Chapter 3 - The First Seal

Jaune Arc had been a busy young man this last week. After his first Grimm gate and having such a wonderful meal with his friends he doubled down in his training and in his pursuit of growing his skills. He even got to know his friends better over this last week, with him sharing why he wanted to become a huntsman despite not having any training and using faked transcripts and in return his friends all shared why they became hunters as well. During the last week there was a lot of things he learned about his friends that shocked him. But it was interesting to learn, while also surviving his updated training quest. It was a bit much compared to what he had to do before. But he managed.

~Training Quest! Getting even stronger!

150 Push ups

150 Sit ups

150 Squats

15km Run

150 Sword swings

150 Punching bag hits

Rewards: Full recovery, +5 stat points, Gift box level 2~

Jaune was curious about that gift box being upgraded but he soon learned what it meant as the week progressed and his friends opened up to him.

Jaune also saved up all his points until Sunday for when he planned to use them all at once for the upcoming Ursa Dungeon for his level grinding needs.

– Monday –

The training amount was doable for Jaune and he even shocked his friends with the suggestions to push his amount of training to include the new amount and new exercises. Nora and Yang were all for it, but even Yang was checking with him to make sure he wasn't just pushing himself to be better in desperation. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Velvet were all against this and saying he should do the basics a little longer to make sure he doesn't rush his rehab just to prove to a bully he was strong.

Jaune shocked them when he explained, "I actually feel very good right now, and I want to show you all that I am getting better thanks to your help! I'm doing this to prove it to myself, or to Cardin. I am doing this to prove to everyone around me, my family, you guys, the teachers, and the people we are trying to protect that I can become someone who can be there for others. To be someone who defends the light of peoples lives with his last breath! Will you all keep helping me achieve this dream? TO be my friends through thick and thin to help me with this dream?"

His friends all stand there shocked for a second before they all nod slowly then Nora glomps him with a shout of support, Ren smiles with a small round of clapping, Yang and Ruby both cheer energetically for him, but he sees some pain on their faces at his declaration. Pyrrha and Velvet give him tear filled eyes with both happiness at his dreams but also something else buried deeper that he can sense. For Weiss and Blake they both clap for him with small smiles on their faces. Fox, Yatsu and Coco all give him grins with support as they were there to help with training and to make sure they themselves weren't getting rusty on their basics.

Jaune gives it his all in training and even breaks out his full recovery as his new regime pushes him to the point of 82%. Before harder sparring is given to him. Thanks to his new stats he was able to withstand the new level of sparring and even shocks his friends with his growing skill set as he switches between unarmed strikes with his sword being knocked out, back to armed when he flips and picks up his sword. It is a little rough but he is growing fast before their eyes.

After his gift box is accepted he gets a letter addressed from patch to Ruby and Yang, He tucks it into his track suit pocket and thinks about how to give it to Yang and Ruby before he sees Ruby on one of the side benches looking out of the window with a far off look in her eyes.

Noticing this isn't the norm for her Jaune heads over to see if there is anything he can do to support or check on his friends. Yang sees Jaune heading over to Ruby as she is getting ready for a spar against Yatsu and makes a mental note to check on them after her spar. She charges in while thinking to herself, Even I her sister can't reach her for everything. Go Jaune! Help my sister with her troubles. I'm counting on you!

Jaune sits down next to Ruby and notices she doesn't even react to his presence, even just sighing a bit as she is still lost within her own thoughts. He looks around to make sure everyone is focused on their own training before poking Rubys' shoulder. That makes her "Eep!" in surprise as she turns to look next to her, expecting Yang but slightly surprised to see Jaune. He gulps and apologizes for her not noticing him, he waves her off and explains he only just sat next to her about a minute ago. He then decides to ask her what is wrong. His sense stat even warning him that Ruby is hiding something from him behind the smiles she tries to give him as she says everything is fine.

He keeps looking at her. Ruby answers again, "I'm fine!"

The stare with a sad and comforting smile is still on his face as he makes full eye to eye focus with her eyes, making her mask of happiness begin to crack as tears appear in the corner of her eyes, "I-I'm f-f-fine~."

Her words trail off as Jaune simply opens his arms for a hug and Ruby all but crashes into him while she begins to quietly sob. He lets her cry into his track suit shirt for a full 2 minutes before she finally calms down and he hears her sniffle. He pulls back only slightly so he can see her face while keeping her within his arms as a security blanket for her to hold onto. "Ruby." His firm but gentle voice whispers her name making her jolt slightly as she turns her tear stricken face towards his, "Want to talk about it? I noticed my speech got to you and Yang a decent amount, what happened? Want to share it with me? I'm good at listening and being there for my friends. Just ask my 7 sisters when they went through bad break ups!"

That last comment got Ruby to give a slightly choked up chuckle before another sniff and another wipe of her eyes has her mostly cleared up of the emotions she is going through. She sighs and begins to tell Jaune about her mother, Yangs step mom, and what she used to tell them until she was 4 and went on a mission, only to never return. She begins to cry a bit more while Jaune hands her the handkerchief he had on him for wiping sweat off, thankfully not used yet so she could wipe her tears. She goes on as she remembers one of her moms sayings begin that she would help others defend themselves form the darkness so that she could protect their light. Their souls from the Grimm and those who did evil. Jaunes speech was so similar that it shook her and got to her old memories. Jaune simply hugs her again and helps her through another small sobbing session.

At this point Jaune sensed Yang with her back to him standing behind and against the benches back rest with her arms crossed listening to the story as she too was tearing up. Jaune then smiles gently and raises his voice so both sisters can hear him, "You know, I may not know her, but from what I can tell I think she wouldn't have changed things."

Yang and Ruby were both shocked and slightly upset thinking he meant their mom would die again and leave them alone until he explained further. "After all she managed to defend the light of you both, you both want to follow her memory, her thoughts, her wishes, and her goal to protect others. You now can enjoy yourselves as sisters in arms, something she was doing alone. I think she would do it all again if it meant giving you both a chance to grow into the young woman you have both become in her memory. And I know she would be proud of both your decisions in this life."

