~~-Yellow Maidens-~~

The White light faded away. Jaune was still holding Velvet close, their faces still only inches apart.

"Did it work?" Jaune asked out loud, though his voice was barely a whisper.

"I think so. Velvet try and do something." Amber responded but it was hard to tell if it was just in his head or through Fox's semblance.

Velvet backed away from Jaune, her hands trailing down his arms as she did. Clearly reluctant to let go.

She opened her weapon, but then seemed to think differently and put it away instead. She concentrated and a shimmering copy of Crocea Mors appeared in her hands.

"Wow. And you aren't using any dust to do that?" Coco looked at the shimmering blue shield and sword.

"I'd like to try something, if you guys don't mind. I'd like to see if we can split the power to give it to Coco as well." Amber had a thoughtful tone that Jaune had come to realize usually meant something reckless and generally painful for him was about to occur.

"No kissing." Coco was stern as she glared at Jaune like he had been the one to suggest it.

"Velvet, I want you to give Coco a hug and concentrate on the feelings of friendship and comradery you have. Jaune I want you to use your semblance on Coco too."

"Are you sure? Doing it with two people at once? Someone could get hurt." Jaune looked nervously at Coco, who laughed at his phrasing. But stepped up taking a suddenly disheartened looking Velvet into her arms.

As Velvet and Coco shared an embrace Jaune placed an unsure hand on each of their shoulders. He activated his semblance and once again the caboose was filled with white light that reflected off the rocks of the tunnel walls that rushed past.

"Amber, are you all right? Jaune's voice was tinged with concern.

"Yeah. It's an odd feeling though. Like I'm being pulled in multiple directions. It isn't painful, though it is uncomfortable. I can feel the link between me and you, but also between Velvet and Coco. It's like a tugging in my guts, unpleasant, but easily ignored. It isn't like with Cinder, the sensation is similar, but I still feel connected and whole even though my soul is split. I don't think it is hurting me in any way." Amber was taking the time to consider her words and evaluate her condition.

"Coco, we are approaching the end of the tunnel." Yatsuhashi gave them a warning causing Jaune and Coco to pull away from Velvet.

"And Ren says he is running low on Aura." Fox chimed in.

"Alright we are moving into position I'll get to Ren and help him as soon as I can." Jaune held the door for the two ladies to step out onto the flat car. The two receiving suspicious glares from Yang and Pyrrha at the other end. Coco noticed and smirked at them, lowering her shades and giving Yang a wink.

The train burst into the light and the fight immediately resumed. A large ball of fire burst across a giant blue copy of Crocea Mors shield that expanded to cover the last two cars of the train. High up on a ledge a huge grim roared before leaping off, wings spreading from its cat like body as is flew down on them.

Coco's minigun roared back forcing it to bank off to the side. "We got a sphinx on our tail!"

Jaune scrambled up the box car after Yang and Pyrrha. He sprinted across the top past Fox and Ilia, who were fighting back to back lashing out with their weapons to dissuade the swooping grim that had joined the fight. Jaune slid across the last 4 feet, dropping down between the cars to where Ren stood bracing across the gap in the cars to keep a hand on each. He could hear the "crack crack" of Crescent Rose and the "bbbrrrrrrrtttt" of Coco firing a long burst from Gianduja, soon copied by as a second "brrrrttt" as cyan colored rounds steaked past the narrow strip of sky Jaune could see in gap between train cars.

Ren gave him a nod indicating he was back at full strength. Needing to see for himself how they were fairing, Jaune scrambled back up to the top of the box car. He stumbled forward a bit as he felt the train slow and sway as it shifted to the sidetrack.

The Grimm were swooping down striking with claws and scorpion like tails. A flurry of roses came from the back of the caboose where a black ribbon had snagged one of the manticores that came a bit too close. The ribbon pulled back as the roses coalesced around it, black pieces fell away as the cloud zipped back to the caboose.

A shriek behind him took his attention from the sight, Jaune recovered from his moment of distraction in time to deploy his shield and block a tail strike. A whip lashed out wrapping around a leg and electrocuting the Grimm. The electricity was not doing much damage but did cause the wings to stop flapping, freezing it in the air. An instant later it was impaled by 10 feet of track that came in like a javelin. Jaune looked over to see Pyrrha floating up another section of track with her semblance. Yang cocked her fist back launching the makeshift spear at a pair of Grimm that were coming in. They dodged it successfully but were not able to escape the hail of black and cyan rounds that streaked in to obliterate them.

"So Vel, you sure about this Jaune guy." Fox smirked at Jaune as he moved up next to him with Ilia, covering the center of the box cars.

"Fox, you leave him alone! Coco on your left." The tracer fire showed the rounds sweep over to the other side of the train.

"He doesn't look like much." Fox held up a finger to shush Jaune. "I don't think she remembers you're on the team chat so shut up and let me have my fun."

"Jaune tries so hard and has come so far. In initiation he didn't even…" Velvet cut off suddenly.

"You knew about his transcripts?" Velvet may have censored herself, but Amber was more than happy to spill his secrets.

