Chapter 19: Taking a Stance on Things.

Author's Notes: You might have noticed how the chapter count is a little messed up now. I'm afraid it'll stay that way for the rest of the story. In an attempt to once again rewrite the earlier parts of the story to be slightly less of a slog, I deleted and trimmed parts of them and merged some of them together, which is why there are now less chapters than the system thinks. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Nothing that makes one truly exceptional comes without a price. Every trait, every strength, every conviction - a permanent scar on our tormented soul. Just how many can one take?

The kingdom of Vale is renowned for its vast expanses of forests, valleys, fields, lakes, and steppes. Indeed, its countless landscapes and vistas have provided inspiration for many an artwork, and agriculture thrives within its borders when it is not attacked by Grimm. Stride a hundred fields, dive into a hundred ponds, climb a hundred hills and none of them will be alike, though you should take care as to not become dinner to the various wildlife inhabiting the spaces not yet conquered by man's heel.

Yet despite its incredible vastness, majestic beauty and infinite variety, they all pale in comparison to the crown jewel of Vale's ecosystems: the Forest of Forever Fall. An enormous expanse of woods neighboring the Emerald Forest, Forever Fall may very well be one of the wonders of Remnant when it comes to nature's mysterious ways of creation. While most forests tend to change their appearance dramatically in accordance to the seasons, Forever Fall's trees are permanently adorned by leaves whose coloration ranges from bright yellow to blood red, creating a fleeting illusion that the forest is frozen in a state of perpetual autumn, hence its name. Great white birches with crowns of red, with crimson leaves covering the earth as far as the eye can see, which, granted, isn't that far due to the incredible density of the vegetation; why indeed, the place seems straight out of a fairy tale.

Alas, there is no such thing as a fairy tale coming to life, and even if the Forest was one, it would be a rather grim one. The forest is deserted by humans, and even animals are wary to enter the scarlet woods, as they are teeming with creatures of Grimm, who, it would seem, infest every corner of this earth yet unpopulated by man. An ordinary human has no business in this deadly wood.

Thankfully, of the small company of about ten people currently trekking through a narrow, untrodden path swerving between the trees, none were of the ordinary kind and, in some cases, they weren't even human. As of right now, about half of the group was completely infatuated with the beauty of Forever Fall, paying little attention to where they were going and more to the crimson red crowns of birches around them, as well as the seemingly never ending stream of falling leaves, gliding ever so slowly towards the ground, sometimes swept up by the wind into a small whirlwind of glistening blood. Truly a hypnotizing sight to gaze into forever and ever.

And yet of the ten people currently striding the forest, six of them seemed… well, not unfazed, but clearly not quite as entranced by the captivating imagery: a rather colorful quartet of girls, accompanied by a towering young lad clad in black armor, as well as a woman seemingly in her late thirties emanating an overwhelming aura of discipline and authority, currently busy fiddling with her scroll. From the looks of it, this was not her first foray into the Forest of Forever Fall, as a small understanding smirk was flashing in and out of existence on her lips, covered by her scroll. Clearly, it was not the first time she got to appreciate the raw bedazzlement befalling the other group.

"Yes, students; the Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful," seemingly finished with whatever matters she was occupied by, Glynda Goodwitch put her scroll aside and addressed her charges, that being Teams Ruby and Juniper. "However, we are not here to sightsee; you can do that at any time outside of your curriculum with approval from one of the staff. Professor Peach has asked us to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure that we return in the same numbers as we went out."

With that said, she slightly turned and gestured at Jaune carrying a large white case. Judging by how he seemed less than enthused by this bit of physical activity, it would have to be pretty heavy.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap, however you are allowed to bring more than this for… personal use," with a little shift of her gaze, she glanced at the man standing beside Jaune, dressed in a quite formal-looking green attire and a purple streak in his otherwise jet-black hair. With a short nod, Ren acknowledged the hint dropped on him by the principal. Jaune was sure Nora would appreciate the gesture.

"Needless to say, this forest is completely beset by creatures of Grimm and hostile wildlife, so please exercise extreme caution and don't get split up. We will rendezvous here at four o'clock. Are there any questions?"

"Yes, actually…" from the back rows, a hand was raised and as the crowd dispersed a bit, a young lady sporting a set of armor and with a majestic mane of crimson hair (which was quite fitting, given her surroundings) flowing down to her waist spoke up. "I realize I probably should have gone over this with Professor Peach personally, but… why exactly would she need this much sap?"

Professor Goodwitch swept the two groups with a glare and realized that Pyrrha's confusion was echoed to varying degrees amongst the group, so she shrugged and posed a question, ever pursuant of opportunities to teach the new blood something new.

"Would anyone like to wager a guess?"

"I would. And it wouldn't even be a guess," the armored figure chuckled, "The reason for this is because just like damn near everything about this forest, the sap extracted from the local birches is… quite extraordinary, really."

There he goes again. Sometimes Jaune couldn't help but wonder how somebody like Darius could develop such a burning fascination about biology. Normally a very reserved individual in everyday life, almost to the point of reclusiveness, barring his typical bouts with Yang, he could go on countless tangents for hours if asked something about mother nature and its various deviances. To see such feverish excitement in his eyes, in a way similar to Ruby's when the conversation veered towards weaponry, it was uncanny. In these moments, Darius seemed… normal. Who'd have thought that a Silva would have a kink for this kind of things?

"Now, aside from the obvious things like it being a very rare delicacy, which I'm sure Nora, for instance, will love," the Silva continued, even starting to slightly pace back and forth as the group focused their attention on him. "The sap becomes an incredibly potent catalyst for chemical reactions when properly processed. Alcohol, drugs, poisons, or, in Professor Peach's case, medicine-you name it and it will probably be better with some sap in it. She was running out of stock recently, hence our little excursion. This thing is as close to liquid gold as you can get on Remnant, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha seemed… puzzled. While Darius' little lecture technically answered her question, it had also birthed several more.

"I… didn't know that. But if it's so valuable, surely there'd be more of it? How come it's not harvested on an industrial scale?"

"For the same reason you all should've brought some protective gear!" Unable to contain himself, Darius erupted in a fit of laughter while taking his mask off the hook and giving it a light spin. "As Professor Goodwitch mentioned, this place is very dangerous! Aside from the obvious danger of Grimm, who simply refuse to leave this forest no matter how hard we Hunters tried to stamp them out, turns out humans were not the first ones to learn the sap's secret. Local Rapier Wasps, for instance, have evolved to be able to process the harvested sap in glands located in their abdomens, which, by the way, is how we learned to process it as well. That, in turn, makes their venom powerful enough to kill an Ursa in three stings."

