[RWBY] The Great Temporal Step-Sibling War!

[AndrewJTalon]

The secret White Fang base deep in the Forever Fall Forest was bare bones and simple. An old base from when Vale had a 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-"

He stopped. Cinder Fall's face was on the screen.

"You're not supposed to call me directly-"

"We have enough encryption anyone watching won't know anything. Long enough for this," Cinder stated. The woman seemed far more agitated than usual, and was just barely keeping it under control. Adam would admit that he despised this human who presumed to order him around, but he didn't underestimate her.

"What is it?" He demanded.

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

But the urgency in Fall'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."

Cinder's eyes narrowed a bit.

"Blake Belladonna included."

Adam's grip on his Scroll tightened.

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

"Mercury got several pictures before he had to escape," Cinder 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.

"No," Cinder stated, "He is too valuable as a hostage. We will find a way to get our hands on him. But we cannot rush into this. It will take careful planning. I will get him into our clutches. You? Concentrate on our main plan."

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

"All right."

Cinder stared at him.

"That's it?" She asked.

"I will have him," he stated firmly, "He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. Spin your webs and plan your machinations. We will have him... And then he will be mine. You will deliver him to me."

Cinder's scowl became far more dangerous.

"You don't get to decide-"

"It's that, or the White Fang no longer works with you," Adam stated. "This is non-negotiable. He will be mine."

Cinder held back a riot of complex emotions, just barely detectable behind her face. Including... Regret?

"... Very well," Cinder murmured.

The communication ended. 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.

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Neopolitan had been having a rather hectic day so far, and not the kind of hectic she enjoyed.

The day had started out like the other days she hand spent infiltrating Beacon with Cinder and her crew. Wake up, spend some time in one of the school's gyms, eat a hearty breakfast that left Mercury wondering where she was putting all that food, and then splitting off from her 'team' to scout out the campus for any useful secrets.

Today she had been looking for discrete ways to sneak out of and sneak into campus. Sure she had already found a few good ones, but those were the ones she had shared with her 'team' and she'd rather have a few more in her back pocket just in case she needed to ditch them for any reason. Like with the party that was supposed to happen tonight, it'd be a perfect opportunity to slip away and check up on a few things in person.

Then she had returned to her 'team's' dorm room to find it destroyed: Emerald's bed had burned down and everything else had been soaked by the fire suppression system. That had been concerning for a number of reasons, and those concerns only grew when she found the glass knife in the ruins of Em's mattress.

Emerald had been Cinder's chief sycophant, and basking in Em's praise had been one of the few things that made Cinder look kinda happy if you squinted real hard. Because of that Neo had always figured that it would be Mercury's behind or her own that would burn if the fire bitch ever snapped, and that their best chance of survival would be Em interceding on their behalf.

The fact that Cinder had apparently lashed out at Em with killing intent meant that Neo's plans for dealing with Cinder' anger issues were kaput. And if Em was dead and the mission was now falling apart? She and Roman weren't' off the hook, which meant Cinder would be turning the screws on her and Roman to make up the loss of Cinder's right hand.

Before she could spend too much time thinking about the implications of that she got a text from Mercury that read:

Just got a new leg. Need help sneaking out of the infirmary. Maybe wear a different face.

That had been a pretty easy job; the nurses were distracted by two kids with rather nasty burns on their faces, and the only complication to the extraction had been Mercury's insistence that they get a few pictures of the other people in the infirmary. That had annoyed her in the moment, but once they were out and Mercury had explained the situation to her she saw the value of those pictures.

Time travel. Kids from the future who all shared the same father but had different mothers. The father in question? Jaune Arc, team leader of Pyrrha Nikos and an obstacle to Cinder's plans. One of those future kids being a child of Emerald, meaning Em had to have betrayed Cinder for that future to happen, and that's what set Cinder off.

The two burned kids in the infirmary being Cinder's somehow. Cinder fleeing Beacon to avoid fighting everyone else all at once.

The rest of their day leading up to this moment had been spent sneaking around the school taking inconspicuous photos of the time displaced kids and their mothers, while keeping their ears pealed for what the rumor mill had already picked up. They needed as much information as possible to keep Cinder happy.

And that brought Neo to now; waiting with Mercury at one of the discreet ways in and out of Beacon for Cinder to arrive. It was an abandoned artificial grotto down by the river where one could easily take a paddle powered boat to sneak in or out of school grounds.

It didn't take much longer for Cinder to arrive, seated in a canoe big enough for four. She didn't row. The canoe glided across the water as if Cinder was moving it through sheer force of will alone. As the little boat entered the grotto Cinder tossed a rope to Mercury, who dutifully tied that rope to the little dock in the grotto so the canoe wouldn't drift away.

Once the canoe was secure the false maiden disembarked and fixed Mercury with a glare. Yet to Neo's keen eyes there was an almost imperceptible degree of hesitation in Cinder's movements, and there was a hint of something in her glare that Neo had never seen in Cinder's eyes before: uncertainty.

And while the growl of her voice did a lot to hide the uncertainty of her words, Neo could still hear it as Cinder leveled an accusation against Mercury:

"You helped Emerald get away. Do you really think the pictures you sent me makes up for that?"

"No," Mercury drawled, "But the information we've collected makes up the difference."

"I'll be the judge of that." Cinder hissed.

"The burned kids' names are Ash and Ashley," Mercury began, and if Neo wasn't looking for it she might have missed Cinder's flinch, "When they were brought into the infirmary they were drifting in and out of consciousness, and during that time they were calling out for their mama, their daddy, and their Auntie Em. If you had killed Emerald they might have just gone poof," Mercury made a popping hand gesture, "Because she was super important to their timeline."

Cinder stood still as a statue with an inscrutable expression, and for a few moments the only sounds that could be heard in the grotto was the whistling of the wind and the flowing of the river.

Seeing that he wasn't going to be interrupted Mercury continued, "Only reason the two of them aren't dead is cause their daddy figured out his semblance and used it to share his aura with them. So while they might be scarred they still have faces."

Flickers of emotion threatened to break through Cinder's stony facade, and Neo saw hints of anger, relief, wrath, sorrow, rage, and regret all waging war in the shadows for the chance to show themselves on Cinder's face.

"They were asleep when Neo helped me sneak out," Mercury continued as he pulled out his scroll, "I guess even with magic healing helping you out having your head set on fire will take a lot out of you." Mercury opened up the pictures he had taken of Ash and Ashley, holding up his scroll to show them off.

Cinder's hands twitched as if she wanted to reach out and take the scroll and have a closer look at the pictures. Although she didn't move beyond that Neo could see the way Cinder's eyes were drinking in every detail. The strength of their jawlines, the look of their noses, the cut of their hair, the color of their cheeks.

The mirrored burn scars in the vague shape of a feminine handprint. Cinder's hands slowly flexed open and closed as slight trembling shook her frame.

"I also got good pictures of Moses, the kid with the time travel semblance, you want to see them?" Mercury asked.

"Yes," Cinder hissed in a strained tone.

"Alright then, brace yourself cause this is supper weird," Mercury began as he pulled up a new image. "This is Moses:" The photo displayed a young man that would fit in with Valean high society; pale white skin, almost silvery red hair, brown eyes and aristocratic cheekbones. Mercury then pulled up a second image next to the first. "This is also Moses:" The new picture displayed a young man that looked like he belonged on a Mistrali farm; with a farmer's tan, dark almost brown red hair, hazel eyes and rounded cheeks.

"I was looking at him the whole time and never noticed anything strange," Mercury explained, "But when I took these pictures this really stood out. If you hold up one of the photos next to him he looks like the other photo. Compare him to both and he looks like a blend of the two, and it's not a consistent blend."

A clearly readable expression finally dominated Cinder's face: bewilderment.

"How? No. Perhaps? No. Maybe? No." Cinder seemed to pick up and discard a dozen different ideas in just as many seconds. Eventually she reached a conclusion: "This is going to make recognizing him without seeing him in person first difficult, isn't it?"

"Probably," Mercury agreed.

"A problem for later then," Cinder mused. "We have a different problem now. I trust the two of you gathered the few incriminating things we had in our room?"

Mercury nodded, Neo gave a casual thumbs up.

"And I don't suppose Emerald dropped her scroll when she ran off, leaving it where you could collect it?"

Mercury shook his head. Neo gave a thumbs down.

"Then she still has it," Cinder concluded. "Meaning she has documents, notes, addresses and other bits of useful information that threaten our operations. While eliminating Emerald would be best for operational security we don't know what killing her would to the fabric of space-time, so the next best thing we can do is deprive her of her scroll."

Cinder turned her gaze towards Neo, "Neopolitan, you have the best shot at stealing her scroll. If you can't steal it, destroy it. Mercury and I will follow from the shadows and create a path of retreat should you be discovered after getting it." Cinder's eyes became dangerous, "Don't try and retreat if you failed to get it or destroy it."

Well, the challenge should be fun at least. Neo bowed in a dramatic fashion as her answer.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Jaune and his growing entourage were heading down the hallway away from BRZN's dormitory. It was a bit difficult: The rest of the student body had heard plenty about what had happened, and it wasn't hard to overhear what they were muttering.

"... weirdo playboy..."

"... are they all together...?"

"... be he's a creep..."

"... sluts..."

Ruby winced. Yang and Weiss strode forward, and squeezed Jaune's hands on either side.

"Ignore it," Yang muttered.

"It's meaningless," Weiss added.

Pyrrha nodded her agreement, and squeezed Ruby and May's hands. The other girls calmed, and Jaune relaxed.

"Thanks," he murmured. He really was grateful for his friends. Honestly, whatever their futures, he was thankful to have such good friends in on this frankly insane situation.

"Some things never change," Nicholas sighed.

A Red Schnee Glyph appeared on the wall, and Theodore Schnee-Arc appeared through it. He grabbed Jaune's shoulder, as his Glyph turned blue behind him.

"Borrowing Father, see you all later!"

"Wait wha-?!"

Theodore yanked Jaune back into the Glyph, and in a flash of light, they were in an empty conference room. Jaune gaped at his son in disbelief, as he adjusted his sunglasses with a smug look.

"Wait, I thought you could only teleport via line of sight?" Jaune asked.

"Not unless I know the exact coordinates of each location to teleport to," Theodore said, "And I memorized many coordinates around Beacon that would be useful to know."

Jaune blinked a bit. A strange instinct pushed the next words out of his mouth.

"You don't have the women's showers as one of those locations, do you?"

Theodore coughed and adjusted his sunglasses again.

"Of course not, Father! I-I would never abuse my power like that!"

Jaune's eyes narrowed.

"Oh really?"

"Really!" Theodore insisted. "Also, you should talk to Mother!"

He vanished through a Blue Glyph, and a moment later, it turned red. A tall, beautiful woman who strongly resembled Weiss was shoved through.

"Wha-HEY!"

She glared back at the Glyph. Theodore appeared and shrugged briefly.

"Sorry Mother, Father: You always told me it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission when the stakes were high enough."

He vanished again, leaving the two of them alone. Jaune gripped the back of a chair nervously, as Winter Schnee fidgeted and looked anywhere but directly at him.

"Er... Hey," Jaune managed, "Sorry about all this. He's uh..."

"Impetuous?" Winter asked. Jaune nodded.

"Yeah... No idea where he gets that from."

Winter's lips twitched slightly into a small smile. Jaune's heart skipped a beat.

Geez...!

"Probably both of us," she said quietly, "I've read the reports about your... Shall we say... Misadventures? And my sister wrote me extensively about you."

Jaune winced.

"Oh... Um... Well. Since you're not beating me up... It wasn't all bad, right?"

Winter chuckled.

"I could read between the lines," she said, "She does like you. It's just difficult for her to admit it, the life we've both lived."

Jaune nodded slowly.

"I guess I can understand that," he said. He mustered up his courage.

"I-I... I mean, I'm not expecting anything and you don't have to-"

Winter strode forward and wrapped her arms around him. She blushed heavily as he gaped at her.

"In all honesty," she said, "I was... I worried that I would never be able to find love. Learning that there is a future where that's possible is... Very reassuring."

"Oh, uh... I-I mean, um... That's good," Jaune admitted, "I always hoped I would marry and find happiness. Y-You know if I didn't die."

Winter smiled softly and nodded. She squeezed him a bit more tightly.

"A similar fear," she said, "The other problem is that I've devoted my life to serving and protecting Atlas. Having a family feels... A bit incompatible with that goal."

"How?" Jaune asked, blinking. "I-I mean... If we're not going to have happiness and joy, what's the point of fighting?"

Winter chuckled.

"That is fair," she admitted. Her eyes became very warm. "But more than that... Our children will, in the future, protect Atlas even better. Theodore may have saved all of Vale and the Vytal Festival."

She began to stroke his hair. She blushed deeply, which did make her look even cuter.

"S-So... It is not just for my personal happiness! But a part of my duty to protect Atlas and all of humanity!" She licked her lips nervously.

"So, um... As it is a military imperative, I was hoping we could progress to-?"

"Dating?" Jaune guessed, his high pitched tone sounding a bit desperate.

Winter flushed.

"Is... Is that necessary?" She asked. "We know the outcome-"

"And that doesn't matter, because there are eleven different outcomes," Jaune stated, narrowing his eyes. He pushed away from Winter. "I'm not gonna have kids or-or use the future as an excuse to be selfish."

Winter stared at him, looking like she had been slapped. Jaune flushed and stuttered.

"N-Not that-I mean-You're absolutely beautiful and-and from everything Weiss had told me you're incredible! Amazing! I-I don't even see how I would have had a chance with you! But I... I can't be selfish. And neither should you. Not like this. We're not producing weapons, we're making a family! Or-Or will... Or might... You know what I mean!"

Winter stared at him for a time, and then bowed her head.

"... You're right," she murmured, "I'm sorry. I... I am used to resolving issues in the most straightforward way..." She looked back up. She extended her hand.

"I am Specialist Winter Schnee. It is nice to meet you."

Jaune smiled and took her hand, gently shaking it.

"Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you, too."

She again pulled him into a hug.

"This... Is this all right?" Winter asked with a blush. "I... I seldom have the chance to get hugs."

Jaune flushed, and then nodded.

"Um, s-sure..."

The doors slammed open. Weiss glared.

"SISTER!"

"What?" Winter demanded. "I am only following my orders!"

"YOUR WHAT?!" The rest of Jaune's potential future wives and children shouted.

Theodore again adjusted his sunglasses and smirked. Jaune narrowed his eyes.

"Don't think I won't put you over my knee, young man!" Jaune barked. Winter blushed, but adopted her own stern look. A much more effective one.

Theodore coughed.

"Yes Father..."

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Ozpin cupped his chin in deep thought. Today had been chockfull of surprises and unusual revelations, and it wasn't over yet. From the time displaced children upending his own personal theories about time travel to the bits of conversation he had overheard while monitoring them implying that Salem had faced a true defeat in more than one possible future, he had learned a lot of things that meant a paradigm shift or two were in order.

He was most interested in true defeats Salem had faced for obvious reasons. He had no idea at this point if they were permanent defeats or only major setbacks on the Witch's part, but right now he didn't care. If they were permanent then fantastic! Half of his problems were gone for good. If they were only major setbacks then fantastic! Man and Faunus would have a generation or two to push back against the darkness and take back lands lost to the Grimm, and if he pulled the right strings civilization would be much better entrenched by the time Salem had recovered.

Of course before any of that could happen they needed to navigate the temporal paradox they were currently in the middle of. He had a plan, and from the looks of things that plan was getting off on the right foot, but he hadn't gotten to where he was today by never getting a second opinion on things, or by refusing to acknowledge when things were outside his wheelhouse.

His normal second opinion was Glynda, but she was too close to the situation to be objective about his plan and temporal mechanics wasn't her wheelhouse either. General Ironwood wasn't the best place to go for second opinion in this case; he was too invested in the outcome and military action was a very different wheelhouse form temporal mechanics. The other headmasters were out because this was too sensitive to trust to international communications; none of them were free to come for an in person meeting, and the fact that this wouldn't be in their wheelhouse any more than it was in his went without saying.

That left him with one option, and while he wasn't sure if she would be objective about this he knew this was in her wheelhouse.

And so Ozpin gave Dr. Weena Nebogipfel a call on the most secure channel available to him.

The call began the way all video calls with her began; with Weena holding her scroll too close to her face.

"Ozpin? Is that you?" A set of thick rimmed hexagon shaped glasses over a set of baby blue eyes took up most of the screen, "That's convenient; I've been thinking about calling you for the last couple of days!"

"Really? What about?" Ozpin kept his expression warm and welcoming. Weena's tone was worrying; it sounded halfway between a thousand yard stare and existential dread which was at odds with the easily excited scientist he knew.

"You know the new sensors I'm testing? To put in the Grimm early warning detection systems? Meant to pick up on more esoteric energies?" Weena would have normally put her scroll down on her desk at this point, letting the person she was talking with see her whole body, but she kept it close to her eyes.

"I remember helping you design them," Ozpin pointed out, "So I know which ones you're talking about."

"Right, right," Weena continued with a distracted sounding voice, "So my semblance isn't high speed regeneration like I always thought it was. The sensors say I'm generating a lot of Temporal Energy. I haven't been regenerating, I've been rewinding my body back to an uninjured state."

"That's fascinating," Ozpin noted. It also meant that Moses' power didn't come out of the blue.

"It's horrifying," Weena gasped.

"How so?"

"Oz, I'd be easier if I showed you," Weena finally put her scroll on her desk, allowing Ozpin to take in her full image. Her frizzy orange hair was in its' usual unkempt bun, her earrings looked like stopwatches today, her purple lab coat was open to show her shirt had an hourglass pattern on it. "Once I knew how my semblance functioned I did some experiments and, well watch:"

Weena closed her eyes in concentration, and she started visibly aging before Ozpin's eyes. She went from a woman in her thirties to her forties, then fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, over a hundred and then like a skipping record she was suddenly a newborn baby aging rapidly through childhood, her teenage years and then her twenties until she finally landed on her normal age in her mid thirties. Then she took a deep breath, and repeated the entire process in reverse.

"And that's not all," Weena got up from her desk and walked towards a set of tesla coils at the back of her lab, an old project of hers meant to outright vaporize Grimm that had been abandoned once it had proven too difficult to aim. She dramatically pulled a remote from her pockets as she stood between the coils, "CHECK THIS OUT!"

"WEENA WHAT ARE YOU-" Ozpin called out too late to keep her from hitting the power button on the remote. Ozpin's screen filled with a blinding white light while his speakers crackled from trying to play a sound far too loud for them to play. When the white light cleared away Weena was nowhere to be seen, a scorch mark occupied the ground where she had been.

And then suddenly like a video skipping a frame Weena was back, and the scorch mark was gone. She staggered froward towards her desk while cackling like a loon.

"Oh thank the Gods," Ozpin whispered as he clutched his chair's armrests in a death-grip, his heart knocking against his ribcage like an unbalanced washing machine.

"You see?" Weena asked as she got back to her desk and plopped down in her chair. "I can't die of old age or rewind myself out of existence! Even complete disintegration doesn't put a dent in the temporal energy I'm generating! I'M IMMORTAL!" She wailed as she threw her hands in the air with a voice of despair.

That wasn't a normal reaction. Sure Ozpin had gone through a similar crisis, twice, but that was after he had lived through ten different lives. To see someone go through this exact crisis while still in their thirties was disconcerting to say the least.

"You found out you could control your age and then jumped straight to vaporizing yourself?" And sometimes even when you're older than civilization itself you can't stop the first question from popping out of your mouth.

"Okay, so the first vaporization was an accident," Weena admitted, "But I was getting desperate to find anything that would make my temporal energy go down!"

"Why?" And sometimes you can't stop the incredulous follow up question from popping out of your mouth.

"You don't understand Oz!" Weena pointed a dramatic finger his way, "I'm going to outlive everyone I know! I'm going to watch every architectural wonder built today crumble into ruins, and then I'm going to watch those ruins crumble into dust! The day will come where the language my mother taught me and the culture that raised me will be nothing more than a footnote in a history book nobody will read!"

Weena pulled her hand back and continued in a calmer yet haunted manner, "And sure I'll have all the time in the universe to unravel the mysteries of physics and quantum mechanics and all the other secrets of how things work, but with all the time in the universe the day will come where I'll have learned everything there is to know about how the material world works. Then I'll be left with questions I'll never be able to answer, because the answers all lie on the other side of death."

Ozpin allowed that somber note to hang in the air long enough to be sure Weena was done with her rant.

"I understand your going through a crisis right now," Ozpin began, "But your son's in a lot of trouble and we're going to need your help to figure out how to fix it, so I need you to pull yourself back together Weena."

Weena looked towards him with confusion, "I don't have a son."

"His semblance allows him to manipulate temporal energy like yours does."

"Time travel," Weena gasped as her eyes grew wide, "And if he's... maybe I won't be alone..."

"If I have anything to say about it, no, you won't," Ozpin gave her a small smile.

"What kind of trouble is he in?" Weena asked.

"He traveled farther back than he meant to, caused a paradox. I need to know if my solution to the paradox is going to work."

"Right, so you need me to come to Beacon then?"

"Yes," Ozpin nodded, "We'll have a lot to discuss once you get here."

"If I start packing now I'll be ready to get there before lunch tomorrow," Weena mused. "Some of my instruments are going to be finicky."

"I'll prepare a room for you, and a lab," Ozpin stood up from his desk. "Oh, by the way, welcome to the Immortals Club. You might be the first member to have an existential crisis before hitting their first century."

Weena had gotten up to start packing, so her head whipped around when she heard that, "BUHWHA?"

"Like I said; we'll have a lot to discuss once you get here."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Radian was once the capital city of the Northern Sanus kingdom of Gallia. From this circular mountain city, the Kings and Queens of the House of Arc had ruled for centuries. The ancient castle Arc-En-Ciel still stood in the center of the ringed fortifications, houses, shops, and fields like a marble sculpture. The white stone and large windows gleamed brightly in the late afternoon sun, illuminating the town that surrounded it with a gentle glow. It was said that on the sunniest summer days, the knights beholden to the Arc dynasty could find their way home by the bright white tower guiding them home.

Trumpets would blow and banners would wave as the great Gallian armies returned home from successful campaigns to families, children, and friends. Yet time took its toll, and things changed. The Arcs joined the Emerald Emperor of Vale into one great allied Kingdom to stand against Albion's massive Empire, then allied with them against the menace of Atlas, Mistal, and Vacuo's attempts at world domination. The Arcs were reduced to Wardens of the North, then landed nobles, then middle-class landowners as their influence and the need for their leadership faded. Their cousins, the Pendragons, ruled Albion until abdicating with the collapse of that empire in the Great War, and joined them in the country as regular citizens.

Arc-en-Ciel was abandoned by the Arcs, and left to the democratically elected Council of Verdun. Then they got a new town hall, and the castle was going to be torn down. Yet the desire for tourism, and Isabel Arc's work in the medical field transformed the ancient fortress, and it took on a new mission. A new enemy to defend life from.

Within the castle, Instead of a grand entryway for horses, there now stood a wide, well-lit and clean lobby with couches, chairs, and a grand receptionist desk. The troops wore scrubs and doctor's jackets instead of full plate armor and mail. The Arc who resided in the castle did not wear a crown or fine robes: Just the same medical garb as anyone else.

She was about five foot nine, curvy from motherhood and exercise. Her shining blonde hair was held back in an elegant rope braid that swung behind her back. Underneath her white doctor's jacket, she wore a dark green dress with black stockings under flat shoes. A pair of glasses decorated her pointed nose, black-rimmed and round, which served to emphasize her aquamarine eyes.

She strode through the hallways, her gait quick but measured. A gentle smile was on her face as she walked through her hospital, with gentle nods to patients and staff alike.

"Doctor Arc!"

She turned to face an older woman with graying brown hair, tanned skin, and much wider curves in her purple scrubs.

"Yes Meredith?"

"You have a call on your private line in your office," she said, "It's from Beacon."

Doctor Arc frowned deeply.

"Any idea what it's about?" She asked, shifting her gait towards her office. Meredith easily matched the doctor's stride.

"Just that it's about Jaune," she said quietly. "You gonna be okay, Isabel?"

Doctor Arc shook her head, subconsciously steeling herself.

"I hope so," she said quietly. "Please tell the Director's meeting I'll be a little late?"

Meredith smiled in understanding.

"Of course, Isabel."

Doctor Isabel Arc went down the stairs and headed for her office. It was one of dozens of such offices, all with large windows to allow the epic vista that was the Albus mountain range to be seen. It did let her just make out her own farmhouse, near the old Arcadia Manor.

She took a few deep breaths as she slid down into the chair behind her desk. She quickly looked around at the many family photos she had all over her walls and desk. Her handsome husband, her seven darling girls, and her wonderful son.

Isabel rested a hand against one of the photos-The last taken that had all nine of them together. They'd been on a camping trip in Argus. All of them dirty, exhausted from hiking to the top of Mount Orias. All of them were smiling broadly though.

She had never thought Jaune would just run off like that. Not when he'd had such a great future ahead of him. She had hoped he would give up on becoming a Huntsman, come home, and make the best use of his talents in something much faster.

Nick had said to let Jaune go. Let him try. When he failed, well, they'd welcome him back. They'd teach him that just because he couldn't achieve one dream, that didn't mean he couldn't find another.

And yet...

She turned to her computer and activated it.

"Isabel Arc here," she said.

A familiar blonde woman with green eyes and very severe glasses appeared.

"Hello Isabel," Glynda said, looking tense.

Isabel sucked in a breath as her entire body tensed up.

"I was told it was urgent. Is Jaune...?"

Glynda shook her head, her expression gentle.

"He's safe and healthy, Isabel," Glynda said, "I am sorry if the message gave you any other impression."

Isabel's body slowly unclenched. She slowly nodded.

"That's good to know," she said, "So what is the situation?"

Glynda sighed.

"It's... Complicated," she said. "I would much prefer to discuss this with you and Nick in person, with the other parents."

Isabel frowned deeply in confusion.

"Other parents? What's this about, Glynda? Did...?"

Her eyes widened.

"Oh... Oh my... Am I going to be a grandmother soon?"

Glynda sighed.

"In... A manner of speaking," she said carefully. Isabel's jaw dropped.

"What do you mean?! Am I or am I not?"

"Again, you should come down and meet the other parents. It's going to require some explanations," Glynda said.

Isabel glared at the Deputy Headmistress of Beacon.

"What? Is the mother someone of great importance? Is there a huge scandal involved? Did my son end up with the Schnee heiress? Pyrrha Nikos?"

Glynda slowly nodded.

"Them... And nine other girls."

Isabel gasped in disbelief, holding onto the arms of her rolling chair for dear life.

"Are you telling me... My son impregnated eleven women?!"

Glynda nodded slowly.

"Yup. And I'm one of them."

Isabel fell out of her chair and down to the floor in a dead faint.

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Gallia in Northern Sanus was a mountainous region, with great wide valleys between the Albus ranges carved out by great glaciers long ago. Yet there were flat wide plains in the kingdom turned province, especially further north towards the sea. The island Vytal, which held Albion, could be seen from the beaches of Port Accalon, a large Gallian city. It had once been Gallia's main port and had made the kingdom very rich. Now, Accalon was one of Vale's busiest shipping ports, sending and receiving goods from all over Remnant in quantities that were only rivaled by the capital city of Vale itself.

Great sea walls had been constructed around the city port. In the tradition of most Valean cities, they simply built another ring of walls out further from the older ones and put in more city and farms. Same with the sea walls and the expanded harbor: The older, smaller harbor walls sheltered smaller craft, while the gigantic sea walls allowed massive container ships to dock.

These walls were well guarded... But there were always weaknesses in the city defenses. Given the vital nature of Accalon, it was only natural for Hunters to be hired to deal with Grimm.

Nicholas Jacques "Nick" Arc was mostly retired as a Huntsman. Settling down in Radian after a fairly successful career as a Huntsman to become the head of the local militia and a trainer of militia and Huntsman was far more lucrative. Yet the seven-foot-tall blond man, built like a mountain of a man, with pale blue eyes and a broad grin beneath a bushy beard could never turn down the chance for a real battle again.

It simply wasn't in his nature.

It did annoy his wife, but she hardly minded the extra lien his "special" jobs brought in.

He stood in front of the western wall of Accalon, his six-foot-long railgun sword held behind his back. His armor plating was white and blue, with some black interlocking sections. A blue scarf waved from around his neck as his messy dark blond hair waved.

A gigantic crab Grimm, the size of a small car, trundled up out of the surf. It was joined by a few fellows, all hissing and clicking their giant pincers together ominously.

"Cancer, eh? Whoever named them that must have been a real asshole, huh Arjun?" Nick laughed. He looked over at his companion: A dark-skinned man in a purple and dark blue cloak, with white armored trousers, tall black boots, dark red eyes, and a silvery bow at his side. The dark-skinned man sniffed behind his balaclava.

"A most unfortunate name indeed," Arjun observed.

The first of the Crab Grimm charged... And Nick slashed it in half with one mighty swing of his sword. The blond man sighed, and jumped over the next, slamming his massive blade through it hard enough to shatter the Grimm. More of the brutes assaulted the two Hunters, but their lack of speed hampered their attack greatly.

"Ah... Isn't this the life?" Nick chuckled, ramming his blade through the face of a Cancer, "Just two good friends, drinking beer, killing Grimm..."

"Cheap beer," the dark-skinned man laughed, taking a sip before he raised his bow. His arrow crackled with Lightning Dust, and he loosed it with a keen eye. The arrow shot out into the surface, and detonated. Many Cancers were hit by the electric attack, and fell to pieces from the impact.

"That's ten for me!"

"That's cheating!" Nick growled, lopping off the claws of another Cancer before stabbing it through the face. "Eight for me the proper way!"

