First off, I am sorry for the delay, but 2017 has just been one huge kick in the balls for me since the first day of January. Come to find out my grandfather has cancer that's spread from his liver and lungs. My mom was just diagnosed with a cancer in her leg, and now my great aunt has died from a stroke. Coupled with all that and my school work and job has left me a pretty damned depressed.

But that's life, right? When you feel like you're right there, in the zone, life comes in to kick you in-between the legs and demean you until you feel like absolute shit.

However, I'm not gonna let it put me down, so I want to say a big thank you to everyone that's supported the story so far. You've no idea how much it means to me, 6 years now and the feeling never gets old.

Anyway, before we begin, I am now asking for a BETA that is willing to look over this story. If you feel like you can, and handle my own grammar faults than do not hesitate to send me a PM. If anyone is willing to take up this task send me a PM and we'll talk about it.

Also I've been getting some concerns about where this fic is heading. I'm not gonna point out at who or what it's about, but I will say this. I am making this fic how I want to. It will be unorthodox, sometimes unoriginal, or maybe original at other times. I'm not gonna lie, and I'm not gonna stray from a path I'm devoted towards.

Now with all that said, let's get on with it!

Enjoy!

"You mistake my devotion and adoration for him to be purely whimsical of the role given to me by his mother. For that, you are severely mistaken little brother. It is not because of that, that I have come to adore the boy as much as I do. It is because of who he is to our family, and to me. The spirits have spoken, I have awakened, and the Raven shall once again accompany the Lion Monarch as he descends into the pit of sin once more." ~Raven Branwen

Jaune Arc: Power Redefined

Volume 1: The Breaking of Limits

Chapter 5: A Clash of Revelations Part 2

He was so dead.

That was Jaune's very first thought once he saw his fellow blond's lilac eyes flash a furious crimson. He knew this very fact when she took a step towards him and the frozen Ruby, and the floor caved in. He knew this all encompassing truth made real when her long hair ignited into a mane of golden fire that honestly made something within him stir, and in spite of situation he was in he could only contemplate one thing, a single phrase conjured from his own adolescent hormone driven mind.

'Man Spitfires pretty when she's angry.'

And Jaune knew this universal truth when Yang took a second step towards him, balled her fists up until her knuckles popped and her teeth gained a rather sharp visage.

"DIE!"

That single word alone would be enough to have made Jaune take a step back, but in the way she said is what truly affected him. The anger, the fury in her voice alone reminded him of his childhood of when his sisters got angry, or Oum forbid, his mother got angry. The thought alone brought a shiver to his spine, and really when he thought about it compared to his mother's anger, Yangs was...tame.

It was almost a bit cute, even if her eyes told him that she wanted nothing more than to rip him in half.

Still, even with the precarious situation that he found himself in. Jaune's mind was on empty, his body reacted purely on instinct as Yang shot toward him. Arms around Ruby, he jumped up and side-stepped to the right as Yang hit where he once was. Fist hitting the floor which caused it too crack.

"H-hey! I gotta pay for that ya know!" what was he saying? How did that really matter at the moment?

Shouldn't he feel afraid of Yang's temper right now?

Honestly, he didn't. He was more akin to being afraid for her then he was for himself. Truth was, Jaune didn't feel any sort of ill-intent to the girl for beating him at the entrance exam. That's just how things were and he came to accept that. Besides, at the time he was weak, untrained in the finer arts of combat, and the one key factor above all else was that he hadn't unlocked his aura. Now, while the former of the reasons was still very much true as Jaune didn't know any practical form of fighting; he still made up for that with his power.

Which was the crux of the whole issue, while Jaune dodged and weaved around Yang's attacks with little effort. A feast that surprised even him as her attacks, unlike the first time they fought, were not just slow. It was painfully slow to his perceptional awareness. Unlike the first time he fought Yang, he barely had to put any effort at all you avoid her attacks, and that fact alone spooked him even further. All his training had centered around training his body to it's absolute limit and further beyond that. So, how was it his perceptional awareness for speed was so different from a few months ago?

'No manner of physical training can make me able to do this. Is it from that time when I nearly died?' it was question he begged an answer for because what he was doing right now was simply not normal.

But nevertheless of this theory, Jaune simply didn't want to fight Yang for one very important reason, and it was again, because of his power. He knew his power better than anyone else, and he knew how destructive it would be to the human body, but to what extent he didn't know and he'd rather not find out. His control was mediocre at best and was non-existent at the very least. It took every ounce of his control to not accidentally snap little Rubes in his arms like a twig. The sheer thought terrified him and it was for that reason Jaune was content to keep dodging Yang's attacks.

"HOLD...STILL!" the furious blonde shouted at him and Jaune could only sweatdrop at her. Did she think he was stupid?

….

Don't answer that question.

"Um...no? Why would I hold still? I don't wanna get punched!" he said only dance around her fist once again getting an angry snarl from his fellow blonde. In that moment though his eyes scanned his apartment, and what he saw only made his soul shrivel up in terror at what he saw. Yang's rage had, for the lack of the better word, ravaged his entire apartment. The floor was just devastated, the kitchen was a wreck, his bathroom was just gone, and his bedroom looked like a scene straight out from a cheesy murder flick.

Then his eyes caught onto the older man and Jaune just stared at him with a bewildered gaze. Wasn't the old guy supposed to be the adult here? The responsible one and stop this madness?

