can learn that better in a video game!"



Karna chuckled, and ruffled his nephew's hair. Abhimanyu scowled and batted his hand away.



"Hey!"



"You must also appreciate the beauty of the world around you, Abhimanyu," Karna said with a smile, "A true king understands why he must be ready for his role. And why he must understand what he rules."



Abhimanyu grumbled.



"I know I appreciate video games..." He considered and then grinned. "So I'll make sure game studios start in Pandu so I'll always make the best decisions for the kingdom to keep making good ones!"



Karna sighed.



"Truly, the kingdom is in the best of hands," he deadpanned.



His Scroll went off. He pulled it out and opened it up. Abhimanyu leaned over curiously.



"Is it from Dad?" He asked eagerly.



"It is," Karna agreed.



"Why isn't he just calling over the vid?"



"Probably because he wants to ensure the transmission can't be intercepted, " Karna explained, "He triple encrypted it. Let's see..."



He tapped out a few ciphers. The message soon resolved itself. He chuckled.



"He was always using the same cipher numbers, I'll have to get him to change tha-"



His eyes widened in shock. Abhimanyu leaned over to look at the Scroll screen. The young prince's eyes bugged out.



"Maia's alive?!" He gasped.



"Shhh," Karna hissed, scanning around carefully. There wasn't anyone nearby, but that meant nothing. "He kept it top secret for good reason..."



"I-I knew that," Abhimanyu defended himself, leaning back with a huff. Karna read the rest of the message, and sighed.



"Well... His instructions are clear enough," he murmured. "I'll have to start immediately. Find out every path that bastard might take..."



Duryodhana had told him forces from Mistral had aided in the overthrow, but he had never let Karna learn any names. Even after his defeat, he'd ensured all his records had been destroyed.



If Leonardo Lionheart himself had been the culprit...



He would need to put all their agents on high alert. The lion bastard would be trying to find an escape route if this had gotten out. He'd have to talk to their agents at Haven to find him, make it easier to track him down...



At least this time, Karna mused, I am making the right choices.



"Still, it's great!" Abhimanyu said with a grin, "If Maia's alive?"



"Oh?" Karna asked, raising an eyebrow at his nephew. Abhimanyu nodded happily.



"It means she'll have to go to the boring ruler classes, and I won't!"



Karna smirked a bit. He flicked his nephew on the forehead, just as Arjun had done to him when they were growing up.



"OW! What was that for?" Abhimanyu whined.



"Just nostalgia," Karna chuckled.



- - -



Karna is based upon Karna from the Mahabharata, just like Arjun, Saia, Abhimanyu and the other Pandavan characters. I took some liberties with the story for the purposes of adaptation but I hope I'm making things more fleshed out.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Ozpin's Office



- - -



After making use of Theodore's codes, Ironwood and Ozpin opened up the communication lines. Ironwood naturally got into contact with his military attaches and contacts across Remnant. Arjun contacted his intelligence services and a few other members of Pandu's government. Ghira and Kali did much the same for Menagerie. Ozpin called several people in Mistral and other locations, keeping it private for the most part. Isabel herself made some calls, mainly to Arc-En-Ciel but also to many family members.



Things were going to get even more complicated even faster, it seemed.



The meeting dissolved into several smaller ones across the office after that. Ozpin, Ghira, Arjun, and Ironwood were in deep discussion, which often consisted of angry whisper-shouting. Mainly on Arjun and Ironwood's parts.



"We literally have one old air dreadnought! We don't have the room to base more than that!" The Pandu king hissed.



"Well getting a base in Pandu would certainly make the Atlasian Council more strongly consider an actual alliance!" Ironwood said defensively.



"Still doing better than us," Ghira groused, "We only have cruisers and destroyers. And an Atlasian base on mainland Menagerie is out of the question."



"Then allow us to clear one of these island chains for you," Ironwood stated, "There are several you've claimed but are disputed and are run by pirates and bandits. One of those would be an easier sell."



"Atlas doing that would be extremely... Dicey," Ghira stated, "To say the least. It would look like you would want a forward base to invade us with."



"We could do that with the bases we already have, Chieftain," Ironwood replied. Ozpin gently cleared his throat.



"The VDF has a number of air carriers, destroyers and cruisers," Ozpin said, "They haven't been used in warfare in some time, but Vale's Defense forces aiding yours with Atlasian support might be less dicey."



"We're going to need an army of diplomats and miracle workers to sell a full alliance," Arjun mused.



Glynda was talking with Taiyang and Qrow.



"He hasn't moved out of Haven," Glynda said, eyeing some images of said Mistralian Hunter's Academy, "No signs of him anywhere else."



"If he's been working for Salem this long, we can't assume anything," Qrow stated grimly. Glynda nodded. Taiyang hummed.



"If only we knew why he'd betrayed us."



Qrow shrugged.



"Lot of reasons for a man to turn on his allies. In Leo's case? Hm... Wealth doesn't seem like one. Power maybe? He always came off as some sniveling little weasel."



"I guess we'll just have to ask him, when we clobber him," Taiyang stated, slamming his fists together.



Qrow smirked and nodded.



"Violence can help loosen a man's lips."



"Though we'll have to wait for his teeth to grow back," Taiyang added with a grim smile. One his brother from another mother returned. Glynda held in a sigh with long practice.



"Please, try not to kill him," Glynda stated firmly, "I have no love for traitors but he can't tell us anything if he's dead."



"We'll do our best," Taiyang promised.



"And if we do kill him? We'll find someone with a necromancy Semblance," Qrow shrugged, swigging some whiskey from his flask, "Gotta be someone with that around here. Hell, maybe one of Arc's kids has that power. He's got enough of them."



"Must you be so crass?" Glynda sighed. Qrow smirked.



"What? For all we know, it's one of yours with him! How many did you have with him, anyway?"



"Nine, with a tenth on the way," Glynda stated icily. Qrow gaped at her.



"Seriously?! Boy's got stamina!" He turned to Taiyang. "But we've got her beat with our two girls!"



"This is not a competition!" Glynda hissed. Taiyang shrugged and smiled.



"You're right! We already won!"



Glynda smacked them both over the head with her powers. Qrow and Taiyang winced and rubbed their heads in unison.



"Geez. I feel sorry for your future husband," Qrow said. His face slammed into the floor. "OW! JUST KIDDING!"



Which left Isabel and Kali to discuss things. The cat Faunus Chieftainess had produced several holographic dossiers on doctors and locations in Kuo Kuana for her appraisal. Isabel hummed, looking through the holoscreens with a keen eye.



"This location," Kali pointed out one, "Was an Atlasian hospital when they still controlled this part of Menagerie for their mining operations. We've been using it ourselves while we built a new one. Construction on that one has been delayed so this facility is still in use."



Isabel shook her head.



"It would cost a lot to refurbish it to modern standards," she mused, "And the power systems are totally inadequate, but potentially fixable... What about the other facilities?"



Kali flipped to another building, one which was clean and well maintained but clearly abandoned.



"This is a warehouse we are constructing for the docks," Kali explained, "We ensured it had backup power and water systems so it could be used as a shelter in case of attack." She summoned up another image of an old red brick building. "This used to be a factory we were hoping to refurbish for Dust refinement, as it has many rooms and power facilities, but the Dust mine we were hoping to open up turned out to be worthless, so it's been sitting there."



"Hmmm..." Isabel hummed. "The old hospital is probably our best bet, though it's still going to need an enormous amount of work. It's already a hospital but a severely outdated one. And Valean power systems aren't compatible with yours."



Kali nodded and made some notes. She then smiled warmly at Isabel.



"I'm sure we will solve these issues," she said confidentally. "After all, you turned a thousand year old castle into a hospital!"



"Yes," Isabel allowed, "But we're still paying off the debt on that conversion. My ancestors put in extensive sewage and water lines into the castle to allow it to withstand a siege, so all those tunnels were usable when modern technology came along. However, we still had to cut a LOT of holes into the system and do a massive amount of renovation to make it safe and sanitary. Converting an old hospital into a more advanced one is easier in some ways, but we'll have a lot of challenges still."



She sighed as she looked over the many Faunus doctors.



"For example, your people accepting humans among them," Isabel stated. Kali nodded.



"I know," she said, "Our isolation and the White Fang have cut both ways: Many Faunus in Kuo Kuana have never even met a human before, but have nothing but horror stories by the pro-White Fang elements. Blake being free of them means we have more options, but it's going to take time to convince them."



She smiled warmly at Isabel.



"All that said? It will be worth it," she said. "Blake's shared her future with me. It's... It's honestly beautiful. Humans and Faunus living together in peace. It's like a dream come true."



Isabel nodded slowly.



"I don't disagree that that's a wonderful goal to work towards," Isabel said softly, "I just know it's not going to be easy."



"No," Kali agreed, "But nothing worthwhile ever is." She smiled a bit more softly, and leaned in. Her voice got softer.



"That, and I have a selfish motivation."



"Your daughter's happiness and all those grandchildren?" Isabel murmured back. She nodded and smiled softly. "I can understand that."



"That, and..." Kali held up her Scroll. She flipped to an image of... Isabel's eyes widened slightly.



There was Kali, looking a bit older but still beautiful. She was in a hospital bed, surrounded by Jaune, Blake, and Ghira, with Nick grinning and waving in the background. And in Kali's arms was a small baby Faunus, his face scrunched up and his ears flat against his head.



"I wanted to give Blake siblings," Kali confessed, "But poison ensured that..." She trailed off, her eyes filled with pain. Isabel frowned deeply. She reached out and squeezed Kali's hand.



She'd met many women who had suffered miscarriages at Arc-En-Ciel. Her medical techniques had ensured it was rare, but it still happened. It was always devastating for the parents, and she couldn't help the surge of compassion she felt for this woman.



"The twins told me that you are the reason I had their uncle," Kali murmured, "I... I know it's selfish but..."



Isabel smiled softly.



"Yes, but it's okay," she murmured, "It's wrapped up with a desire to help all your people. There's nothing wrong with that and... And I hope I can help you and Ghira... And Blake."



Kali smiled and nodded. She quickly dabbed her eyes, so quickly a normal person wouldn't have caught it.



"Thank you," she said in a slightly calmer voice. Isabel nodded and turned back to the holo-windows.



Yes, she was being manipulated. Isabel knew that. She also knew the other parents would try similar things on her... Yet Kali was being honest about her manipulations, and she couldn't fault her for that.



The elevator door chimed, and then opened. Out stumbled four figures. Isabel looked up from the holoscreens and her eyes widened. Taiyang and Qrow grinned. Ironwood's eyes narrowed while Arjun smirked and Ozpin raised an eyebrow.



"OZPIN OLD MAN!" Professor Peter Port cried, charging up, "How could you leave us out of the festivities?! You had a jolly good brawl here and we missed it!"



"All because you insisted on driving us to the bar," Professor Bartholomew Oobleck observed, sipping his ever present mug of coffee.



"That led us into an exceptional adventure!" Port protested, "Why, we had to fight off a Grimm Chimera!"



Professor Celestia Peach, a beautiful woman with peach colored hair descending in a waist-length ponytail and dressed in a white dress shirt, black vest, and long green skirt over leather boots stomped up, looking quite irate. The Dust Mistress had several vials and rounds of it on her belt, many recently used.



"Yes, because you drove us into its lair!" She sighed heavily. She brushed her hair out of her face. "Then when we defeated it, we still went to the bar!"



"It's bad luck not to celebrate your victory over a massive Grimm with libations!" Port chortled. The fourth member of the group, Professor Mombi Lang, walked up. She was pale but curvy with black hair in a tight bun, and wore an all concealing black dress. She adjusted her glasses and coughed. As the school librarian, she was generally quiet unless someone disturbed her books.



"Ah, y-yes, well... After that we got in a bar fight-"



"Oobleck started it!" Peach defended herself.



Oobleck sipped his coffee and nodded.



"If someone is going to state gross inaccuracies about the Third Dynasty of Mistral's Golden Emperor, I must challenge them!"



"I agreed with that, but not the violence after!" Mombi said quickly.



"I was fine with the violence," Peach grinned, "Got to use some of that new Quick Lightning Dust!"



"And what a battle it was with those ruffians!" Peter chortled, "Why, we nearly leveled the entire inn!" A pause. "Which is why we had to flee and wait until the heat was down. Apologies, Headmaster. I will contribute whatever I can towards the repairs, I promise."



"I... See," Ozpin managed, his eyebrow twitching a bit. Port grinned.



"Then we heard about the incident this morning and raced over! And what a fantastic story! Miss Adel told the whole thing! I'm sure she edited in some places, maybe exaggerated things here or there, but nevertheless..."



He then pulled out a large gift box, wrapped with golden ribbon, and held it out to Glynda.



"Congratulations, Glynda!" Port cried, "So you lost your chance at Nick! You at least get the son! I knew Mister Arc was manly enough to end your spinsterhood!"



"It's unconventional," Oobleck allowed, as Glynda's face rapidly turned red, "But congratulations! Do try to be hard on him-You wouldn't want to be accused of favoritism!"



"Y-Yes, congratulations," Mombi mumbled with a sigh. "I'm he's just like his father... Kind. Handsome. Hard working..." She blushed and mumbled.



"If he's anything like his father," Peach sighed happily, "He'll definitely make you happy! That's why that witch Isabel snatched him up like a cu-" She paused and looked over at Isabel. She blinked.



The four teachers finally noticed Isabel. Mainly thanks to her teeth grinding almost audibly. Kali scooted away from her in alarm.



"Isabel!" Port cheered. "How wonderful to see you again! I can't wait to see your husband! He was always my favorite student! Also, congrats! Your son is the manliest man I've ever taught!"



"Thank... You..." Isabel growled, glaring death at Peach and Mombi.



Mombi gulped and hid behind Oobleck. Peach coughed and waved nervously.



"Oh! Hello Izzy! How's every little thing?"



"Just fine, thank you," Isabel growled.



"How's Nick?"



"TAKEN."



Oobleck sipped his coffee and looked to Ozpin.



"I take it there's more to the story than mere libertine antics?"



"You mean hedonistic antics," Arjun corrected. Oobleck shook his head.



"No, Hedonism is the philosophy of finding joy in life, libertinism is more focused on the sexual aspect."



"I thought that was Bohemianism?" Ghira questioned. Oobleck again shook his head.



"No, that refers to a Gallian intellectual movement focused on rejecting money and power in favor of free love and artistic expression free of the confines of the modern world."



"Ah, I always get those mixed up," Arjun observed dryly. Ghira nodded with a slight smirk himself.



Ozpin snipped his coffee.



"There is indeed an explanation for the extraordinary events that have taken place in your absence," Ozpin said.



Isabel sucked in a deep breath and calmed herself. She smiled at Ozpin. No matter what her feelings, she knew Ozpin would always come through for her.



Ozpin nodded.



"Namely... It's all Nick's fault."



Isabel gaped.



We're going with that already?!



"And somewhat Isabel's," Ozpin continued.



"WHAT?!" Isabel cried.



"And Glynda's desperation," Qrow snarked, just before a mysterious force slammed his face into the floor. "URK!"



Glynda blushed.



"I am NOT DESPERATE!"



"Indeed!" Port cheered, "You are sensible! My own wife chose me because no Faunus man could satisfy her! Something I demonstrated on the night before our wedding after slaying another Grimm Chimera-"



Isabel planted her face in her hands and groaned.



- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Many people in the world think they know exactly who they are, what their place in life is, and how the world is supposed to work. Even if they don't know everything they know how to work with the things they do know, and they are perfectly content with not knowing much more than that. Most of those people can go their entire lives not knowing they don't actually know who they are, what their place in life is, or how the world is supposed to work. Still, sometimes... sometimes one of those people is hit with the revelation of how limited their knowledge actually is.

Such revelations normally come slowly with little moments of insights changing their perspective over the course of weeks, months, years, or even decades. There are times, however, when someone can have such a revelation in a singular day that upends everything they thought they knew.

For Cardin Winchester, that singular day of upheaval came relatively early in his first semester at Beacon Academy. The day in question was part of the class trip to the season-locked forest of Forever Fall, during the sap harvesting section of the trip. A group of Grimm had somehow managed to slip past the sentries and had attacked the harvesting operation with virtually no warning. That led directly to the moment where Cardin's world turned on its' head; with him lying prone on his back in the dirt, the three guys he had trusted to always have his back running away in a panic, and the ridiculously underqualified wimp who had lied his way into Beacon being the only person standing his ground to protect him.

It would be an understatement to say this turn of events had a negative effect on Team CRDL's morale. Russel, Dove, and Sky had spent the week after apologizing every chance they got, but even the most sincere and contrite apology couldn't heal the rift their betrayal of trust had gouged into their friendship. And so Cardin did what he had to do: he signed his team up for group therapy with Professor Port.

The first session went well. All four of them got important things off their chest, like the shame Russel felt for leaving a lifelong friend behind without a thought, the doubt weighing on Dove and Sky for having panicked when a Grimm popped up when they didn't expect it, and the anger Cardin was keeping locked up about the whole thing because he had no idea how to direct it without breaking something or someone he'd regret doing that to. In the end, they all agreed to more sessions, as well as scheduling one-on-one meetings with Port.

It was during these sessions that Cardin had a series of epiphanies about who he was and his place in the world. Of these epiphanies the one that would change the course of his life was this: He was a jerk to a lot of people he had no good reason to be a jerk to, and that needed to change.

The professor told him the best place to start was to apologize to those he had wronged and that made enough sense for Cardin to try. He ran into a bit of a snag though: very few people thought he was being sincere. Those who didn't think it was a ruse of some sort were convinced he would quickly backslide the instant they let their guard down around him so nobody was really accepting his apologies. He needed to find a way to convince people he was serious, and after some thought, he had an idea! If he could make things right with someone the doubters didn't think he could, it would prove how serious he was about this!

And so Cardin sought out The Rabbit, Velvet Scarlatina, and forced himself to say he was sorry. While she was skeptical like the others were, she could see how much effort apologizing like this was taking him, so she told him she'd let him make it up to her. Making it up to her ended up meaning he'd spend the next two weeks helping her with her hobbies that her teammates had no interest in, namely lugging around a bunch of lighting equipment for her photography.

During those photoshoots they talked, and not just about the shoots themselves. They talked about pretty much everything, from mundane small talk to deeper conversations with personal things laid bare. By the end of those two weeks he was no longer thinking of her as The Rabbit, Velvet Scarlatina, but simply as Velvet. It was almost disappointing when she declared he had made it up to her, and then it was oddly exhilarating when she asked if he wanted to just hang out sometime. He had said yes before he knew what he was doing, and so they had made time to hang out every other week outside of school.

Over time those hangouts started to look more and more like dates, and the realization that they had indeed become dates in all but name surprised Cardin by how happy the thought made him. And so yesterday Cardin had planned on asking Velvet if they were actually dating and if they were boyfriend and girlfriend now... But then she started kissing him and he forgot to ask. He figured the rather intense make-out session made the question unnecessary because girls didn't kiss guys they didn't consider their boyfriends like that, right?

Well if it wasn't clear by the end of the week he'd try asking again. Until then he'd play the role in the hopes that he wasn't misreading things, and today playing the role of boyfriend meant carrying camera equipment again.

"Alright, so we're going to Training Field 12," Velvet explained as she handed him a set of carrying cases that he remembered being for her video camera setup. "I got a message from Yang telling me that a fight's about to go down, that she'll want to show her kids someday, and we're gonna film it."

"Who's she fighting?" Cardin asked as he hefted the case and followed Velvet down the hall.

"Jaune's dad is a former alumnus of Beacon, and he's going to test all the girls who want to marry his son," Velvet answered as they turned the corner. Cardin stumbled in shock.

"They-What?!" He gasped in disbelief. Velvet smiled nervously as they came to the doors to the gate that led to the training fields.

"Oh, Ruby actually came to my team's dorm room to ask Coco for a dress and she told us everything," Velvet admitted as she opened the door for Cardin so he could navigate through it with her carrying cases. "Um... Basically, they all got engaged to Jaune, some members of the Arc family who think their choice of bride for him is the best came and told them, and so they started fighting over him."

Cardin blinked slowly several times.

"Over Jaune? Seriously?"

"He's a good guy!" Velvet said defensively. Her ears twitched in a way that Cardin knew meant she wasn't being entirely truthful. She must have realized he noticed as she sighed. "The truth is... Well... A LOT more complicated and I can't say any more."

Cardin stared at his... Probably girlfriend? She kept smiling nervously. Cardin sighed, grumbled, but nodded.

"All right."

Velvet nodded. Cardin then gave her a slightly worried look.

"You're not engaged to Jaune too, right?"

"What? No! Not at all!" Velvet insisted, shaking her head rapidly. Cardin relaxed a little.

"Good. Then I'll accept it for now. I mean, what's the alternative? That time travel's involved?"

Velvet winced. Cardin gaped.

"Wait, it is?!"

"I... It's complicated," Velvet said, pressing her hands together in front of her chest, pleading, "Please don't pry too much?"

Cardin stared at his hot and sexy sort-of girlfriend... And nodded.

"Okay. I trust you," Cardin said. She smiled back as the two of them finally went through the doors that led to the training fields. "But I heard a lot of weird things from the grapevine."

"It's... Much weirder than you think," Velvet said. Cardin shrugged.

"Yeah? Well, I'd say time travel is a much more reasonable explanation for how almost a dozen girls started fighting over him than half the rumors I heard yesterday," Cardin justified himself as Training Field 12 came into view. "I mean the most common rumor I heard yesterday was that he was dating all of them behind each other's backs, but I think you'd agree that idea is less believable than time travel after watching Jauney Boy fumble Weiss for most of a semester."

Velvet scrunched her nose at that, "I hate that your reasoning makes sense."

"As long as that's the only thing you hate about me," Cardin teased gently. Velvet smiled back.

"Dork," she said affectionately.

They arrived at Training Field 12 shortly after that, and Velvet wasted no time in directing Cardin to set up her camera's tripods and other equipment at the spot her expert eye determined to be the best spot to film everything that would go down on the field. As he finished adjusting the last piece to Velvet's satisfaction he turned his eyes to the field to see Jaune and someone who could only be Jaune's old man going through a series of warm up exercises, both of them seemingly oblivious to the crowd that was gathering to watch.

Apparently, word that there would be some fights that would be worth watching had gotten around. Cardin could see students from every year and every school either finding a place to sit in the stands or milling around the corners of the training field. There were several faces he could recognize in the gathering crowd, like the third-year teams of PLCC and TNMT and the fourth-year Team SLVR. Other students were also pulling out cameras or their scrolls getting ready to film, but Cardin doubted any of them would get a better angle than Velvet.

The sound of a gong brought Cardin's eyes back to the field itself and he beheld the first clash of steel.

--------------------

Sword met shield with Jaune angling said shield to deflect his father's strike upwards, allowing him to dive forward under his father's swing and attempt to jab his old man in the stomach. Nick sidestepped the thrust and blocked Jaune's attempt to follow up with a swing before bringing his sword around for another strike. Jaune deflected this strike with his own blade and swung his shield around attempting to hit Nick with the pointed bottom of the shield. His father danced back from that with a grin growing on his face, and then Jaune was on the defensive as Nick started a series of rapid thrusts. Jaune deflected each thrust with either his sword or shield as he slowly gave ground and looked for an opening.

"I see you're favoring deflection instead of blocking," Nick observed as he switched from rapid thrusts to relatively slower and tricky swings.

"Blocking is normally a contest of raw strength," Jaune explained as his shield deflected one of his father's swings away and downwards, giving Jaune an opening to try another thrust of his own. Once again his blade failed to hit but Jaune kept his momentum and attempted another strike, "Deflection's almost entirely about the mechanics of leverage so strength doesn't mater as much."

"Good," Nick grinned wider as he stepped back from another one of his son's swings. "Deflecting when you can't dodge would be the right call If I was going all out," Nick ducked under Jaune's next swing and jabbed up at his son's armpit, forcing Jaune to actually block with his shield, "But I'm matching your speed and strength right now, so if blocking will give you the opening you need take it."

Jaune grunted in acknowledgement as he sidestepped away from his father, the two of them circling one another searching for an opening. The two of them paused, and then suddenly lashed out at one another with Jaune ducking under his father's sword and landed a solid hit on his father's leg...

...only for his father's blade to change direction and hit Jaune on the back at the same moment. Jaune stumbled forward but managed to spin around in time to deflect his father's followup attack and disengage.

