25

Winter looked at the little CD case inside the cardboard envelope, a bit of excitement at the sight of it.

To miss Winter, my first autograph, Jaune Arc.

Ha! If her fellow classmates knew she had this, they'd be furious. Also the fact he addressed her as just Winter was a pretty sweet touch for a kid.

More than his intellect and contributions to society, all they could get in their heads was the music. And even then some of them claimed that it was strange that a child wrote it even as they enjoyed it, snubbing the artist as they enjoyed his art.

It was good music, she admitted, but clearly his technological contributions were more important.

Even if she, admittedly, appreciated the songs more on a personal level too.

After all, it wasn't as if she was able to attend and follow his guest speaker lectures. Those had both waiting lists and were out of her academic league. It was hard to be a direct fan of something you couldn't even follow and comprehend. At least be a real fan.

…But maybe her new prize didn't matter too much for bragging rights, as Winter wasn't exactly close to enough of her fellow Upper Program students for them to even find out about her new prize unless she wished to brazenly display it.

Frankly, even her squadmates barely tolerated her, finding her age, self-confidence, and desire to discipline to be 'not cool'.

She wasn't here at Atlas Academy to be cool. Nor were they. They were here to be Huntsmen and Huntresses! Defenders of mankind! Winter being free of her father's influence was more of a bonus. He'd never have let his heir become a Huntress. He'd even technically disowned her over it.

Which might be why she was now somehow friends with Clarent Arc. The younger girl was rough, but she was at least passionate and dedicated.

"Happy with it, Snow Angel?" Her new younger friend grinned teasingly, sitting on the empty bed of a squadmate that'd already gone home for the summer.

Strange that this girl would have become her first friend.

Today she was dressed in a red leather jacket with a white 'fur' collar, a lower midriff baring white tank top with black edges emblazoned with the twin gold cresent moons of the Arc Crest, and skinny jean capris.

All in all infinitely better than the outfit the girl chose for her normal training and Huntress activities. For going about in public, of course. For propriety.

"Happy enough." Winter sniffed at the younger girl before smiling a little, "This was very kind of you to arrange. Thank you. I appreciate this."

Clarent grinned as she crossed her arms behind her head.

"Ey, no problem, Winter." She chuckled, "It was fun to tease 'im about you."

Winter felt a pang of envy at that. The nature of her upbringing had meant that she'd never been able to be ever really dote on her siblings, though she did keep Weiss close when she could, only being about six or so years apart.

Definitely a bit of an age gap (her parents had a rather loveless marriage), but it had allowed Winter to at least help with bringing up her sister, just a little, though it was inevitably Klein that was the one to do the heavy lifting.

She'd never gotten to do such with Whitley, and likely never would now that she'd escaped that household and life behind her, running away under the umbrella of the Atlas military.

"That's nice." Winter could hear the faint envy in her own voice, "I only wish I could be so lucky."

"Hm?" That caught her new friend's attention. "What's that mean?"

"Oh. Nothing." She waved a hand, as the two girls sat in Winter's squad's dorms, her teammates having already left early to visit family, even though that was technically against protocol. "My brother's only six now. Or should be soon. Now that I'm in the Academy I won't see him for years, at least."

"Huh? Why the hell not?"

"Language, Clarent. It's unbecoming."

"Don't deflect, Winter. I've fought you. I know you can do better than that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Winter replied with a frown.

"I don't know much about your family, but I know Schees live in Atlas cuz the SDC exists. We're in Atlas. If you want to see your brother, go see your brother."

Winter sighed.

"It's complicated."

"No it's not."

"You!" Winter's pulse beat angrily. "I'm not fortunate like you! What would-"

"I was at school when my little brother ran away, you know. Or well. Maybe you don't. We don't exactly like advertising it. Actually when he came to Atlas the first time it wasn't even with us. It was with Qrow and his team's kids." Clarent shrugged, "Fucking dumbass somehow ended up near Vale when Raven Branwen found 'im. She went legit a bit back, but before that she was a bandit. He coulda died, probably would have if he didn't save Mrs. Rose-XiaoLong."

