42

"...Aurelius?" Second repeated, looking very lost. "I… I see… sorry about that then! I must have gotten you mixed up with someone else…" The semblance forced a laugh out. A very obviously fake laugh.

This was awkward.

How in the world could Second know so many secrets, but then get something as basic as a name wrong?! Pyrrha could feel the second hand embarrassment eating away at her. It was like she was just becoming a household name again and had mixed up the names of her sponsors…

Mr. Arc paused for a moment, before apparently deciding to push past it. "It happens. So you're…" He didn't seem to know what to make of the situation. Had nobody told him about Second Thoughts beforehand? It had been odd enough for them to see, and they'd had warning… Pyrrha couldn't imagine how much of a shock it must be for Aurelius.

"Second Thoughts, your son's semblance." Their blue friend reminded the man.

"...right. That's uh… I've never heard of a semblance like you before." The way that he looked at Second made it obvious that he doubted the explanation, but with so many people here to back up the claim, what could he do?

Ruby was suddenly between Jaune and Second, a hand on each of their shoulders. "Yep! Second is one of a kind! Jaune is really something special to have unlocked a semblance like him!" She somehow managed to say it all with a straight face, but even Nora was cringing a bit with how thick she was laying it on.

"Right…" Mr. Arc gave her a strange look that Pyrrha couldn't quite put her finger on. "Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I think my son and I need to have a talk."

Ruby didn't move, and the rest of them were too invested in the trainwreck in front of them to be the first one to walk away.

"...alone." Mr. Arc added.

"Right! Of course!" Ruby agreed, as if she hadn't already known that. Pyrrha watched as the girl whispered something to Jaune before grabbing Second's hand, dragging him away. The rest of the group found themselves reluctantly following her, leaving Jaune to walk off with his father alone.

Once they rounded the corner, and her partner and his father were out of sight, the group rounded on Second Thoughts.

"What was that?!" Yang demanded.

"Moral support! We have to protect Jaune!" Ruby defended herself.

"Not that, you dolt!" Weiss facepalmed. "Though if that's what you consider moral support, then we might need to have a discussion…"

"I think she means the fact that Second got his name wrong." Blake drawled, her eyes narrowed at their blue companion.

"Oh! Oh! Don't tell me!" Nora interrupted. "Let me guess, that's not Jaune's real dad, it's actually a new kind of grimm that's moving his body around like a puppet! You gave him a fake name as a test to see if you could trip him up into revealing the truth!"

"Nora, if that were true then why would Second let Mr. Arc walk off alone with Jaune?" Ren gently tried to reason with her.

"Well duh, he wants to give Jaune his moment for an epic showdown to get his dad back!"

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "Nora, why don't we just let Second explain himself? I'm sure there's a very good explanation for this." She looked to Second, an eager, if forced, smile on her face.

There was a good explanation for this, right? He hadn't just blurted out a random name? She couldn't help but follow Nora's example, at least in the privacy of her own mind, and start theorizing. Was Jaune adopted? Nicholas could be the name of his biological father, which would be what confused Second. That was… perhaps a tiny bit plausible? Surely there was something that made sense…

The look on Second's face wasn't very reassuring though. It was some cross between having just bitten into a lemon and worrying whether you had left your front door open when you left the house.

"We… may have a problem. Possibly. Maybe."

"That is not a good explanation, Second." Pyrrha gently reminded him. Her jaw was not clenched at the moment, thank you very much.

"Well, look. You remember how my knowledge works, right?"

"You supposedly get to see alternative timelines while focused on Jaune. That was a decent explanation for knowing stuff about us as his friends, but it doesn't explain why you don't know his dad's name," Blake pointed out.

"Unless you lied to us…" Yang added, fists clenched.

"Woah there!" Second held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't lie! Well, I guess you might view it as a lie, but it wasn't intended as a lie. That was just the best way I could think to explain it to you!"

"A half truth then? Or perhaps some sort of corporate messaging that legally is considered the truth even if it misleads people?" Weiss suggested, clearly not impressed.

"There's no need to jump to conclusions like this," Ren stepped in. "Second has made a mistake of some sort. This isn't the end of the world, nor is it an indication that he has tried to mislead anyone. We should let calmer heads prevail, and listen to what he has to say before we start interrupting after every few sentences."

