~~-Yellow Maidens-~~

Yang gently shook Jaune awake. They had spent the last 3 hours reading fairy tales and eating breakfast while Jaune slept. Kyle, Shion's resident Huntsman, had just informed them that the airship was ready to go.

"Juane. Come on Vomit Boy I know you aren't looking forward to a long air ride, but we need to get going." Jaune's eyes snapped open and he practically leapt to his feet. The quick in and out of sleep transitions went onto a growing list of concerns and behavioral changes that Yang had been mentally compiling.

"The airships ready? Okay, come on guys let's get going." Jaune stood and patted himself down making sure he had all his gear. "Do we need to stop at the inn to get anything or did one of you already grab our stuff?"

Jaune stopped with one hand on the door and turned back when he realized no one had moved. "Guys?"

"Jaune, before we go anywhere, we need to know you are going to explain what is going on. What you and my Mother were talking about. And all of this." Yang gestured to the table covered in books.

"Ren, I'm assuming that if I boost your Aura, you can mask the entire airship?" Jaune turned to his rather shaken looking teammate and after a moment's thought received an affirmative nod. "Then I will answer any questions you have on the airship, provided we can keep our conversations private from the aircrew. But I am really worried for Pyrrha, we need to get on that ship as soon as possible. I don't want to delay another second if we can help it."

"We understand Jaune. I'll go grab our stuff and meet you at the airfield. I'll even use my semblance the whole way." Ruby smiled and everyone else stood up as Jaune pushed his way out the library's front entrance. Ruby took off as soon as she was outside, with the rest of the team following Jaune's quick pace toward the airfield. Kyle scrambled to catch up.

"Airships fueled and we put some MREs on board, it's going to be around a 4-hour flight. It was an honor to work with you guys." Kyle, despite being older, and receiving questioning looks from his teammates and leader, treated the Beacon kids like legends.

"Thanks Kyle. You take care of yourself and this town. I have a feeling things are going to start working smoother for you soon. We'll make sure that you start getting those supply drops you've been needing." Jaune patted his shoulder as they approached the air dock. Ruby, panting slightly, but already waiting with their bags and surrounded by a blizzard of rose petals blowing around as the airship warmed up its engines.

"Who is that guy?" One of his teammates turned to their team leader.

"Jaune Arc, The leader of the Heroes of Shion. He and his team cleared all the Grimm on the West Road, defeated the entire Branwen Tribe, and then they killed the Nuckalvee." Kyle answered for his leader when she gave a confused shrug. He turned to his team gesturing grandly to the kids as they wasted no time boarding the aircraft. Yang overheard and gave a cocky wink as both she and Nora gave them a salute style wave.

"Way to lay low Jaune. I wouldn't be surprised if the 'Legend of Jaune Arc' is being told in Mistral before we even land."

"What was I supposed to do? Leave them all to die?" Jaune hissed under his breath, counting on his helmet and the sound of the engines to hide his voice.

"They did all that? How long were we gone?" Asked the tank of their group, a big burly polar bear Faunus with a spiked club, that was also a double-barreled shot gun.

"Oh, that was all just the last twenty-four hours. Before that they were busy stopping the White Fang's assault on Beacon." Kyle missed the shocked look of his teammates as he was too busy waving to the departing airship.

Jaune sat wearily on a crate at the back of the ship. His team gathered close around him. He still had his helmet on and all his teammates were using their earbuds and scrolls to communicate so they wouldn't have to shout over the noise. The noise canceling microphones on these late model scrolls were really amazing.

"Okay guys I know you have a lot of questions. You are probably pretty mad at me…"

"We aren't mad at you Jaune. Just concerned." Yang looked at him with soft lilac eyes.

"Well you probably should be." Jaune sighed audibly over the mic. "So, you guys read those stories?"

Jaune got several nods and a thumbs up emoji from Nora.

"Well they are all true." He waited for the gasp, only for it not to come.

"Annnnd….?" Nora prompted.

"The Maidens of the Seasons are real. And they can perform real honest actual magic. No dust. Magic."

"Not hard to believe really, have you seen what Weiss can do? So, I'm going with Nora here…. And?" Yang prompted a little less enthusiastic than Nora had.

"And your mother, Raven, is the Maiden of Spring."

