28

A tense silence filled the room.

All eyes were on a single figure. The smallest one present, and also the one with the most… distracting… appearance.

Nobody wanted to be the first to speak. The students, out of fear of what General Ironwood, or even worse, Goodwitch , would do to them if they said something inappropriate.

The experienced huntsmen and huntresses, not knowing the best way to address the figure before them. Friend or foe, equal or subordinate, person or semblance.

In the end, it was Second who broke it.

"You know, this whole 'super serious tense moment' thing we've got going on right now is kind of ruined by the fact that I look like this." He gestured vaguely to his entire body. "Can we skip to the good part already?"

Ozpin took a sip from his mug of coffee, and Ironwood narrowed his eyes at the boy. Man? Whatever Second counted as, which, with their second in commands not wanting to place themselves at the fore, left Bart to be the one that led things off.

"Of course," the doctor adjusted his glasses as he spoke. "Why don't we start with our last discussion then? That seems to be where things went off the rails. It seems so long ago now, but if I recall correctly we were discussing the error in your predictions when Jaune had his… incident? I presume that you were somehow involved in that."

"You would… not be incorrect." Second couldn't meet his eyes. "There was… a bit of an incident, and I believe myself to be responsible for Jaune's trip to the infirmary."

"You believe?"

"Well I'm not a doctor of any sort, and my expertise is hardly the medical field, but the timing is… suspect. Jaune collapsed when I was in the midst of… well, it was probably a panic attack."

Oobleck quirked a brow. "A panic attack? Over the details of the future I presume? Or perhaps it was at the fact that your abilities were being called into question for the first time…"

"Well, you see…"

It had been a long time since Ozpin had felt so caught off guard. A few hundred years, at the very least. The last war hadn't been something he wanted , but it was something that took time to build up, that he could see coming and attempt to prepare for. No, it had to have been that time with the chickens…

Ozpin hid his shudder with another sip of coffee.

Recent events felt too sudden. There was too much, too fast, almost all of it unexpected, and almost all of it related to the… child in front of him.

He did his best to listen to the group catch each other up on recent events, but his mind wandered elsewhere. Glynda would fill him in on the important bits afterwards.

But the details of the attack, or rather attacks , he supposed, weren't of great importance to him.

Much more concerning was Second Thought's appearance. First and foremost was the fact that he had appeared at all. On the bright side, it ruled out some of the concerns that had been brought up earlier in the school year. The more that he considered the information available to him, and the explanations the group were receiving at that very moment, the more obvious it became that the threat of a mind reading semblance was all but moot. If that was the truth behind Second's future vision, he would not have allowed his host to come so close to death. Not when there were much less dangerous methods of outing one's foes. Second's size being related to Jaune's aura levels was something that would need to be tested for confirmation, but it seemed to be a sound hypothesis. Once that was confirmed, and he was fairly certain it would be, the possibility of it being someone else's semblance, used exclusively on Jaune to influence him, was no longer valid. And even if they couldn't confirm that in particular, his resemblance to his host was a good indicator as well.

Theory after theory fell to the wayside as new information was presented. That should have made him more comfortable. Should have eased all of his doubts.

But the boy was blue.

It was technically possible that it was merely a coincidence. Aura was a fickle thing, and the colorations varied quite a bit. A glance at Mr. Wukong's records had shown the boy's semblance to involve clones of himself that appeared to be made up of golden aura that didn't look solid, but certainly felt it. Ms. Belladonna's allowed her clones that fit her appearance to a T, assuming she has not infused them with dust, but they are mere shades, serving as naught but distractions.

Second Thoughts could be a middle ground between those. A more solid appearance than Sun's clones, but lacking the proper coloration of Blake's.

But then how did the future knowledge fit into things?

They had still not gotten an explanation on that front, and Ozpin found himself wondering if they ever would. Or perhaps it would be better to ask if he ever would. He had not forgotten his first "meeting" with the semblance. To be greeted not with a hello, but with the phrase "secretive little parasite" was not something he expected to forget for at least a few millennia.

As rude as the phrasing was, he could not entirely dismiss the words as incorrect. Knowing his secrets, knowing future events, the physical appearance…

It was not hard to draw correlations between Second Thoughts and the spirits housed within the Relics. The semblance was far too similar to Jinn, even if there were rather important differences. Where Jinn knew all , could speak only of that which already was, and was forced to reveal at most three answers per era, Second Thoughts only knew much , could speak freely of potential futures, and could answer questions as he saw fit. The differences in function were important, but their essence was much the same. If and when anyone in the room met Jinn, he would not be surprised if they thought the two of them to be related.

He wasn't sure what to think of that himself.

Could those blasted brother gods have interfered with things once more? Had this been an inevitability, something they had planned for all those years ago just to blindside him now? Or was he to take the entire situation as coincidence? He had been alive for a very long time now. So many possibilities had played out in front of him. Statistically, it would make sense for him to see something so odd eventually , he supposed.