Arjun rolled his eyes, and let loose three more arrows, blasting apart three more Cancers.

"Thirteen."

"Grrr...!" Nick hefted up his mighty sword, and swung it with a roar. He triggered the Lightning dust in the hilt, and unleashed a railgun round empowered with a bolt of his massive Aura. A huge shockwave issued forth, blasting apart five more Cancer. "HA! We're even!"

Arjun just unleashed another Lightning Dust Arrow, and smirked with his eyes at his best friend.

"Eighteen."

"Hmph!" Nick pouted. He kicked another Cancer's claws off, before beating it to death with the hilt of his massive blade.

"So, how fares your son?" Arjun asked, "He was at Beacon last I checked."

"Well... He hasn't come home yet," Nick grunted, chopping another two Cancer into pieces. Arjun sighed.

"I know your wife likes to baby him, but honestly. If he wishes to be a Huntsman, you shouldn't discourage him."

Arjun unleashed four more arrows.

"Twenty-two."

Nick leaped up and cut through four more Cancers in quick succession.

"I agree but... There is something to Isabel's desire for a peaceful life," Nick said. He stabbed another Cancer with his blade as it tried to ambush him from underneath the sandy beach. "Twenty-three!"

"Yet you earned that through martial prowess. We all did," Arjun observed, once more putting arrows between the eyes of Cancers. "You and Isabel? Your happy life. Myself and Saia? A happy life, and our kingdom back. Twenty-five."

"Does anyone want their child to pay the same price though?" Nick asked, unleashing another Aura Slash on a group of Cancers. "Twenty-six!"

A truly gigantic Cancer rose from the waves, bigger than an Atlasian battle tank. It stomping through the surf, making the ground shake. It roared, as both Arjun and Nick stood up.

"Ah, the mother Grimm," Arjun stated, "Finally."

"Yep! Now that's a real challenge!" Nick laughed with a bloodthirsty grin, "Now we can-!"

A cheerful ringtone broke the tension. Nick tapped his earbud.

"Hm? Isabel, sweetie, I'm in the middle of something-"

Nick lifted his massive sword to block the gigantic claw of the Alpha Cancer. He was driven back by the sheer bulk and strength of the beast, but held his blade up firmly. Arjun leaped up and unleashed a volley of Dust Arrows, blasting the Grimm with Fire and Lightning. The Alpha Cancer swung its claws at him, but he dodged and darted about like a shadow.

Nick's eyes widened.

"WHAT?!"

"What? What is it?!" Arjun shouted back, taking out the beast's eyes with his steady aim. The Alpha Cancer roared in pain, as it reared back. Arjun fired off Ice Dust, freezing the beast in place. Nick charged up his Aura, his entire body and blade burning with white fire. He roared in triumph as he swung his railgun sword, ramming it right into the beast's underbelly. He fired four powerful railgun rounds into its body, blasting them right out the back of the Cancer. Nick yanked back his blade just as Arjun unleashed Ice Dust arrows through the holes. The Ice froze the water in the aquatic Grimm's body, cracking and shattering its armor from within.

"FINAL SLASH!" Nick bellowed, unleashing a gigantic Aura blade that cut the beast's belly apart. It collapsed into the tide, its struggles slowing and then ceasing as it began to dissolve. Arjun looked over at his best friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Nick? Nick, you all right-?"

Nick laughed giddily and thrust his sword up into the air.

"MY SON MADE ME A GRANDPA!" He cheered. "ELEVEN GIRLS! HE GOT ELEVEN GIRLS PREGNANT! AND THEY ALL KNOW ABOUT EACHOTHER!"

Arjun blinked slowly.

"... Your son is truly a man among men," Arjun breathed softly.

"I KNOW RIGHT?!" Nick laughed. "HAHAHA! LIKE ME, HE WINS AT ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE!"

"Except I beat you," Arjun stated, a bit smugly. Nick scowled.

"What?! I landed the final blow on that Alpha Cancer!"

"But I landed the killing blow," Arjun smirked.

"IT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE!"

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Huh. No note here on how you wanted to make Arjun May's father here as on SB. Though in the chapter where May and June talk May mentions she is an orphan and was there when her parents died of illness, so that would have to change. I think it's better off that she isn't related to Arjun myself though.

Love the premise. Looking forward to when the parents meet. Well for those who still have parents. Also looking forward to how different each timeline is, especially since Xia spoiled it a bit to her mom, Yang.

Will some be darker futures than others?

Click to shrink...

Depends on what Sift Green wants to do since it's his fic and I'm just helping out.

And yes, there will be.

- - -

If someone had told her when she got out of bed that morning that she would be spending a good chunk of her afternoon in the medical wing waiting for complete strangers to wake up she might have looked them in the eye and asked 'Why would Cinder need me to do that?'

Amethyst had wanted to check up on her friend Moses after they had finished lunch, and so Emerald was in the medical wing waiting for complete strangers to wake up. It was fascinating in a way, the stranglehold her daughter had upon her even though they had only met this morning. The small part of her that was still a street rat trying to survive in a big and scary world was telling her that throwing herself into being someone's primary pillar of support when she had just lost her's was a terrible idea, but what else could she do?

Moses groaned and shifted in his bed and for a moment Amethyst and Emerald had their focus completely riveted to the boy, but he didn't wake. With that false alarm over Amethyst went back to designing a new set of rings on her scroll, and Emerald found her eyes drifting across the way to the other patients of the medical wing.

Ash and Ashley, the burned twins. Cinder's children. Living evidence that her former mistress actually had room in her heart for someone else.

Just not her.

That was a fact she needed to get through her stubborn and bleeding heart. Even now some small treacherous part of her wanted to call Cinder and beg for clemency, to regain the clear direction and purpose of her mistress' plans. Emerald squashed that part with the hindsight blessed knowledge that Cinder always put her own happiness before Emerald's, and that meant any future that ended in her own happiness couldn't come living beneath Cinder.

It honestly hurt to look at the twins and think the thoughts they brought to her mind, and part of Emerald wanted to leave so she wouldn't have to. But Amethyst wanted to be here for her friend, and she needed to be strong for Amethyst.

A welcome distraction then came into the room. Dorothy, the time displaced daughter of Ozpin's right hand woman Glynda was entering the infirmary. The blonde girl waved off the nurses as she made her way into the room, and it didn't take long for her to join Emerald and Amethyst at Moses' bedside.

For a brief moment Emerald felt her hackles rise as Dorothy seemed to size up Amethyst in a way that Emerald didn't like, but that sense of unease was for not. Amethyst looked up from her scroll and smiled at Dorothy, and the taller blonde flinched. Dorothy's countenance was suddenly all sheepish awkwardness, and an uncomfortable silence stretched out as Amethyst's smile went from welcoming warmth to polite confusion.

"Ahh..." Dorothy finally managed, "Can I sit next to Moses?"

"Sure!" Amethyst beamed as she popped out of her chair and went to get another one. In short order Dorothy was in the chair by Moses' bed, and Amethyst was in a new chair right next to it showing Dorothy her current project while whispering in hushed tones to not disturb the sleeping boy.

Listening to her daughter prattle on about goldsmithing to a captive audience was a delight, and it was more than enough to keep Emerald's mind off the burned twins and the implications their existence brought. Or at least it would have if Ash and Ashley weren't just across the way, occasionally shifting in their sleep and muttering barely audible cries for a parental figure. These cries were so quiet in fact that Emerald might not have even heard them...

...if they weren't occasionally murmuring for their Auntie Em amidst the normal calls for mama and daddy.

And with that the small treacherous part of her mind was whispering again, spinning yarn about how she could still be a mother if she contacted Cinder and devised a plan to get Jaune away form the others...

...THAT idea Emerald crushed with extreme prejudice. If that was a viable option Amethyst would have come from the same timeline as Ash and Ashley. She didn't. Standing with Cinder could only result in borrowed motherhood via borrowing Cinder's children. If Emerald wanted to preserve her own flesh and blood she needed to stop entertaining any thoughts of returning to Cinder's shadow...

...Why was that so hard? Cinder tried to kill her this morning! This should be EASY!

Emerald's self recrimination came to a halt as a large group crowded around the Infirmary's main entrance, and at it's front stood Jaune Arc. Amethyst's Father. A man who helped her get over Cinder in a another time and place, as evidenced by Amethyst.

The crowd piled into the reception area and remained there while Jaune split from them and approached her group around Moses' bed.

"Hey Emerald," Jaune began in a warm yet uncertain tone. "Can we talk?"

Jaune held out his hand and helped Emerald out of her seat, the two of them making their way just a little bit further into the infirmary where they wouldn't disturb the still sleeping patients.

"So I'm not really sure where to start," Jaune admitted with an apologetic tone. "I mean if we want this ting to work we need to get to know each other. We've talked with each other a couple times before, but from what I understand that was you putting on a face so you could spy on my team. How much of the real Emerald was in those conversations?"

"I don't know," surprise filled Emerald's eyes as that answers slipped out from her lips. She hadn't meant to tell him anything like that! But now that she had, she might as well keep going, "For as long as I've known her I've always been the person Cinder needed me to be. I'm not really sure who I am without her."

"Have you been with Cinder your whole life?" The concern in the blonde boy's voice was oddly soothing to the parts of her heart that still ached.

"No," Emerald drooped as old memories came to the surface, "But I wasn't in a good place before she found me. I was a street rat before she took me under her wing." Emerald chuckled darkly, "My semblance lets me manipulate someone else's senses, making them perceive the world the way I want them to, and how was I using it? To pickpocket people who looked rich! With a semblance like mine I could have been living on easy street! But there I was, squandering my talents stealing barely enough money to make ends meet. I was a lowlife with no ambitions beyond my next meal, a nobody going nowhere."

Emerald's voice grew hollow, "Before her I was nothing. Where does that leave me now?"

"More than nothing," Jaune affirmed, "And I'm not just saying that to say it. I was sick a lot as a kid: there were plenty of days when I couldn't do anything for myself. The fact that you survived on the streets means you were never that worthless, right?"

Part of her wanted to tell him that he shouldn't be self-deprecating. Another part was latching onto the glimmer of positivity he was trying to push forward like a shipwrecked sailor clutching a life preserver. The two impulses ran headlong into each other, killing any words trying to form and leaving her only able to nod in response.

"And you have a direction you want to go, right?" Jaune went on, "If you have a direction to go you can always end the day in a better place than where you started it. That's what my dad told me when I was feeling down, and he spoke from experience. He started life on the streets but set a goal to be a huntsman. That got him here to Beacon where he met and impressed my mom. He married her and became an Arc, and today he's the beloved patriarch of our branch of the family."

Jaune took Emerald's hand in his and looked her in the eye with more compassion than she had ever felt sent her way before. "Feeling like you're a nobody just means you're free to become anybody, you just need to know who you want to be."

After a pause, Jaune frowned.

"That sounded better in my head."

Emerald snickered. Then she giggled.

"That's... Really silly and cliché," she softly mocked. Jaune winced.

"Er..."

"But... I know you meant it," she said quietly with a blush on her dark cheeks. Jaune beamed.

"Every word."

Her heart was soaking in that sincerity like a sponge. It felt good, and it flowed into all the cracks and rips that had been building up all day. For a moment Cinder's looming shadow was completely gone from her thoughts, and as that moment ended she ached for its' return. Fortunately she could see a path to more moments like it within the blue eyes before her.

"Well I'm not exactly sure about who I want to be, but I have a general idea," Emerald allowed a small smile to grace her lips, "If you're willing to help me figure out the finer details?"

"Definitely," Jaune beamed at her, and Emerald let her heart soak it all in again. Exquisite.

A comfortable silence grew between them, and for a moment all that existed in Emerald's world was the warmth of her hand in his and the tenderness of his gaze.

Then two loud groans caught their attention, and they turned to see Ash and Ashley sitting up in their beds and stretching.

Ashley looked their way and blinked with bleary eyes, "Dad? Auntie Em? Why are you here? Did I wake you up? Sorry, I just had a new nightmare and..." Ashley had been reaching up to rub the sleep from her eyes, and so she touched the scar upon her face, "...oh..."

Emerald took a deep breath and steeled her resolve. The twins weren't their mother. She could be kind to them without compromising her future, or Amethyst's.

She gripped that thought tightly as she followed Jaune to their bedsides.


- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

It wasn't like Taiyang Xaio-Long was completely ignorant of his daughters' exploits. The insurance bills and Qrow kept him up to date on a lot of their... Exploits.

Even so, to have Glynda Goodwitch calling at this hour was unexpected. He held back a wince and sat down at his desk as the holoscreen blinked urgently. Zwei, ever loyal, hopped into his lap. Taiyang patted his loyal corgi, and calmed himself. The potpourri he had just add to the room helped him maintain his focus, the scents of lavender and Frankberry wafting through the room like a calming breeze.

Only then did he hit the 'answer' button on his computer.

"Taiyang Xiao-long speaking?"

Glynda's face appeared, looking grave. Taiyang held his breath.

"Glynda?"

"First of all, Taiyang, your daugthers are all right," Glynda said firmly. Taiyang let out the breath and smiled a little.

"Oh thank goodness... So! How much did they destroy this time?"

Glynda winced. Taiyang blinked rapidly.

Since when does she wince?

"Nothing we couldn't cover," she said slowly, "Your premiums will be unchanged."

Again, Taiyang's heart soared as relief replaced anxiety.

"Oh good, good... So! What's up?" Taiyang asked brightly.

Glynda coughed.

"Well... It's a bit difficult to explain..."

Taiyang blinked. He scoffed.

"What? Did some boy knock up one of my... Girls...?"

Glynda's wince became worse. Taiyang blinked... And then his eyes narrowed. Zwei wisely hopped off his master's lap and put some distance between them.

Taiyang's Aura flared into existence like a furious bonfire of rage. His eyes burned scarlet as his hair waved and turned into pure white flames. Lightning began to crackle around him as his chair was burned to a crisp.

It completely ruined the aroma of the room, but this was immaterial.

"WHO TOUCHED MY RUBY?!" Taiyang snarled.

"Ruby? What about Yang?" Glynda blurted out.

Taiyang paused, and then shrugged.

"Well, her getting teen pregnant is less surprising. I'm still gonna kick the ass of the guy who-Wait, BOTH OF THEM?!" Taiyang demanded, clenching his fists so hard the air crackled around them. Zwei whimpered.

Glynda nodded.

"Well yes, sort of... Not yet though."

Taiyang blinked a few times. His Semblance petered out.

"Huh?" He asked intelligently.

Glynda sighed heavily.

"It's honestly a bit complicated and-"

Ozpin poked his head up from behind Glynda.

"X-Ray and Vav, issue 198," Ozpin stated blandly.

Taiyang blinked a few times... And his eyes widened.

"Time-travelling children from the future?"

Ozpin sipped his coffee mug and slowly nodded.

"Mmhm."

Taiyang blinked.

"So... Ruby and Yang's future kids came back in time-?"

"Along with thirteen other children by different mothers but the same father. One Jaune Arc."

Glynda blushed and glared at Ozpin.

"Is it wise to be so blunt about things?!"

"Taiyang is in the know about much already, we can afford to be a bit more open," Ozpin said, "Besides, you're personally invested in this situation and I wanted to make things easier for you."

Taiyang blinked rapidly as Glynda's blush deepened.

"Wait, your future kid-?"

"Just get here already!" Glynda said sharply, glaring at him, "The other parents are coming and so should you!"

"Did you tell Qrow?" Taiyang asked.

A disheveled, muscular man in white and black stumbled into the room, blinking the hangover out of his eyes.

"Tell me what?" Qrow yawned.

"Yang, Ruby, and Glynda. X-Ray and Vav, Issue 198," Taiyang recited.

Qrow blinked a few times in disbelief, his brain processing all this. He gaped.

"Time travel?! Future kids?!"

"All by one father," Taiyang said with a wry smile. Qrow narrowed his eyes.

"I knew it. I knew that Arc kid was another you! Another freaking blond himbo with harem powers!" Qrow glared at Ozpin. "How could you let this happen again?!"

"Personally, I blame the parents," Ozpin observed wryly, as Glynda's blush deepened.

"Can you all please act like adults for five minutes?" Glynda demanded.

"I wouldn't be talking, Miss Future Cradle Robber," Qrow pointed out with a smirk.

If looks could kill, Glynda's would have been an Atlasian cruise missile. Taiyang frowned.

"Jaune Arc... Jaune Arc... He's not the son of Nick and Isabel Arc, is he?"

"The same," Ozpin said. Taiyang grinned and cheered.

"WOOHOO! Rich and stable! Come on, Qrow! Let's go meet the grandkids and our well off in-laws!"

"And beat the shit out of mini-you?" Qrow asked.

"Yes and stop calling him that!"

"Never!"

"No violence against Mister Arc! The temporal situation is so unstable we have no idea what might happen!" Glynda ordered angrily.

"Right, wouldn't want to harm your future baby daddy," Qrow observed.

Glynda's glare felt like an MRI machine starting up at full power. It was so intense, Zwei hid under the couch.

The men managed to stand their ground, just barely. They'd had to deal with Raven, after all.

"Just get here as soon as you can!"

"We will, we will," Taiyang said cheerfully.

"And congrats Glynda, on escaping your apartment full of cats," Qrow tossed in.

Glynda's eyebrow twitched, and the transmission abruptly cut out. As though the electronics on the other end all abruptly exploded due to some unknown but violent force.

Taiyang looked over at Qrow in concern.

"You do realize she can kill you, right?"

"Hasn't killed me yet," Qrow chuckled. Taiyang rolled his eyes.

"Yet being the operative word..."

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Athena Nikos sighed in her country manor in Mistral. She looked out upon the gardens of her estate, standing in repose. She was a beautiful woman, with long red hair and a figure that rivaled her daughter's. She wore a red house dress and expensive jewelry. She was surrounded by the very finest of furniture in tasteful arrangements.

Her daughter had brought her family so much success. So much glory. And yet... And yet...

"OHHH I CAN'T HELP BUT MISS HER!" Athena wailed, turning and rushing over to a gigantic, wall covering poster of Pyrrha. She sobbed and pressed her hands against the poster. "OHHHH! WHY DID I AGREE TO LET HER GO TO BEACON?!"

She bit on a handkerchief as rivulets of tears poured down her cheeks.

"I should have just said no! But my foot down! But she's such a good girl! I couldn't refuse her anything! Ohhh...!"

A tall, thin man with a five o'clock shadow and short curly blue hair entered. He wore a simple black suit and tie. He sighed.

"You really shouldn't cry like that, Mrs. Nikos," he stated, adjusting his large glasses, "You're ruining your makeup."

"To hell with my make up!" She sniffled, "Orestes, can't you be a little sensitive? My little girl is off at Beacon all on her own!"

Orestes Nemes sighed again.

"I am aware, ma'am," he said, "But that's typical. Besides, she wanted to be somewhere away from her fame."

"But what if my daughter needs her mother?!" Athena cried. "I should call her again! I can call her right now!" She pulls out her Scroll and dialed. Her eyebrows twitched.

"What?! Blocked again?!"

Orestes gently pulled the Scroll out of his employer's hands.

"You really need to not overdo things, ma'am," he said gently. He helped Athena up to her feet, even as she whimpered. "She's doing just fine, and you shouldn't smother her. She's left the nest. Let her spread her wings, hm?"

Athena sniffled... And then bawled. She hugged Orestes tightly.

"Ohhhh Orestes! You're soooo kiiiiind and wiiiiise!"

Orestes sighed quietly, and patted her on the head.

"There there, ma'am. There there-"

Athena's Scroll rang. Orestes hummed, and checked the caller ID.

"Miss Glynda Goodwitch, from Beacon, ma'am," he said, opening up the Scroll. Athena gasped as she saw Glynda's face.

"GLYNDA! GLYNDA! Is Pyrrha okay? Is she hurt? Is she doing well? Is she eating right-?!"

"Yes, no, yes, yes, YES," Glynda sighed. She shot a commiserating look at Orestes, one the fellow put-upon servant returned in mutual understanding, "However, there is an unusual situation that has sprung up involving her and... Jaune Arc."

Orestes raised an eyebrow. Athena grabbed the Scroll.

"What?! What is it?! Did they get together and ELOPE?! IS SHE PREGNANT?!"

"No, no! And... I mean... It's rather complicated," Glynda sighed, "Let's just say we require your presence, along with Jaune's parents. But please, keep it calm and restrained? This situation is delicate enough."

Athena glared harshly at Glynda.

"Come on Glynda! Is she pregnant? I can take it! I can handle it! If she has to take a year off from her career, that's fine! I'll even babysit the sweet little thing!" She sighed happily. "Ohhh! What if the baby has her eyes and his hair? Or the other way around? They'll be SUCH beautiful children!"

Glynda looked over at Orestes pleadingly. Orestes coughed.

"Ma'am, I'll make the travel arrangements."

"DO SO! And we must buy baby gifts! Supplies! My grandchildren will NOT do without! I need to make sure they're shown as much love and affection as possible!" She pointed dramatically out the window. "MAKE IT SO, ORESTES!"

"Yes ma'am," Orestes deadpanned.

"I'LL MAKE THE REST OF THE ARRANGEMENTS!" Athena wailed, rushing off like a charging bull. She went right down the stairs, and out the front doors without opening them. Orestes watched her run off, and sighed heavily. He looked back at the Scroll.

"You don't know how lucky you are," Orestes deadpanned.

"Oh believe me, you have no idea of your own luck," Glynda sighed.

"Tell me... Is this Jaune Arc a good man?" Orestes asked. Glynda nodded.

"He is."

"Good. I won't have to kill him," Orestes stated. Glynda scowled.

"Given your background, that's not funny at all."

The former Mistralian gangster grinned and spun a butterfly knife around his fingers.

"You can either laugh at the universe, rage, or cry. I think laughter is much more suitable, don't you?"

Glynda closed her eyes and shut off the call. Orestes sighed, folded the butterfly knife up, and tucked it into his jacket. He walked down to the ground floor, and walked out the wrecked doors.

On the front lawn, a small airship lay burning on the lawn. Athena, covered in smoke and grass stains, smiled nervously at her butler/bodyguard.

"Um... Orestes? Eheh... I kind of forgot I don't know how to pilot an airship. Can you fly the other one?"

Orestes sighed heavily.

"Never a dull moment..."

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

"How often do you get nightmares?" Jaune inquired as he got close to Ashley's bedside. Her brother answered for her.

"Before we turned eight, never," Ash got out of his bed as he carefully felt around the edges of his scar. "After we turned eight? About once a week, sometimes more?"

"What happened?" Emerald asked with genuine concern in her voice.

"Home invasion that ended with us unlocking our semblance," Ash explained, "it was a bad time for everyone involved."

"We have the same semblance," Ashley picked up for her brother, "We call it Aura Syphon. It's kind of an inversion of your Aura Amp, Dad. Instead of supercharging your aura and letting you share it with other people like Aura Amp, Aura Syphon lets us drain someone else's aura to supercharge our own. Neither of us like using it because it's insanely dangerous; we can completely drain someone of all their aura in less than a minute, and that's kind of fatal..."

Concern grew in Jaune's gut, "Does that mean...?"

"That we killed the home invader?" Ash shuddered, "Yeah... Yeah we did. And then we weren't able to turn it off and almost killed Mom and Aunt Saphron. If you weren't there things would have been a lot worse. So yeah, the nightmares started after that."

"Can we pause this conversation for a bit?" Ashley asked as her stomach growled. "I need to stretch my legs and I'm kind of hungry."

"Right, you guys slept through lunch," Jaune looked toward's the infirmary's door in thought. "There's a vending machine with sandwiches between here and the Pastoria fountain, you think that will tide you over until dinnertime?"

"Probably," Ashley rubbed at her stomach as she got out of her bed.

After a few short moments Jaune and Emerald had the all clear from the nurses to take Ash and Ashley for a little stroll, and it wasn't long before the four of them had gotten to the vending machine. The twins made their selection, Jaune payed for them, and they returned to the Infirmary without any real problems.

When they got back to the twin's assigned beds the rest of Jaune's children and potential wives had moved past the entrance area and were loitering about Moses' bedside. This was far enough away to give an illusion of privacy, but it was still close enough that it wouldn't be hard for them to listen in on his an Emerald's conversation with Ash and Ashley. For the most part Jaune was willing to let that slide; considering who the twin's mother was and what she did in most of the timelines it was important for everyone to hear about the timeline where she was good.

Or at least he hoped she was good. Jaune turned to his children with Cinder as they finished off their sandwiches and sighed. "Alright then, we should probably start with the most important question: How did your mom and I get together?"

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

Neopolitan frowned. For how simple of a plan 'Find Emerald and Steal Her Scroll' was, it was hitting all kinds of snags. It had taken far too long for them to find the green-haired thief, and when Mercury had finally spotted her she was in the infirmary with all of the time displaced children and most of their mothers.

That complicated getting in and out. Well more the getting out than getting in. Her semblance was more than up to the task of sneaking past everyone on the way in. That would not hold true on the way out. Emerald was a good enough thief that she would notice her scroll getting pulled from her pocket, meaning Neo would be exposed the instant she grabbed Em's scroll. Neo would have to book it at that point, and the odds were longer than she was comfortable with.

Four snipers, plus four Schnees multiplied by the fact that one of said Schnees was the top specialist of Atlas' military, plus Pyrrha Nikos times two, plus who knows what else the others had up their sleeves added up to a chase sequence Neo wasn't arrogant enough to think she could pull off.

The smart play would be to wait for Emerald to be alone. The boss lady didn't have the patience for the smart play, and insisted that if she was right there besides her they would have no issues with the retreat.

And so Neo was now sneaking through the infirmary with Cinder's right hand clamped on her left shoulder, uncomfortable anticipation building in her gut.

They entered the infirmary from the far end and moved slowly down its' central aisle, approaching Emerald as quietly and carefully as possible. Then Emerald shifted in her seat and Neo had a clear view of who was on her other side; Ash and Ashley, Cinder's twins.

Cinder's grip on Neo's shoulder tightened like a vice, and her free hand shot up to grab Neo's bicep. The false maiden then frog marched her reluctant underling to a spot where they could look at the burned twins with no obstructions, and then Cinder planted her feet like a tree and held Neo firmly in place.

Noepolitan's frown deepened, and since the boss lady couldn't see her face she rolled her eyes. She had a sudden sinking suspicion that getting Emerald's scroll was just an excuse for Cinder to look at her kids with her own eyes. And the more she thought about it the more it made sense: Cinder didn't need to return to campus to help Neo and Mercury tie up loose ends. That was fine and all, she just wished the boss lady had been upfront about her real objective before they snuck into the infirmary.

She glanced Cinder's way, and the false maiden seemed completely enraptured with watching the twins demolish a vending machine lunch. Soon the meals were finished and the twin's father, Jaune Arc, sighed and spoke:

"Alright then, we should probably start with the most important question: How did your mom and I get together?"

Cinder tensed, and leaned in with calculating eyes.

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

Ash looked his father in the eyes as he began; "Well, Mom didn't like talking about her life before she married you, so most of what we know we learned from Aunt Em."

"From what she told us," Ashley continued for her brother, "The two of you got together at the party that's supposed to happen tonight. Aunt Em never went into the specific details of what went down, but it was basically an accident on Mom's part."

"In other words Mom was so drunk she didn't remember how it happened," Ash supplied, "But when she was sober she decided roll with it for a couple of reasons. Dating you was a good excuse to be close to the teams she wanted to spy on for the Vytal Tournament for one thing, and she thought you'd be an easily manipulated rube for another. There was one thing that didn't enter her calculations though: since you didn't know the relationship was fake you put in some serious effort into making things work."

"It didn't take you long to charm your way past mom's defenses," Ashley explained with a smile. "You gave her a whirlwind tour of every kind of fun she had missed out on growing up, and at the top of a Ferris Wheel she realized she liked you for you. Then The Breach happened, and she realized she didn't like seeing you get hurt."

"That's when she talked to her master, the Grimm Witch Salem, about you," Ash went on. "Mom asked Salem for a way to get you out of Vale so you wouldn't get caught in the crossfire of her grand plan. Salem refused to do that. When Mom insisted Salem snapped and ordered Mom to kill you; to cut out the weakness," Emerald flinched at that turn of phrase, "You were causing to grow within her. Mom told Salem she would, but she kept putting it off because deep down she realized she couldn't go through with it. Eventually the day she had been planning for came around and Mom kicked off the tumult of the century."

"It didn't take you long to find her in the middle of the chaos she was causing," Ashley continued the tale. "The two of you had your first and only big fight right outside of the elevator that leads to Ozpin's office. We don't know the details, but in the end you talked Mom into standing down and surrendering."

"The next couple of years were hard on Mom and Aunt Em," Ash sighed, "You were the only person who trusted them at that point. Sure Uncle Ozpin was in a forgiving mood, but that was because of everything Mom and Aunt Em were able to tell him about Salem and her inner circle. Mom had to earn everyone else's trust, and it wasn't until you all had finished dealing with Salem that the last of our honorary Aunts and Uncles came around."

"It didn't help that Mom's default response to mistrust was to get all cold and prickly," Ashley allowed a small smile to grow on her face. "Aunt Em told us it took Mom three years before she warmed up to Aunt Nora, which is kind of funny since Aunt Nora was one of the first people to warm up to Mom."

"The two of you got married on the first anniversary of Salem's defeat," Ash pulled out his scroll and showed off a wedding photo, "Though Mom was half convinced the Witch would still show up in spite of the shellacking you all gave her. Ashley and I were born about nine months later, and our family just kept growing after that." Ash swiped over to a different photo, and Jaune did a quick headcount.

"So there are nine of you?" Jaune asked.

"Yep," Ashley grinned, "Mom runs a pretty tight ship in spite of all the ruckus our younger siblings cause. Mom's a great Mom!" Her smile shrank, "Please don't let what happened today be a mark against her, she isn't really like that!"

