The Second Step: Chapter 16

One Small Step...

A/N: This is the breather chapter... Okay, not really. This is the shipping and romance chapter. Here, I'm basically going to introduce everyone to the character's complicated love dodecahedron.

But first, some clarification about last night...

(Friday Night)

Ruby Rose was sure that she had been this tired before: she just couldn't remember when. Somewhere, deep inside her, a minute portion of her brain logically told her that her fatigue was born of her worrying for Jaune, followed by her uneventful stay in the Headmaster's room, and climaxing with the emotionally exhausting explanation that one of her might be a spy and that Jaune had cheated his way into Beacon. The wry thought was enough to get Ruby worked up.

As the red dressed girl stopped to wrangle her emotions, a thought rolled through her mind: despite everything she had worked to achieve, every drop of blood she had shed, every day she had trained and for all of her hard work to be the* model huntress, Jaune had been admitted to Beacon with the same fanfare that she had! She was capable, ready, prepared; why was he allowed here?

Ruby promptly decided to stop thinking like that, as it was only making her madder. After a few calming breaths, Ruby dropped her hands to her sides, idly wondering how they had ended up in her hair, before leaning against and sinking down the side wall. Her frustration vented slowly, dripping out like water off stone, before finally Ruby was just tired. 'This isn't what being a huntress is about. It's about protecting people...not the glory.'

Ruby gulped down her pain and got up, focusing on one foot in front of another, walking to her team's room. Thankfully, she wasn't left to her thoughts too long, as her room was only a few corners away. As it came into view, so did Jaune's room and, unsurprisingly, Jaune. The blond man was knocking and looked at her, but before he could stop knocking and speak, Ruby had already slotted her scroll into the security keypad and shut the door behind her. She sighed with relief and turned to walk further into the room.

Ruby was promptly tackled. "Ack! Yang!"

"What happened? Are you okay? Did Cardin try to sex you up?"

Ruby broke into a luminescent blush. "Yang!"

Yang hooked a thumb over her shoulder at Blake, who was hovering behind Yang like a concerned mother. "Her words, not mine."

Ruby rolled her eyes and returned to her 'happy girl' routine. "Come on: I would have gelded him if he tried that."

Yang blinked, before dragging her sister back into a tighter hug. "That's my sis."

"Ack, help. Please... air!" Granted, Ruby was being smothered by Yang's breasts, which would be a really bad way to go and not at all how she hoped to end her days. A bit of Aura to reinforce her arms was enough to help her break the crushing grip.

Blake pushed Yang aside to speak. "Weiss said that something happened to Jaune. Something about... what did you say, 'Contagion'?"

Weiss, having silently observed the confrontation from her bed, nodded slowly. Ruby looked at the surprisingly subdued heiress and decided to try and lay some of her fears to rest. "Jaune's fine. Ozpin saw to it himself. His arms even grew back!"

Lines like that do not inspire confidence or peace. Blake and Yang were suitably shocked, though Yang recovered her voice first. "Wait, his arms grew back? You mean he lost them?"

Ruby coughed awkwardly, but nearly choked when a yawn interrupted it. "Yeah. Professors Port and Oobleck cut them off. I don't know why though."

"It's to prevent Contagion," Weiss chimed in from the back.

Team RWBY gave Weiss their undivided attention for once, with Ruby as their mouthpiece. "Which is?"

Weiss cocked an eyebrow. "The premier Huntress of her age group doesn't know what Contagion is? Tell me you're joking."

There were shrugs and the shaking of heads, all of which served to lend credence to the fact that no one knew what was being spoken of. Weiss paled slightly. "You really don't know?"

Yang and Ruby shrugged. "Never heard of it."

Weiss pursed her lips, more than a little disconcerted. "Maybe it would be better if I told you in the morning?"

Yang cocked an eyebrow. "Uh, Remnant to Weiss, we're all here, we all want to know; tell us now."

Ruby tried to answer in agreement, but her words were drowned by a yawn. Yang grimaced a bit. "Maybe this can wait until tomorrow. You said that Jaune was alright, right?"

Ruby nodded. "And... you guys, there was something else. When he talked to us, Professor Ozpin said that... well, something's up. Something big."

Weiss, Yang and Blake all listened in silence, but with ever growing concern as Ruby related the speech that the headmaster had given her, finishing with; "Something big is happening in Remnant. Something that concerns all of us."

For a while, no one spoke, mulling over their thoughts and the words of their leader. Finally, Weiss stifled a yawn and spoke. "Professor Ozpin said all of this?"

"Well..." Ruby thought back to the earlier conversation. "Something seemed... off about him. It was like-"

"He wasn't all there?" Yang supplied, using Ruby's words from the entrance speech.

"Exactly. He seemed unfocused, almost like he was half awake." Ruby confidence in the headmasters words started to slip. "You don't think that he was lying or something, do you?"

Blake climbed into her bed. "Whatever happened, he should heed his words. If the Headmaster needed to speak with you, then it was urgent. And Ruby..."

Ruby looked at her friend, sister-in-arms, and favorite cat. "Yeah?"

Blake, for a moment, looked disconcerted. "Did he really say I was an ex-terrorist?"

Ruby winced, but related the truth. "He didn't mention your name, but... yes. He did say ex-terrorist."

Weiss settled into her bed, Yang jumping in a moment later to the former's annoyance. "We need to fix your bed, Yang."

Blake rolled over as Ruby hit the lights. "I'll fix it tomorrow. Just get me some wood or something. I'll fix it then."

"But who'd want to," Yang said, cuddling up to the unresponsive Weiss. "I looooove cuddling my Weiss."

