AN: Did anything fun happen last chapter? No? Cool.

Oh yeah, there was my favorite scene, where Yang realized she was a homewrecker. That was fun.

Too bad nothing else happened last chapter... :P

Weiss sat in her office in silence for a few moments after the call with the Arcs ended, thinking to herself as she sipped her morning coffee. It wasn't that she doubted Jaune and Emerald could handle themselves, and it also wasn't that she doubted they could explain themselves to Yang. Weiss never would have orchestrated this if she thought that Yang couldn't be convinced to keep things secret; it's just that that was not her end-goal here. The worst-case scenario here would be brutal on Jaune's family, obviously, but Weiss didn't for a second think that they'd let things get that far.

Weiss was nervous because Jaune was going to be furious with her for going behind his back. As convinced that she was that this would work, what she didn't know was if her friendship with Jaune would recover from it. That was a risk worth taking, though, because she was tired of hiding things for years. She loved Jaune to death and had even come to more than just tolerate his wife, but she also loved her other friends too. They were Weiss' real family, especially now that even Winter was settling down. Weiss had abandoned the idea of a biological family long before Winter and she had put down Jacque and Whitley. She had long since come to find that her friends were more of a family than anything else she had.

And then all those friends split apart – each for their own reasons and none deserving blame for it. It was a natural part of life that they all would focus on different things. Still, Weiss' family was fractured and distant now, and Jaune's secret meant that she couldn't reunite them. Part of her used to blame Ruby for that, since Jaune leaving was what signaled the end of the Team RWBY and Team JNPR days. Meeting Emerald and finding out that Ruby's words didn't mean to Jaune what everyone had thought they meant had changed that, and Weiss wouldn't change the results for anything, not with how well Jaune was doing.

But still, she hated that everyone was so fractured, and she hated having to keep Jaune hidden from everyone else. She just wanted everyone to be happy, but also to be closer than they were. That was why she was doing this. If Jaune and Emerald could make a relationship work and if Weiss could come to accept that, then the others could, too. Obviously, it was Ruby and Yang that were the problem, since Emerald and Mercury were responsible for Qrow. Yang was actually the easier of the two to convince, in Weiss' estimation, and would be a trial run.

It could be done for Ruby, though. Weiss could pull it off if Jaune would just let her try. Ruby was normally such a forgiving person, too, and all it would take is breaking through her bitterness at Emerald and sorrow over losing her uncle to get her to see that Emerald deserved a second chance. Weiss wasn't as concerned about Yang, because unknown to the rest of the group, Weiss had found Raven once, and took Yang to meet her. The only reason the others still didn't know is that Yang didn't want to have to explain herself - and why she didn't kill Raven that day. Only Weiss knew that Yang didn't have enough hate left in her to go through with it. That boded well for this.

Getting them both to forgive Emerald, or at the very least move on from it, was possible. Jaune was just unwilling to risk it. He'd rather stay hidden for the rest of his life than take that risk, and while Weiss understood that, he was wrong. This was going to work, and everything was going to be better for it. They all deserved the best ending to their stories, right?

That was why Weiss brought up the topic of visiting Jaune to Ren and Nora, and to Blake and Sun, and why she'd floated Jaune's name when Yang mentioned maybe wanting to settle down. Jaune and Emerald knew that he couldn't avoid them without coming across as suspicious, and Weiss was counting on him either blowing his cover or just realizing that he missed them enough to give Weiss' plan a try. Personally, she had hoped for the second, but if she hadn't interfered by giving Yang a nudge, neither would have happened.

Jaune could handle Yang, Weiss assured herself. He might hate Weiss for putting him in that position, but once Jaune saw that Yang could be made to understand, Weiss would bring Ren and Nora into the fold. And then Blake and Sun. And once he saw that his fears were overstated, they'd all confront Ruby. Together. As we always should have been.

Weiss took another long sip of coffee, waiting next to her scroll for any call that might come. She trusted that this would work, but if she were honest, she was nervous. Her scroll sat ready for a call from Jaune or Yang.