"You mean she won't be like that," Emerald reminded in a gentle tone.

Ash and Ashley looked away at that and Ash's eyes turned to the crowd around Moses' bed, where he saw a peculiar sight. August and his mother May were staring very intently at an empty space beyond his and Ashley's beds. May tugged on Ruby's cloak, and whispered something to the silver-eyed girl and her son Julian. The silver-eyed boy looked at the empty space and his eyes seemed to glow for a moment before he let out a completely silent gasp. Julian then had a rushed and whispered conversation with his mom who also stared at the empty space with a look of extreme concentration, then her eyes started to glow like her son's. Surprise dominated her features, only to be replaced with steely determination.

Ruby stormed forward, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter with each step. "I Know You're There!" She called out to the empty space, "There's No Use Hiding! I. Can. See. Your. Souls."

A sound that could only be described as the kind of pained yelp only a mute person would make came from the empty space, only for that emptiness to shatter like glass. Ash could hardly contain his own surprise as he saw his mother standing where the emptiness wasn't anymore, squeezing the shoulder and arm of Neopolitan far too tight with a look on her face comparable to a cornered and panicking tiger.

She threw Neopolitan forward into Ruby and took a fighting stance. The tension in the room skyrocketed as almost two dozen weapons were drawn, just as many Schnee glyphs appeared in the air and Amethyst screamed something about a warlock.

"HOLD IT! HOLD IT! HOLD IT!" Jaune Arc yelled with all the authority he could muster as he sprang up from his seat. Surprisingly everyone held it. "Everyone just hold it for a minute, Okay!" He walked cautiously into the infirmary's aisle with his left hand behind him towards his entourage in a signal to stop, while his right hand stretched out in front of him in a placating manner.

"Cinder," Jaune addressed Ash and Ashley's mother in the most soothing voice he could manage right after yelling. "Cinder, we need to talk. Can we do that? Just talk? You and me? A nice, quiet conversation with no violence before, after or during?"

Neopolitan and Ruby got off the ground. Ruby cautiously joined Jaune. Neo marched to Cinder's side with a scowl on her face.

Cinder looked rather out of sorts all things considered. Like someone caught between two conflicting thoughts.

"Can we talk?" Jaune asked again hopefully.




Moses rolled over, somehow still asleep.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Cinder stared. She worked her jaw for a moment, before she held up her hands.

"All I want to do is talk," she said quietly. Much scoffing ensued. Emerald glared daggers at her former mistress. Xander's glare was a thing of legend, his weapons out and fully charged.

"You snuck back into Beacon for that?" Xander scoffed.

"Just say the word, Dad, and she'll be gone," Theodore stated.

"That goes double for me," Julian growled, fists tight around his sniper scythe.

"Like hell. She's mine," Xia snarled, slamming her fists together. Her mother followed suit.

Jaune looked back at his future wives and children, and then back at Cinder. He kept his breathing nice and even. In and out. In and out.

"Then we'll talk," he said.

"Alone," Cinder asked, very deliberately trying not to look at her children. Ash and Ashley's eyes narrowed at this.

Jaune glanced back at the twins, then back at their mother. He slowly nodded.

"Okay."

The entire infirmary was filled with loud, angry voices.

"You can't be serious, Jaune!" Ruby shouted.

"She killed so many people!" Nicholas added, his Glyphs spinning around at full power.

"At least let us tie her up!" Leander protested.

"I talk. Then I leave. I won't hurt anyone, if you don't hurt me," Cinder said softly.

"Vomit Boy, don't!" Yang hissed.

Pyrrha winced at the looks some of the future children shot her. It wasn't something Jaune missed. He sucked in another deep breath.

"... Ruby. May. Julian. August. Keep an eye on her friend here," he said, nodding to Neo. The shortstack in the bowler hat smirked and winked at Jaune, something he ignored. "And us. We'll be right outside in the hallway. If anything goes wrong..."

His eyes locked onto Cinder's, grave and cold.

"You know what to do," he said quietly.

"Dad-" Ash tried, but Jaune looked back and him and shook his head.

"Follow my orders," he stated. Ash grimaced, but slid back. Jaune turned back to Cinder.

"Hallway. Now," he ordered, calm but with an edge. Cinder slowly nodded. She backed out into the hallway, keeping her eyes on everyone the entire time. Jaune tried not to look back at everyone's staring eyes. He had a pretty good feeling about what he'd see, and in who's faces.

Yet he had a funny feeling. Something deep in his heart. Something that told him that Cinder wasn't here to fight.

He didn't really know why, nor why the faces of two children he didn't know flashed in his mind... It just felt right.

They stepped out into the empty hallway, facing one another like gunslingers in an old West Valean film. Cinder licked her lips nervously, eyes going anywhere but towards Jaune.

"I... I'm sorry," she murmured, "I-I lost myself... The entire situation was so overwhelming and-and I-"

Her poise and acting were so overwrought it pissed Jaune off immediately.

"You burned your own children," Jaune stated, a cold anger rising up in his chest. Cinder actually paused, staring at his shoulder. Away from the infirmary. Her face faltered a bit, towards something more honest.

"Yes... I... I didn't-"

"I know about Salem, Cinder," Jaune said calmly, "I know about your past. The twins and Emerald told me."

Cinder stared at him in disbelief and shock.

"They... They know... You know-?"

"Not all the details," Jaune admitted, "But enough to make some... Guesses as to why you'd trade one master for another."

"I didn't trade anything!" Cinder snarled. "Salem... She saw my potential! She saw what I could do! She offered me power! Power to-"

"To hurt? To harm? To destroy people's lives?" Jaune asked quietly. Cinder glared.

"All people did to me was hurt me. Use me. Enslave me... She's eternal. She... She would make sure that I would never be hurt again."

"And yet, here you are, hurting," Jaune murmured.

"I'm not-!"

"You know what I mean," Jaune stated.

Cinder stared at Jaune.

"... I didn't mean to," she said, just as quietly.

"Which means maybe sometimes the world didn't mean to, either," Jaune argued, taking a step forward, "Maybe you don't need to hurt people who never did you harm to be safe. Maybe... Maybe you found it in that future. I know you found it in that future."

"With you?" Cinder sneered. Jaune slowly nodded.

"Yeah... I know I'm not much right now, Cinder... But it happened. In one future. In one future, you were free."

"I'm free now-"

"Bullshit," Jaune snorted, "What did Salem tell you when you called her?"

She gaped at him.

"How did-?"

Lucky guess and bluff, Jaune thought. Outwardly, he shook his head.

"If my plan had been upended by time travel, I think I'd at least let my boss know," he said, "What did she tell you?"

Cinder fell silent. Jaune's arms twitched. The conflict on her face, the anger she was just barely reining in... Part of him wanted to run and let his friends just demolish her.

Yet... Something in her eyes. Something about the discoloration around her neck. Something about how she'd looked when the twins were brought up...

That hurt inside of her was deep. Intense. Yet there was just the hint of regret. A moment of... Of empathy.

Maybe he was imagining it. Maybe she couldn't be saved. Yet...

"I'm guessing," Jaune said quietly, "She said some things you didn't like."

Again Cinder said nothing, glaring holes into the wall nearby.

Jaune steeled himself and took a step forward. Cinder looked at him, but didn't react otherwise.

"She's not your master in the future, Cinder," Jaune said quietly. He took another step forward, slow and steady.

"She can't be destroyed," Cinder murmured, "What kind of fool would oppose power like that?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Jaune admitted, taking another step, "But she can be defeated. You really think I'd have kids in so many timelines where she was still a force to be reckoned with? You think she'd suffer someone like me to live?"

Another step closer. Slow and steady. Still she didn't bolt.

"That... That proves nothing," Cinder gritted. Her fists were clenched tightly. Jaune took another step, placing him within reach of her. He stopped, and again steeled him.

"Your kids... Our kids still care about you," Jaune said softly, "They still love you. Even with what you've done."

"I didn't ask them to love me," Cinder hissed.

"But they do... And that has to matter to you somewhere, Cinder. Somewhere deep down inside," Jaune murmured. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't feel like this."

"You don't know how I feel-!"

"I've got a pretty good idea," Jaune countered. Cinder looked up at him sharply.

"You've got yourself a virtual harem! Why would you care about me?"

"Because there's a way for you to be happy. To be at peace. To not fear for your life, or lash out at the world," Jaune said softly, earnestly, "And I want that... I want that for everyone."

"You can't give everyone a happy ending," Cinder hissed.

The blond knight slowly nodded.

"You're right. I can't. I can't change what happened to you. To Emerald. To Yang and Ruby's mothers. To May, Winter and Weiss's families. To Nora and Ren's home and loved ones. To Blake's people, or any bad things in Professor Goodwitch's or Pyrrha's pasts. I can't change any of that."

He then did what might have been the stupidest thing he could have done: He reached out and took Cinder's hand in his. She started, and instinctively tried to pull away. Jaune didn't let go, but he didn't squeeze too hard. He applied just enough pressure for her to pull away if she really wanted to... But just enough to keep her there.

"But maybe we can change our futures. Maybe I can change yours. Isn't... Isn't that worth thinking about, at least?"

Cinder stared into his eyes. For a moment, he thought he could see a glimmer of hope...

She then yanked her hand away, and turned her back to him.

"... I'll consider it," she muttered. "I won't be Ozpin's lapdog-"

"I didn't say you'd-"

"And I will choose the time and place of our next meeting," she stated firmly.

Jaune slowly nodded.

"Fine. Somewhere neutral... So we can trust eachother."

She shot a glare at him over her shoulder. He shrugged.

"A little."

"... Fine," Cinder managed. She glared at the door. "Call off your watchdogs."

"Don't call them that, and I will," Jaune retorted. Cinder stared at him for a moment, before nodding. Jaune looked back.

"Let her go, guys," he said.

Ruby and August grimaced, but they let Neo go. The bowler hatted girl grinned devilishly, and moved her hand towards her sleeve-

"Enough, Neo," Cinder barked. Neo pouted at her. "No... No violence. Take it out on some goons when we get home."

Neo huffed, but nodded. She then pranced up to Cinder. She gave Jaune an appraising look. One none of the other present women missed.

"HEY! Ogle someone else's beefcake!" Yang growled. Neo flipped her off. "Oh that's it, let me-!"

"Ease up, Yang!" Blake stated, gripping her partner's arm.

Cinder and Neo stood next to each other. Cinder narrowed her eyes.

"I'll get a message to you somehow," she stated.

"I... Look forward to it, I guess," Jaune managed.

"Hmph," Cinder snorted. She looked at the packed doorway, where her twins stood and stared. "... What are your names?"

"Ash," the boy volunteered.

"Ashley," the girl said.

Cinder slowly nodded.

"I see..." she whispered. "Until next time."

A smoke bomb and flashbang went off, and everyone held their arms up to their eyes. Jaune coughed hard. He felt something slip around his pockets, but couldn't see anything.

"DAMNIT! WHY DO MY EYES NOT WORK IN THIS CRAP?!" Julian shouted.

"LANGUAGE!" Ruby coughed back.

"Oh for...!" Weiss summoned up a Glyph and used Wind Dust to clear the hallway. May, Ruby, Julian and August scanned around. May grimaced.

"I can't see them," she admitted, "They must have booked it to get out of range."

"Ugh... My eyes," Ruby moaned, rubbing hers, "They're super eyes but they still get hurt thanks to crap like that?!"

"Language," Yang chided her, and Xia and Julian snickered a little.

Jaune sighed, and looked back at Ash and Ashley. The twins looked a little less tense.

"Well...?"

"That... Probably went about as well as it could have gone," Ash admitted.

"That so?" Weiss asked.

"We aren't dead, after all," Ashley opined.

"I suppose she has a point," Leandra muttered.

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Radian

Arc Farm

- - -

Isabel Arc barged in through the front door, the impact making the MANY pictures hanging from the walls shake.



"ACK!" Lilac Arc, a beautiful young woman of twenty-three with her hair in a loose ponytail over one shoulder, started. She looked up from the living room couch where she'd been working on the finances for the farm. "Mom, what is it?!"



"Your brother got himself into trouble," Isabel stated brusquely, hurrying upstairs. Lilac got up and walked to the bottom of the stairs. She stared up in disbelief as her mother began ransacking the closets.



"Wh-What kind of trouble?!"



"Very official trouble," a female voice said behind her. Lilac yelped and looked behind her. A beautiful dusky skinned woman with reddish hair and green eyes smiled at her. She wore humble white and blue robes and a head covering. Her forehead bore a single red jewel, and she held an elaborate silver staff in one hand.



"Aunt Saia?!" Lilac gasped. "Aren't you supposed to be... Being a queen or-or something?!"



"Oh, I left Uncle Drona in charge of the kingdom," Saia said with a laugh, "Besides, my husband the King was off playing hooky. I believe the queen has the same right. Especially if I can help out dear old friends."



Isabel emerged from her room, carrying several large, heavy looking suitcases and bags. She stomped down the stairs, smiling at Saia.



"Glad to see you taking initiative, Saia," Isabel said gratefully. Saia chuckled, her laugh like the sound of tinkling bells.



"Well I was on my way to Beacon anyway. Arjun wanted me to be a representative while he and Nick cheered for your son."



"And he didn't tell me that because...?" Isabel prompted. Saia smirked slightly.



"You didn't ask," she said wryly.



Isabel rolled her eyes.



"Of course. Jackass."



"That's my husband you're talking about. Please, call him a royal jackass, it's more appropriate," Saia encouraged. Isabel scowled.



"Not in the mood for jokes, Saia."



"I know... But it's better to laugh at the universe than cry," Saia said with a sigh, "Tears do nothing."



The queen looked very solemn, a hand resting on her belly. Lilac reached out to hug her aunt. Saia returned it, smiling gratefully.

"Thank you dear."



"Anyway," Isabel smiled at Lilac, "Just manage the farm as usual until we get back. If you have any issues, call us. all right? Hopefully this won't take too long, but I'm honestly not sure how bad things might get with Jaune."



"Well, uh... What kind of trouble specifically is he in?" Lilac asked.



Isabel sighed heavily. Saia smirked a bit.



"Your brother decided to outdo Saphron and Terra," she said, "And has impregnated at least eleven women. Who all know one another."



Lilac's jaw dropped.



"E-E-ELEVEN?!"



"At least," Isabel sighed. "Just try to keep it quiet, Lilac? This will inevitably get out, but the less media attention we have, the better."



"R-R-Right! Right!" Lilac said, nodding vigorously.



Isabel hugged and kissed her daughter goodbye, before she turned to the door. Saia opened it up, and Isabel managed to squeeze through with all the baggage. The two women hurried over to a large silver and red airship hovering over the front drive of the farm. They leaped up into the open hatches, which closed, and then the large airship turned and began to head to the south.



Lilac watched them go, and waved her hand at them in a dazed manner. She shook her head.



"Eleven?! Oh my... That's a lot of knitting! I'd better get started!"



She sat down and pulled her her knitting needles. She went to town on several bundles of yarn, her needles clicking loudly.



A few minutes later, twin blonde women of twenty-two entered. One had her hair in a short spiky bob with orange streaks going through it, while the other had green streaks in her wild curly locks.



"I'm just saying, Verdy," the orange streaked twin said, "There is a fine line between a prank and terrorism."



Verdy stuck her tongue out at her sister.



"And I'm saying, Coral, as long as Sarge says it's cool, it's cool! And he said it was cool! So did Caboose!"



Right after them, a shorter blonde woman with a neat pageboy cut and glasses on her nose walked in with a frown.



"Caboose said he was no longer on speaking terms with that pile of explosives," she stated.



"There see? We didn't even blow up one of his friends, so what's the issue?" Verdy asked. Coral sighed, as Orchid shook her head.



All three sisters looked over at Lilac, who looked up with a smile.



"Hello Verdy! Hello Coral! Hello Orchid!"



"Uh, hey Lilac," Verdy said, frowning, "Why are you knitting?"



"Because Jaune's got at least eleven babies on the way and we need to get on top of the situation!" Lilac said cheerfully.



Verdy's jaw dropped to the floor. Coral gasped. Orchid adjusted her glasses.



"E-ELEVEN BABIES?!" Verdy cried.



"How many mothers?!" Coral exclaimed.



"At least eleven!" Lilac said brightly, her knitting needles clicking like a Geiger counter on top of a mountain of uranium.



Orchid blinked.



"Huh... I would have thought there would be a few twins."



"THAT'S ALL YOU'VE GOT TO SAY?!" Verdy cried. Orchid shrugged.



"What else is there to say?"



"I-I mean, a lot of things?" Coral suggested.



"Are you three going to stand there and argue or are you going to help me knit?" Lilac asked tensely.



"Shouldn't one of us let the others know?" Coral asked, as Lilac's smile was looking just a bit terrifying.



"Oh! O-Of course!" Lilac agreed with a nod. She finished a pair of red booties, and smiled happily, before she set them aside and got back to knitting at high speed. "Verdy! Coral! Get to work on scarves and hats! Orchid! Make the calls!"



- - -



Somewhere in the wilds of Mistral, Aqua Arc stared in disbelief at her Scroll. The rest of her team was busy dealing with a bandit tribe they'd been tasked by the locals to deal with. The members of the tribe were scattered around them, unconscious or tied up.



Her partner, one Kazuma Satou, was trying to console a bandit while the other two members of their team kept watch on or looted the others.



"It's okay, it's okay, Megumin's explosions were set for non-lethal," he soothed the shaking man.



"So huge...! So terrifying!" The bandit wailed.



Kazuma looked over at Aqua in concern.



"Something up?" He asked.



Aqua slowly looked over at her partner/boyfriend and shrugged helplessly.



"Um... It looks like my little brother is going to be a father."



Kazuma chuckled.



"Little Jaune, huh? Well, good to know! Little young but hey! Good on him!"



"Eleven times over," Aqua deadpanned.



Kazuma blinked a few times.



"... And the mothers aren't going to murder him?"



"Apparently not," Aqua shrugged.



Kazuma sobbed, clenching his fist.



"That lucky bastard...!"



Aqua summoned some water with her Semblance and blasted him into a rock.



"IDIOT!"



- - -



Tangerine "Tangy" Arc blinked rapidly at the message on her Scroll. She scowled deeply as the cold Solitas wind blew her blond hair out of her face.



Her assistant, one Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov of Mantle, looked at her boss in concern.



"Something wrong, ma'am?"



"Well... No... Sort of," she sighed. "My idiot little brother knocked up some girls."



Viktoriya beamed and gasped happily.



"He did? Oh that's wonderful! I love babies! They're ever so cute and adorable and-" She blinked. "Wait, girls?"



"Eleven," Tangy deadpanned.



"Oh." Viktoriya winced. "Um... Oh dear..."



"They all know about eachother and they're all getting along, mostly," Tangy went on. Viktoriya beamed.



"OH! How wonderful! Shall we get some gifts for them?"



"We pretty much have to," Tangy sighed.



"Boss!" A handsome blond man shouted. Tangy looked over at him. He, with a few other men, were holding a group of bandits under armed guard near an armored train.



"Any of them willing to talk?" Tangy called.



"No ma'am!"



"All right! Guess we'll pick one at random to start torturing! Maybe that will loosen some lips!" Tangy chuckled, as the bandits all paled.



"Um, w-we're willing to split the entire fortune on the train with you?" One of the bandits offered.



Tangy snorted.



"Please. The system only works if we all agree to play by the rules. That's business 101. Sure, I'll get as much as I can and sometimes I'll push the line, but dealing with a bunch of assholes who just steal as they please and generate no value is a losing proposition."



A psychotic smile came over the short blonde woman's face.



"And just for that? Guess who gets to be tortured first~?"



- - -



In Argus, Saphron Arc-Cotta scowled deeply at her Scroll. Terra Cotta, her wife, sat across their kitchen table. Their infant son Adrian was sucking from a bottle, utterly at peace.



"Uh, Saph? You okay?"



"Jaune's going to be a father," Saphron scowled. Terra's eyebrows rose.



"Oh? Well, good on him! He's a little young but-"



"To eleven kids."



Terra's jaw dropped.



"From eleven women."



Terra choked. Saphron, still scowling, reached out and slapped Terra on the back.



"E-E-ELEVEN?!" She gasped.



Saphron nodded, her mouth a thin angry line.



"He's beating us at the grandchildren game, Terra! I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!" She declared. "Call the sitter! We're making more babies RIGHT NOW!"



"... Right now right now or-?"



"RIGHT DAMN NOW!"



"Yes dear!"



- - -



Again, using my silly fanon for the Arc Family sisters. They will not have a big impact on the rest of the story, it's a little too complicated to have them all be involved, after all.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

August sighed in some relief as everyone settled back down to keep an eye on Moses. He was still worried about Cinder, but he was pretty confident everyone would be able to handle her. He knew the story about Aunt Pyrrha, after all.

Speaking of which, he smiled warmly at the redhead.

"I uh, I just wanted to say, Aunt Pyrrha, I'm really glad you're still okay," he said. Pyrrha started, and stared at the tall teen.

"Oh?"

"Yeah! I've heard you weren't in a lot of other timelines," he said with a sigh, "And in mine. But I'm so glad you're good here. Mom and Dad had a memorial raised to you in the royal palace!"

"Oh, well, um, thank you," Pyrrha managed, flushing a bit in confusion, flattery, and some frustration.

His mother May frowned deeply, as did his father, and Xander.

"Royal Palace? What do you mean, August?" May asked. "Does your father become a king in our-um, I mean, your future?" She cast some nervous glances at some of the other girls.

"Eh? No, he's your..." August trailed off and his eyes widened. "Ohhh. Oh, this-this is before you find out. Dang, uh..."

"Find out what?" Jaune asked.

August winced.

"I-I really shouldn't say-The timeline's a big enough mess as it is-You really shouldn't-"

"Just tell us, dipshit!" Ash shouted with a glare. August coughed.

"Um... Dad? Arjun Sarkara is still your dad's best friend, right?"

"Yeah," Jaune said with a nod and a grin, "Uncle Arjun's the best! He's super busy but he and Aunt Saia show up for the holidays!"

Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, and Emerald all gasped in shock. Arslan looked deeply startled.

"Wait, you don't mean King Arjun Sarkara of the Kingdom of Pandu, do you?" Weiss cried. Jaune blinked and shrugged.

"Well, yeah. He's my godfather."

Much staring.

"Why didn't you ever tell us?!" Nora shouted angrily. "I COULD HAVE BEEN A PRINCESS!"

"It's not that big a deal!" Jaune insisted. "When my parents helped him and Aunt Saia retake his throne from the Kaurava Crime Family-"

"Your dad and mom helped overthrow a government?!" Ruby gasped, eyes sparkling, "And restored an exiled prince to his throne?! THAT'S SO COOL!"

"Why didn't you tell us your family was so awesome?!" Yang demanded.

"I did," Jaune deadpanned. Yang and Ruby winced.

"Oh... I guess we weren't listening," Ruby conceded bashfully.

Blake looked immensely jealous for some reason, though she didn't voice her thoughts on the matter.

"That's... Wow," Pyrrha beamed, "To know you're the godson of King Arjun himself... He's such an inspiration! A noble warrior, a compassionate ruler-!"

"A fearsome fighter against corruption," Arslan nodded, as Petra nodded with her.

"Someone my father tried to buy out but failed," Weiss breathed in amazement.

"A cunning tactician," Ren added.

"And a snappy dresser!"

Everyone stared at Yang. She shrugged and grinned.

"Had to lighten the mood a little, right?"

"Mom," Xia moaned.

"Anyway, anyway!" August said quickly, "Um, their only daughter was kidnapped by Kaurava sympathizers when she was a baby... And thought lost and dead..." He shyly met his mother's eyes, "Until the Vytal Festival."

May's jaw dropped. Her dusky cheeks went bright red. She began to sway unsteadily even as she sat on her chair.

"Y-You mean... I'm... I'm...?"

"Uh, yeah," August coughed, "You're actually Maia Sarkara, the future Queen of Pandu. Dad's your consort... Maybe I should have mentioned it sooner?"

"HOW MANY HIDDEN PRINCESSES ARE AT THIS SCHOOL ANYWAY?!" Nora demanded.

Once again, May Zedong fainted.

- - -

Aboard a small Pandu airship, some distance to the north...

Arjun piloted the craft from the pilot's seat, while Nick was in the copilot seat. Notably, his controls were all shut down and triple-locked out.

Nick sighed and looked over at his best friend.

"This really isn't necessary. I learned my lesson last time, promise!"

"One airship crashing, I could forgive," Arjun stated, "Two? I could tolerate, if the circumstances warranted it. But you crashed three of my airships, Nick. No more piloting for you, ever."

"Oh come on!" Nick groaned. "That last one was a fluke!"

"Two would be a fluke, three is enemy action."

"Come on, I've been practicing!" Nick complained. "Tex let me in the simulator back in Radian! She said I was doing better!"

"You crashed the simulator."

"I didn't crash it as fast that time!"

Arjun rolled his eyes. Nick held his hands together with a pleading expression on his face.

"Come on Arjun! You have any idea how embarrassing it is to have to ask my wife or children to pilot me anywhere?"

Arjun sighed, checking their readouts. Everything was on course and looked good.

"Any more embarrassing than crashing every air vehicle you've ever tried to pilot?"

"Uggggh," Nick groaned, leaning his head back and fidgeting like the very mature adult he was.

Arjun then adopted a sly smile.

"Of course... I might be persuaded to be patient enough to teach you how to fly properly... If one of your daughters married my son."

Nick's head snapped up and he scowled.

"No."

"Oh come on!" Arjun groaned. "It would make us family! True family! That's something we've wanted forever!"

Nick wavered a bit.

"That's true, Arjun," Nick said, his voice thick with emotion, "You are my brother in every way but blood."

Arjun smiled, filled with the same manly emotions.

"And you too, my brother," Arjun nodded.

"But," Nick sighed, "Isabel made it very clear: No arranged marriages. Besides, your son is twelve."

"Abhimanyu is very mature for his age!" Arjun protested. Nick gave him a deadpan look.

"Besides. Saphron is already married and a lesbian, Aqua is practically married and a disaster I wouldn't inflict on anyone, Lilac is engaged to Primo, whom she's been in love with since childhood, Verdy and Coral would eat him alive, Tangy would probably depose him for the money, and Orchid would have to look up from her books for five minutes to take notice of him."

"... So Tangy and Orchid are my best bet?" Arjun asked.

Nick sighed. Arjun smiled.

"Come on. We would get to be together all the time to arrange their dates. We could do all the fun things our wives forbade us to do in the name of ensuring our children got married!"

"I know, damnit!" Nick sighed, "We could have had that with..." He hesitated.

Arjun sighed and nodded sadly.

"With Maia and Jaune. I know. But unless she's one of the eleven women your son knocked up? Abhimanyu it is."

Nick sighed.

"... Is he interested in video games?"

"A few."

"Well, that's a start for Orchid," Nick nodded, "Let's set it up!"

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -



Schnee Mansion



Atlas, Northern Solitas



- - -



Willow Schnee sat on her couch and lazily watched the goings on in her garden. Her cranes were looking healthier than before-She would have to thank the vet next time he showed up.



Or both vets. At the time she'd been a bit soused so she wasn't entirely sure if it was one or two.



She was about to lift up her glass to start her breakfast, when Klein, the head butler, entered the warm gardens at a brisk pace. She looked over at him in curiosity.



"Mm? Klein, is something wrong?"



"On your private line, ma'am," he stated firmly, holding out a Scroll. "It's from Professor Goodwitch. She says it's about Weiss and Winter, and it is urgent."



Willow bit her lower lip. A tiny pang of guilt shot through her chest at this. For all her depression and self pity... She did care for her children.



"Does Jacques know?" She asked quietly.



Klein smiled politely underneath his bushy mustache.



"Mister Schnee is regrettably detained by a private meeting at this time, and asked to not be disturbed," he stated. Willow smiled just a bit.



"I see... Then I'll take care of this," she said. She took the Scroll, and opened the chat window. A somewhat frazzled Glynda Goodwitch greeted her: A far cry from the stoic, taciturn and neat woman she'd met briefly at a party to celebrate Weiss entering Beacon with top scores.



"Miss Goodwitch," Willow asked quietly, "Is Weiss all right? How is Winter involved? I don't understand that at all."



Glynda slowly nodded.



"They're safe, there's no need to worry about their physical well being," she said, "However, an... Incident involving a young man has... Well..." She sighed. "It's... Complicated."



Willow frowned deeply.



"Who is this young man? Has he... Done anything to them?"



She couldn't imagine many young men who could do anything to her girls. Not easily, at any rate.



"Nothing bad, I assure you," Glynda said firmly, "I can vouch for his character in this matter. But it is... Complex. You should come and speak to him and his parents."



Willow blinked. She blinked a few more times. Despite her alcoholism, her keen mind could still be roused to action when the situation called for it.



"You almost make it sound like he's... Put them into a family way," Willow said with a light smile to indicate she was joking.



Glynda's expression did not change. Willow blinked. She blinked again.



"Wait... You're not telling me that he... They're both...?!"



Glynda sighed tiredly.



"It is, and is not like that," she stated, "But it is a delicate situation nonetheless and I believe you are better suited to handling it than Jacques."



Willow frowned, and squeezed her thigh out of nerves.



"I, well..." She cleared her throat. "How soon do you need me?"



Glynda glared at her.



"As soon as possible."



Willow slowly nodded.



"And you can't give me any more details?"



"Not over the Scroll, no," Glynda stated. "You'll understand when you arrive, I promise."



Willow hummed.



"Can I at least see the man my daughters are... Involved with?"



Glynda pulled up a photo of a handsome, brightly smiling young man with messy blond hair and blue eyes. Willow's eyes widened.



"Is... Is he by any chance, related to a Nick Arc from Radian?" She asked.



"He's his son," Glynda said, cocking her head curiously, "Are you familiar with him?'