"Keep that up and people are going to call you a lesbian." The aforementioned unresponsive girl murmured.

Yang whispered something undoubtedly provocative to Weiss, because she promptly hit her bed mate with a pillow. Yang giggled louder, before settling into bed. "Well well well, Team RWBY. A bounty hunter, a White Fang, an Heiress, and the youngest huntress ever to enter Beacon. We really are destined for great things."

Ruby climbed into her bed. "Yep. Great things."

'And none of them good.'

Nora wasn't having a good day.

Sure, the week had been overall bad in general: her marginal somewhat kinda but not really boyfriend had nearly been sexed up by her best friend, said girlfriend/best friend had nearly gone crazy from the guilt and trauma of being a child soldier (and hadn't that been a shock), her extended family had decided she was more or less worthless and had only been persuaded otherwise at gunpoint, but now her team leader/confident/best-Bi-friend was laying in a hospital bed, with both arms cut off, probably doomed to never resume his career as a huntsman.

Consequently, she was feeling pretty down, and her remaining team wasn't helping in the slightest. Pyrrha was, understandably, freaking out; muttering something about contagion*, pacing the room and generally trying not to dissolve into tears. Ren was sitting on his bed, silent and alone with his thoughts. However, the slow clenching of his fists, the slight tremble in his frame, the dark look in his eyes all betrayed his emotions.

Now, in all of this, Nora was a unique player. Because unlike Pyrrha's induced fear, or Ren's barely controlled frustration, Nora had opened up her Scroll and begun shifting through whatever contacts and favors she, as a former mafia heiress, could muster.

This was easier said than done, of course. Nora had been an heir to the largest mafia base in the entire city of Vale for four years and five months up until last night. Last night she and Ren had very forcibly cut ties with her uncle, and now it was starting to show. The minute section of the deep Internet she had patched into was filled with chatter, primarily relating to JNPR's little escapade last night. Debts were called in, money was being repaid, operations were called off, at least three Dust labs and seven Meth labs were in the process of deactivation, and some sort of racket involving the Vytal Festival's Tournament was being shut down. Into the miasma of uncertainty Nora plunged and started looking.

Something, Shade, anything that could help Jaune would need to be examined. Prosthesis, Aura object manipulation, even trying to find a weapon that could be used with only the jaw would be worth considering.

Then there was the issue of money. Despite Ren and Nora's intimidation tactic working quite well, she only had enough money to keep her in school. Without any specific quantity, that could mean money for clothes, food, books, and dorm and classes, or it could mean she had the money for exactly what she'd been up to earlier.

Undaunted though, Nora delved inward, opening texting channels to old acquaintances. Once those proved to be useless in light of the blackmail, Nora started searching through a known weaponsmith that provided custom armor. Apparently he was experimenting with a new type of design, one that used silver to transmit Aura through nerve like channels.

Nora was impressed.

Another particular advertiser had brought up a unique remedy: forcibly infusing the body with another persons semblance, something that could be used for essentially any purpose: be it Sensor semblances to recover sight or other lost senses, or a Metaburner semblance to regenerate an entire limb. This was actually quite funny: everyone knew that it was impossible to force a person to acquire an Aura or semblance. The only people who could to that were Leecher's, and they were so rare that the only known living one was the Headmaster.

Someone started knocking at the door as Nora was examining another technique, something about a mythical mixture of eleven herbs and spices. "Can someone get that?"

Pyrrha almost had a nervous breakdown at the noise, if only because she had convinced herself that it was a doctor there to tell them Jaune had died on the operating table. That this was not terribly sensible was something that she didn't realize, as Jaune was in a seriously injured, if stable, condition. Conversely, Ren almost blew his stack at the knocking, and was thoroughly considering leaving the room for some peace and quiet. Then again, that would require opening the door...

Finally, the frustrated Atlan boy got off his bed, opened the door to put an end to the incessant knocking... and was promptly subjected to the embarrassment of having Jaune continue to knock, only on his head. Feeling a bit in the mood for snark, Ren merely stepped aside and said, "Jaune has his arms back."

Pyrrha stopped walking so quickly you could almost hear brakes squealing. "J... Jaune?"

Jaune yawned. "Hey... Pyrrha. Hey guys."

Nora almost managed to monopolize a glomp on Jaune, only for Pyrrha to beat her to the punch. "Oh, gods Jaune. I'd thought you'd be dead."

Jaune sleepily blinked. "...Why?"

Pyrrha pulled back and blushed a bit. "Er... never mind. What happened to your arms?"

Jaune blinked again, mentally noting he seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and looked down at his forearms like he had only realized that forearms were a thing for Humans and Faunus. "They're here."

Nora poked his arm inquisitively. "An apt deduction, Watson."

Pyrrha removed herself entirely from the hug with Jaune, her blush almost matching her hair. "Well, I guess we should just be glad that you have your arms back, but...well, how?"

Jaune walked over and collapsed onto his bed, sitting upright. "How what?"

Pyrrha daintily took his arm and held it up slightly. "How did you get your arms back?"

Jaune blinked his eyes, slowly and deliberately, obviously fighting exhaustion. "I lost them?"

Pyrrha and Nora exchanged a concerned look. "Don't you remember what happened to you in the fight?"

"I was... in a fight? Did I win?"

Pyrrha gulped. "Not exactly. Jaune, what was the last thing you remember?"

A shrug was all he could muster as reply.

Pyrrha paled at that answer. "Jaune, can you remember the Grimm? There was a Beowulf, which you fought in class."