Both Yang and Ruby were tearing up and crying openly while gripping Jaune at this point, Ruby into Jaunes chest while Yang hugged him around the shoulders. He smiles softly to them both as they got their emotions out. The others were all focused on their training and gave the trio time to work through their emotions.

As both Ruby and Yang calmed down, Jaune decided to support them further by giving them the letter he had in his pocket, "I stopped by the dorms this morning on the way to grab my exercise bag since I forgot it and found this in our mailbox area, I figured you both could use it."

Ruby and Yang open up the letter and read it, before tearing up as they read how their dad missed them and even said similar things Jaune did about what their mother would think of them and how proud she would be. He ends it with a surprise photo he included in the letter. Both girls begin to cry happily as they see themselves with their parents in the final photo they had before her mission. A 6 year old Yang was hanging off Tais arm on his right as he stood with an arm around Summer, Summer was holding a 4 year old Ruby who was smiling at the camera with a smile so wide her eyes were closed. Summer was beaming with a mother is so proud energy while Tai was closing his eyes having a bright and wide open smile while the camera caught them with the sun shining on them showing how bright their lives were at the moment. As the sisters cried over the picture with joy and happiness at the memory, they both swear they could feel their mothers arms wrapped around them from behind as if saying that she would always be with them.

Jaune is standing a few steps away giving the sisters their bonding moment, not noticing his aura around his heart pulsed with a small glow of red and yellow before fading.

The day ended with them all enjoying some movies and chatting together. Yang sat closer to Jaune with Ruby sitting between her legs like they used to do with Summer. Pyrrha was smiling at their bond being closer, and also smirking at Yang and her actions after having had a lengthy talk with her over what she, Weiss, and Velvet had discussed regarding Jaune before.

– Tuesday –

Another day. Another lvl 2 gift box, was given before Jaune saw it was some sort of ticket for a special breakfast buffet that was open all day. The ticket allowed for 2 people to go in at once for free admission.

He shrugged before pocketing it and going to the mats to prepare for his sparring training when he noticed Ren and Nora were the ones on the window bench this time. Where Ren sat straight and staring ahead while playing with Noras hair as she was laid on the bench so her head was on his lap.

Both seemed lost in their own thoughts and Jaune wondered why until he thought back to his discussion with Ruby about her loss. Then used his sense stats to understand that they were both feeling a similar emotion of loss to the girls yesterday. He approached them to talk and figured being a little more subtle in his approach would be key. Which meant for Jaunes version of subtlety he charged right in.

Jaune stood next to the sitting Ren who glanced at him and went back to staring out the window. Jaune simply asked, "What's wrong?"

Ren glanced at him again before a sigh escaped him. Nora glanced up at Ren in worry before she sat up and hugged him gently, giving him the courage to talk about the pain he was going through. Ren gave Nora a one armed hug in return while his other hand clenched hard and then relaxed as he began his tale.

Jaune was not the only one who stayed for the story, Yang and Ruby came over due to their curiosity and the tension feeling similar to yesterday when they felt the loss. Pyrrha came over next after noticing her team being all over here and beginning to cry at Rens story. Jaune held Pyrrha close letting her cry on his shoulder as they got to the part where Nora thought she has found a new family with Ren, only to have that Grimm horde attack. Blake and Weiss joined the group next while Ren was explaining all the people who gave their lives to try and have the women, children, and elderly escape as best they could.

CVFY all came over by the time Ren talked about how he held his moms hand as she faded from a life threatening injury and his father and their remaining hunters and warriors made a final stand against the Grimm known as the Nuckelavee. Everyone was tearing up at hearing Ren running while streaming tears down his eyes while carrying an injured Nora away form his dying village. He soon got to where they went from place to place together as teens learning from hunters here and there for a few weeks to a few months at a time until they were admitted to Beacon thanks to their last teachers recommendation letter. Nora was hugging Ren so hard he was beginning to hear his bones crack, but thanks to his Semblance, he showed now outward pain. Instead he kept himself in check and focuses on wrapping up the story.

Jaune and the others all came in for a group hug with Ren and Nora to give them their support for this dreadful past. And then Jaune perked up as an idea came into his head.

He goes to the side while his friends all kept reassuring Ren and Nora that they had them now as family and called home.

He waited for a few minutes before his mother picked up, and he prepared his ears as he heard, "MY BABY BOY! Are you okay? Are you eating well? Are you training hard? We got your letter last month about you making it into Beacon and how you are training as a team leader! But no other letters besides that! Is everything okay? Need your father and I to come up there and talk to your head master about quicker mailing systems?"

Jaune managed to stall his mothers endless questions on his well being, "Mom! I am fine! I am eating well, training hard, studying well, and working with my friends and teammates! And please don't come down with dad and threaten my head master! I just got him and the rest of the faculty to like me somewhat better! I would rather keep it that way! So please can I tell you something important?"

His mother manages to clam down and then breathes in and out once more then nods with a determined look on her face. Jaune sighs and looks his mother in the face before telling her about his two friends who are Orphans and what happened to their village of Kuroyuri. She tears up through most of the story then out right cries by the end. She sniffles before asking him, "So is there anything we can do for them? It sounds like they have been through a lot already."

Jaune smirks at his mom before going, "Well how do you feel about having another boy in the family?"

His mom gasps and then goes, "Yes! More grandbaby possibilities! Give me their information and I'll get the process expedited!"

Jaune gives her Rens information and then after his mom gets the info she tells him she loves him and he will have a new brother soon before ending the call. He chuckles and walks back over to his friends who are now around a standing and smiling Ren as he has been comforted by his friends so much already and sees he has a new family. Jaune rejoins them with a smile and Ren hugging him close for being his brother in everything but blood. Nora grins at their bond, then asks Jaune where he was.