For a moment, Willow wasn't a burned out, depressed trophy wife kept prisoner in her own house by an uncaring, cold, two-faced bastard of a husband.



She was a young up and comer in the Atlasian social scene, her father a newly made millionaire. She still made frequent trips to the mines though, to see her father and all the dear "uncles" who made up the head teams. Her brother Warden among them, Gods rest his soul.



She'd met a young man who was part of a Hunter-in-training team from Beacon. Brash, blond, always confident, grinning, and kind. He'd been her personal bodyguard when a rival company tried to kidnap her.



He had taken bullets for her, all with a happy grin on his face. Even as his team leader healed him, he refused to move from in front of her. When she'd asked why, he just smiled and gave her a thumbs up.



"Because it's my Huntsman's way! I'll never let any harm come to someone I'm protecting. Not ever!"



Her heart still fluttered at the memory, even now. She'd entertained the fantasy of running off with the sunny, brave boy... But Nick's goals lay elsewhere. Besides, it was clear his blonde medic leader had designs on him. Oh she had denied they had any attraction, but even at that age, Willow knew when someone was infatuated. The way the medic's eyes had softened around Nick had been too obvious for it not to be love.



That, and she loved her father too much to run away.



Of course, after that, she'd met Jacques. She thought him like Nick: Dashing, warm, even courageous. Yet it was all a facade, and by the time she realized it... It was too late.



She clenched her fists tightly. She looked over at her cranes. Their chicks had just hatched, and the proud mother and father were both doting on them shamelessly. Showing them love and affection as they fed them, a mated pair.



How she had felt like that, back in the day... How things might have turned out, if not for...



She nodded.



"Yes, I am. I'll be there in a day."



"Good," Glynda said. The call ended. Willow allowed herself a small smile. She set her wine glass on the side table, and stood up.



"Klein, please prepare my airship and my luggage."



"Already done, ma'am," Klein said. She looked at him oddly, and he blushed.



"I uh... Well... I hoped you would want to go, ma'am. Despite everything, when you show an interest... The girls were always happy."



Willow frowned deeply, and nodded.



"I know," she said quietly. "If-If you could? Get Whitley, too. He should come as well."



"Of course, ma'am," Klein said, "And what should we tell Mister Jacques?"



A little smirk came over Willow's face.



"Nothing. He asked to not be disturbed, after all."



Klein was too professional to smirk back, but she knew the glint in his eyes.



"Of course, ma'am."



"I just need to look over some of my luggage first," Willow declared, striding confidently for the door to the gardens. She had a few outfits that would be good for her daughters.



And even better for Nick. Just because she was married didn't mean she couldn't show off, right?



- - -


Whether or not Jacques gets involved in the story is ultimately up to Sift Green. He would be more interested in Moses and his time traveling ability than almost anything else, I think.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Aelia Paravel was one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities still standing within the Kingdom of Mistral, and perhaps the whole world. As such it has carried many titles over the centuries: The Crossroads of Anima, The Lower Court, The Oasis of Justice, The City of Kings, The Holy Place, The Table of Fate, The Broken Table.

It is said that the city was built around an artifact left behind by ancient gods known as The Stone Table. According to legends this Stone Table governed the births, lives and deaths of mortal souls, both human and faunus alike. The legends go on to say that because of the Table's power a Witch with mastery over ice and snow conquered the city in her quest to live forever. It is said that the Ice Witch would sacrifice young men and women upon the Stone Table in a ritual that added their lifespans to her own. For a hundred years her tyranny covered the city in winter, but it all came to an end through the sacrifice of the Table Breaker.

According to the faithful the Table Breaker was born with the spark of the divine within him. This divine spark gave him otherworldly knowledge and the power to work miracles no semblance could hope to replicate. He healed the sick, gave comfort to the weary, and taught truths that confounded the wise. He gathered a following of disciples who did their best to record all his teachings, and this following caught the attention of the Witch's secret police.

The Table Breaker's followers expected him to confront the Ice Witch in an epic duel of cosmic powers, and they were all shocked when he willingly gave himself up and allowed the Witch to sacrifice him upon the Stone Table. For three days and three nights his body lay upon the Table, and the Witch mocked those who morned him. Then on the dawn of the fourth day the ground shook, the earth cracked, and the Stone Table broke in two as the Table Breaker's spirit returned to its' body and lived again.

Breaking the Table killed the Ice Witch as she had tethered her life-force to the "unbreakable" artifact, and her power went off to inhabit another young girl. As for the Table Breaker? The sacred texts claim his time in death had allowed his divine spark to come to the surface, and he had returned as a being that could only be called a god. He remained within the Holy City of Aelia Paravel for a year doing good and teaching doctrine before he departed for a place beyond the world, where he would build a paradise of growth so that all those who believed on his name could escape the dooms engraved in the Stone Table.

Believers spread the good news of the Table Breaker far and wide, and Aelia Paravel became a site of pilgrimage for those who believed. This kept the city relevant over the millennia through the rise and fall of empires. Aelia Paravel was conquered, freed, conquered, conquered, conquered, freed again, conquered again and again so many times over the centuries that any other city would have faded into obscurity and disappeared, but thanks to the wealth brought in by faithful pilgrims the city was always able to rebuild. Even as the faith began to loose popularity in the continent of Anima it had enough adherents in other far flung lands to keep Aelia Paravel relevant in the world.

In the modern era the city is is still the beating heart of the faith in spite of the central government of Mistral's best efforts, so many of the faithful have dreams of living there. Among those living that dream are the Altan family; a clan with a membership so sprawling and massive and intertwined with the city that whenever one of them starts dating they have to check with their local genealogist just to be certain their paramour isn't a lost cousin less than four times removed.

In a modest mansion overlooking the old city lives a relatively small branch of the Altan family. Heading this branch is Logos Altan, retired stuntman and hobbyist mechanic. At his side stands his wife Basara Altan, retired actress and hobbyist artist. Together they have brought eight children into the world, seven sons and a daughter they named Arslan.

This day started off like many other Saturdays for the family; with Logos getting out of bed first and cooking a hearty breakfast for everyone currently home. Then after the meal was spread across the dinning room table Logos would lead his family in prayer, imploring the Divine to keep a watchful eye on those members of the household who were now grown and making their own way in the world.

Once the meal was finished and the dishes and kitchen cleaned Logos and Basara retreated to the garage. There Logos worked on restoring this or that old vehicle while Basara painted murals on the sides of the vehicles he had finished in the neighboring bay. This kept them occupied until lunchtime when they returned to the kitchen and fixed themselves a humble meal of simple sandwiches.

After lunch the two of them spent the early afternoon strolling arm in arm through a local park, taking in the beauty the gardeners had labored so hard to bring forth. While at the park they ran into handful of fans who recognized Basara from her acting days which lead to an impromptu autograph signing that took up a surprising chunk of time. All in all it was a full afternoon.

As the two of them returned home Logos looked to his wife and asked in his deep baritone voice, "Should I cook something, or do you want to cook something, or should we order something?"

"Hmmm...." Basara contemplated the question for a moment, "It would take too long to thaw out the mutton we have in the freezer, and you grilled yesterday. I say we order something."

Logos solemnly nodded and pulled a wheel of chance from behind a cabinet, seven high end restaurants with a ten minute delivery time to their home decorating its' face. He placed it upon the table in a purposeful manner before stepping aside so his wife could spin it. She ceremoniously stretched forth her hand, but then her scroll ringed.

Frowning at the unexpected call Basara pulled her scroll from her pocket and redirected the call to a screen on the dinning room wall. They were treated to an unexpected sight: Glynda Goodwitch, the deputy headmistress of Beacon Academy, who looked frazzled and near the end of her rope.

"Have I reached Logos and Basara Altan? Parents of Arslan Altan?" Glynda sounded desperate, "The Arslan Altan who's fought Pyrrha Nikos in the finals of multiple tournaments?"

"How many of my distant cousins did you accidentally call while trying to reach us?" Logos asked dryly.

"None, I got your number from your daughter," Glynda clarified, "And she needs the two of you to come to Beacon as soon as possible, a complicated situation has arisen and she could use your support."

"What happened?" Basara asked with a layer of concern blanketing her words.

Glynda took a deep and resigned breath, "Congratulations, you're grandparents."

Logos and Basara looked to one another with raised eyebrows, then they looked back to Glynda.

"Has our daughter eloped?" A layer of confusion was evident in Basara's speech.

"The situation is complicated, but no she hasn't," Glynda ran a hand through her hair, "It will be easier to explain things in person with the other parents."

"Has the man been arrested?" Logos asked in a deadly serious tone.

"Beg pardon?" A strand of hair popped out of Glynda's bun.

"Our daughter would never willingly have a child out of wedlock," Logos explained in a dangerously even voice, "So there is only one way for us to have become grandparents. I ask again, has the man been arrested?"

For a moment Glynda gaped at them, as if his perfectly reasonable question was the last thing she had expected to hear and she had been left speechless. Then the teacher from Beacon began to squeak in a rapid-fire manner.

"Wait Wait Wait! Hold On For A Second! It's Not Like That!" Glynda flailed about, "Jaune Arc Hasn't Touched Your Daughter!"

The two parents filed away the name of Jaune Arc while Basara asked, "If he hasn't touched her how are we grandparents?"

"That's the complicated part that we need to talk about in person! Everything will-" Glynda tried only to be interrupted by a voice calling from offscreen:

"Glynda! I told you to look up Basara's filmography before calling them!" The male voice admonished.

"HOW DOES THAT HELP!?!?" Glynda yelled back in frantic exasperation.

Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy stepped into frame and looked at the Altans with an apologetic look. "The complicated part of all of this is like the premise of The Argus Experiment, but in real life and in reverse."

Logos and Basara looked at each other again with surprise on their faces this time. They remembered The Argus Experiment well, they had first met during its' filming after all. It involved a woman (played by Basara) getting hurled forward in time as a result of exotic dust tests and having to stop a second larger exotic dust test. In real life and in reverse could only mean...

"You're saying our grandchild is a time traveler," Logos summarized in thoughtful voice.

"She is," Ozpin confirmed, "And we need your help untangling the paradox she's gotten herself into."

"I see," Basara nodded, "We'll be there as soon as possible." She then looked away from Ozpin and back towards the flustered Glynda and asked, "Why didn't you lead with that?"

Glynda took off her glasses and messaged her temples. "Now I know why Dorothy thought I needed a drink," She grumbled.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

It was a bit of a minor miracle they'd managed to escape. Salem though had given Cinder maps of the ancient castle's secrets. How Salem had gotten them was not a question Cinder had asked, though she had some guesses.

They'd managed to get down to the grotto, clambered into the boat with Mercury, and set out into the river back towards Vale's underground water works tunnels. The whole time, Cinder had been silent. As had her companions, thankfully.

Mercury had looked concerned. Well, more concerned that she might lash out and barbecue him. Something that in the past seemed like it would be appealing if only to stop his yammering.

Right now though she didn't have that luxury. Her plan was in shambles, her most loyal minion had betrayed her, and...

A mother... I'm a mother to... I could be...

Her children stared at her in pain and fear, as flames consumed their faces...

She clenched her fists as the waves gently lapped against the boat's hull.

No... No, that can't be... I can't...

Power. She wanted power. That was all she had ever wanted. Power to make those who would harm her suffer and die. Power to be feared and obeyed. Power to crush all who would oppose her.

It was still what she wanted. It was all she wanted...

"Ah, hey Cinder?"

Cinder looked up and glared at Mercury. The assassin winced.

"What?"

"We're going to a safehouse Emerald doesn't know about," Mercury said, "Uh... Neo's got some news?"

Neo held up a Scroll and tapped out a message.

"I put a hackchip on Arc's Scroll. You'll be able to access his data and anyone else's."

"Why didn't you get Emerald's scroll?" Cinder demanded with her eyes narrowed. Neo rolled her eyes as she continued to type.

"Hey, I'm good but not that good. Besides, this is more subtle!"

Neo made a face.

"I hate being subtle but hey, sometimes you gotta do that."

She smirked at Cinder.

"So do you need a mistress for your future husband? I'm game if you are."

Cinder shot a deadly glare at the smirking little imp. Her fists flared with flames. Neo didn't even flinch.

"I could kill you now," she hissed.

"But you won't. Cause you need me," Neo typed back, wiggling her eyebrows.

Cinder seethed. Her flames burned white hot, making the boat steam. Mercury winced and began to scoot towards the stone dock nearby. Neo remained motionless, her smirk unchanged.

Cinder took a deep breath and released the flames.

"Keep it that way," Cinder spat, as she rose and stalked up onto the stone dock. Mercury gave her plenty of room as she stormed past him. Neo jumped up onto the dock and smirked after her.

Cinder threw open a wooden door and stomped up some stairs. She threw open another door and practically flew through the plainly appointed and decorated safe house. She found a bedroom, threw open the door and stormed inside. She slammed it shut behind her and went to the bed.

She laid down on it and glared up at the ceiling, her rage roiling inside her. It made the Grimm parasite within her grow. Yes, that's what she needed. She needed to turn her conflicted feelings into power. Her rage, her sorrow, her grief...

It all went into her Grimm. It all made her stronger, better. It was what she wanted... it was what she wanted...!

Her children stared at her in pain and fear, as flames consumed their faces...

Her Scroll pinged. She pulled it out and opened it up. It was a message from Neo, with a smirking emoji attached.

"Click here to check up on your boytoy~."

Cinder snarled under her breath. She wanted to fry that irritating little gremlin, burn her to a crisp...!

She took a deep breath. She opened the link.

She began to go through Jaune... Arc's... That idiot's files. Games, pictures, so many pictures of his team and Beacon... It was all so disgustingly wholesome. Pictures of him hanging out with his teammates. Pictures of his large family, sisters and parents hugging him. Pictures of him with his baby nephew... It was impossibly saccharine! Who could live like this?!

How could she have fallen for-?

Cinder tossed the Scroll aside, letting it clatter to the floor. She sat up and bent over, breathing hard. She clutched at the bedspread, fighting with all her might to keep her flames at bay.

No. No, that wasn't her. That wasn't her. She didn't fall for him, she wouldn't fall for him, she chose not to. Her future was her decision! Her choice!

She didn't want love! She didn't want him! She didn't want THEM!

"I don't want it," she seethed, "I-I don't need love... I don't want it... I can't have it... I-I choose not to have it! I choose power!"

She glared at the mirror, her lips twitching violently. Her eyes shone with tears.

"I want... You want power," she hissed at the mirror. "You want it! You've always wanted it!"

Her children stared at her in pain and fear, as flames consumed their faces...

She got up and stormed to the mirror, slamming her hands down on the dresser. Her hot hands left deep burning imprints on the wood as she glared into her eyes.

"You don't want him. That other you... She was weak. She failed. She-She can't be happy! She can't have what she wants! You can't have it! YOU WON'T HAVE IT!"

Her children stared at her in pain and fear, as flames consumed their faces...

She bit back a sob.

"YOU WON'T GET IT!" She screamed, blasting the dresser with flames. It collapsed to the floor, the fire consuming it as the mirror shattered. She stared down into the spiderweb, panting hard.

She shut her eyes and willed the flames to die away. She turned and fell onto the bed, face first.

"I... I can't have it," she muttered into the fabric, "Even if I wanted it..."

She clutched at her bedsheets.

"Even if I..."

For the first time since her shitty rotten excuse for a childhood, Cinder Fall cried.

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Neptune Vasilias had been out in Vale all day, trying to pick up tourists here for the Vytal Festival. While he'd had some bites, most of the girls he'd talked with had not been interested. The blue-haired young Hunter-in-Training was thus quite depressed as he trudged back into Beacon proper, Sage Ayana and Scarlet David walking behind him.



"Seriously, I have been so damn off my game," Neptune sighed.



"Could it be you feel guilty for dumping Weiss?" Scarlet asked. "Oh wait, I forgot, you don't feel that emotion."



"I do too!" Neptune protested, scowling back over his shoulder as they walked through the hallways of the dormitory, "I-I just don't see any reason to feel guilty here! I thought she just wanted a nice simple fling!"



"Women of her social level can't really afford to have affairs like that out in the open," Sage commented, tapping out a text message on his Scroll, "That, or they want genuine, sincere love from someone they can love back."



"Well I know that now," Neptune protested. His friends sighed in unison. Neptune scowled directly at Sage.



"Besides, who made you the authority on women anyway?!"



"I have an actual girlfriend," Sage stated in his usual, patient monotone. Neptune scoffed.



"Yeah, whom we've never seen before!"



"To be fair," Scarlet smirked, "That would mean actually interacting with you, Neptune. I can see why he's spared her that."



"Oh haha!" Neptune snorted as he turned and they resumed their trek for their dorm, "I'll have you know I'd be a perfect gentleman!"



"You stole Ferrous' girlfriend last semester," Scarlet deadpanned. Neptune flushed.



"W-Well, he had it coming! His fault she was so cute and lonely!"



"He didn't see things that way," Sage observed, still calmly tapping on his Scroll and navigating around the hallway with no issue.



"He should have appreciated her more!" Neptune protested, "And anyway, they're back together again, right?"



"After she managed to stop him from cutting your head off," Scarlet smirked. Neptune coughed.



"Th-That was all part of my plan as a master of love!"



His friends shot him extremely dubious looks. He could tell without looking.



"That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" Neptune stated. "Besides, Scarlet got into that drama with those twin brothers!"



Scarlet huffed and brushed his hair back over his ear.



"That was not my fault. The older one was pretending to be his brother. How was I supposed to know?"



"They have different tattoos on their chests," Neptune growled.



"I didn't know that until they stripped down!" Scarlet sniffed. "What, you think I'm easy or something?"



"Yes!"



"Not as easy as you," Scarlet shot back.



Sage rolled his eyes as Neptune and Scarlet continued to bicker. They passed by some students chattering about many things. Well, mainly one thing. Neptune picked up on this as they went along.



"... new students fighting..."



"... all those girls over Arc..."



"... Even Professor Goodwitch! That's what I heard..."



Neptune's gossip senses tingled, and he frowned.



"Something big go down involving Arc?" He wondered aloud.



"I'm sure it's not that big a deal," Scarlet sighed. "You know how this school is, making a big deal out of everything."



"Teams RWBY and JNPR fought terrorists though," Neptune pointed out.



"Like I said, a big deal out of everything," Scarlet sniffed.



"Come on man, how can you dismiss stuff like this? It's totally bogus!" Neptune retorted.



Scarlet glared at Neptune as Sage took the lead. The green haired young man opened the door to their dorm.



"I'm going to do my best to ignore the fact you just said 'bogus'," Scarlet stated, "And point out that if something big had gone down, surely Sun would have told us by now?"



"He texted us that he had a date," Sage observed.



"Ha! He finally got the kitty cat, huh? Good on him," Neptune said. He frowned as he saw Sage stop short and stare into the dorm. Neptune elbowed him and stepped inside. "What's your deal, Sage? Move, I gotta-!"



Neptune's jaw dropped. Scarlet peered in and his eyes widened.



Sun was eating some leftover burgers with a cute chameleon Faunus girl. A cute chameleon Faunus girl who was tied up, as Sun held the burger up to her mouth as they sat on his bed and watched TV.



"H-Hey guys," Sun managed, "This, uh... This... This is Ilia!"



"H-Hey!" Ilia managed, blushing brightly.



"... Are we interrupting something?" Sage managed in his usual deadpan.



"No! Nooo, not at all!" Sun said with a smile and a blush, "She's uh... She's just more comfortable tied up!"



Ilia nodded rapidly.



"Yup! Very comfortable!"



Neptune blinked.



"... How comfortable?"



Sage and Scarlet looked at each other, communicated silently, and as one, grabbed Neptune by his shoulders and dragged him out.



"H-Hey, wait, hang on, it's a legitimate question damnit!"



- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Things were surprisingly calm in the aftermath of Cinder's departure. Sure Winter had lead a quick yet efficient search of the school's grounds to confirm that Cinder had indeed left, but other than that not much exciting had happened before dinnertime rolled around. They decided as a group to eat in the infirmary in part to keep an eye on the slumbering Moses, and in part to avoid the rumor mill for just a little bit longer.

The dinner itself had been a somewhat tense affair at the start, but as the meal wore on things relaxed and the air was filled with more pleasant conversation that carried on long after the meal was finished. Jaune looked over his children and their present mothers and took it all in. Seeing everyone more or less getting along in spite of the big fight that started the day did a lot to put him at ease. Jaune closed his eyes and for a moment he let the murmur of the mixing conversations wash over him, picturing himself in the dinning room of a home he had imagined building one day. With his mind's eye he took in his dream home and did his best to place each of his possible wives within it, trying to see how it would change under each woman's feminine touch.

He could picture Ruby cleaning her beloved Crescent Rose right there at the dinner table, popping out of her chair as the timer buzzed signifying it was time to take the snickerdoodles out of the oven. The vision shifted and he could see Yang corralling a small heard of blonde kids into their seats. Another shift saw Pyrrha tutoring a pair of redheads with homework strewn about the table. Shifting again put Weiss at a piano in the far corner of the room, helping a platinum blond girl find perfect pitch. A shift, and a young cat faunus snuck up on Blake in an effort to ambush their mother, only for Blake to use her semblance and reverse the ambush at the last moment to the shrieking delight of the child.

It was a bit harder to envision the women he was less familiar with in that dream home, but as Jaune squinted his metaphorical eye he could see it. He could see Arslan with him at the head of the table, reading a story from The Good Book to a set of attentive children. He could picture May comforting a child who had scraped their knee. Winter congratulating a boy for a job well done. Glynda organizing a group of children for the post meal cleanup. Emerald cradling an infant in her arms.

Jaune was pulled from this reverie as he tried to envision Cinder in his dream home by a slight hiss of pain not far from his right. He opened his eyes and looked to see Xia rubbing at a bruise on her wrist.

"You got me good Petra," Xia admitted, "I'm kind of surprised you don't normally fight with hook swords."

"Well I can't exactly use my Chain Sickle when sparing against Aunt Pyrrha, so I decided to broaden my weaponry repertoire for those spars," Petra explained. "Those wooden hook swords are the alternatives that felt the most natural to me, so I always used them for my fights with Pyrrha."

"You must spar with her a lot if you're that good with a substitute weapon," Xia observed as she poked at another bruise on her tummy.

"Pyrrha's one of the few people who can keep up with my Mother and Father, so I spar with her every chance I get," Petra explained as she prodded a bruise on her neck. "Who taught you how to do the suplex you used on me? I'm going to be feeling this for weeks."

The protection granted by Aura could be a funny thing at times; it could keep you from getting crushed by a ton of bricks all day everyday so long as you had it active, yet it didn't always keep you from getting bruised. If you did get bruises it usually meant the natural healing provided by your Aura was dealing with more important injuries so there wasn't enough left over to deal with the bruise. In those cases there was nothing to do besides treating the bruise gently and waiting for things to heal naturally.

Jaune frowned. There was nothing to do...

...There was something he could do. Jaune shook his head ruefully as he got out of his seat and walked up to his daughters. He placed his hands on their shoulders and flexed his newfound semblance, pushing some of his aura into their aura reserves. Both Xia and Petra stopped talking as their father's soul embraced theirs. Within moments the bruises were gone as if they were never there in the first place.

"Thanks Dad," Xia beamed.

"Thank you Father," Petra smiled.

"You're welcome," Jaune smiled back. From the familiar happiness on their faces this was obviously something he normally did. Would do. Could do. Should do. He patted his daughter's shoulders and moved on to help everyone else with their bruises and sprains.

He quietly moved through the throng topping off people's aura reserves as he went, starting with his children figuring they wouldn't need an explanation for what he was doing. As he went about his work he overheard a number of peculiar conversations.

"...So that's why I think no-bake oatmeal cookies are better than oatmeal raisin cookies," August shrugged.

Julian squinted at his paradox half sibling, "Blasphemer. How can you call it a cookie if you don't cook it?"

"...Pure gold doesn't go with your complexion," Amethyst advised Dorothy, "Silver or copper colored jewelry would be a much better bet."

"...I don't care how good your reflexes are," Nicholas objected to Theodore, "Blocking a guy who gets too close with a shield would be a lot safer than blocking with martial arts. Get a shield man."

"...You guys the only set of twins in your timeline?" Ash asked Leandra.

"Not even close," the catgirl grinned.

It didn't take long before he had topped off all of his children, and he turned his attention to his potential wives. Their conversations were just as varied.

"...Wait wait wait, you mean you're a legit nun?" Yang asked with confusion in her voice.

"I am," Arslan answered, "Why is this a surprise to you?"

"Well, you have a daughter over there," Yang waved in Petra's direction, "Are you going to quit?"

Arslan heaved the heavy sigh of someone who's had to explain something far too often for their liking. "Followers of the Broken Table don't practice celibacy, we practice chastity."

"There's a difference?" Yang tilted her head.

"Yes, there is," Arslan affirmed, "Chastity is the idea that carnal relations should only happen within the bounds of a divinely sanctioned marriage, and is built upon the commandment to not commit adultery. Celibacy is the idea that carnal relations shouldn't happen ever under any circumstances; it is a heresy practiced by monasteries of the Ash Bride. People who don't like the Church will frequently conflate our monastic traditions with theirs in the hopes that the confusion will make learning the teachings of the Table Breaker less appealing."

Blake butted in at that point, "So you're saying I can be a real sexy nun, wear a real sexy nun outfit, and still have sex?"

Arslan pinched the bridge of her nose, "The answer to that question is yes, but the way you asked it makes me want to say no."

"...Neither of us are princesses, but we both grew up in high society," Weiss gestured to Winter as she talked with May, "Both of us would be more than happy to coach you on proper etiquette before you find yourself in a situation where you'd need to use that etiquette."

"Right, right," May answered in a haunted tone, "Um... when movies show fancy dinner parties they always make jokes about the absurd amount of silverware... and how you can offend someone by grabbing the wrong fork or spoon... that's not real, is it?"

"It's real," Winter spoke this time, "Unfortunately. But a sniper of your caliber has the brains necessary to learn these things quickly. You'll be fine."

"...So if I'm dead in Julian's future," Pyrrha whispered to Ruby, "How did he know how to make an add on for Crescent Rose that would make it invisible to Polarity?"

"Apparently some tech-whizz bad guy is going to invent a magnetic sensor system for an army of evil robots," Ruby whispered back, "He showed me photos of the robots: It's going to be so cool fighting them together!"

It took him a little bit longer to slip into and out of those conversations as he sought to top off their aura reserves, he needed to explain what he was doing after all, but he did it. He felt a bit stretched out afterwords, yet knowing none of his present future family would be dealign with any aches or pains tomorrow made that stretched out feeling worth it.

Just before he could settle down again to let the rolling sounds of the disparate conversations wash over him again the doors to the infirmary were dramatically flung open by an invisible force, and Glynda Goodwitch strode in.

His combat instructor (and potential future wife) looked far less put together than she normally did; her cape was askew, her hair was popping out of her bun, and her stride was off tempo. In spite of this she looked over the crowd and announced with dignity:

"It. Is. Finished."

"Uhhh... what's finished?" Ruby asked for everyone.

"I've contacted everyone's parents," Glynda explained, "All of them should be arriving sometime tomorrow to help sort all of this out."

A new wave a murmuring washed over the room; some of it excited, most of it nervous. Yet before this din could grow much louder Ashley's voice cut through all of it as she heckled: "I bet you missed someone!"

Glynda blinked owlishly in response to that, and the sight of that was so unusual it ground all of the murmuring to a halt. The deputy headmistress then pointed into the crowd and to everyone's surprise started a headcount.

"I called Isabel Arc," Glynda pointed to Jaune, who nodded in resined acceptance. "I called Taiyang," Glynda pointed to Ruby and Yang, with Ruby squeaking while Yang blanched. "I called Willow," she pointed to Weiss and Winter, who shared a surprised look with each other. "I called Athena," she pointed to Pyrrha, who put on a strained smile. "I called Kali and Ghira," she pointed to Blake, who suddenly looked like she wanted to hide behind something. "I called Logos and Basara," she pointed to Arslan, who nodded in acceptance like Jaune albeit slightly less resined. "Everyone else is listed as an orphan so yes I contacted everyone."

"May here isn't actually an orphan," Leandra supplied with a grin in her voice, "She was kidnapped as a baby and presumed dead, so everyone just thought she was an orphan!"

Glynda looked at May Zedong like a cow looks at an oncoming train, "Who are your parents?"

May sputtered from being put on the spot like that, so Jaune stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder before answering in her stead, "Her parents are the other half of my parents' Beacon team; Arjun and Saia."

Glynda took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes with her free hand, "Of course they are. I'll be back after I've called them-"

"WAIT! Don't Call Them Yet!" May shouted to her own surprise. Glynda looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, and May found it within herself to keep going, "I only found out about them a few hours ago. I'd kind of like some more time to adjust to the idea before I have to meet them. Would, would that be alright?"

Glynda stared at the young sniper, who fidgeted a bit under the deputy headmistress' gaze. Glynda then closed her eyes and sighed, "I'll call them tomorrow."

"Thank you," May sagged a bit as tension left her body. Jaune smiled at May before turning to Glynda and frowning at the frazzled state she was in.

"Ms. Goodwitch? Are you okay?" Jaune asked as he approached his teacher.

"I'm fine," Glynda replied in a tone that wasn't a perfect facsimile of fine, "Today's just been one of those days."

"Yeah, it's been one of those days all around," Jaune agreed. "You looked kind of drained, let me help." He put his hand on her shoulder and flexed his semblance.

"Mr. Arc, what are you-?" Glynda started before the rush of Jaune's aura flowed into her body, rejuvenating her and pushing away the stress of the day.

