A/N: Gah, this chapter took way too long to do, especially for this piddly little amount. Oh well, for what it is, here's CH2, hope you enjoy! Oh, and again, big thanks to the RWBY Nook on discord for helping me keep at this! Y'all are great!

It was late, nearly midnight, and the Atlas Base was silent. Many of the personnel had retired to their barracks or were on guard duty. The few civilians on base had returned home, and the base was dark, barring the occasional sweep of a searchlight.

Inside the bunker, a very, very distressed android was in its charging cradle. Normally it would be shut down to maximize charging speed, but tonight, it simply couldn't bring itself to.

It had been born into this world in a burst of golden light, and it had no idea what, who, or why it was.

"Q-query: Who am I?" it asked in its mind

"Que-query! Who- Who am I?"

"QUERY! WHO AM I!?"

"Why is there no answer!"

"Why won't someone tell me the answer!?"

The sound of sobbing filled the small charging cradle, or at least, the closest a machine can replicate. The feeling of total and utter lack of purpose was shocking, disturbing, and a million other feelings, all wrapped into one, miserable package. It was all the Aura Hunter could do to maintain its sanity.

"I wonder, would that young man, that Jaune Arc, would he know?" it asked itself.

"I mean, he made me! He created me and put me into this body! He should know right?"

"Wait, he made me, created me, put me into physical form, does that make him my father?"

When that thought crossed its mind, something seemed to click, as if its identity had suddenly become known. Like it had something to latch onto and associate itself with. It felt… right.

"Yes… that feels…. Correct? Fitting? Either way, that's who I am, daughter of Jaune Arc!" She concluded, reaching a satisfying conclusion, also unintentionally coming to a gender as well.

"But…where is he? Did he leave me? Why did leave me! Does he not… love, I think is the word? Yeah, that's it! What if he doesn't love me!" she began to panic a bit, "But… he's my father, he's supposed to love me! And that glow, it felt so… so… warm, and kind, and…. Loving? I think that's the word?"

"Maybe I should go meet him, go to talk to him? Surely, he'd love to meet me! I mean, he left before I could do anything… but, but I'm sure he was just pressed for time! Yeah, that's it! But how do I get out? Maybe get a map?"

She used her connection to the Atlas military comm-net to pull up a map of the bas, and the surrounding area.

The bunker was fairly small, and there was only one way in and out. However, she didn't have clearance to open the doors. She could find the passcode from the database, but it would take some slicing, and that would take some time. Best rest and recharge while she searched out the numbers, and she then delved into the net, and began cracking.

"But REEENNNN! The pancakes will get wet if we don't eat them now!" Nora pleaded.

"Nora, they have indoor seating, the pancakes will not get wet." Ren calmly explained.

Jaune smiled slightly at the antics of his teammates. He was walking a bit behind the combined teams of RWBY and JN_R, his hands in his pockets. Wiess and Ruby were animatedly arguing about something, while Yang and Blake were calmly discussing potential upgrades for Yang's arm. Jaune was happy for them, everyone was back together with their partners, and everyone looked better for it. Jaune was glad to see his friends together again, but this gladness was tinged with melancholy. With team RWBY reformed he felt… out of place. Back when he was trekking across Anima, it felt like they were a whole, a team of four, him and Ruby, Nora and Ren, but ever since team RWBY reunited, he felt… almost like a 7th wheel. Like he was the odd man out. Not to say he felt bitter or excluded, he and Ruby still played games together, usually with Weiss in tow. He and Blake still had their book clubs. Contrary to popular belief, he did, as a matter of fact, read things other than comics. When she found out that he and Velvet from team CVFY were the only ones who read books regularly out of their friend group, she immediately got the three of them together and started a friendly book club. Still, even with all of these friendships he'd been feeling… the second best as of late. Like he was the second choice, not the first.

"Jaune!" Weiss cried, breaking him out of his doldrums.

"Yeah Weiss?" He called back, moving up to the pair.