Jaune goes to answer before he is interrupted by a call tone, He answers to hear his mother on the other end. He asks what's up before stuttering in shock. "Wait already?! You pulled how many favors?! Well okay then!? I'll let him know!"

With a hang up and ended all tone. Jaune turns to his friends who are looking at him in confusion, "That was mom. Uhh she said she got done with the favor I asked her to do about 5 minutes ago… So yeah. Ren check your scroll."

Ren gives him the most confused look he has ever given anyone, and he lives with Nora! That says a lot! Before checking his scroll inbox and checking on a new email. He reads it over before he begins to shake, everyone leans in to see what is happening, before Ren is shown quivering with streams of tears going down his face at the notice saying, 'You have been accepted into the family as the official brother to Jaune Arc! Congratulations!'

He shows his scroll to everyone who then looks to Jaune as he rubs the back of his head going, "I figured we could never replace your home, but we could give you a family to call your own again with your own mother and father figure to go to for guidance and a lot of sisters to enjoy as well. What do you think?"

Ren suddenly clasps onto Jaune in a tear filled hug, "It's Perfect! Thanks Brother!"

Nora tears up in happiness and then gasps as she goes, "HEY WAIT! What about me? I didn't become part of the family?!"

Jaune looks at her with eyebrow raised, then simply says, "Well wouldn't it be strange to marry your own brother?"

Nora gasps at that realization and then looks to Ren to see him smiling at her with a nod, she gaps in happiness and goes, "YES! I have my own boyfriend officially girls!"

Everyone claps before Weiss catches that last part, "Wait officially? That means unofficially you two were already going out behind our backs in secret?"

Everyone turns their focused attention on the now sweating Nora who shrugs in helplessness and answers, "Yeah."

They all squeal in joy and all begin to grill her in details, as Ren sidles up to Jaune, before whispering, "You know you basically betrothed me to her right? I can't back out of this now."

Jaune simply side eyes Ren and whispers back, "Would you ever back out though?"

Ren looks to an overjoyed Nora gushing about their secret dates to the other girls and smiles himself at her, "Nope. I wouldn't. And that means you'll need to be the best man at the wedding."

Jaune chuckles before answering, "Wouldn't have it any other way. Oh! Also I got this for you two to enjoy a date to."

Giving Ren the ticket he thanks Jaune before the two boys go over to join their friends again to remind them about their afternoon classes. Which causes them to be collectively booed by their friends.

Jaune is standing a few steps away laughing at the reaction, not noticing his aura around his heart pulsed with a small glow of green and pink this time before fading once more without anyone else noticing.

– Wednesday –

Jaune was simply staring at his reward box gift this time as he saw a small wolf puppy plush toy. With a shrug he comes out while putting the toy in his pocket to come out and see Weiss sitting on the bench this time with quiet tears in her eyes as she has her scroll gripped tightly in her hands as they are resting in her lap. Jaune goes over to the now called, "therapy bench" and sits down next to her waiting for when Weiss is ready to open up to him.

Weiss gives him a side glance then a glance down to her scroll then a sigh of frustration and anger, before finally slumping in defeat, she asks him, "You ever had to deal with feeling like the world is on your shoulders and just won't give you a break?"

Jaune thinks before being honest, "Not until these last two weeks after my near death. Now I realize why we are so needed in this world of Darkness and Light. Without us… who would the people count on to defend them?"

Weiss nods before looking at her scroll again letting a few more tears out, "My father decided that I was doing well in school as a Huntress but he gave me an ultimatum. I have to help my team win the Vytal festival at the end of the school year. He gave me two options, I win I can continue to hold the title of Heiress in the SDC and I can continue my, in his words, foolish dream of being a Huntress and being the owner of the biggest Dust supply business in the world, but if I should lose I will need to choose either being a huntress and giving up my inheritance of the SDC to my brother, or I can give up being a huntress and going back to be groomed into the next head. So now I am feeling all this pressure and weight on me and I feel like I am stuck."

Jaune hums in thought as Weiss finishes her tale of pain, she looks at him before sighing, "I understand if you don't have anything to help me with this, you were able to help Ren, Nora, Yang and Ruby, but I doubt you can help me hear. I'll go and figure out a plan with my sister about this."

She gets up to leave and think but a firm and gentle hand grabs hers making her stop short. She looks to Jaune strong and firm hand, feeling its warmth on her skin and its comfort. She looks him in the eyes and sees his support for her, and that he has something to say, she sits down ready to hear the words he has and what plan he suggests.

"Fuck him."

She splutters at Jaune crass and blunt idea on how to deal with her father.

"Wha-wha-what!?"

Jaune nods and says, "You heard me. Fuck him. I'm sorry Weiss but your dad clearly doesn't understand you like we do."

That made her quiet down at where Jaune was going with this.

Jaune clears his throat before looking out the window with a deep expression, "I believe in what you are trying to do. Like I said before we are the ones who defend the light of life against the darkness that is the Grimm. Your dad is saying all of this and doing what he does for a business because he doesn't care about others, only profits. SO he clearly only thinks with his wallet. But you are here. You care. You are here to add your blade to the wall of light to cut through the darkness. So already I know you would still, in the end, choose to be a huntress, you can always help undermine the SDC with your knowledge and simply make a fresh version of it later with your sister helping you. And we would all be there to help you with that goal. Pyrrha has her name to help endorse you, Ren Nora and I would all be with her to help with our own names out there. Ruby, Yang, and Blake I know wouldn't abandon you and be there for you as your sisters in arms. So like I said, focus on who you want to be, and if he doesn't like that, then fuck him. Be who you want to be and who you wish to grow into. Only you can be the best you, not the best you that others want for you."