He had landed a hit. Sure he had gotten hit in turn meaning he still needed to land five hits but up until that moment some small part of him hadn't expected to land any hits at all even with his father pulling his punches to fight on his level. He had landed a hit on his father, which means he could land more of them.

He could even land five of them.

He could do this.

He could win this.

With that determined thought Jaune sprung into action again, leading his charge with his shield in the best position to block. Nick was forced to sidestep with Jaune taking a swing at his father's retreating form, only missing by a handful of centimeters. Nick laughed in delight seeing his son doing his best to control the initiative of the fight before taking the initiative back with a flurry of swings that forced Jaune to backpedal. But then the younger Arc saw the pattern behind those swings and with that pattern an opportunity.

Jaune raised his shield as he stepped into his father's next strike. The clash of steel on steel brought his father's blade to a stop long enough for Jaune to thrust his own sword forward and land a hit on Nick's bicep, and Jaune successfully leaned back far enough to duck under his father's sword as it swung back around.

That was one.

"Nice block Son," Nick congratulated as he took a hand off Nogg's handle, changing his stance to present a smaller profile as he started to wield the blade one handed. The elder Arc then launched into a series of rapid thrusts that pushed Jaune's guard to the limit, with two of Nick's thrusts slipping through and hitting Jaune in the shoulder and hip.

In spite of those hits Jaune's guard didn't break, and soon he had a measure for the timing of the thrusts. On the next thrust when his Father had reached the point of maximum extension Jaune swung with his shield and bashed the blade aside, swinging as quickly as he could with his sword into the resulting opening landing a hit on his father's forearm.

That was two.

Nick shifted his stance again, flexing his left hand and bringing it up into a fisticuff position as he judged his Son's defenses. The elder Arc threw a haymaker with the fist that Jaune reflexively blocked with his shield, leaving him open to the stab towards his belly. Jaune barely managed to get his own sword down in time to block the strike, and for a moment their swords shifted back and forth in the bind. Then they slipped past one another and both Arcs hit each other in the ribs.

They both disengaged and circled about for a moment before Nick moved in again with two horizontal swipes from Nogg that Jaune backpedaled to dodge, but this still got Nick close enough to punch again with his left hand. This time Jaune ducked under the punch and rolled forward to get behind his father, taking a swing at the older man's leg in the passing that landed a hit on his thigh.

That was three.

"Well done," Nick laughed as the two of them spun around to face each other again. Then Nick tossed Nogg into the air and caught it with his left hand. "Now let's switch things up a bit!"

--------------------

The civilians and time travelers were up in the stands, watching the fight unfold. Almost all of the kids had a keen interest as they watched.

"It is cool to see Grandpa Nick in his prime," Nicholas said with a grin, "I only saw videos of him before."

"Why is that, Nicholas?" Willow asked, her eyes locked onto the older blond swordsman.

"Um, well... He died in my timeline," Nicholas said. Willow snapped her head over to her grandson and gasped.

"He what?!"

"It's all right, Mistress, it hasn't happened yet," Klein soothed, pouring her tea from a thermos.

"E-Even so," Willow mumbled.

"Weird," Theodore observed, "Granny Izzy died in mine. Grandpa Nick is still hale and hearty, but he's always been very sad..." He sighed. "Geez..."

"Oh that's even worse," Willow murmured.

"He's doing fine in my timeline," Xander volunteered, "He helped train me for my tournaments, and trained Mom and Dad when they were fighting Salem."

"Oh yeah! Same!" Julian cheered. "Geez, you wouldn't expect him to be able to swing that sword so fast but BAM! WHAM! He just whips it around and you go flying!"

"Granny Izzy taught me a lot," Xia bragged, flexing a bicep, "Especially in how to beat the crap out of someone!"

"Indeed," Petra grinned, "She and Mother got on so well, they invented a new martial art style the Church now teaches across Remnant."

"Well, that happened in my timeline too!" Xia insisted. Petra smirked.

"Shall we see whose style is more formidable?"

"Oh definitely," Xia grinned, her eyes flashing green briefly.

"Muscleheads," Leandra and Leander muttered.

"Hey, she taught me too!" Amethyst insisted. She flushed at the looks from her temporal half-siblings. "I mean, about a lot of non-fighting things. She's a great teacher!"

"She is," Ash agreed, "She helped us get our Semblances under control."

"Yeah but Grandpa Nick is a lot more fun," Ashley insisted, watching the fight keenly.

"He is," Athena agreed, "Jaune seems to be a lot less aggressive than he needs to be, if he's using my daughter's style." She slipped into a darker tone, her body language far harder and colder.

"He must strike without hesitation, drive himself forward with his power. He must conquer all he sees, for the Riddle of Steel is in who wields it, not in the weapon itself-"

"Miss Athena," Orestes warned. Athena blinked and flushed.

"Ah, sorry. I was thinking back to Red Sanya... You remember that movie, right Basara?"

"I remember that I still chafe from all the horseback riding I had to do," Basara grumbled.

"Grandmother!" Petra gasped, scandalized. Logos laughed.

"I remember it too, dear... Be grateful you didn't have to get knocked off the horse so many times for stunts."

Jaune's potential brides were having their own conversation further down the stands where they watched and waited for their turn.

"He really has improved immensely," Blake murmured. "Going from untrained civilian to that good in just a semester or two? It's amazing."

"You know, it really is!" Ruby chirped.

"You did well with him," Arslan complimented Pyrrha, who smiled and blushed happily.

Blake's eyes shone brightly.

"He's just like Genji from Genji the Gutsy Ninja!"

Yang turned a tense smile to her partner.

"You mean the blond idiot ninja who married the dark quiet girl who loved reading?"

Blake shrugged, exuding cat-like smugness.

"It hadn't crossed my mind~."

"Yeah?!" Ruby demanded. "Well, I think he's more like-like Eddard in All Metal Alchemist!"

"Oh, where he marries his childhood friend who happens to be mechanically inclined?" Blake scoffed. "What a coincidence!"

"You guys keep referencing fiction, this is real life," Yang pointed out.

"Says the kissless virgin," Weiss deadpanned. Yang growled, her eyes flashing red.

"I told you that in confidence! And like you can talk, Ice Queen!"

"Brainless brawler!"

"C-Can we all please stop fighting?" May asked. "We um, we do need to think about... Um... Fighting."

"That's Team RWBY," Emerald sighed, "They constantly argue and bicker and you have no idea how they could possibly be a threat. Cinder certainly didn't think they were-She thought they just lucked out. She thought you were her greatest threat, Pyrrha, which is why she focused so much on eliminating you."

"Oh... Um..." Pyrrha blinked, considered, "... Thhhhank you?"

"I don't think that was a compliment," Arslan deadpanned.

"I'm working on it!" Emerald huffed.

--------------------

His father was just as good at swinging a sword with his left hand as he was with his right. Being ambidextrous with a blade was one of the better flexes a swordsman could show off, as someone who wielded their sword with the southpaw had a distinct advantage over someone who didn't. The reasons for this were multifaceted, with the most prominent facet being the fact that naturally left-handed people were uncommon enough that your average swordsman would never have a chance to practice against a left-hander. This uncommon nature also meant that defenses were designed with the expectation that your opponent would be right-handed.

For Jaune the big problem was that his shield was on his own left where it would naturally block the angles a right-handed person would be comfortable striking from. Now the blocking was falling entirely to his sword-hand, and it wasn't easy. He blocked high, low, high, high, mid, low, high, low, mid, mid, high again, his father slipping through his guard four times to land three solid hits.

That said while his shield wasn't as useful for blocking against his Father's new angle of attack the second half of Crocea Mors was not idle. Jaune punched with it, swung it like he was trying to cut with its' edge and he twisted his body to try and find a stance that would put the shield at a good angle to resume blocking duties.

It was during one of those twists that Jaune saw a possibility for a new opening. His body was turned the right way while his legs were tensed in the right position for him to hold his shield in front of him in a charge, and so that's what he did. Leading with his shield and shoulder he charged like a professional Grifball player at a moment where Nick had to dodge towards Jaune's right, allowing the younger Arc to take a passing swing that managed to slip over his father's attempt at deflection and hit his old man on the shoulder.

That was four.

"Not bad," Nick grinned before tossing Nogg into the air again and catching it with his right hand. Yet he didn't catch it by the handle, he caught Nogg by the blade, "I hope you're ready for this!"

Nick shot forward, using the blade of his sword like a handle and swinging it about as if the pommel was the head of a mace. Jaune blocked the first, second and third strikes of Nogg's pommel with his shield but the fourth saw his father hook the crossguard of Nogg over the shield half of Crocea Mors like the claw of a hammer and wrest it from Jaune's arm.

Jaune danced backwards as he dodged his father's next strike and the one that followed it. The next few moments were spent franticly dodging his father's strikes with no attempts at blocking or deflecting them, because Jaune knew in his gut that if his father could pry off his shield by using Nogg's crossguard like a hook that easily then any attempt to block or deflect with his sword would just result in losing his weapon.

A jump to avoid a vertical swing to his right. A limbo duck to avoid a horizontal swing. A twist to avoid a jab that would have seen Nogg's pommel hit his kidney. Jaune's mind raced as he looked for options, and after getting hit on the hip and dodging two more swings he thought he had one.

Jaune jumped forward to his father's right and flared his aura as he let his father hit him, sending him crashing to the ground. Yet Jaune managed to land in a role, letting him use the momentum of the hit to create significant distance between him and his father. That extra distance was the head start Jaune needed to run to where his shield had been tossed aside.

He didn't try to put the shield back on, his father would be on him too quick for him to have the time to do that. As he grabbed his shield at the top he made sure to scrape it along the ground so it scooped up a shovelful of dirt as he ran past it. Then as he heard his father's footfalls get closer Jaune spun around flinging that shovelful of dirt in the general direction of Nick's head. Jaune immediately followed this up by throwing his shield at his father's chest and then charging forward with his blade held high a moment after.

Nick raised his free hand to keep the spray of dirt out of his eyes and swung Nogg to knock away the shield, but since he was matching Jaune's speed for this match that left him open long enough for his son to strike him in a leaping pass. Jaune lashed out with the sword half of Crocea Mors as he sailed through the air on his father's left, scoring a hit on the elder Arc's shoulder blade before hitting the ground and rolling away from any possible reprisal.

Jaune came to a stop on his back, slightly winded, but otherwise fine.

"That's five!" Nick announced to the world as he wiped the dirt that got past his hand from his face. Returning Nogg to its' sheath with a pleasant smile gracing his lips Nick walked up to his son and held out a hand to help his boy up. Jaune accepted and was pulled to his feet in short order.

"So how'd I do?" Jaune asked once he was back on his feet. His father pulled him into a brief yet snug hug before pulling back with his hands on Jaune's shoulders.

"Wonderfully Son!" Nick enthused before turning and taking a handful of steps to retrieve the shield half of Crocea Mors. He handed the shield back to Jaune as he continued, "You have a great foundation to build on, and I already know what I'll want to teach you this week. We'll have you at the front of the pack in no time!"

This wasn't the first time someone had praised his progress, Pyrrha brought it up almost every time they trained together and each of his friends had commented on it at least once, but hearing it from his Father just hit different. Jaune's vision became blurry for a moment as he blinked back a tear born of a confusing mix of relief and joy.

"That's great Dad," Jaune smiled up at his father. "What do you want to teach me first?"

"Good question," Nick brought a hand to his chin and stroked his beard for a moment, "I have a whole list of things I've always wanted to teach you, but, well, you know why it didn't happen." Nick looked chagrined for a second before his eyes lit up with excitement, "Have you learned any Aura Blade techniques while you've been here?"

"No, I haven't," Jaune admitted as he returned his shield to its' sheath configuration, brushing a bit of dirt off of it in the process. He sheathed the sword and returned Crocea Mors to its place on his belt.

"Then that's where we'll start," Nick nodded with conviction. "There's a technique that every swordsman of the Arc family needs to know. Your great-grandfather Shirou taught it to me when he and Arturia realized I'd be part of the family one day, and when I had mastered it Shirou declared me a true Arc. This technique has been passed down from one generation to the next all the way back to the founding of our family, and I'm honored that I'll get to teach it to you."

Jaune felt the weight behind his father's words, and as they sank in a question bubbled to the surface; "We have a Family Aura Blade Technique?"

"The family symbol's two crescents for a reason Son," Nick grinned with pride. The elder Arc then turned his eyes to the stands where Jaune's future wives sat waiting for their matches and he opened his mouth to speak again. Then he closed it. His face became contemplative for a moment and then he spoke; "There's something else I want to talk to you about, but it should probably wait until I've seen what your harem's made of."

Jaune bit down on the reflexive objection to the idea that the girls were his harem. The reflex wasn't helpful right now, even if he and his possible wives hadn't agreed to being a harem. That wasn't a call Jaune felt comfortable making on his own.

"Get some water and send Team RWBY down for their fight," Nick instructed with a grin, "I've figured out the rules we'll use for your wives' matches."

"What are you thinking?" Jaune asked.

"I fight them with Nogg, and if they force me to draw Blont Joyeux we can call it their win," His father answered as he gestured to the railgun sword on his back. "That should be fair, right?"

"Right..." Jaune tentatively agreed while wondering if that was the only handicap his father was going to give himself...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -



There was an old saying Cinder's stepmother had once related to her. Something that stuck with her even after she'd burned her, her horrific step-sisters, and the Glass Unicorn to the ground.



"The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife."



Iridescent was smiling a lot as she bustled around the safehouse kitchen, preparing tea and snacks for them. Neo, Mercury and Roman had run off to start making some preparations, leaving her alone with the new recruit.



Cinder never stopped watching her, amber eyes locked onto her every move.



Iridescent noticed, of course. She pretended not to. But their eyes met far too often for the white-haired girl to not know that Cinder knew.



Iridescent's smile grew just a tad larger.



"Calm down, Lady Cinder," Iridescent said with a girlish titter, "I'm not going to poison you before we've gotten to know each other! Besides, the Maiden Power would let you heal from almost anything I could carry with me!"



"Your due diligence is impressive," Cinder allowed, eyes still narrowed. Iridescent giggled and practically flounced over to the table Cinder sat at. She set down a platter of snacks, and bounced into the chair facing her.



"It's no less than what you have done, Lady Cinder," Iridescent gushed, already chowing down on cookies and tea, "Mmm... Snickerdoodles! Miss Neo has great taste in pastries!"



"Yes, she does," Cinder allowed coldly. She took her own tea, and sipped at it slowly. She betrayed no fear, no anger. Just as she was taught.



Iridescent then plugged her Scroll into the holoport, and projected a few screens. Rapsheets appeared, showing off four criminals. Cinder looked over them all thoughtfully as Iridescent launched into an explanation.



"Headmaster Lionheart has gotten these four individuals to work for us," she said, "They will be arriving soon. Their extra power will allow us to counter the reinforcements at Beacon."



"They've all lost to Teams AARN and STRQ in the past," Cinder pointed out, "And they will be outnumbered."



"True!" Iridescent agreed, "Which is why we need to even the odds. Would you say that our enemies are now aware of the Breach plan?"



Cinder nodded slowly.



"They would have to be, given Emerald's betrayal," Cinder stated in a flat tone. Iridescent smiled almost sympathetically.



"Aw. I've had followers betray me before. It's never fun, is it?"



Cinder kept her temper in check through sheer force of will. The bubbly tone of Irisdecent's voice seemed like it was intended to piss her off.



She wouldn't give her the satisfaction.



"No," Cinder said. Iridescent beamed.



"So! What are you planning to do now that they are aware of the Breach?" She asked.



Cinder sucked in a deep breath.



"White Fang is still going to execute the plan," she said, "It's too far along to be canceled. My plan is to have them make a few diversionary strikes to split Beacon's forces and still go ahead with it. One of these strikes will be at the Vale Capitol Tower, the center of government." She tapped a few buttons on her own Scroll, bringing up a holographic map of Vale. "While Watts' virus is no longer useful, we still have access to many key systems of Vale's security grid. We can initiate a shutdown of the system and ensure several bombings will be successful."



Her children's faces flashed in her mind again. She pushed them down hurriedly.



Iridescent nodded with a broad smile.



"Ah! It is workable, Lady Cinder! However, I do have a... Critique or two?" She held her hands in front of her chest. "May I share them?"



"By all means," Cinder replied, allowing a brief, tight smile on her face. Iridescent looked over the map of Vale and hummed, tapping her finger on her lips.



"If they are aware of the Breach, they are aware of the final stage of your plan," she pointed out, "I believe we should execute it fully all at once, with a heavy diversion at Mount Glenn to lure as many of their forces there as possible."



Cinder raised an eyebrow.



"Oh?" She asked blandly. Iridescent nodded happily.



"Yes! I believe if we show a large concentration of White Fang at Mount Glenn," she pointed it out on the map, "With a few attacks on the villages still near it? We can lure out a number of powerful teams!"



"Probably not enough to meaningfully distract them," Cinder sniffed, "They likely haven't struck Mount Glenn now because they're still sorting out all the future knowledge."



"We can ensure it if we unleash the large Grimm buried in Mount Glenn," Iridescent said with a cheerful smile. Cinder shook her head.



"There's only a dragon Grimm buried in the mountains, and that is in Mount Kiboreia behind Beacon."



"Oh no," Iridescent shook her head, "We'll be using that one as well! But there is a new giant Grimm. One created by Doctor Merlot's experiments."



"How do you know that?" Cinder demanded.



Iridescent beamed.



"Because he told me so! He's joined our Queen's side, Lady Cinder. I'm surprised you didn't know!"



Cinder felt an icy grip on her heart. She had known of Doctor Merlot, but she had not known Salem had recruited him. While Salem didn't tell her everything, she did at least update her on potential assets to rely on.



What else don't I know?



"I've been very busy," Cinder said quietly, "It is good to know we have him on our side."



Iridescent beamed.



"Isn't it? Anyway, I believe that unleashing that Grimm will lure enough forces out for a trap. A trap our four mercenaries will spring." She pointed to Mount Kiboreia. "At the same time as the bombs going off in the city, we will unleash the dragon upon Vale. This much chaos will allow us to get into Beacon through the underground tunnels."



Cinder felt herself grimace. For a moment, she imagined her twins... The twins and Arc being menaced by the Dragon. It wasn't a pleasant thought.



"Penetrating the Tower will be the greatest challenge, especially without the virus," Cinder pointed out, "And Raven is now held as prisoner."



Iridescent grinned.



"Yes! Which means once we get in there, we will have two Maidens on our side," she said with a happy nod.



Cinder stared intently at her.



"You haven't revealed how we're going to get in there," she pointed out. Iridescent giggled.



"Oh Lady Cinder~! Where's your sense of adventure? Of mystery?"



"Long gone. How are we getting into the Tower?" Cinder asked, tiny flames igniting around and above her shoulders. Iridescent smiled back and waved her hand.



"Don't be cross, Lady Cinder! Here, I'll show you."



Iridescent... Dropped. Sank away. Cinder rose and stared as she slipped into the floor and vanished into it, like she'd fallen into the water. Her magic-enhanced senses screamed a warning and she stepped out of the way as Iridescent rose out of the floor right where she had been standing. Iridescent's ascent slowed and then stopped as her feet now stood on the floor. She let out a breath, and panted for air briefly.



"Whew! Always a bit of a rush," she admitted. She beamed. "I can control my density! I can reduce and control it so precisely that I can slip through solid matter... Or..."



The floor creaked ominously and then splintered around her feet. Iridescent took a step, and smashed a footprint into the wood. Cinder didn't so much as twitch.



"I can increase my density to become super dense and strong!" Iridescent continued, still in a cheery manner. "With our Queen's training and assistance, I can get us into the bottom of the Tower, kill Amber, free Raven... And anything else you would like to do, my Lady."



Cinder frowned.



"You have to hold your breath to do it, don't you?"



"That's true!" Iridescent said brightly, "We'll have to take a break or two getting in, especially since I'll be bringing you along. But we'll manage!"



"And you believe we can convince Raven to join us?" Cinder asked, "She's never been open to our entreaties before."



Iridescent shrugged happily.



"Well! She can either join us... Or we'll kill her, and make sure she's thinking of one of us at the time. I believe that will certainly motivate her! Along with a few magical tools Queen Salem gave me!"



"You're going to share those with me," Cinder stated coldly. Iridescent nodded.



"Of course! But... One small request?"



Cinder's eyes narrowed.



"Yes?"



Iridescent put her hands together and smiled pleadingly.



"May I see this Jaune Arc and your future children?"



Cinder glared. Iridescent continued to smile innocently. Cinder sucked in a breath and let it go.



"Fine," she stated. She held up her Scroll and flipped to the pictures Mercury was able to take of the twins. Iridescent cooed.



"Awww! They grew up so well! The boy is handsome, the girl is beautiful! They both have the right look!"



"Right look?"



Iridescent nodded, a glint in her eyes.



"They have known pain. They have known death. They have taken a life... Just like their mother~!"



Cinder stayed calm. She slowly nodded, the action feeling difficult.



"Yes."



"Their father though... Hmm... He's handsome, kind, and brave. I can tell," Iridescent nodded, tapping her chin as she looked at Jaune's picture, "A true knight in shining armor!"



She looked at Cinder with a small smile.



"He must have done something right to win your heart."



Cinder pulled the Scroll away and closed it. She shook her head slowly, as the icy grip returned to her heart.



"It doesn't matter," she stated, "We're taking him hostage during this fight for extra leverage. Nothing more."



"Oh? We are?" Iridescent asked, tilting her head curiously. Cinder nodded.



"The boy with the time travel semblance is too dangerous to hold. He could use his abilities to escape and eliminating him might change the timeline completely. Jaune..." She shook her head, "Arc is safer to take."



Iridescent beamed.



"Of course! And perhaps you can break him. Make him join our side? That would be wonderful!"



Cinder slowly nodded.



"Perhaps," she allowed. "I have no feelings one way or the other."



Iridescent pouted.



"That won't make for a very good marriage, my Lady," she pointed out. She then shrugged. "But it is none of my business. Shall I begin drawing up the plans for the briefings?"



"Yes, do it," Cinder ordered. Iridescent beamed.



"As my Lady commands," she said, bowing before she took the tea and snack platter up and headed into the kitchen. Cinder watched her go, her grip tight on her Scroll.



She wanted to look at the pictures. She wanted to stare at them, to try and read everything that happened in that future in her... In the children's faces.



But the scars were all she would see. And Iridescent was still here.



And still smiling.



- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

White Fang HQ was based out of an old Pathist monastery in the Pashru Mountains. This huge mountain range divided Pandu from Mistral, and was tall enough it effected the climate across all of Remnant. This monastery was high and away from one of hundreds of narrow passes through these huge mountains, and the isolation and territorial disputes between the sub-kingdoms that made up Mistral helped protect it. From here, the White Fang coordinated its efforts through several hijacks CCT booster towers, allowing them to maintain their crusade across the planet. Now it was the height of the spring, but among the mountain flowers snow still clung here and there from the harsh winter that preceded it.



Here in the depths of the monastery, in her throne room, sat Sienna Khan. She scowled at the holoprojections from her Scroll as she looked over pictures from the Beacon airfield from this morning. Slang, her aged snaked Faunus attendant, stood at attention nearby, her tongue tasting the air but otherwise she was as still as stone. Another holographic window held the face of Vernal, Raven's second in command, from her bandit base.



"So," Sienna growled, "She was defeated."



"Impossible!" Vernal gasped. "Lady Raven is the most powerful, the greatest fighter-Your spy must be lying!"



"For what purpose?" Sienna demanded, "We are allies! We both would have gained from ending the Belladonnas! Or is there another reason Raven would not return to you?"



Vernal growled and glared at her. Sienna took a moment to compose herself, slowly shaking her head.



"If Raven has been captured," she stated, "We must deal with it. And we cannot do that until we have more intelligence."



"Intelligence only you can provide," Vernal sneered. Sienna nodded.



"Yes. So we need eachother... Until our goals are met."



Vernal grumbled a bit, but slowly nodded.



"We'll start moving into Vale. We have some routes we can use that don't require Raven's Semblance."



Of course Raven would put all her eggs in just one basket like that. It ensured her tribe would never turn on her. Sienna slowly nodded.



"I will provide intel on some White Fang bases in the area," she said, "I will let Adam know you are coming to reinforce us."



