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Jaune grunted and sat up in his bed with in surprise, a small bundle of cloth lying on his stomach. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he turned to look up at Cinder, smirking at him slightly, "Get dressed, and that includes your armor, and get… cleaned up." Neo sat up beside him, bare chested as he was, and stretched out, "Some deodorant too, for both of you." "I had been this close to disbelieving you two were together… Interesting." "Your new helmet is waiting in your trunk, I had one of your servants place it there last night."

"I… didn't sense them." Jaune admitted in surprise, picking up the shirt from the bundle and unfurling it to look at it.

"Yes, well. Perhaps you were distracted by…" Cinder looked at Neo, who looked back with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed under her pale bust, "Your woman." "If one could call her that." She looked at Jaune when he coughed, eyes boring into hers for a second before she blinked, "I'll be waiting outside. Don't keep me that way." "I'm not a patient woman, Arc."

"She is such a bitch." Neo said, kicking the covers off and standing once the woman had left. Jaune blushed, and then rolled his eyes when her amusement hit him as she searched for her scattered clothing, "Don't know why you're blushing, Jaune. Still a virgin at heart?"

He rolled his eyes a second time, standing and sliding the plain, jet black pants on. "Oh, bite me, it's not my fault." Neo turned, sliding her arms into her leotard and raised an eyebrow at him, "No, that wasn't a challenge, and no, we don't have time." She laughed mutely, and he gave up resisting the urge to watch what it did to her 'features' now. "So, I guess we finally get to meet this 'Queen', huh?"

"Yeah." Neo thought, surprising nerves echoing out from her towards Jaune. The shirtless blonde looked at her in surprise, a stick of deodorant in his hand and his mouth open slightly in surprise, "Roman is scared of Cinder, Jaune. And Cinder is scared as hell of this 'Queen' character. Whoever can scare Roman scares me, and whoever can scare that person?" She shook her head, running a hand through her hair nervously, "Not someone I want to meet, even if we're on friendly terms."

Jaune nodded mutely, tossing the small stick onto the bed and sliding on the plain black shirt, turning to walk to the trunk at the end of his bed, "Yeah, I get that. I mean, this isn't exactly ideal as a situation for me but…" Neo pulled her pants on, turning when she felt him look at her, "I think it's worth it."

She actually blushed slightly, blinking in surprise before walking stiffly towards the couch where her coat was still lying, "That was maybe the corniest line I have ever, ever heard. And I watch movies, Jaune."

"Hey, what can I say?" He shrugged, chuckling even before he said the joke, "I'm so corny, famers ask me for tips."

Neo started at him for several seconds before slapping her forehead, "I swear to Oum, I will never sleep with you again if you keep up these terrible, terrible jokes." He feigned offence, kicking open his trunk, Neo pouting at him when he ignored her. "I'm serious, Jaune."

"Somehow, I don't believe you mean it. I don't know, might be that I'm a literal psychic, or something." He laughed, and she threw a pillow off the couch at the back of his head. He let it hit him, smiling and fishing out his new helmet.

Mistralian in design, it was cylindrical and plain, lacking any paint and left a dull silvery grey color. A 'T' shape rested in the center of the front of the helmet, wider at the top than the bottom, and when he slid it on he could see fairly well out of it. The front was longer than the back, dipping into a point an inch and a half long in front of his throat to protect it. A single scratch stretched along the right cheek, shallow enough to have probably been an accident.

Jaune got the feeling it wasn't, and slid it off his head so he could lay it on the bed while he got into the rest of his armor. "The helmet looks good." Neo said, walking over and picking it up, "What's it for, though?"

"Something about helping with my Semblance, so I don't…. Do whatever I did when we got here." He slid it on again, looking at her and smiling behind the helmet, "Hope it works." After a few seconds, he shook his head, but he still felt… Nothing. No emotions from Neo, or thoughts, or anything, and after a second he could tell from her face that she was confused. The way her smirk slipped and she tilted her head to the side, pink and brown eyes both searching his helmet in confusion.

"Hello?" He heard when he slid it back off, the girl's head tilting to the other side, pink eyes blinking owlishly at him.

"It's stopping me from reading minds…" He turned the helmet in his hands, looking at the front and rubbing a thumb along the scar on the side, "It must be… I don't know, blocking my Semblance, somehow. Containing it, maybe? The building it supposed to be lined with the stuff." He looked at Neo, an eyebrow raised, "Do you know of a metal that blocks out Aura and Semblances entirely?"