"My semblance lets me share my aura with other people," Jaune explained. "I'm still figuring out how it works, but I've used it enough over the last hour to know how to top off someone else's reserves and... ...oh," Jaune suddenly felt light headed, and the stretched out feeling stretched beyond a point it probably shouldn't, "...I guess... I was... closer to empty... than I... thought..."

Jaune's eyes closed as he fell forward face first into Glynda's bosom.

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

Silence hung in the air as everyone stared. Soft snoring escaped Jaune's lips as he slept half-standing with the support of Glynda, who's face blushed a deep crimson as the sleeping young man nuzzled closer to the soft things he had landed against.

Winter slowly approached the two of them and gently pulled Jaune away from the frozen Professor. Jaune remained asleep, even as Winter moved him into a chair. She let a nurse give him a quick one over: simple aura exhaustion, he'd sleep it off.

"It's a bit early to turn in for the night," Winter observed after the nurse's prognosis, "But it isn't too early to do so at any rate. I'll take him to my quarters so he can rest up."

"YOUR Quarters!" Glynda sputtered. "Why would you take him to your quarters?"

"Cinder Fall has a proven capability to sneak onto and out of school grounds undetected," Winter explained as she pulled out her scroll and started typing orders into it. "As long as she's free the two central figures of this temporal paradox are at risk. I'll organize a security detail to make this location as safe as possible for Moses, and I'll take Jaune to the most secure location I know on campus; my quarters." Winter looked up from her scroll and came to the sudden realization that she was surrounded.

"Why are your quarters the safest place on campus?" Pyrrha asked with a frighteningly polite smile.

"I know every possible avenue of approach," Winter tried to justify her idea, "And Theodore will be with us, meaning we can rapidly relocate Jaune if Cinder shows up. We can stand guard over him as he recovers."

"If it's a question of keeping Jaune protected he should be with Team RWBY," Yang cracked her knuckles. "Us plus our kids equals nine huntresses and huntsmen to keep watch. Can't get much safer than that."

"The security systems we brought from Atlas more than make up the numbers difference," Winter looked to her sister for support. "You've seen what I've done to my room, tell them."

"That would leave you alone with him," Weiss narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"Theodore would be with us!" Winter pointed out as she began to comprehend the real objection.

"Theodore could step out," Weiss' eyes narrowed further.

"And it's better with all of you?" Emerald glared at the girls of RWBY as she stepped up besides Pyrrha, "Team JNPR's dorm is right across the hall from yours; you don't need to have him in your room to help keep him safe. Unless you have some kind of team plan involving him."

The girls of Team RWBY made scandalized noises at that accusation. But before they could fire back Arslan stepped forward with her hands outstretched in a placating manner.

"Hold on a moment," Arslan began in a beseeching manner, "If trust is a primary concern here then I should watch over him. My vows as a Warrior-Nun of the Broken Table forbid any promiscuous behavior outside of marriage, and with Reese here," Reese waved, "To keep me honest you can be certain nothing with happen tonight."

Blake fixed Arslan with a wild eyed expression, "You'll just sneak off with him to a drive through chapel and elope!"

Arslan's eyes became unfocused as shock overtook her features, "Drive through chapels are a thing in Vale? That's an option?" Most of the women present eyed Arslan with suspicion. Blake's teammates eyed her with the same suspicion.

"Alright that's enough," Glynda blustered, "As deputy headmistress I'll watch over him. My reputation as a rule keeper is ironclad, you can trust me with him."

"That's exactly what somebody about to abuse their power would say!" Emerald accused, and everyone's glare shifted to Glynda in solidarity with that accusation.

"Well he's My best friend-" Ruby started.

"I've loved him since the day we met!" Pyrrha objected over her.

"We know," Team RWBY and Glynda replied as one, before splitting off to accuse each other of trying to weasel out an advantage over the others.

The argument circled about for several minutes like this, with nobody willing to give ground and the volume of their voices slowly getting louder and louder.

Eventually Reese rolled her eyes and pulled out her Hoverboard, switching it into its' gun formation of twin revolvers with bayonets. She fired two shots into the air. Instantly all of Jaune's potential wives had their weapons out and pointed at Reese, except for Arslan who was staring at her teammate in confusion.

"Now that I have your attention let me just say as someone with very little skin in this game that this is pointless," Reese began, "Considering the fact that Ren, Nora and all the kids took Jaune to JNPR's dorm room while you've been arguing."

They all looked to the chair that Jaune had been in when the argument started. He wasn't there.

It wasn't exactly a mad dash. It was a little more organized than that. That being said the group made good time from the infirmary to the dorms.

The door was ajar, and they crowded around to look in. Ren and Nora fixed the lot of them with a glare and Nora held a finger to her lips in the near universal shushing gesture. Jaune was in his bed, the children gathered round.

"Goodnight Dad," Julian whispered.

"Night Dad," Xia also whispered.

"Sleep tight Dad," Leander and Leandra murmured in tandem.

And so it went down the line, each child wishing Jaune a good night's rest in a hushed tone before shuffling out of the room.

The potential future wives looked at one another with embarrassment in their eyes.

"Umm... we... we'll be across the hall if you need us," Ruby whispered to Nora who was still giving everyone the skink eye.

"We'll, we'll sleep somewhere else," Pyrrha whispered as she and Emerald made their way into the room and grabbed their pillows and blankets, not wanting to be under Nora's suspicious glare longer than they had to be, "I think there's an empty room down the hall."

A few more awkward farewells were exchanged, and everyone separated to turn in early for the night.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Blake was very good at faking being asleep. Her mother had trained her in the art of the kunoichi, and she'd been a very good student. So she waited until everyone was asleep, snoring away softly, before she made her move.

Granted, this was more difficult than usual. Everyone was on high alert. Who wouldn't be, with what was on the line?

Blake though... Well... The simple fact was? While she might have sniffed at Yang's brash competitiveness... She didn't like to lose any more than anyone else.

Less, in fact.

She left a shadow clone in her bed as she stole out through an air vent, sparing a loving glance at her sleeping twins before she moved out. She slithered her way through it like a snake out to an empty dormroom. She dropped down, and went out the window. Scaling the side of the dormitory, she snuck to the other side across the roof and dropped down on ninja claws to the window.

She peered in, eyes locked on Jaune's sleeping form. He looked so peaceful in the bed, an innocent smile on his face.

Blake scrutinized the other inhabitants of the room: Nora and Ren were fast asleep in the adjacent bed, Nora snoring loud enough a normal person could hear it through the glass. Well, no matter.

It would help her plan, which was not impulsive or misguided!

It was perfectly simple: Take Jaune somewhere isolated and talk with him. Just talk. Nothing more. If the subject of eloping came up naturally, well, who was she to refuse her future husband?

She slowly opened the window, and crept inside. She crouched over Jaune, staying up over him as though she was about to do a pushup. She smiled down at him.

I didn't realize he was so handsome... I didn't pay him any attention because I was so wrapped up in my own affairs, she thought, But I promise you Jaune, for the sake of our children, and our future, I will be completely unselfish and-!

BWEEP! BWEEP! BWEEP! BWEEP!

Blake screamed as Jaune shot up. He wrapped his arms around her and shoved her to the floor, looking around frantically.

"AH! ABANDON SHIP! MAN THE TORPEDOES! ABANDON-WHAT?!" Jaune shouted.

Blake squeaked and blushed. Okay, so... She wasn't totally inexperienced but a handsome, muscular man pinning her down to the floor was not something she'd experienced in a while...

"Hello Friend Blake!"

Blake looked up. She coughed as she beheld the upside down visage of Penny Polendinia. The orange haired girl's eyes were glowing as she waved with a cheerful smile.

"Uh... Hello, Penny," Blake managed. She winced as Jaune stared down at her in shock. She winced more when Nora and Ren got up, murder in their eyes and their weapons in their hands.

"Uh, Penny? Why are you here?" Jaune asked groggily. "Blake... Same question...?"

Penny beamed.

"Friend Jaune! You have been deemed a Very Important Person and Vital National Asset by General Ironwood! As such, I have been assigned to your security detail! Your very existence is vital to the survival of mankind! Isn't that neat?"

"Uhhh... Yeah, but, don't you need to sleep?"

"No! But that's fine, as I am a perfectly normal human girl!" Penny chirped.

"Then why were you... Bleeping?" Jaune asked.

"Oh! That is my Virgin Alarm!" Penny explained, "My Father installed it-I mean gave it to me-To go off before a young male could on me! I have extended it to you to ensure you remain pure and unsullied!"

Jaune went bright red.

"P-PENNY!"

Blake's blush became incandescent.

"Do you remain unsullied?" Penny asked, tilting her head curiously.

"I-I mean-!"

Blake coughed. She didn't like drawing more attention to herself but... Well...

"Um... I was just... Making sure you were safe," Blake mumbled. Ren pulled Jaune up, and pushed him back into bed. Nora scowled at Blake and bonked her on the head lightly with her fist.

"OW!"

"No! Bad Kitty! No despoiling innocent maidens on our watch!" Nora declared.

"I'm not a maiden!" Jaune complained. Nora gasped.

"Who took you, Jaune? Who despoiled you? WHO VIOLATED MY BABY BOY?!" She hugged him tightly, and glared at Blake. "You?!"

"N-NO! I didn't even get that far!" Blake said defensively. At everyone's looks, she continued her weak self-defense: "Not that I was planning on that sort of thing!"

"How dare you, Blake!"

Everyone started and looked out the window. Ruby was scowling at them from the sill, her cape waving dramatically in the wind.

"You snuck out and tried to-to make off with Jaune, didn't you?!"

"No I didn't!" Blake insisted. "I-I just wanted to talk!"

"Why are you here, Friend Ruby?" Penny asked. Ruby blushed.

"Um... To check on Jaune?" Ruby offered weakly.

"Uh huh," Ren stated flatly, "Which is what the rest of you are doing here, too?"

"Rest of-?" Ruby asked, before Ren opened the closet door. Pyrrha, dressed in black workout clothes with a mask tied under her nose, yelped as she stumbled out.

"PYRRHA!" Ruby hissed.

"RUBY!" Pyrrha gasped. She looked at Jaune and blushed furiously. "It-It's not what it looks like!"

"Wow! That's very impressive to sneak into the closet without me sensing you!" Penny complimented her. Pyrrha flushed darker.

"I um... I'm very flexible... But-But I didn't have anything nefarious planned for Jaune! Honest!"

"Y-Yeah! Nothing nefarious! Maybe some kissing!" Ruby said defensively.

"ENOUGH!" Ren barked, raising his voice for the first time ever. Even Penny looked taken aback. He glared around the room. "All of you go. To. Bed. You can work things out with Jaune when it's daytime and he's awake. All of you!"

Blake heard a lot of movement and shuffling around outside the dorm room. She blushed a bit more deeply.

Blake looked over at Jaune. Despite his embarrassment (or perhaps because of it), he had passed out again and was softly snoring.

"R-Right," Pyrrha said, looking very guilty.

"Goodnight everyone," Ruby managed, just as abashed.

"Ahem, sorry," Blake added. She went out of the window with Ruby, Pyrrha joining them a moment later. Penny leaned out of the window, smiled, and waved.

"Goodnight, Friend Ruby, Blake, and Pyrrha! I hope your romance goes well!" She said happily.

"Thanks Penny," Ruby mumbled.

The three of them stood on the roof in awkward silence. Ruby then held up her chin and scowled.

"No more stupid junk... Agreed?"

"Agreed," Blake and Pyrrha sighed.

"At least until tomorrow," Blake muttered.

"What?" The other girls asked.

"Nothing!"

- - -

Nora grumbled as she made sure Jaune was tucked in.

"Stupid freaking harems, so noisy and inconsiderate," Nora huffed. She beamed at Ren. "I'm so glad we're not degenerates like them, aren't you Renny?"

"I don't think Jaune is a degenerate," Ren said smoothly, as he cleaned up what had fallen out of the closet.

"Well of course he isn't," Nora stated, hugging the sleeping Jaune to her chest, "Aw, my pure captain!"

"I find the entire situation fascinating," Penny chirped, "Time travel and complex human romantic interactions? The data I am processing is sensational!"

She blanched.

"Uh..."

"Which is exactly what a normal human girl would say!" Nora said happily. Penny beamed.

"Correct, Friend Nora!"

"Great!" Nora cheered. She pulled Ren down onto the bed and hugged him. "Mm... Though... I am a little disappointed."

"Why?" Ren asked.

Nora pouted.

"Well... Why didn't our future kids show up? None of them thought that grabbing onto a guy with a time travel Semblance when it was overloading was cool?" She sighed. "Where did we go wrong?"

"We'll have to correct that when we have them," Ren said, patting his childhood friend/partner/future wife on the head. Nora pouted and snuggled up to him.

"We'd better!"

- - -

Somewhere in Mistral...

Raven Branwen enjoyed her solitude. As fearsome a warrior as she was, even she needed a break from time to time. She lounged in the bedroom of a manse whose owners had been devoured by Grimm, luxuriating in the fine robes they had left in their marble finished bathroom. The hot bath had left the room filled with steam, and it felt so good to relax after being immersed in hot water.

It was fortunate they'd saved this home after dealing with the Grimm they had unleashed. They would have to move on, but maybe this village would make for an effective hideout in the future. For the bathroom, if nothing else.

Not that she would tell her followers that. To the strongest went the spoils. She had earned this.

Her Scroll went off. Her eyebrow twitched in some annoyance. She let it ring for a while, before she very slowly reached out, picked it up, and slid it open.

"This had better be good, Khan," she stated flatly to the leader of the White Fang. The tiger Faunus scowled back at her through the screen.

"We have a significant opportunity here," she stated, "Tell me... How would you like the full support of Menagerie? Not just the White Fang?"

Raven's eyes narrowed.

"I'm listening."

"Ghira and Kali Belladonna are heading to Beacon," Sienna went on, "My sources tell me they went very quickly, with only a minor security detail. They're even taking a commercial airship flight. If you were to assassinate them... I could seize control of Menagerie."

Raven kept her face a steely mask. Inwardly, she pondered the possibilities.

Having an ascendant Minor Kingdom in her debt was an appealing prospect. Slaughtering such weak leaders who had somehow gotten such power was also appealing. However, Raven Branwen was not stupid.

"If I do so, your people will want my head," Raven stated. Sienna shook her head.

"I can spin it easily. Most people do not know you are the Bandit Queen. Only that you were once part of a prominent Vale hunter team. It will look like Ozpin wanted the leaders of Menagerie dead. That is to both our advantages."

Raven pondered this for a moment.

"It will not come cheap."

"I will not be cheap," Sienna said, "Imagine what you could accomplish with our full backing. The kind of kingdom you could build."

Raven snorted.

"I have no interest in settling down and becoming soft."

"Then make slaves handle the busywork, rule as the warrior queen you wish to be," Sienna stated, "But this opportunity is too great to ignore."

Raven slowly nodded. As much as she hated to admit it, the Faunus had a point.

"When do they arrive?"

"Tomorrow morning. I'm sending you their itinerary," Sienna said, and the info popped up on her screen, "Remember: They both need to die."

"What about their daughter?" Raven asked.

Sienna smirked.

"Leave her to me. I turned her when she was in a spot of emotional turmoil before: I can do it again. Through her? We will have Menagerie."

Raven hummed... Then nodded.

"It will be done."

"Good... Though fair warning: Your ex husband and brother might also be there."

Raven smirked.

"They won't be a problem..."

"See that they aren't."

The call ended. Raven stretched her arms up over her head and sighed softly.

She was going to get some sleep. Best to be rested before causing worldwide chaos.

That was one thing she agreed with Summer on.

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Jaune stood in the middle of the Beacon Star-Maiden Courtyard. It was night, the stars and the broken moon shone high overhead. It was so bright it was like it was daytime. He looked around, seeing no one else around.

"Hello?" He called out. His voice echoed throughout the trees and marble pillars and fountains. No one answered, as he wandered through. "Hello? Anyone?"

"D-Dad..."

Jaune looked and gaped as he saw Julian lying on the ground. He ran over to him, and began doing the emergency medical checks his mother had drilled into him and his siblings. Julian looked up faintly, his eyes pale and glassy.

"Julian! Julian, hey! Are you okay? What happened?" Jaune asked.

Julian sniffled, and tears fell from his eyes. His hands desperately grabbed onto him, and his eyes were wide.

"Please... D-Dad... Don't erase me," he begged, "Please... I-I'm scared..."

Jaune felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned. His jaw dropped as he saw Xander staggering there, his very being fading in and out like a bad special effect from an old movie.

"Pl-Please Dad... She's loved you... Loved you for so long..."

"W-What about me?" Xia begged, now at his feet as she flickered like a bad lightbulb. She looked up into his eyes. "Please Daddy... It hurts...!"

The rest of his children appeared, all desperate. All crying. Theodore were glitching like a character in a buggy game. Ash and Ashley were burning away, like paper caught on fire. August fell over, clutching his stomach as he began to dissolve into dust.

Amethyst simply faded away, as Nicholas fell to his knees and pixels ran over his body. Petra was praying, crying for her mother, for him, for God to spare her. Leander and Lea sobbed as they sank into darkness. Dorothy wept as she melted, and looked up with a distorted face.

"Dad!"

"Daddy! Help us!"

"SAVE US DADDY! PLEASE!"

"Don't you love us, Dad?! PLEASE!"

"PLEASE CHOOSE!"

Jaune's hands went to the side of his head. He was hyperventilating as fear and horror and grief filled his entire being.

DO SOMETHING! His mind screamed. DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!

"I-I can't!" Jaune shouted. "Who can I choose?! I don't want to lose you all! I-I can't just choose one! I CAN'T! I CAN'T!"

They all faded away. A terrible cold wind blew through the courtyard. Jaune fell to his knees, and sobbed.

"I can't... I couldn't...! I couldn't...!"

"J-Jaune..."

He looked up. He was in the ruins of Ozpins' office. Everything was on fire, wrecked. He spotted Pyrrha, bloodied, bruised, and on her knees. Arrows stuck out of her chest. Cinder stood in front of her, flames burning in her palm and a cruel smile on her face.

"J-Jaune... Please..." Pyrrha cried. "Please... Save me...!"

"PYRRHA!"

He couldn't move. WHY COULDN'T HE MOVE?!

The flames erupted from Cinder's hand, and Pyrrha screamed as she was consumed.

"NO! PYRRHA!" Jaune screamed.

"J-Jaune..." He looked around. May, Emerald, Arslan, and Glynda lay in the ruins, bloodied, dying. Again he couldn't move, he couldn't do anything...!

"Please..." Glynda rasped through a mouth full of blood. May faded away, tears rolling down her cheeks. Arslan was already dead, pierced by many arrows, her head bowed as through in prayer in her last moments. Emerald tried to speak, but a glass arrow from Cinder punched through her chest, and she went still. Jaune looked back at Cinder, who loomed over him like a giant.

"You could have stopped this," Cinder hissed, as her face melted and she transformed into some hideous Grimm-like abomination, "You could have stopped all of this...!"

"N-No! I don't even-!"

"JAUNE!"

He was older. His hair was cut short. His armor was different. He was standing on a bridge in a metal city-Atlas, he thought. He looked down, and gaped in horror. Penny lay there in pieces, a hand desperately reaching out to him.

"Jaune... Please..." She begged. "Please... You can end this... Please...!"

He lifted his sword up and brought it down on Penny. No matter how hard he resisted, his blade went right through her.

"NO! NO! STOP-NO!"

"JAUNE!"

He was old, and wore rusted armor. The land around him was a topsy-turvy kaleidoscope of color and madness. He turned and saw Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang sinking into oblivion. A horrifying cat monster loomed over them on one side, as a female figure, pale and white, stood on the other.

"JAUNE!" Ruby screamed. "HELP US! PLEASE! WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING US?!"

"SAVE US!" Weiss shrieked desperately.

"WHY CAN'T YOU EVER HELP?!" Blake roared. "WHY CAN'T YOU EVER SAVE ANYONE?!"

"JAUNE! DON'T ABANDON ME! PLEASE!" Yang bellowed.

He couldn't move... He couldn't move...!

"MOVE! MOVE, PLEASE!" Jaune screamed. "PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU! MOVE!"

His mother walked into view, his father alongside her.

"You couldn't save anyone, Jaune," Isabel Arc stated, "We told you: We were expecting you to come home. You should have listened."

"Now you've lost everything," Nick sighed, "Everyone is dead... Everyone is gone... Because you couldn't step up."

"You should have come home, Jaune," Isabel said, as RWBY's screams cut off, "You shouldn't have even tried."

"No... No... Please...!" Jaune wept. "PLEASE...!"

Cold water splashed over his face. Jaune woke up, his heart racing a mile a minute in his chest. gasping for breath.

"Friend Jaune?"

He looked over at Penny, standing there with a concerned look on her face. Ren held a bucket of water. Nora stood by him, another bucket ready to go.

"P-Penny... Penny, you okay?" He asked, reaching out to squeeze her wrist. Penny smiled.

"I am functioning at 100 percent capacity! ... As I am a perfectly normal human girl," she added quickly. Her concerned look returned. "Are you okay?"

Jaune couldn't meet the eyes of his friends.

"... I-I'm fine," he mumbled. "I'm fine... J-Just a nightmare."

"You're sure?" Nora asked. "You want to talk about it? It helps me to talk about! Like this one time, I dreamed I was fighting the King of the Potato People in a gingham dress and-"

"NO!" Jaune barked out harshly. Ren's eyesbrows rose, as Nora gasped. Penny blinked a few times. Jaune shook his head, and held his hands up apologetically.

"N-No... I'm sorry Nora. I just... I-I don't think I can talk about this. Not right now."

"... Okay," Nora said softly. The softest he'd ever heard her. He pushed himself onto his feet and reached out to squeeze her hand. He forced his face into a reassuring smile.

"It's okay... It's not your fault. I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Nora nodded slowly, but didn't meet his eyes.

"You are under a lot of stress," Ren observed softly. "You should go out. Clear your mind."

"Y-Yeah... Yeah... Thanks Ren," Jaune said with a more genuine smile. "I... I think I'll do just that."

- - -

Well that became a lot darker than I intended. But it just felt right.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Dawn: the twilight hour where the light of the morning sun starts to drown out the stars and change the color of the sky but the sun itself has yet to crest the horizon. Back in Radian on the days where he was healthy enough to help out with the farm he got up around this time, so watching the sky get slowly brighter and brighter was comforting it a way. It harkened back to a simpler time of checking on the farm cats, letting the chickens out of the coop and breaking up bales of hay.



That nostalgic comfort wasn't quite enough to clear his head of the tumultuous thoughts rolling around in the back of his mind, but the walkabout was a good distraction. Seeing so many places on school grounds in a literal new light was some pleasant visual stimulation, and Penny trailing behind him at a respectful distance kept triggering that primal 'someone's watching you' feeling that pulled him out of his darker musings when the 'new' sights weren't quite up to the task.



And so he went around the campus just going wherever his feet would take him with no real destination in mind. His feet carried him to a place he had only been once before; a collection of historic buildings that had been built centuries before Beacon became a Huntsman Academy, back when a king called these grounds home. At the top of a hill stood the oldest of these buildings: a large stone cathedral that had been remodeled and expanded upon multiple times through the ages.



The original building was constructed during the heyday of the First Emerald Dynasty as a place to worship The Brother Gods, but that changed during the accession of the Third Emerald Dynasty with the arrival of the merchant ship known as The Dawn Chaser: the ship traditionally believed to be the first vessel to circumnavigate the world, though some historians dispute this. The Dawn Chaser carried several missionaries seeking to spread the good news of the Table Breaker, and many members of the royal family believed the teachings of these missionaries. As a result the house of worship was remodeled into a Church of The Broken Table.



Thus began an unofficial tradition that every new dynasty would remodel or expand the church according to their own beliefs. While the church building remained a place to worship the Table Breaker for the vast majority of its' history this wasn't an unbroken span of time. The Sixth Jade Dynasty, founded by Juliana the Apostate, remodeled the building to worship The Brother Gods again. The Fourth Malachite Dynasty worshiped The God of Animals and rebuilt the church to reflect that. Yet in spite of a few radical departures like those most Vale's rulers revered the Table Breaker and simply expanded the once humble church into the cathedral that now stood before Jaune.



The present day cathedral was more tourist destination than house of worship in the modern era. Without a royal family living in Beacon there just weren't enough people continuously living in the immediate area to justify having a bishop and his family live there to host services every Sunday. Modern airbuses also made travel into the City of Vale extremely convenient so most believing students would opt to leave school grounds to attend church with any friends or family in the city. As a result the Beacon Cathedral only hosted worship services on incredibly special occasions, and was mostly visited by people touring school grounds.



Jaune had never been inside before; joining a tour group as a student had felt kind of silly to him and playing tourist in a church seemed kind of disrespectful if he was being honest. Yet even if the building was used more by tourists than believers it was still a place where troubled souls found solace. Jaune pushed open the doors and made his way inside.



No automatic lights turned on when he stepped in, and he couldn't find any switches beside the door. After fumbling around for a few moments he heard Penny following him in, and a few moments after that she was besides him.



"The light switches are further inside friend Jaune," Penny whispered in his ear. "By the doors the Bishop's family would have used to enter the main chapel."



"Huh, weird," Jaune muttered as he turned away from the wall and started to make his way further inside the building. Penny remained by the entrance standing guard.



It was slow going. The dim pre-sunrise light was barely piercing the thick and darkened glass of the cathedral's many windows, no doubt a side effect of the stained glass. Yet even in the darkness Jaune found the aisles that went between the pews and he made his way towards pulpit and altar. As he got closer to the front of the chapel he heard a whispered prayer to his right, and he looked to see two silhouettes sitting on a bench facing a stained glass window that's details were imperceptible in the dim light. Jaune turned and made his way to them since he recognized the whispering voice as Arslan's.



The quite prayer came to a close as Jaune drew near, and Arslan shifted to look over her shoulder in the darkness.



"Good morning?" Arslan greeted as she tried to identify him in the dark.



"Good morning," Jaune replied.



"Father?" Petra asked from her mother's side, "What are you doing here?"



"I needed to get my mind off things, so I took a walk," Jaune explained, "And I ended up here. Why are you here in the dark?"



"We're here for the stained glass window," Arslan explained as she and Petra scooted over on the bench, making room for Jaune to sit on Arslan's right. Jaune took them up on the implied invitation leaving a little bit of space between himself and his potential wife, who continued her explanation, "These older cathedrals were built with the expectation that people from beyond the city's walls would visit and spend most of the day in the cathedral, as it would be a once in a lifetime trip for many of them. Because of that each stained glass window is positioned to be backlit by the sun during different parts of the day, turning those daylong visits into a continuous story. This right here is the cathedrals's sunrise window. Petra wanted to see it since most of this cathedral was destroyed in Cinder's attack on the Vytal Festival, and this window was one of the few that was completely unsalvageable and needed to be outright replaced."



"Ohhh," Jaune hummed appreciatively, "So we're in the dark so we get the full effect of the sunrise lighting up the window!"



"Precisely!" Arslan confirmed.



Silence fell over them as they waited for the proper sunrise to begin. It wasn't that long of a wait, it had only been ten minutes till the sun poked out over the horizon when Jaune had entered the cathedral, so the silence didn't have time to become awkward.



The first true rays of morning's light illuminated the window.



It was a true work of art depicting the Table Breaker's resurrection: he stood in the air triumphantly over the two pieces of the stone table, his disciples gathered round rejoicing at his return to the mortal realm while the Winter Witch lay on the ground loosing her last breath. It was a scene Jaune had seen depicted dozens of times before, so all of the non-standard artistic choices stood out to him. The Table Breaker's image was familiar with his broad shoulders, wild hair and beard resembling a lion's mane and so on; yet there were other things about his depiction that were odd...



"...Does he have snake eyes?" Jaune noted the first oddity that stood out to him.



"Yes, and that's not all," Petra confirmed before pointing out the other oddities, "If you look closely at his neck you can see gills. You can't see his hands because the sleeves of his robes are actually bird wings, and his boots are actually cloven hooves."



"Why?" Jaune tilted his head with a small measure of confusion.



Arslan looked to Jaune and explained the reasoning, "While the scholarly consensus, both secular and religious, agree that the historical Table Breaker was a faunus it's still occasionally debated what kind of faunus he was. Tradition says lion, but people have made passionate cases for him being a different kind of faunus in the past. The creator of this window chose to incorporate the most popular alternatives into this piece; hence why the mane of a lion is accompanied by the gills of a fish, the eyes of a snake, the wings of a dove and the hooves of a sheep or goat."



"Huh, I've never heard about that before," Jaune admitted. "What kind of faunus do you think he really was?"



"With what little evidence exists? I'd say tradition is right about him being a lion faunus," Arslan opined. "Personally I'm glad the debate is currently dead; it distracts from the fact that his sacrifice was for all peoples, both human and faunus."



Jaune looked to Arslan and considered her for a moment. In all the hubbub of yesterday he never really got a chance to talk with her about herself like he had with the others. This seemed as good a time as any to ask her a few more personal questions.



"Why are you studying at Haven?" Jaune asked. Arslan quirked her eyebrow at him, which Jaune took as an invitation to elaborate, "I mean the sash of mastery you gave me shows you were excelling at the Temple's combat lessons, and the warrior monks trained by the Temple are on par with the Huntsmen trained by the Academies. So why stop studying at the temple?"



Arslan brought her hand to her chin in contemplation of her answer. After a moment of thought she began, "My reasons require context. Are you aware of the current state of the faith in Mistral?"



"No," Jaune admitted.



"A few centuries ago the majority of people living on the continent of Anima were members of the Church," Arslan explained. "Today? Outside of the Holy City and a handful of smaller settlements the faithful are currently a minority throughout Mistral. The exact reasons for this decline are hotly debated, but it's most commonly attributed to an atheistic shift in Mistral's academia that bled into the ruling and bureaucratic classes. For a little over a century the idea that mankind had outgrown the need for religion was quite fashionable. Then the Great War happened."