"See that you do," Vernal hissed, before she closed the communications channel. Sienna held in a sigh, and glared at the images.



"If he ever responds," she muttered angrily. "Why must he always ruin things! We were so close to our goal!"



"Bad enough he let Lady Blake go," Slang agreed, "But now he is ignoring our communications and is working with these human terrorists."



"We will always use humans against humans, Slang," Sienna snorted, "They outnumber us, we must pit them against eachother. But this...? We could have had Blake Belladonna on the throne, Adam her consort, myself her advisor and...!" She growled, digging clawmarks into her throne, "Now he's gone totally rogue!"



"Something must be done about him," Slang agreed, "But he is young and popular. And our best chance to control Blake..."



Sienna stopped and stared for a moment at one holo-image. Slang tasted the air with her tongue and raised a green eyebrow.



"My Lady?" She asked.



Sienna studied the image of a blonde, bearded human, swinging a mighty railgun sword almost as tall as he was. He was fighting Raven, while the rest of the group of older Huntsmen fought her furiously.



"Nicholas Arc," Sienna hissed, "And his wife, Isabel. And..." She zoomed in on a few other images, "King Arjun of Pandu with his wife, Saia... Qrow, Taiyang... Willow Schnee?"



She shook her head in disbelief.



"Why are all these people here, now?" She asked in disbelief. "Some of the mightest Hunters and most influential people on Remnant? All here? Why?"



"The spy does not know," Slang responded, "But apparently this fight was after another one between several Huntresses."



Several IDs of Huntresses-in-Training appeared via the projector. Slang hit a few more keys, and a blond young man's facial ID appeared as well. Sienna hitched a breath as she saw Cinder and Emerald, the human terrorists Adam was working with, among them.



"They were apparently fighting over a boy... This boy, Nicholas and Isabel Arc's son," Slang went on, "With several other Hunters and Huntresses of roughly the same age... But with no known IDs."



Thirteeen additional ID pictures appeared. Sienna frowned heavily, leaning forward. If she didn't know any better, she would swear that they all looked like...



"Arc," she whispered, "They look like Jaune Arc."



"You met his father, did you not?" Slang asked knowingly. Sienna scoffed.



"That was a long time ago. The buffoon married that witch, and good riddance! But this..." She shook her head.



"Have our spy learn as much as possible. Report directly to me, and not Adam."



"Adam is closer," Slang pointed out, "And may do something rash-"



"It is of no concern!" Sienna huffed, "We need intel, now! We need to know what's going on!"



That many powerful people in one place with Ghira and Kali as guests? All these unknown Hunters and Huntresses? It could be anything, from a Menagerie-Vale-Atlas-Pandu alliance against the White Fang, to Adam's cell being led into a trap...



They just didn't know! And they had to find out, now.



"As you wish, Lady Sienna," Slang bowed, "Though it seems Nicholas Arc's son is even more the lady's man than his father was."



"Please," Sienna scoffed, crossing her arms under her chest, "that moron had no idea what to do with female attention on him! He ignored every signal, every overture! That shape shifting witch he married practically had to force herself upon him before he got the message!" She glared at the image of Nick Arc grinning as he fought Raven blade to blade. "Dumbass!" She spat.



"Ah yes," Slang spoke gravely, "He was far too pure for his own good. Especially given your motives were not."



"Exactly," Sienna nodded... Before she blushed. "NOT THAT I LIKED HIM! It was a teenaged fancy, nothing more! I am completely over it!"



"Of course, my Lady," Slang nodded with a knowing smile.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Cardin grimaced. Velvet looked over at him in concern, even as her hands continued to adjust her camera.

"What?"

"Just..." He sighed. "Jaune's progress..." He scowled a little at the blond he'd bullied. "He started at the bottom, the very bottom... And turns out he was this wunderkind. I feel..."

Weak, his mind whispered. Pathetic.

His father had been a Huntsman Captain before he had entered politics and become a Councilman. He had told his son 'The very blood of Vale runs in our veins, son. We must give our all to protect it.'"

He'd been reduced to a whimpering child by a single Ursa while trying to bully a weaker student, abandoned by his team... And had to be saved by said weakling. What had he accomplished?

He felt Velvet's hand on his forearm. He looked over at her. Her eyes were filled with a gentle compassion.

"That just means you need to work harder," she said comfortingly, "I know you can do it. You've worked out a lot of other problems, right?"

He smiled at his girlfriend warmly.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Hmph!"

Both turned to look over towards the stands. Sitting there, imperious as a king, was a rabbit Faunus boy. His features were sharp and handsome, his eyes and spiky hair black as coal, and his smirk as cutting as a knife. He leaned back on the bleacher, arms crossed, as a turtle Faunus boy held up a can of soda with a straw. The Turtle Faunus boy wore his hair in a green bowlcut that matched his shell, in contrast with his pale skin, goggles, and wide mouth. The Rabbit Faunus sipped contemptuously from it before he spoke.

"Still hanging out with that ape, Velvet? There's plenty of room to sit over here," he sneered.

Velvet sighed in barely restrained irritation. Cardin glared, and his arm went around Velvet's shoulders protectively.

"Hex, I've told you a dozen times, I'm not interested," Velvet stated angrily. Hex scoffed, even as his turtle Faunus flunky dabbed his chin with a napkin.

"Of course you are, babe. You're just playing hard to get," Hex sniffed. He elbowed the turtle boy. "Even Kupa here knows you belong with me, right Kupa?"

"Yes, Mister Skvader," Kupa managed in a shaky voice. Cardin's eyes narrowed.

"Back off, Bucktooth," Cardin sneered, "Or I'll get my girlfriend a new pair of rabbit skin mittens for the winter holidays!"

Hex grinned devilishly.

"I'd love to see you try, you big empty headed-!"

"Ahem!"

Both looked over. Saia Sarkara, the Queen of Pandu, stood there with an ominous smile as lightning crackled up and down her staff.

"I believe all the fighting is occurring on the field," she stated, almost friendly if not for the dangerous edge in her voice, "So save it for later, you two."

"Y-You're not-" Hex sputtered, but Velvet squeezed Cardin's hand tightly. Cardin nodded.

"Yes ma'am," he said. Saia studied him for a moment.

"You're Rufus Winchester's boy, aren't you?" She asked. "I last met him at a trade conference a few months ago. He said you'd gotten into Beacon-Cardin, was it?"

"Yes ma'am," Cardin said with a nod, "He told me about you too, your Majesty."

Hex blanched, but quickly recovered.

"O-Oh! Um, sorry Queen Saia!" He said, getting up to bow his head. He elbowed Kupa, who stuttered then bowed as well, "I uh, I didn't recognize you! Your beauty overwhelmed me!"

"Thank you," Saia said with a knowing smile, "Mister Skvader. Your parents have done well to invest in my kingdom's computer industry. It is appreciated. Now, do please keep things civilized?"

"Of course, your Majesty," Hex simpered, though he shot Cardin a venomous glare. Cardin smirked back, but held his tongue.

"Lovely!" Saia beamed. "If you'll excuse me."

She headed back to fuss over her daughter some more. Velvet pointed to a spot on the other side of the training field near the wall.

"Let's head over to get a better angle on the next fight!" Velvet suggested. Cardin was more than happy to agree.

- - -

"Jaune! That last maneuver was so cool!" Ruby gushed as she dove into the blond knight's chest and wrapped him in a tight hug. "The way you scooped and threw that dirt and then your shield was brilliant!"

"It was inspired," Pyrrha agreed even as she scowled at Ruby for reaching Jaune first. Not to be deterred she immediately glomped onto Jaune's right side and squeezed tightly, "I'm so proud of you!"

"It was a pretty smooth move shovel knight," Yang joked as she clamped herself on Jaune's left.

"Yes, your execution was surprisingly refined for something you haven't practiced and- HEY!" Weiss exclaimed as she circled around to hug Jaune from behind only to find that Blake was already there, hogging all of his back grinning at Weiss like a cat that caught a canary.

The other potential brides showered their own praises even as they jealously glared at the girls currently monopolizing physical contact with Jaune, who's eyes had grown larger and larger in surprise with each new point of contact with the female form, his cheeks growing more and more crimson by the second. Yet through all of this, a soft voice tinged with concern and confusion managed to cut through.

"Umm... are you in pain Jaune?" May asked, causing everyone to take a second look at the young man.

"I am, actually," Jaune choked out with a strangled voice an octave higher than his usual tone. The girls holding on to him jumped back with worry on their faces, and now that they were clear of him they could all feel how his aura was flaring in a valiant effort to prevent the formation of bruises. "When Dad said he was going to match my speed and strength I didn't realize I could hit this hard, and now that the adrenaline is wearing off I'm really feeling it."

The collected brides all winced in understanding sympathy. Adrenaline plus aura could really skew how you felt pain the the heat of the moment; a boon in a do or die fight, not so much anywhere else. All of them could remember one or two spars where they only realized how much they were hurting after the fighting was truly over.

With concern creasing her brow Winter pulled out her scroll and used it to check Jaune's aura levels, "According to this the fight took out a third of your reserves..."

"A whole third?" Yang let out a low whistle as she remembered her own spars with Jaune and his other fights in combat class. Most of their classmates tried to beat Jaune via ring-out as opposed to making his aura hit the red since the blond knight's reserves were so ridiculously high, once he'd learned how to fight from Pyrrha. Yang was on the shortlist of students that who tried to make him hit the red in their spars, so she knew how much work it took to put a real dent in his aura. "Your old man packs a punch."

"I noticed," Jaune chuckled before groaning as he felt around the edges of his sorest spot.

"I know a few aura techniques that help deal with bruising," Arslan offered, "Just a few easy to learn breathing exercises that aid in redirecting your aura's flow can help immensely."

"That sounds great," Jaune gave her a grateful smile before shifting his gaze to Ruby. "Dad's ready to face your team, are you guys ready?"

"More or less," Ruby replied with all the confidence she could muster, "Any last minute tips?"

"Dad's giving himself a handicap for fighting you guys, like he did with me," Jaune explained, "He'll be fighting you with his sidearm Nogg, and if you can force him to use his primary Blont Joyeux? You win."

"Are ring-outs and making his aura hit the red still win conditions?" Blake asked.

"Yes," Jaune confirmed, "But you should really take advantage of the handicap."

"Don't worry stud, we got this," Yang boasted as Team RWBY turned to leave the stands.

As the four girls made their way to the field they did last minute checks on their weapons and other gear, while Ruby did a tactical rundown.

"Alright team, I have a plan!" The silver-eyed girl announced as they exited the stands, "Mr. Arc's sidearm is just a bastard sword with no mechashift capabilities, meaning he has no ranged options unless he starts busting out aura blade techniques! So as long as we keep him from doing that, we have a clear advantage we can exploit. We're also a pretty mobile team so we're going to do hit and run tactics," Ruby turned to look her teammates in the eyes as they reached the edge of the field.

"One of us will dart in, exchange a few blows to keep him from using any aura blade techniques, and then dart out for somebody else to take your place in melee. When you're not the person in melee keep your distance and pepper him from range. We spread out, hit from as many angles as possible, always approaching him from a new direction when we switch out who's in melee." She grinned in triumph.

"We keep up that pressure and he'll have to draw his primary sword before he gets overwhelmed, giving us the win!"

"Or, how about we put his aura in the red instead?" Yang suggested as she crossed her arms with a serious look on her face. Ruby's triumphant look fell into one of confusion.

"What?"

"Think about it," Yang explained, an edge in her voice that made Ruby frown, "If we put him in the red this will be his last fight of the day, meaning none of them," She gestured behind herself with her thumb while grinning, "Will get the chance to fight him. We'll have done something that will impress Jaune and nobody will have the chance to show us up."

"A high risk high reward idea," Blake mused with a raised eyebrow.

"One we could pull off," Yang reasoned with the conviction of someone throwing down a gauntlet. "Jaune's old man packs a punch. I let him land a few solid hits on me and my semblance will turn that into the power we need to take him out." She slammed a fist into an open palm.

"Yang, Jaune's dad will see that coming from a mile away," Ruby objected with a frown. "He went to school with our parents and trained with them, remember? You learned how to fight from Dad, I learned how to fight from Uncle Qrow, and on top of that your semblance is only a little bit different from Dad's and mine has a lot in common with Mom's. He's trained against our basic tricks."

Yang scowled as she tried to come up with a counterpoint, but Weiss spoke up before she could find one.

"Perhaps we could use my semblance to get a ring-out?" The heiress ventured, her tone hauteur then it had been during their first few weeks together as a team. "A line of acceleration glyphs could launch him clear of the arena, all we'd need to do is make him take one or two steps in the direction we want him to."

"Maybe that could be Plan B," Ruby allowed with a frown, "But he was your mom's bodyguard for a while so he's probably seen your family semblance in action before, and knows what to expect from it. Your family's semblance is also pretty well documented, and your specific variation on it is basically the vanilla version anyone who's read up on your family would know about."

Weiss scowled.

Ruby sighed before standing straighter and putting on her best team leader voice, and if it was more on edge than normal she didn't care, "So if we keep all of that in mind the only wildcard we have in our deck is Blake's semblance, and Shadow works better in my plan than either of yours."

Silence hung in the air for a moment, and Ruby nodded in satisfaction that there were no more objections to her plan. The red cloaked girl turned again and took the last few steps onto the field with her team following close behind. Ruby hoped they looked epic with the way the light breeze was making her cloak billow a bit behind her with Weiss on her left and her sister and Blake on her right, all of them marching in sync with each other as they approached the center of the field.

She would see the footage from Velvet later. They did look epic... but if Ruby had seen the looks in her teammates eyes as they glanced her way at that moment she would have noticed that the respect for her position as leader that she had earned over the last few semesters was absent, replaced with a subtle annoyance not seen since her second week at Beacon.

"Hello girls!" Nick Arc greeted with a jovial grin, "You know the rules of this match?"

"Standard ring-out and broken aura rules, plus we win if you pull out your railgun sword," Ruby summarized as she deployed Crescent Rose. Yang checked the rounds loaded into Ember Celica one last time while Blake pulled Gambol Shroud from its cleaver sheath and Weiss artfully twirled Myrtenaster in a fencer's salute.

"So you're all ready to go then?"

"Yep." "Yes." "Yeah." "I am." Team RWBY confirmed.

"Alright! NORA! GIVE US A SIGNAL!"

Nora cheerfully saluted, as Ren stood by with his usual stoic expression.

"GOT IT DAD!"

The gong was struck a second time that day, and as its' brassy sound echoed across Training Field 12 the combatants exploded into motion.

------------------------

"...And breathe out slooowly through your nose counting down from eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero. There, that's better isn't it?" Arslan instructed from his left, "Now breath in again through your mouth counting up til you reach twelve: one, two, three.."

The breathing exercise was soothing, and Jaune could feel how it was redirecting his Aura around his sore spots and helped them fade away far faster than they normally would have. Focusing on the breathing exercise also helped distract him from his current... placement...

Arslan's right arm was looped around his left with her fingers interlaced with his. Pyrrha was on his right looping her left arm around his right and interlacing her fingers with his. May was behind him messaging a sore spot on his back per her mother's prompting and following her mother's instructions. Emerald was sat in front of him leading back so her head rested against his stomach while she used his legs like armrests. Winter stood slightly off to the side, her eyes darting back and fourth between the other girls like she was trying to decide which one she was going to make leave and replace. Each of them would toss suspicious glances the others' way every once in a while.

How did his life end up like this? The question was rhetorical because he remembered every moment leading up to this point, but still, he had to ask: How?

Just how?

Ever since he arrived at Beacon the quest for feminine affection had made him feel like a dog chasing a car, but he had never expected to be like the dog in not knowing what to do with it once he had gotten it!

It wasn't like he was completely clueless. If he was dealing with only one girl he'd know exactly what to do: go on some dates, hold hands, be supportive in her day to day life then maybe kiss a little bit, and when they reached that point the two of them would see where they wanted to go from there. If they deepened the relationship, well, marriage and a family would be the next step. If not? Break up amicably and move on.

But he wasn't dealing with only one girl, and they were all being spurred on by each other to move quickly lest they get left behind if another girl managed to move faster (Arslan and Pyrrha had only grabbed his hands in such and intimate manner after Emerald had so brazenly leaned back against him after all, and May had only started her message after them grabbing his hands). All this affection being sent towards him all at once was kind of overwhelming.

He needed to take Penny up on her offer to draw up a schedule, that way he'd have some alone time with each girl to figure things out without playing favorites.

Yes, one on one time was something he could see himself managing.

He focused on his breathing, which was slowly becoming a less and less viable distraction.

Fortunately the gonging sound of the match starting gave him something else to focus on.

------------------------

"Weiss! Jungle Gym!" Ruby called out as she twirled her scythe into a striking position, "Yang! Dextral Twain! Blake! Sinistral Ternate!"

Team RWBY sprang into motion with Ruby rushing down the middle of the field to cross blades with Nick Arc as quickly as possible. Yang curved her run to approach Nick from the right while timing it to reach Nick after Ruby, while Blake veered to approach from the left while timing her dash to hit after Yang.

Nick proved himself quite capable of handling the odd angles of attack a scythe could provide as he deftly deflected the first, second and third strikes Ruby attempted before he jabbed at her with the opening his third deflection created. Fortunately for the silver-eyed girl she was already leaning back to disengage so the first thrust missed, and a one second petal burst created the distance she needed to be out of the way for Yang's opening shots from Ember Celica.

Jaune's father swept the shotgun blasts from the air with the flat of his blade before flipping Nogg around in a reverse grip to block Yang's punches with the other flat side. An uppercut, a haymaker, and two quick jabs were blocked before Nick kicked out forcing Yang to dance away. During the few seconds the two blonds were in melee Ruby had sifted Crescent Rose into its' rifle mode and she fired off two shots as soon as Yang was clear. The elder Arc deflected the first bullet with Nogg while dodging the second by leaning slightly out of the way.

Then Blake was upon him and Ruby shifted Crescent Rose back to its scythe form in anticipation of entering the melee again. Blake struck out with Gambol Shroud's blade in sword form while holding its' cleaver sheath in a reverse grip to block any counter attacks. And there were many counter attacks as Nick flipped back to a normal grip and expertly deflected each of the cat Faunus' strikes, then struck back with his own slashes as soon as her sword was out of the way. Her cleaver managed to block three, four, and then five of his counter slashes before he bisected one of her shadow clones and Blake disengaged just in time for Ruby to charge in again.

During all of this Weiss set up the jungle gym.

Acceleration glyphs stretched out before her letting her glide down the path they made at speeds only Ruby could exceed. She used that speed to visit several key points on the training field like all four corners plus a few more, where she paused for a moment to channel Dust through her Semblance.

Pillars of ice and stone rapidly grew from each point she visited, each one optimized in shape to be hooked onto by either Crescent Rose or Gambol Shroud in a way that would allow the wielders of those weapons to change directions without losing speed.

It was a solid enough game plan, Weiss reflected as she placed the final pillar. It maximized the speed and options of the two most maneuverable members of the team while also creating places the two less maneuverable members could hide behind to either recover or mask their approach to the target.

"Weiss! Catbird Seat!" Ruby called out as soon as the final pillar was finished, firing more shots at Nick as she disengaged from melee a second time.

Weiss complied, using her Glyphs to quickly jump up to the top of the ice pillar that gave her the best view of the training field. From this elevated position, she could clearly see Yang replacing Ruby in the melee with Mr. Arc, while Blake got into position to strike from behind. The bearded swordsman slashed at Yang only for the blond brawler to block it with the left half of Ember Celica, then firing a shot with the right half that Mr. Arc twisted around to avoid. The older man then turned his twist into a full on spinning kick that caught Yang in the side sending the brawler sprawling on the ground, before she front flipped up and out of the way. Gunfire from Crescent Rose covered her retreat and gave Blake the opportunity to attack.

The heiress narrowed her eyes at Yang's tumble.

That sneaky bimbo...!

The blonde brawler didn't need to take that hit, Weiss had seen her dodge attacks like that before quite easily. Yang was allowing herself to get hit to build up the power of her semblance Burn, meaning she was only following Ruby's plan as a vehicle to enable the alternative she had proposed right before the match started!

Weiss couldn't find it within herself to call the brawler out. After all, she was also using Ruby's plan as a vehicle for her own as well. The younger Schnee sister summoned an array of glyphs around her and began to infuse them with Dust.

Blake's attack from behind only managed to land a single hit on Nick before he turned around and pressed the cat faunus back with the fury of his thrusts. The young Belladonna managed to deflect most of those thrusts, but she still had to sacrifice three shadow clones to properly disengage before Ruby came in swinging her scythe in wide arcs.

The blond swordsman ducked under the first swing, deflected the second and outright parried the third with Ruby using a brief Petal Burst to let Nogg pass through the space she had been. That Petal Burst also let her relocate herself behind the towering man as Crescent Rose sifted into its' riffle mode. The diminutive team leader they cried out as she leapt backwards while firing, "WEISS! THUNDERBIRD!"

It was a call to fire off lightning dust with her glyphs. If the situation on the ground was slightly different Weiss might have followed it, but with the way things were going, she could see a way to enact her own plan: the fight had moved Mr. Arc closer to one of the field's edges and Ruby's Thunderbird call had caused her teammates to pull back and fire at range instead of closing in to switch out who was in melee.

She fired off an intense barrage of icicles from her glyphs. Some were as small as bullets, others as large as chairs, while most were the size of swords. The larger icicles stabbed into the earth creating barriers that Weiss didn't expect to contain her opponent but their placement did mean the path of least resistance was in the direction she wanted the fight to go. Coincidentally, the barrier would also delay her teammates from joining in on what she was about to do.

Victory will be mine!

As her barrage came to an end Weiss created a launching glyph behind her and leaped onto it, shooting herself forward with Myrtenaster stretched out before her as the crescendo of her final salvo.

Jaune's father had not been idle during the bombardment. He had spun his sword around like a propeller deflecting or outright blocking most of the medium and smaller icicles sent his way while sidestepping the larger ones. Only a scant handful had gotten past his defenses so he was ready when Weiss launched himself at her to sidestep again.

Weiss for her part managed to land gracefully behind the blond swordsman, using another glyph to catch herself before she stabbed the ground. She then twirled around and launched a complex series of thrusts and slashes with her rapier that Nick expertly deflected with the efficiency Weiss expected from a veteran warrior.

"Your swordplay's pretty good!" Nick observed with a tone of voice that reminded Weiss of more than one of her kinder combat instructors. His blade danced with hers in a symphony of steel clashing against steel as he continued, "But why'd you come down here? You were perfectly fine at range!"

"I needed to make sure this next part was done right," Weiss grunted as she channeled her semblance and created an acceleration glyph behind her opponent, all she needed to do was force him back a single step and he'd be sent hurtling out of the arena. "Besides most of my training was in fencing, I can't show that off at range."

"WEISS! GET OUT OF THERE!" Ruby's panicked command cut through the air.

"True," Nick allowed in answer to Weiss, "But if you had kept your distance, I wouldn't be able to do this!"

The ease with which he slipped past her guard and grabbed her right wrist with his off hand was so unexpected Weiss almost didn't process it happening until he had pressed his thumb against a nerve. The sudden pain made her lose her grip on Myrtenaster, sending the rapier clattering to the ground. Nick then jerked her arm up over his head before letting go, tossing the heiress into the air before catching both of her ankles in the same hand.

"Wha-?!"

At the same time, Blake vaulted over the ice while Yang smashed her way through another ice barrier. Nick responded to their arrival by swinging Weiss through the air like a flail, smashing Yang into the ground and playing wack-a-mole with Blake's shadow clones. The next few moments of Weiss' life consisted of a rhythm that went something like this:

Smashing into Yang to keep her prone on the ground, popping a shadow clone, smacking into Yang as the blonde tried to role over, popping another shadow clone, slam into Yang, shadow clone, shadow clone, Yang, shadow clone, Yang, shadow clone, Yang, Yang, the actual Blake, Yang, shadow clone, Blake, Yang, Blake, Yang, Blake, Yang, Yang-

"UWAH-URK-ARGH-EEP!"

That rhythm was brought to an end as a flurry of rose petals raced through the area and scooped up Blake and Yang, depositing the two of them at the far end of the training yard. A new rhythm began where Weiss found herself meeting all of the little ice barriers she had placed around Nick, and after twelve high speed impacts all of those barriers had been shattered into inconsequential pieces.