"Thank you, Ren." Second smiled at the boy appreciatively. "I am currently working on a way to explain everything to you guys, and Jaune, and everyone else involved, in a way that can prove the validity of what I say beyond a shadow of a doubt. And by that I mean I have other people looking into it, so I'm not entirely sure when it will happen. Hopefully soon. But for now, perhaps looking at things from a different perspective might help." Second paused for a moment, thinking over how to phrase things. Well, that or working up a lie, but Pyrrha liked to think that he wouldn't. "You know that my knowledge is limited, but maybe it would help to frame the way that I interpret the things that I do know. You could think of it like… a story. When you watch a movie about a hero, the story is about the hero as they are during the events of the movie. You can watch as they grow and change throughout the movie, the people they interact with during it, and you probably get to learn a bit about their background, right?" He paused, waiting for them to nod in agreement. "What you don't get is a long and elaborate detailing of their lives before the story begins, unless it's somehow relevant to the plot. In some stories you might see the hero's family for a few scenes at the beginning of the story. In others, they might not get mentioned at all during the story. It's not their story after all. It's the hero's. Does that make sense?"

"Does your method for revealing everything involve bringing us to your doomsday device and monologuing like a villain before trying to destroy the world, giving us one last chance to save everyone?!" Nora exclaimed, clearly excited about the prospect.

Second frowned at her. "No."

Ren clamped a hand over her mouth before she could start again. "I believe that we are fully capable of handling any wild truths you may hold, so long as they are the truth. Is it truly necessary to make us wait for a proper explanation and instead feed us these metaphors?"

"Well, look," Second began, "I kind of told Jaune he'd get all the info he wanted out of me, but then we had the craziness with Cinder… and the Vytal festival… and the stuff we got in trouble for… honestly, I've been waiting on this confirmation for a long time, and I think I'm actually close to getting it now. But I need that confirmation. If someone tried to tell me what I would have to tell you, I wouldn't believe them. Or at least, I wouldn't just take them at their word, and my word is all I have."

"And how long are you expecting us to wait for this confirmation?" Yang asked.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure?" Second hedged. "I sort of pointed a few people in the right direction, but I don't know how long it will take for them to arrange something…"

"Guys," Pyrrha found herself saying. "Second is Jaune's semblance. The manifestation of his soul. We can trust him, can't we?" The rest of the group agreed, though with varying levels of enthusiasm on their faces. "That said… I still don't understand the metaphor you were trying to use, Second. I can follow along with timelines being different stories, that's simple enough, and I suppose it's true that not all stories are going to talk about the protagonist's parents… but you follow Jaune in every one of these stories, don't you? And yet you thought Mr. Arc's name was Nicholas and not Aurelius. How could he have different parents and still be the same person?"

"Well, that's what I'm trying to work out, and why I'm a bit concerned," Second answered.

"Do you have any ideas?" Pyrrha prompted. "Maybe we could figure it out if we work together."

"Well…" Second hesitated. "In some of those stories, the circumstances are completely different, and yet you guys are still present in some capacity. You're constants. It might be a timeline where Beacon is a magic school, or one where Jaune gets kidnapped by an evil queen and forced to serve her, or one where the grimm are supernatural beings that normal people can't see… but in every one of those stories, you guys are still there. You're as consistent as gravity. That's not to say you're in every timeline, but you're in every timeline that I've seen. It doesn't matter if your families are the same, I've seen timelines where Jaune's mother is different, but he's still Jaune in the end."

"So Mr. Arc could be a completely different person in each of the various stories if we follow that logic," Weiss concluded. "If we take that at face value, it doesn't explain why you assumed one name over another. Shouldn't the possibility of his name being Aurelius be equal to the possibility of it being Nicholas? It seems foolish to just assume that it would be one over the other, or any other name for that matter."

"W-well," Second stammered. "Actually, you could say that Nicholas is more heavily weighted! I see that name a lot in the timelines that do include Mr. Arc to some capacity. Aurelius… have I heard the name Aurelius at all?" Second paused for a moment. "I mean there's one that comes to mind but I don't think Jaune has anything to do with stoicism…"

Pyrrha heard Ruby whisper "I don't get it," and when she turned towards the girl she saw Blake sighing next to her.

The faunus spoke up. "So you're saying that Mr. Arc's name being Aurelius is a variable that is completely unaccounted for. You stupidly assumed that just because one name is common that it would apply to this timeline as well."

Second winced. "Stupid is a strong word, but that's basically correct, yes. I'm sure everything will be fine though. It's just a name, it's not like that's reason to assume all sorts of things will be-"

Pyrrha watched as Second disappeared mid sentence.

Ruby gasped. "That's the signal! Jaune must be in trouble!" The girl promptly disappeared as well, but at least this one left behind a trail in her wake as she used her semblance to hunt down their friends.

"Do we really think this is an emergency?" Yang asked. "He's with his dad. He's probably just getting chewed out. Maybe Mr. Arc wants to meet Second or something."

The group stared at each other for a moment, before silently following after Ruby.

It didn't hurt to check, but Pyrrha was sure Yang was right. What was the worst that could be happening right now?