"Just what I used for my needles, and a few guys I know use for swords and knives." She shrugged, "It might be rarer than that, even, maybe."

He swallowed nervously and grimaced, looking at her, "It'll… be weird, not having my ability anymore. I don't think I like the idea, especially given, you know, who we'll be meeting. I was kind of hoping we'd be able to talk in there. I need the advice."

Neo rolled her eyes at him, "You'll be fine. Just be adamant about the agreements you made don't give her ground too much, and don't give too little. Negotiate. She'll know that if she takes too much advantage of you, you'll figure out and turn against her." She turned when someone, probably Cinder, knocked on the door and sighed quietly, "We have to go, though. I got your back, no matter what happens. Okay?"

"I know." He muttered, hesitating for a second when she turned to head for the door before grabbing her arm. She turned in surprise, and his lips slammed into hers for a second. He felt her surprise echo, among other feelings, before stepping past and sliding the helmet on. "Tell her I'm almost ready, alright?"

She nodded, bouncing away, and he took a few more minutes to strap into his armor. The breastplate was scratched along the inner left side, under his arm, where a round had scored across it. Aura, after all, didn't protect clothing or armor like it did your body. A small, scorched hole over where his heart beat reminded him of why he had Aura, and four smaller scorched stars around it reminded him of the armor's use.

While he missed his jeans and hoodie, he had to admit that the white armor over his black clothes looked really, really cool.

Even with the helmet, armor and the mildly thick clothing under it all, he could still feel air rushing past him. Cinder was leaning against the wall beside the door where he'd exited, a flame hovering before her for warmth in the chilly air. "Jaune. About time,you kept me waiting."

"Sorry, it...I had to adjust to not having my Semblance anymore." His voice echoed hollowly, and he looked around.

'His' building was designed like all the others, though far shorter and separated from the larger ones by a large patch of ground. Paved black stones for walkways circled a dead, white tree where grass had clearly used to grow. More small buildings like his protruded from the base of a huge castle, designed similarly to Beacon Tower with an angling rise to a wide room of some kind, with glass on all sides. Light came out of the windows, speckling the ground and the wall around it in light.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Cinder asked, startling him enough that he actually flinched. She raised her brow at him, head tilting as a smirk formed, "Oh? Still adjusting to your new situation? It must be odd, not hearing our thoughts anymore." She gave Neo a look, clearly amused, "That's...not very fortunate, for you."

Neo raised her middle finger at her and looked at Jaune expectantly.

"Aren't we supposed to be meeting someone?" He asked, stepping in front of Neo and using a hand to make her put away the finger. "Someone important."

Cinder's cocky smirk vanished along with the fire almost instantly, and she turned, gesturing at the highest point of the castle, "Your new Goddess, Jaune Arc. The most important person you ever have or ever will meet in your entire life. She's waiting for you at the top, by all means, be on your way. I'll be right behind you."

"You're not going to lead us there?" Jaune asked in surprise, turning his helmeted head from the imposing tower and looking at the woman.

"Jaune, all of us are perfectly capable of self actualizing on any mission we might have. Consider it a… test, of sorts, over how well you manage without your Semblance. It should be easy enough to find your way to the top." She chuckled lightly, reaching up to toy with a strand of her hair playfully, "If you can't find your way after a while, I will show you. And you will explain to my mistress why you are so late."

He sighed and nodded, walking towards the darkened double doors. They were made of wood colored dark as the stone around them, with bright brass knobs that turned soundlessly in his hands. The tower was darkened inside, only dimly lit by lanterns paced about ten feet apart with flames crackling in them.

No electricity ran to the majority of the complex, it seemed, ad he asked Cinder why, "My Mistress only has so many resources. There are several generators, as well as a turbine power engine on a hill nearby, that run very minimal power to very specific parts of the castle and its grounds. Your quarters, and those of your new allies as well, have it run to them as well as a few other locations."

"To keep from being spotted, right?" He asked quietly as they walked, Cinder humming in question at him, "If there were lights everywhere, and a power grid, and resources being shipped in to power everything here, people would see it. Or, uh, notice it, I guess?"

She chuckled quietly, and for a moment he thought he'd been wrong, and his shoulders tensed as a Beringel passed by. Its lumbering steps shook him physically ever so slightly before Cinder answered and distracted him, "Yes, Jaune, that is correct. We can't grow food here for the same reasons, so we have to smuggle it up here ourselves. Adding on the Dust needed to power so much would be far too obvious to anyone paying any attention."