Weiss is stunned silent by that speech. She thinks and goes, You know what? He's right! Fuck dad! I can make my own path and my own goals! I don't need to worry about how some guy who wasn't even there for most of my life thinks of me! I'll be the best damn Huntress who can be the SDC leader as well!

AS she turns to him with a determined smile on her face, she face faults at him as she sees him suddenly blushing and looking sheepish, while asking, "God that sounded cheesy, was it cheesy? Ugh I was just being honest, but man it must have sounded like some cartoon shows main hero cheering up his best friend or something!"

He covers his face with his hands in embarrassment as Weiss giggles wuietly at him, then gives him a content smile with a head tilt, she comes closer to him and give him a hug and peck on the cheek. Jaune snaps his head up to look at her in shock as she gives him a quiet smirk and a cheeky smile, "Even if it was cheesy, it worked for me!"

She stretches up her arms as she stands before Jaune joins her and thinks for a minute before pulling out the plushy, "Here I got this for you, Ruby mentioned how you gushed over her pet dog Zwei when he came for a few days visit and figured you could use your own pet to help you through your stress."

She smiles at the cute wolf plush then notices the species, "Then why a wolf? After all they are a cousin to the dog but they are not dogs."

Jaune gives her a blushing smile as he gets ready to sound corny, "Because a wolf needs her pack just like her pack needs her? After all we need you Weiss, just like you need us, we are your pack and we won't ever leave us, so don't forget that, okay?"

He pats her shoulder and in a move of instinct gives Weiss a kiss on the cheek that lasts fro 2 seconds, but she fully felt it. Jaune blushes crimson then heads to the mats to spar off the flush he gained. Weiss places her fingers on her kissed cheek while looking at the wolf plush in care and happiness. She looks at him while thinking, His lips are so soft… I better let Pyrrha, Velvet, and Yang know… Or maybe I can tease them with this?

She feels a chill up her spine as she turns to see a pouting Pyrrha and Velvet looking at her with a, 'spill the beans' soft glare. She gulps and amends those thoughts, Nope! Going to share now!

Before she is dragged off to the bathrooms for the sacred ritual of girl talk as Yang chases after them to get the details while Jaune is left to defend himself from Nora still on her sugar rush from her and Rens morning date to the breakfast buffet and all the pancakes and syrup she consumed.

Jaune now has a second instance that he will deny ever screaming like a horror movie girl until his dying breath.

During the spar no one noticed (especially not Nora) that Jaune had his aura pulse around his heart again this time in an icy white with a tint of blue.

– Thursday –

Jaune was looking at a letter addressed to Blake that read priority and urgent. He saw is came from Menagerie. From the home of the Belladonnas. He runs his hand through his hair while staring at this letter, knowing that todays gift would require more tact like that of Ruby and Yangs letter. He thought about how he would go about explaining how he got the letter before going to check the bench and slumping as he saw that yes, Blake was at the therapy bench this time. He jokingly thinks to himself, I should start charging them at this rate.

Before sighing and going to sit beside Blake who is looking at a locket that she wore to the gym today, a quick peek as he passed to sit on her other side revealed a 6 year old Blake being hugged between a pair of parents who look like an older version of her and a fully bearded panther man who goes to the gym so he can lift the entire gym building. He gulps and thinks how to approach this problem as Blakes cat ears twitch towards him. And he knows that she senses him beside her, he calmly yet bluntly asks, "So… what's on your mind?"

Mentally wincing at the bluntness he thinks, Really gotta work on my tact for these kinds of talks, eventually I'll have a fist flying into my face for that kind of method of interrogation… ugh.

Blake closes th elocket and leans back against the bench, before she starts her tale, "My parents were concerned about the White fang and how it was turning out, they figured that they should step down and let Sienna Khan take over. With her methods. But they were more violent. More involved, and more in the face of those who ignored us and our message about equal treatment. But when my parents left, I didn't want to go with them. I was younger about 13? 14? My rebellious years, and wanted to do more, so I found out how to get my Aura unlocked by dad and had him teach me how to fight in the name of defending myself. But eventually he noticed how I would leave in the middle of the night and come back with messy or ripped clothes, from fights. He forbade me from training further and my mother also joined in stopping me from doing dangerous things. I thought they didn't love me anymore so I left to forcefully join the fang full time. I was so stupid. The rest is just like I told you before about a month ago. I left after they got too extreme in their methods and now I'm with you guys trying to stop them and the Grimm from snuffing out the light. But I just feel like I need to make up with my parents but don't know how."

Jaune nods then pulls out the letter as Blake looks at him in shock that he would have it, "I found it in your rooms mailbox when I went to go grab my water bottle that I left in the team dorms. I figured you'd want to see it as soon as possible."

Jaune stayed quiet as Blake shakily opened the letter and slowly read the contents. She begins to tear up as she tries to contain her sniffles, she happily tells Jaune, "They don't blame me for anything, they still love me! They want to hear and see me as soon as they can, even a letter will work! They gave me their scroll numbers! Thank you for getting this to me so soon Jaune."

Jaune nods and before he leaves he decides to make sure Blake won't forget this emotion, "Remember Blake we don't always see eye to eye with our parents, but that doesn't mean they don't love us, just like I still loved my parents after I disobeyed them and came to Beacon. I was able to patch things up with them quickly after telling you all about my transcripts. And they said they always loved me and were just scared of me getting hurt when they weren't around to help me. So always remember that a parents love is eternal, and that you should show it to them whenever you get the chance."

Blake tears up at those words then hugs Jaune and rushes off to make a quick call to her parents. His friends are all looking at him with smiles as he helped Blake with her problem.

He sighs as he sees their smiles then gives them a cheeky grin and says, "I'm owed 150 Lien per session, extra for the mailing fees and my manual labor to get the gifts."

They all turn and return to their workouts as if suddenly deaf to his voice, he chuckles as his system pipes up.

~So does that mean I can charge you for my services to help you grow stronger?~

Jaune simply rolls his eyes at the cheekiness this things shows to him at times.