"You mean a bear?" Jaune inquired, partly unsure whether he or Darius got the word wrong in Common, partly horrified by the implications if the two of them didn't.

"No, I mean an Ursa. A bear will die in one." After a couple seconds' worth of terrified silence looming over the group, Darius sighed and raised his hands in a calming gesture. "Guys, you can breathe out now. Our aura protects us a little better than animal hide. But, that's why you don't see blooming sap processing industry. Even heavy duty sapper - heh - gear doesn't guarantee protection from these things, and believe me, wasps are not the only things who made their homes here. Good thing too, if you ask me. This is a beautiful forest. Would be a shame to see it go because someone wants to make a quick Lien."

"See, you say that…" Yang slightly stroked her chin, a hint of an idea sparking up deep within her eyes. "But surely us taking some wouldn't hurt? Just how much worth is this thing exactly?"

"Lots," he answered plainly. "Say… if from this point on, I were to venture out here every day, collect three liters of sap, process it and sell for market price, by the end of the school year I'd have enough money to pay tuition for the remainder of my training here and still have a considerable sum of money on the side. If that were legal, of course."

"Pardon me?"

"Harvesting and trading sap from Forever Fall without government's permission is strictly illegal and is classified as highly as illicit possession of weapons-grade Dust," Blake cut in, ever straightforward and on-point. "You wouldn't think the council would just let a substance this valuable and dangerous just be available publicly? This thing works with nitroglycerin, you know. Miss Goodwitch, do we even have the mandate to do this?"

"As a matter of fact, we do, Miss Beladonna." The principal reached into the folds of her cape, soon extracting a scroll of snow-white paper bound with a strip of blue cloth and sealed with an emerald green wax, which had the official sigil of the Kingdom of Vale stamped on it: two crossed axes adorned by a laurel wreath. After the seal was seen by everybody present in the group, Goodwitch, tucked the scroll back into the depths of her clothing and continued. "I'd break it and read the contents, but I do have an appreciation for good heraldry and would rather not have to do it. This new shade of wax they're using is rather appealing to the eye. The document states that we and the other two groups have the right to collect as much sap as we see fit, provided we report how much we gathered and assuming none of us plan to use it for unsanctioned purposes, which reminds me of something."

She pulled out her scroll again.

"Since it is up to school administration, ergo me, to write the report and make sure that no illicit substances are made using this sap, I would like to ask those of you who, whatever for, want it processed, to file a declaration listing how much you wish to process and what you intend to use it for, then turn in the sap and whatever else you plan to use with it. I will personally oversee the processing, then hand you the items."

"Naturally, Professor," with his scroll having miraculously appeared in his hands, Darius began tapping on it with great fury, eventually swiping in the direction of Glynda's device, making a notification sound pop up. With her eyebrow raised, the professor opened the file and her second one soon joined.

"Professor Peach was kind enough to share with me why we were going here beforehand," the Atlesian elaborated. "I decided I'd file the paperwork right away. Also, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to work on this personally, under your supervision."

"You have… unusual tastes, Mister Silva," Goodwitch mused. And maybe a drug problem. Having trained with Darius for a good while, Jaune had had a first-hand experience with the type of medicine his friend used to keep him going for hours on end. Though, to his credit, having tried it once, Jaune could attest to its effectiveness and a remarkable lack of side-effects. "I have questions regarding some of the items on the list, but it warrants a more private atmosphere, otherwise you're fine." With that out of the way, she looked at the clock, hemming quizzically. "Unless there are further questions, you are all dismissed. I'd suggest making good use of the time you have left."

That would be my cue.

With this small distraction out of the way, he put down the case he had been carrying all the way from Beacon, opening it up and revealing rows upon rows of transparent glass jars, spacious enough for about one liter of assorted liquid contents. One by one, his fellow students approached the case and each treated themselves to a jar. Team Ruby took a total of six, clearly saving a couple for the aforementioned personal use. Ren managed to grab four before being pulled away by his partner into the dark depths of the forest and almost shattering all of them on a stray root. Incidentally, so did the Atlesian, shortly before letting three of the four jars taken float near him, supported by a faint cloud of dark mist following him. Guess he's making himself a surplus. In the end, he and Pyrrha were left with three jars for themselves.

"So…" Jaune scratched his head, confronted by a dilemma. "Think Ren had all four of us in mind when he took the jars?"

"Ren probably did, but he is accompanied by Nora," the redhead shrugged. "I can't imagine she'll just let him fill them all in peace. We should probably take the extra just in case. Not like we're going to get another chance any time soon."

"Fair enough," he agreed.

Tapping into the local trees turned out to be not much harder than doing so into the oaks back at home, and Jaune had more than enough expertise in that. The knives the two of them… requisitioned from the kitchen did a quick work of cutting up the surprisingly soft trunks of the birches, letting him get to the center containing the precious liquid, and boy was there a lot of it. He barely managed to jam the small wooden tap fashioned by Pyrrha with surgical precision into the opening before wasting a good fifty milliliters of red fluid, which, strangely enough, was about the color of a ripe raspberry, slightly glinting in the sunlight.

Tempted by the oh so appetizing look of the sap, Jaune slid his pinky across the tarnished bark and gave it a lick. And indeed, the taste of this pungent substance was very much unlike the watery, slightly bitter sap he came across back at his family's abode. The texture, for one, was noticeably thicker, in a way almost similar to honey, though obviously not quite there. Yet the flavor itself had his eyes opened wide and his eyebrows somewhere where his hairline should have been: it was incredibly sweet and, for some indiscernible reason, a little tart, almost as if someone sprinkled it with some lemon before he noticed.

With how sweet this thing is, you'd think this was the Forest of Forever March or something.

To think I'd be strolling in this forest, free to just… lap it up from the source… Mum and Dad would've laughed if I told them a couple years ago.

I should send some home if Goodwitch doesn't mind.

He gulped, savoring the taste for another second, then muttered:

"I guess I understand why this thing costs so much…" He then called out to Pyrrha, who, it would seem, still didn't get quite enough of the forest's sights, curiously eyeing them up. "Hey Pyrrha! You should try some of this, it really is something else!"