But no. No, this guy...this guy just stood, watching the whole thing with an amused grin.

'Oh I hate you...wait didn't Yang call him Uncle Qrow...but...that would mean!'

His mind stopped though once he felt a whoosh of wind, and he reacted on instinct alone. Before his mind could process what was happening he kept one arm securely around Ruby as his other flung out, snapping from his body faster than his mind could catch. He blinked as he felt something hit the palm of his hand, and he looked only to see something that both astounded and terrified him.

He had caught Yang's fist from pulverizing his face.

And when he saw her pained expression he felt any form of elation at that feat wither away like a drop of water in the Menagerie desert.

"...ow..." the girl let out a small response, her breath leaving her as the pain from what just happened trickled into her mind as she looked at her hand, and what she, and the others saw made them all grimace.

Thankfully, Ruby didn't see it, but Jaune and Qrow did and judging by the frown on older mans face it would seem the time he had standing on the side lines had gone on long enough. Though for Jaune, a more cynical part of him just wondered what the hell the guy was doing.

But his caring side took hold instead and he quickly let go of her hand and when he did the result was even worse than they initially thought.

It started out small, but the glistening of her eyes only made Jaune feel all the worse, but the damage was done and he winced when he saw her hand. At the moment of impact and when he caught it has caused it to be severely bruised and the swelling of her wrist was just the start. The fingers in her hand were popped out of place and were excruciatingly broken in multiple places. Accidentally catching her fist had caused him to put apply a little bit of pressure to her fist.

Which led to him accidentally crushing her fist into a mess of broken fingers and Oum knows what else, but judging by the swelling in her hand and wrist he probably broke her hand as well.

He looked to Yang and saw her eyes swell up in glistening tears as the pain began to register in her mind. It started out slow, but the floodgates opened when she tried to move her fingers.

Big mistake.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

He felt Ruby wince against him when she heard Yang's piercing wail of pain, but he didn't let it bother him, or at least as much as he was able. Instead he focused all his attention on her hand. Settling down, he set Ruby to the side, and while ignoring Qrow for the moment he went to Yang and went about doing the only thing he could to try and fix the damage done. She may have attacked him on a misunderstanding, but he didn't care. He still hurt her, and he couldn't bear the sight of a girl crying, especially if he was the one who caused it.

He was raised better than that.

Kneeling at her side, he gently took her hand, and from her flinch he glanced at her to see her teary eyes looking at him with a new found sense of fear that curdled his insides in a way that made him want to bury his head into a hole.

Good job Jaune, you make one friend and then you hurt and terrify her big sister, awesome job!

He ignored those thoughts as he contemplated on what he was about to do. It was all speculation and couldn't even be called a theory, but it was all he had.

When he was with his family before coming to Patch he was put through the most rigorous of training sessions. Not only in the physical sense, but in an academic sense, and while he wasn't a history buff like most of his family, he was still keen on the fundamental's of aura itself. He grew to understand the basic principles of what aura was and how it differed from each individual.

Aura was the power of ones soul, energy given life through ones very essence and given form unto the living world. While Semblance on the other hand was a projection of ones own aura, given life of that persons representative personality in the form of a unique ability special to only them. Those that unlocked their aura were born with differing abilities while some were general for everyone, and like everyone aura also acted a shield or an armor against injuries that would otherwise be fatal to the human or faunus body. It also helped in injuries sustained by gifting a enhanced recovery rate to those that unlocked their aura or had really huge amounts of it.

However, Jaune's was different and the young man knew it. Even without aura he was born with an incredible strong body with an healing factor that wasn't of the norm among faunus, human, or even those of his own family. However, with his aura his healing was more in fact a high-speed regeneration of the cells of the body. It's what saved him multiple times when his body began to break many times during his training. Bones broke and regenerated within the same time frame, the tearing of his muscles and his faunus tissue recovered within the same time they tore.

Which led to Jaune's idea of what he was about to do...

'But will it even work? I'm a faunus, and she's a human. Will my aura even affect her, or if it does will it only hurt her?' doubts about what he was planning plagued his mind. He'd already made one mistake by hurting her like this, so could he really risk doing so again, and making it even worse?

Yet when he looked at her, and envisioning her from their first fight at Signal he couldn't help, but grimace. The girl he knew at that time was strong, incredibly willful, a hothead, brash, but considerate, and bit of a tease. So to see that same girl now crying her eyes out while on her knees cradling her broken hand in such a manner only seemed to hurt him even more. It was akin to a knife being stabbed into his chest and was twisted to increase the pain.

Yang shouldn't ever be in pain, especially because of him.

'No time for doubts Jaune.'

With his resolve coming back, the young man looked back at her hand and as he blocked all noise from the outside world he channeled his aura into his other hand. White fiery aura blazed to life into the center of palm. The aura soon engulfed the entire form of hand and when it did Jaune, as softly as he was able, laid his hand over her. Then acting upon his will his aura latched onto Yang's own hand. He saw her flinch, but he glanced at her and this time kept his eyes solely on her lilac eyes, the crimson having now bled away as her enraged haze vanished.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, but...I promise. I'm never gonna hurt you again." he said this while their eyes stared at one another. As this occurred neither witnessed the effect Jaune's aura had as it engulfed Yang's hand. Of how it seemed to come to life of it's own and latch onto her hand and seep into her flesh and bone. Mixing and turning with her own bright yellow aura until both auras seemingly mixed perfectly into one cognitive abstracts of yellow and white.