Arslan looked back to the stained glass window as she continued, "Man and Faunus slaughtered Man and Faunus, and the idea that mankind had outgrown anything was laughable. Mistral saw a resurgence of religion, but people did not return to the Church. During the war Church leaders in Mistral and Atlas criticized the conflict from day one, while Church leaders in Vale supported Vale's role in the war. After the war Atlas' leadership were willing to swallow their pride and admit the war was a mistake, while the leadership of Mistral sought a scapegoat to protect their injured pride."



Arslan sighed, "The scapegoat they chose was the Church, and as a result several factions within Mistral's government are actively hostile to the faith. Things got worse after the Faunus Rights Revolution: the Table Breaker was a faunus, and so the factions actively hostile to the Church gained the support of those actively hostile to faunus. That's most of what you need for context."



She returned her gaze to Jaune, "Mistral has several laws in place that make it difficult for anyone without a proper license to make a legal living as a huntsman. There are more laws in place designed to keep graduates of the Temple's combat courses from obtaining a proper license. By studying at Haven and Sanctum before it I'll be able to skip all the legal hoops I'd have to go through if I'd completed my studies at the Temple. That's half of my reason for stoping my studies at the Temple."



A small smile graced her face as she went on, "The other half has to do with my mother's acting career."



"How?" It was Jaune's turn to raise an eyebrow.



"My mother became a beloved household name in spite of the distaste modern Mistrali culture has for the Faith," Arslan elaborated. "She was able to use her star power to influence a few elections, kept some of the more radical Church haters out of public office. Watching her do that as a child was inspiring, and I wanted to do something similar when I grew up. But I'm no actress," Arslan flexed her left arm, "I'm a fighter. Fortunately one can obtain similar levels of fame in Mistral's tournament scene, and by going to Sanctum I was able to get admitted to the arena."



Having finished her explanation the chocolate skinned woman looked Jaune in the eyes and asked a question of her own, "Since I've come here I've attended Sunday services at each of Vale's historical chapels, which one do you normally go to and at what time? Or do you go to one of the more recently built chapels?"



"Well..." Jaune flushed with embarrassment, "I've actually been pretty bad at going to church since I've been away from home, so I don't really know when or where I'd go..."



Arslan looked apprehensive yet hopeful as she asked her next question, "Do you want to go to church with me and Petra today?"



Jaune looked around the cathedral in deep thought. If he was being honest with himself the sacred imagery was doing a lot to put him at ease, the dark thoughts seemed weaker with all the promises of salvation surrounding him. A sermon or two wouldn't hurt and could only help at this juncture.



"I think all of us could use a day at church," Jaune mused. He wasn't one-hundred percent certain what the other's believed, but if they wanted to go somewhere else he'd take them there. "You don't mind if we invite the others?"



Arslan shook her head, "Not at all. And if all of them agree to come I know where to take them."



"Good, good," Jaune sagged with relief before he pulled out his scroll and opened a group chat. "Let's try to aim for right after breakfast, get our day off on the right foot."



And so the two of them planed a Sunday excursion, which coincidentally caused all of them to miss the hullabaloo that would happen at Beacon's airfield by fifteen minutes...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Glimpses into Another Time: Using Your Head



- - -



It was strange what came to mind in a time of crisis. Yang stared at the stump where her arm was. She lay battered and bruised on the floor, her heart pounding in her ears. Her assailant stood over her... And yet... All that filled her mind was a memory.



"GAH!"



Jaune's punch had been strong, fast, and on target-But Yang had caught it easily and twisted her hips. She sent him into a tumble, and he landed hard on his back on the workout mat.



"HUFF!"



Yang snickered a bit at the dazed look in her boyfriend's eyes. She reached out a hand to him, and he took it gratefully. She yanked him up to his feet, and smirked. He pouted a bit.



"That was a dirty trick," he sighed.



"Sure was, that's why it worked," Yang chuckled. Jaune sighed and ran a hand through his sweaty hair.



"Now now, don't give me that look," Yang admonished him gently, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on. Water break."



They walked over to the nearby benches, as other students trained around them. They sat down together, and Jaune sipped his water bottle while examining his Scroll. Yang drank deeply of her own water, then leaned over to check out what was on her boyfriend's screen.



"'Instruction Manual for the Type 47G Rocket Locker System?' Sounds riveting," Yang deadpanned.



"When you get stuck inside one of these things, you'll be grateful I looked these up," Jaune chuckled at her. He frowned in surprise. "Huh! Manual override in local network mode... And the motor's military grade but kept under tight limitations."



At Yang's look, Jaune smirked and shrugged.



"You knew I was a nerd when you asked me out."



"You asked me out," Yang teased back. Jaune sighed theatrically.



"We can't even decide on our personal history. Our kids are gonna be so confused."



Yang flushed deeply, and then playfully elbowed him.



"Gettin' awful cocky about our relationship, Stud. What makes you think I'll marry some guy who's too stubborn to learn from his mistakes?"



"I'm not THAT stubborn," Jaune protested. "What did I do wrong? I followed the kata just like we practiced-"



Yang nodded, and lightly slapped his shoulder.



"Yeah. That's why you lost. You played by the rules, Jaune. In a real fight? You have to fight hard. You have to fight dirty. You have to fight like your life is on the line... Because it just might be."



Jaune worked his jaw, and slowly nodded.



"I... Yeah... I know... I just... I just thought that we were in a friendly spar."



"We are," Yang said, "But..." She licked her lips thoughtfully.



"Look. You've been trained by Pyrrha. And she is a MONSTER, no doubt. But her style of combat doesn't work so well for you. She's very mobile, very fast, and controls the battlefield around her through her crazy ass stunts. You, Jaune, are less mobile. Meaning you gotta fight MEAN. You gotta be tricky. You're a tactical genius, after all: Why not use it?"



Jaune frowned deeply, contemplating her words. He shook his head.



"I thought that meant like, troop movements and so on," he admitted. Yang chuckled.



"Well, what are you? A General, or a Huntsman? You gotta keep your head in the right space, Jaune."



The recent Mount Glenn and Breach incident still weighed heavily on both their minds. Yang was still humiliated over how her fight went... And while

Jaune had taken charge and kept the Breach contained until reinforcements could come... When it came to his individual fighting, he had still struggled.



"Yeah," Jaune sighed, "I've... I've still got a lot to learn."



Recognizing one of her boyfriend's moods, she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pushed her chest against him.



"Hey now. None of that beating yourself up BS," she warned, "Only I get to beat you up, understand?"



Jaune chuckled.



"Yeah..."



"But I mean it! Don't get down on yourself for not progressing according to some schedule in your head," Yang warned, "Just focus on winning the fight. And let yourself be NASTY."



Jaune hummed.



"Nasty, huh...?"



He slowly nodded.



"Let's go again," he said. Yang nodded, set down her water, and stood up with a stretch. It pleased her to see his eyes went up and down her body,

and she rewarded it with a grin.



"Come on, Stud. Let's give this another try."



They walked out onto the training mat. Yang faced him, and got into a fighting stance. He mirrored her.



"All right... Go," Yang ordered. Jaune lashed out with a few probing jabs, then closed the range. She chambered her arm for a punch, and threw it right past his ear. He dashed in... And kissed her right on the lips.



Her face turned red.



"You-!"



And her world went upside-down. She slammed into the mat, Jaune pinning her down. He shot her a cheeky grin.



"How's that, Sensei?" He asked.



Yang growled, her eyes burning red.



"I don't know if I'm gonna hurt you or kiss you..."



"Either way," Jaune teased, "Sounds like fun."



"Stupid," Yang muttered, as she pulled him into a kiss...



Stupid. STUPID. STUPID!



Aside from the shock, horror, and pain screaming through Yang Xiao-Long's arm... Or where her arm had been... Only that word was now in her thoughts. She fought back a whimper as she clutched her bleeding stump to her side. Adam Taurus, tall, dark, and menacing, loomed over her with a cold fury on his face. The study room was burning around them. People were running and screaming outside. Blood dripped from Adam's burning red katana as he just stared at her.



Did... Did she see a hint of amusement on his face? Did he find this funny?!



"This is what will happen to anyone who gets close to you, Blake," Adam stated harshly. Some meters away, Blake, bleeding from slashes across her stomach and leg, lay on the floor and looked up in desperation.



"No.... No, Adam, please! Please! I-I'll do anything you want, just-just spare her! Please!"



The Faunus swordsman's lips twitched. Yes... Yes, he was amused. He was a cat with two crippled mice before him, and he was going to play.

Adam held up his sword. Yang trembled, feeling a whimper escape her lips. A fear she hadn't felt since that time in the woods, with the little red wagon, Ruby, and the abandoned cabin filled her. Her body burned in pain, yet felt cold as ice. Blake tried to move, but one of her arms was broken, and her ribs didn't look like they were in much better shape.



"Yes. You will," Adam seethed. He lifted his sword to deliver the killing blow. Yang tried to make herself move, block, SOMETHING!



The terror on Blake's face made her self recriminations louder, harder.



STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!



She could see her own wide, scared eyes in the reflection of the red blade... Her thoughts went elsewhere.



Mom... Dad... Ruby... Uncle Qrow... Jaune-



Adam swung around and swung his blade to deflect a sword blow. Yang goggled up in disbelief at the blond swordsman now crossing blades with Adam.



"Jaune!" She gasped.



He, like everyone else, looked like hell. Covered in soot and sweat. Yet the snarl on his face, the determination in his eyes-Yang had rarely seen that on Jaune's face.



"Another of your human friends who will pay the price for your disobedience, my love," Adam sneered.



"Yeah? Fuck you too!" Jaune spat, as he engaged Adam in furious fencing. Their blades moved so fast and struck so hard, sparks flew off from every impact.



She watched in horror and fear as her boyfriend fought the revolutionary. He made use of every trick he had: He spat in Adam's eyes, he feinted injury to get in a few good hits... And trash talk.



"Great sword! Good to know you're compensating for something!" Jaune shouted back, barely parrying a blow from Adam, "The way Blake ran from you is proof of that much though!"



"SHUT UP YOU WORTHLESS APE!" Adam roared.



Yet all the gumption and determination in the world didn't change the simple facts... Jaune was a novice. And Adam was a killer.



Adam unleashed a Moonslice right at point black range. Jaune barely dropped underneath it, but his weapons caught the force of the Aura slash. Crocea Mors was sliced into pieces, and Jaune took a kick to his ribs that sent him flying into the far wall with a wet crack sound.



"HURK!"



Adam blurred, and grabbed Jaune by his throat. He lifted him up and slammed him against the wall, forming a crater in the wood and plaster.



"Now you die," Adam hissed. Jaune spat out some blood into Adam's mask. He seethed, holding up his katana. Something broke through the shock, and Yang lifted up her remaining arm.



"JAUNE!" She screamed. She pulled the trigger. Adam dropped Jaune and spun around, deflecting the rounds with his blade.



Despite the pain of his injuries... Jaune was smiling. He pulled out his Scroll, and hit a button.



"You first," Jaune hissed.



A rocket locker burst through the window, landing right in front of Adam. He turned in shock. He moved to slice the thing in half... When Blake mustered up enough energy to fire some rounds from Gambol Shroud. Again he deflected the shots... But missed Jaune staggering up and shoulder checking him into the locker. He slammed the door shut, and held up his Scroll to his mouth.



"Full throttle. Safeties off. Engage ballistic mode!"



The rocket locker's bottom seemed to explode as it shot up, blasting through the roof. Yang could see daylight overhead as the locker climbed for the heavens at well above any safe velocity. It streaked off, becoming nothing but an orange star. She lost track of it for a few moments, but out one of the large windows she spied it streaking for the ground. A large explosion went off in the distance, loud and strong enough to make the windows rattle.



Jaune staggered over to Yang, favoring his right side. He dropped down in front of her. Blake managed to limp her way over to join them. Yang looked up at Jaune in shock... And pride.



"Is... Is he dead?" Blake asked.



"If not... He'll wish he was," Jaune managed. He yanked his first aid kit out, wobbling even on his knees. "H-Hang on, Yang... Hang on..."



"Jaune," Yang hissed. Jaune shook his head. He placed his hands on her stump.



"It's okay," he said quietly, "We're all gonna get out of here... Nobody... Nobody gets... Left... Behind..."



His hands glowed white. Where Blake was holding onto him? His Aura burned like a small sun, and she gasped. Yang's pain and aches all vanished as her Aura returned to one hundred percent. She and Blake both stared in absolute disbelief as she held up her completely regenerated arm. All of Blake's injuries had vanished too.



Jaune stared in similar shock and amazement. He smiled dazedly.



"W-Wow... Didn't know... I could do that," he mumbled. "H-Hey... Pyrrha needs help at the tower with Cinder... She'll die if... Please go help her Yang, I-"



He slumped over into Yang's arms. She gasped.



"Jaune?! JAUNE?!" She checked him all over. "Oh God, is he-?!"



Blake shook her head.



"He's... His Aura's near zero," she assessed. "He's just exhausted... Was that his Semblance-?"



"Don't know, don't care," Yang stated. She got up. She found her... Her old arm (and wasn't that freaky?), and while trying to keep her lunch down, pulled Ember Celica off of it. She pulled it onto her new arm, and clenched her fists. She took a deep breath.



"Keep him safe," she ordered, "I'm gonna help Pyrrha."



"But you'll need-"



Yang gripped Blake's arms, and looked intently into her eyes.



"Keep. Him. Safe. Please," she begged.



Blake processed this for a moment, and then slowly nodded.



"I will."



Yang sighed, and held Jaune's face between her hands. She sniffled a bit. A small smile found its way to her lips at how peaceful he looked unconscious.



"I'll be back, Stud. I'll help Pyrrha, I promise," she murmured, planting a kiss on his lips before she rose. "Get anyone else who can fight heading my way!"



"Got it," Blake agreed.



Yang turned and ran for the tower, punching out an Ursa with no effort. She felt so energized, so alive...



Like every moment she spent with Jaune laughing, turned into power.



"Definitely telling our kids about this one," Yang said to herself, a warm smile on her face.



- - -




Just a quick omake from the Yang Timeline.

 

[The Sleepless One]

Because Penny deserves the world and more.

---

Auntie Penny

Jaune Arc sighed as he walked through the Elphaba Memorial Gardens, trailing behind Petra and Arslan with Penny trailing behind him a fair distance in turn. Despite the conversation they'd shared in the cathedral, he still felt rather... mopey.

That said, Jaune's moping felt entirely justified. Seriously, time travel, eleven potential wives, and their numerous children? It sounded like something out of a bad Mistrali cartoon. But the stakes were too high to not take this seriously. Clearly his subconscious felt the same way, judging from his nightmares. He glanced down at his hands and, for a brief moment, they were covered in rusty metal gauntlets once again. Jaune shook his head, clearing away the image. That part of the dream made no sense, compared to everything else. What was he, the Rusted-

"Hi dad!" Chirped a pair of voices behind him, cutting off his train of thought.

"Ah! Crap!' Jaune jumped in surprise, turning to see his twins by Blake peeking out at him from behind a hedge. "Don't do that!"

Leander and Leandra's grins told him they were unrepentant. The male twin raised his scroll to his mouth, "Found him! Told you he was in the Gardens!"

"Hang onto him. We'll meet you there," came Nicholas's voice over the speaker.

"Roger that, White Knight!" Leandra replied cheerily.

"And stop calling me that."

"No can do, White Knight!" The twins chimed in sync.

"Ugh."

Leander cut the call and stowed his scroll away while his sister skipped over to her father who gave her a wary look. The Faunus twins had a particular talent for getting into trouble, from what Jaune had gleaned. Leandra smiled up at him cheekily.

"I think out of all my potential kids, you two worry me the most," Jaune told them honestly.

"Hey!" They objected in unison.

"He's not wrong," Petra intoned, walking back up the path with her mother and most of the other kids in tow. "We're all magnets for trouble but you two go out of your way to find it."

Leander buffed his nails on his shirt while Leandra preened. "It's a gift." They replied in tandem.

"Ugh." Nicholas rolled his eyes.

Jaune cleared his throat. "Any particular reason everyone was looking for me?"

"We were just ensuring none of our mothers had cornered you," August replied, before glancing askance at Arslan.

The warrior-nun narrowed her eyes at the implied accusation. "Have you a problem with my actions thus far, Prince August?"

The tall man sighed, "No, by all accounts you've been conducting yourself well, Breaker Altan."

"And I would have stepped in if she hadn't been!" Called out a chipper voice.

""Auntie Penny!"" Came the answering cry from the small horde of potential children.

The redhead tilted her head in confusion at the unfamiliar form of address before she was suddenly mobbed by a group of complete strangers. She blinked in surprise at the swarm of teenagers hugging her. "Oh, this is nice!"

"Kids! Get off of Penny, you'll crush her!" Jaune shouted, chasing after them.

Julian snorted, "Pfft, as if! Auntie Penny is the strongest!"

"Yeah! She could totally bench press all of us with one hand!" Xia agreed.

Theodore, one of the only children to not be hugging the gynoid, cleared his throat. "In my future, Auntie Penny is largely regarded as the deadliest combatant in the world due to a combination of factors. While she is currently not in the same league as her older counterpart, she is still more than capable of defeating any of us. Save for possibly Xander."

Xander, also standing to the side, coughed and looked sheepish, "I've sparred with her before. I've never won then. I might be able to eke out a win right now."

"Well, there you go."

Jaune sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Should you really be sharing that where anybody can hear?"

Theodore flushed, "No, probably not."

"Not to worry, Friend Jaune," Penny interjected from inside the hug pile. "There is nobody in earshot who was not already aware of the situation."

Jaune sighed again, "Well that's a relief."

Nicholas wriggled out of the group hug, straightening his coat before turning to his father. "We intend to support the ground rules the Headmaster established, hence our attempt to monitor your location. With Auntie Penny here though, fairness is all but assured."

"I'm glad you have such a high opinion of me, Acquaintance Nicholas!" Came Penny's muffled voice once again. "Especially since I know very little about all of you!"

The Schnee Scion gave an embarrassed smile, "Well, you're very important to us. I've learned a lot from you."

Julian dematerialized and rematerialized next to his half-brother. "Yeah! You're the coolest, Auntie Penny! You and mom always have the best stories!"

Theodore spoke up, "You've been a mentor and a confidant my entire life."

"You're great at helping me cool off when I get too fired up!" Xia added, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet.

"My skills both on and off of the battlefield have benefitted from your tutelage," Xander declared.

August smiled from the sidelines, "You've been a welcome presence in the Royal Palace since I was a child."

Petra nodded in agreement beside him, "Everyone at our monastery has learned something from your visits."

"You create the best nail art!" Amethyst chimed in, letting go of Penny.

The faunus twins appeared behind the embrace. "You always get us out of trouble."

"We don't have nightmares when you're around," Ash said while Ashley nodded in agreement, both twins stepping away.

"And you give the warmest hugs!" Dorothy said with a smile, the last to let go of the redhead.

For a moment, Penny was frozen, eyes dilated and glowing as they scanned across the teenagers smiling at her, before she looked to the ground. "I- I don't know what to say."

She looked back up, her face twisting between expressions of profound joy and sadness. "I've n-never experienced anything like this before. I'm SO happy that I'm important to so many people but I'm SO sad that I haven't actually experienced any of that yet and I can't process these emotions and I feel like I could burst and-"

"Hey!" Jaune rushed over to the panicking girl, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, it's okay, just let it out." He shifted to rubbing gentle circles on her back, absently noting that she was a lot firmer than expected.

"What should I let out?" Penny asked, confusion adding itself to the maelstrom of emotions inside of her.

"Uh, I just meant you should cry to express your emotions. I always feel a bit better after a good cry."

"Oh." The redhead looked apologetic. "I am sorry, Friend Jaune, but I am unable to cry."

Jaune gave her a reassuring smile, "That's fine. Maybe try screaming instead? That's pretty cathartic."

The resulting wave of noise that emerged from Penny's mouth knocked him off his feet.

"Oh! That is much better!" She exclaimed, before noticing Jaune's predicament. "Ah! I am so sorry, Friend Jaune! I did not mean to harm you!" She cried as she helped him back to his feet.

"N-no worries, Penny." Jaune reassured her, as his Aura fixed the ringing in his ears. "I've taken worse hits!"

"We're so sorry, Auntie Penny!" Julian said as he rushed over. "We shouldn't have overwhelmed you. We were just so happy to see you."

Penny smiled warmly at the younger boy. "Thank you, Friend Julian. The emotional distress was a new and strange experience for me but it was worth it to know that I have so many people who care about me."

"You're much better at handling complex emotional calculations in the future," Nicholas said as he approached. "Your father had been working on software updates in that vein from the moment you came online."

Penny clapped her hands, eyes glowing bright green. "Oh, that sounds sensational!"

"Wait a second," Jaune said, Nicholas's words finally twigging something in his brain. "Penny... are you a robot?"

There was a moment of silence before Xander broke it. "Mother was right, you are impossibly dense."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The smell of food welcomed Moses back to the waking world. With bleary eyes he sat up in his bed and pushed himself back so he was resting against the headboard. As his groggy eyes gained focus he could see the source of the smells that woke him: he could see his father, the wizard Oz, pushing a food cart laden with breakfast fixings up to the bedside.

"Oh good, you're already awake," Ozpin greeted. Not in Valean, but in a language that had died before the dawn of the current race of man. He placed a little breakfast in bed table across Moses' lap before asking, "How are you holding up? You feeling any better?"

"Headache's still there," Moses admitted in the same tongue, "But it's not as bad as yesterday. I should be fine."

"Good, good," Ozpin nodded as he placed a plate stacked with frosted cinnamon rolls in front of Moses with a side plate of scrambled eggs and a tall glass of apple juice. "There's a lot that needs to get done today. I'd like your help. Do you feel like you're up to it?"

"Yeah, the headache's small enough for me to ignore it at this point," Moses replied before shoveling a forkful of egg into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and then asked, "Since we're talking in Antediluvian I'm guessing I let slip that you're my dad at some point."

"As you were falling asleep," Ozpin confirmed. "I take it you didn't mean to do that?"

"I didn't," Moses took a bite of a cinnamon roll, chewed and swallowed before continuing. "The timeline's already in a weird place and I was worried letting you know more about the future could make it worse. But since this is breakfast instead of dinner I'm guessing I slept to tomorrow and you've been able to learn stuff about the future from my friends, so my worrying is probably pointless." Another forkful of eggs, washed down by the apple juice. "What all do you know?"

"Theodore shared several details about the immediate future, mostly about Salem and Cinder's plans for the Vytal Festival and what Dr. Watts did in his timeline." Ozpin revealed, "I also got several bits and pieces from the others when they didn't know I could hear them. They all mention Salem at some point and talked about her as if she was a dealt-with problem." Ozpin's voice grew hopeful, "Did I understand them correctly?"

Moses knit his brow in concentration as he chewed on another hunk of cinnamon roll and sorted through the memories of eleven different lifetimes, and by the time he swallowed he had dredged up an answer.

"In about half of the futures you all found some kind of method to work around Salem's immortality leading to a permeant solution," Moses explained as he shoveled more eggs onto his fork. Chewing, swallowing, continuing, "In Julian and Xander's timelines Salem's a statue in the center of Mom's garden. At the start of each week you check the magic wards on her to make sure she stays petrified, and the two of you read stories to her at sunrise and sunset on the off chance she's still conscious and can hear things." Another bite of cinnamon roll. Washing it down with apple juice. "In August's timeline Salem's kept in a medically induced coma in Radian's hospital. Dr. Arc is confident she'll never wake up on her own." More eggs. "In Dorothy's timeline you and Mom designed a prison that could contain her and had Ambrosius build it. Baiting her inside ended up being the most complicated part." Cinnamon roll again. "The details of Petra's timeline aren't as clear, but it involved dragging Salem to a place beyond the world and shoving her inside a tree."

Moses shoved the last of the eggs into his mouth and savored the taste for a bit before continuing. "In the rest of the timelines Salem suffered such a vicious defeat that it will take her centuries to recover, if not a full millennia. In Amethyst's timeline, as well as Ash and Ashley's, Salem's mind was shattered and she's little more than a feral beast wandering the Darklands." He got started on his last cinnamon roll. "In Theodore and Xia's timelines you found a way to separate her from her magic and scattered it across the world, and that reduced her ability to control the Grimm so much that she's only a minor threat lurking in the shadows." He finished his glass of apple juice. "In Nicholas, Leander and Leandra's timelines Salem got trapped in a mirror dimension that greatly limits her ability to interact with the regular world. Under normal circumstances you can only get in and out of that mirror dimension when the stars are right, meaning she should be stuck in there for the next five-hundred years so long as nobody with real magic performs the rituals that could let her out."

"I see..." Ozpin mused as he took the empty dishes away from Moses and took the breakfast in bed tray off his lap, placing them back on the food cart. As he went through the motions of cleaning up from the meal the old wizard's mind raced with the possibilities his temporally displaced son had just presented. The mechanics of Salem's defeats were still a mystery but having clear end goals to work towards was good enough for now, he could always work out the details on the way. He just needed to pick one...

...Petrification had worked in two timelines, and he could already visualize all the steps necessary to make it work... Most of those were steps Summer had taken on a night where everything went wrong. So he was hesitant on the petrification front. He didn't know what the tree beyond the world could be, so he couldn't plan around that. A medically induced coma seemed like a solid idea but getting Salem into one would be a massive undertaking, so that would be a back burner idea for now.

Having Ambrosius build a prison for Salem was something he had considered before, but the limitations of the spirit's power meant the design needed to be perfect. Salem would be able to escape anything less than perfect after all, and she'd escape with the relic of creation within easy reach. He wasn't confident in his own ability to craft a perfect prison, but if a genius like Weena was providing input then maybe, just maybe, it could be done.

That did bring up an important question though, and so Ozpin asked; "What did your mother see in me? I mean she always seemed more interested in her research than relationships."

"There are two reasons for that," Moses began. "First she wanted to marry an intellectual equal; second she decided to put dating on hold until she got her doctorate. Both of those decisions contributed to her current status as a bachelorette: by the time she earned her degree all the good men who could keep up with her were already married, and all the guys who were still single either had egos the size of the sun or weren't interested in a relationship."

Moses stretched and got out of the bed, "When mom first met you she was ready to snatch you up before she put you in the 'not interested in a relationship' category. The way she described it you were basically her ideal man but you were giving off these 'widower in mourning' vibes that made her hesitate and back off."

"I suppose that's fair," Ozpin allowed. And it made sense now that Moses had spelled it out: while he hadn't actively sought out romantic companionship after his separation from Salem there were times where his curse would place his spirit within a man already in a relationship, and the curse didn't always cause those relationships to fall apart. The memories of dozens of good women he had loved and lost over the long march of history raced through his mind. He was indeed a widower in mourning, almost a hundred times over. Which of course lead to the next question:

"So what changed?" Ozpin wondered aloud, "Why was I willing to try again?"

"Jaune Arc's the reason," Moses answered. His father gave him an inquisitive look, so Moses explained, "Things were looking pretty bleak for a bit, and through those darkest hours you had a front row seat to Mr. and Mrs. Arc's developing relationship. Seeing them draw strength from each other made trying again seem worth it, so you asked mom out at their wedding." A wry smile crossed Moses' face, "The fact that mom's immortal probably helped though."

Ozpin mulled over that explanation and the more he thought about it the more it felt right. Weena acted uninterested because he had been uninterested, but the future changed the world in ways that improved his outlook on life and so he became interested. And if he was being honest with himself he was kind of interested now...

...It was time to put his best foot forward then.

"Well, since we're on the subject of your mother I spent most of my afternoon yesterday setting up a lab space for her," Ozpin told Moses. "I was planning on giving it a look over before she gets here today. Would you be up to joining me to work on the finishing touches?"

"Yeah, I think I can manage that," Moses replied.

And so the two of them moved to leave infirmary but before they could get very far Ozpin's scroll dinged from a text message.

"What is it?" Moses asked as his father pulled out his scroll.

"Apparently Glynda's going to church this morning," Ozpin replied as he scrutinized his deputy's involved message, "And that means I'll have to greet everyone who's coming in today." He looked to the clock on the wall, and compared it to the ETA's of the approaching airships. "We should have time to go over your mother's lab before they get here so long as we're mindful of the clock, so let's not waste any time."

And so the two left the infirmary with a schedule to keep...

...Unfortunately a string of unrelated circumstances meant that all of the approaching airships were well ahead of schedule, meaning Ozpin would arrive at Beacon's airfield three minutes too late to do anything about the hullabaloo that was going to go down...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Petra maintained her prayer, head bowed, poised but relaxed. She could feel the essence of the Table Breaker in her, with her mother and father on either side. Despite how she had trained to maintain her emotional control, inside? She was practically giddy.



This was familiar. This was right. This is where she should be, with her family. All together by the grace of the Emperor Above.



She had been taught from an early age that life itself was the breath of Aslan himself. The animus, the gift of life for all living things. It was the purest expression of love that the Emperor and his Son had shown life on Remnant. And they emulated their creator by sharing that love with others. Whether it was killing the soulless abominations known as Grimm for strangers or joining together with family, it was by Love that all beings, humans and Faunus, were redeemed.



That is why her father and mother chose to be Hunters. To protect and bring hope to all, believer or non-believer. Because life was love itself.



She sighed softly. It would be absolutely perfect if her parents held her together, as they had ever since she was a little girl... But she could understand their initial reluctance. They barely knew each other now, and the timeline had changed.



She could only hope it wouldn't turn out like Grandma Basara's old movie, Back to the Present.



Still, she thought, at least I didn't kiss my father... Or mother.



She flushed.



Ugh... What a terrible thought!