It was at that point Nick spun about and let her go like a professional track and field hammer thrower. Weiss sailed through the air and might have landed out of bounds if she wasn't caught by a cloud of rose petals which redirected her momentum and carried her to the same end of the field that Blake and Yang were at, bringing her to the ground as gently as possible.

"Weiss, are you alright?" Ruby fretted as Weiss scrambled to her feet.

"I'm FINE you dolt," Weiss woozily snapped before she took a step forward, tripping over her own feet and face-planting in the dirt, which ended up breaking her aura.

"Ow..."

- - - - - - -

"...And that's the basic overview of how my father solved the power consumption issue," Penny cheerfully explained as she lead Whitley to the training field and towards the stands where his mother was sitting. "Any further detail involves proprietary information I am not at liberty to divulge barring the signing of non-disclosure wavers or a very specific list of emergency circumstances."

Whitley was looking at her with an expression her databanks classified as wonderment. The sound of his voice registered as awed as he spoke, "Every part of you is a revolutionary masterwork; body, mind and soul."

An unidentified surge of emotion flashed through her systems at the young man's proclamation. It was similar to happiness in many ways, but it was also different. It was like seeing a unique shade of a favored color for the first time, the similarities and differences were fascinating. This would require further examination, and the study of this new feeling was greatly aided by how the Schnee boy was making it stir within her every other time he spoke.

Of course the sheer quantity of this feeling flowing through her systems had started to prove distracting from her current mission of guarding Friend Jaune, as attempting to process the emotion was taking bandwidth away from remotely monitoring the young Arc.

And so Penny had decided it was time to join the others so she could reduce the number of runtimes necessary to keep an eye on the Vital National Asset that was Friend Jaune. It would also be an opportunity to meet Friend Whitley's mother Willow Schnee, which was becoming a prospect of increasing importance the longer she talked with Friend Whitley.

"T-t-thank you Friend Whitley," Penny stammered as a cooling system kicked into high gear. A new subroutine started trying to see if the new verbal tick was connected to the new feeling she was analyzing. "Do you think-"

The question Penny was forming stopped at the same time the pair of them rounded a corner and saw Training Field Twelve in its' entirety. By sheer coincidence they had turned the corner at the same moment Friend Jaune's father Nick Arc had grabbed Friend Weiss by the wrist and tossed her into the air, and the two of them were treated to the sight of the blond swordsman swinging the young heiress around like a rag-doll.

"Is she alright?" Whitley asked while taking a step forward once the ordeal was over, his voice raised an octave above his normal.

"All available data suggests that Friend Weiss has simply had her aura broken, she is otherwise fine," Penny concluded after quickly reviewing what she had just seen.

"Okay, good," Whitley sounded much calmer before his face morphed into an expression Penny's databanks classified as scheming. "I really hope someone recorded that."

"There are currently seventeen students live-streaming this event," Penny informed him, "Five of them in high-definition." When Whitley started to rub his hands together and chuckle in response to that Penny shifted her own face into an inquiring expression, "Why do you ask Friend Whitley?"

"If I put those videos into a compilation set to the right musical score, I'll never lose an argument with her ever again," The Schnee boy's expression became outright devious.

Strange, why did her primary pump systems increase their tempo when he did that?

- - - - - - -

Theodore sighed and slapped his forehead.

"Aunt Weiss, why?"

"She's still working on fixing her habits!" Nicholas said defensively.

"How many knocks to the head did she need to finally figure it out?" Theodore demanded.

"Apparently not enough," August deadpanned.

"They're only down one teammate," Amethyst observed. "They should still be able to win, right?"

Xia grimaced. Nicholas nodded grimly.

"You saw it too, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah," Xia sighed. While they couldn't hear what was said on the field it was fairly obvious that Ruby didn't call for and Icicle Crash.

"They're not fighting together well at all," Julian murmured. Leander and Leandra nodded in agreement.

"I've never seen Team RWBY so out of sync before," Xander murmured. "I don't like their odds if they don't get their act together."

"Well, we know what they will be capable of," Petra observed, "They could still find some of that today."

"Hopefully," Leander and Leandra murmured in sync.

On the grownups' part Willow Schnee had become very tense upon seeing her daughter getting used as an improvised weapon.

"She's fine Mistress Schnee," Klein reassured her, his voice a bedrock of confidence, "The young mistress has only had her aura broken, and her pride bruised, the only thing rushing to her now would accomplish is further bruising that pride."

"Her aura did its job," Logos rumbled his own assurance, "And Mr. Arc only used the force necessary to break her aura. He was in complete control the whole time, and your daughter was never in any real danger."

"She'll be able to walk it off in a few moments," Basara added, her voice colored with experience.

"Yeah, all three of us walked off much worse hits at one point or another," Athena agreed. "If all our stunt partners had as much control as Mr. Arc displayed right now I don't think any of us would have gotten injured on set."

"Right, she's fine, she'll walk it off, she's fine," Willow repeated as she relaxed. As the tension left her body a new thought suddenly entered her mind, and her face flushed crimson as that through found its' way out of her lips: "Breaker above, I wish he would manhandle me like that."

Several heads whipped around at that declaration.

"Brain bleach," Julian moaned, "Need brain bleach!"

"Oh, you think you have it rough," Leandra and Leander snorted in unison.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Somewhere in Mistral



Twelve years after the defeat of Salem



- - -



It was dark. It was cold. She only had a blanket to cover herself up with and the dirt floor to sleep on. Her clothes, a pretty dress her mama had bought for her birthday, had been taken away and burned in front of her. She'd been given rags and old armor.



She shivered miserably. The door to her cell opened, and a tall figure stepped in, blocking the light. She cringed away, but stared up at the woman.



The black haired woman sneered down at her, red eyes narrowed in disgust.



"You're not crying as much, brat," she stated angrily. "Get up. It's time for practice."



Xia Arc trembled but managed to get up on her feet. She stood up shakily as she walked. She pulled her blanket around herself, trying to keep warm.



The woman reached down and yanked it away, before she slapped Xia across the face.



"Ah!"



"You hold your head up high, brat," Raven growled, "You don't cower!"



Xia looked up shakily, sniffling. Raven nodded.



"At least you're not weeping like your mother," she growled, "Your mother cried all the time too. Get going!"



Xia walked out into the stone tunnel, shivering but trying to keep her head up straight. They passed into a common area the Branwen Tribe had claimed as a common area. They weren't in great shape: Dressed in hand me downs and old armor. There weren't many of them, but they all glared and leered at her as her grandmother pushed her to the center of the room.



Another young boy, in rags, stood there with a grim, defeated look on his face. He held a wooden sword. Raven shoved Xia into the makeshift ring she was standing in.



"Just as before," Raven ordered, "Fight!"



The boy hesitated only a moment, but the shouts and jeers of the bandits compelled him forward. He swung at Xia, and she dodged. He thrust his wooden blade at her furiously, and she dodged and parried them. Her mother and father's lessons on footwork had saved her before.



Raven slammed her sword down on a rock, making Xia jump. It let the boy get a hit on her eye, and she cried out even as her Aura flared.



"Fight back!" Raven snarled. "Are you a Branwen or not?! FIGHT YOU WORTHLESS BRAT!"



Xia grit her teeth. She pushed herself forward, her Aura burning around her. She took the hits the boy dished out at her, each one fueling her rage, her anger. She swung her fist at the boy's face and shattered his dirty helmet. He fell back, his Aura flaring. His eyes were red, just like Raven's.



Those eyes... She'd seen the woman in the apple tree grove near their farmhouse. She'd gone out, curious. She looked like Mom, but with black hair. She asked who she was. She said she was her grandmother, Raven.



Xia had become excited. Her parents and grandparents didn't talk much about Raven. She'd helped in the last battle of the war against Salem, but she'd gone off. Her mother seemed very sad about her, but she did say she was super strong and cool. And she looked it! With her red and black armor and sword.



Raven had asked if she wanted to be strong. Xia said yes. She wanted to be strong, just like Mom and Dad and Aunt Ruby!



And Raven had taken her away... And had hurt her. Punished her. Made her fight. Made her cry, then told her not to cry...



Hate burned inside of her, and Xia threw another punch and another and another and another...!

The boy fell to the ground, wailing under the onslaught. Xia didn't care. All she could see was red, red, RED!



Red eyes. Red tears. Red on her fists...



She stopped, panting for breath, her Aura flickering strongly around her. She slowly stood up and looked over at Raven. There was the tiniest hint of approval in her grandmother's eyes, before she scowled.



"Finally, you start showing some potential," she sneered. "You get food." She glared at the other Bandits. "Heal the other brat."



There wasn't much in the bowl: Some boiled meat and potatoes, but Xia hungrily devoured them. She hadn't eaten in so long...!



Raven still stood over her, glaring contemptuously down at her.



"You won that. Don't forget the feeling," she stated, "Your parents wanted you to be fat and lazy. Weak."



Xia looked over at the boy. He still wasn't moving as he was carried away. She sucked in a breath and stopped eating. Her appetite was gone.



"N-No..." She shook a little. "No... They... They love me..."



Raven snorted.



"They don't love you. If they loved you, they'd make you strong," she stated flatly. She knelt down and scowled at Xia.



"You don't deserve anything in this world, only what you can take," she growled. "Now eat."



Xia trembled. She shook her head.



"I... I don't-"



"Eat!" Raven snarled. "You're no good to me dead!"



Xia stared back at her grandmother. She was hungry. She was starving... But she saw something in her eyes. Something that she now knew. She now knew... Her grandmother needed her.



"No!" Xia whispered. She shoved the bowl away. "I'm not eating! I wanna go home!"



Raven stood up, glaring down at her. Her hand rested on her sword hilt.



She won't, Xia thought, She needs me... She needs me...!



Raven glared down at her for a time. Xia trembled, but she glared back.



She drew her sword and slashed it, so fast Xia didn't even see it-But she cried out as she held her bloody cheek.



"How many scars do you need to know who is in charge?" Raven asked, cold and deadly as winter. Xia whimpered and fell back onto her butt. Raven shoved the bowl towards her.



"Eat!" She snarled.



Xia shook almost violently. She glared at her.



"I hate you!" She shrieked.



"Good!" Raven growled, kicking Xia in the face. "Use it. Use it to make yourself better than your pathetic excuses for parents-!"



The ground and walls shook, sending dust falling from the ceilings. Raven looked towards the entrance. The sounds of gunfire and steel clashing erupted from the tunnel, with the cries of Bandits.



The Bandits rose, drawing their weapons, as two figures entered the chamber. Raven grabbed her and dragged her off, but Xia still got a glimpse of blonde hair, red eyes, white steel and armor.



"MOM! DAD!" Xia shrieked. "HELP-MMPH!"



Raven covered her mouth, rushing through the tunnels. The bandits screamed and shrieked behind them as Raven charged deeper into the mines.



They came to a great empty chasm, only black void beyond abandoned rail lines and works. Raven cursed, and turned to the tunnel door.



Xia screamed and thrashed against her grandmother's grip, as her mother and father walked in. Her father was in his full armor, wielding his sword, a grim look on his bearded face as his blue duster coat and red sash waved in the breeze. Her mother was in her long skirt, yellow blouse, short brown jacket, and tall black boots. Her eyes burned red in rage, as her hair glowed and sparked with the power of her Semblance.



"Let her go, Mom," Yang stated firmly, "It's over."



"It is NOT over!" Raven snarled. "I will NOT let my own blood become weak, pathetic, domesticated-Like you!"



"The era of bandits is over," Jaune growled, "Civilization won. Deal with it, and let our daughter go."



Raven held up her sword, as she held the struggling Xia with her other arm.



"You'll have to kill me first-!"



Her father moved, and with a swing of his sword, Raven no longer had hers... Or her arm. Raven cried out in shock, and Xia used her distraction to struggle free. She fell to the ground and looked back up at her grandmother. For the first time, those red eyes held something other than anger, disgust, or condescension:



Fear.



"You-You wouldn't-!" Raven tried, but Yang was there in an instant, her fist buried in Raven's stomach. The older woman croaked, and fell to her knees, her Aura shattering from the force of the blow.



Her mother glared down at Raven for a moment, with a look of pity... Before she turned and pulled Xia into her arms.



"It's okay baby," Yang whispered urgently, "We're here. We're sorry... I'm so sorry..."



Xia cried. She cried and she cried, hugging her mother desperately. She buried her face in her neck and sobbed.



"It's over, Raven," her father stated, "Give up. Last chance."



She peeked up over her mother's shoulder. Raven glared up at her father, spat at his feet... And then turned to throw herself into the abyss.



Xia watched her go. She cried harder. She cried harder and she didn't even know why.



She felt her father embrace her and her mother. She felt her mother's tears and kisses.



She heard her father speak, as he stroked her back.



"Come on... Let's go home."



- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

"We can still do this," Ruby proclaimed as she regrouped with her remaining teammates behind one of the ice pillars Weiss had set up, "We just need to stick to the plan, but we need to switch out faster so you guys don't get hit again."

"Rubes, I only need to take one or two more good hits and I'll have a truly epic Burn ready to go," Yang cracked her knuckles before rolling her neck and popping the joints in it. Her eyes because steely as she continued, "I'm taking those hits."

"Yang! He took out a whole third of Jaune's aura in their spar! One or two good hits might take you out!" Ruby hissed in disbelief. "We can win without taking that risk!"

"You know what's too big a risk? Making a fight take longer than it has to," Yang growled out defiantly. "The longer it takes to whittle him down the more likely one of us will slip up and get folded like Weiss. My plan will end things now."

"Now is good," Blake agreed as she peeked around the pillar to check on Mr. Arc's current location. The good news was the man wasn't approaching their location, the bad news was that he was heading to a corner of the field which would reduce their avenues of approach. No matter what the plan was they needed to move quickly, "I'll play distraction so you can get the hit in."

With that statement the catgirl shifted Gambol Shroud into its' sickle form and tossed it out to hook onto another pillar before swinging away on her ribbon.

"Yang, no," Ruby pleaded as she realized the situation was now completely beyond her control.

"If you're that worried about this backfiring bust out Strawberry Sunrise and help," Yang growled as she slammed her fists together as she surged her aura before rushing out onto the battlefield proper.

"Gosh darn you Yang," Ruby muttered as she reached into her cloak for Strawberry Sunrise, a specialty magazine for Crescent Rose that held six custom bullets. "Gosh darn you to heck."

Strawberry Sunrise smoothly slotted into Crescent Rose as Ruby rounded the pillar and took aim at her sister's back. With a hand resting on the magazine the silver-eyed girl pumped as much aura as she could into the ammo held within, supercharging their dust payloads to their maximum potency.

With the sights of her rifle lined up with the small of Yang's back Ruby slowly exhaled and pulled the trigger, the first round slamming into Yang with a thundering crack as the Healing Dust flared on impact.

The idea behind healing dust was straightforward: it filtered out the parts of your aura that were distinctly yours so someone else could absorb it and use it as their own, thereby replacing lost reserves and speeding up the healing process. In many ways using healing dust was like like unto the most basic application of Jaune's newly discovered semblance; however, even the most high-quality healing dust could only manage a twenty percent efficiency rate in the transfer, meaning healing dust was like the bargain bin knockoff of Aura Amp you'd find at a Decalien General's clearance aisle..

This low efficiency meant you couldn't heal someone by shooting them with a healing dust laden bullet, as the aura transferred over would just get negated by the damaged caused by the impact. As a result putting healing dust into your ammunition was a pointless exercise...

...Unless the person you were targeting had a semblance like Yang's Burn. The more hits her sister took the more power would build up that Burn could turn into raw strength once fully activated, with the main drawback of charging up Burn by taking hits being that aura lost in the process wasn't regained by the full activation. By putting healing dust into her bullets Ruby could charge up Burn while negating most of that drawback, only shaving a percentage or two from Yang's reserves while imparting all of the force of a sniper round.

It still hurt like the dickens though, a fact that normally made Ruby wince the handful of times they had tested Strawberry Sunrise. This time? This time a bubbling sensation of frustration made each shot to her sister's back feel cathartic.

As the last round left Crescent Rose's barrel Ruby replaced Strawberry Sunrise with one of her normal magazines before using a Petal Burst to ascend to the top of an ice pillar that gave her an excellent view of the battlefield. Settling in for the moment Ruby took aim and watched for the right moment to fire or rush in.

Yang charged in as Blake disengaged by sacrificing another shadow clone, and as the catgirl got clear Yang flipped a coin in her mind. The stinging on her back told her that Ruby had hit her with every bullet from Strawberry Sunrise, and the surging energy of her semblance was begging to be unleashed. Yet pert of her felt like she could feed Burn more before unleashing it, and so the imagined coin tumbled through her mental landscape. Heads? She'd activate Burn and go to town on her opponent. Tails? She'd take one or two more hits before letting Burn rip.

With each footfall of her approach the coin turned over and over. Heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails. She landed within striking distance of Nick Arc. Heads.

Burn surged to life as Yang allowed its' power to spill forth. Lilac eyes turned crimson while her hair started to dance with golden waves of flame. Strength flowed through her limbs like water into freshly opened canals, and Yang could tell that this was one of the most potent, perhaps the most potent, Burn she had ever triggered.

A manic grin spread across her face as she wound up for her first punch, a grin that was mirrored by Jaune's old man right before he shifted his stance and dodged her opening haymaker with a simple backwards lean. Not to be deterred Yang followed up with a series of jabs that Nick frustratingly kept deflecting with his off hand. Yang ramped up the speed of her punches. Nick drove Nogg into the dirt freeing up both hands to keep deflecting the punches.

The two of them danced around Nogg, with Nick taking special care to make sure the two of them were always between the abandoned blade and Yang's teammates. For her part the blonde boxer increased the speed and the furry of her punches to the point they started to resemble the rapid-fire fisticuffs she'd seen in Mistralian cartoons growing up. Yet in spite of this new speed she still hadn't gotten a serious blow through the elder Arc's defenses. Yang's grin morphed into a grimace of frustration, Nick's grin grew into a frown.

"I can see the basics of your father's style," Nick observed as he kept redirecting her punches away from where it would actually hurt to get hit, "But he wouldn't have stopped with the basics. You know you can't overwhelm everything, don't you?"

"You'd be surprised!" Yang shouted as she pulled her right fist back for a truly massive punch with all of her power behind it.

Nick sighed as he stepped to the side and caught her arm at the wrist and elbow, pushing her punch even further beyond its' intended destination and driving it into the ground. The earth and soil erupted from the impact, tossing clumps of dirt and little rocks high into the air while creating a crater you could park a car in.

Nogg was also tossed into the air before Nick caught his sword by the blade and swung it like a hammer, driving its' pommel into Yang's gut and sending the blonde brawler high into the air. The elder Arc then jumped after her, nocking aside Gambol Shroud as Blake tried to lasso her partner and swinging Nogg to menace the cloud of rose petals that tried to catch her sister. At the apex of their mutual accent Nick grabbed Yang by the front of her shirt and then rotated his body to spin the two of them around, hurling Yang towards the ground at speeds faster than most civilian vehicles could reach.

The blond brawler cut a furrow into the soil from the force of her impact, her trail and movement coming to an abrupt end at the base of one of the ice pillars Weiss had made at the beginning of the match. The towering construct of frozen water shuddered, then shattered, its' broken peaces collapsing all around and on top of Yang. For a moment the frozen rubble sat still as the wind whistled over it, then a shaking hand breached the ice pile and Yang pulled herself out of it before collapsing in a boneless heap with her aura clearly broken.

Blake was upon Nick the instant his feet touched the ground, hacking away at him with her sword and cleaver in a deadly dance. Nick deflected three of her strikes before outright parrying her forth and skewering a shadow clone the catgirl used to retreat. Ruby was there as soon as Blake had pulled back, Crescent Rose slicing through the air in graceful yet aggravated arcs that Nick deflected before counter attacking and landing his first solid hit on the silver-eyed girl.

While Ruby staggered back Blake renewed her assault, and as the the elder Arc locked blades with the Belladonna heir he frowned again.

"You know you're using your semblance wrong," Nick commented as he beheaded another shadow clone and charged after the catgirl, not letting her disengage.

"What?" Blake managed to question even as she sacrificed another shadow clone that got its' arm lopped off.

"You've only used it to retreat, never to advance," Nick explained as he struck high against Blake's defense, the catgirl catching his blade with both of hers. She tried to counter attack but Nick twisted to avoid her swing before stabbing through the thigh of the shadow clone that had just taken Blake's place. The swordsman's frown deepened as he continued, "See, the clone could have taken the hit and you could have landed a hit or two on me. Instead of doing that you've pulled back and lost the advantage the decoy gave you."

Blake's eyes grew wide with comprehension. The man was right. She could have let her shadow clone take a hit to get her own hits in. Why didn't she do that? Why had she never done that before? Why hadn't the idea occurred to her before this moment when Mr. Arc had explicitly spelled it out for her and-

THWACK!

-She had gotten so caught up in her epiphany that she didn't notice Nick winding up for a roundhouse kick and took a boot to the head. Blake collapsed to the ground like a sack of potatoes with her aura broken.

"Whoops," Nick muttered bashfully under his breath. He had telegraphed that kick fulling expecting the cat faunus to try out the idea he had just presented to her, what with the kick leaving him open enough for her to pull it off pretty easily. He hoped ringing her noggin like that wouldn't knock the idea from her head.

"RRRAAAHHH!" Was Ruby's war cry as she charged in and swung with a furry born of desperation. Nick found himself purely on the defensive for a moment as rose petals fell to the ground around the two opponents, Ruby tapping into her semblance and entering a state that was halfway into a Petal Burst granting her strikes speeds beyond superhuman.

Yet in spite of that Nick's defense remained solid. He blocked high, he blocked low, mid, high, low, low, high, mid, high, mid, high, high, mid, mid, low, high, low, mid, high, low, low, high, mid, high, mid, low, mid, mid, high, mid, low...

Dread grew in Ruby's heart as she understood what was happening. A simple law of physics dictated that the faster something was going the harder it was to make it change directions, and as a result the path the high speed object must take can become predictable once you have enough experience. Mr. Arc had Ruby's rhythm down, increasing her speed further wouldn't help enough and it was only a mater of time before he found the gap he needed to counter attack. She needed something to break both of their rhythms.

And so Ruby began to redirect a trickle of aura into her eyes, and as Nick brought his sword up into an ox guard that trickle became a flash flood as her eyes shined with the intensity of a silver sun for the briefest of moments. The Silver Flare forced Nick to close his eyes for a moment, and in that moment Ruby hooked Crescent Rose around Nogg and flipped a switch on her baby, making Crescent Rose's blade collapse down to the shaft pinching Nogg's blade between them. Ruby leapt towards the blond swordsman as she flipped around and kicked off of Nick's broad chest with a brief Petal Burst fully intending to use the full force of her weight and momentum to wrest Nogg from the elder Arc's hands.

It almost worked... almost.

Nick's grip tightened at the last possible moment on the pommel, keeping the blade within his hand and arresting most of the momentum of Ruby's move. The blond swordsman then pulled Nogg back in a sudden jerking motion that caused Ruby to loose her grip of Crescent Rose. The silver-eyed girl managed to land on her feet and stay on them as she spun around only to see her beloved weapon sail through the air and land out of bounds.

"That was great!" Nick laughed with an impressed expression on his face, "Very tricky, very clever. But even with aura enough of a mass advantage will turn the tides if you're not watching out for it! Still, good on you! You almost disarmed me! Now, let's continue!"

Ruby gulped as she got into a boxer's stance, and she could tell it was terrible as soon as she adopted it. Still, she wasn't about to give up now! She pulled her right fist back ready to throw a punch, but before she could embarrass herself a better idea popped into her head.

She launched herself away from him with a full powered petal burst heading towards one of the ice pillars at speeds few eyes could track. One of her hands stretched out of the cloud of rose petals as she was about to pass the tower of ice, doing its' best to clasp the freezing surface. The grab was successful and with a burning friction that melted a trail through the ice Ruby slingshotted herself around the ice pillar towards another one, changing her direction without losing too much speed allowing her to build even more momentum as she raced through the air.

And so she raced from one ice pillar to the next, building more and more speed as she went. It wasn't long before she was going faster than any ground vehicle, and it would only take a few more seconds before she would reach the top speed she could manage without being able to use Crescent Rose to redirect her momentum on the pillars.