A light went off in Jaune's eyes. "Oh... yeah. Port's class, right?"

"You ripped it's heart out and tried to flirt with Pyrrha." That was the first thing that Ren had said directly to Jaune in the conversation, but the effect was profound. Jaune's hands clenched up, his eyes shut, and for a moment a look of real pain flooded his face. Pyrrha wrapped her arms around Jaune again, embracing him and trying to comfort him. Ren and Nora winced sympathetically.

"Hey, at least our little trooper's back." Nora gave Jaune a friendly swat on the shoulder. "So, what do you remember?"

Jaune yawned and tried to make his brain function in a normal capacity. "I remember... a light. Like, fire light. And this burning sensation... it was like I was being set on fire, but it also felt... right, somehow."

Pyrrha ran that through her catalog of semblances and Aura derived powers. "Wait, that sounds like a Metaburner Aura. Did you... Jaune, did you unlock your semblance?"

Jaune ran a hand through his hair. "Uhh... maybe?"

Nora bit her lip, unsatisfied by the hypothesis, when a better idea came to her. "It could have been Ozpin. He could have given Jaune a Metaburner semblance."

Pyrrha rubbed Jaune's hand for a moment, contemplative. "Maybe...maybe you're right Nora. Maybe he did give Jaune some Aura."

Jaune scratched his head, fighting off another yawn. "You can do that?"

Ren held up a finger, clearing the conversation to speak. "Professor Ozpin has a rare, possibly unique Semblance referred to as 'Leech'. He can absorb and use another person's Aura as if it was his own, or inject the Aura into another person. It's obvious that he simply absorbed some Metaburner semblance a while ago, and when your arms were cut, he gave you the Aura and regrew them. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he left you some Aura as a parting gift."

Jaune stared at Ren. "...you lost me after parting gift, you know that?"

Pyrrha sighed and patted Jaune on the back. "Jaune, you're in no state to talk. Get some rest. You can tell us more in the morning." Pyrrha bit her lip, but before she lost her nerve, wrapped Jaune in one last hug. Jaune blinked in exhaustion, before holding up one finger.

"Everyone, I just want you to know something very important, okay?"

Ren, Nora and Pyrrha all exchanged looks that ranged from anticipatory to terrified. Jaune blinked, resisted sleep for one last moment, and said:

"Guys... I'm Bi."

And he fell asleep.

For a moment, no one said anything, each processing the statement at their own pace. Ren pursed his lips in a sour mixture of fatigue and disgust and shrugged. "He really needs that sleep."

Nora rubbed the back of her head self-consciously. "You know... he's telling the truth."

Ren rolled his eyes. "He's exhausted-"

"He still told me this. When you were out looking for the building schematic for the Cassern Chateau, he told me that his parents didn't want him to be a Huntsman, because they felt that he wasn't able to be a good fighter because he was Bisexual. Look, Ren, I know that you, as a boy who was raised in Atlan culture-."

Ren promptly stood up, walked over to his bed, and climbed in. "We all need our rest. Goodnight, Nora."

Nora winced and almost tried to reason with Ren further, but in the end her exhaustion made the decision for her. She went over to her bed and climbed in, choosing, like Ren and Jaune, to sleep in her clothes.

At that point, Pyrrha's brain finished rebooting. "Wait, does this mean Jaune's gay?"

(Saturday)

"Ozpin..."

"Myaah."

"OZPIN!"

Joshua Ozpin jolted awake, the world spinning and blurred around him. "Myah?"

A tall blonde thing was staring down at him. "Do you know what you've DONE!?"

Ozpin blinked a few times to try and wake up his eyes. "Yes? What? I mean... What?"

Glynda Goodwitch was standing on the other side of his desk, disdain and disbelief radiating through her Aura, which was occasionally flicking the papers scattered on Ozpin's desk like an invisible wind. "I asked you, Joshua Lyman Ozpin, if you knew what you did last night."

Ozpin stared at his closest friend turned alarm clock. "I... Tried to give myself alcohol poisoning again?"

"Try: I revealed personal secrets of my students, threatened a team leader, insulted another, and informed two seventeen year olds and a fifteen year old that one of their friends could be a spy."

"... So what you're saying is that I'm a moron."

Glynda's glare could have killed. Her Aura was also making a bit of a mess, flipping papers and sending cups of pens rolling every witch way. "You could say that."

"You're telling me that I'm a fool who couldn't control himself."

Glynda sighed. "That's a bit more on the mark Joshua."

"And that I'm not suited for this job?"

Glynda didn't meet Ozpin's gaze. "I'm saying that you should have told me you were going to tell them first. You did just-"

"And that I've failed the students?"

Glynda flinched. "I'm saying you just recovered from brain damage and-"

"And that I'm a failure?"

"No, I'm saying that I-"

"That I've failed every single person I've met!?"

SMACK!

Suddenly, all was still. Ozpin didn't remember getting to his feet, but lo and behold, he was standing. So was Glynda, a look of fury and concern fighting for control of her expression. For a second, neither spoke as Ozpin gingerly touched the reddening, stinging patch of skin on the side if his face.

"Joshua... I'm saying that last night, you weren't well. I shouldn't have left you while you were recovering from the memory repair. You didn't fail anyone: I failed you."

Ozpin steadied himself on his desk, slowly lowering back into his chair. "Well, professor Goodwitch, I must congratulate you your... unique ability to get the point across."

"I slapped you. That's hardly unique." Glynda looked at her oldest, closest friend with shame. "I'm sorry, that was out of line."

"I needed it."