Following his example, the redhead pulled of one of her gloves before imbibing some of the nectar filling up the jar beneath the incision. Although she, naturally, concealed her emotions much better than Jaune, he could easily tell she too was impressed with the taste. It also helped that she shared her opinion on the matter almost immediately:

"It really is great. Shame we only got one spare… maybe we should've brought more jars."

"Yeah… maybe." He chuckled. Easy to say when you weren't the one carrying the case. "Or maybe somebody shouldn't have hogged three whole jars for himself."

"Maybe we'll convince him to give one up?"

"Eh. Maybe," Jaune shrugged. At the moment, the two of them had more pressing matters. "I don't think we'll be able to fill a whole jar with just one tree, and we still have two more to go. Maybe we should hurry up."

"Agreed."

Thankfully, tapping two more trees and leaving the remaining two containers beneath them did not take a whole lot of time. They were in a forest, after all. With that, about a couple minutes later the duo found themselves with a disturbing lack of things to do, as the jars were slowly filling up with sap and the rendezvous point was a literal couple of steps away and, as of right now, was completely empty.

"So… I guess we just wait now," Jaune scratched his head again and looked around, unsure where he intended to go from that point and looking for any passable distraction to alleviate the former. His attention was grabbed by a trunk of a tree standing out among its peers, mostly due to the fact that it was not actually standing, but laying on the ground, its roots ripped out of the soil with it, evidently felled by strong winds. "Wanna sit down?"

"That would be better than standing," Pyrrha nodded. Yet as the two sat down on this unfortunate consequence of nature's whimsical temper, they had once again found themselves in uncomfortable silence, with neither of them seemingly able nor willing to lift it. Jaune didn't know what his partner was thinking about, but it couldn't be pleasant, judging by her absent-minded gaze and slightly tilted head. His thoughts, on the other hand, were quite transparent to him.

'First thing to do would be to fall to your knees before Pyrrha and beg forgiveness, as well as to ask her to train you some more.'

He probably didn't mean it literally. Still, now's as good a time as any.

What to say… What to say?

Truth will do.

"Pyrrha?.."

"Jaune?"

"About yesterday…" he spoke, his voice meek and his gaze straying somewhere in the direction of the forest, as he still couldn't find strength to look Pyrrha in the eyes. "I want to talk. And the first thing I'll say is: I'm sorry. I… shouldn't have lashed out on you like I did… Also I was acting like an idiot. And not the loveable kind."

Jaune saw her lips twitch for a fraction of a second, a shadow of the smile that would flash across her lips when he would happen to do something particularly hilarious, which typically involved him messing up royally. What he wouldn't give right now for an opportunity to amuse her once more, even like that.

"Thank you… but you don't have to do it now if you don't want to. I understand that some things take time to… come to terms with…"

"But I don't have that time, Pyrrha!" He rebuked, slowly gaining confidence as his synapses began firing up with lightning speed, making the right words slowly appear out of the fog of uncertainty and social ineptitude. "I don't have the time to take it slow, I don't have the room for these kinds of screw ups. What I have is a team before which I have a responsibility as a leader, whom I'm supposed to lead, and a friend whom I have clearly hurt because of my hubris and… well, sheer stupidity. I've thought about what happened yesterday, you know… So while it's still true that I want to stop being dead weight on my team, I understand now that I'm a moron for thinking it'll go easier, or at all, really, if I decide to distance myself from my own team and take out my anger on someone who actually tried to help me. So Pyrrha…"

Overcome by an impulse from somewhere deep in his brain crust, he lifted himself from the tree trunk… right before plummeting down on his knees before his partner. To Grimm with it, might as well go all out. "I'm really sorry for how I talked to you back on the roof. I messed up. Please forgive me?"

This was very clearly not the way Pyrrha expected things to unfold and it was showing, namely in the blush rapidly spreading across her face, in a way acting as an impromptu camouflage for her, as the color of her face was slowly approaching that of the surrounding trees. Then again, it was immediately ruined by the fact that her green eyes have by now occupied about half of her face, spread wide open in a display of utter disbelief and shock. It was not often that Jaune managed to surprise the typically stalwart warrior to a state of complete paralysis. It was honestly kind of cute, he thought.

"I…" she stammered with a cracked voice, which she frantically attempted to fix by clearing her throat. "Y-yes, of course I forgive you. You didn't have to put on a spectacle like this."

You say that while smiling. Su-u-ure.

"It's nothing," he laughed. "So-o… Does that mean your offer still stands?"

"Of course!" Pyrrha chuckled, her smile growing ever wider. "Though we should probably do it somewhere other than the roof. Wouldn't want to wake anyone up."

"You mean somewhere that's not close to Darius' tent," he said. Asking was pointless, as the answer was apparent and known widely. Pyrrha's dislike for the Atlesian manifested since the first day of school, starting with their unfortunate encounter in the ring, and did not abate with time in any way, shape, or form, although he couldn't say it was irrational. After all, about eighty percent of the planet's population shared that sentiment.

No, the strange thing was the fact that, in a manner completely contrary to how he usually went about resolving conflicts, Darius had not made a single attempt to sway Pyrrha to his side, or even talk to her; in fact, he generally avoided the redhead when possible, which at times boggled Jaune's mind to no end.

"Could we… maybe not talk about him, please?" she asked in a manner dangerously close to pleading, and after a moment's consideration Jaune decided not to waste all the rapport he had managed to build up until this point, and let it slide for the time being.

"Alright. So where are we going to train then?"

"I'll… talk to Goodwitch, maybe convince her to let us train in the armory past curfew. I'm sure she'll understand."

"Think she knows?.."

"Almost certainly, Jaune. Unlike me, she actually had your supposed transcripts for comparison."

"That's… true enough," he admitted. "That would explain why she's so bent on crushing me."

"I don't think it's malice, Jaune," Pyrrha shook her head, then closed the distance between them and gave Jaune a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I just think she wants to make you understand what you signed up for… in her own, unique way."

"Well… Guess she has… unusual tastes when it comes to choosing methodology," he chuckled.

A quick look at his scroll reminded him that, unbeknownst to them, about half of the time they were given by their principal had already elapsed, meaning they could stand to hustle if they really wanted to fill those jars. Having relayed the information to Pyrrha, the two reasonably concluded they should probably go check the containers. Incidentally, the first two they checked were about halfway filled, yet the thin stream of sap had long since run out and was now barely yielding droplets of precious fluid. Then again, resetting them wasn't too much trouble.