As the minutes ticked by with no call, Weiss started to relax a little bit. That was probably a good sign. If something had gone really wrong, Jaune would have called Weiss for help going on the run. This would work. Weiss had faith in all members of her family.

Still, she was more nervous than she would have preferred. That was only because she was afraid that Jaune wasn't going to appreciate her faith in her plan, or that's what Weiss told herself.

There was something she could do to alleviate that. Weiss picked up her scroll and dialed her other closest friend.

"Weiss?" Ruby's voice sounded out as she picked up the call. "Ugh, please tell me you're not calling me at this hour to talk about my relationship again…"

It was seven in the morning Atlas time. How was it that both of Weiss' best friends maintained almost no contact between each other and yet both were incapable of functioning in the morning?

"No, I'm calling on business," Weiss answered. She paused, waiting for Ruby to respond to that, and Ruby made her wait until she finished mixing her drink. Instead of coffee like an actual adult, Ruby preferred chocolate milk mixed with powdered caffeine, because of course she did.

"And you couldn't have called Glynda?" Ruby whined, clearly not understanding Weiss' actual meaning. "I'm just deputy headmistress. Any of your stupid 'business' stuff goes to her anyways."

"Ruby. Business," Weiss repeated, stressing the word. "I happen to need to employ a Huntress."

"Weiss, I still don't swing that way."

"I need to hire a Huntress as an assassin," Weiss elaborated, speaking slowly and angrily after Ruby's comment. It pissed Weiss off that Ruby was too groggy to even be messing with her on purpose and that her comment had been an automatic retort. Seriously, you crush on each of your best friends one time and never hear the end of it. She'd been too late to act on it for both of them, too, unfortunately. One had been snapped up by the vassal of an immortal wizard and the other by a former enemy. Weiss' luck royally sucked. "And trust me, if I was into you, you'd end up swinging whichever way I want."

"Sure thing, princess," Ruby replied, rubbing some sleep from one eye but giving Weiss a teasing smirk. Okay, maybe she's not too asleep to mess with me. "Just because Oscar and I are on a break again doesn't mean I'm available. You really should move on, Weiss."

"I hate you," Weiss grumbled, earning a laugh from Ruby. Seriously, it had been years since Weiss had felt anything on that front, and even then she wasn't convinced it wasn't induced by a momentary panic that she might end up alone, but Ruby never let her forget it. Weiss wasn't even convinced that she swung that way, but did that stop Ruby from teasing her about it? Nope.

"So what's this job you have for me?" Ruby dropped the teasing finally. "If it's not far I might be able to take off tomorrow and do it. Things are slow for me this week, what with classes in full swing."

"Intel," Weiss said simply. Ruby's eyes lit up as she finally caught on. "Vacuo. It's not close, though. Rumors of a remote village with some interesting characters, including one darker-skinned girl with strangely-colored eyes. Honestly, the info is a little thin—"

"But it could be Sustrai," Ruby finished for her hurriedly. She was already up and moving around her little office. "This is good, Weiss. Vacuo makes sense with her complexion. Pretty easy to hide that as just a strong tan."

Weiss felt a tinge of guilt as she watched Ruby so frantically pack some things from her office. All the 'intel' she'd been feeding Ruby for years had magically never quite panned out. It was almost as if Weiss was making sure that Ruby didn't find Emerald Sustrai, or Emerald Arc as she went by now.

"Ruby, you know that she's probably long gone," Weiss stated cautiously. She truly didn't enjoy having to manipulate one of her best friends for the sake of the other one like this. "This lead is pretty weak, honestly. I can have someone else look into it before you take off."

"No, it's not an issue, Weiss," Ruby dismissed, grabbing Crescent Rose 3.0 off the hook on Ruby's office wall. "If there's a chance, I'll take it. Qrow would have done the same for me."

"Ruby… you need to—" Weiss cut herself off, deciding it best to bite her tongue for now.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, turning away after locking her office door to face the camera. "I didn't catch what you said."