Yang Xiao Long wasn't a girl that many would consider normal. Having been born into a family of world renowned hunters had changed her from most girls her age. She grew to idolize them, or more specifically her father, step-mother Summer, and her Uncle Qrow. Unlike other girls, Yang was a tomboy who enjoyed a good fight, and would be blunt with you regardless of the situation. She was the kind of person who would teach you how to swim by tossing you into the ocean. She liked to think she was a very confident girl for her age, and would be straight-forward with anything that was in her way.

Yang had a lot of friends, but the most important thing to her was her family. She respected and admired her father, Summer, and her uncle Qrow. She respected their strength and admired them for all they did for her and Ruby with raising them. She loved her little sister Ruby above all else, and was often told that she was a bit overprotective of her, and she wouldn't deny it, not after the mistake she made when they were young. She valued her sister's life and well-being more than most, and if her life was at risk than come both Heaven or Hell, she'd do everything she had to make sure she was safe.

However, beyond all this, Yang was a still a young girl with a dream, an ambition to become a Huntress like the rest of her family. However, deeper than all that, she held a thrill of fighting that bore fruit when her training began with her father. Which was why she became ecstatic when she finally grew of age to enter Signal and start her official training to be a Huntress.

It didn't take long for her to pass the academic examinations, and the practical exam came up. The Combat Evaluation which had been where applicants were pitted against one another in one on one duels while each fight was judged by the Headmaster and the Combat Professors of Signal. That had been the greatest part of the whole thing for her, it would be the time where she could show off her skills in a fight against someone her age.

That is until she was pitted against him.

The tall scraggly blonde haired doofus...

The young man called Jaune Arc.

She remembered him well, in spite of his poor performance he was still someone she wouldn't forget anytime soon. Though their fight, if it could even be called that, ended with her win. It hadn't been an easy one for her like she at first expected it to be. His movements had been poor, rigid, and rock solid. There was no sense of fluidity or balance to his attacks or technique in his skills.

But every time she attacked him, every time she knocked him down, he got back up as if it was nothing. Their fight had been nothing short of pathetic in nearly every aspect, but one. That was because Jaune simply refused to give up and his body simply refused to stay down. His endurance was scary and his tolerance to pain was even more so. Bruised, broken and bleeding, he still stood up to take her on and what even freaked her out even more was his eyes during their fight.

It was his eyes at the time which terrified her even more. It was like she'd been staring into eyes that showed a form of resolve that had such depth that it threatened to swallow her whole. It freaked her out. It scared her when she looked into his eyes during their fight, and it was only because the professors had enough and personally knocked him out so he wouldn't cause further harm to himself that she won the fight. Otherwise she was afraid she'd have forfeited the match just to get away from those eyes.

That had been the last time she'd seen Jaune, and she guessed he'd been declined entry into Signal due to his performance in the combat evaluation. However, the effects of their battle still left a lingering effect on her that made her skittish and jittery. So much so that she finally had enough and told her father about what she was going through. It had been the right idea, but the answer she received only confused her even more.

"What you experienced Yang is a rather rare trait among individuals. What you saw was the personified resolve of someone who was willing to give it their all to prove themselves. What you experienced was this tenacity of one whose will was much greater than your own. Some call this tendency to be reckless or in extreme cases suicidal. However, for those that are conscious about this trait they are able to push themselves above and beyond their ordinary limits to achieve even greater heights. In all honesty, it's a good thing the fight was stopped when it did..."

Taiyang's words had been her answer to her question, but it only serve to confuse her and even annoy her. However, she had pushed it and everything concerning Jaune aside since she figured he'd been rejected by Signal. So surely he would be going back to wherever he came from. That had been her thought, and it hadn't changed for the past few months.

Until everything changed when her baby sister, Ruby Rose, had gone to visit the grave of her mother Summer, and hadn't returned last night.

She had only figured this out when her uncle had been the one to pick her up and relay what was going on. When she found out the girl had become terrified for the safety of her sister and threw aside all caution to the wind just so she could find her. Her father, Qrow, and she had gone to try and find her, but by the time they reached the grave site for Summer there had been no signs of Ruby. All that they did find was the signs of a scuffle and a path of broken tree's and disrupted ground leading out a few miles back to Patch.

They had followed it and by the end of the path it had just turned midnight, but what they had found had scared Yang and disturbed her father and uncle. What they had seen could only be described as a war zone. The ground was completely broken apart with upheavals and ruptures in the earth whilst the woods around the area was completely devastated. Tree's have been completely ripped out of the ground, roots and all, and there was even a giant crater as well!

And seeing as this had been where Ruby trail ended only had the expected effect. Yang had become petrified for her sister's safety at this point. At the time she had been so distraught over the entire situation that she was taken by her father back home while her uncle continued the search.

So, it was only her prayers being answered when the next morning came and she was told by her Uncle that he may have an idea as to where Ruby might be. Her father had already left early the next morning to go and search for Ruby in another part of Patch. As one would expect, Yang had jumped at the chance to finally find her sister, and once she got dressed and ready to go she followed her uncle to where he suspected Ruby was. Yang didn't really ask him how he knew this simply because Qrow was just that good of a Huntsman.