"And? You know what? Just tell us everything. This is getting tiring." Ruby pouted.

"Wow. You guys are taking this rather well. Okay, here goes… I'm the Maiden of Fall, Ozpin is the immortal wizard from the story. And he is also the warrior in 'The Girl in the Tower'. And he isn't Ozpin anymore because his soul is in a new host who your Uncle Qrow is currently searching for, because he and a Mrs. Goodwitch, and all the headmasters are part of a super-secret group trying to fight a shadow war against the Girl from the Tower, who's name is Salem, and she is the Queen of the Grimm." Jaune's words came out faster and faster as he went, requiring him to take several gasping breaths when he finished.

"Woah. Time out. How are you a maiden? I know for certain you don't have the proper anatomy for that." Nora pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Wait, how certain?" Yang looked at her questioningly, completely missing Ruby's quizzical face and her nodding in agreement.

"One thousand percent certain. It might be bigger than Ren's but it isn't as nice. Size isn't everything." Nora crossed her arms confidently while Ren face palmed.

"You aren't… you know?" Yang looked at Jaune expectantly.

"I am one hundred percent a man."

"But are you…" Yang waggled her hand.

"I'm only into girls, if that's what you are inferring. Besides, I don't think the magic works that way."

"Then how can you be the Fall Maiden. It does seem a stretch for us to believe, even if we assume the rest is true." Ren ever the logical one tried to prod Jaune along.

Jaune sighed and lifted his visor revealing the silver flames that surrounded his eyes. "Ozpin used Aura transfer technology developed by Atlas to put the soul of the previous Fall Maiden into me. Amber says 'Hi' by the way." Jaune gave a little wave. Ruby and Nora waved back.

"And the glowing eyes?" Yang looked at him cautiously.

"The Maiden powers manifest with a fiery ring around the eyes, but for some reason mine is silvery white not gold like Amber's was. She thinks it has to do with my Aura doing something to the powers. It's why I use the helmet and why, I assume, Raven wears that mask." Jaune flicked the visor down in demonstration.

"That is so cool! You are a real life magical girl! What are you doing right now? Show me something cool." Ruby squee'd excitedly practically vibrating in her seat.

"Right now, I'm giving us a serious tail wind so we get the Mistral faster. But here, watch this." Jaune conjured fire in one hand and ice in the other. He then brought the two together allowing the ice to surround the fire forming an impossible little lantern.

"Sooooo cooooool." Ruby reached out to touch it but Jaune allowed it to disappear in a puff of steam.

"Sooo, am I hearing this right? You have a girl stuck in your head? And she talks to you?" Yang was clearly taking it the hardest. Everyone else just seemed to accept it with remarkable ease. Ruby was just excited, Ren was as neutral as he usually is, Nora acted like he was only confirming what she already knew, only Yang seemed to be struggling.

"Yes, but Amber says she is a 'Woman not a girl, thank you very much.' Jaune emphasized Amber's words with finger quotes. And it's worse than that. I also have access to some of her memories which gets a little weird. Ohh, yeah, thanks Amber. And when I sleep, we have a sort of head space where we can interact in a more physical manor." Yang looked shocked at the revelation.

"What happened to Amber?" Ruby looked a little sad.

"After Cinder attacked her, she was badly injured, she probably wouldn't have survived, but she seems surprisingly okay with having her consciousness stuck in me."

"You are banging the ghost in your head?" Yang looked affronted and a bit crushed.

"What?" Jaune turned to Yang, wondering if he had perhaps heard her wrong.

"You said we get physical when you sleep." Amber laughed at the phrasing and misunderstanding.

"No! Amber and I train and spar. Nothing like that. That would be weird, almost incestuous." Jaune looked at Yang disgusted that she would even suggest it.

"Hey! I think that reaction is a little too much! Tell them that we are one body, but two separate minds and souls. With completely different genetic and spiritual makeup and no relations other than our mental connection. So not incest." Ambers voice grew shrill as Jaune tried to quiet her down.

"We are two separate minds and souls, inhabiting one body." Jaune parroted as Yang looked better but still uncertain.

"And so not incest. Tell them."

"Amber insists I tell you that since we are not related and only share a mental not genetic connection it wouldn't be incest. But I think she acts like one of my sisters so I still say it would still be weird."