There was a way to find out for sure.

One question had already been used, and he may have promised one to his associates, but that left one more. And if that one didn't satisfy him… well, Bart and Qrow would get over it eventually if he used the second as well. Perhaps that would be best, even. It would be hypocritical of him, certainly, to use one question to delve into Second's secrets and then deny them the opportunity to do the same to him.

But Second Thoughts seemed to agree with him on at least one thing.

Complete honesty was not always the best path to take.

As the explanations of the events leading up to this meeting came to a close, it seemed that Ironwood's patience had run thin. Did he feel a bit guilty glaring at what looked to be a child? Yes. Was he willing to do it anyway to ensure the safety of innocent civilians? Yes.

"I think it's high time you stopped dancing around things, Second. You no longer have Jaune to hide behind, your attempts at keeping the timeline on track are proving futile, and problems are starting to crop up faster than we can deal with them. Ozpin and I will soon have to deal with whatever mess Qrow and Leonardo have left in Haven, the White Fang have just released grimm into a populated area of Vale, our enemies are acting with impunity, and we still have to deal with the Vytal Festival. To be frank, I'm of half a mind that the entire event should be cancelled."

"It's not… well…" Second hesitated. "Okay, maybe it is that bad. Trying to balance all of this stuff has been driving me crazy."

Ironwood could well imagine. Dealing with all of this at once was driving him up a wall, and he was quite used to stress given the scope of his duties. Placing that burden on a child… or not a child? Either way, even if he was warming up to trusting that Second Thoughts had their best interests in mind, the way that the semblance was going about things was foolish. You couldn't place that entire burden on yourself. Ozpin had Glynda helping with Beacon, and those in the know to help with everything else. He himself had Winter as his second in command, and almost every combat capable person in Atlas behind him because of his positions.

"Exactly. Why don't we start simple? What is the next event that you've been planning for?" Taurus running the Mountain Glenn operation instead of Torchwick, as it supposedly was meant to be, probably had an effect on things. The same was true for Fall and her underlings being outed when Second clearly expected them to maintain their cover. But having a clear target to focus on in the meantime would help with prioritization.

"Well, next up should be the Vytal Festival. Had things gone differently, I might have agreed with you on the cancellation, but… I think the changes that I've made, intentionally or not, have ruled out the possibility of that event going the way it's supposed to."

"Would you care to explain why the Vytal Festival going on as intended is a bad thing?" Glynda asked, her eyes narrowed. "I have put a considerable amount of time into ensuring that everything will run smoothly."

"Yes, we put quite a lot of effort into planning the event." Ozpin nodded behind his mug.

"We?" Oobleck looked to the headmaster, confused. "What do you mean by that? Glynda planned the whole thing, just like she does with everything."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, Bart."

Glynda looked ready to strangle them both, so James pressed Second again.

"I would see her question answered, if you would."

"Maybe I phrased that poorly," he corrected as he took a step away from the Beacon staff in the room. "It's not that the festival itself going the way you planned is a bad thing, it's that the timeline playing out as it would without interference would be bad. Your efforts make for a wonderful Vytal Festival, Professor Goodwitch, you should be proud of yourself." Glynda looked mollified by that response so obviously meant to appease her, and her colleagues knew better than to say anything about it. Though the whispers between the students were concerning… but only one of them belonged to his school, and she was already holding military secrets, so he didn't really care. They could be someone else's problem.

A harsh glare from Winter shut them up anyway. "And what is this fate you claim we have avoided?"

"Ah, well…" was all Second managed to get out at first, making James worry that they were in for another round of the semblance clamming up when it came to the important details.

That worry coming true probably would have been better for his blood pressure than what they were told next.

"...you know, just uh, Amity being attacked, Beacon falling, the loss of the Fall Maiden as well as lots of civilians, soldiers, and huntsmen, which sort of includes multiple people in this room."

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed as they tried to parse whether that was a poor attempt at a joke or not.