A Blue Schnee Glyph appeared underneath her, and she yelped as she fell through nothing into a dormroom. She got to her feet, hands on her wooden hook swords, before Theodore Schnee stepped through the Glyph and held up a hand.



"Relax, I told Dad and your mom I needed you," he said.



Petra looked around in some disbelief. The rest of her "half-siblings" were gathered in the dormroom, sitting on various pieces of furniture. Julian was scowling, as Nicholas sipped some coffee. Xia glared, arms over her impressive chest, while Xander was stoic but clearly still waking up. Leandra and Leander glared in unison as they ate a platter of breakfast pastries. Amethyst did the same, looking extremely nervous. Ash and Ashley seemed unaffected, though there was fatigue in their glares at Theodore. August also drank his coffee, leaning against his extended polearm as he stood up. Dorothy was the only one who seemed completely awake, and she looked more exasperated than anything else.



Petra frowned, but went to sit next to Julian. He was rather sunny, despite everything. He reminded her of her little brother, Eustace.



"Anyway!" Theodore said, clapping his hands together, "You're probably wondering why I brought you all here."



"And why we should care," Ash drawled, his sister nodding in agreement. Theodore put his hands together in a steeple and took a deep breath.



"Okay... Leandra, Leander, and myself checked in on Moses."



Everyone perked up immediately at this, Dorothy especially.



"He had a chat with Ozpin," Theodore said, "Explaining some differences in the timelines and so on. Bottom line though: I think it's safe to say that until he can chat with his mom and a few other scientific geniuses on the planet, we're stuck here."



Many grimaces abounded. Theodore shrugged.



"On the plus side, we're not going to be erased from history... Probably. The way Moses is still in temporal flux means that could still be a possibility. Easiest way to change things in our futures is probably to kill one of our parents... Dad especially."



Julian's eyes widened almost comically. Petra tightened her grip on her hook swords. August stood up straight. Ash and Ashley grimaced. Leander and Leandra sighed as one.



"Adam Taurus is one of the most likely assassins," Leander stated, "He was creepily obsessed with our mom and he's a complete psycho. So that's one threat we gotta watch out for."



"And of course, Salem," Xander pointed out grimly, "She'll want to get her hands on Dad and Moses. Probably both."



"Same with Watts and Merlot," Nicholas volunteered. At the looks from half his siblings, he cleared his throat, "Mad scientists working for Salem. Well, in my timeline anyway."



"And of course," Petra added, "Leonardo Lionheart is a traitor. Did anyone think to bring that up?"



Much grimacing and embarrassed coughs ensued. Theodore shook his head.



"We'll get to that later," he decided, "For now? Let's focus on the immediate threat-"'



"Hey, who died and made you commander?" Julian asked petulantly.



"Nobody," Theodore stated stiffly, "But seeing as I did prevent the fall of Vale and the Vytal Festival-"



"Mom's not gonna be stymied that easily," Ashley pointed out, "Even if she is prone to acting like a comic book supervillainess at this time, she's still dangerous. You just made it so she has to come up with something entirely new. Something we can't predict."



"She has a point," August stated, raising an eyebrow, "Besides, even if you did that, the rest of us could have done it just as easily."



"Or more easily," Dorothy sniffed.



Theodore sighed and adjusted his glasses.



"Yes, but is anyone else now a Captain in the Atlasian Specialists?"



He held up his Scroll. A letter of commission signed by General Ironwood himself floated in the air via holoprojector before all the children of Jaune Arc. Nicholas snorted.



"So? I'm a second lieutenant in the Atlasian ROTC back home!"



"I'm with the Valean Defense Force ROTC too!" Xia smirked, "First lieutenant!"



"Big deal, so am I," Dorothy scoffed.



"I'm a prince," August stated firmly.



"We're prince and princess! Crown even!" Leandra and Leander protested, standing up with their own glowers.



"I am in the Argusian Defense Force ROTC myself, though I'm not ranked yet," Xander contributed, "Even so, you can't just declare you're our leader!"



"I don't really give a shit," Ash stated.



"I'm just a civilian," Amethyst repeated.



"I think you're a jerk!" Julian contributed.



"Back in your worlds, yes," Theodore stated calmly, "But I received my rank here and now."



"So? Doesn't matter if we don't respect it," Xia sneered.



Theodore sighed and his eyes climbed heavenwards.



"All right... We can either do this the old fashioned Arc family way," he said, "Where we beat each other up until someone's dominant-"



"All right!" Xia grinned, slamming her fists together. Petra shook her head.



"Our parents will be upset, to say nothing of everyone else," she stated.



"My mom will kill us," Dorothy emphasized.



"-So that leaves one other Arc traditional means of determining the leader," Theodore continued smoothly despite the interruptions, "Age. Everyone type out your birthdays and hold them out on your Scrolls."



All of the children did so. Theodore's smug expression became even moreso.



"Well! Looks like, as the eldest, I win!"



"You only beat me by a day!" Julian protested.



"And a year," Xia deadpanned.



"S-So?" Julian protested with red cheeks.



"Guys, relax," Theodore said, waving his hand, "We need a leader anyway. So let's just go with me. Hell, we could even vote for a new leader if I do a bad job. That sound fair?"



"For now," August stated dryly, leaning back against the wall, "So, Captain, what's our first order of business?"



"One? The Vale Breach is coming up," Theodore stated, "Maybe I have changed the timeline but it isn't a question of if, but when." He looked over at Ash and Ashley, who nodded in reluctance.



"He's right, Mom can't stop the train plan," Ash said.



"Huh, not bad for terrible jokes," Xia observed.



"You'd know best," Julian grumbled. Xia noogied him for that. "HEY!"



"And second?" Theodore turned to Amethyst. He walked up to her. He pulled her up to her feet, and placed his hand on her chest. She blushed deeply.



"H-Hey, I'm not that kind of sister-!"



"For it is in success that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of perfection and dignity to rise above all. Infinite in supremacy and unbound by others, I release your soul, and by your hand, grace thee..."



Amethyst gasped as her Aura was unlocked, and energy flared around her like a small sun. Theodore pulled his hand back and smirked a bit.



"Congratulations, you're no longer a liability."



"G-Geez!" Amethyst squeaked. "You could have warned me!" She blinked. "W-Wait, but how do I use Aura-or-or fight or-!"



"If Dad figured it out, so can you!" Julian said encouragingly.



"Exactly," Nicholas chimed in, "We're all going to help you. As will your mother."



Amethyst flushed. Theodore shook his head.



"I still find it amazing you didn't get it unlocked at all."



"The world is at peace and I just wanted to be a jeweler!" Amethyst complained.



"Well, now you'll be a fighting jeweler!" Julian laughed.



Petra sighed, and hugged the fretting Amethyst. It was why she was here, after all. Why they were all here: Life was love.



Though she was finding that it certainly had its ups and downs...



- - -

 

[FinalFormer]

Cross-Posting this from the Spacebattles thread

Glimpses Into Another Time: Liaris Freese

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

The Continent of Anima. 1 Year After The Fall of Beacon.

Clang.

Clang, Clang.

Clang .

In the outskirts of Fushiguro Village, a song of swords rang out in the cold night. Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, was training with her team leader and... boyfriend Jaune Arc.

Even after all this time, after all the suffering they have been through, calling Jauen her 'boyfriend' still lit her soul aflame.

Which is why it pained her to see him pushing himself as hard as he currently was.

"RRRAGH!!" Jaune roared, throwing the full weight of his new sword towards her. Pyrrha blocked with Akouo and softened the blow with Polarity. He was getting better. His use of Aura Sensing was getting far more precise every time they sparred. His sight may have been gone, but Jaune still proved he had what it takes to be a hero. How far he was willing to go to help anyone who needed it.

Jaune's sword then began to glow, releasing a blast of lightning dust, sending Pyrrha back. His new sword (Which he still had yet to name) was a very interesting element to their sessions. Ruby called it her second-best masterpiece: a railgun/bastard sword with a cycling Dust chamber in the crossguard. It could also mechshift into a spear, a design choice Jaune had apparently insisted upon. Pyrrha knew why he chose it. It was an homage to her: his champion, his mentor, his beloved.

She still felt guilty that his old sword, Crocea Mors, had been destroyed in the first place. During their fight with Cinder, she had disintegrated the ancestral blade, the flames hot enough to permanently blind Jaune. If it hadn't been for Ruby and her uncle, they might have been killed.

They had recovered in Jaune's hometown of Radian. His father and uncle had taught him what he needed to know about Aura Sensing and Aura Sight, much to Isabel's dismay. Jaune said he needed to prepare if he were to continue being a Hunter. Ruby and Yang had decided that they were going to cross Anima to go to Mistral in the off chance that Cinder might attack Haven Academy.

Jaune's sword had shifted into its spear form and he began a series of thrusts. He was aiming for her legs! Pyrrha began to weave between each thrust, blocking any stray strike. What didn't help was his Semblance. Aura Amp was amplifying his speed, make it far more difficult her to keep up. She felt her mouth shift into a smile. The only person to ever put her on the back foot was Arslan Altan, but Jaune might actually be the first person to defeat her.

Pyrrha still remembered the fight they had about joining Ruby and Yang on their journey to Haven Academy. She was prepared to leave with Ren and Nora until they had caught him sneaking out before them.

"Jaune, I'm sorry but you're not going with us. It's too-"

"No. Don't tell me it's 'too dangerous'. Tell me what you're really thinking, Pyrrha!," Jaune snapped. "It's because I'm blind. I told you, I can pull my weight just like the rest of you!"

"Jaune, please. You're not fully recovered," Pyrrha pleaded, "You can meet up with us at Haven once you've fully recovered! I don't want you getting hurt!"

"GODSDAMMIT PYRRHA!! I'M NOT MADE OUT OF GLASS!!" Jaune screamed.

"DON'T TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME, JAUNE!!," Pyrrha roared back, tears welling in her eyes, "I ALMOST LOST YOU AT BEACON AND I REFUSE TO LOOSE YOU AGAIN!!"

They had shared a few more harsh words, and eventually, Jaune did end up joining the group. They didn't talk to each other the first two weeks until Yang had dragged the two of them away from camp to let them sort things out. Tears were shed that night. So were words the two desperately needed to share.

"I... I don't regret it for a second," Jaune said "If it meant saving you, to be with for the rest of my life, I'd loose my sight all over again."

Pyrrha snuggled closer, resting her head against his chest. Her cheeks began to redden.

"Promise me, Jaune. Promise me you'll never make me cry like that ever again." Pyrrha whispered.

"I give you my word, Pyrrha. And an Arc never goes back on their word." Jaune replied.

Jaune switched his spear back into its sword form and unleashed another arc of lightning dust towards Pyrrha. She successfully dodges, but the moment she lands, her foot had been caught in ice. She looks to see Jaune had thrust his sword into the ground. He must have done that the moment she recognized the lightning attack! That was rather sneaky of him.

But Pyrrha was still the Invincible Girl. She hurled Akouo towards Jaune, who anticipated this, smacked the shield out of his way. Until his sword was yanked out of his hands by Pyrrha's Polarity, landing right into the ice covering her leg. Before he could lunge to reclaim his weapon, Akouo was pulled back, striking Jaune in the back of the head. As he landed on his back, Pyrrha freed herself from her leg from its icy prison with the Fire Dust in Jaune's sword. Charging towards her opponent, she shifted Milo into its rifle form and aimed it straight at Jaune. A smug smirk ghosted her face.

"Yield." She said. Jaune groans in defeat. He then began to pick himself up off the ground.

"You cheated," Jaune whined "You can't just snatch my sword out my hand like that! I thought we fighting by tournament rules!"

"I decided to mix it up tonight," Pyrrha says coyly "Besides, Yang fights dirty too, but you never complain when you spar with her."

"That's because I know she's going fight dirty." Jaune says dryly.

"Still, you were so close this time. The last time I was on the defensive was back in Sanctum. You should be proud of the progress we've made!" Pyrrha states proudly. She wasn't going to let him downplay his progress, especially now. Jaune's growth as a Huntsman was always impressive but now it was even more monstrous. His brain was like a sponge, any information or knowledge that was given to him, his brain would soak it in. "Plus, your handling of Aura Sensing and Aura Sight is improving. In fact, I think you might actually become an expert in both in a few years. Maybe even less."

Jaune began to rub the back of his head (It's so cute when he does that!) "Well, geez. When you put it like that, I guess I can't be that bad. But I still need to catch up to the rest of you."

He retrieved his sword and gave it a once over. He wasn't exactly a weapons expert like Ruby, but even he could tell this thing was impressive.

"So, how is it?" Pyrrha asks.

"I still need to get used to its weight. And the spear form. Everything else is fine," Jaune says, staring at it longingly "But... I still miss it. Crocea Mors. I still can't believe it got destroyed. Man, Mom was pissed."

That was a severe understatement. She had told him that if he weren't in a such critical state, she would've killed him. Even his Dad was disappointed. Until he found out that his new weapon was going to be a railgun sword.

"Have you decided on a name?" Pyrrha asks.

"Actually, I have," Jaune replies with a smile "I... I thought of you when I came up with it."

"Oh? How romantic." Pyrrha laughs

"I'm not calling it 'Pyrrha 2' if that's what you're thinking," Jaune turns to face Pyrrha, "When we weren't talking to each other at the beginning of our trip, I felt... I felt like a part of me was gone. Even if we were only a few feet away from each other. It felt as if you were out of reach."

Pyrrha felt a twinge of sadness. She didn't like being reminded of those first two weeks. She had fallen back into her old "apologize for everything" habit after they made up.

"I think that's when I realized that... I want to be by your side," Jaune continued. His eyes, even though his vision was gone, had a fire in them that only Pyrrha could see. "I never want to be away from you if I can't help it."

"Jaune, we're to young to get married." Pyrrha giggled.

Jaune's face began to turn red. "That's not what I-- Wait, you want...," Jaune then cleared his throat, mentally putting a pin on that conversation, "A-anyway, what I meant to say is: Yes, I finally have a name for my sword. I think it's pretty cool."

"Well, don't keep me waiting. What is it?" Pyrrha prys.

"Liaris Freese," Jaune states. "I figured I'd give it a symbolic name, y'know. It means 'Wholehearted Longing'. Because that's how I feel with you." Jaune's face began to blush. So did Pyrrha's.

She stared at him. She knew she could be easily swooned by Jaune's actions, but this was certainly one of her favorite ones so far!

"I-I know. It's pretty cheesy but--" Jaune didn't even get to finish his sentence. Pyrrha stopped him with a deep, passionate kiss. Putting all of her love into it. Jaune leaned into it, returning the amount of affection she was giving.

When they broke the kiss, Pyrrha pressed her forehead against his. "I love you, Jaune Arc. I'll never stop loving you. Nikos' word."

"Now you're stealing my 'Name Sworn Promises' thing?," Jaune asks, "Besides, shouldn't I be the one who says that?"

"Not today," Pyrrha says, taking his hand in hers, "Now let's go. We still have a long journey ahead of us."

"You want to go one more round? I'm not tired yet." Jaune asks. His drive to improve was rising up once again.

"Fine," Pyrrha sighs, getting into her fighting stance, "But you have to cook breakfast tomorrow. As much as I enjoy cookies and pancakes, I don't want to get to the point of craving them 24/7."

"You got it." Jaune says. He gets into his stance and waits. Pyrrha then makes the first move, changing shield first.

And so, the song of swords continued to sing in the night.

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

 

[AndrewJTalon]

"Mrs. Nikos, We're on our final approach and will be landing in about five minutes," Orestes Nemes announced from the pilot's chair.

"Thank you Orestes," Athena put away her book and pulled out a compact mirror. She held it up so it framed her face perfectly and she stared intently into her own eyes. She took a deep breath to center herself and began her most important preparation for the day:

"The stage is waiting, and the audience thirsts for adventure," Athena whispered aloud. "Who am I? I could be anybody. I, I could be an airship captain who just returned from a mighty voyage to discover her daughter eloped in her absence! Or I could be a lone huntress! Battling Grimm in the rainforest until I receive a letter telling me I've become a grandmother and my family needs me at home! Or perhaps I'm a countess, fearful that her daughter has been deceived by her suitor! Yes. And if Pyrrha's love story needs a villain... I'll be the greatest villain the world has-"

"Mrs. Nikos!" Orestes interrupted the retired movie star's train of thought as the airship came to a complete stop on the landing pad. "I believe your daughter needs your genuine feelings right now, not another lived performance!"

"If she needs me in that role I'll play it Orestes," Athena objected. "I've always played the role Pyrrha's needed to push her story forward: the fact that's placed me in the role of antagonist more often than it's placed me in the role of loving support is a regretful necessity I made peace with long ago."

"You made peace with it far too quickly if you ask me." Orestes looked his employer in the eye as he continued, "Just remember that if you're the villain in your daughter's story you'll be the villain in your grandchild's story. I know you don't want that, so I need you to look inside your heart and ask yourself if playing any role besides the supportive mother is actually necessary or just something you want to do."

The two of them stared at each other unblinking for an uncomfortable amount of time. Eventually, Athena looked away first.

"It's always been necessary," the actress tried to justify. "I've taught Pyrrha more about how the world works through lived experience than I could have with heart-to-heart conversations."

"I'm not sure sure that's true ma'am," Orestes replied as he got out of his seat and started to collect his employer's luggage.

"You could just hold my hand to tell if I'm being genuine or not." Athena offered.

"My Semblance works based off of what someone BELIEVES to be true," Orestes clarified not for the first time. "That isn't always going to line up with reality. But it has given me a lot of perspective on what reality is for a person. Your reality is that your daughter needs you to be honest and sincere about your feelings: Not you playing a role."

Athena sighed and dropped her next protest. While Orestes hadn't been in her employ for long but he was one of the few people who had seen her real self since she had split with her husband all those years ago. Normally when a servant started getting that close she fired and replaced them as her budget for trust was quite small, but Orestes' had proven himself worthy of that trust before she had gotten the chance to fire him and now he was too valuable to let go. His pushback against her ideas was annoying but had been valuable on more than one occasion, so she would put off choosing a role to play until she had a better measure of her daughter's paramour.

She closed her eyes in concentration and when she opened them she in one of her more generic personas: the high society woman that men hesitate to approach. This mask would do until she was with her daughter.

She exited the private airship with graceful poise and a purposeful stride, Orestes following with the luggage that shouldn't be left behind in a private vehicle for any reason no matter how safe a parking place may be.

The long term parking for private airships ran parallel to the more short term landing strips of commercial airships, with the path leading to the school proper situated between them. The hatch for her airship just so happened to be facing away from that path so Athena strode around her airship like the diva she currently embodied, only for her steps to slow as she saw the airship that had landed next to hers...

That was one of the Schnee family's custom airships. The persona Athena was currently embodying wouldn't pass up a chance to speak with fellow members of high society like the Schnees. A delay keeping her from Pyrrha then. Athena closed her eyes and forced her annoyance down: breaking character wouldn't help Pyrrha at all.

The Schnee airship opened its' doors and Willow Schnee gracefully descended the access ramp like butter sliding over warm bread. Following slightly behind the Schnee matriarch on her left was her son Whitley, who was scowling as much as his dignity allowed. Athena could also see a butler wrangling some luggage behind them in the airship.

"Mrs. Schnee!" Athena greeted the matriarch of the world's richest family, "What a pleasant surprise!"

Willow gaped at the retired actress for a moment before she returned the greeting in kind, "Athena Nikos? My goodness, you haven't aged a day! How long has it been? Ten, twelve years?"

"Twelve," Athena answered, "It's been twelve years since the Martha Wayland Charity Gala, I see you've-"

"ATHENA! DARLING!" A loud and joyous voice shouted, and Athena's smile became strained and too polite as she recognized who that voice belonged to. The redhead turned just in time to be bear-hugged by the woman who had called out, and Athena felt the joints in her back pop as she was lifted off the ground. "IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!"

"Hello Basara," Athena wheezed with her smile becoming more and more plastic by the second. Basara put Athena back on the ground and let go of her fellow retired actress, stepping back to get a good look at the redhead.

"You look fantastic!" The dark-skinned woman gushed as her husband Logos stepped up beside her. "I see you're doing much better without the ponce than the ponce is doing without you, his latest batch of infomercials isn't even that good."

Athena blinked owlishly as her façade crumbled and she stared at Basara like the other woman had grown a second head. "I, I thought you liked Peleus..." She eventually managed.

"We did," Logos admitted with a frown, "And when we heard about your separation in the news it was a bit of a shock to us. But you were never a frivolous woman, so we knew you must have had good reasons for separating from him. You also have a high tolerance for fools and idiots, so Peleus had to have done something monumentally stupid for you to have demanded a separation."

"I, well, he did..." Athena stammered as she cast her eyes about for a way out of this conversation. From the look Orestes was giving her she could tell that he thought this was a beneficial interaction she needed to go through. And so Athena locked eyes with Willow and sent a silent plea for help.

A plea the Schnee matriarch was willing to answer as she strode forward and interjected herself into the conversation, "Excuse me, you're Basara Altan right? Winner of best actress four years in a row?"

"That is me," Basara confirmed in a slightly put out tone.

"I'm a HUGE fan or your work!" Willow gushed with all the enthusiasm of a teenage girl with front row seats for her favorite singer's concert. "Your soliloquy in Maple Lake brings me to tears every time I watch it, and I've watched The Lost Princess on my birthday every year since it was released! I can't believe we've never met before! I mean the whole reason I went to the Azurite Gala was because you were supposed to be there! Why weren't you?"

"Well my husband and I were invited," Basara shrugged as she accepted that this was the conversation she was having now, "But we were quietly uninvited about a week before the Gala happened."

"Why would you get uninvited?" Willow asked in surprise.

"The host was worried his mother would cause a scene after she found out my roaring in The Last Mile wasn't dubbed," Basara explained.

"Oh?" Willow blinked in confusion for a moment as she worked through the odd-seeming statement, but it didn't take her long to put things together, "Oh. Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that happened."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Basara looked Willow in the eye, "You aren't the one who insulted us."

Logos nodded in agreement with his wife before he rumbled out a question, "If it's not too much to ask what business brings you here Mrs. Schnee? It's still a bit early for the Vytal Festival."

"We're here because my sisters mamboed sideways with a man and are dealing with the consequences," Whitley sourly interjected. Willow gasped at her son's brazen disregard for his sisters' privacy while a scandalized look grew across her face. Athena closed her eyes and grit her teeth. Willow pulled her out of a social situation she didn't want to deal with, she was obligated to return the favor.

"I'm here for a similar reason," Athena explained in a commiserating voice. "My daughter has gotten a child from her team leader, Jaune Arc."

For some reason Willow froze at that pronouncement. Whitley's face grew more sour. Basara and Logos looked to each other with raised eyebrows, and then Basara said something that shook Athena's core:

"What an interesting coincidence," Basara's voice was surprisingly nonjudgmental considering the subject matter, "We are also here because of a child our daughter had with Jaune Arc."

"Oh dear," Willow murmured as she looked between Athena and the Altans, "Both my daughters are also with a Jaune Arc. Are we all speaking about the same Jaune Arc? Messy blond hair? Blue eyes? Son of an absolute hunk?"

"Excuse us," a new feminine voice interjected, "Are you talking about Jaune Arc?"

Athena's head snapped in the direction of the new voice to see Ghira and Kali Belladonna, rulers of the sovereign territory of Menagerie approached them with cautious smiles.

"We are," Logos confirmed, "My wife and I are here to help with the granddaughter Jaune Arc is responsible for."

"I see we're here with a common purpose then," Ghira observed. "I didn't expect to meet any of the other parents so soon after landing."

"Wait wait wait," The world was shifting beneath Athena's feet. She pointed to Basara and Logos, "Your daughter has a child with Jaune Arc." She pointed to Willow, "Both of your daughters have children with Jaune Arc." She turned her finger to Ghira and Kali, "And your daughter has a child with Jaune Arc."

"Twins actually," Kali corrected. Athena didn't notice.

"And my Pyrrha has a child with Jaune Arc!" Athena's voice rose an octave. "How many women has Jaune Arc been with!?!?"

Ghira and Kali gave each other a look and mutually agreed it was best to rip off the band-aid instead of dragging it out. "The number we were given was eleven."

"Eleven!!!" Athena croaked. She felt her stomach drop. Orestes was right: her never-ending role-play style of teaching Pyrrha hadn't worked! Her daughter had fallen in with an insatiable playboy! She should have had honest heart to heart conversations with Pyrrha like Orestes said she should have!

Athena fainted, and Orestes was there to catch her before she went down.

The redheaded actress wasn't out for long. She opened her eyes to see everyone present gathered around and looking down at her with concern as Orestes supported her.

"This is all my fault," the words spilled from Athena's lips as Orestes helped her stand again. "I've failed as a mother and left my daughter helpless to the charms of a rake!"

"Glynda assured me Jaune Arc is a good man," Orestes patted Athena on the shoulder, "The situation might not be what you're thinking."

"If what we were told is true then the situation is definitely not what you're thinking," Logos rumbled.

"Yes," Basara continued for her husband, "We were told our granddaughter is here due to time travel. I would not be surprised if it's the same for all of you as well."

"Time Travel?" Whitley scoffed, "And you believed that?"

Uncertain looks went around the group, and a lively debate about the plausibility of time travel kicked off.

With everyone so distracted it should come as no surprise that no one noticed the large corvid land on an extra tall lamppost a few dozen yards away.

Nobody noticed its' intense stare, or the calculating gleam in its' eyes...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Two airships manufactured in the sub-kingdom of Pandu landed around the same time not too far away from one another. They were of different models; a smaller one designed for complicated maneuvers in remote locations and a larger one built for luxury and comfort while cruising along well-established airways. From the smaller of the two airships emerged Nicholas "Nick" Arc and his brother in arms Arjun Sarkara. From the larger ship came their wives Isabel and Saia. The two pairs converged in the space between the airships, with Nick scooping up his wife into a hug while laughing in excitement. Isabel hugged back, though her own hug was tenser and her expression anxious.

"Grandparents eleven times over!" Nick grinned as he pulled back from the hug. "Our son is winning at life!"

"Winning?" Isabel smacked Nick's arm, "Our boy's about to have more responsibility placed onto his shoulders than he can imagine! And that's if everyone agrees to play nice! There could be lawsuits! A public smear campaign! A hundred other nightmares you can't stab or shoot your way out of could be barreling down on our son at this very moment!"

"Well, he could always crash on our couch if he has to flee the country," Arjun half-seriously joked.

"Now isn't a good time to joke about such things dear," Saia admonished before a small smirk graced her lips, "Though we do have a nice couch."

"We do? Good. That's why I made you Queen, you know all about such things," Arjun said with a gentle smile for his wife.

Isabel closed her eyes and took a calming breath. She had gotten a LOT of practice keeping calm with her team back in school, after all. "Let's just find our son and talk with the headmaster before we're accosted by angry parents."

"NICHOLAS ARC YOU SON OF A BITCH!" All four of them flinched from the intensity of the bellowing voice that was approaching. They all turned to face the caller, and a snarl escaped Nick's throat.

"TAIYANG XIAO LONG YOU RAT BASTARD!" Nick yelled back. The two blond men of different heights aggressively strode toward each other with raised hands ready for an open-palm strike. Those hands came together with enough force to produce the sound of a small thunderclap and clasped each other in an arm wrestling position. The two men then tried to push the other's hand out of position, savage grins were mirrored on their faces as laughter escaped both of their lips.

Sauntering up from behind Taiyang was the familiar, if significantly messier from the last time they saw him, Qrow Branwen. The dark-haired scythe wielder took a sip from a flask he stored in a shirt pocket before nodding in their direction, "'Sup?"

Tension left Isabel's shoulders with the recognition that she was dealing with old friends instead of irate parents. "Qrow, Tai, it's good to see you again," She greeted the pair.

"It's good to see all of you too," Qrow replied as Nick and Tai's impromptu arm-wrestling match ended in a draw. "It's been quite a while."

"It has," Arjun agreed right before the passage of time hit him. "Was the wedding really the last time we were all together as a group?"

"It was," Tai affirmed with melancholy in his voice. "We still use the coffee machine you guys got us."

"We're sorry we couldn't attend the funeral," Saia bowed her head with a look of shame.

"You guys had a lot on your plate then," Tai excused, "What with that gang boss trying to sneak back into the country."

"That may be true," Arjun allowed, "Yet we still regret the fact we weren't able to honor Summer's memory with you. We placed a statue of her in the Hall of Heroes, but it felt hollow without those who were closest to her."

"You mean the Hall of Heroes in the royal palace?" Qrow asked. When Arjun and Saia nodded Qrow let out a low whistle, "That's one hell of an honor; I remember hearing a report in the news that your Hall of Heroes is almost out of room."

"Yes," a small smile grew on Arjun's face, "Adding any more statues will require a remodel of that wing of the palace. Some of our advisors were upset that we used some of our last remaining space to honor a foreigner that never stepped foot in Pandu, but Summer deserved it."

"That's, that's," Taiyang sniffed and wiped away a tear that threatened to spill from the corner of his eye, "Thank you. I'll have to make time to come and see it."

Nick placed a hand on Tai's shoulder and rumbled, "We're sorry the funeral was the last time we spoke with you."

"That's not your fault," Tai shrugged. "You guys live on the other side of the country, and I was enough of a mess after everything that we would have fallen out of contact even if you lived down the road."

"We still could have found some excuse to swing by and check up on you," Isabel objected. "Both of our jobs are flexible enough for that."

"Well," Qrow smirked, "If you really want to make it up to us you can tell your son that Tai's officially his favorite in-law."

Isabel's eyes darted back and fourth between Qrow and Tai before she buried her face in her hands with a groan, mentally kicking herself for not entertaining the possibility that Tai's kids could be among those her son had shacked up with. "Yang or Ruby?" She asked from behind her hands.

"Yes," Tai smiled.

"BOTH OF THEM?!?" Isabel's head whipped up with wide eyes.