Yet as they headed towards the tree where they left their third jar, they stumbled upon nothing but a tree with a desiccated trunk, courtesy of themselves. The jar was gone.

"Strange…" Jaune muttered, turning to Pyrrha for answers he did not have. "This has to be the right tree, right?.."

"Should be…" his partner nodded, scanning the surrounding area for any disturbances, before squinting and stepping away, kneeling. "Look!"

Following her example, Jaune shifted his gaze to where Pyrrha was pointing and noticed a series of prints trailing off deep into the forest. Someone decided to help themselves to our sap. Great.

"Footprints," he stated, kneeling beside Pyrrha and taking a closer look. "Don't belong to either you or me. Size and width point to male, but they're too small to be Darius' boots and too big to be Ren's. The footprint doesn't have a pattern and is almost rectangular, narrowing down at the forefoot, looks like it's armored. Prints are very deep despite the soil being… rather dry, so the wearer must either be really heavy or, again, armored. Or both. Got an idea?" I know I do.

"Almost all of Team Cardinal," she growled, her teeth grinding against each other. "They just won't leave us alone, will they? First bullying, now they steal?! The second I get my hands on them…"

It was as if an 'off'-switch was flicked inside Pyrrha's brain. One second she was steaming with rage in a rant, the next she was quieter than a fish, her eyes once again assuming the size and the shape of a dinner plate, while Pyrrha herself had frozen in place, her head slightly turned towards Jaune. Yet as he, thoroughly confused, was about to open his mouth to inquire as to such a sudden shift in her behavior, she leaned towards him and covered his mouth with her hand, while bringing the other to her lips, a universal signal of 'keep bloody quiet'. He gave her a barely visible nod, indicating he was on board, before taking her hand off of him and whispering:

"What is it, Pyrrha?"

"Don't you hear it? Footsteps. Someone's sneaking around…"

"Oh, damn it all to Grimm, Lark! Why you gotta screw everything up?!" a familiar voice boomed through the vegetation and a silhouette appeared from behind the woods. Cardin Winchester looked incredibly disappointed.

"Yeah, you try sneaking in armor!" a reply was heard from behind them, along with more footsteps, this time audible to Jaune as well. "Why didn't you send Russel? He's light, he doesn't leave a lot of footprints, why me?!"

"You said yourself you weren't catching the wasps, you dimwit!" To their right, a boy wearing something between tattered rags and alternatively-fashionable clothing stepped out, a box in his hands filled with suspiciously angry buzzing. "Whose brilliant idea was it to send a guy with no armor catching them, anyways?"

"Silence, you idiots!" Cardin screamed in utter exasperation, soon slamming his hand against his forehead. He then sighed, addressing Jaune. "You see the shit I put up with? You should be thanking your luck for your teammates, Jaune. At least half of them seem to have a functional brain."

"Birds of a feather flock together, Cardin," Jaune blurted out, shaking his head. The realization that he just called him a moron by association came a second later. For some reason, Jaune was strangely okay with that.

By now, both of them were up in arms, with Jaune holding his shield at about neck level, while Pyrrha assumed her defensive stance, with Miló peeking out from Akoúo̱'s curvature as a javelin. It wasn't too long that they realized they were surrounded by the band of bullies, with the four of them enclosing Jaune and Pyrrha in a double pincer of sorts. Unlike Jaune, however, Pyrrha seemed incredibly eager to get up in Cardin's face.

"Is that how low you have stooped, Cardin? Ganging up four on two?"

"Actually, it's going to be a four on one," he rebuked, not fazed by her comment in the slightest. "Sky!"

"I got it, no need to shout!"

The air around them filled with a whooshing sound of something flying towards them, making them both turn around towards the source. Yet while Jaune's first thought was to raise his shield even further, Pyrrha had managed to spin Miló mid-turn, firing off a slug in the direction of the sound, hitting it dead-center. As the air was pierced by the entirely unmelodic sound of shattering glass, the warrior found herself drenched in thick red liquid. She just shot at a jar chock-full of sap.

"Nice throw, Lark," Cardin remarked. "Now, Russel, if you please…"

Something clicked inside Jaune's mind, revealing a horrifying picture. He turned to Pyrrha and screamed:

"Pyrrha, run!"

"But…"

"RUN!" To further encourage his partner, Jaune gave her a good push away from him as the buzzing grew louder. Having realized what was about to happen to her if she didn't hit the road immediately, Pyrrha broke into a sprint, folding and sheathing Miló as she rushed past Dove. For whatever reason, he didn't even attempt to halt her. In fact, he rolled away as a small swarm of angry wasps buzzed past where he was standing just a couple seconds ago, chasing after the sweet fragrance of the nectar that just so happened to be splattered all over Pyrrha's armor.

Oh boy. That's not what their plan was.

Oh this is great.

"Alrighty then," Cardin mused, tossing his mace that he had unsheathed over his shoulder. "With that out of the way, I think it's about time the two of us had an adult talk, Jaune."

Just what is this guy going on about?..

"You see, what you did to me yesterday was not very nice. Not only did you respond with violence to my absolutely rational proposition to you – I think the Silva is rubbing off on you, you know – but you also kicked me where no man should ever be kicked, twice! Who does this kind of thing, Jaune? That's just evil, no other way around it."

Jaune was... impressed. Astounded, even. For a common bully, Cardin had a verifiable talent for twisting events in a way that benefitted him.

"But I'm not unkind, Jaune," he continued, taking a step closer to Jaune and prompting him to take an equally large step away. "I understand that the bad influence from someone like Darius is hard to resist, and you – no offense – are quite impressionable. So I understand if you didn't quite think things through and acted in the heat of the moment. I forgive you. I'm even ready to extend my offer of friendship to you once again. Just apologize and ask to be taken into the gang, and I'll forget this ever happened! We can still be the best of friends, believe you me."

Jaune was at a loss for words. Quite frankly, not even the most heinous obscenities seemed appropriate in the face of such incredible absurdity. So, having interpreted his silence as consideration of agreement, Cardin jollily strolled towards him, only to be greeted by Jaune's Crocea Mors suddenly appearing near his throat.

"Don't. Come close to me," Jaune hissed. "I thought I made myself clear yesterday. Get. Lost."

"Hm. Shame," completely unimpressed by Jaune's threat, Cardin simply turned around and walked back where he stood. "Suppose it can't be helped then. Give him the business, boys."

"Oh, what is this nonsense?!" Jaune shouted at Cardin, actually quite surprised that he would just up and walk away on him. "You're afraid to fight me now?"