Glynda and Joshua shared the silence that followed organizing their thoughts. Finally, Glynda brought up the obvious question. "So, do you think they can handle the truth?"

Ozpin pursed his lips. "In a perfect world, yes. But in our world, I just informed an introverted teenage girl, an untrained young man who faked his way in, and a boy in charge of what is shaping up to be our most troublesome team this year that they were about to enter a much more dangerous world. Simply put, if they do handle it well, it'll be no small miracle."

And then Lie Ren stormed into the office, looking like he was ready to explode. "I want a new team."

Saturday morning arrived with all the fanfare of taking a second step: exactly none. Team RWBY went through their daily routine; Ruby started polishing Crescent Rose after assuring herself that, yes, her cake was still in the fridge. Yang made breakfast and teased everyone. Blake read her book, and Weiss complained about how her laundry had been mixed with someone else's again (this time, with Pyrrha's).

But what set this day apart from others was the tension in the atmosphere. Ruby and Yang had smartly decided to wait out the inevitable firestorm and reserve their questions about 'contagion', already knowing what would happen. The signs were all there: fancy, modest dresses were set out, Weiss had taken the time to do her makeup, and Blake had swapped her typical book for a less... smutty variant.

Yes, today was Saturday, and Weiss and Blake were going to morning mass. The fireworks practically set up themselves.

But at the same time, another tension, gone unnoticed by Yang, was also wrapping itself up inside Ruby. A tension of secrets shared and unshared, a tension that Ruby very much wanted broken, and the moment Weiss and Blake had finished breakfast and stepped out to leave, Ruby broke the silence with her coffee drinking sister. "Yang, I think it's time I came out to them."

PSSH!

For a moment, both Yang and Ruby were quiet, as Ruby wondered if she had chosen the right time to say that. Maybe she should have waited until after the danger of a spit take had passed.

Yang handed her sister some napkins, a little embarrassed about spewing coffee over her sister. "Sorry Rubes. Come here, let me get that."

Ruby let her sister wipe the coffee away. "Yang, something huge is going on. It's time I came clean about being a lesbian."

"Oh it's going to be so hard to get this coffee out of your hair."

"It's only a matter of time before I slip up, so why not sooner rather than later? Am I right?"

Yang tilted Ruby's head to face her own. "I got coffee everywhere didn't I?"

Ruby tried to stop her sister. "Yang, you know I have to tell them... today."

"Just hold still..."

"Yang!"

Further argument was cut off when Yang grabbed her sister and dragged her into a hug. Ruby almost tried to pull out of it when she heard a muffled sob. "Just... just not today, Ruby."

Ruby wrapped her arms around her older sister. "Yang, I need to come out. This is for us."

Yang gripped her sister tighter, pulling her closer. "This isn't for us, Ruby. It isn't for anyone. This is a phase you are-"

"IT'S NOT A PHASE!" Ruby ripped herself from her sister's grip. "THIS IS ME, YANG!"

Yang gulped, wiping her eyes. "Ruby, it's a phase. It has to be. It's not natural, it isn't right... damnit Ruby, it's a violation of civic duty."

Ruby had a counter for that. "Says the girl from Atlas to the girl from Mistral, in Vale."

Yang pointed out the window. "Ruby, you are a huntress. The cream of the crop. You can't be a lesbian. You need to be a representation of what Huntresses stand for: and that means you need to not offend people's sensibilities."

"Says the woman with the sensibilities that I'm offending," murmured Ruby.

Yang closed the distance between herself and her sister. "No Ruby. You're not. If you wanted to sleep with a hundred women, I'd accept that. But people aren't going to accept you being a lesbian. They will hurt you. You need to hide this."

Ruby looked up at her sister. "Yang, I can't hide who I am. Not any more."

Yang gulped. "Please Ruby. I can't... I can't let you be hurt. Not here. Not like that. If you do this, people will find you and people will hurt you for being gay. I can't protect you; not from that."

"Yang, you're not protecting me. You're holding me back."

"Because I love you."

"If you loved me you'd accept me."

"I'm afraid for you."

"You're afraid of me."

Yang stopped, staring at her sister. "Ruby, I love you. I'm trying to keep you safe. And I'm telling you, you can't do this. Weiss and Jaune are from Vacuo; rooted in tradition. Ren is Atlan like me: he'll think you're weak because of your sexuality. I know that you won't be able to handle it if they hate you and I know that I can't stop that from happening. So please Ruby, don't do this."

Ruby didn't look at her sister. "For you?"

Yang brought her sister back into an embrace. "For yourself, Ruby. For your safety."

Ruby kept looking at the ground. "Yang..."

There was a knock at the door.

For a moment, the Rose/Xiao-Long sisters didn't move or break their embrace, but as that moment passed, Yang disengaged and opened the door. A lightly discomforted Pyrrha was on the other side. "Teams meeting. Get Weiss and Blake and come to our room."

Yang cobbled together an embarrassed look. "Uhh... They're kinda unavailable."

"Then come over anyway. We have to talk about something."

Joshua Ozpin coughed into his hand.

Lie Ren stared at his headmaster.

And Glynda Goodwitch sat between them, mildly perturbed.

"I want-."

Ozpin interrupted in his best gentleman voice. "I heard what you wanted Mister Lie. I simply cannot fathom why you would request being moved to a new team."

Ren's already tight mouth became an almost perfect line. "I do not feel that my Team Leader can adequately lead us."

Ozpin allowed a carefully controlled grin to slip into his face. Glynda, her perceptions sharpened by two decades of mutual hunting and ten further years teaching, recognized the signal. "That's a rather harsh charge to level at Mister Arc. Can you provide proof that his leadership skills are impacted?"

