45

There had been a lot of yelling involved once Aurelius figured out why Goodwitch had gotten ahold of him. While Jaune was by no means a fan of that development, he could at least appreciate the fact that there was no longer the constant build up of anxiety over the upcoming verbal thrashing. If anything, it had been good to have something familiar after the rather… emotional discussion between the two of them.

Getting yelled at for doing dumb stuff is familiar? Second inquired.

I wasn't thinking to you.

Then think quieter! I thought we had this figured out already, but now I have to deal with awkward thoughts about your reunion with your dad? I mean, I'm happy for you, congrats and all, but I let you two have your little moment because I didn't want to be involved, and it's kind of hard to keep it that way if you're over here constantly thinking about nothing else.

Jaune frowned. You're my semblance, my problems are your problems.

That made Second pause. …You're not wrong, but I was thinking more along the lines of "Hey, here's how to not die." or maybe "Hey, did you know so and so has a crush on you?"

Wait, you're going to tell me who has a crush on me?

No, but now you're focused on something else, right? Though now that I'm thinking about the subject again, I might be able to do some meddling now that I've got a physical form. I couldn't exactly talk to people about potential feelings for you while I was stuck in your head.

"Is he- er, are they really always like this?" Aurelius looked to his friends.

"No!" Jaune answered, but he went ignored.

"Ehhh," Nora made an iffy gesture with her hand, "It's been happening a lot less lately because they can talk to each other like normal people now, but it was constant before we got blue Jaune."

Is that all I've been relegated to? What a sad day this is, Second lamented.

"Blue Jaune?" Ren questioned. "Isn't the whole point of Second Thoughts having a name to use it?"

Nora folded her arms in a defiant manner. "Blue Jaune will regain name privileges once he can best me in combat!"

"Nora, Jaune can't beat you in a fight, how do you expect Second to?" Yang reminded the ginger.

Ouch, harsh! You just gonna take that?

She's not wrong… Jaune admitted.

"I'm still convinced that he can turn into a giant! Once we get him to the size of a Goliath we can have a real fight!"

Here we go again…

"A giant?" Aurelius raised a brow.

"Second's size is dependent on the aura available to him when he manifests," Pyrrha explained. "Less aura means he looks like a younger Jaune, and there's a theory that giving him an excessive amount will make him bigger. We hadn't tested it yet because of the Vytal festival…"

"And the fact that it doesn't make any sense," Weiss added.

"Don't say that Weiss!" Ruby whined. "Think about how awesome it would be to have a giant Second Thoughts wielding a giant scythe!"

Why does she think I'd use a scythe? The logical choices would be a sword so that we can use each other's weapons easily or something that isn't just a blade so we have more variety.

Jaune mentally sighed. You're asking why Ruby of all people wants you to use a scythe?

…Fair point.

"She's right," Blake agreed. "If his size depends on how much aura Jaune has when he manifests, then the biggest he can get is normal Jaune size. Anything bigger would require Jaune to have that much aura in the first place."

With Weiss and Blake, two of the group's resident bookworms, even if Blake's interests weren't of an academic nature, agreeing on the point, the rest of them were ready to accept that, even if Nora was bummed out.

But none of them had years of experience as a huntsmen under their belt.

"While I'm not sure that this particular hypothetical would be terribly useful, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it," Aurelius countered. "Semblances can evolve over time. Back when I was a student, I knew a student who's semblance was completely unrecognizable if you compared what she had while coming into Beacon to what she had when leaving the school. If I'm understanding correctly, it seems Jaune's already has at least once. There's nothing saying it has to stop there. And even without that, it could simply be a matter of control. There's no guarantee, but maybe with practice they could exchange aura between them freely. At the end of the day it is all Jaune's aura, right?"

"Yes!" Nora cheered. "Giant Second, here we come!"

He has a point with semblances changing, I guess. I'm an obvious example. But for it to be something completely unrecognizable? That seems like a bit much.

Spurred on by Second's curiosity, Jaune decided to ask. "How did their semblance change? Maybe it could give me some ideas."

Aurelius hummed. "Well, I never really knew her all that well, we were in different years and didn't really interact all that much, but from what I remember… I want to say the rumor was that her semblance was originally just some minor electricity generation? The upperclassmen would complain about her using it to explode their dust cartridges on them." The man laughed. "Of course, at the same time they complained, they were wishing she would go back to that. Not being able to rely on dust during a fight with her was a whole lot easier than trying to get to her through a storm."

"You mean like a thunderstorm?" Pyrrha suggested. "I suppose that is quite an upgrade from minor electricity generation, but it sounds like it's just a direct upgrade, not something that's completely different."