"Jaune, we both remember what happened when we fought," the bully sounded extremely bored as he leaned against a nearby tree using his mace as an improvised cane. "As fun as it was to pound your face into the ground, watching my guys do that for me is going to be even more so. Get him."

"Pincer him!" Russel shrieked to his right before immediately breaking into sprint. To his left, he heard Sky Lark do the same, charging him with his halberd raised up.

Shit.

Immediately overtaken by the adrenaline rush, Jaune turned around, having judged that stopping a halberd with a sword would be much easier than stopping daggers. About a couple meters away from him the two combatants jumped into the air, with Thrush throwing a roundhouse kick his way while Sky was aiming to skewer his head on his halberd.

To his left, he raised his shield, angling it enough for Russel's foot to slide across the shield, dragging the rest of the body along with him. To his right, he spun his sword, slapping the halberd across the hilt, causing it to drill into the ground behind him, getting firmly stuck. He then swiftly swapped the grip to reverse and slashed across Lark's unprotected throat, continuing the motion to slam Crocea Mors into Russel, who, to his credit, managed to block in time by raising his daggers and avoiding a hit to his aura, though the force of the strike still managed to drive him back about half a meter. Yet while Sky was busy getting his halberd unstuck, Russel regrouped immediately and ran at him with his left dagger aimed at Jaune's throat. He, in turn, simply raised his shield to cover his face up to his eyes and charged right back at him, slamming him with the shield and breaking all of his momentum. But as he was about to slice Thrush into tiny little pieces, some uncanny force drove him to turn around instead and raise his shield once again, blocking the overhead slash of Bronzewing's sword. While the two were locked in a clinch, Jaune managed to take a step to the right while slashing with a sword of his own, a strike which Dove managed to block. What he couldn't block was Jaune raising his left arm and driving the narrow end of his heater shield directly into his face with a maddened scream, following up with two slashes that went right through his now nonexistent defense, complete with a kick to get him the Grimm off his tail.

Jaune knew he spent way too much time on Dove and that he had no line of sight on either of the team's remaining members. So as he began turning around, he was too late to block two daggertips sinking into his back, thankfully absorbed by his aura, leaving him with an opportunity to get some good hits in on Russel. Not too many, though, for Lark finally managed to get his weapon out of the soil and was swinging at him right to left. Unable to block with his shield, Jaune had no choice but to put his sword in the way, and while the strike didn't connect, he could feel painful reverberation passing through his right arm. He let go of Crocea Mors, gripping the halberd's shaft with his right hand and pulled with all his might, causing Lark to stagger towards him to be greeted by the heater's pointy end to the nose. Ignoring the falling, stunned body of Sky Lark, he ripped the halberd out of his hands and gave it a good spin around him; judging by the sound, he at least hit something. He then tossed the weapon away and threw himself into a roll, picking up his weapon of choice by the way, as well as buying himself some distance.

Yet just as Jaune exited the roll and was still on his knee, he had to once again raise his shield as he noticed that Dove was pointing his sword directly at him, having remembered that the damn thing also doubled as a gun. Luckily, his current position turned out to be advantageous to him, as the shield managed to cover almost his entire body, making sure none of the shots landed into the meaty bits. Slightly less advantageous was the fact that because of that he had to remain completely still, presenting the other two a ripe target to attack. So as he heard light footsteps quickly approaching him, he knew that it would be Russel and he even suspected what he might be doing, that being trying to vault over him and shank him in the back. Thus, he slightly lowered his shield to make sure he saw the exact moment of the jump, which actually was the exact second he laid his eyes upon the boy with the mohawk. On raw reflexes, his legs extended and his body shot up, intercepting Thrush mid-jump, essentially catching him with his shield, which he immediately exploited by slamming said shield into the ground and Russel with him, knocking the breath out of him. Unfortunately, as he was about to skewer at least one of those scum stains on his sword, one of Dove's shots finally connected with him, striking him square in the chest and making him recoil a couple steps back, at which point he had to hide behind his shield once again lest he were to become a piece of kebab on Lark's halberd. Not quite able to angle the shield this time around, he had to absorb the full impact of the strike, causing him to slide several steps back and a numb feeling to start slowly spreading its way through his shield-bearing arm.

By now, however, some pain and numbness weren't going to stop Jaune from fighting until either they or him fell to the ground to drown in a puddle of their own blood, for in his veins there was a flame surging through, immolating his very essence. With a growl he charged Lark, narrowly avoided the pointy bit of the halberd and drove his sword into him, fully intent on hilting it in his throat. And while he wasn't able to accomplish that due to his aura still protecting him, as the last centimeters of the blade slid along his throat, a small cut formed beneath it, giving way to a thin stream of blood. Unceremoniously shoving Sky aside, Jaune then put his entire mass into kicking Russel, who was just about to get up, in the head, sending him plummeting on the ground yet again and causing a grey shimmer surge across his body, indicating he too was out of aura. With his shield raised high, he then charged Dove, who finally ceased his attempts to punch through the shield's steel and raised his sword in expectation of the attack. He did not expect Jaune to simply ram into him, making him realize there was actually a tree behind him all along in the most unpleasant manner.

Jaune leaned against the tree that he just slammed Bronzewing against, panting heavily, having found himself on the brink of actual unconsciousness, yet he couldn't help but feel a grin spread across his face. To actually have beaten three of the four members of Team Cardinal…

Hold on.

Once again the chilling realization had set in too late, and as Jaune began frantically turning around, some terrible force collided with his back, smashing him against the tree and then sending him plummeting to the ground. He attempted to stand back up, yet a kick to the ribs sent him flying several meters away to slam against yet another tree with its unearthly strength. He tried to prop himself up on his sword and stand up, yet realized it wasn't in his hand, knocked out a couple meters away. Pulling himself up on his arms, he desperately tried to crawl towards it, but an armored boot stepped right on his arm. With a dry crunch, his entire body spazzed in terrible pain as his still functioning arm started clawing at the soil.

Another kick to the ribs turned him over to reveal Cardin standing above him, his expression a mix between terrible disappointment and anticipation.

"You know…" he sighed. "I'm not sure whether to be impressed that you actually managed to beat them or to be mad at those morons because they couldn't deal with a single idiot who can barely fight. Maybe I should cut them some slack for underestimating the enemy… And then smack them for doing so. Oh well."