"Proof! Goodwitch, I-"

"That's 'Professor Goodwitch' to you Mister Lie." A hint of Aura backed Glynda's words, subduing Ren slightly. Never the less, as her Aura faded, Ren rallied again.

"Headmaster, I've just been through what I can honestly describe as the most insane week of my life. I've been shot at, chased, hit, hit upon, and watched all three of my team members suffer extreme emotional distress, and I feel that it can all be laid at the feet of Jaune Arc's lackluster leadership skills." Ren smirked, as if his little tirade had been his Ace in the hole.

Glynda resisted the urge to palm her face, instead maintaining the authoritative 'mean teacher' appearance she had cultivated after a decade of practice. "May you please explain why these events, poorly described as they are, were the fault of Mister Arc?"

Ren opened his mouth, only to experience the realization that he would need to explain his entire week to the his teacher and Headmaster. He clenched his jaw and growled out, "I can't."

Ozpin scratched his chin contemplatively. "It would seem, Mister Lie, that you yourself are under no undue amount of stress. Perhaps this has swayed your judgement?"

"I'm fine."

Glynda narrowed her eyes, not unlike a bear that had seen a flash of it's prey. "What could cause the stoic Lie Ren such problems? Surely-"

"I'm fine."

Glynda stood up all too quickly, aggressively even. "Mister Lie, do not believe you can control yourself well enough to fool me. I know how you think, and I know how you feel now. You-"

"I'm fine."

Ozpin reached out for Ren's hand. "Mister Lie-"

"Don't touch me."

For a moment, no one moved. Ren stood back, clutching his hand as if Ozpin had burned it. Glynda was almost shaking with anger, her Aura striking cracks into the wood flooring. Quite alone in his serenity, Ozpin retracted the hand he had almost touched Ren with, deactivating his Aura and semblance. "Curious."

Ren shook off his hand. "I'm sorry Headmaster. I'm not a fan of physical contact." Ren's mind, however, had jumped back to a memory of Roman's teachings.

(Some months ago)

"Now Ren, I'm going to tell you this once, so listen well."

"Hn." Ren was more concerned with dodging his Sifu's blows.

"When you are in Beacon, it's likely you are going to meet Ozpin. Not often, not even regularly, but you will, one day, run into him. Do you remember what I taught you about his semblance?"

Ren dodged an uppercut and a leg sweep before answering. "With his semblance he can steal my Aura."

"Right. But what you don't know is that because of his semblance, he can see your soul, analyze it. It's a quirk of his: he can see your darkest secrets. So never..."

Roman punctuated this with a blow that snapped through Ren's defenses.

"...ever..."

A legsweep Ren never saw coming felled him.

"...let him touch you."

Ren reached up and grabbed Roman's proffered hand, getting back onto his feet and finishing the match. "Thank you Sifu."

"Don't mention it." Roman smiled and called the training to an end.

(Saturday)

In the present, Ren stilled himself and waited for the imminent rebuttal, either from Ozpin, or Goodwitch. But strangely, despite Goodwitch's obvious anger, the Headmaster looked... understanding?

Ozpin sighed quietly and laid his hand to rest. "Mister Lie... may I call you Ren?"

Ren narrowed his eyes.

Ozpin stood up. "Ren, may I ask why you came to this school?"

Ren made no comment.

"Or perhaps I should ask why you left Atlas then." No response still. "But then again, I would be basing that question on a false statement. Ren, you and I both know you grew up in Vale. Why do you persist in acting as if you are from Atlas?"

Ren didn't answer immediately, instead turning and looking at a complicated piece of clockwork. "My family's from Atlas. It would have been a better home for us."

Ozpin clasped his hands, finally sensing an in. "I can see why. Atlas has the lowest crime rate of the four kingdoms, and also has the longest life span, despite it's lower birthrates. It is the only direct democracy of the four, and after hearing about what happened to your father and mother, I can imagine that it would seem obvious which city was the better choice. But your parents left Atlas for a reason, Ren."

Ren looked Ozpin dead in the eye. "A stupid reason."

Ozpin couldn't help but smile a little bit. "That reason was you, Ren, and I'm mostly sure you're not stupid... Mostly sure."

Ren and Glynda rolled their eyes in unison, eliciting another light smile from the headmaster. "Headmaster Ozpin, my parents left Atlas because they thought they had better prospects in Vale. Instead they were disfigured and maimed by these people. What happened to them was because of this city's crime; something that was brought on by the rampant mercantilism."

Glynda rolled her eyes again. "Mister Lie, each culture has it's flaws. Ours bred an underclass of thieves and murderers. Your chosen culture deified eugenics, and handed it's people racism, classism, homophobia, a dash of xenophobia, and more than a touch of isolationism. Hardly better."

"Says you!" Ren rounded on his teacher, but a sudden cough from Ozpin brought him up short.

"Ren... I can see how tired you are, even if you won't admit it. You don't really want to do this; you're exhausted. There isn't anything actually wrong with Jaune, is there?"

Ren countered quickly. "Jaune is bisexual. He isn't fit to lead us. He isn't strong, not like you or me."

Ozpin smirked. 'Hook, line and sinker.' "And yet, here I am Ren. A gay man, and probably the most powerful man in this school, if not the continent. Can you really say you surpass me?"

Ren said nothing.

Ozpin in clasped his hands. "Ren, Atlas practices eugenics. Selected partners, bred children. All raised to be a crop of powerful human beings. When your parents met, they knew they couldn't love each other, not in that city. They fled to Vale so they could have a life, sacrificing their peace for your birth. Ren, one way or the other, you owe a culture of free will and free love a life debt. And I believe that it's come to collect."