"I said that you need to let Glynda know before you run off again," Weiss recovered. She wasn't sure if Ruby was truly that hung up on Qrow's death after so many years, or if Ruby just felt she owed it to her uncle to get closure. If it was the latter, then Weiss could see a path to reuniting her friends - slowly - that would be without violence.

"Pfffft, yeah right," Ruby dismissed, flashing Weiss a silly grin. "She'll think something serious happened if I do that."

"Fine, do what you will. Just be careful."

"Aww, are you worried about me, Weiss?" Ruby teased, earning a flat look. "Still not going out with you."

Weiss flipped her old partner off, which only made Ruby giggle. Weiss rolled her eyes and ended the call unceremoniously.

"Why are all my friends assholes?" Weiss let out redundantly.

Well, that was done, at least. Weiss knew that Jaune would appreciate Ruby being sent in the opposite direction as Argus as a precaution. It would buy Jaune at least a day if things went sour. Now, it was just up to Jaune and Emerald to prevent that from being necessary.

Yang's eyes slid from Emerald's to his. They were wide with shock, and her mouth hung open a little. A strange feeling of dread and panic hit Jaune and he forced it down, making sure to appear calm. Their best chance here was to talk this through, no thanks to Weiss.

Yang's eyes shifted back to Emerald's, before Yang briefly looked her up and down to confirm what she was seeing was real. Emerald wore her hair shoulder-length now with the exception of the two strands that were much longer. It was a little different than it used to be, but there was no hiding the color. Or her red eyes. Or her skin.

Jaune could see the wheels finally start to turn in Yang's head, and that scared him more than anything.

"What the fuck?"

"Yang," Jaune let out cautiously, trying to keep things from getting tense, "I need you to calm down."

"I am calm," she retorted a little bit aggressively.

"Then I need you to stay calm," Jaune amended. His hand was still on Crocea Mors, but it was his off-hand that rested atop the pommel for the moment. He could draw it quickly, but he was not preparing himself to do so. Yet. "Yang, I would like to introduce you to my wife, Em—"

"I know who she is," Yang cut him off.

Emerald didn't like Yang's tone and took a step towards her. Aggression was a bad sign. "You don't know anything about me."

Jaune held a hand out to stop Emerald from walking past him, and to keep her slightly behind him. He cut his eyes at his wife as a brief warning. "Em, you stay calm too."

Emerald harrumphed but accepted, backing down wordlessly. She knew that they couldn't afford for this to not work, and since diplomacy was not her thing, she followed his lead. Jaune returned his attention to Yang, who was coming out of her initial shock more and more with each second.

And getting angrier as she did so.

"I know what you did to my uncle," Yang retorted coldly. "And I know who you worked for. I know we fought against you for years."

"If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't do anything different," Emerald shot back, her tone matching Yang's. Jaune groaned internally. He knew what Emerald meant – that given her circumstances, she'd really had no other choice in life than to go with Cinder – but she could stand to put it in a way that wouldn't incite a fight with Yang. He doubted that Emerald meant to come across aggressively, but she was spooked. There was too much on the line for her and she was getting defensive, which Jaune needed to cut off quickly.

Yang's eyes flashed red at Emerald's statement for a moment, and Jaune stepped in before that powder-keg could be set off.

"Emerald."

Jaune didn't take his eyes off of Yang, and didn't need to. Em would know exactly what he meant just by his tone, and she did.

"That… that doesn't mean I'm not sorry for what happened," Emerald conceded with a huff, before softening her expression. Jaune knew just saying that was not easy for Emerald, and saying to someone who wasn't Jaune made it harder. He could hear in her voice that she was forcing herself to be calm and admit culpability, two things she'd never been good at. "I don't… like any of what I did, but I didn't have any better options."

Yang looked at Emerald with clear mistrust, before looking back to him. It was a weak apology on its face, and you had to know Emerald well to know just how significant it was. Yang did not know Emerald that well. "Jaune, you know what she did. Who she is."

Yang was implicating him now too, and Jaune took exception to her tone.

"And what, that means she can't change?" Jaune responded, his voice dropping. He was defensive of Emerald and her past, maybe more so that Em herself. Part of that was residual guilt for also having judged his now-wife's sins before hearing her explain why she did them. It made him feel like shit to think that he almost hadn't spared her life. "Blake was a terrorist, and we all forgave her for her mistakes."