But when he brought her to a rundown apartment on the edge of Patch had made her question her Uncle's suspicions. Surely Ruby wouldn't be in this dump?

However, regardless of her thoughts on the matter she followed Qrow until they reached a door on the third floor and without any warning from her she simply punched the door out of the way. If her baby sister was in here than she was gonna get her, and nothing would get in her way.

Now Yang wasn't expecting much when they entered the apartment, but when they seemingly entered the bedroom part of the apartment they were...surprised to say the least when they found Ruby. Her loving baby dork of sister...

On top of a blond haired, were those white streaks in his hair?, blue eyes young man that Yang was all too familiar with.

It was Jaune Arc...

The moment she saw him Yang felt a moment of cold rushing fear wash down her spine as the memory of their last fight came back to the forefront of her mind. Of those eyes of his staring straight at her, through her and into her very soul. A gaze that threatened to swallow up her meager existence in a turbulent maelstrom that encompassed everything that she knew to be true. She hadn't even registered everything else though when she looked at him and found his eyes once again boring at her. It was for a brief moment, but she had been rooted in place when his eyes fell upon her.

...That is until she saw the bigger picture and the position Jaune was in.

Jaune, the dorky doofus, was on the floor with his arms wrapped around her baby sister Ruby whose tiny hands were latched onto the fabric of his clothing. Gripping and twisting into his hoodie whilst her body was pressed firmly against his own.

…..

Any and all fear yang had for Jaune in that moment was instantly buried and what came next was a white hot surging rage of a furious over-protective big sister. At least that's what Yang felt it was, but in this instance it was something else. What overcame her was almost primal, animalistic even as she uttered out a word with such ferocity that it surprised even her.

"DIE!"

After that everything else became a blur. She could only remember charging at Jaune and attacking him in a blind fury. The indignation of the whole matter with him and her baby sister at the forefront of her mind fueled her on to try and catch the blonde and deliver upon him a genocidal slaughtering the likes of which had never been seen. The rest of the world had become unimportant to her at that point. The only thing before her was Jaune and her baby sister in his arms.

At that point she wanted Jaune dead.

Yet images blurred to her mind that only addled her frustration something fierce as the Arc had proven to be a very elusive and irritating opponent. Something he was not in their last fight as he had pretty much tanked her hits with naught, but his own impressive body and outlasting endurance. However, now he was just avoiding her hits with Ruby still held in his arms.

It frustrated Yang. It angered the hell out of her to be entirely honest. So much so that Yang had finally attacked him when she caught him with his attention on something else. His guard was down and she had taken full advantage of it, and she was fully aiming to remove his head from his shoulders.

…

Only that's not what happened.

Instead of her fist impacting against flesh and bone of Jaune's face as she was expecting. She was instead surprised when Jaune instantly reacted to her attack and with speed too fast for her mind to register. His body became a blur of motion, spinning on his heel with one arm wrapped around Ruby. His other arm lashed out to meet her attack for the first time, but instead of countering he only went up on the defensive by actually stopping her attack. A feat that in itself was surprising as Jaune had essentially caught her fist in his hand, something that even her father refused to try and do without the use of his own aura. The thing is Yang had channeled incredible amounts of aura into that attack so it should have easily crushed Jaune's hand, or at the very least damaged him.

But it didn't.

Her eyes widened at Jaune's move, but then she saw his hand slowly close around her fist. It was only for a bit, but she could literally feel his hand easily crushing the bones in her fingers and hand. She was so shocked by the display of such casual strength that Yang hadn't even registered what happened until it finally hit her.

Pain.

Pure white hot agony shot throughout her hand.

Her brain finally caught up with the events that transpired and Yang truly realized the amount of pain she was in the moment she saw the state her hand was in. She let out a whimper as the pain fully began to enter her system as Jaune quickly let go of her hand, but the damage was done. And yet as her eyes looked upon the damage done to her hand, even as she let out a anguished scream from the pain Yang couldn't help, but feel that fear she held for Jaune come back with a vengeance.

She felt her eyes fall upon him and she flinched at his gaze. Those blue eyes bore into her very being and it left her in a state all too familiar of when they first fought. She felt weak, vulnerable, and so very small. It wasn't like he wasn't even trying to be intimidating from the way he showed so much concern in his expression, but memories of their first first and now with the injury she just suffered only just amplified that fear.

And through all of this, Yang could only wonder.

'How did that scrawny blond haired doofus get so strong?'

She wondered that while watching him like a hawk as he knelt down to her, finally setting the stricken Ruby to the side as he reached to her injured hand. Of course her body flinched at his action, but he simply locked his gaze with hers and spoke a few words that were just the polar opposite of the terror yang saw him as.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, but...I promise. I'm never gonna hurt you again." his words came out in a strong fervor of expression. Filled with a resolution that was unbreakable, but a tenderness Yang would never have expected from her fellow blonde. Not that she really knew him from beyond their sparring match at the evaluation tests so she really had no idea what kind of person he was.

However, try as she might, when she tried to pull away his gaze stopped her. Those very blue eyes that she was so terrified of, the very eyes that haunted her every waking nightmare were now glowing. Her breath hitched as his hand came over hers and with naught, but the command of his own will, Yang bore witness to Jaune utilizing his aura. Ruby, Qrow, and she bore witness to the spectacle before them, and there was only one general consensus of thought between the three.