"Yep," Tai popped the p as his smile morphed into a grin. "So I'm morally obligated to give your boy a hard time, but I think we can skip that if he marries my girls first."

"Breaker above," Isabel moaned, "Why?"

"Hey, it's not my fault your son inherited his father's harem powers," Tai replied slightly put out by Isabel's reaction.

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked with confusion on his face, "I'm married to the only woman I've ever dated. How could Jaune have inherited harem powers from me?"

"You can't tell me you never noticed how many girls were gunning for you?" Tai elaborated. "I mean beyond Isabel you had Mombi, Glynda, Snezana, that weird tiger faunus girl, and that was just at Beacon. I'm pretty sure that Schnee lady you played bodyguard for had the hots for you, and the whole reason Vermilion Pullet gave you a fifty percent discount on all her baked goods was because she was trying to reach your heart through your stomach."

"But I only dated and married one girl," Nick insisted. "That makes me as monogamous as possible. You're the person who married more than one woman, doesn't' that mean you had harem powers?"

"I was in a love triangle," Tai explained. "If you check with your local bookstore they'll tell you that isn't considered a harem story unless the guy marries both girls at the same time. You my friend were part of a love octagon; and that's considered a harem story even if only one girl gets with the guy."

"Oh, I see," Nick grinned, "You're trying to pin this on me because my son's gone beyond your greatest accomplishment of knowing the touch of two different women!"

"What! No!" Tai squawked before trying to give Nick a noogie, something the taller man easily avoided while laughing.

"I must admit I'm confused as to why both of you are avoiding the harem accusations," Arjun observed. "I was under the impression that Vale's laws allows for bigamy under a wide variety of circumstances. You would think more people would embrace the convenience those laws provide." The royal archer then noticed the side eyed expression his wife was giving him and so he hastily added: "Though the strict monogamy of Pandu's laws is something I'm personally quite happy with."

Saia rolled her eyes before kissing her husband on the cheek.

Isabel heaved a mighty sigh before she muttered to herself, "Alright. I'm going to be related to Taiyang now. That's fine. Tai isn't a stranger who'll try to take advantage of Jaune." Her face then contorted with self recrimination, "Oh! Where did I go wrong? Jaune's now the fourth child of mine to run away from home to find their destiny elsewhere! And do they talk to me and tell me what their doing? No! I only find out what they're up to after they get themselves into trouble like this! Trouble they could have avoided if they just stuck to the morals I tried to teach them! But no! They just put their morals aside in their quest to find themselves and then I have to help untangle the knot! Was I too hard on them? Not hard enough?"

"Well," Qrow interjected, "You're batting 50/50 right now, so I wouldn't say you're doing everything wrong."

Isabel turned her gaze to the dark haired man. "Thank you Qrow, for reminding me why I've never gone to you for a sympathetic ear."

"What's wrong with what I said?" Qrow asked without really expecting an answer.

"Isabel, I doubt the situation is as dire as you probably think it is," Arjun reasoned. "Jaune isn't the type to go after frivolous women. Their parents are probably decent folk like Taiyang and we'll all be able to find the best path forward together. Really the biggest obstacle is going to be the expense of raising so many children, yet if all of our families contribute I'm certain we'll be able to afford not just the current batch of children but any future children Jaune and his girls decide to have."

"Wait, you're including yourself among the families who are going to chip in?" Isabel asked.

"Well of course," Arjun smiled, "Jaune is my godson after all! It's only fitting we provide all the help we can."

"Of course it will be easier for us to access royal funds if it's a family expense," Saia picked up where her husband left off, "So if one of your daughters married our son everything will go more smoothly."

"Oh not this again," Isabel groused as the royal couple chuckled.

As his laughter came to an end Arjun cast his eyes about to look at the things his aura sensing ability had already told him were there. It was a simple wisdom to confirm what his more esoteric senses were telling him with his more mundane senses, it had let him catch oddities that turned out to be assassins on more that one occasion. Cardboard boxes weren't supposed to have human souls in them after all...

...and neither were birds.

Arjun kept the large corvid in the corner of his eye, watching it land on a particularly large lamppost where it had a good view of most of the airfield. It was staring at a small gathering of people a good distance away with the gleam of malice in its' eye. That in and of itself might not have been odd, corvids were smart enough to hold grudges after all, but this corvid felt like it had the soul of a human woman. Something was up.

Not wanting to draw the bird's attention, Arjun began to move his hands in the old sign language Team SANI had devised for stealthier missions. Saia noticed right away, they still used it to hold private conversations in the middle of court after all. Isabel and Nick proved they weren't that rusty either as Isabel was instantly alert and Nick stopped roughhousing with Tai. The three of them were soon keeping their eyes on the bird like Arjun was.

Taiyang and Qrow had never been taught the sign language Team SANI used, but they were still quick on the uptake and noticed the sudden change in their friend's dispositions. The two of them looked in the general direction the rest were looking in and saw the bird as well. The two of them tensed, and Qrow reached for his weapon.

"Shit." Qrow cursed as he looked at the raven. Then the raven jumped into the air, "SHIT!"

Qrow shot forward and Isabel felt her eyes bug out as her friend's shape changed before her eye, the dark haired man becoming a crow in more than just name, his aura infused wings pushing him forward faster than human legs could.

"What in the-" Saia began as Taiyang shot off after his teammate, fortunately he shouted an explanation as he went:

"THAT RAVEN'S RAVEN!"

Isabel's semblance Total Body Control gave her access to many abilities most would consider to be unnatural. Altering her own brain chemistry was one of them. The Arc matriarch altered her perception of time in an effort to analyze the rapidly changing events in front of her. The raven was indeed turning into Raven, who was drawing her blade and descending on a curved trajectory towards a group of important looking people. In spite of their speed Taiyang and Qrow wouldn't get there before Raven had the chance to stab someone. She knew what she needed to do. As the normal perception of time returned the command was already leaving her lips:

"NICK! THROW ME!"

There was no hesitation on her husband's part, and she was sent hurtling through the air at speeds something as non-aerodynamic as a woman shouldn't be able to achieve. Within a few heartbeats she was past Tai and Qrow, landing roughly on her feet between the group of important looking people and Raven, who's blade pierced through Isabel's aura and flesh.

The instant the blade touched her she shifted all of the vital organs and blood vessels out of its path through her flesh. As it came out her other side she grew a sheath of bone around it from her ribs, pinning it in place within her.

"Hello again Raven," Isabel growled, "Still a crazy bitch I see."

Isabel punched Raven using all the might she could muster with the blade keeping her from putting her whole body into the motion. It was still enough to knock the black-haired woman back as she was forced to let go of her sword.

Raven stumbled for a moment, and in that moment Taiyang was on Isabel's right and Qrow was on Isabel's left fully human again with his weapon drawn. Three to one with reinforcements literally seconds away and Raven without her weapon.

Isabel liked those odds.

"Isabel, Tai, Brother," Raven hissed. "This was going to be a stab and run, maybe grabbing a hostage or two on the way out." The black haired woman stretched our her empty hand and Isabel felt her eyes bug out again as a mass of rebar literally tore itself out of the tarmac and then shaped itself into a new sword that Raven grabbed out of the air. "Now? Now this needs to be a massacre with no witnesses."

The odds were not quite as Isabel liked.

For a moment something that vaguely resembled regret flashed across Raven's face before her countenance hardened, "Sorry you're about to be collateral Tai, Qrow."

She pointed her blade towards them, and lunged...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Raven didn't expect her first lunge to land a killing blow. Not while Qrow was right there ready to block her first strike with Harbinger in its' sword form. Tai also possessed good enough reflexes to try dodging her strikes and move within her guard, so the fact he was unarmed wasn't what put him at a disadvantage in this fight. Isabel was similar to Tai with the added bonus that even a solid hit wouldn't guarantee real damage to her body or aura, as evidenced by the sword that was now harmlessly imbedded in her body. Raven mentally cursed the fact that she hadn't had the opportunity to restock Omen's dust blades before this job, for if she had Isabel's stunt could have taken her out of the fight. That said all three of them were opponents that she would have to take seriously in a one on one fight so facing all three of them without using the power of the Maiden was foolish, especially since the odds of Isabel being here without her husband Nick was low, meaning Raven only had a few moments before this became a four verses one.

In times past poetic duelists would compare fights to strategic games like chess, with the fighters planning out their moves multiple steps ahead of their opponent. Real fights are messier than chess, and the farther away you get from the formally regulated one on one duel the messier the fight is going to be. With the chaotic way things shift in the heat of the moment a step-by-step plan would never work, but broad ideas can often get the job done.

Idea/Plan A was simple: acquire a human shield to reduce the angles her opponents could use to attack her. With that goal in mind she angled her first lunge in Qrow's direction and used his deflection of her strike to move around the trio opposing her. As a result of the first clash of their blades, she had repositioned herself so that Qrow was between her, Tai and Isabel, and with the second clash of their blades she was in a position where she could grab one of the Schnee's.

And so with the third clash of blades Raven leapt away from her brother and spun through the air, fully intending to slide around Willow Schnee and grab the Atasian woman from behind. That didn't happen, for the mountain of a man known as Nick Arc landed between Raven and her target and caught her magically shaped odachi in a bind with his ridiculous railgun sword.

"Hi Wills!" Nick called back to Willow as he forced Raven back a step, the Atasian woman blushing deeply at the nickname. With that avenue closed off to her Raven leaped towards the redheaded actress Athena Nikos. Tai was already there flaring his aura and activating his semblance to give him the strength and reflexes to bat aside her blade.

Bat aside her blade he did, before lunging forward to grab Raven around the neck. Raven barely limbo-ducked under his grab, feeling the heat of his burning aura scrape against her nose. Yet while his hand missed, his knee didn't; it connected with her chin imparting enough force to send Raven sprawling on the ground.

Raven might have laid there prone if it wasn't for the power of the Maiden. She flexed her mystical might and made the ground beneath her erupt, launching herself into the air and away from her ex-husband. Twisting around in search of another potential hostage Raven found herself disappointed; the wealthy civilians were all making a hasty yet well-organized retreat thanks to the efforts of their hired help, with Athena wailing dramatically as her butler/bodyguard carted her off in a fireman carry. The Belladonnas were standing protectively between her and the others, moving backward at speed to keep an eye on her as they withdrew from the battlefield. Excellent. Raven just needed to slightly alter her landing trajectory and...

A railgun round from Nick's blade boomed through the air right in front of her, only missing her by a few inches. Despite the miss, the sheer force it exuded and the thunderclap it produced as it tore through the air made her aura flare in defense and forced her to adjust her fall away from the potential hostages. As soon as her feet hit the ground Qrow was there doing his best to take her head off with Harbinger. Raven ducked under his swing and thrust forward with her own blade, only for him to rotate around her thrust and try to hit her with the spin. She back-stepped from Qrow's attack only for Nick to suddenly be on her left swinging his sword up from a low guard that cut a furrow in the ground, spraying gravel towards her face even as his blade threatened to bisect her.

She blocked his blade with her own even as she ducked beneath Qrow's next strike. For the next ten seconds, the three sword wielders were locked in a deadly dance that pushed Raven to the natural limits of her flexibility, forcing her to rely on the unnatural limits the Spring Maiden's power provided her. As the space the three of them occupied became a whirlwind of sharpened metal Raven knew two facts: her human shield plan was kaput and her targets were getting away.

Time for a new plan.

Nick and Qrow suddenly jumped back disrupting Raven's rhythm and causing her to overextend. This left her vulnerable to Isabell rushing in from behind with a leg sweep while Taiyang charged forward and hit her with a clothesline. Raven hit the ground hard but kept her momentum going to create distance between herself and her opponents. As a result, she sprung to her feet a few yards away from her foes and regarded them with a baleful eye.

Qrow shifted Harbinger into its' scythe mode. Taiyang flared his aura to greater heights, his eyes glowing red while his hair wavered like flame and small sparks of electricity crackled across his skin. Nick held his sword with one hand in a middle guard as he used his free hand to load it with lightning dust ammo. Isabel grabbed the sword she was impaled with and pulled it from her body like she was drawing it from its' natural sheath.

To top it all off they were between her and her targets, who were still getting away. It was time for Idea/Plan B: divide and conquer.

Taiyang and Qrow made a good duo. Isabel and Nick made a good duo. That didn't mean they were a good quartet. Teams STRQ and SANI might have worked closely together on multiple different occasions, but they were still very different teams with very different game plans. Qrow and Tai would want to zig while Nick and Isabel would want to zag. She just needed to get them to a zig-zag moment and use the resulting confusion to destroy them.

"Raven!" Tai called out, "This is your only chance! Stand Down!"

Allowing her actions to speak for her Raven stretched out her empty hand towards a nearby airship and flexed the powers of the Maiden once more, ripping out a stretch of metal that flew to her hand and shaped itself into a second sword. The instant her fingers wrapped around it she shot forward towards the quartet swinging her blades in wide arcs.

One blade deflected Qrow's scythe strike. The other forced Nick to block. Isabel tried to stab with her stolen sword, and to answer that Raven tapped into the Maiden's power and blew a stream of flame from her mouth. Raven found the look of surprise on Isabel's face when those flames melted the sword to slag quite amusing. It was less amusing when Isabel flicked some of that slag onto Raven's face.

The burning slag was just enough of a distraction that Raven didn't notice Tai's punch before it landed squarely in her sternum, knocking her back a good yard or two and putting her on the defensive as Qrow and Nick rushed forward with whirling blades.

She blocked a strike from Qrow and ducked under a swing from Nick... Why was Nick only swinging? The man had only fired a single railgun round several moments ago to get her out of the air. The bearded swordsman had passed up other opportunities to shoot at her, and he only did something like that if he was concerned about collateral. They were fighting in a mostly open airfield with heavily insured airships and the civilians were safely behind him; the man should be shooting at her like a maniac.

She leaped over another swing from Qrow, twisted around another thrust from Nick, ducked under a hunk of rubble thrown by Isabel, and blocked a kick from Tai as she wracked her brain to find a reason for that oddity. As she swung her blades in a manner that forced Nick and Tai to leap back Raven glanced beyond their little skirmish further afield to the still retreating forms of her targets.

It was at that moment she saw it: a hail of arrows tipped with ice dust landing on the tarmac between the fight and the fleeing civilians. The dust in the arrows reacted at the moment of impact, and within the blink of an eye a tall and thick wall of ice separated the battle from her prey.

Raven limbo ducked beneath Qrows next swing and took the opportunity to look at what was going on behind her. Her eyes then confirmed her suspicions: Arjun Sarkara stood there a decent distance off, firing dust tipped arrows in carefully calculated arcs to create a perimeter around the battlefield. Slightly behind him was his wife Saia, who was actively channeling her semblance to create the orbs she could infuse with dust. Saia was already sat upon a large orb infused with gravity dust that would allow her to zip around the battlefield with ease.

At that moment several unpleasant realizations raced through Raven's mind. She wasn't fighting two half teams used to radically different methodologies. She was fighting the entirety of Team SANI with Qrow and Taiyang acting in support. That meant the two of them would defer to the completed team when it was time to choose between zigging or zagging, and the moment she was looking to take advantage of wasn't going to happen.

Nick wasn't firing his railgun sword because he didn't want to destroy the walls Arjun was making. Walls meant to cut off her paths of retreat and to make it easier for the quartet she was actively fighting to herd her into a kill box where Saia could blast her with a fully charged dust infused laser beam!

Idea/Plan B was dead, and Raven was at a fork in the road. Either she created a portal to Vernal and retreated, or she moved on to Idea/Plan C: Harnessing the full power of the Spring Maiden to bulldoze everything around her and hope she could kill her targets before The Wizard sensed her presence and came out to confront her in person.

Plan C was workable. Raven grit her teeth and committed.

She slammed a foot into the ground and channeled the power of the Maiden into the action, making the solid earth roll like a wave of the sea. Surprised by this Nick and Isabel were caught off balance just long enough for Raven to make a break from the scrimmage before shooting off like an antelope with Tai and Qrow in hot pursuit. Beyond sending a wall of flame in their direction she ignored the pair, her most immediate priority was now Saia.

The woman was a glass canon. Insanely powerful and dangerous at a distance but easily dealt with up close. The problem most of Saia's foes faced was actually getting to her. Her gravity Dust-infused orb allowed her to fly beyond the reach of any grounded foe, while her husband's bow and arrows would shoot down anyone who could follow her into the air. Insurmountable challenges to the common man, trivialities to a Maiden like Raven.

She picked up speed and threw more flames behind her to slow her pursuers down. Kicking off the ground and pulling on the Maiden's power Raven shed the shackles of gravity and lifted into the air with good speed. Even at this distance, she could see the looks of surprise on Arjun and Saia's faces on top of how they tried to react. Saia was already in the air rising rapidly on her gravity dust-infused orb and the Queen of Pandu increased the speed of her ascent in the hopes of gaining more distance, yet her concentration on charging more dust-infused orbs did not stop.

Arjun redirected his aim, firing arrows directly at Raven in the hopes of slowing the dark haired woman down. The speed and power of these arrows would have felled some of the world's mightiest Nevermores with singular hits, but Raven was pulling on the full power of the Maiden now. Her eyes were now sharper than any eagle's, her reflexes faster than sound and her mind moved at a speed that took full advantage of those facts. She deflected the first two fire dust arrows with her swords, tilted her head out of the way of the lighting dust arrow that followed, and then she shaped her offhand sword into a spear and threw it at Arjun.

The King of Pandu stepped to the side and caught the spear as it passed him before flipping it around and firing back at her as if it were just an oversized arrow. Rather than let it reach her Raven let mystical lighting loose from her hand and knocked the projectile off course. Then a railgun round narrowly missed on her left, fired from Nick's sword, and an engine block narrowly missed her on her right, hurled into the air with Isabel's monstrous strength.

The projectiles were going to be a problem if she wanted to reach Saia before the Queen finished charging up her attack. Raven needed to find a way to weave through the intensifying anti-air fire from below and she needed that solution fast. Another railgun round narrowly missed. Another boulder narrowly dodged. Another volley of arrows deflected with her sword. Now how should she...

...The anti-air fire abruptly stopped, just in time for the crow that had flown above Raven to change back into Qrow and hit her with a gravity-assisted scythe strike.

Raven felt her aura dip for a brief moment before the vast reserves of the Spring Maiden replenished the loss, and she only lost a minimal amount of altitude from the hit. She then managed to deflect Qrow's next strike with her blade, and then the next one, and the next one. For a moment Raven found herself honestly impressed as her brother used shotgun shots from Harbinger to both keep himself in the air and spin himself around for another slash with his scythe.

How was he keeping this up? Each shotgun blast was like him pushing off of solid air to keep himself aloft, but he couldn't manipulate the air like that...

She could. With a wave of her free hand a powerful gust blew Qrow away from his intended trajectory, and with her brother gone Raven kept the gust going.

She spun the air around her faster and faster. Arjun's arrows and Isabel's improvised projectiles were now naturally deflected away from her as the people on the ground opened fire again. The wind wasn't fast enough to deflect Nick's railgun, but in a few moments it wouldn't matter. With a grand gesture the swirling air continued to pick up speed and started to reach down to the ground below and the sky above. Dust and debris were lifted from the ground below, while the clouds above gathered and were pulled down to touch the ground.

Raven was now the eye of a category one tornado. Still the winds spun faster. Category two. Raven turned her focus to Team SANI's flying member. Category three. Raven moved forward, the tornado moving with her. Category four. Queen Saia was pulled into it. Category five.

To Saia's credit, the Queen did not lose her seat on her gravity dust orb, and the rest of the orbs she was charging were still with her. The noblewoman balefully glared at the bandit queen as the two of them circled about in the tornado's inner vortex, completely cut off from anyone who could interfere. Raven smirked and flexed her hand, considering what kind of magic she should use to neutralize the woman across from her.

That smirk was replaced by panic as Saia brought her last fully charged orb into place and fired.

The beam the dust-infused orbs shot out was a blinding mix of all common kinds of dust. The raw power of the beam was enough to turn mountains into plateaus, and Team SANI had used it to slay many ancient Grimm in the past. The strength of the now self sustaining tornado meant Raven couldn't dodge in any direction, and opening a portal would just result in her destination getting flattened with her. With a spike of true fear coursing through her heart Raven pushed as much raw magic from her hands as she could and put that magic between herself and her impending doom.

Saia's beam impacted against the raw magic of the Spring Maiden, and to Raven's relief, it held the giant death beam back about a foot away from her. Yet it was too close. Way too close. Raven pushed with her magic. She pushed back with all she had. Within seconds her impromptu magic barrier was turned into a beam of her own, and as she pushed more and more of herself into it her beam pushed Saia's back.

First a yard. Then two. Then three. Then their beams were meeting at the center of the vortex that was spinning them. Then Raven's beam crossed the midpoint, and Saia face contorted in concentration as she tried to push more power into her beam.

It was no use! A savage grin split Raven's face. The power of the Spring Maiden would outlast the Queen of Pandu's aura reserves and the woman would die here alone because nobody could interfere with the strength of the tornado! Once that was done Raven would-

An impossibility occurred. Taiyang was just suddenly there with his aura burning brighter than she had ever seen it burn. His hair shimmered like flame and lighting danced across his body while his eyes blazed red. He grabbed her wrist and hooked his legs around hers, pulling himself behind her and grappling the two of them into a full nelson.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Raven screeched as she tried to maintain her beam with Tai pressed against her back doing his best to point her hands away from Saia, "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?!?!?"

"WE'RE GRANDPARENTS NOW!" Taiyang yelled back, "SO I GUESS I WANNA DO SOMETHING CRAZY!"

"WE'RE GRAND-WHAT?!?" and that was all the distraction Tai needed to headbutt Raven, breaking her concentration and completely dissipating her bream.

Saia's giant death beam slammed into Raven while Tai did his best to hide behind her. The raw elemental effects of over a dozen different kinds of dust battered against Raven's aura and sent her reserves plummeting lower and lower. The two of them were pushed back by the raw power of the beam and the two of them were sent hurtling out of the tornado. As the two of them tumbled through the air Raven found herself unable to resist her ex-husband flipping her around and rode her to the ground like a bobsled. Raven's back hit the ground and she left a wide furrow in the dirt all while Tai did his best to steer her towards something she couldn't see. Then the two of them came to an abrupt stop as Raven's head collided into the bottom stair of Beacon's main entrance.

The last thing Raven saw before she drifted into unconsciousness was her ex-husband getting off of her and Professor Ozpin rushing down the stairs in some kind of hurry.

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

Nick knelt there with his sword stuck in the ground as an anchor, his wife clinging to him on his right and his brother in arms Arjun clamped onto his left. Nick was immovable, keeping the other two from being picked up by the raging winds of the vortex that swirled in place at the center of Beacon's airfield. A determined grimace was on his face as he wracked his brains for a way to fight a tornado.

It was then that he saw Headmaster Ozpin running up from the corner of his eye. The grey haired man clad in green raised his staff and yelled words in a language Nick had never heard before in an unhinged chant while moving his free hand in absurd gestures that were honestly indescribable. As Oz finished his sentence he pointed his staff at the tornado and struck it with a beam of emerald light.

Just like that the tornado was gone. The skies were clear and all the debris the tornado had picked up were just sitting there on the ground.

Saia and her gravity dust infused orb were also on the ground. The Queen got off her orb on shaky legs before slowly sinking down to her knees and throwing up. Arjun ran from Nick's side to his wife.

Isabel and Nick slowly got up and turned to the Professor.

"Ozpin." Isabel began, "What. The. Hell."

The headmaster sighed and adjusted his glasses, "I'm a reincarnating Wizard older than civilization itself, and Raven has a chunk of what used to be my magic. If you're willing to help me secure her I'll be willing to explain more once we're away from any potential eavesdroppers."

At that point Qrow stumbled up to them and a smile graced Ozpin's face.

"Oh good," Oz addressed his agent, "Qrow, if you could gather the other VIPs and lead them to an appropriate waiting room while we lock up your sister I would appreciate it."

"Sure, I could manage that," Qrow shrugged as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his flask and took a drink.

 

[FinalFormer]

Cross-Posted From the SpaceBattles Thread

Glimpses Into Another Time: The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion.

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The Jungle Acre, The Ever After. 2 Years After The Fall of Beacon. (Or 13 Years Before The Fall of Beacon.)

Impossible.

That was the only word that Arslan Altan could use to describe the current predicament she and her boyfriend, Jaune Arc, were in. The Ever After, the magical wonderland from the fairy tale 'The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion' was real.

It all began when they were evacuating the citizens of Atlas to the Kingdom of Vacuo. Cinder Fall had attacked their teams in an attempt to kill Penny, the Winter Maiden. While they were successful in stopping her plan, Cinder had blasted Team RWBY, Jaune and Arslan into the dark miasma below the bridges.

When they awoke, Arslan and Jaune began to survey their surroundings until Jaune had picked a clock out of a tree. The clock began to reverse the flow of time, sending them into the Ever After's past. With no way of reversing the clocks effects, their only plan was to wait until the others arrived.

Currently, Arslan sat on the porch of the house she and Jaune had built. She had been using the breathing technique taught to her by the Temple. She seemed to be doing that a lot these days. According to the makeshift calendar she made, it has been 7 years since they were flung backwards in time. However, it was starting to feel useless as the days go by. Time in the Ever After didn't make sense. That was made very apparent when a year ago, they met Alyx, the protagonist of 'The Girl Who Fell Through The World', and her brother, Lewis. That story was written during the Great War, so either the clock had sent them 200 years into the past or the Ever After was simply beyond the concept of time. Every day that passes by, she hopes that it's the latter.

"Wise Lion! Oh, Wise Lion!" Jaune called out. Another shocking revelation in the Ever After. One that all of her learnings at the Temple had never prepared her for: She and Jaune were The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion. Which made things a bit more confusing. Were they always destined to come to the Ever After? It was something she and Jaune had been reflecting on these few years. There wasn't much things to do but reflect.

Arslan opened her eyes and sighed. "You know, that's still hard to get used to."

"Yeah? How do you think I feel?" Jaune says. Despite his sunny disposition, Jaune was frustrated. This stupid place has been testing his patience for the last 7 years. Especially that damn Cat. But right now, he needed to be patient. Their friends should come here...

Eventually.

"What troubles you, Jaune?" Arslan asks. She had learned what Jaune's tells even before falling into the Ever After. He was surprisingly hard to read at times.

"That obvious, huh?"

Arslan nods in response. Jaune then sighs.

"Everything, I guess. I'm starting to look more like my Dad," Jaune chuckled at that. The resemblance was actually uncanny. Arslan mentally agreed. She was starting to look like her mother in her film 'The Argus Experiment'. "My leg is in desperate need of a tune-up. The roof needs to be fixed--"

"Jaune," Arslan stops him. Oh, she was using her "I am not in the mood for Yang's teasing" voice. "You can tell me if you're feeling frustrated. I know I don't show it, but I'm also feeling a bit stir crazy."

Arslan pats the empty spot next to her, inviting Jaune to sit next to her. He obliges and takes a deep breath.
From where they were sitting, they could see the sun begin to set... Well, the sun was actually going in reverse. But the moon was coming out... Nothing here made any damn sense.

"I miss them," Arslan began to speak. "My team. My family. Our friends. Just as much as you do, Jaune."

"How are you so calm?" Jaune asks.

"You're here," Arslan then rested her head on Jaune's shoulder. "You are my anchor. And I am yours. Never forget that."

She took Jaune's hand in her own. "Don't let the quirks of this place get to you. Or that Cat." There was a particular venom when Arslan said that last part.

"He's getting to you too, huh?" Jaune asks worried.

"He vexes me when you're off in the markets. I think he's getting desperate." The Cat's curiosity has been well documented in the book, but after becoming acquainted with it, the Cat was more unhinged. "It's not like we can do anything, although I suspect that it'll try to make it's move when team RWBY arrives."

"Let's focus on some else," Jaune decided to switch topics. Maybe try to bring their spirits up. "What's the first thing you want to do once we get back to Remnant?"

Arslan pondered for a moment. There were plenty of things she wanted to do: Give her team a great big hug, eat a proper meal (The food in the Ever After left much to be desired), have her long-awaited rematch with Pyrrha. But, truthfully, what Arslam wanted most was:

"I want to see if I can call my family. I... I know they are worried about me." Arslan says wistfully. She hoped that General Ironwood's sacrifice to reconnect Remnant was no in vain. "What about you, Jaune?"

This was it. This was his moment.

"I want to marry you." Jaune says with conviction.

"What!?" Arslan looked at him. Jaune looked back, a small on his face.

"Arslan Altan," Jaune continued. "We've been dating for roughly 9 years. In 7 of those years, I've given it a lot of thought; Once we find a way home, after we save the world, I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Arslan began to blush. All of her stoic aura was gone in an instant.

"Y-You don't have to give me an answer now or anything," Jaune began to blush too. "I just wanted to say that--"

"Yes," Arslan answered. "Although, you would have to get my mother's blessing first."

Jaune smiled. A real smile. One he hasn't done in years. "You got yourself a deal."

The two sealed their pact with a kiss.

"Let's head inside," Jaune yawns. It's been a long day. "I have to feed Juniper."

"You go on ahead," Arslan said warmly. "I have to pray."

Jaune nods. This was something Arslan did daily as a way to ground herself if she lost her way here in the Ever After.

Arslan held her hands together and prayed to the Table Breaker, asking him to watch over their friends and to guide them all back to Remnant.

And while she was never asked for anything personal in her life, Arslan's prayer ended with her asking the Table Breaker for a selfish request: To make sure Jaune keeps his promise to her.

She had something to look forward to.

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

I didn't watch all of Vol. 9. Only some bits and pieces. So, I had to do a little bit of research on the Ever After and how long Jaune was stuck in the Ever After and now I'm pretty sure I have an aneurysm.