As he returns to his friends his aura around his heart pulsed with a shadowy black color for a moment, most missed it, but this time, Pyrrha who was looking at Jaune to wave him over to look at a sword style video she found saw and paused. She blinked her eyes but it was gone, she returned to showing the video to Jaune but kept glancing back at his chest to see if it happened again. When it didn't she wrote it off as a trick of the light in her eyes but she would be watching closer now.

– Friday –

Jaune gulps as he looks down at the box of candied carrots he is holding from his new gift box reward for the day, he checks the bench of therapy (yes they have officially named it that. If you don't like it take it up with Nora) and sees Velvet sitting there looking out the window with a sad look on her face.

Jaune sighs before heading over to her. She sees him sitting there, Jaune gives her a supportive smile. She sighs as she scoots closer then rests her head on his shoulder before she says, "I'm not as tragic as the others, but I have lost someone, someone like you Jaune."

Jaune wraps his arm around her shoulders to hold her close and let her know he is there and ready to hear her story.

She nods with a sniff as fresh tears start to flow out, "He was named Johnathan, and he was in my year last year, they went out with a huntsman who was helping with the search and destroy missions in his free time. Johnathan and his team JSTC (Justice) were ready to do some Grimm hunting. My team CFVY were staying in Vale for our mission, simple learning from a detective for figuring out clues from illegal activities. At first everything was good and I was looking forward to hearing from Johnathan and his team once they came back, we were close like your team is with RWBY. But then the 1 week deadline for the break missions came past and no sign of them. I figured they were running long similar to our mission from this year where a huge horde of Grimm delayed out return. So we waited another week. After the second week passed Ozpin came out with an announcement as the entire student population was worried about an entire team and volunteer Huntsman disappearing on a mission. He came out and told us-"

She sniffles more and then out right cries into Jaunes shoulder as she wails out, "He said they had only been able to recover an arm or leg from each member of the team! He said their bodies were no where to be found! We had a funeral with the Huntsmans body being in two pieces, and we mourned an arm or leg from each of Johnathans teammates! It felt like a bright light dies that day! And he even said something similar to you! I was so scared and it brought back the bad memories of how we lost them without being able to see them ever again! I held it back as long as I could after your speech but your words brought back that memory! Now I am scared we'll lose you and the others all over again!"

As she is about to become hysterical Jaune suddenly does something no one could have prepared themselves for, he gently but firmly gripped Velvets ears and brought them to his mouth. Everyone who was watching the Rabbit faunus slowly lose it were speechless right before they heard Jaune whisper, "I am still here aren't I?"

Velvet, with tears streaming down her face, slowly looks up to him as Jaune looks back to her, "We are all still here. And we are doing out damnedest to make sure we are going to stay here! We won't be like those lost! We will be better! We will be stronger, faster, more skilled, and even better! We will have more people to come back to at the end of the day! So your worry is good to have Velvet, but remember we are all here for this lifestyle, and we are here to win! Please believe in us just like we believe and rely on you and the rest of team CFVY to help us train and grow stronger than our peers okay?"

Jaune kisses the top of Velvets head and makes her blush with a shy smile while the tears are slowly drying up. She nods and then nuzzles into Jaunes chest while everyone else coos and awws at the sight of Velvet. Coco rubs the back of her head in embarrassment for not seeing how Velvet was getting worried like that over the last few days. But now she was more than happy to see Jaune having been the one to snap her back to her more cheerful self. Jaune then helps her out more with bringing out the candies, she gasps saying these were her favorite ones. Jaune rubs the back of his head and simply says, "Well I am lucky I guessed that then. I was just trying to grab something to say thanks for all the help with training for you and I found these yesterday when I went out to grab some ingredients for cooking dinner for my team and figured these would work as a gift for you."

Velvet hugs him close and says, "Thanks Jaune these are perfect! I love them!"

And I love you, she thinks to herself before shaking her head and shows a genuinely happy smile at him as she opens the box and has one. Her ears twitch in happiness making Jaune want to pet them but holds back knowing from Blake that only lovers and husbands can touch a female faunuses ears in that affectionate way.

Everyone is watching the adorable interaction before Pyrrha sees a brown pulse of Aura on Jaunes chest. She stares at it as it fades away quickly. But she knows it was there. She nods to herself as everyone goes back to training. She now had something to discuss with Jaune after their training tomorrow.

– Saturday –

Jaune stretches his stiff muscles in the bathroom as he opens his next gift box, finding this time a small weapon case appear in his hands. Opening it he sees a bronze dagger with a crimson handle the color of Pyrrhas hair, and with a golden guard the same color of his family crest. He admires it and decides that even if Pyrrha doesn't have something to talk about he now has something to give the girl he has crushed on the longest out of his friends. But how to approach it is the question. He nods to himself as he figures the best way was to try and talk to her after their nightly training on their roof top spot tonight. With a plan in mind he nods and pockets the dagger in his gym bag and heads out to join his friends on their trip back to their dorms for a relaxing Saturday movie binge and homework study group since no classes were happening on the weekend days.

He comes out to see a serious faced Pyrrha who looks at him with the determination of a warrior. Jaune fidgets a bit under her gaze as she goes, "Jaune I want to see how far along in your recovery you are, grab your armor and your sword and bring them to our roof top location. I have something important to discuss with you as we spar okay?"

Jaune gulps but nods. Pyrrha smiles at him suddenly friendly as she goes, "Great! See you there soon!"

She walks by with a chilling aura of battle readiness around her making Jaune shiver in fear for his life. Looking to his friends they are all looking at him like he was just chosen to go feed a hungry pack of Beowulfs with no weapons or armor while wearing freshly cooked bacon.

Even Nora is giving a look of concern. And she is usually more than ready to push him to the brink of exhaustion in training.