Deciding to use it as an opportunity to continue uninterrupted, Second pressed on. "You see, that CCT attack that never happened was supposed to be Cinder uploading a virus that Watts had created-" Ironwood's frown deepened in recognition of the name, "-and their plan was to use Emerald's semblance to mess with fighters while they were being broadcast live across all of Remnant. Make them act brutally, or at least appear that way to the crowds. Then, through some shocking event like Pyrrha tearing apart Penny with her semblance-" he ignored the gasps of the students, "-or the White Fang setting off a bomb in the stadium with no prior warning-" Nora grabbed Blake, "-they would cause some sort of mass panic. The virus from earlier is used to broadcast the chaos everywhere and prevent it from being stopped, adding to the negativity. At the same time, grimm that the White Fang had snuck onto Amity would be released-" more gasps, "-the White Fang would attack both Amity and Beacon itself-" the Beacon staff's eyes hardened, "-and Torchwick would be released from captivity by Neo. Now on board the most important ship in the fleet in the middle of a chaotic attack, this leaves the duo open to infecting all the Atlas bots with another virus-" the general and his specialist looked livid, "-which has them turning on humans instead of the grimm. Cinder makes it to the basement in the middle of the transfer process-" he almost thought he saw fear on Ozpin's face, "-killing the Maiden, Ozpin, and then the next Maiden shortly after. Yang maybe loses an arm, Ruby maybe kills a fucking dragon by using her eyes for the first time, Beacon maybe falls, and everything sort of spirals out of control from there. The actual details vary a lot from timeline to timeline, as far as who dies and how much damage is actually done, but the attack itself is usually set in stone with timelines that are similar to the one we're in currently."

Second gave them all a second to take in the severity of the situation before switching to a lighter tone.

"Luckily, I think that's been pretty much prevented? Cinder and her crew have been run out of town, I doubt Adam will be willing to work with them after hearing how the breech went, none of the Atlas tech has been infected, and really I think the biggest single threat outside of Salem is Neo, but, and hear me out here, there's actually a fairly decent chance that we can get Torchwick and Neo working on our side, stripping our enemies of one of the most dangerous people working for them. Sure, Hazel will be annoying to deal with, and Tyrian is pure nightmare fuel in my eyes, but still. As much as I was panicking before, things have actually worked out pretty well so far now that I think about it…"

Ozpin took a deep, loud sip of his coffee. He might have even emptied the mug.

"...why don't you run that by us one more time. Perhaps with more detail?"

"Should we really be here doing this when all of… that was just revealed to us?" Jaune asked.

"There's not much that we can do." Ren reassured him. "It's quite a list of things to consider, but as far as action is concerned, we're limited as students."

"Quite right!" Doctor Oobleck agreed. Especially when, having recently been inducted to the little secret club himself, he knew that Second had not revealed everything he could. The topic of the Maiden was danced around, and no further magic was discussed, meaning that he had not wanted the students involved in that quite yet. Bart was of the same mind, but with things as they were, he wasn't sure how long that would last… "As students, and first years at that, those sorts of things are beyond the scope of what you're expected to handle. You should be focused on training, growing stronger, forging bonds with your teams."

"And if we may have to face threats like that…" Pyrrha added on, "then you really need to understand the full capabilities of your semblance."

"Once you and Second know what you're doing, we can just have him turn into a giant monster and crush our enemies!" Nora added with a cartoonishly evil laugh. "Problem solved!"

"Nora, how do you expect that to work?" Second asked flatly.

"We just pump Jauney full of aura, duh!"

"And how do you plan to do that? Do one of you have a secondary semblance that I'm not aware of?"

"Nope! We'll just have to find someone who does!"

"Nora," Ren decided to step in, "I think Second is trying to say that a semblance like that doesn't exist."

"Correct." Second nodded. "Not in this timeline, anyway."

That piqued Oobleck's interest. "Are you suggesting that in an alternate timeline, someone Jaune knows does have such a semblance? Or are you merely indicating that it is theoretically possible?"

"Not somebody Jaune knows , but Jaune himself."

"Wait, really?" Jaune sounded surprised. "It's sort of weird to think about having any semblance that isn't you…"

"Yes, really. Aura Amp is a semblance that would have done as the name implied. Boosting the aura of yourself and others, increasing the rate at which aura can heal wounds, amping up other people's semblances…" Second seemed lost in thought as he listed off the abilities of this supposed alternative semblance.

"A semblance like that does seem like it would fit you, Jaune." Pyrrha chimed in with a smile.

"You're stuck with me though, so forget about any other busted semblances you might've unlocked."

"Busted semblances? Aura Amp sounds useful, but I don't see how it could be overpowered." Jaune prompted, hoping to hear more about how awesome he could be.

"As interesting as that topic has the potential to be, we are here for a reason, boys and girls." Oobleck reminded them.

"Aren't you the one who brought us down this tangent?" Ren questioned, but the doctor pointedly ignored him.

"So! Second, what is it that you can do now? What differs from before, when you were trapped inside Jaune's head?"

Second looked down at his small blue hands, flexing them. "Well… I'm not sure if this form is hollow or solid, but it certainly feels solid. My senses feel pretty normal, but my eyesight is better than I expected…"

"Oh? So you're already well accustomed to physical sensations? I presume that you shared them with Jaune, but I'm unsure of why you would think your eyesight should be worse."

"...no reason." There was clearly more to that, but it could wait for another time. "I'm not sure why I'm still this small though. Jaune's aura should be recovering normally, right? And if my size is based on his aura reserves, shouldn't I grow as he gets it back?"