Having done all she could she slingshotted herself around the final tower of ice and hurled herself towards Nick like a living cannonball.

All of this only took a few seconds, and in those seconds Nick had shifted his stance to be ready. As the crimson blur crossed from the far side of the field to his own in the blink of an eye he leaned towards the side and stretched out his left hand. The instant the cloud of rose petals occupied the space his torso had been in his hand clamped shut around Ruby's cloak, pulling her out of the petal burst and bringing her to a complete stop.

"ACK-" Ruby choked as her feet were suddenly ahead of her instead of behind her and her aura flared around her neck from her cloak stopping her forward movement. The silver-eyed girl fell to the ground on her back; her aura was technically still unbroken, but anyone with eyes to see could tell it would only take a stiff breeze to change that. As Ruby lay there groaning and staring up at the sky she made a mental note to design a quick release mechanism for her cloak so that wouldn't ever happen again.

Once it was clear the silver-eyed girl wasn't going to get up again Nora rang the gong to bring things to a close.

Jaune winced and immediately went out onto the field once the match was called. Pyrrha followed. Between them and Nick, all four members of team RWBY were carried off the field to the sidelines. May had prepared some cots, and all four got set down on one each.

"Geez, do you have to be such drama queens?" Emerald sniffed.

"Shut up, Greensleeves," Yang groaned.

Xia, Julian, Nicholas, Leander and Leandra came down from the bleachers, though none of them looked too worried. Nicholas for his part seemed exasperated.

"Mother, seriously," Nicholas sighed, "Close range?"

"I thought I had it!" Weiss groaned.

"Wow, he really went easy on you!" Julian chirped with a big grin.

"How do you figure?" Ruby grumbled.

"Well, apparently when he trained Dad after Beacon," Julian said thoughtfully, "He knocked you guys around like a pinata!"

"Comforting," Blake muttered. Her twins patted her on the shoulders and she winced. "Nngh! Hey!"

"Big baby," Yang huffed. Xia, with a deadpan expression, pinched Yang's shoulder. "OW! Hey! I thought you were on my side!"

"You were kind of asking for that, Mom," Xia smirked.

Jaune sighed.

"Come on guys, they feel bad enough," he scolded his kids.

"We'll go over your performance later," Nick declared with a bright grin, before he looked over at Pyrrha, May, Emerald, and Arslan. "You guys ready?"

Pyrrha had a determined look on her face, as did Arslan.

"Yes sir," Pyrrha and Arslan seemed to growl in unison.

Emerald winced, but nodded. May, trembling, managed a nod as well (though a smile from her mother did wonders for her composure).

"Great!" Nick cheered. "I'll leave you to it, Jaune! Let's go!" He waved his hand and marched back onto the field, Pyrrha, Arslan, May and Emerald following.

Jaune sighed and rubbed his hands together.

"Okay, hang on..." He charged up his Semblance, his hands glowing with Aura, "You'll all be just fine soon!"

Weiss smiled.

"I have no doubt," she said, extending her arm... Only to be knocked out of the way by Yang. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself," Yang snorted, pulling Jaune over towards her, "I took most of the hits from his dad, ya know!"

Jaune rolled his eyes and pressed his hands onto Yang's shoulders. His Aura lit up, and so did Yang's. She sighed happily and leaned in against him.

"Thanks Stud," she murmured, "That feels great~."

"You're welcome," Jaune said, managing to keep his cool. He was not a twelve year old on an ice cream date, he was not.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

It wasn't that Team SSSN was dawdling, no. Sun just decided they weren't in any real hurry.

"Come on, Sun," Neptune groaned, as he and Ilia led their team, "We're gonna miss everything!"

"I will admit," Sage said, adjusting his vest, "I am eager to see these fights. Though I don't understand why they're fighting right now."

Sun grinned.

"It's absolutely simple," he said.

"You'd know that all right," Scarlet murmured dryly. Sun laughed, taking no offense.

"They gotta establish the pecking order!" Sun said cheerfully. "All henhouses do it-Urk!"

Ilia elbowed him, despite her bondage. Sun shrugged.

"What? It's how the hens figured things out in Papa Sanzang's chicken roost!"

"It still feels offensive," Ilia sniffs.

"But Sun's a Faunus too," Neptune pointed out, "Isn't it offensive when a Faunus says stuff like that?"

"I... You...!" Ilia grimaced. Sun laughed and patted her back. She pouted, but leaned into him more.

"All that aside," Scarlet said with a frown, "I don't mind not getting too involved. One, it's RWBY and JNPR: They're chaos magnets."

"That makes them fun!" Sun enthused as they rounded the corner to Training Field 12.

"And two," Scarlet shook his head, "I don't think I want to know too much about my future."

"You've got eleven different choices," Neptune stated firmly as they came in sight of the bleachers and field, "Why stress about it?"

RWBY were already in cots on the sidelines, while Pyrrha, Arslan, May and Emerald were on the ice covered field with a tall blond man they knew to be Jaune's father.

Neptune grinned.

"I bet I score with a lot of hotties, known as the greatest playboy to walk Remnant!"

"He says when Jaune Arc has a harem," Sage deadpanned.

"It's not a harem!" Neptune growled.

"It really is," Scarlet observed. Neptune snorted.

"Please, like he's gonna go from goof to playboy overnight. He's not even gonna-"

"Uncle Neptune?"

Neptune paused and looked at the source of the voice. A beautiful dark skinned girl in robes like Arslan's (though white and blue trimmed) stood there. Her hair was a bit longer than Arslan's and her eyes were a vibrant blue. She smiled warmly. Neptune blinked, but soon regained his composure.

"Ah... You must be Arslan's daughter."

"Y-Yes, I'm Petra," she introduced herself. Neptune smiled in his usual charming way, adopting a pose a male model would envy for the sheer level of boy band charisma it emitted... In his mind, at least. His teammates and Ilia thought it made him look like a butler in a host cafe who was trying way too hard.

"I'm very pleased to meet you at last-"

Petra broke from her mother's traditional stoicism with a big grin, and unleashed a tight, happy hug on the flummoxed Neptune.

"Uwah?!"

"Oh, um, I-I'm sorry," Petra apologized, letting go and blushing a bit. She took a deep breath and regained her center. "I just... I never got to meet you! This is incredible!"

Neptune blinked.

"Er... You never got to meet me?"

"Yes," Petra said with a smile and nod, "You died in the war against Salem, saving Father and Mother! They named my brother after you! You have a statue in New Atlas and Argus!"

Neptune reeled, eyes wide, face pale.

"I... I'm dead?!"

"In my timeline, yes," Petra said. She winced. "I apologize for my lack of tact... Are you all right?"

Sun grinned and clapped his best friend on the shoulder. Sage, Scarlet and Ilia lingered nearby, Ilia staying closer to Sun per her usual. And because of the length of her leash.

"Hey, there are still ten more futures you could have become a mega playboy?" Sun offered.

"Shut up Sun," Neptune mumbled, as Sage and Scarlet looked torn between amusement and pity for their friend.

----------------

"Do you ladies want the field cleared before we start?" Nick inquired while gesturing towards the ice pillars and pockmarks on the ground.

"Could we have a moment to discuss this?" Arslan asked as she glanced to her right towards Pyrrha. The warrior nun had instinctively taken the leading position as the group had set out from the stands, but the redheaded amazon had power walked to Arslan's side and had been trying to subtly get ahead of the chocolate skinned lioness for most of the distance they had covered from the stands. She had never seen such behavior from her rival before, but she didn't have time to dwell on that now.

"Take all the time you need," Nick allowed with an indulgent wave of his hand, "I want to see all of you at your best after all."

"Thank you Brother Arc," Arslan gave a slight bow before leading the other girls a few yards away from the blond paladin and initiating a huddle.

"Why wouldn't we want a clear field?" Pyrrha asked as she positioned herself directly across from Arslan in the circle, her gaze filling with a familiar steely grit from their tournament matches.

"It depends on how May wants to play her role," Arslan answered before turning her eyes to the sniper. "Do you want an open field or do you want elevation and cover?"

"Elevation and cover," May replied after a moment of thought. "While a flat field means Mr. Arc can't hide behind anything it also means we'll all be on the same plane, meaning I won't have an angle to fire if you guys are between me and him. If I climb one of those pillars there's a chance I'll have a good angle to fire from even if you guys are in melee."

"Then we'll keep the field as it is right now, and with that we have a plan," Arslan nodded in satisfaction.

"We do?" Emerald raised an eyebrow. The amount of skeptical sarcasm she packed into those two syllables was honestly impressive, yet the other girls gave her a variety of looks showing they didn't appreciate the feat. For a moment Emerald bristled and looked like she was going to say something else but she glanced towards the stands were her daughter was sitting then to the lower technical area where Jaune tended to the losers of the last match and she let any snide remarks she might have had die.

"We have the outline of a plan," Arslan amended before elaborating: "May's primary focus is on ranged combat, my primary focus is on close quarters. Judging from your weapons and from what I saw from you during Haven's combat classes you're an all-rounder like Pyrrha. Brother Arc will have already intuited those facts just from looking at us, and since we know he knows that we can put ourselves in his shoes for a moment and see what his best course of action will be."

"And we can plan around that!" Pyrrha exclaimed as the strategic gears in her mind started to turn.

"Exactly," Arslan agreed with her rival before returning her focus to May. "If Brother Arc manages to get close how long do you think you could last against him?"

"Not very," May sheepishly admitted, "His reflexes are too good and he hits too hard."

"And how easily do you think you could get away from him?" Arslan further inquired.

"It would be hard," May shrank a bit as she was being honest with her weakness.

"And that's what he'll try to exploit," Arslan theorized with a confident conviction. "May's sniper rifle is a serious threat that he has no good answers for if we can stop him from using aura blade techniques, so it's in his best interest to take her off the field as quickly as possible. As such May is now our VIP, and we need to keep Brother Arc as far away from her as we can."

"I guess that makes sense," Emerald crossed her arms over her chest as she frowned, "How are we doing that?"

"My plan is fairly simple," Arslan explained and instructed. "May? Pick out your sniper's nest and get there as fast as you can the instant the match starts. I'll engage Brother Arc in close quarters and do my best to keep him in one place, and you'll unload as many shots into him as you can. Pyrrha? Emerald? I want the two of you to assume guarding positions so you can intercept Brother Arc if I fail to keep him locked down. If I do manage to keep him locked down feel free to add your fire to May's if you see an opening."

"Are you sure you can pin him in place solo?" Pyrrha shifted forward with a questioning glint in her eyes, "He'd have a harder time getting away from two of us than just one of us. I should join you."

"And if Brother Arc managed to slip by the both of us anyways we'd have only one person on defense," Arslan shook her head, "And Emerald can't both flanks by herself."

Emerald bristled again as if she was going to claim that she could, but with another glance towards her daughter and future husband she apparently thought better of it.

"Well if only one of us can lock him in place it should be me," Pyrrha argued as she shifted her grip on her shield, a hardness taking shape in her expression. "He doesn't know any tricks that will bypass my semblance, and that gives me a significant edge against him in melee."

"That would be a suboptimal play," Arslan frowned as a subtle edge creeped into her voice. She took a deep breath and clamped down on that before she continued, "You can start your engagement with him at a longer range than I can, which means you'd be better at cutting him off than I would be if he gets away from whoever's keeping him in one place. So I'll charge forward, you'll stand guard."

"Alright I guess," Pyrrha acquiesced with a dubious tone.

May nervously glanced between the two of them, hoping the crack she had just seen wouldn't pop up again in the imminent match. Emerald also noticed the crack, and if one knew where to look they would see the gears turning behind her eyes as old instincts took note of it.

"Look, If we're going to win this we need to be team players," Arslan reasoned in the most placating tone she could manage, "And being team players means we need to assume the roles in the plan we're best suited for, and that isn't always the role we want."

"And the fact that your role is the one you want is just a coincidence?" Emerald needled as she gave her ammunition one last check.

"I will not lie and say yes," Arslan sighed, "The fact that my skills line up with the combat roles I enjoy the most is a deliberate aspect of my training. However, it would be irresponsible planning to not put myself in the role I've trained for."

"You're not wrong," Pyrrha allowed even as her voice grew sour.

"Look, I'm not planing on being a glory-hound today. If I really end up needing someone's help I'll give you a signal to join me in the melee," Arslan offered.

"What kind of signal?" Pyrrha asked.

"If I need your help I'll make this sound," Arslan then made a series of catlike trilling noises a normal human throat could never hope to reproduce. She then turned her gaze to Emerald, "If I need you I'll do this," a series of felid chattering sounds spilled fourth. She looked to May, "Now I'm not planning on calling you to the front line, but for completion's sake this is your call," the chirping sounds a cat makes when a bird is outside the window was the next sound she made. "Now is everyone good with the plan?"

Sounds of affirmation were given as the other three girls nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"Then let's do this."

The huddle was broken, and they took their spot across the field from Nick Arc.

"So what's the verdict?" The blond swordsman asked.

"We'll fight with the field as is," Arslan answered.

"And you're all ready?"

"We are."

"Aright! Let's get this match underway then!" Nick glanced in Nora's direction and gave her a big thumbs up.

The gong rang out to begin the match, and everyone moved.

----------------

Everyone's Aura was back to full, and so Jaune sat down on the bleachers. The kids scooted some distance away to join their other siblings, probably feeling the awkwardness and not wanting to get involved. Jaune couldn't blame them: He didn't like it when his parents fought either.

Yang and Weiss took his sides this time. Ruby and Blake stood there for a moment, under increased scrutiny from their fellow future brides. Blake then moved towards Jaune's lap, but Ruby elbowed her aside. She glared at her team and sat down on the blushing Jaune's lap, imperious as a queen... Before she pouted.

"I'm not talking to any of you," she groused. Blake's ears flattened, while Yang and Weiss both looked abashed. Jaune coughed, but per many times previously, he hugged Ruby from behind. He bore with the aura of feminine envy and outrage as well as he could.

"I mean, you guys got really close," he said encouragingly, "And I know my dad. He was having a great time!"

"That helps?" Yang asked dryly. Blake scowled at her and then Weiss. She crossed her arms under her chest.

"We did have a workable plan," she said.

"Well, it didn't work," Weiss said airily.

"It didn't work because you two-two poopheads wanted to show off!" Ruby cried.

"Ruby!" Yang scolded, though she still looked guilty.

"You were all rather distracted by more than the fight," Winter finally spoke. Jaune almost jumped: The Atlasian Specialist had moved to a seat behind them completely silently. She raised an eyebrow.

"It's not good to let your emotions dictate how the battle goes," she said.

Yang scowled.

"Hey! My passion is how my Semblance works!" She beamed and squeezed in closer to Jaune. "You like my passion, don't you Jaune?"

"Er, well, y-yes," Jaune said, uncomfortably aware of Ruby's presence on his lap.

"And that helped us how?" Weiss deadpanned. Yang snorted.

"Who was the first to get Aura broken?"

"You-You slattern!" Weiss hissed.

"What does that even mean?!" Yang demanded.

"It means she thinks you're a slut," Blake deadpanned.

Yang's eyes burned red.

"Oh does she?!" She snarled, as Weiss winced and held herself behind Jaune. Ruby glared with Yang, while Blake smirked just a bit.

Winter stared intently at Jaune. Almost like she was assessing him. Her initial meeting with him had been... Awkward, to say the least. They knew eachother so little.

What would the man she... They married do? He asked himself. He coughed nervously. He squeezed Ruby's arm, and looked at the others.

"Let's not do this, okay?" He asked with a gentle firmness that felt right once he found it within himself. Ruby flushed, but nodded.

"Yeah," she murmured. She still glared at the others though. Yang sighed and rubbed her bicep, as Weiss coughed.

"Sorry Weisscream," Yang muttered.

"Sorry Yang," she said softly. "And Sister, for being so...Improper in front of you."

They looked at Ruby and Blake. Ruby huffed while Blake smirked slightly.

"I don't have anything to apologize for," Ruby stated.

"Neither do I," Blake said.

Yang and Weiss scowled. Jaune held in a sigh.

Winter chuckled.

"I've heard worse with the Specialists, believe you me," she said gently. Her eyes had an approving look in them as she assessed Jaune. He hoped she approved.

"Well," Blake said, moving towards Jaune's back, "I do hope the others put up a good fight against your father-"

She paused as Winter moved behind Jaune, and hugged him from behind. Weiss' eyes nearly bugged out, as though her sister had transformed into a Grimm Beowulf. Blake's jaw dropped. Yang and Ruby stared.

"Well, um, ahem," Winter said, her arms arranged awkwardly around Jaune's shoulders, "I've... Never actually done this before. Um... How am I doing?"

Jaune coughed violently, his face bright red.

"I uh... F-Fine?"

"Well," Blake mused, "Where am I going to sit?"

"Find somewhere else," Ruby huffed, "I'm not moving!"

Despite her cold appearance, Winter was definitely... Warm and full and-Okay, yeah, not gonna think about those. Or Yang's... Those. Or Ruby's... Anything...

"ARC!"

"What?!" Jaune yelped, casting eyes to the source of the shout. Neptune stood there with Petra. The blue haired young man gaped in shock and horror that was so overwrought, it was like a Mistralian boy band lead posing for a cover. Sun, Sage, Scarlet, and Ilia lingered behind him. Sage looked slightly embarrassed, Scarlet sighed, Sun continued to grin, and Ilia looked rather awkwardly at him, then Blake.

"You... You...!" Neptune cried.

"Uncle Sun! Uncle Neptune! Uncle Scarlet! Uncle Sage! Aunt Ilia!" Shouted the various children. Neptune gaped at them, as Petra smiled and shrugged. Sun laughed and patted his shoulder.

"See? You're fine in those other timelines!"

"Yeah!" Xia enthused, "Though... It's kind of weird to see you with hair!"

"Oh, totally," Nicholas added, shooting a little grin and wink to his mother. A look Weiss returned with gusto.

"With hair?!" Neptune cried, covering his head with his hands.

"Isn't that better than dying?" Sage asked.

"At least I died heroically-WITH HAIR!" Neptune moaned.

"Seriously? You dated him?" Yang asked Weiss. Weiss flushed, and nestled a bit closer to Jaune.

"It was a youthful indiscretion!"

"It was two months ago," Blake deadpanned, settling on sitting next to Yang and reaching across to grab Jaune's hand.

"Still counts!"

Further talk was put on hold as the gong rang out to begin the match, bringing everyone's attention to the field.

----------------

May turned and sprinted towards the most sturdy looking ice pillar and swung her rifle around into its' ax mode to use it as a tool for her ascent. The young sniper made good time going up all things considered, but the action would be well underway once she reached the top and was ready to start shooting.

Emerald took a defensive position on the side of the field closer to the stands her daughter and the other family members were watching from. Pyrrha took her defensive position on the other side.

And Arslan? Arslan shot forward, a snarling roar placed somewhere between a lion's, tiger's or a jaguar's spilled from her lips. The warrior nun channeled all of her anxiety, all of her excitement, and all of her other rolling feelings into that roar, making it reverberate across the training field and cut through the noise of the crowd in the stands. Funneling all of her feelings into that roar centered her emotionally, leaving her in a mostly zen headspace that would let her use her semblance Pneuma with near maximum efficiency.

She deployed her weapon from her sleeve, keeping it in its' dagger form as she prepared for the clash as she had already envisioned the blond swordsman either catching her weapon or batting it aside leaving her open to attack, and that was something Arslan didn't want to risk at this juncture of the battle.

Now on paper the idea of engaging Brother Arc in a straight sword fight was a terrible idea. His bastard sword had a significant reach advantage over her dagger, and on top of that the man out massed her by a significant margin. Fencing against him with those severer disadvantages was a recipe for a quick defeat, and Arslan wouldn't have even considered attempting it without her mastery of Pneuma.

Nick thrusted at her with Nogg and Arslan was able to parry it with her dagger, though the differences in reach meant she wasn't able to properly counterattack at their current distances from each other. Arslan opted to use the opening of her parry to step closer to the blond swordsman, and Nick responded by swinging Nogg around to strike at her head. This she blocked as she stepped in again, and as Nick helicoptered Nogg around to hit her on the shoulder Arslan flared her aura to tank the hit, allowing her to step close enough to stab her dagger into the man's sternum making his aura flare in turn.

She was now too close to him for him to swing his sword around like normal and so Nick did his best to backpedal away from her, but Arslan wasn't about to let him do that. She advanced with his retreat, slashing and stabbing with each step. She managed three solid hits and two glancing ones, and a vicious grin broke across Nick's face as he grabbed Nogg halfway up the blade with his off hand and shifted his rhythm to go on the offensive.

The man's half-swording technique was admirable. With one hand on the handle and the other on the blade he had effectively shortened the length of his weapon to match the uncomfortably close quarters fight her dagger was designed for. Half-swording at this close range also meant that Nick was striking with Nogg's crossguard and pommel as often as he was the tip of his blade. Arslan in turn punched and kicked as often as she slashed and stabbed. The two combatants' auras flared with each impact in a bout that looked more and more like a knife fight than a sword fight with each passing second.

More than once Nick threw out an attack meant to drive Arslan back and create distance between them, and Arslan took each of those hits instead of ceding ground. And that wasn't all, as Arslan didn't hesitate to let herself get hit if it meant striking Nick in turn. Many mighty blows rained down upon her, her aura visibly flaring with each hit.

Up in the stands her seemingly unusual strategy stood out, and Neptune grimaced with some worry.

"She's really strong, but she's never been as much of a tank as she supposes," he muttered, "She's better using her speed-Why is she taking those hits?"

Logos frowned a bit, leaning forward. He then nodded in approval.

"Ah-She's deploying her Aura as a shield for brief moments," he said, "Reinforcing her defense but preserving her Aura reserves by only projecting enough Aura to stop a blow-And no more."

"It's not just that," Ruby's eyes glowed slightly as she watched with more than just her normal vision, "She's only projecting her Aura in the areas she's going to get hit, and nowhere else."

"What? How?" Yang exclaimed with bewildered surprise. "To do something like that at the pace of this fight is absurd!"

"It's the semblance we share in action," Petra explained as awe at her mother's performance filled her voice. "Pneuma gives the user near perfect control over their own aura so long as they can keep themselves emotionally centered. This not only allows us to master complex aura techniques significantly faster than normal, but also allows us to use our aura so efficiently that every technique we've mastered only requires a minuscule fraction of the aura it would normally take to pull it off. What mother's doing here? I'm still learning how to do that," Petra breathed in amazement, "Her control is incredible!"

Ren, observing the fight, nodded in approval. His own Aura control had led him to develop a similar technique, and he was now seeing a potential refinement or evolution in action. He was keen on talking with Arslan after the battle... Assuming Jaune didn't take up too much of her time.

Still this impressive display was something that could not be maintained forever; it would only be a matter of time before Arslan slipped up and took a hit she wasn't ready for. If she wanted to win the duel she would need to change her tactics.

Winning the duel wasn't her goal. Keeping Nick Arc in one place was her goal.

The sound of gunfire echoed across the training field as Pyrrha and Emerald each finally managed to draw a bead on the blond swordsman that wouldn't hit the chocolate skinned warrior nun. Not all of these shots hit their target, both girls were trying hard to not hit Arslan after all, but enough of them did to split Nick's focus. The swordsman tried to twist so Arslan was between him and the two huntresses firing at him, but Pyrrha and Emerald were far enough away from each other that he couldn't completely block both of their angels of fire.

This twisting about gave Arslan just enough breathing room to shift the rhythm of aggression by degrees into her favor. What was once block-block-attack-block-block became block-attack-block-attack and was starting to become attack-attack-block-attack.

Then the first sniper round thundered across the training field. May had finally reached her sniper's perch and had found her opening to join in.

Nick swung his sword to block that bullet instead of Arslan's next thrust, letting her land a solid hit on his sternum. More shots from Pyrrha made him twist away as he blocked Arslan's next slice only for another sniper round to slam into his shoulder. Emerald opened again fire thanks to the changing angle of the tussle, landing a hit before Nick blocked her second shot with Nogg leaving him open for a slash to his bicep. A third sniper round came in that Nick then deflected with his sword, leaving him open to another jab from Arslan's dagger.

The Golden Lion of Haven Academy felt a grin tug at the corners of her lips. The impromptu team she lead was in a good position now, if they could keep this up they could win!

It was at that point that someone made the mistake of trying to win a little harder.