"Blake didn't kill anyone!" Yang defended, getting worked up in defense of her friend. That was good, actually; it was what Jaune was looking for. He needed to make sure Yang was thinking everything through instead of locking in on Emerald, and getting defensive of Blake was what Jaune thought was the correct response there.

"What about Ilia, then?" Jaune asked. Yang went silent as she processed what he said. "I know for sure she's killed before. You're on good terms with her, aren't you?"

Yang digested the argument Jaune made slowly, and didn't immediately react to it. His argument had one major flaw in it, namely that who Emerald had worked for was worse than what Ilia and Blake had done, but his point was simpler than that: was there a line that you couldn't be redeemed after crossing?

Yang could see that was the real issue here, and he knew her better than to think she'd say that anyone was irredeemable. Many people could not be convinced to seek redemption, but anyone truly willing to do it could.

No, that wasn't what Yang was hung up on.

"He was my uncle too," Yang let out, her voice close to cracking. Everyone knew that Qrow's death had hit Ruby hard, and it was easy sometimes to overlook that Yang was actually more directly related to him.

"I'm sorry," Emerald called out sincerely, taking a step towards Yang. "We didn't want to do it. He was hunting us down. I just did what I had to do to survive. That's all I've ever tried to do."

He didn't need for Yang to forgive Emerald right now. He didn't even need Yang to like Emerald. He just needed Yang to hear them out, and to not think it worth it to hurt Emerald.

Yang was calming down, but retreating in on herself too. Recoiling from Emerald. Jaune could see plainly on her face that she didn't know what to think or do, but at least she was open enough to hear them out. He needed much more than that to make him comfortable with her knowing their secret, but this was a start.

Yang looked to him, wide-eyed, to confirm what Emerald was saying. He nodded solemnly.

"Emerald grew up on the streets as an orphan, just struggling to get by. When Cinder recruited her for her Semblance, her only other option was to stay on the streets," Jaune explained softly, keeping an eye on Yang's expression. He felt Emerald slide up next to him, and when her hand brushed his left one he took hold of it and gave her a reassuring squeeze, out of Yang's line of sight. Em hated dragging up old memories like this, and he couldn't blame her. "From there, there was nothing she could do. Someone would have tracked her down if she tried to leave, and—" Jaune cut himself off. There was another big factor in Emerald's life, but it was better to explain Emerald's need for stability and security later, when it would make more sense. "When Salem lost, she had nothing left and nowhere to go. She never wanted to be evil, but that's the only option she had."

Until he gave her another one.

Yang was still confused about how she felt, but she was struggling to stay angry. Her eyes shifted to Emerald, who's eyes trailed to the ground out of shame. There wasn't a whole lot of her life story to be proud of, and the fact that she clearly was uncomfortable talking about what she had done made it clear to Yang that Emerald at least wasn't proud of what she did. Compared to people like Cinder, Tyrian, or Salem, that was an important difference.

"Is that true?"

Emerald never looked up, and her voice was fragile. Jaune empathized with her. Compared to her current life, memories of her past were difficult to swallow for Em. "I just wanted to be loved."

Yang's eyes widened slightly, and she just missed the gut-wrenched look on Jaune's face. Even though he knew everything about Emerald, it still hurt to hear her sound so scared and small. He had worked so hard so that she'd never feel like that again. It reminded him of the night that started it all, echoing the very reason he let her live.

Jaune hadn't been expecting her to be that honest with Yang, but it shouldn't have surprised him that she was going to do anything to keep Yang from ruining this. He squeezed Em's hand again, never taking his eyes off of Yang just in case. Em looked up at the blonde after only a moment, recovering as quickly as she could. Part of Jaune wondered if Emerald was playing up looking sad for Yang's sake, but for as good of a liar as Emerald was, she was horrible at faking emotions. If she appeared sad, hurt, or ashamed, she was.