"An interesting point! Mr. Arc, what are your current aura levels?"

Jaune pulled out his scroll, checking the reading. "It says thirty percent, sir."

"Definitely increasing at a normal rate then, and yet you're still this size. Why…." Oobleck closed in on Second, poking, prodding, and inspecting every inch of the semblance he could.

"Would you cut that out?!" Second tried to slap his hands away, but the doctor was quite fast, dodging every swat.

"Could it be…" Pyrrha spoke up, drawing the doctor's attention, "that they have two different… I guess you could say 'pools' of aura, that are just reading as one on Jaune's scroll?"

"Elaborate, Ms. Nikos."

"Well, when Jaune was attacked, the sword cut him, right? That would mean he had no aura defending him, even though he definitely wasn't out, and Second had just manifested."

"You're saying that my form is made up of whatever aura Jaune has at the time, leaving him defenseless, but any that he gains after my manifestation goes into protecting him like normal?" Second asked, receiving a nod in return.

"An interesting hypothesis! Let us test it. My apologies, Mr. Arc."

"What are you apologizing-" Jaune let out a pathetic yelp as Oobleck suddenly struck him, but managed to stay on his feet.

"It seems there is some merit to your idea! I definitely struck his aura, and yet if it was present when Cinder attacked him, the sword should not have cut him as it did. And there should be a rather easy method of confirming it as well!"

"We beat them up until their aura breaks?" Nora suggested with both hands on Magnhild, which she definitely did not have on her just a moment ago.

"I suppose that could work if we went about it properly," Oobleck's words had Jaune and Second subtly inching away from the group, "but I was thinking that it would be easier to simply put Second back into Jaune's head, have him manifest once more, and measure the difference in size. If it's proportional to the difference in aura, then we have our answer."

"I like that idea!" Jaune and Second shouted out together.

"Brilliant! Let's get to it then, go ahead and bring Second back into your head, Mr. Arc."

"Right… um… how do I do that?"

"...I suppose I should have expected that." Oobleck seemed disappointed, but not surprised.

"He's just here now! It's not like I'm actively working to keep him present!" Jaune tried to defend himself.

"What did you do to manifest Second in the first place?" Pyrrha asked. "Maybe you just need to do that in reverse?"

"What did I do?" Jaune asked himself. "I remember panicking when I saw the blade coming at me…"

"I think you pushed your aura towards her? And then I manifested between the two of you. With a sword skewering me…"

"But pooling your aura towards the area you expect to get struck is normal. I spent weeks getting that down, but I don't remember ever trying to pull the aura back into me."

"Maybe instead of trying to pull it back inside of you, you could try focusing on letting it flow around you like normal. Let it diffuse throughout your body like it's meant to." Ren suggested.

"I guess I can give it a try…" Jaune closed his eyes to concentrate.

Nothing happened. The group stared, switching their gaze between Jaune and Second, waiting for something, anything.

Apparently deeming the attempt a failure, Second spoke up. "Am I supposed to feel-"

But his sentence was left unfinished as he suddenly disappeared from sight.

Nora frowned. "Awww, I wanted to smash him back into Jaune…"

"Maybe some other time, Nora." Ren patted her shoulder as Doctor Oobleck stepped up to Jaune to inspect him.

"Well? Was our hypothesis correct? Is everything back where it should be?"

Jaune blinked slowly before nodding. "Yeah, this… huh. I guess we hadn't realized it before, but while we were separated we couldn't hear each other's thoughts."

"An interesting observation!" Oobleck scribbled it down, having pulled a notebook out at some point when they weren't watching. "Let's give the reverse a go, then. Try manifesting Second's physical form once more."

Jaune concentrated, and like before it took a moment before any results were bared, but eventually Second popped back into existence, looking a few inches taller and more like a twelve year old than the ten year old appearance from before.

"I think we can call the experiment a success!" Pyrrha cheered for them.

"I'm still short, though. And blue." Second pouted.

"I'm sure that can be solved by letting Jaune's aura recover fully," Oobleck reassured the semblance. "More importantly…"

"Would you stop that?!"

Oobleck had struck Jaune once more, this time not being stopped by the boy's aura.

"Oh relax, it was just a light tap. Really we should be doing this with a blade to see if I can cut your skin…"

Jaune promptly stopped his whining.

"Maybe we should just move on to the next test?" Pyrrha tried to save him.

"Yes, yes, time is of the essence. Hmmm. I suppose the next thing to test would be your combat capabilities." The doctor looked towards Second.

"And how are we testing that?" Second replied with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Why," Oobleck gained a devious smirk, "I do believe our resident demolitions expert had requested the opportunity to… how was it put… 'smash you back into Jaune'? Your task shall be to prevent that from happening."

Second Thoughts whimpered as the hammer came towards his face.