"If it goes poorly, just bring Second back to your head and we'll come save you!" Ruby whispered a bit too loudly before dragging Second away with her.

Jaune wasn't sure what she thought they could save him from. It wasn't like his dad was going to kill him. Well, not literally anyway.

Probably.

He hoped.

"Let's take a walk," his dad suggested. It was really more of an order, with the way that the man placed a firm hand on his shoulder and started tugging him away from prying eyes.

Jaune didn't know what to say. Should he apologize? Beg him not to make a scene or try to drag him back home? Act like he had done nothing wrong? Unease roiled in his gut, so he stayed silent.

His father didn't take him far, just off to a small patch of trees for a bit of privacy. They just stood there for a moment, not saying anything, the awkwardness growing between them. Eventually though, his dad broke the silence.

"Do you-" was all he got out before he paused. "I want to-" he tried again. A few more stutters and stammers were forced out before he gave up on whatever he was trying to say.

With a deep sigh, he started down what was obviously a different train of thought. "So you're a team leader? Assuming the team naming convention is still the same, anyway…"

"Uh, yeah." Jaune forced the words out. "Yeah, I'm the leader of team JNPR."

"They seem like good people."

"Yeah, they're… they've been great."

What was this? Was his dad just going to make small talk? Not talk about any of the important things? Not even the reason he'd been called by Ms. Goodwitch? Jaune wasn't exactly eager to move on to any of those things, because it was going to suck, but every moment it was delayed was a moment he had to dread it, and in a way that was almost worse.

"And this… Second Thoughts… it's your semblance? Pretty unique one. What does it… do? Doesn't seem like a typical cloning semblance to me."

"He," Jaune corrected. "Second is… his own person, really. Has his own personality, his own memories. He started out as just a voice in my head, the whole… blue version of me thing is pretty new, actually."

"His own person?" His dad looked to be struggling with the concept. "So what does he uh… what sort of semblance is he? He good for information gathering? Combat, maybe? If he's his own person he'd have to learn how to fight I imagine, but you-" He cut himself off before he could say any more. Before he could talk about how his son had apparently learned how to fight.

"He's…" Jaune hesitated once more. Should he really get into the future vision stuff right now? "He's good for information." That was true, if vague. "We tried a bit of combat with one of the professors, but that didn't go too well…"

"Huh." The further this conversation went, the more obvious it became to Jaune that his dad was out of his element. "Well… maybe I can help with that."

Jaune stared at his father. He wanted to help with that? Why would… but he… "You want to help Second with combat?"

"Sure." His dad nodded, looking more sure of himself as he thought over the idea. "Not everyday you get to meet the manifestation of your son's soul. He's sort of like family, in a way, right? I should get to know him. Teach him a thing or two. Call it family bonding or something. Do you have a way to call him over? Or do we have to hunt him down before heading to the training rings?" He clapped a hand down on Jaune's shoulder, a smile on his face.

"Uh, I can just bring him back into my head and then pull him out again." Jaune informed him, trying to fight through the whiplash and confusion of the situation. How had he gone from wondering if his dad would kill him to this?

"Really? That's a neat trick. What's the limit on that? How far can you do it from?"

"Oh, uh, I'm not really sure-"

"Try it then!" His dad interrupted. "See if you can do it from here. You need to know the limits of your semblance after all. Consider this part of the training."

Jaune focused, and after a moment he was no longer alone in his head.

-different from… Did you really have to pull me back mid sentence?

I'm panicking! Jaune defended himself. He didn't have a freak out or yell at me or anything! He wants to meet you and do some training!

"Now that is freaky." His dad leaned in, staring into his eyes. "Are you talking to him right now?"

"Uh, yes? It worked from that distance…"

"Interesting." His dad stood straight up again, grabbing his shoulder and leading him in the direction of the training arenas. "Is everything still in the same place? Been a long while since I've roamed the grounds of Beacon. Didn't think I'd be coming back…"

Jaune? Is your dad normally like this?

No! It's weird and freaking me out! I don't think I've ever heard him be this talkative!

Well that's… worrying. And you said he wanted to train me?

He said he wants to teach you a thing or two. Do some "family bonding", whatever that's supposed to mean. What do we do?!

It's your dad, Jaune! You're supposed to know!

Aurelius began to whistle as he lead them away, and for some reason that felt all the more wrong.

…Second?

Yeah?

…do you think that maybe my dad has been replaced by some sort of grimm? Maybe it's wearing his skin like a suit, and that's why he's acting so weird…

Second didn't respond for a moment.

…fucking Nora.

What?

This is her fault, somehow. Remind me to get revenge on her for willing this into existence.