Jaune rushes to the gym to grab his gear and to also avoid making Pyrrha wait too long. He arrives on their roof area fully equipped with his gym bag in hand. He arrives through the door with his sword and shield on his hip, and his armor fully on, he drops his bag on the floor as he walks out to locate Pyrrha, "Pyrrha? You here yet?"

Pyrrha, who is on top of the door entrance to the roof, squatting deep and readies a huge leap, draws her spear out and launches herself from the top of the door to do a flying spear point drop towards his head with a battle yell, "Pyrrha? HOLY SHIT!!"

Jaune manages to bring his shield up in time to deflect the spear tip, making Pyrrha slam into the roof then kick out with a side kick making Jaune slide back about 10ft from the kick. He draws his sword out while being utterly baffled, then looks closer at Pyrrha, her face is set in a frown and her eyes are dead set on his chest as she brings up her spear once again. He tries to reach her again, "PYRRHA?! Whats going on?!" She seems to ignore him and simply comes in with a flurry of spear strikes using both the spear tip for stabs and the spear shaft for strikes, Jaune is doing his best and using all of his stats and skills he grew over the last week from training to survive the onslaught. Pyrrha backs off only to assume a huge thrusting stance as if ready to impale him, while her eyes narrow and hyper focus on his heart area.

Jaune sees this then readies himself, Pyrrha comes in with a full out stabbing thrust only for Jaune to drop his guard and hold his arms out while dropping his weapons, Pyrrha falters and tries to kill her momentum at this point. But Jaune twirls to the side of the spear head and manages to get into Pyrrhas personal space and hug her close to his chest. He then asks, "Pyrrha! What kind of spar is this? Were you trying to kill me? Please talk to me!"

Pyrrha looks at Jaune with wide eyes before tears come flooding out as she drops her spear and hugs him close in a desperate hold. She falls to her knees with Jaune joining her. He simply sits there holding her close as she cries for a good 10 minutes. Finally with puffy eyes red form the long non stop tears she decides to look at him and say, "I'm just glad its you."

He is immediately confused by this, "Me? Why wouldn't it be me?"

Pyrrha sniffles again and looks up at him while explaining how in the past her father was training her as a full time huntsman while her mother was semi retired to run a side business she had started, both did their best to train and raise her. She won her first tournament from their combined tutelage. However after her second tournament win in a row things went bad, her father went on a mission for 3 weeks saying he would be back before the month was up, and he did come back, but he wasn't the same when he got home.

It was here Pyrrha took up the more detailed explanation, "He acted slightly different, he was constantly out of it, zoning off at least 3 times a day, and seemed to be heading out for random fights late at night, and his heart would pulse with different colored auras when no one was watching. My mother and I came home one day after a training session to see him in the middle of changing his arm into a Grimm claw with a crimson red eye. He tried to hide it and say his semblance was acting up but my mother and I both knew his semblance was earth control. He was a shape shifter Grimm that my mother and I had to put down. But this knowledge of him being a fake let us know that my father was indeed dead. And we had to live with that knowledge from then on. We heard back from a coroner that they found my real fathers body in a Grimm nest a week after we killed the fake, he had been mutilated and left to rot, we were able to identify him from dental records and his broken weapon. So with my father having been replaced and lost to us I trained even harder in the style he and my mother taught me and won my third and fourth tournaments, but not to simply make my parents proud now. I was on a mission to win as much money at that time as I could to help us live comfortably with my father now being out of the picture. This was also to push myself and prove to myself that I was able to become a full fledged Huntress and continue to push my skills further with each win moving forward."

Pyrrha takes a shuddering breath as she had managed to avoid crying until this point, but the flood gates opened and she started to cry huge amounts of tears as she continued,"So when I saw your chest pulsing with different colored Auras I thought you were one! And you becoming a shape shifter Grimm was how you survived that temple! And how you were getting stronger so quickly! I'm sorry I misjudged you! After all that shape shifter never went for an aura scan and when we checked it on my mothers scroll, it said his aura was zero. So I should have realized you still had one and that a shape shifter couldn't have faked that or your reserves in our readings! I am so sorry!!"

Jaune smiles at her in a comforting way before he hugs her close, "Don't worry Pyr, I'm here, and I'm still me. And after knowing the full story I understand why you thought that. But my chest would glow with different Aura colors? I never noticed it!"

Pyrrha blinks at Jaune before giggling, "Of course you didn't, ugh yep its still you. Jaune… do you mind if, instead of a spar… we could just stay cuddled up like this for a while? I need to relax after that near killing you and wrong conclusion situation. Please?"

Jaune smiled to Pyrrha and picked her up bridal style, making Pyrrha blush, and headed to their chairs they left on the roof for breaks and sat in one while Pyrrha was still curled up in his lap, "Of course take all the time you need."

After 5 minutes of sitting and enjoying each others warmth, Jaune then perks up, "Oh! With that misunderstanding cleared! I have a gift for you!"

He moves Pyrrha over to the other chair, (Pyrrha will deny she wined a bit at the loss of his warmth and body as he got up), and goes over to his bag with a slightly less puffy eyed Pyrrha wiping her face off with a gym towel of her running make up and of her dried tear streaks. Jaune turns back around with the dagger case in his hands smiling at Pyrrha. She gasps when he opens it to see the beauty of the weapon and how it is forged with their colors in mind. Jaune is about to speak but Pyrrha closes the distance and hugs him close while also sealing his lips with hers.

They stay there for a moment, Jaunes eyes wide in disbelief of Pyrrha actually kissing him! But then they close and he returns her hug and kiss with care and affection clear in his movements. They break away after a full minute of kissing goes by and stare at each other with blushes on their cheeks, Jaune then asks, "Soooo… are we dating now? Or is this just a sign of your gratitude from the dagger and for me being myself?"

Pyrrha wants to say dating but she made a pact with Velvet, Weiss, and Yang, and holds back, "The second one, but don't worry… I plan to show you how much you mean to me eventually. Can you wait for when I am ready Jaune?"