"I agree with Amber. If anything, it would be mental masturbation." Nora had her contemplative face on and Jaune began to freak out a bit. Yang looked a bit dumbstruck. Ruby and Ren looked like Ruby and Ren.

"Look I think we are getting way off topic here. Just think of it like the guy in 'The Man With Two Souls' except Amber isn't evil and trying to take over my body." Jaune relaxed as Ruby, Ren, and Nora seemed to brighten up at the analogy.

"Ah it's like the Janis soul in the sequel." Ruby snapped her fingers as a veritable lightbulb went off over her head.

"Kind of. But it's just Amber and I in here so the dynamic is nothing like it was in 'The Man with Four Souls'." Jaune nodded tapping the side of his head, as Yang looked more and more confused.

"What are you guys talking about? Isn't that one of those smut stories Blake reads?" Yang looked at Jaune as if he had somehow forced Ruby to read it.

"Yang it isn't smut. '2 Souls' is the number one book on Blake's list of 'books that you should totally read and re-use the dust jacket of'. The sequel, 'The Man With 4 Souls' is number 7 on her list of 'Books you totally should read but don't want to be caught with'. And that has nothing to do with smut, it is just that people have very strong opinions on the direction the sequel took." Nora stared Yang down, hands on hips.

"Nora, you read?" Yang was worried about her priorities since she was having a harder time accepting Nora perusing great works of literature, than Jaune being a magical girl.

"All the time. It keeps me mentally stimulated, and broadens me intellectually." Nora nodded sagely.

"So does Raven have two souls too?" Yang turned back to Jaune, opting to go with the less troubling rabbit hole.

"No. Probably not. It's usually just the magic that passes to the next host. It always goes to who you are thinking of at the time of death. Or so I'm told. And that is assuming who was being thought of it is a young-ish girl, between around 7 and 40, otherwise it jumps into someone random. Raven apparently befriended then killed the prior Spring Maiden and inherited her powers that way. It's hard not to be thinking of the person killing you, so a lot of times the powers go to the woman attacking you. Amber was attacked similarly, only Cinder tried to ensure a transfer by using a Grimm of some kind to steal Amber's soul. But your Uncle interrupted it and she only got half of it." Jaune focused on Yang as everyone else was taking things in stride.

"And Ozpin stuck the rest in you? Why you?" Yang looked at him face etched with worry.

"Well, he was going to put her in Pyrrha. But I couldn't let him do that. It would have emotionally destroyed her." Jaune scratched the back of his neck.

"That was during the finals round wasn't it?" Yang quickly began to put two and two together.

"Yeah. No one knows but Ozpin, Glynda, and your uncle Qrow. And I guess Pyrrha and now you guys. And Raven probably figured it out, and maybe that Vernal girl… that could be a problem actually." Jaune trailed off.

"Why not tell us sooner." Yang having finally accepted the reality of the situation began to feel betrayed by the lack of trust.

"I wanted too. But I couldn't. Well I mean I could have, but it would have taken a lot more to convince you. I didn't have a lot of control early on, I could kind of direct the magic, but it just did what it wanted. And I could only talk to Amber in my dreams, so I didn't even know some of the details myself. it's only been just over a week since I even got these powers. And I kept it a secret when we were in the wilds since you might freak out…" Jaune was cut off when Yang raised a hand to silence him.

"And that could bring the Grimm. Yeah, I get it. Okay, we are cool. I wish we could meet this Amber chick though." Yang relented and sat down, her emotions as usual, running hot and cold and typically burning out quickly.

"Well I don't know how that would happen. But I'm sure she would like to meet you. She already knows you guys on account of her and I sharing all our memories." Jaune gave a shiver as he contemplated how bad it could be for him if Amber and Yang did somehow meet up. Amber had access to every one of his deepest darkest secrets, and she wouldn't hesitate to share them with Yang if it meant a chance to tease him.

"I assume this relates to why Pyrrha is in need of rescue." Ren, ever practical, saved Jaune from a long and potentially emotionally damaging rabbit hole.

"Well yes, but probably not for the reasons you'd think. Pyrrha isn't in danger because of what she knows. She is in danger because of what the enemy doesn't." Jaune frowned, trying not to trip over his own words, and thinking he probably could have explained that better.