Ren abruptly did an about face and made for the door. Ozpin and Glynda watched as he left, but at the door, Ozpin leveled a single, final barb.

"Nora would be ashamed of how you treated Jaune."

The door slammed shut.

Weiss and Blake made it into Beacon's chapel as the chorus wound down on their opening hymn. "I told you we shouldn't have stopped for coffee," Weiss hissed. Blake shushed her.

Up at the altar, Professor Port calmly walked behind his stand, glancing to check the text laid before him, and then looking out into the crowd. "Good morning, my students. I can see that most of you have arrived fresh from your dorms... which is nice. Welcome, for here, we rise from Dust..."

"AND TO DUST WE RETURN." The congregation spoke. A handful of students managed to disguise their groans behind the booming noise, despite the fact that they most dearly wished that Pastor Nick, the school ordained pastor, would get over his meningitis soon. Port was too... bombastic to be a priest. How he got a marriage license was anyone's guess.

Professor Port sighed deeply in the silence. "I'm so glad to see such bright and shining faces before me. I truly can feel the energy of our creators in the room."

"Today it was planned that I would speak about the importance of fasting and penance-"

The crowd collectively let out a relieved breath.

"But the Dust within me has stirred, and today I wish to speak of the eminence and strength of our celestial mother and fathers plans."

...And there were the groans. We were missing those groans.

Port swept his arms out and gestured to the colorful mosaics behind him, each depicting the three stations of creation and gestured to the first one, depicting the world forming from a miasma of dust. "We are all one and the same, Human or Faunus, plant or common beast, for each of us sprang from the Dust that our godly ancestors did. What are we here, but vassals of our lords. We who work their will as our own."

Port stepped down from the alter, spreading his arms wide and fully. "We all sprang from the life well of our gods, and yet we do not embrace our fellow kin of creation. Was this not our greatest mistake in the Shade?" Port pointed at the second mosaic, the tallest of the three, depicting a world where the sky was empty of Sun and Moon, colored as a dead television channel and illuminated only by fires and inhabited by beastial creatures and beastial men.

"When the Shade was real, on this world, the gods abandoned us, and we became grim caricatures of life itself. You all know this to be true."

"Love thy neighbor, defend thy neighbor, so when the stars die again and the sun falls and the moon shatters, you may leave you Dustly shackles and return to your god-hood." Port called, almost wailed, surprising the congregation. "The wicked are punished, for they shall become the deadly, war mongering Grimm. The good shall be rewarded, for they shall become like the spirits of Lochi, Romulus and Cygnus."

Port gestured to the final, leftmost painting. "When the world was lost, and the gods returned to lay waste to their creation, these three, lovers, fighters and artists, climbed the tallest mountain of the world and begged for their races salvation and the gods understanding. The gods relented, and stepped upon the earth as a race of pure and naive beings, the race of man. Into the skies ascended the trio of spirits, seeking peace and bringing it."

"Powerful Romulus became the sun, burning bright to illuminate the hearts of the righteous and wicked equally. Wise Cygnus became the stars, to guide man and fauna alike, and to bring rest. Beautiful Lochi became the fractured moon, spinning in the sky and returning us our wonderment."

"Truth, knowledge, and happiness, are the gifts these great spirits granted us, so that we may live a life in the light and the dark. Our piousness shall bring salvation. Our selfishness shall bring only our destruction. Open your arms to each other and open your hearts to the light. May your souls guide you well my children. Amen."

"Amen." And promptly the chapel was emptied as the Huntresses and Huntsmen in training ran for the hills.

Amongst them was Weiss and Blake, both more or less glad to be gone, though pleasantly surprised at how toned down the sermon was. The surprise was soon articulated by Weiss: "I wonder what's gotten into Port. He's usually so...flamboyant."

Blake shrugged. "Maybe it was Jaune."

Weiss shrugged, glancing out a window over the academy ground contemplatively. "Maybe. I just hope Pastor Nick is back by next week though."

"Hn. Of course you do."

Weiss stopped and glared at Blake, who had the dignity to glare back. After a moment though, both girls managed to recall their 'live and let live' agreement, and shut up. Of course, this was a hard thing for Blake: Pastor Nick had a tendency to emphasize the 'pure race' thing over the 'all created from Dust' part.

Perhaps in an earlier time the pair may have argued over the issues that they had dealt with, but now, they simply acknowledged their differences and left it at that.

Team JNPR's room was unseemingly quiet, despite the fact it held the owners of the loudest voices in Beacon. Ruby and Yang were sitting on one bed while Pyrrha and Nora were sitting an opposite bed. Jaune, rather than sit between said women, had elected to grab a chair and sit in it reversed.

Yang smacked her lips awkwardly. "So, what's the meeting for?"

Pyrrha looked at Jaune and Nora. Jaune answered curtly: "We've been... having a rough week. Figured now would be as good a time as ever to try and explain things."

Yang put two and two together. "So it's a big meet and greet?"

"Yep! I brought the punch, so you need to get a casserole!"

"No, Nora, it's the part where we come clean about everything." Jaune scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "It's... been a long time coming."

Pyrrha was staring intently at the legs of Jaune's chair. "I guess since it blew up in my face first, I'll go ahead. Have you guys ever heard of project Argonaut?" Ruby's eyes decided to do their saucers impression at that.

"Project Argonaut? They tried to take over Mistral. How could we not know about them?" Jaune looked away. Ruby's eyes widened further when the realization hit her, Yang barely a moment behind. "Wait... you don't mean..."