He stopped in front of a large, grand staircase that was indented into the wall and looked at Cinder. The brunette simply inclined her head slightly, and he followed Neo up the stairs as she bounced ahead. At the top, after what felt like hundreds of steps, a moderately sized and plain landing ended at a set of huge, decorated wooden doors. The right depicted a woman wearing a blackened robe, head bowed and resting on her finger tips almost as though she were grieving. The other showed a man standing above her, arms crossed above a cane and head bowed. Whether he was looking at the woman or supposed to be grieving as well, Jaune couldn't tell. The hair for both was covered by what looked like hoods of some sort, sliver metal spilling from both.

"What are the carvings of?" He asked Cinder, the woman pausing and turning her head only slightly at the question as she passed him walking towards the doors.

"What do you think they are, Jaune?" She gestured at the man on the doors, "Who do you know with silver hair and a cane?"

He looked at the door again, shaking his head slightly. "The wood is older than Ozpin, easily." She simply laughed, shaking her head and walking to the doors.

"So you think, Jaune." She said quietly, pushing the doors open easily and turning around. She jerked her head at the door slightly, clearly indicating that he should enter, and then followed him into the room.

Ten chairs surrounded a large stone table, four on the right and left of the long table and one at each head. All were empty, and at the far end of the room, staring out of the massive windows, a woman stood with her hands clasped behind her back and a small Grimm that looked like a jelly fish floating beside her.

Cinder took a seat at the closest head of the table, gesturing at the chair at the head with a hand, "Take a seat, Jaune."

"Yes, take a seat, Jaune." The other woman said lowly, turning her head slightly to acknowledge him, "We have a great deal to discuss, after all. Plans to make, steps to take, the usual. Well, perhaps not the usual for you, Jaune. At least, the you that existed before you got into your new line of work."

"Is this when I find out what I will actually be doing?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he swallowed nervously, "Um, Your Highness."

"Better. You are new to this, and I am sure you feel odd without your semblance free as you are used to, so I will forgive your failures of etiquette for now." Salem said quietly, turning fully to face them and smiling thinly, chuckling quietly before shaking her head, "Now, please do have a seat. Yours is beside my dear Cinder, directly across from me."

"A place of honor." Cinder whispered to him when he pulled the chair back, the young knight looking at her in surprise and hesitating for a moment. "I didn't mean for you to not to sit, Jaune, only for you to know the seat's importance at this table."

"Cinder is trying to help with your lack of training in etiquette, Jaune. That is all, so you needn't hesitate." He still hesitated for a second, but only a second, before taking the seat with Neo standing on his left side almost protectively. Not that it would matter if Cinder and Salem decided to attack, he feared, a sense he got from looking at her strange face. "Now then, I know that you are probably curious about a great many things. First among them, i am sure, is my appearance."

Jaune stiffened for a moment, turning to look at Cinder who seemed amused at his inability to read her anymore before answering, "I...admit that it took me by surprise, Your Highness. I, um, didn't expect you to…"

"Look like a monster?" She asked coyly, striding towards the chair opposite his and easing into it with a small smile, "That is a very, very long story. And not one I tell to just anyone, Jaune. You have to earn that sort of answer, but for now, suffice it to say that I am part of the Grimm and part of Man equally. The Queen of the Grimm."

"That's fair." Jaune said quietly, nodding his head and twiddling his thumb anxiously, "But does being the Queen of the Grimm not make you an enemy of mankind?" She raised a prim eyebrow, resting her elbow on the chair and her chin on the back of her hand, "That's what the Kingdoms teach, Your Highness. Grimm are enemies of mankind, so if you're their Queen..."

"Yours as well now, Jaune." She answered in an amused voice, "But to answer your question, truly. I am an enemy of the Kingdoms, and of Ozpin personally, but not mankind itself. The Grimm at their time of creation were, and the wild Grimm who I don't have the power to command directly or the need to are, but I am not."

"But… that doesn't make sense. All of the people on Remnant live in those Kingdoms, how can you be the enemy of the Kingdom but not them?" He swallowed nervously, his heart beating against his breastplate hard enough he thought it might bust through, and Neo rested a hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly and turned to look at her, sighing, "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I'm… more on edge than I should be, I guess."

"Understandable, given everything that has happened to you in such a short amount of time… Quite a rapid escalation in importance for you, to all happen in under a year." Salme sounded amused still, and Jaune almost had the suspicion that she wasn't taking this seriously. The Grimm hovering behind her kind of dispelled that notion as fast as it came, though, "From a simple young Huntsmen hopeful without even having any Aura, to one of the most pivotal men of this century… Tell me, Jaune, how are you faring?"