'...what is that?'

Jaune's hand burst to life with his aura. His hand was wreathed in a fiery white light that seemed to have a mind of it's own. So intense the aura was that it dissipated the shadows. It was so bright that it was almost like staring straight at a miniature star. The aura was so majestic, so beautiful that you just couldn't look away from it.

And as Jaune took hold of Yang's hand and channeled his aura into her hand in hopes that it would heal the damage he'd done. This resulted in his aura going from his hand and seeping into her mangled hand. He kept channeling his aura as this happened, keeping his focus entirely on the task at hand which made him miss the various reactions from the other occupants in the room.

What is this sensation?

That was the very first feeling Yang felt the moment Jaune went about doing whatever it was that he was doing. Her eyes never left him as he went about utilizing his aura, something she'd never seen him do in their evaluation test. However, unlike her studies in aura and the usage of it from other people, the aura she saw from Jaune was just too different to even be accurately called aura.

It was just too thick, almost oppressive even to be in such close proximity of it. Hell, the aura coming off Jaune wasn't even how aura was supposed to appear to others. The usage of aura was always a variant element that depended upon the strength and power of each individual. For those that just awakened their aura or were just a few years into training with it wouldn't allow them to manifest their aura until later on in their respective training. It would only be until these individuals were already Huntsman or Huntresses in training, or even elite trained Huntsmen and Huntresses of their craft would be able to manifest their aura unto the physical world. However, even then the aura would always come off the body in a light sheen of color that represented the soul and personality of the individual.

But Jaune's aura, if it could even be called that, was nothing of the sort from what she learned. His aura came off him in such a manner that it was like his entire body was wreathed in fire of the purest white. It licked off his body into tiny embers and left an overall effect on the area around him. It caused a chill to go down her spine, a tingling numbness throughout her body, an oppressive force that seemed to weigh her down. Just looking at hi9m like that made Yang's fear of him enhance to such a degree that she swore she saw something take form behind the young man. It was an apparition, a shadowy figure taking the form of a humanoid shape, but it's silver/blue piercing eyes looked into her lilac ones and brought forth a surge of power that truly and utterly terrified her.

Sovereignty

And than, at that moment, something within the deepest part of her mind snapped at attention and unleashed a torrent of emotions upon her that left her frozen in place.

Kneel!

Submit!

Prostrate!

Bow!

Every survival instinct beaten into her by her father and uncle screamed at Yang to simply get on all fours and head on the ground and simply submit to this thing. There was simply no other means of explaining it. What Yang experienced in that moment was as majestic as it was terrifying, and all in equal pandemonium of one another.

...Then Jaune channeled his aura into her hand...

And Yang's world exploded.

…..

…..

Protect.

Everything else was irrelevant.

Every single fear Yang held for Jaune in that moment was instantly erased in a blanket of white fire that filled her very core. His aura seeped into her flesh and mingling with her bright yellow until the two aura's intermingled in a sweet mixture at the center of her very being. Every fault, every guilt, every single notion of negativity Yang felt for externally and internally was put as ease and washed away in the cleansing of this solitary union of their aura's mixing.

Her mouth parted way, but no words could come to describe what she felt at that moment, but her eyes could only widen as did it for everyone as her mangled hand quickly began to heal. Her broke bones, torn tissue and flesh began to mend in such a way that her hand was entirely fixed in just a few seconds.

Yet her body trembled as her eyes tore away from her hand and into Jaune's eyes only to see something to took her breathe away.

Blue and silver mixed into a perfect fusion in Jaune's eyes. His iris glowed a deep silver while the surrounding pupils glowed a light blue; it was akin to the color of the sky itself. However, it wasn't just his eyes that had surprised Yang, but it was just...him. As if she was truly seeing Jaune for the first time, and the sight she saw could not be called anything less than otherworldly.

His hair, unlike when they fought months ago, was now a wild mess. Unkempt and left to grow out had caused it to become almost like a lions mane seeing as how it was starting to cover the most of his neckline and shoulders. His facial features had sharpened since the evaluation test, but even back then Jaune was much more defined in muscle than others.

But for Yang, just seeing him, in that picturesque moment would and could only be called something her step-mother Summer would always talk about.

Love at first sight.

OH HELL NO!

Yang quickly reigned in that impulse as best she could, but the damage had been done. She had stared at Jaune for too long, and had bore witness to his appearance. He was so much like the dork from their evaluation test, but he was so much more now. Her cheeks flushed a beautiful red hue and the heat from her cheeks quickly spread to the rest of her face making her whole hed resemble the color of a cherry.

If a cherry had moderately long blond hair that is.

Damn puberty!

As this happened though, Jaune was completely focused on the healing of Yang. While on the outside of her hand was fine he still felt a couple of injuries in her hand and wrist. Goging about fixing the rest of it made him completely ignorant and oblivious to the rest of his surroundings.

Thus he missed Ruby watching what he was doing with wide silver eyes. Her mouth agape in sheer amazement at the scene happening before her. She had already bore witness to what he'd done to the Grimm, but now she was seeing it with her own eyes the red reaper couldn't help, but be amazed by what she was seeing. Jaune, a boy she was determined to train her to be as strong as he was, was practically engulfing the room with his aura, and with no conscious thought of his own. She could see the white fiery aura come off his body and saturate the area around them. It was fascinating to the little red reaper. Her silver eyes took it all in, absorbing all she seeing, feeling, and with no conscious thought of her own, her body embraced the feeling.