Taking careful aim and a very wide swing, Cardin brought his mace down into his side, filling the air with more cracking of bone and a dull groan emanating from Jaune, who felt something salty in his mouth.

Another swing. This time to his right side. Several more crunches, another groan. Even if he wanted, he would not be able to scream because inhaling enough air to do so proved to be an impossible task. Cardin brought his mace above his head, this time aiming for his solar plexus.

Then his mind turned off.

Waking up turned out to be… painful. With the very first thought that crossed Jaune's mind, that being the question "Where am I?", he felt incredible, indescribable pain flare up in his chest, paralyzing his ability to breathe for a brief moment. The upside of such rough awakening was the fact that he immediately remembered what just happened to him. Ambushed by Cardin and his mooks, Pyrrha having to run for her life from a swarm of Rapier Wasps, fighting Sky, Russel and Dove, getting bushwacked by Cardin… that was where the memories stopped. Last thing he could remember was Cardin about to shatter his ribcage with his mace. Still laying on the ground, he turned his head to survey his surroundings. None of Team Cardinal were here.

Left me for dead?

He tried to lift himself up.

It was a mistake.

The second he tried to change his bodily position into one other than perfectly horizontal, the pain returned in full force, enough to make him exhale what little air he had inside him in a pained scream, all while completely disabling his diaphragm. Powerless to even make another breath, he could feel his muscles convulsing involuntarily as both his broken and healthy arms clawed the earth, only adding to the ever growing burning. He would give anything, anything, in exchanged for a breath of air or, at the very least, release from this flaming torture, which was spreading all across his body, slowly but surely eating away at his consciousness, reducing him to nothing but a slab of meat writhing on the ground in agony.

His vision went white, blending out all of his surroundings until he saw nothing but a plain white landscape all around him, making him think he either went blind or finally flew the coop. Hello afterlife, I guess.

Hold up.

He realized once again that those were actually coherent thoughts going through his head, as his consciousness slowly returned to him while he felt the pain subside, leaving his limbs and centralizing in his chest and arm. Extraordinarily painful still, but enough to breath once more. Or so he thought. For while he did manage to finally push some air into his lungs, he immediately succumbed to a terrible coughing fit, feeling something thick stain his arms. Unsurprisingly, further inspection revealed it to be blood with some darkened clots in it.

Wonderful. Ribs must've pierced lungs.

He looked around. As before, he could see nothing but white light all around him, which, for whatever reason, was not blinding him. Slowly but surely he managed to overcome the pain enough to stand up. As he raised his unbroken arm, he realized its underside was marred with black ash.

"Is anyone here?"

He grabbed his left arm to stop it from wiggling around and causing him further torment, heavily gasping as even saying something short like this required a lot of strength. With a little consideration, he decided to sit back down. He could use some rest.

"Anyone?"

Suddenly a sound broke through the deathly quiet of the surrounding landscape, reaching Jaune's ear. A sound of two pairs of boots hitting the ground.

Yet as he was about to rejoice and attempt to hobble his way to his potential rescuers, four walls of solid black materialized all around him in a matter of a heartbeat, cutting him off from all directions. It felt bizarre, really, for while the ground beneath him (it's ground, right?) still glowed white, the walls have merged together, enclosing him in a black tomb, rendering his sight entirely useless. Yet it would appear his hearing remained unaffected, as he heard a voice calling out to him nearby:

"Jaune! Remain calm, it's me! Do not panic!"

"Darius?!" he shouted, then laughed from relief. "Oh, thank the Light! You… wouldn't mind telling me what's happening?"

"What's happening is that your Semblance has just manifested and it's currently scorching everything in the vicinity," a figure engulfed in shadow entered his prison of black granite, somehow still contrasting against the dark mist surrounding them so that it was clearly visible. "I'm containing you."

"I… have a Semblance now?"

"Jaune, it's serious," Darius spoke, and from his tone Jaune could, in fact, attest that his friend was not in the mood to muck around. "Your aura is currently eating at your life force in order to protect you from yourself, which is why you don't feel much pain in your clearly broken ribs. We need to calm you down before you burn yourself to a crisp."

"I…" Jaune scratched his head. "I can't really control it. I don't even understand what's happening."

"Lie down," Darius commanded. As Jaune obeyed, Darius knelt beside him, pulling out what looked to be a portable injector from a small holster on his back and inserting a small bauble. He then firmly grabbed Jaune's head and turned it to the left. "Don't move."

"What was that?" Jaune asked after the Atlesian let the small device cycle its needles.

"Sedatives. The kind I use to calm myself down. Tends to work. Don't move, I said!" he hissed when Jaune turned his head to see him change the baubles in the injector. "Need to stick you with one more thing."

"Which one?"

"Painkillers. You'll be feeling a lot worse when your aura dies down."

And indeed, as his friend holstered his injector, Jaune felt another wave of dull pain wash over him, prompting him to claw at the earth yet again. He felt Darius grab his right shoulder and squeeze.

"Hang in here. The pain you feel is that of broken bones and pierced muscles. I know it's bad, but it's nothing life-threatening. Look!"

As Jaune obediently turned his head to where Darius was pointing, he saw the argent glow slowly die down around them, replaced eventually by a layer of black cinder. Reassured now that the danger had passed, Darius dispelled the shadows around them and himself, revealing the blue sky above them, complete with Pyrrha's worried face somewhere to his right.

"Oh…" Jaune chuckled. "Hey Pyrrha. Guess you brought backup."

"Too late, it seems," she shook her head, then knelt down beside him as well. "How do you feel?"

"…Really calm, apparently," he mused. From what he knew about tranquilizers, he thought he'd be departing to the promised land of sleep right about now, yet he felt awake as ever, despite the pain still clutching him very tightly. "Darius, what kind of stuff did you jab me with?"

"You didn't actually think I stick myself with normal tranqs in the middle of combat?" he seemed almost offended, but quickly got back on track. "That's not what's important right now, though. What we need is to get you back to Beacon right now. Your ribcage is a mess, but that's about as far as we get without an X-ray."

With that, he clutched his fist, and Jaune felt himself lifting up in the air. Turning his head again, he saw a sheet of solid black the size of his body supporting his weight akin to a stretcher, held together solely by his friend's will, with a couple of loose snakes of smoke slinging across his chest.

"I'll go with you… if that's fine," he heard Pyrrha say. He then saw Darius take a long look at her, then sigh before commanding the improvised stretcher to shift position, now floating to his right.