Winter froze, shutting up immediately.

She… wasn't sure what was happening.

She was uncomfortable as her new friend suddenly poured her heart out to her. But… was she really?

Clarent was speaking so bluntly and matter-of-factly she might as well been monotone. As if this wasn't something to hide or was shameful, even if it definitely was. As if it was effortless to air her family's dirty laundry.

It was… not inspiring, perhaps, but… a breath of fresh air. Novel. Something Winter had never experienced before. Brutal honesty for the sake of friendship. She appreciated it even if she felt a little uncomfortable.

"He crossed a damn ocean! Probably stowed away on a boat or someshit, I donno. I wanted to go find him, but I was too much of a coward so I kept my head down, stayed studying at Sanctum. I was less brave than my six year old brother. I ain't proud of it, so I ain't gonna let myself forget it, or repeat it. We got a happy ending cuz we got lucky. Chance. Ain't gonna let any friends of mine leave shit to chance like that too. Whatever it is, let's do it. Let's go see him."

"This is a lot to reveal to someone you've only known for the span of a few days." Winter replied curtly. "And frankly, a huge demand-"

"This is what you signed up for." Clarent shrugged, unashamedly, "We're not just friends. We're Arcs. To us friends are just extended family. By that logic-."

"What, that we're family? That seems extreme." Winter replied incredulously, though she could weirdly feel her lip turn up at the ends because of this refreshingly and confusingly blunt girl. "Excessive, even."

"Would you rather I, A) Take our friendship in a half measures or B) Put everything I have into it?"

"I mean, logically B but-"

"Then no buts." Clarent's face held zero hesitation, just an oddly calm conviction. "Hell, I'll even pull Jaune into this mess. He'd love to help, not just cuz he thinks you're an angel-"

She chuckled as Winter leveled a glare.

"But because he loves that shit. Helping people and doing the right thing. The reason I first wanted to be a Huntress wasn't even cuz I wanted to be one. I just wanted my dumb kid brother to look up to me more." Clarent grinned, her pearly whites flashing. "Cuz I think my dumb brat of a brother's pretty cool sometimes for being so single minded. Cuz being a hero's the only thing that runs through his thick skull sometimes. Well, unless I'm subconsciously a brocon, eh. I dunno. Shit's still on the table."

"That's silly, and a bit hard to believe. When we fought, I could feel that you're like the adrenaline junkies that the instructor's try their hardest to discipline."

"Oh yeah. I love it now. Knowing I'm doing good, but also getting to have a blast in a brawl? I relish it now. I didn't always. Nobody's born a bad bitch."

"I'm going to assume that a bad bitch is a female term for badass?"

Clarent just gave her a look like that should be obvious.

"Ugh. Alright. Do I even want to know what a brocon is?"

"Eh, dumb Mistralian manga shit. Er… our word for comics. Prolly not actually."

"...Even so, your family loves each other. Mine… well, dysfunctional doesn't even cover it."

"I mean I'm not saying I can help fix your family, or that mine's perfect. Or that you even need to tell me about the deets with yours. Just, y'know, there was a reason that Jaune ran away, but my ma and pa worked to patch it up. Like I said. We were lucky and I don't want my friend to rely on luck. So we just gotta make sure you reconnect with your sibling. Or siblings if you got another. I donno your family tree."

"I-I do also have a sister." Why was she stuttering? What was even happening? "But-"

"Then we'll go say hi to her too. Fuck it, we'll bring Jaune along. Make it a playdate or something. Don't think your old man's gonna say no to you bringing the Little Professor-" Clarent snorted in laughter, thinking the moniker to be funny, "-for a playdate and making connections. In Mistral people would kill for that shit."

"...I don't think it's fair to pull my first friend into my family's-"

"Aww, you said I was your friend!" Clarent laughed warmly, as she leaned over to sit next to Winter on her bed instead, wrapping an arm around her shoulder for a side hug. "No take backs on that. You're stuck with me now. Welcome to the Arcs: where friends are family!"