And at her core, something ancient stirred from the essence coming from Jaune. An aspect of fluidity and danger coiled within the core of Ruby, and with it awakened something within the young huntress hopeful. Her silver eyes, an aspect that came from her loving mother, seemed to glow within themselves. As if they responded in kind to what they were seeing, and reacted accordingly.

Ruby saw it and felt it. Hell, she could practically taste it on her lips. This...was not aura. It couldn't even be considered aura anymore. What she saw coming from Jaune was something completely unlike aura, but of something else. Something far too alien to even be considered apart of Remnants current history. And to realize that one solitary truth made the young Rose stop. Not out of shock of realizing this fact. Or of the matter of how she figured it out.

No Ruby Rose, 11 year old Huntress hopeful, stopped because once her mind realized this truth, her body caught up with it.

And her physical shell reveled in that fact.

Which was strange as Ruby never found much interest in anything besides training and her weapon addiction. However, as it was now, her silver eyes, glowing like two miniature stars looked upon Jaune. The guy that saved her. That showed her a level of strength she'd not known before. A young man that was so strong, yet so caring and protective of others. He was everything her mother had told her about Heroes in the stories and fairy tales she was told as a child.

She...wanted that. She desired that above all else. Her dream to be a Huntress, to be one of the very best, and to be strong enough to protect everyone. That was her everything. Her goal in life. To protect everyone just so that she wouldn't lose anyone else ever again.

Not like when she lost her mother.

And for that reason Ruby...she needed him, she needed Jaune...

'He has it. He's brave, caring, courageous, and most of all...he's so strong.'

Jaune had exactly what Ruby needed and wanted. Every aspect of what she'd seen from him reflected exactly what a Hero would be from the legends. And that's exactly what she wanted.

To be a Hero, just like him.

After all, he had saved her life when she was the very edge of losing her own life. Coming like a shooting star that dropped from the very heavens. Crashing before her and standing before the Grimm that threatened her existence. His handling of them so similar the legends of the Demigod Herakles and his battle with the Hydra, or of Thesus and his battle with the Minotaur. He fought and broke those Grimm in such a manner that Jaune couldn't nor would ever be considered human.

But Ruby didn't care because when the dust settled and the Grimm were dead at Jaune's feet, Ruby didn't see something that was even more dangerous then Grimm.

She saw her teacher, her master, her savior, her hero.

'Yeah.' Ruby smiled at the thought as her eyes looked upon Jaune healing her sister. 'He is my hero, isn't he mom?'

Her body tingled at that, in a strange mix of delight, numbness of her skin, and a cold chill going up her spine that gave her goosebumps. Ruby couldn't even hope to explain what she was feeling, but she knew this for certain. Seeing Jaune and the use of his aura for the first time shined a new light on him for Ruby. He was more than just an incredibly strong guy, but he was now an awesome incredibly strong guy!

….

….

THERE WAS DIFFERENCE!

However as this all happened, there was one other occupant that was having very different thoughts than the two girls.

Qrow Branwen watched what was happening with a look of mixed concern, apprehension, and curiosity. Having been trained by the best at Beacon Academy, and have been sworn in under the leadership of Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon itself, had left to Qrow become much more knowledgeable than most people about the inner workings of the world they lived in. He was a master in the art of combat, and the practitioner of aura, and a firm believer in the very legends that riddle Remnant.

Because of this, ever since graduating from Beacon many years ago, Qrow was unveiled to the truths of the world around him. About things that many or most called just legends or fairy tales to tell young children at night. Stories about heroic warriors of myth leading the charge into war, and bringing both honor and glory to their family name, or clan. Qrow knew many of these legends and myths thanks to Ozpin, but one such tale he was all too familiar with was one his own Clan harbored since before the dawn of mankind.

Qrow's face hardened as memories came flooding in as he watched what was happening. Memories he'd tried desperately to bury, but they just kept coming back. Memories of the last fleeting moments he and Raven had with their father on his deathbed. The last moment they would ever hear of him before being shipped off to Beacon to become Huntsmen. It was a tale he spun, a story of tradition passed down from Chieftain to his or her children. A torch passed down from one to the other and a burden that weighed heavily upon the shoulders of the successors.

The Legend of the Four Sacred Beasts

"The Epic of the Faunus, of a shamanistic and druid tribal era of where darkness loomed over the world in the greatest personification of Sin and Evil. Of how the first Faunus came to being in the four great beasts, and how they led to the salvation of not only faunus kind, but the protection of the planet itself. Each Beast was a praised as Gods, Lords, of all powerful entities with powers that far seceded from the realm of what was possible. It was said that individually they were so strong that their power would resonate from the ends of Remnant. The four of them were everything, they were siblings, they were the closest of friends, comrades, protectors of the realm.

Of the four, the first 3 was named as such throughout the Legend fopr what they represented, lorded over, and inherently granted among the Faunus.

Kaguya, The Moon Rabbit Goddess, The Giver of Life.

Sun Wukong, The Monkey King, and the Great Sage of the Heavens.

Bagheera, The Black Panther, Lord of the Prowl and Master of the Shadows.