"So, the enemy thinks Pyrrha is the maiden and so are going after her?" Nora looked at Jaune with worry.

"Amber and I suspect that Headmaster Lionheart of Haven, has turned traitor on Ozpin and is working with Salem. The evil Grimm queen who is behind all the attacks on beacon. Ozpin putting Amber in me was a last minuet switch and only a few people were informed. Before that Ozpin's little circle had agreed that Pyrrha was the preferred candidate, that would have included Lionheart." Jaune looked grimly around at his teammates.

"So, he would automatically think Pyrrha has the powers. But why do you think he is one of the super mean baddies?" Ruby looked frankly adorable with her face scrunched up in puzzlement.

"Only your uncle Qrow, Ozpin, or Lionheart could have realistically set up Amber to be ambushed the way she was. And I suspect, based on what Kyle told us, that he has been withholding supplies from the outer villages to leave them defenseless."

"That son of a biscuit!" Ruby snapped her fingers together looking far angrier than Jaune could ever recall. He even thought he noticed some little flecks of silver light coming off the corners of her eyes much like his own magic.

"Silver eyes." Amber murmured, trailing off and not elaborating any further.

"Okay fearless leader, what's the plan? We land at Haven, guns blazing, storm the headmaster's office, and break all three of his legs?" Nora stood up gripping her war hammer tightly.

"Sort of, but in a way that does not end up with us arrested for assaulting one of the most powerful men in Mistral. My plan is to contact Pyrrha and warn her to stay on guard and away from him. Once she is safe and back with us, we find Yang and Ruby's uncle Qrow. Hopefully he can help us take Lionheart down legitimately. If not, at least he will know how to go about it and we can stay out of the way." Jaune looked to Ren who reached out to grab Nora's hand. All the color drained from her and she sat back down quietly, all the color rushed back but she continued to sit there with a dopey grin leaning her head on Ren's shoulder.

"So how do we get a hold of Pyrrha. Scrolls are still down." Yang waved her scroll showing no service.

"Out here maybe, but in the cities local networks are still active. As soon as we get close, we start spamming her scroll until she answers." Jaune pointed to his own scroll with a grin. "And even if they figured out how to block our numbers I can still track and message her with the Beacon Teams App."

"So, we just have to wait? How long do you think…"

"Umm, this is your pilot speaking, we don't quite know why but we are approaching Mistral a bit… way ahead of schedule. Please prepare for final approach." The intercom chimed as the seatbelt sign went on.

"Just how strong a tailwind did you give us?" Yang looked to Jaune who could only shrug as he let the magic fade away, causing a noticeable deceleration.

Jaune pulled out his scroll and seeing he already had one bar for connection, he began frantically dialing as everyone else began sending texts.

Pyrrha picked up on the fourth ring. "Jaune? Oh, this is great! You got Blake already? I can't wait to see you!"

"Pyrrha you need to listen to me! You are in…"

"Sorry Jaune, you are breaking up… Oh, Sorry Professor, I'll be with you in just a moment. Sorry Jaune, I got to go. I'm at Haven right now, come find me as soon as you can."

"Pyrrha! Pyrrha?" Jaune looked down as the call ended.

"Anyone else get through?" Jaune looked around in desperation at the frowning faces of his friends.

"Yang come with me. I might need you to help convince the pilots to make an emergency drop at Haven." Jaune unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way up to the cockpit.

Nora fist pumped excitedly, while everyone else looked worried.

Jaune pounded his fist on the sealed cockpit door. "I hoped I'd never have to say this but, it looks like we are going with Nora's plan."

~~-Yellow Maidens-~~

AN: Not much to say this week. I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. Some exciting stuff next chapter and we get to see Pyrrha again. She is still alive! No thanks to Roosterteeth who unfortunately still own all things RWBY. Haven't mentioned that in a while.

I fixed the double posted bit in the middle. My appologies, we are on vacation out in the woods and I am using my phone to post this week. Sorry for the mix up.

Also to the reviewers who asked why there are two stories. It's so I can make incest jokes in the M rated one and have a second clean K rated version for my daughter. That way I don't have to explain what incest is, or why sometimes jokes about it can be funny.