"I'm okay, I guess. Can't really complain too terribly much." He could tell she wanted more, and sighed inside the helmet. The sound echoed louder than he had meant it too, and he resisted the urge to facepalm which would have probably made it worse. "I mean, I would love to have stayed in Beacon. Become a real Huntsmen, maybe fought in the Vytal tournament, gone on missions… I would have loved it, but this is my reality. I'm not going to try and fight it." He chuckled dryly, looking at Neo, and the small woman smiled and squeezed his shoulder affectionately before he looked back at the Grimm Queen, "I wouldn't trade it anyways."

"Because of your lover," The woman turned her off hand in circles, clearly trying to remember something, "Ah, Neo, yes?"

"Neopolitan." Cinder said helpfully, reclining in her chair with her arms crossed under her bust, "Roman's little underling. For a while I thought they were sleeping together for a while, honestly, but I don't know their relationship."

"Superfluous now, of course." Salem continued, shrugging slightly at the other woman, "It requires a few very minor changes to our plans, of course, as a part of our deal. Nothing impossible though, of course."

"Good, good." He nodded, the Queen drumming her fingers on the table in front of her idly as she looked at him.

"Now then, you need to begin preparing yourself for our next major operation. You will be integral to it, after all." She pushed her chair back and stood, smiling at him before turning to Cinder, "Begin combat training with him, I will make a number of Beowolves, Ursai and Beringels available to assist. Tyrian as well, once he is free of his duties."

"Yes, my Mistress." Cinder said instantly, standing and bowing her head reverently.

"And you, Jaune." He straightened in his seat, the woman smiling almost malevolently at him, "You had best recall our arrangement at all times. An infraction from you, and we will march to Ansel and you will watch it burn. I keep my word, but only to those who honor theirs."

He didn't disbelieve her for even a moment.

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Blake was terrified utterly and frustrated to an extreme, though she didn't show it as she marched through the White Fang's underground hideout to her room to rest. Jaune wasn't here, he'd left already a few others whose names she'd had to get from a few Grunts, and she still couldn't get a message out to Ozpin yet to tell him.

She flinched when she passed through an intersection and heard the sneering, "Well hello there, kitty cat." She almost sun on the spot, managing to turn it into a much more casual one by force of will, and sighed when she saw Roman leaning against the wall, "What's the matter, kitty cat? Upset to see me?"

"Kind of." She muttered, forcing herself to relax and crossing her arms, "What do you want, Human?"

He looked around, down each direction in the dimly lit passage before pushing off the wall, "Cut the 'Human' crap, kitty cat. I'm here to help. You, not the Fang." She opened her mouth to ask what he could mean and he held up a finger, smiling before fishing out a cigar and match, "I can get a message out to dear ole Oz for you, just tell me what to say."

"Why would I need you to help me contact the headmaster of Beacon?" She was nervous, her heart beating faster every second and ears twitching on top of her head for danger, "I don't know if you head, but I was arrested for-"

"Wounding Goodwitch in an attempt to kill her." Roman interrupted, chuckling darkly, "Kitty cat, if it were that easy to hurt her, I'd have killed her already. Or a Grimm would have, or any number of other criminals, mercenaries and killers. You didn't wound jack aside from her reputation. If that, really."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, sighing and shaking her head. She stepped back when he blew the acrid smoke in the air, "Do you have to do that inside?"

"Yes, I do. All this double agent crap has my nerves shot to hell." he exhaled smoothly, the smoke billowing down the path she'd come from, "I got a message to a man of mine, and told him to get it to Ozpin somehow or another. Paid a good penny on it too. That's why you're here, kitty cat, not some attempt on Goodwitch."

Blake was quiet for a few seconds, hands clenched into fists in the crooks of her elbows, "Fine. But Jaune is gone, and I don't know where they went, so the plan is a bust now. What do we do?"

"Nothing." Roman said tiredly, shaking his head, "I'll get a message out to Junior and he'll pass it along same as always. I just came to talk to you so that you didn't do anything stupid." He gave her a glance and sighed, "And don't worry about the kid, kitty cat, he's got Neo watching his back. She could probably hurt Goodwitch if she wanted to."

Blake swallowed anxiously and nodded, sighing slightly, "I hate that I have to trust you on this, Roman." He shrugged and she huffed, "Fine. But let me know as soon as you find anything out."