"Fine then. Call up Goodwitch while we're underway, tell her what happened, alright?"

With every second that the volatile mixture of sedatives, painkillers and local anesthesia slowly vented out of Jaune's brain, it became easier to continue wrapping his mind around the hulking construct of the question: 'Exactly what act of fate's bullshittery has led me to be lying in Beacon's infirmary after watching my ribcage get opened up and my ribs reassembled like some twisted puzzle?' But alas, as his mind became progressively less handicapped by drugs, the answer to this riddle became equally more obvious, and it was not a pleasant one.

Even more unpleasant… no, disconcerting, was the realization that he had long since passed the point of no return where he could just slowly backpedal his way out of the academy and into the welcoming world of the mundane that he oh so foolishly sought to abandon. And while he was torn between choosing what actually served as said point: the activation of his dormant aura by a certain redhead back in the Emerald Forest, or him getting messed up to the point of spontaneous Semblance activation literally about an hour ago, one thing was clear – the gates to the normal world had slammed shut, and would not open until his successful graduation from Beacon. Jaune thought events of such paramount magnitude were supposed to instill resolve in him, fill him with determination and inspire him to keep fighting until the bitter end, whatever that might be. Yet all he saw before him, even in his most immediate future, was the dank, nebulous fog of the unknown. And that bothered him greatly.

He heard the door to his room open on his left and as he turned his head, he rejoiced as a pair of familiar faces entered it. As addictive as pondering his impending doom was, it was, quite frankly, not the most riveting pastime.

"Hey guys," he greeted Darius and Pyrrha with a smile on his face. "So glad to see ya."

"We turned our stuff in, so Goodwitch decided she'd let us visit," Pyrrha replied, sitting down on a conveniently placed chair to his right. "Feel any better?"

"Well…" he scratched his head with his right hand. "Breathing still hurts… kinda. Miss Peach said I'd be good to go by tomorrow. I'm not buying it."

"You should," Darius remarked with a slight chuckle. "She doesn't tend to make mistakes when it comes to that. But if you do feel doubt still, I'd suggest taking a look at your surgery stitching after about an hour and a half. She said you heal remarkably quickly."

"That's… good to hear, I suppose." While still skeptical, Jaune was quite relieved in knowing he wasn't bound to the bed for any extended period of time. "So… would any of you care to explain to me what actually happened back then?"

"Well…" Pyrrha slightly shifted in her chair, thinking of a good point to start. "I suppose I'll start from the beginning. When Lark tossed the sap at me and I had to flee from the Wasps, I first decided to find someone who could help me deal with them… incidentally, only one who came to mind was Darius."

"A-a-alright then," Jaune muttered. "Didn't… didn't expect to hear that."

"I imagine Pyrrha still remembers how I almost burned her to a crisp during our first ever spar," Darius elaborated. It was only then that Jaune realized that his friend was unusually pale, almost to the point of looking sickly. A memory flashed before him: Darius explaining to Pyrrha that maintaining his impromptu stretcher would drain him in no longer than fifteen minutes, which is why they had to hurry. Clearly hauling him around took a toll on the Atlesian, judging by how even his face was locked in a grave, almost grim expression. Or was it something else?

"Indeed," Pyrrha continued. "So, after getting rid of the swarm, I hastily explained the situation to Darius, and we immediately took off. Yet… as we were about halfway there, we saw Team Cardinal fleeing, stumbling over themselves and each other; they were absolutely terrified. I saw Cardin and Dove clutching their eyes, almost like they were trying to claw them out in pain, and all of them were wounded rather badly: Russel was bleeding heavily from the side, while Lark's frontal plating looked like somebody crumbled it like paper. And… I imagine they'll have burns of varying severity for some time in the future; the armor of those who were wearing it was glowing yellow. What did you do to them?"

"I…" Jaune looked at his partner in disbelief, seeking anything in her eyes that would let him dispute her claim as being made up. Alas, he saw none. Taking a look at Darius yielded the same result. Both of them were dead serious. "I have no idea. I guess I'll tell it like it happened from my side… So you ran away, and it turned out I was surrounded by these douchebags. Cardin began pushing a big ol' speech about how Darius was influencing me poorly and how I really shouldn't have kicked him in the groin yesterday…"

"What?!"

Oh shit.

"Oh… right," he managed to push out a nervous giggle. "I haven't told you. Welp… might as well. So it turns out we weren't alone on the roof yesterday. Apparently we were talking right above Cardinal's room and Cardin managed to eavesdrop on the whole conversation."

"By the Light…" Pyrrha whispered in shock. "So he knows as well?!"

"It's kinda becoming common knowledge, Pyrrha," Jaune sighed. "Darius knows it too. Just don't ask why. So Cardin got up on the roof, tried to threaten me that he'd rat me out if I wasn't behaving like a true friend, which in his view means doing his bidding whenever, I guess. So… I got angry. Like, really angry. Told him to f… ahem, leave me alone and tried to beat him up when he said he'd have to go and report me then. The 'beating up' part also included kicking him in the junk… twice."

"Jaune…" Pyrrha shook her head, utterly flabbergasted. "Why are you telling me only now?"

"It's just… I…" he mumbled, desperate for any semi-applicable excuse. "There just… never was an opportune time to tell you. I'm sorry."

"Jaune, Pyrrha…" Darius cut in, shaking his head in disapproval. "Don't think this right here is an opportune time either. We're getting sidetracked. Cardin was pushing his speech – what happened next?"

"Right. He offered me one more chance to apologize and ask to be taken into his band. I refused. He just sicced his goons on me. So, we fought. I…" he shrugged, still somewhat skeptical of how that unfolded. "I actually managed to beat the three of them to the point where they had no more aura… or at least two of them, but I also barely had any. I also definitely didn't burn them or stab Russel that hard. Then Cardin hit me in the back, turned me over and started pummeling my ribs with his mace. He managed to get two hits in, went for a third directly on my ribcage… then I blacked out. When I woke up, they were gone already. I…"

Jaune gulped, the sole memory of the agonizing pain that overtook him back then sending shivers down his spine.

"I tried to stand up, but it was so painful… And it wasn't just in my chest or my arm. It… well, I imagine that's how it feels to be burning alive. Everything went white… and then the pain kinda… went away. I managed to stand up, but all I could see was white. It was then that you guys found me. So… you tell me what happened."