Each one was given the title that they were given for their deeds in the story, but for the last one there was a plethora of titles he went by. He was the oldest of the sibling, the elder brother of the siblings, their leader, and Lord Protector over the entire Realm.

They called him The White Lion, The God of War, The Unbreakable Shield, The Lord of the Elements, Master of Light and Healing, but for those that knew of his legend they knew him by his one true moniker.

He was Maahes, King of the Faunus, the Almighty Sovereign.

I'm telling you all this, Raven, Qrow, my children, so that you can bare the responsibility we've upheld for centuries. Just as our Lord Maahes carried on his shoulders our ancestors so too shall you both if he were to ever arise again. Just like our ancestors Huginn and Muninn themselves, you two shall be the ones to bare the responsibility of being Maahes "eyes" over the world. Do not forget this responsibility and never forsake it; for if you ever do you will forsake our blood and tradition that's tied us together for centuries."

Qrow's expression hardened at the memory of his father and the words he spoke to him and his sister on his death bed. Standing there and seeing Jaune enact the very power of Maahes, the very entity of whom his tribe worshiped brought forth memories that he'd rather forget, but his blood simply would not allow it. Raven had always told him that tradition and blood ran thick in the Branwen tribe, and he always thought she meant that as a saying to fortify the ties of the tribe.

But now, as he stood there, he knew better as he watched Jaune, his Godson, heal the mangled hand of his niece. It was a twisted piece of irony to him, that he would only be reminded of his responsibility when someone close to him was hurt, only to be healed by the one thing he had tried to forget the most.

The carrier that represented both his forsaken responsibility and duty as Godfather.

'How unlucky of me, eh?' he thought cynically before he took a deep breath and reopened his eyes and senses to the world. For a moment, his red eyes sharpened and ears perked before he glanced to the side to look out the window of the ruined apartment room to see something that only made him smile with a grim realization.

It was a pitch black raven perched on top of a solitary branch from a tree that overlooked the apartment complex. It's blood red eyes stared right at him with all the twisted amusement that Qrow knew could only come from one person.

And it was then, Qrow understood.

'Now I understand what you meant that day Raven...' the younger twin thought as he remember the night he and Raven had gone and saved Jaune from his near suicidal attempt to get stronger. The words they spoke with the unconscious boy laid out in her lap had all been very circumstantial to what had happened, but his questions pertaining to her interest in the boy had confused him.

But now he knew the truth. Now he knew why Raven was so infatuated with Joan's boy.

It was just as Raven told him on that night.

"You mistake my devotion and adoration for him to be purely whimsical of the role given to me by his mother. For that, you are severely mistaken little brother. It is not because of that, that I have come to adore the boy as much as I do. It is because of who he is to our family, and to me. The spirits have spoken, I have awakened, and the Raven shall once again accompany the Lion Monarch as he descends into the pit of sin once more."

Qrow understood now, but he didn't share the same fascination as his crazy twisted sister. No, he was more cautious than anything, but blood demanded it of him and loyalty to Joan had bounded him to help Jaune. He couldn't share this, any of this, to Ozpin or their organization, and especially to that war dog James.

No, all of this, as far as Qrow was concerned, was to be kept strictly off the record.

Finally, the man tore his gaze away from the Raven, and looked at the situation, and with all the casual swagger and responsibility of an adult his age he put his foot down, his canteen in hand and his lips curling into his usual cocky smirk.

"Sooooo...you girls gonna keep making googly eyes at your boyfriend, or you lot gonna come with me to the house? Remember? Taiyang? Worried to death father and all?" he mentioned, and his words did the trick; well for the most part.

Yang's hand, fully recovered at this point, froze on the spot and Ruby blinked, the glow in her eyes fading whilst Jaune's aura instantly seeped back into his body. The two teens faces colored a nice hue of red at Qrow's words, but poor little naive Ruby completely misread Qorw's words and simply spoke words that would spell her doom of embarrassment much later on down the road.

Her silver eyes rolled as she walked up to Jaune and threw her arms around his neck while her legs wrapped around his waist. Doing so she ignored the gobsmacked expression from her sister and shocked one from Jaune as she stared at her uncle, as if daring him to speak otherwise. "Well...duh Uncle Qrow, Jaune's my friend and he's a boy, so yeah he's my boyfriend, what's wrong with spending time with him?" she said before sticking her tongue at him with all the grace an 11 year old should have.

….

….

….

"...Why do I have the sudden urge to run...far...far...far away?" Jaune said as Ruby went to wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head atop his. Though he did not miss the look Yang shot to him and then to Ruby.

Did her eyes turn red again in that moment?

….Nah

Qrow on the other simply crossed his arms and his smirk grew. "Kid, you could have all the strength in the world, but if there is one rule in this universe, it's that a father's wrath is never to be crossed, especially when it comes to his daughters. And let me tell ya..." here his smirk turned into a grin, and it made Jaune swallow nervously.

Qrow's grin was all teeth.

And did his red eyes just glow murderously?

"You've gone and kicked the hornets nest, get ready to meet Taiyang, Yang and Ruby's dad."

…..

Now normally, any other young man in the prime of his teenage years would be quivering in their boots at the mere thought of meeting the father of two girls that he had a somewhat strange yet close relation with. They'd be nervous, petrified, terrified even. Any normal young man would be sweating bullets and trying to think up of an excuse to try and get out of the situation.