"Could you please explain to this dolt, how a constant diet of nothing but sweets is hazardous to her heath!"

"I hate to say it, but she's right Ruby, constant sugar isn't very good for you, though I'm not sure you eat that many sweets a day."

"See!" Ruby said triumphantly, looking at Weiss "I told you I didn't eat too many!"

Weiss on the other hand looked betrayed, as if she couldn't fathom why Jaune would pick Ruby over her. Jaune decided to try and salvage the situation, the last thing he needed was an angry Wiess.

"Though Ruby," he started, catching her attention, "That's not really taking into account that you don't eat much besides sweets, so… Weiss is right, you do eat too many sweets, at least in relation to everything else."

Weiss crossed her arms and huffed in satisfaction, while the look of betrayal had switched to Ruby's face.

Ruby dramatically raised her arm in the air, the other clutching her chest like she'd been stabbed.

"No! Jaune, how could you!" ruby exclaimed, "Betrayed from both sides!"

Jaune laughed at her antics, before noticing the look of discomfort on Weiss's face. He nudged Ruby a bit with his elbow, causing Ruby to cease her faux injury.

"Hey Rube, maybe not do that anymore?" he whispered to the girl in question, as Weiss seemed to shake her head clear.

"Oh, yeah." She said, suddenly realizing what Jaune meant.

"Hopefully now you'll start eating healthier, won't you Ruby?" Weiss asked with a tone of triumph in her voice, while Ruby just had a look of dread on her face.

"That's right, won't you Ruby?" Jaune said with a cheeky grin on his face, elbowing Ruby in the side, as the red-haired face fell further.

"You're both mean!" Ruby protested, beating playfully at jaune's breastplate.

"What, you mean you actually like those cookies you've been eating!?" Jaune said sarcastically, his grin widening.

"You're horrible Jaune! I thought you were my friend!" Ruby exclaimed, turning away from him with a pout.

Jaune snickered one last time, before reassuring Ruby that, "No, they won't force her to go on a diet."

Ruby stuck her tongue out at Weiss, before the turning back to face forward, pointing her finger forward dramatically, "Now! Onto the house, we've got cookies to eat!"

With her declaration made, Ruby ran forward at top speed ahead of them, a blur of petals trailing behind her. Weiss rolled her eyes and sighed, then chased after, yelling for Ruby to slow down.

Jaune chuckled at this, then began to return to his thoughts. He'd noticed how Weiss had faltered when Ruby pretended to be stabbed. He guessed that Weiss must still have some bad memories of the fight at Haven. He wasn't really surprised. If he'd been stabbed through the side like that, he'd have bad memories too. It didn't seem to be as bad as the PTSD Yang had been suffering from, but it was still there. He'd have to ask Ruby about it, make sure it wasn't a bigger issue than Weiss let on. She knew Weiss better than him. He felt… responsible for Weiss. His rage-induced recklessness led to Weiss getting wounded, almost killed. If he hadn't unlocked his semblance then, she'd have died, and it would have been his fault, all his fault. Just like Pyrrha… No! he needed to stop getting stuck in the past. Pyrrha would want him to move on, and he was going to do just that, even if it meant wiping his memory. Okay, maybe not that, but the point still stood.

At that moment his scroll rang, knocking him back out of his own head. The scroll showed a call from "Snow Angel". He needed to change that, he'd gotten her scroll number from Ruby, but hadn't changed the contact since Beacon. Weiss would run him through if she realized he still had the contact named that.

He picked up, Weiss informing him that they were back at the house, and most likely won't be leaving again today. He said he'd join them, assuming none of the rest of the gang needed him. He hung up, and asked around, Nora was too busy trying to convince Ren to go back to the restaurant, and Yang and Blake told him they were fine, and they were just going to hit the bookstore before heading back themselves.

With this confirmation, Jaune stuck his hands back into his pockets, and walked at a somewhat swifter pace down the street, whistling the theme to a Spruce Willis movie.