Winter didn't know how to process it all, but found a small chuckle coming from herself anyways.

"This is an awful idea."

"That's ok. I never said I was smart."

"You'll absolutely regret it."

"Eh. You gotta do what ya gotta do. I'd regret more doin' nothing. That I've learned."

"...This is crazy. Lunacy."

"Sanity might be overrated." Clarent shrugged, tugging Winter's shoulder up with her's, "I wouldn't know. Never had it."

Winter couldn't stop the two short giggles that spilled past her lips.

"I… Let me send a letter, ok? I don't feel comfortable calling."

Clarent's arm tightened just a little around Winter's shoulders, the leather creaking slightly.

"As long as you send it. I want a photo of you dropping it off."

"Really now, that's-" Winter turned to see Clarent giving a teasing grin. "Oh, you were joking. I-I mean of course you were joking."

"I mean, I wouldn't say no to the photo cuz that means I'd have your number. Jaune was right, if you didn't remember to come back today, I'd be the idiot walking around with an envelope paracorded to my waist all summer. That definitely woulda felt pretty dumb. I felt pretty dumb yesterday that's for sure."

"I just had a meeting with a few instructors. I should have gotten back sooner. We… we should, perhaps, exchange numbers, however. It would-" Winter coughed, feeling her face warm uncomfortably, "-would be conducive to cooperate-"

Clarent shook her with a deadpan look, cutting off her stumbling attempt at friendship. This was embarrassing. A Schnee didn't stumble.

"Hey, I'd love to exchange numbers, Tsun-ter."

"I have no idea what that means, but you will never call me that ever again."

"If you'll take a pick with your new signed album with my lil' brother so I can tease 'em."

That was a sacrifice Winter was willing to make on the Little Professor's behalf.

Jaune reappeared via Shadow into his room just as Clarent opened the door with Winter behind her.

His eyes widened as he finished reforming from displaced shadow as Clarent's eyes began to narrow.

"I fucking knew you were sneaking off campus, you little shit! I just couldn't prove it until now!" Clarent roared triumphantly as she tackled him to the ground, tickling him mercilessly as he squealed in laughter. "C'mere!"

Not in front of Winter!

"AHHA HA HA HA SIS PLEAHAHAHA WAIT-AHAHAH!"

He had been with Emerald, making sure she was eating well and reassuring her that she'd do fine on her Sponsorship Exam in a few days.

She tried to not show it and pretend to be confident and strong in front of him, but he could tell she was nervous and scared. That was normal and nothing to be ashamed of, but she needed some emotional reinforcement anyways. He was supposed to be her sponsor, so that was his responsibility to provide.

So he'd brushed her hair again, knowing that it was something Yang and his sisters enjoyed, figuring it'd help her calm as well.

Emerald just smiled softly with her eyes closed as she laid her head in his lap, the picture of relaxed satisfaction, so he was sure he'd done the right thing.

And before that he'd been helping Robin sneak Amber into her room, as she was the only Arc currently with her own room. Amber looked terrified being on the Academy campus, but had fallen asleep immediately in her new luxury recovery pod as Robin pulled her along at her own pace.

She really liked that girl.

His Shadow mouse had reported the room had been empty, but Jaune's luck had sort of not held up, as that didn't matter if someone entered the room as he was performing a swap.

Finally someone aside from Yang, Ruby, Ren, Nora, and Emerald knew about his Shadow Teleportation. Actually five was already quite a handful of people, wasn't it?

"What was that?" He could hear Winter ask. "Your Semblance?"

Jaune couldn't reply over a flood of giggles and laughter as he breathlessly heard his older sister Clarent explain.

"Little bro's Semblance has always been used to store objects, but clearly he could do more, this little braaaaaaaaaaat!" Clarent's fingers rippled against his ribs like a mass of short wriggling tendrils as he laughed breathlessly. "This how you ran away, huuuuuuuuh?!"

Jaune could see in his teary eyed state the look of Big Brother Juniper above him shaking his head in laughter.