Pyrrha heard a series of catlike trilling noises. If the crimson haired champion had been slightly less eager to jump in she might have noticed a few oddities surrounding the call, such as it having zero variation from the example call Arslan had given in the huddle and how it sounded like it came from only a few feet away instead of more than a dozen yards down the training field. If she was less enthusiastic in her charge she might have noticed how Emerald had glanced at her like she had just committed herself to a snap decision. If she had put less enthusiasm into her war cry she might have noticed how surprised Arslan was at her sudden arrival.

Suddenly inserting herself into the melee forced Arslan to backpedal a few steps, removing the lioness from her place inside Nick's guard. Swords clashed with Pyrrha adopting an aggressive cadence taken straight from her most difficult tournament matches. She struck high, then low, then high again with Nick blocking each strike even as he danced so Arslan was between him and Emerald's line of fire. He moved his head to the side to dodge one of May's sniper's rounds even as he outright parried Pyrrha's next strike and swung Nogg in what would have been a devastating counterattack. Pyrrha subtly tapped into Polarity to insure that Nogg hit her shield Akouo even as she spun her blade Milo around in a swing aimed at Nick's shoulder. When Nick attempted to bat her blade aside with his free hand she used Polarity for a fraction of a second to adjust Milo's alinement so his hand met the edge instead of the flat, nicking away at his aura as he sent her swing wide.

As Pyrrha whirled her shield around to bash at the blond swordsman as part of a twirl the man leaned back away from the bash before thrusting Nogg at the young spartan's core. Pyrrha subtly flexed Polarity to nudge the thrust off course but as she did so Nick flared his aura just enough to overpower that nudging, landing a solid hit against her breastplate.

Pyrrha staggered for a moment in surprise realizing that he had somehow grokked the trick she pulled with Polarity after only two exchanges, something that (as far as she knew) had eluded every other opponent she had faced up to this point. Would the man be able to overpower less subtle application of her semblance? Only one way to find out.

She pressed the attack again.

Arslan in the meanwhile wasn't going to let this unexpected usurpation by her rival just slide. While the sensible thing to do would be to effectively tag out and let Pyrrha fight him solo for a bit the lioness instead vented her frustration with a low and guttural growl. Somewhat centered again she too pressed the attack, going at Nick from his left as Pyrrha was already attacking from his right.

Emerald took this time to replenish the ammunition of her revolvers while doing her best to keep a sense of smugness from her face. It was time to see how deep the crack she noticed during the team huddle went. May in turn frowned as she adjusted her calculations to account for shooting into a three person melee.

Nick swung Nogg in wide arcs meant to create distance as he backpedaled, keeping both girls in front of him even as they advanced. Arslan shifted her dagger into its' rope dart configuration and hurled it at the man. Nick nocked the dart off course while Pyrrha rushed forward in an attempt to take advantage of any gap in his defenses the deflection might have caused. A gap had not been created. Nick deflected her strike and caught her shield with his off hand when she tried to swing it into him, and the only reason he didn't pull Akouo right off of her arm was because of how strongly she surged Polarity as she pulled away.

Returning her weapon to its' dagger form Arslan did her best to make her way inside Nick's defenses again, a task made significantly more difficult by the fact that the man was now wise to her strategy and Pyrrha's own efforts were getting in her way. With every other attack Arslan attempted she had to pull back because Pyrrha was there attempting her own attack. Pyrrha in turn found herself having to pull back every other attack as well as the chocolate skinned warrior nun got in the way of her own attacks.

After five such exchanges the two rivals locked gazes and glared their frustrations at each other, yet instead of fostering resentment or bitterness a sense of understanding flowed between them and their eyes widened in epiphany. The two of them had clashed so often in the arena that you would be hard pressed to find anyone who knew the other's fighting style better. The two of them turned their focus away from what they were planing on doing and towards what their rival was about to do.

Pyrrha would charge in using her shield to block as she thrusted low, and so Arslan would throw her rope dart high to distract Brother Arc. Arslan would rush in and try to catch Nick's sword in a bind with her dagger, and so Pyrrha would shift her sword into its' javelin configuration to stab at him while he couldn't deflect. Pyrrha would try to catch his sword with the notches of her shield and so Arslan would try to dance around him to kick at his knees to put him off balance.

As the two of them pressed on their rhythms came closer and closer together, and Nick's grin grew bigger and bigger to see it happen. The two of them were making it difficult for him to launch and effective counterattack as each girl moved in the gaps the other provided. Then May's sniper fire rejoined the equation, and the blond swordsman found himself purely on the defensive.

He blocked a swing from Pyrrha's sword, he defected a strike from Arslan's rope dart, he moved his head out of the path of May's next shot, he sidestepped Arslan's attempted kick, he caught Pyrrha's sword in a bind just long enough to push it out of alinement before he redirected a punch from Arslan with his off hand and ducked a bit to go under a shot from May. This whirlwind of motion remained in one place in spite of his best efforts to disengage, and joyous laughter started to escape the man's lips.

Another sniper round ripped through the air and Brother Arc was forced to block this one, leaving a massive hole in his defenses that Arslan immediately zeroed in on. The chocolate skinned lioness coiled her body and sprung forward with her dagger outstretched ready to drive it into the blond swordsman's exposed-

CRACK!

-Pyrrha had seed the exact same opening at the exact same time and moved to exploit it in the exact same way at exactly the same moment. The two rivals collided headfirst into each other and fell to the ground in a tangle of dazed limbs that could do nothing to stop Nick from charging away down the training field.

Up in the stands Xander sighed, "I should have seen that coming."

"What do you mean?" Julian looked his way.

"Mom and Aunt Arslan have always fought so well together... Unless Dad was involved," The redheaded boy muttered. "Then they just start stepping on each other's toes."

"Oh, you too huh?" Petra asked in interest.

Amethyst frowned, her Aura flaring a bit. Ash and Ashley yelped and scooted away from her. She grinned.

"Oh! That's MUCH better! Now I can follow along!" She looked over at Ash. "Is-Is that how you make your senses work better with Aura?"

"Maybe with a little less flare?" Ashley asked sarcastically.

"It's really astonishing how fast she figured it out," August murmured, his eyes glowing gently thanks to his Semblance, "Though her control needs a little more... Finesse."

Jaune chuckled in pride, and shared his smile with Amethyst. She blushed proudly.

Back on the field Emerald confidently strode into Nick Arc's path, shifting her revolvers into their sickle configuration. With a smirk she flexed her semblance, and Nick Arc's world became more interesting.

The blond swordsman saw another Emerald step out from behind the first, and then two more Emeralds stepped out from behind those two. Four became eight, eight became sixteen, sixteen became thirty-two and so on until a hundred Emeralds stood before him, each brandishing their weapons, Thief's Respite, in a different way. Some had their weapons in their holsters with their hands resting on their handles like they were gunslingers in an Old Vaquero film. Others had Thief's Respite in its' kusarigama form casually twirling the twin blades around on their chains. Most still brandished the weapons as sickles, each adopting a different combat stance as each and every Emerald sized Nick up.

The hundred Emerald's all charged with variety of different war cries, each moving about to have a unique angle of approach towards the blond swordsman. Nick's eyes narrowed as they darted back and forth as the Emeralds closed in from almost every possible direction, quickly picking out which ones would get to him first. The man's muscles visibly tensed, and then he moved with blinding speed.

Nick flipped Nogg around and grabbed it with both hands on the blade, one hand close to the tip and the other close to the crossguard. He then spun around with a scooping motion towards one of the few directions the hundred Emeralds weren't charging from, driving Nogg's pommel into the real Emerald's navel.

The scooping motion continued lifting Emerald up and forcing all of the air was forced out of her lungs. The action ended with Emerald held aloft folded in half balanced on Nogg's pommel. Thief's Respite clattered to the ground as the green-haired girl desperately gasped with bulging eyes.

".....how.....?" She managed as all the other Emerald's vanished from Nick's view.

"You overplayed your hand," Nick quickly explained as he started to spin, "It would have worked better if one of the you's was the real you, once I realized the others were fake I just looked for the one spot you were trying to keep me from looking at and there you were."

With that Nick brought the spin to a halt, tossing the dark skinned thief a considerable distance where she hit the ground and rolled; only coming to a stop once she had rolled out of bounds.

Up in the stands the eliminated girl's daughter was given sympathetic looks.

"Sooo, I'm guessing that's pretty bad, huh?" Amethyst asked with a severe wince.

Ash and Ashley sighed.

"She always bit off more than she could chew," Ash grunted.

"Seriously, she would have slapped the back of our heads for making a mess up like that," Ashley huffed.

"Mom would do worse though," Ash opined.

"Oh yeah," Ashley nodded.

Back on the field May rapidly switched out the ammunition of her rifle. Once the new magazine had slotted into place she flipped the switch that allowed for semiautomatic fire; with nobody between her and Mr. Arc she didn't have time for precision and needed weight of fire if she wanted to stand a chance. Pyrrha and Arslan were still disentangling themselves from one another after all, so nobody would be able to help her if she failed to slow the man down.

She fired three shots at him in rapid succession and he dodged the way she hoped he would. In a matter of seconds the man was taking cover amidst a section of icy ruble that he undoubtedly thought would give him an avenue of approach where she couldn't shoot at him. Now she just needed to disabuse him of that assumption.

May's eyes glowed faintly as she channeled her semblance, letting her clearly see the man's location within the ruble as he moved through it with surprising speed an grace. She needed to act quickly. May aimed at an ice pillar next to the rubble and fired. The bullet ricocheted off of the pillar down into the icy rubble, grazing Nick's shoulder. Having found her range May unloaded her ammunition into the ice pillar as quickly as possible, sending a literal hail of bullets raining down on Nick's location.

Every ricocheted shot landed in the moving area she aimed for, keeping Nick in the splash zone as he ran even though not every bullet actually found their target. Still a significant number of them did hit the man and took noticeable chunks out of his aura, staggering him more than once and slowing his approach.

Unfortunately it didn't slow him enough and he was soon clear of the rubble charging towards the pillar she was perched upon at speeds surprising for a man without a movement based semblance. Fortunately May wasn't caught off guard and it didn't take any real effort to adjust the lead on her shots to match this unexpected burst of speed. Unfortunately she didn't have another good angle to ricochet her shots from, leaving her to shoot directly at the man giving him the opportunity to deflect all of her bullets with his sword.

And deflect those shots he did, his blade a while of motion even until he jumped halfway up the pillar and drove Nogg into the ice as his first anchor point to climb up the frozen structure. May hissed in frustration as the man's jump had bee perfectly timed for when the last bullet left her magazine, meaning the moment of vulnerability of the climb was the same moment she needed to reload. Even as she ejected the old magazine and inserted the new one she could tell the man would reach the top before she'd be ready to fire, meaning she was at a crossroads: try to fight the man tall enough to outreach her ax on a platform waaaay too small for such a fight or...

"Just run away, Mom!" August shouted from the stands in a way that cut through the din of the crowds and the battle.

"You can do it, sweetie! Whatever you choose!" Saia shouted encouragingly. "Nick! Don't hurt her too badly!"

...Yeah fleeing was good. May jumped off the opposite side of the pillar the instant Nick reached the top, flipping her rifle around and switching it into ax mode to dig the blade into the ice. This slowed her descent just enough that she could comfortably hit the ground running as soon as she reached the bottom.

Her feet moved as fast as they could carrying her away from the pillar in the general direction of Arslan and Pyrrha, who had only managed to get to their feet a few moments before. A mighty thud from far too close behind her let her know that Nick had already joined her on the ground by simply jumping down not really needing to do anything to slow his own descent, prompting the young sniper to try running twice as fast as she normally could in the hopes that the man wouldn't be instantly right behind her.

She didn't create enough distance fast enough. Her hearing combined with a feeling in her gut told her Nick had already closed the gap between them and was swinging his blade at her right side. Adrenalin made her aura surge as she spun around and just barely managed to block with the shaft of her ax, yet the impact was still strong enough to send the girl sprawling on the ground.

May rolled as she tried to recover, and managed to get to her feet in time to block Nick's next strike. Unfortunately her footing was still unsteady so she was sent sprawling again. Fortunately she landed in a crouch that let her get back to her feet almost immediately and with much better footing this time, letting her block and deflect Nick's next two attacks.

The third attack was a spinning thing that hooked under her ax's beard and ripped it from her grip, sending the weapon flying through the air a good ways. It landed within the bounds of the arena, but that didn't exactly help her with Nick right in front of her spinning his sword around for another swing.

With a startled squeaking noise May backpedaled quickly as Nick swung and thrusted at her with Nogg, the young sniper barely avoided getting hit by the skin of her teeth. Running backwards was of course less than ideal and it only took a half dozen steps before she was tripping over her own feet sending her careening through the air...

...she didn't hit the ground though.

Arslan was now there, scooping the sniper up and running off with her while Pyrrha engaged Nick directly with an old Argusian war cry. The chocolate skinned warrior nun effortlessly slung May over her shoulder while dashing towards the sniper's lost weapon, snatching it up without stopping as she barreled towards another of the ice pillars. When she reached the icy construct she channeled her aura through her feet and started running up the vertical surface like it was a floor instead of sheer wall of ice. Within moments she had reached the top with May and deposited the girl on the perch that could be found there.

"You good?" Arslan asked.

"Yeah," May managed to nod as she took her weapon in slightly shaking hands while returning it to rifle mode.

"Good," Arslan commented before turning and launching herself from the top of the pillar, tossing her rope dart out ahead of her to spear the ground. Channeling her aura through the rope to make the dart act like an anchor allowed her to pull herself down through the air at speeds faster than she could fall, and as she impacted the ground she flared her aura again to soften the force of the impact.

With that she ran to join the melee between Nick and Pyrrha, sending aura through her rope again to harden the dirt around her dart into a stone that was pulled free from the ground as she ran. Spinning that stone about as a flail she hurled it towards Nick as her opening move in this part of the bout. The blond swordsman still noticed it coming in spite of Pyrrha's best efforts to keep him focused on her, leading to him smashing the aura fused stone with the pommel of his blade.

Pyrrha tried to take advantage of the opening this move caused, and she managed to land two solid thrusts before the man twisted in a way she wasn't ready fore and grabbed her forearm and swung her at Arslan. The warrior nun caught the crimson haired champion and set her on her feet before charging forward as she shifted her rope dart back into a dagger. It only took a second for Pyrrha to reorient herself and join her rival in the charge.

The two of them reached the blonde swordsman at the same time and they once again tried to move in synchronous support of one another. Pyrrha struck low as Arslan struck high. Pyrrha struck high as Arslan struck low. A dagger and two swords met in a dance of steel that once again put Nick on the defensive, and May's sniper rounds joined in again.

As Nick deflected a bullet from May's gun Arslan and Pyrrha once again saw an opening they could exploit, but neither of them dove in as they sought to exploit it this time; they weren't going to embarrass themselves by knocking their heads together again. Arslan heaved a deep breath as she channeled her aura through her arms and out through her hands in a technique that created a pseudo-fireball of pure aura energy that she launched at Brother Arc's chest. Pyrrha shifted Milo into its' rifle mode and fired off three bullets laced with fire dust.

The two of them once again proved to be in sync in the most unfortunate way: the timing of their attacks lined up perfectly, meaning Pyrrha's bullets hit the tightly bound ball of destructive aura energy that Arslan had thrown. This caused the pseudo-fireball to detonate violently with enough force to blast back all three combatants.

Only Nick stayed upright while Arslan and Pyrrha were sent sprawling onto the dirt of the training field. And with that Nick decided it was time to end things, throwing Nogg towards the ice pillar May was perched upon embedding the blade in the icy construct at what he considered a comfortable jumping hight. With that he rushed forward, only slowing for a second to lean down and grab both Pyrrha and Arslan by their ankles before they could get back up resulting in him dragging the two of them behind him as he barreled to his destination. Once he was a few yards away from the pillar he leapt into the air towards the embedded Nogg, letting his aura tank the bullets May was hailing down upon him.

At the apex of his jump Nick threw Arslan and Pyrrha forward, and while this reduced his forward momentum a bit it still wasn't enough to keep him from reaching the place where Nogg stuck out of the ice. As for the Golden Lion of Haven Academy and the Invincible Girl? The two of them tumbled through the air towards the edge of the field. Both of them attempted to right themselves and land before they went hurtling out of bounds, with Arslan throwing her rope dart at an ice pillar and Pyrrha harnessing polarity to grab her own shield to spin it in the way she wanted to go. The two of them proved to be in sync in a bad way once again as the both tried to move in the same direction causing the two of them to collide in the air and tumble to the ground, only rolling to a stop once they were out of bounds.

Nick hit the pillar at the same time the two rivals hit the dirt, pulling Nogg free and scrambling up the icy tower as May emptied her current magazine. The sniper girl gulped as she realized there was only one course of action available to her as Nick crested the summit.

"I FORFEIT!" May shrieked before he could land a knockout blow, "I SURRENDER!"

Nick sheathed his sword, and Nora rang the gong to end the match...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Jaune was once again called upon as a medic. Pyrrha, Arslan, and Emerald had taken very little damage in the fight (overall). May had taken none. But he still topped them all off as they sat in a group on the bleachers near RWBY. Emerald herself sat a bit further away, due to the glares she was getting.

Arslan was the first to speak, her eyes narrowed but her voice calm.

"We did have a workable plan," she stated flatly.

Emerald puffed herself up a bit, despite the glares. Her defiance remained intact.

"Yeah well... You two got so involved you didn't even think about how to work with me!"

"But you're the one who betrayed us," Pyrrha scowled. May joined them, though she looked more disappointed than anything else.

"You didn't listen to me," Emerald insisted.

"You don't listen to anyone," Pyrrha retorted.

"I can appreciate the fact you struggle with trust," Arslan said, "But this was not a good time to show it."

May fretted, looking utterly helpless. Nearby, Yang smirked a bit.

"So, we're not the only ones with a teamwork problem, huh?" Yang observed.

"You caused that problem!" Ruby argued back angrily. Yang winced a bit, as Weiss and Blake glared at her in turn.

"It wasn't deliberate!"

"It was!" Weiss growled.

"Well so was yours!" Yang shot back.

The arguments got worse. Jaune again felt Winter's eyes on him, as well as his father's. He took a deep breath and held up his hands.

"Ladies! Ladies, please," he stated, "Let's not get bent out of shape over an exhibition match, okay? We... We all have a lot to work on."

"Some more than others," Pyrrha muttered, green eyes boring into Emerald. The green haired young woman flinched, but still glared back. RWBY grumbled amongst themselves, still shooting angry looks at eachother. Arslan was focused on calming herself, already meditating, while May looked rather helpless.

Nick Arc walked up, a broad smile on his bearded face. Nora bounced up alongside him, while Ren followed closely. The blond man planted his sword in the grass before him and nodded to his son's future brides.

"Ladies," he said, "You all did quite well! Except for when you lost. That wasn't good. But I'll be here to train with you, Jaune, and anyone else who wants to get better!" He grinned at Winter.

"Just give me a breather, and I'll be ready to fight you too, Specialist Schnee!"

Winter perked up, a small smile on her face.

"I appreciate that, sir," she said, even as Weiss and the other girls scowled at her.

"And after that, you'll fight Professor Goodwitch?" Jaune asked, a bit worried. Nick laughed out loud, and reached out to pat Jaune on the shoulder.

"Oh, I know how that would turn out. She'd wipe the floor with me. Would be fun, but not very productive! She has different challenges. But Specialist Schnee!" He pointed his finger at Winter. "You're very good. You'd have to be, if Ironwood made you his second. That means you've got great potential! Just like all you girls!"

"Oh...! Well, um, thank you sir," Winter returned gratefully.

"Great! I really want to see your sword style! Rapiers versus broadswords is a favorite challenge of mine!" He nodded once more. "Anyway, the rest of you should all rest and regroup. Jaune? A word?"

"Sure Dad," Jaune said with a nod. He smiled warmly at all the girls, which got him a lot of warm looks back. Emerald in particular seemed very pleading, which he returned with a reassuring nod and warm look. May flushed and hid her face. Yang winked and mimed a kiss, while Blake stared intensely. Pyrrha blushed and beamed at him, while Arslan nodded and smiled through her own red face. Ruby beamed happily, while Winter was guarded but approving. Weiss looked almost apologetic, which he nodded to.

The groups dispersed, angry looks still being shot between them. Winter began to stretch and warm up, while Saia tended to May. Ruby and Yang conversed, while the Schnees all gathered for some tea. Emerald and Amethyst communed, Cinder's twins with them. Arslan and her parents talked, while Neptune and the rest of SSSN plus Ilia mingled with them and Blake. Pyrrha, Athena and Orestes chatted a bit, all looking awkward but a bit better than last Jaune had seen them. Nora flounced from group to group, dragging Ren along. And the other spectators seemed to begin to break up, though Velvet and Cardin were still recording. Penny herself stayed a respectful distance away, watching him with her usual gentle smile.

Nick led Jaune over to the center of the field, and he planted his sword down in the soil. He smiled gently at Jaune.

"Well! I think things went pretty well, don't you?" Nick asked Jaune with a happy smile. Jaune grimaced as he looked back at his future brides, all still shooting eachother hostile looks when they weren't talking with their families.

"That went well?" Jaune asked in disbelief.

Nick nodded.

"Oh yeah! A lot better than I thought it would!" He said cheerfully.

"I guess I still don't see the point of all this, Dad," Jaune sighed, "I mean, I'm glad I finally got to fight you-I've wanted to since forever-And to meet your approval. But why fight my har-the ladies? We still have a lot of problems."

Nick nodded sagely.

"Some lessons are harder to get than others. It took a lot of fights for me to get it, too," Nick said. He smiled at Jaune. "But now that you all know where you stand with one another against one enemy... You can start to come together to fight your real enemies."

Jaune stared, and his jaw dropped. Nick smiled almost cheekily.

"And to save your other wife."

"It... We still have a long way to go," Jaune stammered. Nick nodded, his eyes scanning the brides and their arguments.

"That's absolutely true. You still have a lot of issues to work out. But I didn't master the sword in one lesson. Neither did you. You won't solve everything in one battle. But you can figure out what you did wrong, what you did right, and do better next time."

He grinned at his son, leaning against his huge sword.

"Life is like that: You will fight a battle, physical or otherwise. You'll get your butt kicked, you'll try to figure out what you did wrong, work on getting better, and do better next time. Every battle in life, whether it's against an implacable enemy or figuring out how to make your wife happy, is like that."

Jaune gaped in astonishment. Nick chuckled sadly and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry if I never made it clear, son. Fighting is my whole life, it's how I see everything. And it's how I solve a lot of my problems. I'm not good at using weapons like words or ideas... But I can use the weapons I am good with to hopefully get across what I mean." He hesitated.

"So... If I've not made things clear to you... It's because I'm not great at fighting with words or emotions. I am kind of an idiot... I never wanted you to think I thought less of you-"

Jaune smiled warmly at his father. He reached out to hug him.

"No... No, I got it Dad," Jaune whispered, "Loud and clear. Thank you."

Nick chuckled, and hugged his son back.

"Aw... Hugs are nice," he said happily. He gently pushed Jaune away. He got into a fighting stance, his grin confident and eager.

"Well, let's get ready to rumble! I can't wait to see how well Specialist Schnee fights and-!"

"NICHOLAS JACQUES ARC!"

Nick winced, and turned as he smiled nervously. Isabel was storming onto the field right towards him, Glynda and Arjun trailing behind him. Ghira, General Ironwood, Kali, Taiyang, Qrow and Ozpin all trailed behind them. Taiyang and Qrow were shooting very sympathetic looks towards the bearded swordsman... As he cowered before his furious wife.

All of a sudden, everyone's attention was back on the field and all the streams went back online.

"Eep! Yes dear?" Nick meekly asked.

"HOW COULD YOU SIGN A BUNCH OF BETROTHAL CONTRACTS FOR OUR SON WITH ALL THESE WOMEN?!" Isabel bellowed in rage. Many jaws dropped in disbelief. Pyrrha looked at her mother in disbelief. Athena herself swooned, while Arslan's parents were in shock. Willow took the yelps of her daughters in stride, her keens eyes locked onto the confrontation. Blake looked thrilled. Emerald and May were deeply confused, while Saia held up a hand over her mouth to hide her laugh.

"Wait, you what?!" Jaune shouted.

Neptune's eyes bugged out as he threw his hands up in the air.

"I KNEW IT!"