"Okay Vel, start talking." Coco smelled a juicy story and was not about to let it go.

"After their excursion to Forever Fall, I confronted Cardin about him blackmailing Jaune. For weeks Jaune had been turning in their work for them. I knew because I was grading all the papers, but I didn't want Jaune to get in trouble, so I didn't tell anybody. It was fairly easy to figure out as Jaune has a certain style he writes in. Any way… 4 o'clock high!" Velvet and Coco's combined fire obliterated another Grimm. "…So, as I was saying, Cardin and his pack of drongos were in the training room beating each other senseless and I decided enough was enough and I wasn't going to let him hurt Jaune anymore."

"Cardin was probably trying to drill the cowardice out of them. Jaune saved him from an Ursa during the field trip, after his team ran away like little bitches. He did become a bit less of a jerk after that. And became a pretty stand-up guy. Really helped turn that team around. But also, it was a major turning point for Jaune as well. And he finally began to accept help from his team." Amber filled in some back story for team CFVY.

"That would explain why he came to me for help in history class shortly after." Velvet paused to let off another burst of fire, switching to a copy of Crescent Rose for longer range when the manticore flew higher.

"So, Cardin refused to tell me what he had been using to blackmail Jaune. And I got so cross with them. I've never felt like that before. I disarmed the squinty blonde one, Sky Dove or something? I never bothered to really learn their names. Anyway, I took his sword and beat the hell out of the whole lot of them. And I forced Cardin to spill. To his credit he wouldn't talk until I promised I wouldn't dob on Jaune." Jaune was about to say something when he got a stern look from Fox and shut up again.

"And you then spent 2 hours every day tutoring him?" Coco asked with a teasing voice.

"Well no… It started as an hour after school on Monday afternoons. But, it kind of evolved from there, and it wasn't all tutoring and schoolwork. Sometimes we would just chat with Blake in the library. Or we'd hang out with Ruby and play games. And his team and team RWBY would invite me to go do things with them, they are super nice…"

"And you fell for him." It was a statement not a question from Amber.

"HARD." The way she pronounced the word was adorable, but there was a sad overtone to it.

"Was he the freshman, you intended to ask to the dance? The one I refused to help you forget?" Yatsu's kind soft voice rumbled in Jaune's shell shocked head. Why? Why was everyone seemingly in love with him? He didn't deserve any of them. Wait, Velvet wanted to forget him?

"It was going to be perfect; he'd ask Weiss, she'd say no because she is daft. Pyrrha wouldn't have the guts and I'd ask him. I'd swoop in and claim his heart for myself. I even bought the brown dress, a little gold clutch to match, and stilettos. But then the Grimm just kept coming and ruined it all." The sphinx swooped in only to be met with a giant blue laser blast and a dozen floating swords.

"Wait, you bought that? The one with the gold accents? I picked that as a joke!" Coco paused even going as far as to temporarily cease firing.

"You said I looked sexy in it!"

"You did! It was UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous on you. But I only picked it because you kept complaining about having to buy new a new bra and underwear with the others I pulled off the rack. So as a joke I picked a dress that made it impossible to wear either. I never thought you'd buy it. It was way outside of your comfort zone. I never thought you'd buy it"

"I think we are going to need a better description of this dress." Amber interrupted to Jaune's embarrassment.

"Ohh, it was a masterpiece, velvety soft cloth which was perfect, and it was woven with a bit of gravity dust, so it was still light and flowing. In a chocolate brown that matched her eyes perfectly. And it had a décolletage that went down to almost her navel. With these little gold chain clasps to keep it closed. And the best part was the side slits which went all the way up past her hip almost to the start of her ribs, with the little chain clasps running down to the thigh. It was elegant and classy but incredibly sexy and alluring at the same time." Coco described the dress with the passion for clothing she was known for.

"Coco, I want you to try concentrating on the mental image of Velvet in that dress…. Oooh yeah, wow. I'll be forcing that memory into Jaune's head for sure. It's a bold look for you Vel. Not sure I'd have had the confidence to pull that off." Amber whistled appreciatively.

"That was the point. Shy meek Velvet would never wear something like that. To pull that off I'd have to be sexy, badass, fearless, outgoing, and assertive Velvet the Huntress. And Jaune was my prey, he wouldn't have stood a chance. Besides, for what sexy Huntress Velvet had planned, underwear would have only gotten in the way."

Jaune felt like he should say something. He could practically feel the steam coming from his ears. He definitely wasn't meant to hear this. Fox looked at him with wide eyes, completely oblivious to the Grimm that exploded into dust behind him, as if that danger was dwarfed by something far greater, and more personal. "I don't think I can disconnect just you without cutting off Amber as well. Don't say a word, if we just play it cool, they might not remember you could hear everything." Jaune just nodded dumbly, pressing his lips shut and trying to empty his mind.

"Guys the sphinx is coming back on our left." Yatsuhashi interrupted the girl talk. And they could all feel the train coming to a stop. If they couldn't finish this fight soon, they'd be sitting ducks.