"I just… I don't understand—" Yang fumbled her words, running her one hand through her hair. They were winning her over, at least enough to earn the chance to properly explain everything, like they had with Weiss. "How? How did this all happen?"

Yang gestured wildly with her arm as she asked the question, and it was clear to Jaune that she meant it to very broadly encompass everything, from how they got together to how they ended up married with a house in an Argus suburb while Emerald was supposed to be a fugitive.

"It's a bit of a story. Would you... mind coming inside?" Jaune asked. Emerald stirred by his side, getting his attention. Her eyes begged him not to let Yang into their house – into her first true home. "It's okay, Em."

He knew exactly why that had sent panic through Emerald. Yang didn't quite understand the amount of trust he was giving her by doing this, but they couldn't just discuss this for hours in the driveway.

"Weiss made me leave my weapons and my arm. You're not planning on attacking me in there, are you?"

Jaune opened his mouth to answer, but Emerald beat him to it. "Not if you don't make us have to."

Jaune shook his head. "You have my word, Yang."

Yang met his eyes briefly, and despite everything, she still had some faith in him left. Just enough that his word still meant something.

Her eyes slid to Emerald.

"I'll vouch for her, too."

Yang's eyes slid back up to his. "You'd better not make me regret this."

Jaune nodded in acceptance, before letting out a sigh. Took the words right out of my mouth, Yang.

Blood pumped through Jaune's veins hard. He had rendezvoused with the closest of either his team or team RWBY, Blake, to investigate a tip about a girl with red eyes and dark skin, and it had paid off. They had spotted both Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black, the last two of Salem's army still unaccounted for. After what happened to Qrow, no one was allowed to hunt them solo anymore.

Those two had fled immediately, leading to the chase that had Jaune's blood running hot.

Up ahead, Mercury and Emerald split up, with Emerald splitting off down one of the city of Haven's many alleyways while Mercury sprinted straight ahead.

"You take her!" Blake shouted, though she didn't need to. Jaune had known which one he was taking the whole way. He was one of the few people who had a counter to Emerald's Semblance.

He split off from Blake, following Emerald down the alley. With his long strides, he was gaining ground on her quickly as long as she ran in a straight line, so she tried ducking down any side-alleys she could find.

Jaune turned the corner to find Emerald stuck at a dead end. Crocea Mors came off his belt, as he held the shield before him and kept the sword poking out overtop.

Emerald stood with his back to him, leaned up against the brick wall she had run up against, head bowed out of defeat. Jaune didn't let that fool him, and used his Semblance to probe around.

He connected with Emerald's aura. It wasn't anywhere near the brick wall. Instead, it was moving slowly towards him, angling to the side to try to slip past him. Jaune kept his eyes trained on the illusion, and the moment Emerald stepped within range, he lashed out with Crocea Mors at her general position.

Emerald yelped and the illusion disappeared, as steel scrapped against steel. She took the blow on her sickles, but the force of it had knocked her unsuspecting ass onto the ground.

"N-No…" she let out, eyes going wide with shock and horror as she looked up at him.

Jaune grinned. Finally, he was going to prove that he belonged on the pedestal he'd found himself on. He had merely tagged along for the fight against Salem, sure, but this? He was about to be the man to defeat Emerald Sustrai. No one would take that from him. Jaune Arc was going to be a hero.

Emerald scrambled to her feet. Her eyes were watering and her lip quivered, but she forced herself to fight. She could see the walls closing in.

She slashed at him with her sickle in much the same way that Ren would. Jaune let the blades scratch against his shield before lunging out with Crocea Mors. Emerald let out a pained cry as it sliced into the aura around her stomach, before Jaune knocked her back a few steps with the flat of the shield.

"Please!" she pleaded, her voice frayed from stress and fear. "I didn't want any of this! I-I swear!"

Jaune didn't buy it. He tightened his guard and approached her again.

"Please!" she begged, some of the moisture in her eyes starting to run down her cheek. She looked terrified, but that was what she deserved.

Jaune struck out at her with Crocea Mors and Emerald barely blocked it, staggering backward until her back ran up against the brick wall. Her eyes went wide as she realized she was out of space and, fittingly, out of time.