Ruby turned to look at her father and uncle.

"Wait, seriously?! How?!" She cried.

Taiyang rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Qrow shrugged, a small smirk on his face.

"Lots of alcohol was involved, believe you me," he stated dryly.

Nick, still cringing, looked down at his wife's hands. They formed symbols in their old sign language.

Only he, Saia, and Arjun could deduce the meaning: "I'm sorry, play along please."

In a moment, Nick became thoughtful and scratched the back of his head.

"Well...I don't remember doing that..." He then snapped his fingers and grinned stupidly. "Oh! Wait! Now I do! But come on, honey! It was all with people we knew! Well, sort of knew! Well, I knew them! For... Five minutes at least?"

He smiled at his wife, whose face turned red.

"AND NOW HE'S ENGAGED TO ALL OF THEM?!" She bellowed. Nick winced, but then shrugged almost desperately.

"Come on, they're already getting along great! Besides, you wanted more grandchildren, right? Your face lit up when you saw Adrian! Now we get even more grandkids!"

Isabel looked momentarily thoughtful.

"That's true," Isabel said aloud.

Then the rage returned in earnest. Jaune backed away, still in utter disbelief.

"BUT HOW COULD YOU DO THIS WITHOUT TELLING ME?!" Isabel demanded, shaking her fist.

Nick grinned, closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Easy. I didn't say anything about it!"

He gave her a thumbs up. Her right fist clenched.

"YOUUUUUUU-!"

Her left hand spelled out another message:

"Really sorry, I love you."

Nick smiled back in total understanding and signed back:

"I know. I love you too."

"FOOOOOOOOOL!!!"

Isab's fist hit Nick's jaw so hard, he flew right through the wall she merely dented with Mombi's face a few decades ago with a loud crash. Stunned silence filled the training field. Jaune looked at his mother in disbelief... Who quickly winked at him. That let him relax a bit inwardly, though not much when he realized why she went so over the top.

Outwardly...

"You did it again, Dad," Jaune sighed, as Velvet and a few other students recording things began to chat excitedly.

Yang's eyes were filled with stars.

"I wanna learn how to do that!"

Nora grinned and shook her hammer.

"ME TOO!"

"Get in line," Arslan and Pyrrha murmured, then they looked at each other.

The future children, for their part, looked rather bored save for Leander and Leandra, who were grinning broadly. Sun was gaping in disbelief, Ila sharing his expression as she clung to him. Neptune was being held back by Scarlet and Sage.

"LET ME AT HIM! HE'S TOO DANGEROUS TO LEAVE ALIVE!" He ranted.

Glynda facepalmed. Arjun met his wife's eyes and shrugged. She chuckled a bit.

Winter, standing nearby, winced.

"Ahem... Under the circumstances... Perhaps I will fight him later?" She asked.

Saia nodded sagely.

"A wise decision. I've been around Isabel when she's this angry before. It's best to just not get involved."

Arjun headed off to check on Nick, grumbling a bit under his breath. Ghira and Kali went to Blake, capturing her in another tight hug. Ironwood went to speak with Winter and Theodore, while Ozpin lingered with Goodwitch at his side.

Taiyang and Qrow joined with Yang and Ruby. They walked over to Jaune, giving the still panting Isabel a wide berth. Taiyang beckoned to Xia and Julian. Julian used his Semblance to teleport next to them, while Xia ran up quickly.

"Hey," Taiyang said with a tense smile, "Listen: Qrow and I are heading out on an important mission."

"But you just got here!" Ruby whined. Taiyang nodded.

"I know, and I'm sorry. But it's really important. Before we go though..." He worked his jaw, "We need to see Raven."

Yang tensed. Xia's fists clenched. Ruby and Julian both looked worried. Qrow sighed. Taiyang looked over at Jaune.

"And since you're involved and part of the family now," he said, "You should come with us to see her."

Jaune slowly nodded, holding back his nervousness.

"I... Yes sir," he said. He immediately felt Yang's hand reach for his, and he took it out of instinct. Ruby did the same with his other hand.

Ozpin walked up with Glynda. He looked over to his deputy.

"Family business. Would you mind explaining it to the others and handling things until we return?" Ozpin asked.

Glynda managed a nod. She smiled gently at Jaune, something he returned. She turned and headed over to the other future brides and children. Ozpin turned his attention back to the Xiao-Longs, Roses, and Jaune.

"I will be there with you," Ozpin said gravely. He looked at Isabel. "Would you mind coming with us, Isabel? To deal with the other matter and ensure nobody gets hurt?

"Well, nobody else," Qrow quipped. Isabel nodded, fully calm and relaxed.

"Of course."

"Good," Ozpin said, and his grim expression did nothing to ease Jaune's anxiety, "Then let's go."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The trip down into the basement of Beacon Tower was silent. Even Yang and Ruby had nothing to say. Isabel looked a bit tense. Taiyang worked his jaw, at times looking like he might say something, before thinking better of it. Qrow was grim. Ruby was nervous, and holding hands with Julian. Jaune stood next to Ozpin, while Xia stayed near Yang. Her expression was stormy, but she resisted anyone's attempts to get closer. Quite a feat in the packed elevator.

Jaune himself didn't know what to think. There was a lot of tension in the Xiao-Longs and Roses, and he didn't think anything he said would help. So he stayed silent.

The elevator doors opened. Ozpin led the group out into a world of metallic green machines, pipes, and pillars. It was so quiet, the air so thick, and the lighting, while bright, was in a strange tone. It almost felt like stepping into another world.

They made their way through the pillars, took a turn... And came to a black, wrought iron cell in a small clearing amid the machines and pillars. A metallic X-shaped cross was at the back, a small toilet, sink, and cot were at the sides. In the center sat a beautiful, curvy woman with wild black hair. She wore a simple jumpsuit, and black metallic manacles on her wrists. She seemed to be meditating as the group approached.

"Let's do this one at a time," Ozpin murmured, "We shouldn't crowd her. Isabel? Would you check on her vitals?"

Isabel slowly nodded.

Yang took a breath to protest, but Qrow shook his head.

"One at a time," he said quietly.

Isabel approached the cell, her boots making soft sounds on the floor. Raven opened her eyes-They were red, the same red as Yang or Xia when they activated their Semblances.

Isabel stopped a foot or two from the cell bars.

"Hello Raven," Isabel said.

"Isabel," Raven stated flatly.

"I'm going to check your vital signs, make sure you're all right," Isabel said quietly. "Please extend your hands."

Raven glared at her.

"Why do you care? I did try to kill you today, if you'll recall," Raven hissed.

"Because it's my job," Isabel said calmly.

Raven continued to glare. She turned her head and glared at the others, all gathered at the pillars. Her eyes scanned each one, her gaze intense and scrutinizing. Jaune felt like straightening up out of habit, while Yang tensed.

"Who are the new brats?" She asked at last.

Taiyang cleared his throat.

"I told you, Raven. These are our grandchildren," he said, "Ruby's son Julian, and Yang's daughter Xia."

Raven's eyes widened briefly.

"How-?"

"X-Ray and Vav, issue 198," Taiyang supplied with a small, nostalgic smile. Raven blinked, then snorted.

"Time travel," she muttered in disbelief.

"And you said it was worthless knowledge," Qrow said, with a hint of smug. Raven ignored him.

She glared at Jaune. "And I suppose you're the father of both?"

Jaune slowly nodded. He felt Yang and Xia grasp his hands on either side.

"Yes ma'am," he said quietly.

Raven snorted. She glared at Yang.

"So... There was no point to it, was there? I was thinking of coming to you. Offer to let you join my tribe. Learn true strength, but you're just as weak as the rest of them."

Yang's jaw dropped.

"M-Mom, I-That's all you have to say?!" She demanded. "Sixteen years after you abandoned us, and that's it?! That's all?!"

"You're an embarrassment," Raven hissed, "I was right to leave you behind. With the rest of you weaklings."

"I-I'm not-!" Yang tried angrily. Taiyang held out a hand, and with a scowl she stopped.

"We win the war with Salem, Raven," Taiyang tried with an encouraging smile, "We beat her! In eleven futures! We have proof! We can show you-Hell, just look! Grandkids!" He gestured to Julian and Xia. Julian managed a small smile.

"Yeah Granny Raven. We-We beat her. The world is safe," he said.

Raven was silent for a time, considering. She then shook her head.

"I don't believe you," Raven huffed, "I don't believe that these children could do that! There is no stopping Salem! Nothing but survival!" She glared at Yang, who shrank back. Qrow sighed, looking resigned. Taiyang was grim. Ruby looked around in concern, not sure what to do, while Julian winced. Isabel was carefully blank, clearly using her Semblance to keep her emotions in check, while Ozpin was unreadable.

He tightened his grip on Yang's hand. Anger swelled inside of him.

"But only for the strong," Raven growled, "And you clearly aren't it. I knew you couldn't handle it, Tai. You were pathetic, entrapping me. And you, Qrow, you betrayed all we stood for, just to be Ozpin's pet!"

Taiyang sighed with the exhaustion of a fight had so many times it wasn't worth it to engage. Yet still he tried.

"You didn't think that at the time," he said quietly.

Raven shook her head.

"I... I was mistaken," she insisted, "And I corrected the mistake."

Yang seethed, but again Taiyang held up a hand and she paused. Her grip on Jaune's hand tightened.

Qrow snorted.

"I saw a better way, Raven. Something you could never do. And my way worked out fine, unlike yours."

Ravne ignored him and glared at Yang. "You were the worst of all. A weakling! Begging for toys and attention, never even trying to fight-You're an embarassment!"

"Mom, I-" Yang tried, but her brashness was gone. All that was left was hurt and pain. It looked completely wrong on her face. Rage ignited in Jaune's chest.

"You were a mistake," Raven hissed, "A lowly pathetic-!"

"SHUT UP!" Jaune shouted. The sound echoed through the basement. All eyes went to him, but despite his nerves he kept up his glared.

Raven glared back at him.

"What did you say-?!"

"We won in eleven futures!" Jaune insisted, this courage. He tightened his grip on Yang's hand, and she looked at him in shock. "We save the world! We did... We did what you couldn't! And Yang and Ruby and everyone else-They did it! They saved the world! You don't get to-to insult them just because you were wrong! You're the weak one!"

Yang looked at him with wide, shining eyes.

Ruby nodded, still intimidated but holding fast. She stepped up, smiling briefly at her sister before turning back to Raven.

"Yeah! Mom-Mom didn't die for nothing! We know so! You shouldn't be a-a jerk! We have proof! So why are you doing this?!"

"She died for nothing," Raven growled, so vehement that Ruby nearly faltered. "I don't care what you tell me: Salem cannot be defeated and there is no way some weaklings stopped her! Our way is the only way-!"

It was then that Xia moved. Her Aura flared like the sun as she crossed the distance to the cell in an instant. She yanked Raven forward, slamming her against the bars before she grabbed her throat and lifted her up. Isabel, blindsided, tried to reach for Xia but she flared her Aura in warning.

"XIA!" Jaune shouted.

"Kid, let her go!" Qrow shouted. He moved to strike, but Ozpin held up a hand. He looked at his boss in disbelief.

"Let her go!" Taiyang barked. He also tried to move in, but Ozpin held him with a glance. He glared back. "Ozpin!"

"Wait," Ozpin ordered, "You too Isabel."

"I can't just-!" Isabel tried as she was on her feet, but Ozpin shook his head.

Taiyang seethed, Qrow grumbled and Isabel looked on helplessly.

Ruby was chomping at the bit, Julian not much better. Yang looked conflicted. Jaune stared in disbelief at his daughter.

Xia ignored them, glaring up into Raven's eyes.

"You wanna know your future, you old hag?!" Xia demanded. Her teeth ground audibly as she tightened her grip, and Raven grabbed onto her fingers in a futile effort to free herself. "You couldn't move on. You couldn't accept it. So you kidnapped me, tortured me, abused me, because you thought I would keep your shitty little band running."

"Xia, let her go!" Isabel tried, but Xia didn't listen.

"My parents came for me, they rescued me. They gave you a chance-every fucking chance-To change your ways-And you tried to kill them instead," Xia seethed, "And you wanna know how you end?! How the Great Raven Branwen died?! Armless, tossed into the bottom of a cave, unmourned and forgotten."

Raven was wheezing. Her struggles got weaker. XIa snarled.

"Now I'm strong, and you're nothing," Xia growled. "Now I'll-!"

"Xia," Yang said, soft and quiet, "Let her go."

Xia turned and glared back at her parents.

"She-!"

"She hasn't done any of that," Jaune insisted, Yang's grip giving him strength, "Don't do this, please."

"Let her go," Yang insisted softly. Her hurt turned into contempt and pity as she looked at her mother. She looked back at Xia and shook her head.

"She's not worth it," she stated.

Xia took deep breaths, her Aura crackling with energy. She looked back at Raven, weak, helpless, her eyes wide in shock and fear.

Her arm trembled... Before she let Raven go. The black haired woman fell to the floor, coughing and wheezing. Xia sucked in a deep breath, before she turned and stormed off.

"Xia, wait!" Jaune shouted. The young woman didn't listen, flying off. Qrow cursed as she opened up a wall and darted through the hidden door.

"How'd she figure that out-Oh, right, future," he muttered. He, Taiyang, Yang and Jaune ran after her. Ruby hesitated for a moment, before shooting off in a cloud of rose petals. Ozpin sighed, and waved his hand. The cell door unlocked, and Isabel quickly went in to treat the wheezing, crumpled Raven.

Julian lingered while Isabel's hands glowed with Healing Dust. Raven's breathing became more regular, and the bruises around her trachea vanished. She sat up, and scooted away from Isabel with a cough.

"Get away from me," she muttered.

"You're welcome," Isabel muttered back, her expression a mixture of exasperation, anger, and pity.

Raven couldn't look at her. She looked up at Julian, still standing there. She glared.

"You have anything to say?" She demanded.

Julian took a deep breath. He walked up to her. He rummaged in his pockets, and pulled out some pictures.

"I printed these off my Scroll, Granny Raven," Julian said quietly, "I-I wanted to share them with Granny Izzy, Grandpa Nick, Papa Tai and Grunkle Qrow... And-And you."

He held them out. Raven glared. Isabel glared back.

"Take them, Raven," Isabel ordered. Raven mechanically held out her hand. Julian set them in her hands. She pulled them closer to herself and began to flip through them. Her eyes widened slightly.

"I... I know how things went in Xia's timeline," Julian said kindly, "But in mine? You're part of my family. Aunt Vernal married Uncle Whitley and Aunt Penny, and they have a lot of kids, see? You... You kind of got back together with Papa. I don't know much about it. You do come to social gatherings. You're like, succool and reserved, but you're actually nice. You helped teach me how to fight with Grunkle Qrow! Not a lot, but you told me how to get better so I wouldn't die. And even if you'll never admit it, you love Summer!"

"Summer?" Raven whispered. Julian flipped to a picture of an older Ruby, older Jaune, and older Yang. In front of them was a younger Julian, about five years old, with five younger siblings-Two of them twin babies held by Jaune and Ruby. Yang held her own daughter, about three years old, with a proud smile as she leaned against Jaune.

Raven stared intently at the photo. Julian scratched his cheek.

"She's sweet and fun. Hotheaded but very nice. Acts like my big sister sometimes," he mumbled, "You visit her and teach her how to fight and sometimes you-you even smile at her sometimes."

Raven remained silent.

He sucked in a breath.

"What I'm saying is... Yeah. Things went bad in Xia's timeline for-for you. And her. But in mine? You... We're all happy. So... You have a choice. You've always had one."

Raven remained silent. Ozpin stepped up.

"I believe the rest of your family will need you, Julian," Ozpin said quietly, "And Isabel? I need you to examine another patient."

"Yes sir," Julian said. He turned and vanished in a cloud of yellow petals. Isabel rose, and stepped out of the cell. The door slammed shut behind her.

"Just point me where I need to go," Isabel said, glancing at Raven with a bit of pity in her gaze. Ozpin nodded and pointed ahead. Isabel headed off, her footsteps receding.

"I'll leave you to it, then," Ozpin said quietly, "But this isn't over."

He turned and left. The taps of his cane were loud in the quiet. Raven didn't look up, her red eyes locked onto the images in her hands.

After a moment, she lifted them, grunted. Tried to summon the strength to tear them apart...

She let out a breath. She set them down in a corner of the cell, and moved to the opposite. She laid down on the cot and stared at the walls.

The photo left on top was of her and Taiyang, dancing at a celebration. The slightest hint of a smile was on her face in the photo.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

This is canon to all timelines for May's past.

- - -

Several years ago...

Twelve year old May Zedong had been happy. Maybe she wasn't rich like the girls she saw on Scroll broadcasts, with their many dresses and fancy cars, but she was happy. Her mother and father, Parvati and August Zedong, were farmers in their little village in Vacuo. They worked their tiny patch of land with a tractor and animals, grew and sold vegetables in the market, raised hogs and chickens. She had known nothing but a simple but comfortable house, laughter and joy. Her mother was a wonderful mechanic who fixed other machines in town for good pay, while her father, when not working the fields, would hunt wild game and make her clothes out of the furs.

She would laugh and play with other children her age when she wasn't doing chores or doing to the village school. They had been so happy.

This night though... Everything had changed.

She woke up to shouts and clanging alarm bells. She peeked out her window: She could see fires on houses nearby their farm. She saw dark figures roaming the streets, and coming towards their home. Her eyes widened in horror as red eyes glared back.

Grimm...

The door to her room burst open. Her father and mother stood there, both armed with rifles and axes.

"Come on May, we need to get to the shelter," her mother said, already holding up a jacket. May got dressed quickly, and pulled on the jacket. Her father handed her one of the rifles, the best looking one, which she took with shaking hands. It had a strap, so she slid it securely over her shoulders onto her back.

There were crashes and smashes and snarls from downstairs. Her father cursed.

"Damnit... Roof! Out the window!"

They dashed to the window in her parents' bedroom. Outside and below them was the connecting roof, a sheltered walkway that led to the barn. There was a storm cellar there, filled with food and provisions just in case of a disaster. They sprang out onto the roof, and ran.

Inhuman shrieks filled the night air. May looked and screamed: Nevermores dove for them. Her father and mother opened fire on the flock, their rifles shooting them down.

"MAY!" Her father shouted, "FIRE! USE THE GUN!"

May trembled. The monsters swarmed, their red eyes burning in the night. Her arms twitched, as though trying to obey the order... But she couldn't. She fell to her knees and shook like a leaf.

"MAY!" Her father shouted.

"I-I can't!" She cried. "I can't-I can't!"

August's face... Was filled with guilt and regret. He glanced to his wife. She nodded grimly, and turned to May.

"MAY!" Her mother screamed. "GO!"

"Wait-MOM-!"

Parvati shoved May off the roof. She fell in a tumble, shakily getting to her feet. She looked up in horror as her parents kept firing. Her father waved a flashlight around, deliberately drawing more attention to himself.

"GO! GET TO THE SHELTER!" Her father bellowed. "WE'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU! RUN! STAY ALIVE, NO MATTER WHAT!"

May, shaking, still managed to turn and run. She knew the path by heart, dark or day... But as she turned the corner, she saw several Beowulves snarling and clawing at the shelter entrance. They turned and roared at her.

No... Nononono...!

She turned and fled. She hopped the fence, fleeing into the nearest field. She heard the Grimm follow her, their padded feet loud against the grass and brush. She wept as she fled, running for her life, her heart pounding in her ears.

Gotta get away... Gotta get away...!

She tried to circle back, head back towards the farm house. She caught sight of the waving flashlight and gunfire again. She hopped the fence and ducked into the bushes. She saw her parents still fighting, her mother using an axe and her father wielding twin guns in his hands.

She saw a Beowulf lunge... And her father went down, his head grasped in its jaws. There was a splash of red and...

May's jaw dropped. Her mother screamed.

"AUGUST!"

Two Beowulves brought her down, and she fell silent. Only the growls of the Grimm and the wet crunching of bone and flesh could be heard. Flames ignited somewhere in the house, and tongues of fire erupted from the windows. Smoke began to blot out the stars overhead as the farmhouse burned.

May collapsed onto all fours. She looked at the ground, silent, her tears falling like waterfalls to the dirt ground. She heard growls. She shakily looked up.

The blood stained Grimm were stalking towards her, their red eyes gleaming.

For a moment... May did nothing. She stared back at her death, and did nothing.

Get up, a voice whispered in her head. Still she did nothing as the Grimm advanced.

Get up...

They licked their jaws. May's fingers gripped the dirt.

Get up... AND RUN!

She found her will. She stood up, turned and ran. She hopped over the fence, the entire pack of Grimm now after her. She ran through the trees, taking scratches onto her arms. She climbed over another wall, and another, goats fleeing in terror. The Grimm paid them no mind, only focused on her.

The moon peeked out of the clouds, and she skidded to a halt with a cry. Below her was a huge expanse of nothing. She could hear running water, faintly hear the river in the gully below.

She looked back over her shoulder, panting hard: The Grimm were still advancing, still hungry for her. Hungry for her soul.

Jump, the voice whispered again.

I'll die! May thought.

You'll die if you stay, the voice whispered again, but you might live if you jump. So jump...

She turned back towards the river. The Grimm were seconds away.

JUMP! NOW!

She leaped, feeling jaws snapping at her body as she fell. She dove towards the river. Her eyes were wide open as she screamed.

I don't want to die... I DON'T WANT TO DIE... I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I'LL STAY ALIVE!

She shut her eyes tightly.

I WON'T DIE!

She fell, fell... Before she was jerked violently and stopped. She panted frantically, looked behind her.

The rifle, the rifle she had forgotten, had mechashifted into an axe. An axe that had snagged onto a tree branch. Said branch creaked ominously, but it held.

Desperately, May reached up and grabbed onto the branch. It was agonizing having to hold on like this. She pulled herself, slowly, painfully, to the cliff face. Her waving feet found footing, solid rock, and she struggled free. She landed hard, shaking. She fell to her knees... But the stone outcropping held. She clung to the side of the cliff, weeds in the rocks her anchors. She looked up. The Beowulves snarled distantly overhead, their red eyes glowing...

But they did not advance.

She bowed her head, breathing hard. Her heart pounded in her ears. She turned and sat down. She reached behind herself, and pulled the axe free. She held it tightly, and stared out into the night. Her mind was a blank.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew it was light and the sound of an airship's engines filled her ears. She looked up, startled, as a Vacuoan gunship flew in the bright blue sky overhead.

For a moment, she hesitated. She was cold. She was alone. The farm... The farm would be gone by now.

She had nothing...

Stay alive... Stay alive...

May squeezed the mechashift weapon in her hands. Clumsily, she groped the weapon for the shift mechanism. It transformed into the rifle, a little dirty but functional.

She pointed the gun up at the sky, and pulled the trigger. The loud retort of the gun echoed through the canyon.

I won't die...

She pulled the trigger again, firing another shot. The airship began to turn.

I won't die...

She fired again, and now the airship was definitely flying towards her. She fired again.

I won't die... I'll stay alive... I don't know why yet but...

May Zedong looked up, face grim, as the airship descended towards her. The hatch opened, and a Huntsman in black military gear reached out to her. Shakily, she lifted her hand to take his.

But I'll stay alive until I find out why.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

It wasn't like she had many places to be or people to talk to. The only people she felt even slightly comfortable around right now was Jaune, Amethyst, and Jaune's dad. So since Jaune was off with Ozpin and the Roses and Xiao-Longs, and Amethyst was still her child? She and her daughter sat in the infirmary alongside Nicholas Arc. The big man barely fit in the largest bed they had, and was grumbling the whole time.

"Can't believe this... Izzy's hit me way harder than that time!" Nick huffed, shaking his head. He looked over at Emerald with a bright smile. "Hey! Oh, Amethyst! Since you like jewelry, I was thinking of calling Radian and asking the local jeweler shop to work with you!"

"Oh, Miss Biancabella?" Amethyst asked eagerly. "Yeah, she taught me in the future! She's really great!" She turned to her mother. "Mom, she's like the nicest, sweetest person you'll ever meet! She taught me all about jewels, gems, geology, and lots more!"

Emerald smiled a bit tightly and nodded. She squeezed her daughter's hands between hers.

"I... I look forward to meeting her," she admitted. She turned to Nick, and took a deep breath.