"And as soon as we got back from that bloody mission. I put the dress in the back of the wardrobe and buried sexy fearless Velvet with it. I was too shy to even talk to him for weeks. And now I'm competing with Yang, Pyrrha and Blake who can all do sexy as easy as breathing. Shy Velvet can't compete, I'm not even sure sexy Velvet could." Velvet poured her rage into her semblance forming multiple copies of Weiss's glyphs around the sphinx, squeezing it in with unbreaking walls of magical light.

"Umm, Vel?" Coco watched as, in her frustration Velvet compressed the mighty Grimm into a smaller and smaller box. All without even really looking at it.

"And while I wasn't there, Jaune the easy to talk to goofball wannabe knight, becomes a cool sexy badass Hero who all the girls pine for. And here I am shy pathetic Velvet, stuttering and fumbling over my words when I try and talk to him. I'll never have a chance with him! Why would he ever want me when he could have one of them? I had it all planned out; asking him to the dance, the night after the dance, the empty dorm room two doors down that I had gotten the code to, getting married after we graduate… our five kids. All of it ruined because of these bloody Grimm!" With the train stopped and the only sound being that of the Grimm's bones snapping, everyone easily heard her outburst even though it was not over Fox's team chat.

The Glyph box shattered under the strain, and it appeared the Grimm tried to flee the enraged Huntress, its broken wings dragging as it tried to crawl away. But a hard-light copy of Blake's Gambol Shroud caught it and dragged it back, flinging it up into the air with a snap and pulling it directly towards the waiting Huntress. It was met with a giant copy of Ember Celica which launched it high into the air with an explosion of fire. Pyrrha's spear followed, growing as it flew. The cyan version easily 10 times the original and trailing fire. It struck the grim and passed right through, exploding into cyan glitter that rained down into the mountain valley.

The Grimm crashed down on the tracks beside them dissolving rapidly, it's mangled corpse bursting into black smoke as the Argus Limited roared by. The express train's deafening roar faded into the distance, leaving a relative silence where all the girls could hear was the hum of the rails and the quiet sobbing of a heartbroken Velvet.

Jaune stood still for a moment, still in shock from what had been revealed to him. Fox grabbed him and pulled him along gently as he and everyone else moved to the back of the train. The train started again with a tug, but by then everyone had already climbed onto the flat car at the back, surrounding the crying girl who was on her knee's held protectively in the arms of a kneeling Coco. Jaune awkwardly stepped up and put a hand on both of them, deactivating his semblance and pulling the Maiden power and Amber back to him.

Fox also put a hand on Jaune deactivating the team link for him and Amber. Coco glared at him and Fox backed off looking sheepish. Coco's glare softened, "You heard everything, didn't you?" It was not an accusation, her voice sounded almost sympathetic.

"You probably felt it too, with your weird Maiden link. All that pain and hopelessness…" Jaune just shook his head no, Coco's eyes widening slightly in surprise.

"Lucky you then. Go on up and sit in the engine. We'll take care of her." Coco gave him a nod and a smile to show she wasn't mad at him, just that his presence would complicate things.

As he passed Yang and Pyrrha shared a glance and Yang threw out an arm to stop him. Pyrrha gently gripped his arm but was unable to turn him to look at her. "It isn't your fault Jaune." Pyrrha released him when he finally turned to her, eyes filled with sadness.

"I caused her so much pain she asked Yatsu to make her forget I even existed. How can I not take that as my fault?"

As Jaune wearily climbed the box cars for the umpteenth time today, it was Ilia of all people who was first to chase after him.

~~-Yellow Maidens-~~

AN: Little Beta didn't like how this chapter was so sad. But I tried to explain how that is life sometimes, even if it all works out there will always be sad parts.

The dress is based on a real dress I found online. Try an image search on the model number MUGL-WD48. Except brown instead of black and gold accents not silver.

I imagine Velvet's Maiden abilities to be a lot like the Green Lantern's but light blue and mainly limited to objects she is familiar with.

I tried very hard to use proper Aussie language for Velvet, but being a Yank and never having had the opportunity to visit your amazing country my knowledge of the specific (non-stereotypical) vernacular is limited mainly to the "InBESTigators" which is streaming on Netf1ix. And if you have not watched it with your kids you are missing out, not only is it funny, it has amazing messages of friendship and of doing the right things even when you don't want to. Plus, the sun hats they wear at recess are adorable.

Also, for those of you who have seen it: Isn't Kyle the best boy ever! And it's kind of wrong to ship 5th graders, but… Kyle and Ava will totally end up together after University. Kyle will become an international sports star. Ava will be a celebrity chef who uses her publicity to promote world hunger charities. Their relationship will become one, that while public, remains strong and will be looked at by all couples to try and find the magic recipe for true happiness. They will live long happy lives and die surrounded by their 4 kids (one adopted, not that it mattered to them), Maudie and Ezra's 3 kids, 11 grand kids, and 7 great grand kids (with 2 more on the way). Their legacy, and their work to eradicate hunger, will be spoken of for generations.