"Well, that was part of it, yeah, but it didn't stop there. I don't think anyone would have been too surprised if she eventually started throwing around lightning strikes. But then one day, or so the story goes, anyway, I wasn't there, she suddenly whips up the nastiest weather you'll ever see. Hurricane winds, lightning strikes left and right, hail the size of golf balls pelting the ground… The headmaster was pissed when he saw the damage to the arena," he laughed. "I remember seeing the aftermath and vowing never to get on her bad side."

That almost sounds… Second began.

…almost sounds? Jaune prompted him to continue.

Well, I suppose it could just be a normal storm semblance, but the lightning, wind, and ice… if he brought up fire, I'd be sure that he was talking about a Maiden.

Ozpin really thought that having an eternity of experience, a good portion of it involving working at a school, would have him prepared for dealing with an unruly young lady.

Though as he massaged his temple, hoping that his migraine would go away, he found himself wondering if unruly came anywhere near an apt description of her. And lady was probably incorrect as well. She was a woman, yes, that was a concrete fact since she had stolen the power of the Fall Maiden, but back in his day the term referred to social standing as well, and it was clear that she was nothing more than a menace.

"Roman, I am kindly asking that you do something about this situation."

Roman took a drag of a cigar that Ozpin wasn't sure he wanted to know the origins of. "You think I'm capable of doing that? Nice to see that you have such a high opinion of me, but there's no controlling Neo. Even before the whole, you know," The thief avoided reminding him directly of the incident in the basement, "she did as she pleased. Trying to keep us here isn't going to stop that. Well, it'll work on me, but…"

Neo just smirked at them cruelly, twirling her umbrella in her hands.

The umbrella she used as a weapon. That had been confiscated from her. That had been locked away in a room on the other side of campus, far from the locked and guarded room he had left her in.

It was becoming a bit of a pattern.

The incident in the basement had made him a bit… emotional, and his thoughts had gotten a bit rash at one point, but once he'd calmed down, he had realized what an unfortunate situation he truly was in.

Neo having stolen the Fall Maiden's power was a terrifying prospect, as he was coming to learn, and he still firmly believed that the correct course of action would be to shove her back into James' machine and drain it out of her.

But there were a few problems with that plan at the moment. The most pressing of which was who to give it to. His plan had been to give it to Miss Nikos, and he still thought that in a vacuum she would be a rather ideal candidate, but it had been made clear that she was not an option. That left them with many possible choices, but at the same time too few.

Yes, there were a good number of young huntresses who were technically viable candidates, but he, along with those in the know on the matter, hadn't approached them initially for a reason. They were all lacking in some form or another. He would have to go down the list again and try to find someone who would be good enough, as harsh as that sounded.

If only Raven hadn't run off to her tribe, she was strong enough that he felt she could handle it…

But past mistakes would not suddenly undo themselves if he found himself in a tough spot. Beyond his regrets with Raven, that was being made obvious by his dealings with the crooks in his school.

"I suppose I just assumed, didn't I?" Ozpin sighed. "The common perception is that you are the master thief, and she your…" the words sidekick or henchman came to mind, but he wasn't keen on seeing Neo's reaction to them, "...associate. Though I suppose it's clear now who wears the pants in this relationship."

Neo smiled in approval while Roman guffawed.

"It's not like that! I am a master thief! I was a big shot before I even met Neo! You can't take that away from me!"

Neo rolled her eyes and Ozpin barely stopped himself from doing the same. "Then perhaps you should prove that to me by, oh, I don't know… keeping her under control? I have quite enough problems to worry about without her running around and creating more. When I say that you are being kept under lock and key, I place you under lock and key, and then I discover for... What is this now, the fourth time?"

Neo held up five fingers.

"The fifth time," Ozpin corrected, "that not only has she escaped her room without the huntsmen guarding her even noticing, but that she has acquired various contraband before waltzing into your room like she owns the place."

"How is that my fault?" Roman defended. "It just means you need better guards!"

If only that were possible. He had no doubt that if not for Second's interference, Neo would have broken Roman out of James' airship on her own, and that was one of the most secure places on Remnant. The Vale prison would do no good, and with how easily she was evading some of the best huntsmen he could get to do such a menial task…

Honestly he found himself starting to understand Second Thought's position on her being the Maiden. It was rather impressive, what she was able to accomplish, and unless his senses were failing, she wasn't even using the Maiden's power to aid her.

But he still couldn't allow a criminal with questionable allegiances and a fondness of disobeying him to hold it.

"Back to your room, Miss Politan. Let us not have this conversation for a sixth time."

He was growing rather tired of this, but the forces at play left him no choice but to deal with it for a while longer. Neo was fond of turning his hair even greyer, but she would not risk Roman's life with Cinder still out there. And he was sometimes tempted to strangle the little monster, but better an annoyance that he knew than to send the Maiden's power to places unknown or knowingly put it into someone who couldn't handle it.

Neo left Roman's room with a smirk on her face and a pep in her step.

He'd have to do this again within the week.