He nodded, and she stormed off. He of course neglected to inform her he had no way of receiving messages for now, but oh well. "At least the kitty won't cause me any trouble for a while, while I figure this mess out." He chuckled at himself, tapping his cigar to drop the ash on the ground, "All the times to grow a conscience…"

Flicking out his Scroll, he sent yet another request to Junior to pass on more information to Ozpin. Along with a very substantial amount of Lien on offer for the job. He didn't get a response, of course, Junior knew he didn't need to do that.

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Raven smiled, watching Yang and Ruby play a game on their television in their room, perched on the landing outside it. Ruby managed to win for once and Yang hit her with a pillow, Raven cackling quietly in amusement. She turned her head when she heard a flutter of feathers, the familiar avian form of Qrow settling beside her on the sunlit windowsill. He cawed and bumped against her, jerking his head to the roof before taking off, and she sighed internally and followed. She changed back when she reached the roof, sinking to her knees as her body readjusted and looking at Qrow leaning against the door leading into the building with his arms crossed.

He'd always, always recovered from the changing faster than her. "What do you want, Qrow?" And yes, it did aggravate her.

"A stiff drink, a dark bar, and a gorgeous bar maid with a short skirt." He answered with a shrug, laughing quietly when she just glared at him. "For now, I'll settle with asking why you're spending afternoon on my niece's windowsill. You have to have better things to do than stalk them."

"I'm not stalking anyone." She defended,standing and crossing her arms, "I just… I wanted to see her. I never talk to her, though, so you can relax. Your sister is completely miserable, exactly as you want her to be."

"Is that what you think I want, Raven?" He barked harshly, glaring at her and surprising her with how quickly he'd become angry. "You think I want you miserable and my family, my whole family, separated? I don't. I want everyone I care about together, happy and safe."

"Is that why you're so happy to throw your family to the Atlesian dogs?" She demanded hotly, tossing an arm out in the vague direction of Mistral, where the Clan was still waiting for her to return. "Because if you wanted your whole family together, there's not a damn thing Ozpin could do to stop you from making it happen."

"You really believe that? You think for even a second that General Irondick wouldn't have a small fleet over their heads in a minute if I tried?" He threw his hands up in the air as a small craft flew over, as though to prove his point, "Mistral wouldn't stop them coming in to 'save' some 'kidnapped' kids and wipe out a bandit tribe? They'd welcome it. Hell, they'd reward it, probably."

"We'd fight them, same as anyone else." Raven said quickly, resting a hand on her sword and smiling thinly, "If they think we'd go quietly, then-"

"They wouldn't think that." Qrow interrupted, shaking his head tiredly, "They'd assume that at least half of you are Huntsmen level, and deploy to fight that. First they'd bomb you to hell around the perimeter, then they'd deploy waves of drones, then Paladins and whatever the hell the older one is called, and then Ironwood and Winter would come down with the veterans to clean it up."

Raven was quiet for a long time and Qrow continued, "See? You get it. They can't win, and honestly? They should lose." Raven opened her mouth, but Qrow didn't let her get a comment in, "Rapists, killers, thieves and people for whom that is just fine as long as it benefits them. They deserve barely anything better than Grimm do."

"They raised you, Qrow. Protected you and trained you, and you would say that about them?" She sneered, shaking her head gently, "That is disgusting to me, and the exact opposite of everything we were taught."

"We were taught that the weak should only exist as a benefit for the strong. That a woman too weak to resist deserves to be raped, a village too small to fight us off deserves to be razed. We were taught that being monsters was natural." He was yelling by the end, and standing straight instead of leaning against the door, "We both came to Beacon, though. Both of us. We both saw how wrong that was."

"Yes. Some of our ways aren't…. the gentlest, that's true." He scoffed, looking away from her, and she sighed, "But you're ignoring so much of it. The value of loyalty, of the clan taking care of its own."

"No, I'm not." He said dismissively, turning around and opening the door a crack, "Nor do I forget the lessons of honesty that they taught. That an inability to tell the truth made you weak. Maybe I should tell Yang the truth, huh Raven?"

"No!" Raven almost shouted, working her jaw when he turned to look at her, "Telling her would break our agreement, Qrow. You can't do that."

"I want you to think, Raven. Why are you so adamant that Yang never know about the Clan? If you think that they are right, that their ways are good, why are you so damn scared to let her know?" He slammed the door behind him before she could respond, and she sighed.

When she returned to the landing, he was playing the game with them now, with Ruby sitting in his lap comfortably.

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