Jaune smiles back happily and nods. While they return to their room with a smile on both faces and thoughts going to the future of what they will become to each other.

And this time the metallic bronze aura pulse lasts for 3 seconds before fading away.

A new notification dings but Jaune fails to see it as he swipes it away to focus on his friends once they join them for study time.

– Sunday –

Jaune completed his training for the day and looks to his notification he swiped away yesterday to check what it was about.

~Congratulations! Conditions met for two powers related to your soul!

First seal of Croce Mors unlocked! Sword upgraded!

New skill unlocked!

Rallying call lvl 1: +2 to all stats of every person you recognize as an ally within 50ft of user~

Jaune couldn't believe his eyes. These new notifications were great! He got the gift box today after training as usual, and it was something unexpected, a ticket for 5 to a new romantic action movie playing in the theaters! He immediately decided to ask Pyrrha, Weiss, and Velvet to see it tonight, but was stuck on who the 5th should be. Ruby hates romantic movies even with action, Ren and Nora would prefer to go together so they were out, Coco and her team were out shopping for new gear in town all day, Except Velvet who was helping in the library today. Blake went to her favorite book store. So with a shrug Jaune decides to ask Yang if she would be up for it.

Asking each girl was an interesting experience, Yang hugged him and asked if he was planning to netflix and chill afterwards. Making him blush at the implications and instead turned it back to her asking if she wanted to make it a group activity with who else was coming. Only to have that be turned back to him with a smiling Yang saying, "Oh! I like the way you think! We're going to need plenty of lube and I think I still have that dil-"

After Jaune.exe rebooted after his mind crashed from Yangs eagerness, he ran off telling her to meet at the theater at 8pm. With a laughing Yang calling after him to tell him that yes she will be there.

Weiss and Pyrha both said yes with smiles at him saying they will be there ready for a relaxing time.

He found Velvet and she had to be shushed by the Librarian when she accidentally got too excited at being asked on a date by Jaune and shouter her answer of yes.

She blushed but did hug him saying she would be there.

With his mission accomplished and it still being only 4pm Jaune decided to handle something he had been putting off since last week with his last key gained.

He headed into the gym and found a secluded spot behind some exercise machines to open the gate while he was fully armored up. He also addressed his stored up stat points.

Level 11

Exp: 51%

HP: 2,040/2,040

AP: 2,750/2,750

Fatigue: 0/100%

Class: none

Stats:

STR: 30

AGI: 25

VIT:25

INT: 20

SENSE: 20

Points available: 35

Skills:

-???- : ?????

Inheritor: Access to system

Arc Bloodline: +150 to AP

Intermediate sword arts lvl 5: 3 times dmg with swords

Unarmed Combat Intermediate lvl 5: times 3 dmg with unarmed blows

Warriors Aura lvl 1: +10 to Str, Agi, and Vit for however long this aura is active, cost: 100 for activation, additional 10 per minute used.

Warriors Healing lvl 1: Recover 100 HP per 80 Aura used.

~Weapon equipped! Rank D Crocea Mors (Seal level 8)

Bonuses: +20 to dmg

+5 str when equipped~

Jaune nods then hyper focuses on his stats to figure out how to arrange them.

He knew as a warrior he should be balanced to avoid being caught flat footed while he was level grinding solo in these dungeons. So he nodded to himself and allocated his stats as he thought would be best.

Stats:

STR: 40

AGI: 30

VIT:30

INT: 25

SENSE: 30

Points available: 0

Nodding he figured being able to cleave through the Ursas in this dungeon would help him in the long run versus being faster or more durable.

He pulled out the key and unlocked the gate to begin the quest.

~Rank D mission Gate! Ursa Den! Kill all enemies in this dungeon to claim rewards! Remaining enemies 40/40

Rewards: Full recovery, +10 stat points, special gift box~

Jaune grinned at the rewards and levels he was going to claim and walked through the gate, he walked out into a ruined city and found it looked like the pictures of mount Glenn from Ooblecks history class. He swiveled his eyes around and expanded his senses as he drew his sword and shield, and went into a prepared combat stance.

His hairs prick up on his neck as he turns immediately to see an Ursa charging him with mouth wide open, with a roar Jaune counter charges and brings his sword up to deal a cleaving blow through its head. He grins at first before his smile falters as the Ursa seems smarter than the Beowulves and manages to dodge at the last second to where Jaune only cut its arm off allowing it to come at him and bite him right into his shoulder. Jaune grits his teeth as his new armor screeches in protest to the bite while his aura flares to try and protect him from the bite. He manages to shield bash its chin making it let go with a yelp of pain and he then follows up with a slash just managing to cut the head off of the Ursas shoulders.

Jaune pants and checks his stats as he sees his HP and AP scores.

HP: 1,940/2,040

AP: 2,650/2,750

Jaune pants as he sees his stats took a decent hit from the bite, Dang I have my work cut out for me here. I better not tank any more of those bites until I either get better gear, or higher stats.

Jaune freezes up as he hears another growl behind him. Readying himself Jaune sees at least 5 ursas all prowling towards him. With a sigh of annoyance he charges them with a yell.

– 10 minutes later –

Slash. A severed head goes flying.

Chop. A pained roar and an arm goes flying into the air.

Squelch. The same roaring in pain head gets a sharp shield edge right into his face through the eyes.

With a THUNK, Jaune pants heavily as he looks at his disappearing handiwork. Over 19 Ursa bodies are dissipating around him as he is covered in sweat form the effort of his survival. Jaune looks at the counter once again to see 1/40. He gulps down air and looks to his stats and notifications.

~Level up X11! Skill levels ups!

Level 22

Exp: 23%

HP: 6,000/6,000

AP: 5,500/5,500

Fatigue: 62/100%

Class: none

Stats:

STR: 51

AGI: 41

VIT:41

INT: 36

SENSE: 41

Points available: 0

Skills:

-???- : ?????