"Ah... Mister Arc-"

"Nick, or Papa!" Nick chuckled, "Come on. We're family."

"We did just meet today," Emerald deadpanned. Nick shrugged.

"You just met your daughter yesterday. Is there anything you wouldn't do for her?"

Emerald's mouth opened, and then closed. She felt Amethyst's hands squeeze hers tightly. She felt her warm, and her smile. She sucked in a few breaths to calm herself, try to regain her mask.

She slowly nodded.

"No, there isn't," she whispered. Nick chuckled.

"That's how it works... How it's supposed to work, anyway." He grinned up at her. "I was an orphan too. Lived on the streets. When I found family, people who truly loved and cared for me? I swore I would hold nothing back for them. Because that's how it should be."

Emerald flushed, and slowly shook her head.

"It sounds... Difficult," she admitted.

"Oh, it is," Nick nodded, "You'll get your heart broken plenty of times... But compared to what I had before? Nothing? It's everything."

Emerald let out a long sigh.

"... I want that," she admitted, "More than anything. That's why I..."

She trailed off. Nick nodded sagely.

"Mmm. Other girls not happy with you?"

"No," Emerald admitted. Amethyst sighed.

"You can go overboard sometimes, Mom," she said quietly. "I mean, I wanted to be a jeweler, so we were fine. You freaked out when my brother Onyx wanted to become a Huntsman. Didn't help he's a bit of a delinquent."

"What kind of delinquent?" Emerald asked, worried. Amethyst sighed.

"He rides hoverbikes too fast, does underground racing, goes off to fight Grimm with Dad and Grandpa without your permission..."

"Haha! Sounds like he turned out all right!" Nick grinned.

Emerald worried her lower lip, her fingers tight around her daughter's.

"I mean... That sounds pretty tame compared to, well..." She slowly shook her head. "To what I've done."

"You told us you were really wild, Mom," Amethyst said, "That's why you wanted us to... Well... Be upstanding citizens and all."

"I'm off to a great start," Emerald muttered. Nick reached out a hand and patted her on the shoulder. She glanced into his eyes, and he smiled warmly.

"You accepted your daughter. You're trying to be a good person. You're not working for that evil witch anymore. Sure, you sabotaged the other girls and lost. Terribly."

Emerald winced. Amethyst sighed at her grandfather. Nick chuckled and squeezed her shoulder affectionately.

"But no one changes who they are overnight. So hey, give yourself some grace. There's only been one perfect person to ever live on this planet... And he got killed for it."

Emerald snorted.

"I find it hard to believe in anything beyond pain and suffering and money..." She frowned and looked over at the suddenly nervous Amethyst. She coughed.

"Ah..."

"What?" Emerald asked dryly.

Amethyst cleared her throat.

"You're actually a member of the Tablebreaker church and help run the picnics, festivals, and shooting meets for it," she said. Emerald's jaw dropped.

"Wha-What?"

"And consult with a security firm to improve security systems against thieves... Help run the farm... Um..." Amethyst flushed and waved her free hand, "You're still a really great fighter, Mom! You and Dad spar a lot to keep up your skills! You trained Onyx and my other siblings who want to be Hunters!"

"I..." Emerald slowly shook her head. Nick chuckled again.

"Like I said, give yourself some grace. You don't have to be the perfect woman now. Just take it one day at a time."

Emerald slowly nodded.

"I... Yes," she murmured. She shook her head.

"I guess I should... Apologize to everyone?" She asked, glancing at both Nick and her daughter. Amethyst nodded. As did Nick.

"Would be a good start," Nick agreed, "Though maybe tomorrow."

"And hey!" Amethyst grinned, "You could teach me how to use Aura! I'm able to kind of control it now, but it's still pretty tough."

Emerald smiled softly.

"I would like that."

They rose. Amethyst gave her grandfather a big hug, which her happily returned. Emerald squeezed his hand. She shrugged at his look.

"I... That's going to take some getting used to."

"Fair enough!" Nick chuckled. "Sometimes I don't wanna hug people! Not often, but it happens!"

Emerald nodded, smiling softly. She felt... Warm. Safe. Even with everything hanging over her, it all felt so much better than anything she'd done with Cinder.

She clenched her spare fist, as she led her daughter out of the infirmary.

I'm going to make my future come true, Emerald swore, I won't... I won't try to destroy the others... But I won't back down.

After all. Emerald Sustrai was many things... But a thief was core to it. Jaune Arc had given her more than just thievery and empty promises. In return?

She would steal his heart.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

The tunnel led out to an old temple ruin just outside of Beacon proper. The sun was beginning to set, and the stars began to peek out of the growing dark of night. Yang, Jaune, Ruby, Taiyang, Qrow and Julian all emerged from behind a few fallen pillars. Xia was punching at a stone wall, putting holes in it with every angry blow.

"HAA! HAA! YAH!"

"Gonna have to secure this place," Qrow muttered, as Taiyang nodded slowly. Jaune and Yang approached their daughter as she continued to smash her way through the white marble bricks. She then kicked a pillar, smashing through it and sending it collapsing into a heap of ancient stone. She panted for breath, taking deep lungfuls of air. She looked away from her parents, reaching up to clutch at her bicep.

"Mom, Dad I..." She trailed off. Yang crossed the distance and hugged her tightly. Jaune joined her a moment later. Xia sagged a bit, but slowly hugged her parents back tightly. Jaune rubbed her back, while Yang patted it. Ruby stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do, while Taiyang and Qrow backed away to a polite distance. Julian joined his mother, and squeezed her hand with a small smile.

Xia finally raised her eyes. She wiped them hurriedly, and took another deep breath before she spoke.

"Sorry," she murmured.

Yang sighed and patted her back.

"I would have probably done the same thing," she said quietly. She snorted. "Ya know... All this time, I wanted to know the real Raven. Know just who she was..." She glared back at her father and uncle briefly. Taiyang sighed, looking very old.

"I'm sorry Yang," he called out, "I didn't want either of you to... To hate her."

"You still only told us the good parts," Ruby said, nervous but with a scowl. Qrow nodded as well, taking a long swig from his flask.

"Yeah, we did," Qrow admitted, "We didn't want to tell you all the bad. About either of your moms."

Jaune frowned. He looked into his daughter's eyes.

"Parents... Make a lot of mistakes," he said softly, "We've probably made more than a few. I know mine did. I guess growing up is realizing they do love you, even if they aren't perfect."

Xia growled.

"Raven's nowhere near perfect," she spat. Yang sighed.

"Yeah. And the love part? ... That's complicated," she admitted quietly. She bit her lower lip. "But I do know that I don't want her hanging over me anymore. Or you. I don't want you to become a worse person because of her." She hugged Xia tightly.

"I don't want you to make my mistakes," Yang said firmly. Xia laughed a bit, hugging her back tightly.

"You say the same thing in the future," she muttered. She smiled at Jaune. "Both of you."

"Well... Glad we learned something," Jaune said. He and Yang glanced at each other, their eyes meeting. They both flushed a bit at how close they were.

"Ah, um..." Jaune tried.

"Er..." Yang was no better.

Xia sighed... And then reached out. She pushed their heads together, and they kissed.

"Mmph?!" Jaune and Yang made surprised sounds, but Xia backed off. Ruby scowled.

"Hey!"

"What? Aunt Blake got a kiss with him," Xia said defensively, "Why can't my mom?"

"I'm a mom too! I mean a future mom! Future wife-YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Ruby growled. She glared back at Jaune and Yang. Their kiss was getting more involved, as Yang's arms went around his neck and Jaune's went around her waist. Their kiss deepened, and got sloppier, more heated-

"HEY!"

Ruby immediately used her speed Semblance to appear between them, and pushed them apart. She scowled at Yang angrily.

"What's the big idea?!" She demanded. "I'm his future wife too!"

Yang panted a bit, her face bright red. She cleared her throat and shrugged with a slightly cocky grin.

"Well... Um... It seemed like a good idea at the time? A meeting of the lips?"

Xia groaned. Jaune chuckled, his face also bright red.

"Um... W-Well... I guess it's not fair for just Blake to get a kiss, um, all things considered-"

"Then kiss me!" Ruby demanded. Jaune coughed. He was suddenly aware that the father and uncle of both women were here, and glaring at him. He looked over at them in worry. Ruby grabbed his collar and pulled his face towards her.

"Don't worry about them! Worry about your future wives!" Ruby declared.

"I uh... Um..." Jaune coughed.

Qrow barked out a laugh and shook his head.

"It's like going back in time," he snarked at Taiyang. Taiyang scowled.

"I was not that shameless!"

"You absolutely were," Qrow chuckled. "Anyway Kid... As much as it pains me to say it? You had better kiss Ruby... Or else."

Jaune gulped.

"I um... Er..."

Taiyang sighed and nodded.

"It's only fair, Kid," he added. "Relax, we'll be going. We've gotta start getting ready for our trip."

"You're leaving already?" Ruby cried. Qrow nodded.

"It's an important mission," he said, "We've gotta clean house to save the world. Your dad's coming with me."

Taiyang walked up and hugged both of his daughters. He smiled warmly.

"I'm very proud of both of you," he said firmly. He looked over at Xia and Julian, and smiled. "All of you."

Xia flushed while Julian grinned.

"What about Raven?" Yang asked quietly. Taiyang sighed and squeezed her shoulder.

"We'll have to talk to her more when we get back. But we won't give up on her... Unless you want to?" He asked.

Yang glanced at Xia. Xia frowned deeply. Julian shook his head.

"In my timeline, she turns out okay," he said firmly, "The future isn't set."

Yang sighed. She felt Jaune's hand squeeze hers. She looked at him in gratitude, and then turned back to her dad.

"... I'll think about it," she said. Taiyang nodded.

"Good. Makes a few of us," he observed. He glanced over at Xia. She grumbled a bit, before she hugged him.

"Just remember, Grandpa," Xia muttered to him, "Level One is just rage. Level Two is turning your emotional pain into power, and Level Three? That's mastering the pain to use it, and not let it use you."

"Oh?" Taiyang asked, raising an eyebrow. Xia flushed.

"Well... That's what you told me," she muttered. Taiyang chuckled, and hugged her again. He let her go and hugged Julian, who tolerated it.

"Thanks kid," he said warmly. Julian grinned up at his grandpa.

At last, Taiyang turned to Jaune. He stood up a lot straighter.

"Jaune? No matter what happens, take care of my daughters," Taiyang stated, "Or I'll figure out Level 3 just to kick you to the moon."

Jaune quickly nodded.

"Yessir," he said. Taiyang chuckled, and patted him on the shoulder.

"And welcome to the family," he grinned. He turned and headed off to meet with Qrow. Qrow gave his nieces and grandkids a smile, Jaune a warning look, before he joined Taiyang.

The two older men headed off back into the secret tunnel, talking quietly in the darkness. Jaune looked back at Ruby.

"I mean... This isn't exactly very romantic," he mumbled. Ruby pouted.

"Romance is dumb! At least, all this stupid sunset and stars and roses stuff!"

"We have all of those, you know," Yang smirked. Ruby scowled at her big sister.

"Don't you start!" She looked at Jaune with a pout. "But as your best friend, fellow team leader, and future wife, I should get some kisses too! Even if I have to share them with Yang!"

Jaune flushed bright red. He glanced back at his kids: Julian looked resigned while Xia was faintly amused.

"All right," Jaune said, "I would like to point out that it is actually fairly romantic in a traditional sense... If not for our future kids and your sister, and everything else-"

Ruby grabbed him around the neck with her arms, stood on her tip toes, and kissed him. The contact was electric. They stayed that way for a few moments, before Ruby pulled away with red cheeks. Jaune blinked rapidly, brain refusing to work properly, as Ruby grinned.

"Yeah... Kind of weird... But um... I'm totally fine with it, if it's you," she said. She sighed. "That and um... Well... I guess everyone else needs a turn, too..."

Jaune's face burned an even brighter red. Yang gently elbowed Ruby out of the way, and kissed Jaune again. Ruby's eyes widened.

"YANG!"

"Mwah... What? If he's gonna be fair with the other girls in this crazy harem," Yang said, "He needs practice!"

"Well I wanna practice too!" Ruby growled. Yang snorted.

"All that speechifying about things being fair and this is the truth, huh? This is why I didn't trust you with Mister Lumpykins."

Ruby wrapped an arm around Jaune's right arm and pulled him towards her.

"He was my teddy bear!"

Yang grabbed Jaune's other arm and tugged him back.

"You only said that when you took him apart!"

"I put him back together!" Ruby argued back.

"Wrong!"

"Better!"

Xia and Julian watched this in some silent amusement. Julian chuckled and shook his head.

"Man, it's like we never left," he muttered.

"Yup!" Xia said with a small smile. "Honestly, you remind me of my cousin Jules! Aunt Ruby's oldest son!"

"Really?" Julian said with a grin, "Because you're like an exact copy of my cousin Summer! Aunt Yang's oldest daughter!"

The temporally displaced half-siblings stared at eachother. They pulled out their Scrolls and opened up their picture galleries. Both flipped to a family portrait of themselves with their dad, their mothers, and their siblings and cousins. They held the Scrolls together, and looked back and forth between them.

Their eyes widened almost simultaneously, as their jaws dropped. They slowly looked at one another, and at their bickering parents, horrified realization hitting as hard as a Leviathan Grimm.

"Hey!" Jaune cried, finally getting Ruby and Yang to quit their mostly playful game, "You guys okay? Something wrong?"

"NOTHING!" They both said, way too quickly, as they shoved their Scrolls back into their pockets.

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

"So what exactly are those symbols for?" Dorothy asked as she finished clearing a space for a series of instruments that didn't exist yet because they were being designed at that very moment. The blonde girl's eyes turned to the holographic display where Moses and his mother labored, the strange symbols capturing her undivided attention now that her task was complete.

"Well, these are runes, glyphs, and marks used in pre-Moon-shatter magic systems," Moses explained as he finished drawing another symbol before sending it to his mother's work area. "I'm documenting every symbol I remember that relates to measuring time—whether it represents the changing of seasons, the phases of the unbroken moon, the movements of planets through various zodiac systems, the rhythm of a heartbeat, or the lifecycle of a fox-fire."

"And I'm trying to model which ones would work on a circuit board," Dr. Nebogipfel added as she arranged the symbols Moses provided. "If we find the right configuration and run the proper mixture of dust through the system, we should theoretically generate a magical effect with a temporal element. If that works, we'll have the building blocks needed for our experiments. Hopefully, Ozpin's input will prevent us from stumbling in the dark, as he should recall how these symbols interact. That should cut the time needed for the iterative process in half."

"You think so?" Dorothy looked thoughtful as she moved to Moses' side.

"It helps that Moses already knows what I'll have in the lab someday," Weena frowned as a circuit board design failed. She started over, using seasonal symbols instead of lunar ones. "That alone eliminates decades of experimentation, as we have clear end goals rather than groping in the dark. Our first priority is a Temporal Isolation Chamber, which is what you cleared space for."

"Does the name describe what it does?" Dorothy guessed, eyeing the potential size of the chamber. It was going to be big—two city buses big.

"If you're thinking it isolates an object from changes to its timeline, then yes, it does," Weena smiled as her simulated circuit board appeared to function.

"The first experiment Mom ran with it… or will run with it… whatever," Moses recalled. "She ended up putting a pizza inside before having me go back in time to change the toppings. It remained a basic cheese pizza while in the chamber, but when we opened it, it became a meat-lovers pizza."

"That much space for just a pizza?"

"Well, no," Weena looked up from her work. "This chamber should be big enough to fit all of you. You know, just in case."

"Oh." Dorothy grimaced.

She didn't dwell on what 'just in case' entailed for long, as a knock on the doorframe interrupted her thoughts. All three lab occupants turned to see General Ironwood standing partway through the threshold, his expression that of a man who'd just remembered societal convention dictated asking permission to enter someone else's domain.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important, but the door was open, and the experiment-in-progress lights were off, so…"

"What can I help you with, General?" Weena asked, gesturing him inside.

"I'm actually here to see how I can help you, Dr. Nebogipfel," Ironwood explained as he stepped fully into the lab. "Are there resources you require that Atlas can provide? I have five high-speed airships on standby that could make a delivery in under eight hours."

"Hmm…" Weena cupped her chin in thought for a moment. "I'll keep that in mind. I don't need anything right now, but that could change as we learn more about our problem."

"And what do we know about our problem right now?" Ironwood inquired.

"To ensure we're on the same page, I'll use an analogy," Weena began, saving her progress. "Imagine waking up in a building you've never seen before, and you need to learn all you can about it. There are no obvious windows or doors to the outside, so everything you learn is limited to what's inside. If you could go outside, you'd gain useful information about the structure—like whether the room layout matches the building's footprint. If it doesn't, you'd have hints to look for hidden rooms. But since we can't go outside, we need another way to determine if the walls we're mapping are the actual outer walls."

"I'm following so far," Ironwood offered after Weena paused.

"So, the paradox we're in is the building," Weena continued. "Right now, we're at the very beginning of mapping the floor plan. When we're done with that phase, we'll need to invent tools for the more invasive stages of our study—like stud finders to identify load-bearing walls and locate plumbing and wiring so we don't hit them while searching for hidden rooms."

"I see…" The General frowned, interpreting the analogy as Weena expected. "So we'll be mapping the floor for a while, and all I can do to help is keep my airships ready for delivery—unless you're comfortable with me pulling scientists from Atlas' R&D Department to assist?"

"Give me a list of candidates, and I'll consider it," Weena said, rising from her workstation and heading to a printer in the lab's corner. "If you want to help right now, you could join our control groups."

"And what would that entail?" Ironwood leaned forward with interest.

"You'd stand among the temporal sensors I've already developed while we ask you questions," the theoretical physicist explained, picking up a poster from the printer. "The questions might seem trivial, but we need you to answer them seriously."

"Sounds simple enough. When would this happen?"

"We could do it now if you're available."

James checked his watch. "I'm free for a few hours."

"Excellent!" Weena clapped, directing Ironwood to another corner of the lab. "Our temporal scanners are over there. I'll set them up shortly. Dorothy, get the camera ready—you'll be filming. Moses, grab a chair and clipboard; you'll ask
most of the questions while I monitor the equipment."

Moments later, James was seated between three sensor pylons, wearing a technological headband to monitor brain activity, with additional sensors measuring his vital signs. The poster Weena had retrieved was placed where he could see it, and Dorothy positioned the camera to capture both the General and the poster. Moses sat slightly to the side with pen and clipboard ready.

"And we're recording," Dorothy announced.

"This is the first observational study with General James Ironwood of Atlas, also the headmaster of Atlas Academy," Moses began in his most professional tone. He still sounded like an amateur to the General, but one with some idea of what he was doing. "We have this poster here—could you describe it for us?"

"Of course," Ironwood nodded. "It's a poster for an eighty-year-old animated feature, Uncle Wissley's adaptation of The Girl Who Fell Through the World, still considered the definitive film adaptation of the original novel."

"And how familiar are you with the film and the novel it's based on?" Moses asked.

"I'm quite familiar with both. The film is a landmark in animation—anyone who hasn't seen it is considered uncultured. The novel is required reading in most college-level literature courses. I aced my literature classes, and the film has
been a highlight of several high-society functions I've attended for my career."

"So you could confidently identify if something was out of place in the story?"

"Yes, I could," James replied confidently.

"Please describe any details of the poster that stand out to you."

"The poster depicts an iconic scene: the first time the Rusted Knight saves Alyx from the Jabberwalker. The Rusted Knight swoops in on his steed, scooping up Alyx with his shield arm while striking the beast with his sword arm."

"Let's focus on his sword arm. Quite an impressive prosthetic, isn't it?"

"It is. Medical technology has only recently produced prosthetics of its caliber, and only the most advanced match it. When the novel was published, many readers assumed the arm was magical, despite the Rusted Knight telling Alyx it was entirely mechanical. People of that era couldn't believe such a complex machine was possible."

"And the wound he inflicted on the Jabberwalker—could his organic sword arm deliver such a devastating strike?"

"Anyone who doubts that strike hasn't spent time with aura-capable individuals. It's well within a trained huntsman's capabilities."

"Now tell me about his blindfold," Moses prompted.

"The Rusted Knight wears a blindfold because he lost his eyes to a dangerous foe long before meeting Alyx. The scene where she sees him without it, traumatized by his scars and empty sockets, is a turning point in her arc, where she realizes the Ever After isn't imaginary and actions have real consequences."

"How well does the poster capture the Rusted Knight's eyes?"

James scrutinized the poster closely, suspecting a trick. But his inspection revealed nothing amiss. "The shade of blue is accurate to the film and matches Alyx's description in the novel."

"Right, moving to the Rusted Knight's mount. What can you tell me about her?"

"His mount is a massive jackalope named Juniper—a lagomorph with antelope-like horns. Juniper's horns have more prongs than typical, resembling antlers. She's huge for a rabbit-like creature, large enough to carry a grown man like a horse."

"And what does his mount say about global travel when the story was first published?"

An odd question, but James had written a paper on it in school, so he wasn't caught off guard.

"Well, the Golden Dragon is described as a hybrid of Mistrali and Valean dragons, an interesting choice for a Vacuo author. Her depiction suggests stories were shared more freely worldwide than expected for that era."

"What can you tell me about the Golden Dragon herself?"

"She's a hybrid, with the four legs and wings of a Valean dragon but a serpentine body and mane like a Mistrali dragon, rather than the horned crown typical of Valean dragons. Her name comes from her golden scales and mane… but the poster gets her eye colors wrong."

"How so?"

"The Golden Dragon has two eye colors reflecting her hybrid nature. When acting noble, like a Mistrali dragon, her eyes are lilac. When she's bestial, like a Valean dragon, they're red. Since she's letting the Rusted Knight ride her, her eyes should be lilac. The artist used red, implying she's in a berserker state and unridable."

"Right," Moses noted on his clipboard. "And Juniper is the only fantastical being the Rusted Knight rides in the story, correct?"

"That is correct. Juniper is his only mount."

The questioning continued for nearly an hour, with Moses probing details about the poster, film, and novel. Eventually, as he began to run out of questions, his mother concluded the session.

"I think we have enough data," Weena said, looking up from her instruments. "Thank you for your time, General."

"You're welcome," Ironwood replied, removing the monitoring equipment. As he took off the headband and stood, he couldn't help but ask, "What were you looking for with that interview? If you can tell me—I don't want to know if it'll taint results or disqualify me from further studies."

"We're clear to share," Weena said, nodding to Dorothy. "Playing back the interview is a good starting point. Mind?"

"Just a sec," Dorothy said, starting the recording from the beginning.

A frown grew on Ironwood's face as he heard the Q&A. "My statements contradict each other. It's like I'm describing a different story every other sentence."

"That's because you were," Moses explained. "The Girl Who Fell Through the World was more biographical than fictional. Alyx was the author's sister, and the Ever After was a real place she stumbled upon. In all eleven futures, Jaune Arc also finds the Ever After, and since its rules differ, he becomes the Rusted Knight Alyx met."

"In other words, we have eleven versions of the story," Dorothy added. "Each Jaune Arc had different experiences before entering the Ever After, so the story changes to reflect that. I only remember my timeline's version. Moses remembers all of them, and Dr. Nebogipfel remembers them like you do: one version at a time, but which version depends on context."

"Some experiments this week will explore this phenomenon," Weena said. "My hypothesis is that temporally displaced children and future brides remember their timeline's version, while those unconnected to a specific timeline remember versions like you and I do. Tomorrow's book group should provide enough data to test this."

"Doctor, The Girl Who Fell Through the World is a cultural cornerstone, inspiring key historical figures," Ironwood said, disturbed. "If you're right, history since its publication is in flux. If the version I remember shifts with context, it suggests history between then and now also changed."

"I know. My temporal scanners spiked every time you switched versions," Weena said, her eyes glinting with a mix of wonder and terror. "This would be thrilling to study if we weren't living it."

"This'll keep me up tonight," Ironwood said, straightening his uniform. "If you don't mind, I'll find something else to think about to shelve this until later."

"Go ahead," Weena waved him off. "I'm shelving it too—no point panicking if Ozpin stays calm when I share my findings."

"Right, if you'll excuse me…" Ironwood exchanged pleasantries with Weena before departing with purposeful strides.

"So, Moses, how should we explain this to your father?" Weena asked, returning to her circuit board design.

"That's a good question…" Moses mused, resuming his work on forgotten runes and glyphs.