Traitor!

Jaune gasped for breath, miserably embarrassed as he panted for breath, spread eagle on the ground.

Why in front of Winter?!

"Whew!" Clarent wiped a little sweat off her forehead with a triumphant smile, "Well that was fun."

"She does look like she enjoyed that." Juniper grinned overhead, agreeing even if none but Jaune could hear.

Traitor!

"I don't know what a brocon is, still, but I've decided you are one." Winter leveled an unimpressed look at his sister, although there was a slight, pretty tilt to her lip.

"Eh." Clarent shrugged, her legs crossed from where she sat, hands on her ankles. "Like I said, shits on the table."

"I am not going to ever do something like that to Whitley."

"I say give it a try at least once. Look at Jaune, all tired and tuckered out from laughter. Ain't it cute?"

"Cuteness is not the issue, it's improper!"

"So you don't deny he's cute, eh?"

"By the gods, Clarent Arc." Winter threw up her hands. "You are insufferable!"

Jaune tried to ignore the faint thumping of his tail tucked to the right of his lower back.

Curse his tail.

Just cuz Winter was so pretty, didn't mean his tail should just betray him like this!

"Wha-haha. W-what did you come here for?" Jaune panted on the ground. "Hello, miss Winter."

"Really, Jaune, just Winter is fine." The ange-older girl replied with a shake of her head. "I'm here because your sister dragged me he-"

"She wants a photo with you and the autograph together," Clarent cuffed his shoulder, making his stomach flip, "Ain't that nice?"

"I- well. I said I wouldn't be against it." Winter's face was dusted in a gorgeous red. "Also a favor-"

"Ah." Jaune felt his traitorous tail thumping a bit harder. "You're big sis Clarent's friend, so no favors. There are no transactions to friendship."

"Oh. The Three Balladeers." Winter seemed pleasantly surprised. "That's a classic."

Jaune felt his pulse in his neck.

"Yeah. My friend Blake recommended it to me. It's a good book."

"Neeeeeerds."

"Sis you wouldn't know a good book if it could beat your butt."

"Sounds accurate." Winter nodded.

Clarent just laughed, crossing her hands behind her head as she began to lean backwards.

"Alright, alright. First my blackmail, then our request."

"Is she always this… this?" Winter gestured to his sister with a hand with a raised brow.

"Unfortunately you get used to it."

"Hey!"

Jaune quickly found himself posing with his guitar, Winter standing next to him, her side brushing against his shoulder. Her Aura was like the cool surface of a frozen lake, the scent of mountain lilies on the wind. Cool breath in his throat.

Winter just held her autographed (gods, this was embarrassing) album in her hands, as Clarent took multiple photos on both her and Winter's Scrolls.

He held in his embarrassing desire to request for a copy, partly because he lacked the courage to. Partly because he was sure Clarent would send him copies just to embarrass him.

"So," Jaune flicked his favorite guitar away into his inventory. "What's the real reason you two came here?"

"I. Well. It's a bit complicated, however-"

'Winter wants to go see her siblings, but she's got a complicated family sitch'. Mind helping put together a little sibling reunion?"

"Sure." Jaune replied to his sister as she interrupted her friend, happy to help. "I'm in."

Winter looked befuddled, even though that was pretty, too. HOW was that pretty still?

"Just like that?"

"You're my sister's friend. Welcome to the Arc friends program-"

"-where friends are family." Clarent sang cheerily, finishing his sentence.

The both of them giggled together.

Winter just looked jealous, in a sort of quiet longing way. Like a lonely mountain lily in the snow.

Jaune weirdly wanted to give her a hug, the strange roaring feeling of a hot coal in his stomach.

"Wait. Hey, Jaune." Clarent suddenly spoke up. "That weird appearing-disappearing trick of yours. Can you move people with you?"

Jaune blinked.

"Uhhhhh. I've… never tried." Jaune admitted with a hum. "Never had to. Or thought to."

"Can we test it? Just cuz if ya can' we might be able to sidestep some awkward stuff for Winter."