"Suppose I'll try," Darius replied, slowly rubbing his temple as reality once again knocked him on the dome, reminding him that no matter what he could have planned for, all those schemes and machinations could be ruined as easily as bringing down a house of cards. "The white light you saw after your awakening was your Semblance spontaneously activating as a result of great physical and emotional turmoil. I'm quite sure having your ribs pummeled into a jigsaw puzzle would hurt."

"Don't even remind me…"

"Not finished. The pain you felt before it was your aura quite literally eating at your life force in order to fuel itself in order to power said Semblance, because only you could be lucky enough to end up with one that drains your aura at the moment you didn't have any. I suspect the same thing happened to you before Cardin managed to land his third strike on you, which, combined with the pain of broken ribs, sent you into shock and caused you to black out."

As the information slowly digested, Jaune, surprisingly enough, felt very little relief from newfound knowledge. Instead, a fleeting question formed in the back of his mind, reminding him of its existence as an ephemeral, almost imperceptible itch at the edge of his consciousness.

"So…" he attempted to scratch the itch away, but it made itself quite clear it would only be gone once he had fully voiced the question bugging him. "This whole 'aura eating at life force' thing sounds pretty bad."

"Oh, it is," Darius nodded, his voice once again assuming that eerily even tone that would probably make Goodwitch herself uncomfortable. "Had Pyrrha not come to me and had I not sedated you in time, you would feel incredibly weak and sleepy in about quarter of an hour; had you fallen asleep, you would not wake up. Though not before turning a considerable patch of the Forest into cinders. Pretty sure only Glynda could do something to contain you aside from me."

"What do you mean?.." Jaune's brows shot up.

"You don't remember?" Pyrrha asked. "That white light emitting from you wasn't just illumination. We found you in pretty much a perfect circle of ash, and it was expanding towards us when we were running to you."

Another memory. Trying to stand up in the middle of a radiant prison, noticing that the underside of his arm was all marred in something black, surprising lack of trees when they started heading back… Darius' narcotics didn't strip him of consciousness, true. In fact, his four senses through which he perceived the world sharpened at least twofold for the short duration of their runback to Beacon, letting him notice an astonishing amount of details: the slow swirling of the black cinder flakes in the air, his friend's expression growing sharper and sterner with every minute, his jaw muscles clenching together tighter by the second, Pyrrha tentatively trying to reach out for him, a gesture aimed less to reassure him, rather than herself… It's just that this was about the only thing he could do: perceive. The drug seemed to have severely impeded his logical capabilities, making him unable to even make the simplest connections, like, say, the fact that there were almost no trees and a disturbing amount of soot around them as he was hoisted on his pseudo stretcher.

"Y-yes, I remember now. Just… didn't realize I did this," he slowly said, his gaze hollow and his mind forever lost wandering the sprawling maze of answers to the question: 'Now What?' Today was certainly an eventful day, and Jaune was greatly disturbed. Yet it was not by the fact that he was almost crippled by an angry mob of bullies, soon afterwards suffering a near-death experience without actually realizing it. No, the most disturbing part was how he couldn't help but NOT panic, and it was definitely not the unnatural, toxin-induced tranquility. Quite frankly, it was scary how calm he felt after avoiding death by a hair, if Darius were to be trusted. Suppose being a Hunter in spirit is much easier for me than in body.

"You know," Darius sighed, reverting to his normal manner of speaking, although it was clear today's events weighed almost as heavily on him, making him speak a fair bit slower than usual. "In hindsight, it would have probably not happened if I thought to bring with me a dimeritium bracelet and decided to stick with you instead of going on a harvesting spree. Instead… we got this absurdity. I'm not sure whether to thank the Light that I had been where I was, or to curse fate that it had you end up where you are without a drop of aura with a Semblance that slowly kills its user when left unchecked."

"It worked out in the end," Pyrrha shrugged, flashing a brief smile for the first time in this three-way conversation. "So maybe a bit of both?"

"Actually," Jaune perked up. "Why don't you curse the jackasses that did this to me? Guys broke my ribs, that has to get them expelled or something?"

"I kinda wondered whether you'd ask that," he chuckled. "Aura is a funny thing, eh? In any other circumstance you would've been absolutely right, and they'd probably not only get the boot, but would also be charged with assault and heavy battery… bu-u-ut for you this is the actual, literal equivalent of a black eye that will be gone by daybreak."

"You're kidding," Jaune stated, by now having invested far too much emotion into today to even muster surprise in his answer.

"I'm not, and you should be thankful for that," Darius replied in an equally deadpan tone. "Cardin's a piece of shit, but damn if he doesn't know exactly how much he can get away with. Worst they'll get is probably a disciplinary infraction of… undisclosed severity, meaning just how pissed Goodwitch will be at them. Hunters are a rather resilient folk, I'm sure you noticed."

"Sure did," Jaune sighed. A part of him was crushed by the fact that he'd have to share the same square kilometers with these guys for any extended period of time, the other had a sneaking suspicion that after what happened today, it was unlikely he'd hear from them again. "So… now what?"

"Now…" Once again, darkness overtook Darius' features, and not in a literal way. After stroking his chin in consideration for a second, he resolved to continue. "Now we draw the bottom line. As always, we have good news and bad news. Take your pick."

"I think I had about enough bad things for today. What's good?"

"You've got a Semblance now! And once you master it, believe you me, it's going to be sweet."

"That's… great to hear," he shrugged. Something told him the 'mastering' aspect was going to take him a long, long while. "And the bad?"

"You're stuck with a Semblance you are unable to control for at least the end of the school year and you'll have to pass the exams somehow. Individual, too – your team won't be able to carry you on their backs there. Worst of all, the fact that it happened now kinda… tosses a big ol' wrench into what I had planned to do that'd help you about it."

"Ehm… sorry, I must have missed something," suddenly Pyrrha intervened into the talks once again. "You were planning something to help him about his Semblance?"

"He asked nicely," Darius remained unabashed. "Couldn't turn down a friend."

"It happened yesterday, Pyrrha," Jaune winced. This was a terrible time for explanations, but alas, he did not have any other timeline in which he could do that earlier. "Darius heard us talk. Saw me fight Cardin. Read me a bunch of morals… then offered help."

"That… sounds exactly like Darius," Pyrrha had to admit. "Thank you… I suppose. So you thought of something already?"

"Oh Light…" the Atlesian steeled himself, even straightening up in a stiff, unresponsive pose. "Well, good thing I won't have to convince Pyrrha alone. Jaune… we're going to initiate you into the ranks of the Church."