Inheritor: Access to system

Arc Bloodline: +150 to AP

Intermediate sword arts lvl 9: 3.8 times dmg with swords

Unarmed Combat Intermediate lvl 7: times 3.4 dmg with unarmed blows

Warriors Aura lvl 2: +15 to Str, Agi, and Vit for however long this aura is active, cost: 100 for activation, additional 10 per minute used.

Warriors Healing lvl 2: Recover 150 HP per 80 Aura used.

Next seal unlocked for weapon Crocea Mors!

Weapon equipped! Rank C Crocea Mors (Seal level 7)

Bonuses: +40 to dmg

+8 str when equipped

+5% reduction to physical dmg when equipped~

Jaune takes huge gulps of air as he tries to recover, while recovering he glances at his sword as it seems to have changed its weight after that last announcement. It has changed slightly to where it has gained 6 inches making it more of a broadsword with a new metallic white edge to it and a longer guard and hilt, his shield seems to have extended itself to be wider and longer by 4 inches each way.

As he admires the new growth of his weapon he hears a loud growl and a huge thump to his left. Looking over he sees an Ursa Major, though this one seems to be a foot taller with more bone plates compared to the one he fought back in Forever Fall when he was collecting sap. He grits his teeth and focuses on readying his stance once more as the Ursa Major rears itself on its hind legs and prepares to engage Jaune in a fight to the death.

Both of them charge with Jaune letting out a yell and the Ursa letting out a roar.

The Ursa Major launches its right paw right at Jaune, he turns his new larger shield to the paw and manages to deadlock it, but remembering the last fight with an alpha, Jaune immediately follows up with a high kick right into the Ursa jaw making its incoming bite attack shut with a loud and painful click of its own fangs hitting each other. He tries to follow up with a swing of his sword in a powerful horizontal slash, but the Ursa comes in with its fore paw with the extra bone plates to try and guard.

Key word being Try.

The sword with its new length, weight, and edge, not to mention its new stats all allow Jaune to bite deeply into the Ursa arm cracking the bone armor and cutting halfway through the foot thick arm. The Ursa rears back in pain hoping to gain distance, but this time Jaune decides to knee his hilts pommel to make a sawing motion with his sword still in the ursas arm and finish cutting it off with a yell and a quick burst of his Warriors Aura boosting himself.

He rolls away from the retaliation swipe of the Ursa and fins himself at the back of the Ursa, who is leaping backwards, Jaune panics and throws his shield up to try and block all the short sword length spines on its back. His shield and armor hold but not without a few spines nicking him in his legs and arms, Jaune barely avoids a spine through the eyes by ducking his head behind his shield and finds himself healing thanks to his Warriors Healing ability.

With a puff of air Jaune pumps another minute into his aura boosting skill and charges the Ursa hoping to get a good shot on it quickly. The Ursa turns at the faster foot steps Jaune takes before he leaps up and over the Ursa. The confused Grimm fails to see the young huntsman and fails to be prepared when Jaune comes in and stabs his newer longer sword clear through its back and out through its chest. He then charges his sword with aura coating it and with a yell cleaves up through the chest, the bone armor, up the neck, and through the head, nearly bisecting the Grimm from stomach to head. Jaune turns to face the Grimm as it slumps over in nearly two pieces. But as he looks the Ursa is already disappearing. He slumps as he hears another notification alert him.

~Congratulations you have cleared the Rank D dungeon, Ursas Den!

Rewards: Full recovery, +10 stat points, Special gift box, Level up X2!~

Jaune accepts all the rewards and looks up his stats at this point.

Level 24

Exp: 6%

HP: 6,850/6,850

AP: 6,000/6,000

Fatigue: 62/100%

Class: none

Stats:

STR: 53

AGI: 43

VIT:43

INT: 38

SENSE: 43

Points available: 10

With a sigh Jaune goes to apply the points before pausing, Wait I'll be going right into the hands of harder quests, and I can't let me friends know I have already surpassed the intermediate training I just started this week. It might be risky but I think I better save these points in case I need them, and wait until the next two weeks are up before pursing the next level of training. After all the last thing I need is for my friends to worry that I might be pushing myself. And this way I can help push them further during training too! After all my level has more than doubled now! I can hopefully keep up with them in casual spars now instead of holding back spars! Just you wait I'll keep growing!

He opens the gift box and finds the next key but also a bag of coins, he looks at the key first.

~Gained key to C Rank Dungeon, The Stinging Nest!~

He raises his eyebrows at this as he put sit away, Might need to wait for the next two weeks to grind stats anyway, unless I can find some more Grimm Gates and farm them for levels and stat rewards in that way. Yeah besides my two week rehab period is about to expire, about time I get ready for spars again. And show them just how far I have grown! And hey it should help me with getting my skills sharper now!

With a plan in mind Jaune then analyzes the bag and sees it turn into a bunch of coins that disappear into mid air and a ding is heard. He looks at the new notification and sees,

~Congratulations Shop is now open! Level 20 requirement reached and now the shop is open!

New player credits 100

+5 per Beowulf =100

+10 per ursa = 400

+1,000 credit bag reward

Total shop credits: 1,600~

Jaune is more than happy as he accepts the shop, but as he notices the time is now 6:30pm, only 1 and a half hours before his quadruple date! He means hangout! Yeah that's what he meant!

(Yeah not fooling anyone there kid, you got the hots for them, so hurry up and realize it!)

He rushes off and heads to prepare for a fun hangout while his system shakes its metaphorical head at him,

~Aaaah youth, those girls have a bit more work ahead of them, but they are getting through to him bit by bit, all they need to do is reach him through their actions and words and they will have him in their clutches. Not that I think he will complain, I hope things will go better for him this time. I will make sure you are stronger than my last user… I won't fail the Monarch this time! You will reach your full powers this time my lord! And your champion will be a worthy successor!~