"I'll do my best!" Jaune found himself being a bit over-eager. He reddened slightly. "We can try a short warp and then some longer ones if I can make it work!"

Turned out that it wasn't possible, but Jaune narrowed his eyes in contemplation, before excusing himself to the bathroom, stating he'd right back and that he had an idea.

The older girls gave him an odd look, but Clarent just told him to wash his hands before they try again.

"Mmmmrg. This is risky." Jaune muttered as his fingers hovered over an information window.

SSR Consumable Item: Seed of Evolution x2

Origin: Forest of Evolution from 'Other World' ID#EHI558

Description: The near inedible core of a 'Fruit of Evolution'. Unlike the Fruit which evolves the body, this seed can evolve one's abilities. However, that requires one to consume this unchewable large, smelly, disgusting seed. The evolution direction cannot be predicted, though it will favor the desires of the consumer. A new consumed Seed will revert the old evolutionary enhancement.

Originally Jaune had smelt the Seed before he had immediately sworn it away.

Now he held his nose, eyes watering.

The things he did for his sister's friends. Also he sort of just kinda wanted to see what kind of smile Winter would make if he could help her. Just a bit!

The seed was the size of a can of soda. Maybe ever so slightly smaller. The surface was rough and oily.

He gagged quietly as he attempted to swallow the seed, large and poking against the back of his throat. It was gross. Like trying to swallow the pit of a peach if it reeked like actual hot garbage and tasted twice as bad.

Ignoring his gag reflex out of sheer force of will he swallowed the seed whole, feeling its oily surface allowing him to swallow the disgusting and wrinkly hard surface of the Seed slip down his throat dropping into his stomach with a plop.

His eyes watered.

His stomach burned.

It was like the time when he'd first tasted a Vacuoan 'Ghost Pepper' in a Mistral street stall. Burned worse, but at least he didn't feel the heat spread from beyond his stomach. It had felt like he'd pissed fire for half a week back then.

He focused on his SSR Rarity Ability: Shadow Summon Exchange Minion.

And he witnessed the description window of his ability glitch and transform before his eyes.

SSR Rarity Evolved Ability: Shadow Squadron Supplementation

Origin: ERROR NOT FOUND

Description: An evolution of the Shadow Summon Exchange Minion ability. Giving up the ability of creating new Minions, this Ability now has the ability for the User to swap themselves and their allies with the User's existing Shadow Minions. The more allies that are transported, the higher chance of the permanent destruction of the Shadow Minion.

1 Ally may be transported without risk. 2 Allies: 25% Destruction Chance. 3 Allies: 55% Destruction Chance. 4 Allies: 95% Destruction Chance. 5 Allies is the limit, costing double the minion amount to transport with their guaranteed destruction.

Jaune silently retched, his body attempting to throw up the Seed, but it had already been absorbed by his body.

The destruction of his Shadow Minions weren't ideal, but he'd more or less been converting every mouse he'd find at the vineyard into a Shadow out of habit, so he had quite the little army that hid in his shadow.

And even though he'd panicked back during the Glacial Incident and forgotten about his Shadows inside Farbi and Yang's shadows, Jaune'd taken no risks since then and had spread a pair of his little minions into the shadows of all his friends.

He'd given Blake a dozen out of guilt from the loss of her legs, absolutely not going to let her go through another incident like that ever again.

He'd snuck one into Amber's shadow just in case, as the girl seemed skittish, as if she might disappear if Robin took her eyes off of her. Not for Winter though.

He, uh, was strangely embarrassed at the thought of being able to feel where she was through his connection with his Shadows. Like that would be wrong somehow.

It wasn't something he was always aware of, but he could key into them (and sort of had to when he wanted to warp to them) and feel the direction they were in. They could technically even warn them if he wasn't there but their owners were in mortal danger.

Actually he sort of felt that way about all the people he'd secretly given a Shadow to, but Raven's Semblance sort of just decided who she bonded with enough to have a portal to them and people were ok with that, so he decided it should be ok.