Pyrrha sulked and seemed to shrink with self-loathing. "I was thirteen when recovery services found me. The entire project had just... we still don't know who tipped off the authorities. The government tried to arrest everyone who had controlled the project, but Mistral's president had been assassinated the very same night. Everything was coming apart and one of the generals managed to cut his losses and run. He staged a coup a few months later... that was four and a half years ago."

For the moment, no one interrupted the story, but the words Pyrrha had used set off everyone's alarm bells. Four and a half years ago.

Pyrrha finally managed to focus on Yang and Ruby and continued. "I spent most of the time between the coup and my recovery catatonic. I was so messed up psychologically... I was losing time left and right. It was only when I saw what was really happening, when I watched the coup unfold, that was when I realized what I had really been. After that, I buried my past and worked as hard as I could to recover. I reconnected with my family, managed to take up a productive hobby, and..." A smile crept onto Pyrrha face now. "I enrolled in Beacon and made so many friends. All of this... it really is so much better for me now."

"And then... I relapsed." Pyrrha dropped her head into her hands, silent as the grave. Jaune took over.

"When Pyrrha... uh, relapsed, she ran off into the woods. She lost her shield, and killed a bunch of Grimm. We thought that she was alright when she said she was fine, but she still needed help. So... we helped her." Jaune left it at that, drawing Pyrrha out of her misery and even getting a smile on her face.

Ruby tried to articulate her thoughts, but before she could the door opened. "Hey, where's- oh, there you two are. What are you doing in JNPR's room?" Weiss was at the door, followed by a surprisingly calm Blake.

"Uhhh..."

After Pyrrha took the time to explain the whole scenario again, Weiss and Blake were suitably shocked. "You?"

"Yes."

"An Argonaut!"

"Yes Blake."

Blake gulped down her fear. "So... Well, at least we know you're a nice person." Blake managed to almost fake a smile. Weiss simply remained silent and collected, filing the information away for later use.

Pyrrha was back to staring at her lap, swinging her legs lightly. "That's my story. Anyone else?"

Nora danced a hand into the air, waving because she actually didn't care. "Ooh, me. Pick me. My godfather is a mafia boss!"

Weiss almost said "So that's where I remember you from," before thinking better of it. Instead, she went with a neutral, "is this for real?"

Nora nodded profusely. "Yup! So my family basically runs a big part of Vale's underworld, with everything from boot-legging to gun smuggling, and I was slated to get a big inheritance cause my uncle Al liked me a lot. But then I failed a test so they canceled my Beacon funds... which sucked, but getting them back was fun. We blew up a mansion's parking lot and stole a car!"

Team RWBY looked at Nora, and then the saner pair. Jaune shrugged. "Crazy week. Monday was finding Pyrrha, Tuesday was helping Pyrrha, Wednesday was Nora and Ren's test, and Thursday was a raid on a mafia compound. That's where we were on Thursday."

"Yup! And you guys will not believe this." Nora held up four fingers and her thumb. "I was slated to get that inheritance four years and five months ago."

Ruby and Yang looked at each other, but the surprise was also mimicked on Blake's and Weiss's faces, if only more subdued. Ruby cleared her throat. "Pyrrha... about that."

The door loudly creaked open as Ren walked in. Upon seeing the numerous women all in the same room as Jaune, he replied as such: "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Jaune and Pyrrha didn't answer. Just an hour earlier, Ren had stormed out of the room, unable to look at anyone when Jaune had admitted that he was actually Bisexual. That little stunt had been the prompt to cause the open discussion. Nora filled the silence after a moment of hesitation. "Yeah Ren. We're... talking here. If you have any secrets, it's time to come out!"

Ruby looked at her sister with a hint of legitimate surprise and excitement, but the flush of worry on Yang's face kept her focused on what she had intended to say. "Everyone, well... four and a half years ago, my mother was killed by Grimm."

Weiss, Blake and team JNPR stared in horror. Pyrrha choked out; "Ruby, I'm so sor-"

"We had left Mistral during the failed Argonaut Coup."

Pyrrha's sentence came to a screeching halt.

Ruby sat down, Yang moving in to comfort her sister only for Ruby to push her away. Ren hopped into his bed, followed a moment later by Blake and Weiss sitting down next to the silent and distraught Ruby. Jaune squeezed his chair, feeling a great measure of shame, and finally spoke up. "You guys... I don't belong in Beacon. I faked my transcripts to enter."

It took a few moments to sink in, but when it did, the first person to react was Weiss. "What!? You faked your way in? How could you do that?"

Jaune held out his hands in a submissive gesture. "I just wanted to help people."

"But how did you fake your way in? The sheer amount of paperwork and checks should have seen that your transcripts were fake." Weiss was starting to get less annoyed that someone had gotten in and more confused at how. "This is one of the most prestigious academy in the four kingdoms. How did you fake your way in?"

Jaune shrugged. "The guy I got my transcripts from said they were good. I trusted him, and they worked out great. Besides, this was my only chance. My parents wouldn't let me be a Huntsman, so I had to fake my way in."

"That's-"

Blake cut in. "Why wouldn't your parents want you to be a Huntsman?"

Jaune gulped, but after a moment of prep, soldiered on. "Well... My mom and dad didn't let me... well because I'm Bisexual."

Ren's groan of annoyance was the only thing heard in the room. No one said anything as Team RWBY processed this information.

Blake recovered first. "Interesting..."

Jaune chuckled a little. "Yeah. It kind of is."