However, for Jaune, he was no normal young man. He couldn't simply run away because he had admittedly taken Ruby after saving her from the Grimm. Kept her away from her family for the whole night. Leaving them to be worried sick for her safety, and thus he had to take responsibility and face the consequences of his actions, whatever that may be.

Yet there was more to it than that, Jaune's upbringing was rather...unique. He was raised around such strong, powerful, and naturally talented sisters and an even more terrifyingly powerful mother that Jaune's perception of women far outweighed the valued perception of the threat any man could inflict upon his person. The only one who ever pushed Jaune to the brink was his father Micheal, and even then his former father could never invoke the same amount of terror in his younger days as his mother would.

Hey! You would be saying the same thing if you saw your mother rip a mountain asunder and gouge the very ocean, and that was when was sparring!

So, in all honesty, Jaune felt his worry decrease, if only slightly, but only because his fear of Ruby and Yang's did couldn't really be compared to the terror that was his mother. Besides, their dad should understand once everything was explained to him, right? Every understanding father should bear that in mind.

Right?

Right?

….

Right.

'Now that I think about it...I wonder how the families doing...' Jaune thought with a small frown as he quietly followed Qrow and Yang while Ruby dutifully hung from his body. Simply content with her position which would make for the odd sight to see on their trip back to her home.

A harbor, a docking area for any and all forms of travel by both sea and air was usually a rather mundane sort of piece modern architecture. At least from the point of view from those that lived on the mainland and never truly understood the worth the habor's had for much smaller continents and island nations that relied upon them for their valuable resource for trade and marketing professions.

The harbor was the main source of income of resources shipped too and from other sources that tied each island nation together as one community based on trade and value of resources. For example, Menagerie was known for it's supple and vast swath of fruits from the more tropical parts of their island nation. Which made trading with them a very valuable source of income of resource for the other island nations. Even when the Council and Kingdom officials somewhat frowned upon such actions didn't really deter the island nations from trading with them.

And it was for that reason Patch, which was known for it's cast resource for aquatic food and naturally grown coconuts and banana's made them another great source of trade value. Thus, their harbor, their main harbor of 10 that surrounded their humble little island was the prime source of the island's income of both food, water and other resources.

The inhabitants of Patch took pride in their habor's, and for those that labored day and day out to keep up the maintenance and security of the vast docking area were the ones who kept it in tip-top shape. It was these people that took pride in their work, and it was also this job that allowed them to see things most people wouldn't really see on any other day.

For example, you see a ship come into dock, nothing special about that at all as dozens of ships came in from the other island nations, and even some from the Kingdoms. However, there was one person that came off this ship that truly change that perspective really quickly.

It was a woman, but not the kind of woman the locals would come to expect. For one she was a faunus, but like any other faunus they'd seen. The way she walked, the way she moved was as balanced as a gazelle, but as flexible as a cheetah. Her body was coiled, muscles tense, but steady. Her long golden tresses fell down her back in a the liking of a lions mane. Her sharp blue eyes were intense, instinct driven and goned to the senses of a top tier predator ready to jump upon it's prey.

She was wore a strange mix of silver chain-mail and leather that covered most of her body. Her boots clacked against the docking area and her lions tail twitched and swerved to life, as if it had a mind of it's own.

The woman's eyes took in her surroundings within a few seconds, and then her tail ceased it's erratic movements before finally calming down. Unconsciously wrapping the tail around her waist, the woman went to her breast pocket and pulled out a strange device, it was a crystallized orb of sorts that had a sphere inside that was seemingly pointing her in a singular direction.

"He's close now..." the woman muttered to herself before she looked off in the direction of where the device was pointing her too. Her eyes narrowed, but the tightening of her chest was the only sign of her distress with what she was feeling at the moment.

She had made it, a weeks travel by boat, but she had finally made it to Patch.

And now, Joan Arc, was ready to find her son and take him back home.

Where he belonged.

Among his kin.

Surrounded by those of his own blood.

But, an even deeper part of her mind, one Joan tried to suppress made itself known.

And to get him ready for his ascension...

Scowling at the thought, Joan shook her head and took off, ignoring the stares she received from those of the harbor.

But in the process she missed one single Grimm like bird with a multiple set of red/yellow eyes watching her go before it's body began to warp and twist, so that it could return back to it's master.

Schink!

Only for a quick and precise slice cut off it's transportation process. A sword of the darkest blood red color cut cleanly through it's body and spatial warping ability. Relieving of it's head from the rest of it's body, and just as the rest of the body of the Grimm began to burst into a smoky black ash the head began to do so as well.

However, Raven, baring the mask of a winged avian like Grimm caught the head of the Grimm and stared right into it's eyes. Knowing without a doubt that everything it saw, so too would she see as well.

And a wicked smirk curled underneath Raven's mask.

"Nice try, Salem, but you're gonna have to try harder than that if you want my master."

Then without a second thought she crushed the rest of the hand between her fingers and scattered the blacken ash to the four winds. Doing so, she looked back to the rest of Patch before her eyes caught onto the presence of her old friend Joan. Her smirking growing a bit wider, she morphed into her raven form and took flight.

...It was time Joan and her had a talk about the woman's precious son.

And the growth of her master.

Done. This chapter is over with. If you liked it leave a review along with any questions you may have.

I'll work on the next chapter when time allows so until then.

Ja'ne!