Jaune pulled out a R Rarity Consumable: Madam Morrelby's Magical Menthol Mouthwash from another Earth variant reality, guzzling it down. Despite the fact it was labeled as a 'mouthwash' it was a tonic that was meant to be drunk, some brewed potion that should keep his breath magically minty fresh for the next eight hours.

He burped, some cartoonishly little snowflakes erupting from his lips.

He frowned.

That better not be permanent.

He swallowed and gulped down air to force himself to burp again.

Mmm. Ok. So he'd have to cover his mouth whenever he burped for the next eight hours.

"Urgh." Jaune groaned, though his breath was definitely fresh, he still felt awful from the Seed of Evolution.

He washed his hands, scrubbing with soap to get the smell of the Seed off of his hands. Luckily, despite their smell, it washed off quickly and the smell in the bathroom cleared up from the ventilation in under a minute.

"Ok." He stepped out of the bathroom, seeing Clarent and Winter curiously poking at the trio of Shadow mice currently in the far corner of the room. They squeeked as they reared up onto the hind legs as they saluted him, making the girls giggle. "I'm ready. I think I figured it out too."

"Nothing like a good shit to clear the mind." Clarent nodded sagely, getting a look of disgust from both Winter and Jaune. "What? It's true."

Jaune rolled his eyes, a pair of mice escaping his shadow, running to a different corner of the room as they turned to salute him.

He grabbed his sister's hand and with the feeling of cold shadows washing over them, the familiar feeling of tendrils licking at his form, he and his sister appeared in a different corner of the room.

"EUGH!" His sister squealed with a shiver. "Oh that feels weird!"

Winter blinked as now five mice saluted in front of her.

"Well. I see that you figured that out rather quickly. This is fascinating." Winter tickled the chin of one of the mice, causing it to chirrup happily, making Jaune weirdly jealous.

"Yyyyyyup." Jaune replied. "I'm pretty sure that I can move with more than two at a time, but that might pop the Shadow Mice. I have a bunch at the moment, but I can't really make any more easily."

His half-truths were casually taken as fact.

"Alright then. Would it be… possible to attach a few to a letter?" Winter asked hesitantly, suddenly becoming nervous as she began to realize that the way to visit her siblings without dealing with her father became more and more real.

"Is it cuz of your dad?" Jaune asked as he read her worried intent, slapping his hands over his mouth with wide eyes as he realized that he'd read that detail between the lines out loud.

Winter winced.

"Yes. I suppose my father has a bit of a poor reputation. Especially to the Faunus."

"I, no! Not cuz of that! You just looked- I mean. I don't think- uh."

Winter just chuckled out a sad, amused laugh walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder. His tail wagged traitorously as he could smell the mountain lilies from Winter's Aura.

"It's ok. My father is awful."

"Just call him a sperm donor and just be done with it." Clarent snorted.

"Clarent!" Winter exclaimed in a half-conflictingly amused rage. "That's uncalled for!"

"If he's such a shitty dad that my friend's too scared to even contact home normally and wants to send a letter, then I don't care for him. I'll call him what I want." His sister glared with an unimpressed glare. "Clearly he's a shit dad."

"I- he- he's still my father." Winter made an uncomfortable face. "Regardless of how I feel about him."

"See? You don't like him either. You've got no responsibility defending him. Don't stress it."

"I am stressing it!"

"We should get that letter ready sooner than later." Jaune pointed out, cutting his sister and Winter's verbal conflict to a quick close. "Would he prevent you from sending letters to your siblings?"

"...Possibly? I'm- I haven't. Well. I haven't contacted home since I came to Atlas Academy this school year."

"Winter, what the fuck?" Clarent asked.

"I-told-you-my-family-situation-is-complicated!" Winter's embarrassed flush was pretty.

Jaune tried to not stare. His tail betrayed him again.

AN2: I find the duality of Winter-Clarent's odd but healthy relationship occurring simultaneously and contrasting against Robin-Cinder's unhealthy one to be interesting.