Blake took a breath, beat down her own fear and started to untie her bow. "When I was a child, my father said that I wouldn't need to wear this someday. I guess... that day is today."

Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren all stared at the cat ears on Blake's head. "Oh," was said collectively.

Blake scratched at one of her ears. "My father was a photographer for the White Fang, and a close friend with one of the founders. Five years ago, when the leadership changed, my father caught an illness. Some deadly disease with no cure. He told me... but that's not important now. I left the White Fang a few months ago, and dedicated myself to helping everyone by being a Huntress. And Jaune?"

Jaune grunted to affirm he was listening.

Blake calmly spoke. "...I'm also Bisexual."

"I'm a Lesbian!"

"Ruby!"

Team JNPR, Blake and Weiss all stopped paying attention to their many revelations as Ruby and Yang started arguing about timing and making jokes and being serious. Ren sat up and cough deliberately at the two, resulting in Yang realizing that, one way or another, the facts were out there now. Yang got between the six others and her sister and used her Aura to set her fist on fire. "If any of you hurt my sister, I. Will. End. You."

Weiss looked at her leader, before shrugging. "Don't hit on me, I'm straight."

Pyrrha chimed in. "Ditto."

Nora giggled. "I'm Ren-sexual, so no flirting with me Ruby."

Ren grunted. "You're not my leader. And Jaune: for now, the only thing that matters is that you keep us alive."

A fair amount of annoyance and disgust was directed at Ren for that comment, but the Atlan man quietly weathered it. "I don't really have a secret. Four years, five months ago, my father and mother owed money to Nora's family, and when they couldn't pay in cash, they got maimed to prove a point. I swore revenge, found a good teacher, met Nora, and exacted some revenge last Thursday. That's about it."

Pyrrha pursed her lips. "Anything else?"

Ren lost all interest at that moment. "I'm being trained by Roman Torchwick, wield his adoptive sister's machine pistols, and am involved in a plot to destroy the world. Better?"

The glares, especially Pyrrha's, said it all. "Ren, if you're going to make jokes, at least try and keep them to yourself."

Ren shrugged. "You asked, Pyrrha."

Weiss groaned. "So... Four and a half years. What in the Shade does that mean?"

For a time, no one spoke. Jaune clarified: "I came out to my parents four years and five months ago, if that helps."

"That's about the same time frame for my old apartment burning down..." Yang fished into her pocket and pulled out a wallet and from that, a picture. "Can everyone see?"

"This girl is Luna. She's sort of my older sister, and kinda but not really my mom. You see, when I was a little kid, I was orphaned and alone in Atlas. Luna found me and took me in. She raised me, clothed me, fed me whenever she could. She...she loved me." Yang stopped for a moment and fought back tears. "She worked hard to provide for me, even if what she did was illegal and degrading. She taught me to sew and help her repair clothes, taught me how to use some of my Aura, and fight a little. When I was thirteen..."

Yang stopped again, images of Luna, gaunt with hunger, flashing back through her mind. "When I was thirteen, the apartment me and Luna lived in burned to the ground. I was supposed to be the last one out. But Luna...I think she survived." Another picture, grainy, grayscale, showed the rubble from a burned out building. Off to the side though, a figure in short dress ran off screen. "I've been looking for Luna for years now. If anyone sees her... please, tell me."

Team JNPR and RWBY looked at the pictures, memorizing the person in the photos. Even Nora did, if only because she was focused by helping her friend.

For a long time, no one said anything, all quietly wondering the significance that had led to such a strange crossroads of destiny. Four and a half years...four years, five months.

Finally, Jaune broke the silence. "Why then... Shade, why now? Why this week? Why today, why yesterday?" Jaune glanced at his arm. "And about Yesterday, what was that?"

Weiss groaned a little at Jaune's popcorning from subject to subject, but elaborated anyway. "What happened yesterday was called contagion. We aren't sure why it what happens... but..."

Jaune winced. "'But'. 'But' is not good. Even if it's Weiss'."

That got him a dirty look from Pyrrha and Weiss, but the heiress kept at it. "Contagion occurs when someone with an active Aura comes into contact with a Grimm's blood. Typically, a Grimm's blood is poisonous if ingested, but if someone comes into contact with a very small quantity, or absorbs it osmotically... something happens to the victim. They begin to take on Grimm qualities. Black skin, bones protruding, red eyes, and evil traits becoming more prominent. When Jaune started changing, he became..." Weiss searched for the right word.

"Prideful."

Everyone looked at Pyrrha. The Mistralite shrugged self-consciously. "He sort of was."

Weiss nodded. "Yes. Once contagion occurs, the only sure fire way to stop it is to remove the limb that is infected. Like stopping gangrene."

Jaune looked at his arms. "So if I ever touch another Grimm ever again..."

"You'll probably lose the arms. Again."

Silence came crashing down upon the group. For most, it was a time of thought. For Pyrrha and Yang, it was a time for concern. Finally, Ruby spoke.

"Killer blood, crazy secrets and weird love triangles. Woohoo, my life is a romance novel!"

There were a few laughs at that. Because in the end, Team RWBY and JNPR were all together, whole and unharmed. That was all that mattered for now.

Up in his office Joshua Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch closed the surveillance camera in JNPR's room. "Joshua-"

"I know Glynda. They're ready."

Joshua Ozpin stood up and turned around, looking out into the morning light. "I couldn't be more proud of them. Or relieved."

A/N: so, again, I would like to thank my editors OneirosTheWriter and Chas1881. Thanks for keeping up with my marathon writing guys! And remember everyone:

Review please!