With no choice left, Emerald attacked him with all she had left to give while another tear fell down her face. She knew this was the end.

She swiped at him again, and again he blocked with his shield, but she hooked her other sickle around the top of his shield while he did so. She tried to yank the shield down to get a shot at him with her gun, but he was significantly stronger and pulled the shield up over both of their heads while stabbing underneath it.

Glassy crimson eyes went wide as Emerald realized her mistake, letting go of that weapon just in time to avoid being yanked off the ground. Her other one got up barely in time to block the stab, but Jaune drug Crocea Mors back across Emerald's aura as he withdrew it.

Emerald backed up until she hit the wall again. She held her one remaining weapon before her in both hands, which were shaking so much she might have missed him point-blank. It would have been hard enough to see Jaune through her tears to shoot him anyways.

Jaune stared her down, letting her stew, before she did something truly unexpected.

Emerald closed her eyes, forcing out more tears as she did so, and bowed her head out of resignation. Her last weapon dropped to the ground, and she dropped down on her knees a few moments later. Her sniffles were loud enough to hear easily.

"J-Just make it quick," she choked out. "Please."

Jaune held Crocea Mors out, putting the tip to Emerald's throat and forcing her chin up to look at her face. Her eyes stayed closed, but a steady stream of tears fell from them.

Jaune's conviction wavered. He could see her eyelids flutter as she fought against herself to keep them closed. She was terrified, but she didn't want to see what happened next. Jaune's mind played tricks on him, and he saw flashes of his friends faces in Emerald's sheer terror. His sisters, too. Pity wracked him. What did it matter if she escaped?

No, he had to remind himself. Emerald was evil. Even monsters cried and whimpered on their deathbeds, didn't they? It meant she was a coward, not a good person. She had helped kill Qrow. She had worked for Salem. She really was evil.

And Jaune was a hero, damnit! This was his moment to prove it. This instance right here was what he'd needed for years. Jaune had to prove to himself more than anyone that he was a hero, and it was finally time.

Right?

But who was he going to save by killing Emerald now? She wasn't a mastermind by any stretch. Hell, she'd barely done anything impactful since Beacon. They were only tracking them down to hold them accountable, and they still weren't certain how Qrow died, only that she was involved. No one really feared that Emerald was going to do anything but fade away into obscurity if she escaped.

She was just a girl, quivering and crying at the end of his sword. Her eyes stayed shut because she was too scared to watch.

Drawing on every ounce of conviction Jaune had, he stabbed the blade into her throat.

Yang stared at Jaune in shock. There was… there was so much to what he'd just said that stuck out. He actually had caught Emerald, despite what everyone believed for years. Or… wait, had he?

"An illusion?" Yang asked attentively from her seat on the edge of Jaune's living room recliner. Jaune and Emerald sat on the couch opposite her, with Jaune leaned forward and his hands clasped together, elbows on his knees.

Jaune dropped his head. Emerald responded for him, rubbing her hand gently on Jaune's back as she did so. "No. No, it was real."

Yang looked to Jaune in surprise, and he didn't look up. He clearly wasn't proud of what he'd done, which made Yang think he'd actually done it. She tried to look for any scar on Emerald's neck, but couldn't spot anything.

It dawned on Yang a moment later. "Your Semblance?" she asked Jaune.

Jaune remained uncomfortably silent, but Emerald gave her a succinct nod to confirm her suspicion.

So it wasn't that Jaune failed to stop Emerald, but that he saved her? Yang felt angry about that. Or… part of her did. She was still a tense mess from her revelation last night, and that tension was still there, just underlying everything else now. Yang was struggling to hang on to any one feeling for very long. Part of her sympathized with Emerald, part of her hated her for Qrow, part of her was angry at Jaune for hiding her, and part of her was still nervous that this all really was a good thing for Jaune. If it was, then what she'd done the other night was unforgivable.

Overall, Yang didn't know what she felt, and she hadn't gotten a chance to process hardly any of it.

"Why?" Yang asked, doing the only thing she could: keep asking questions. "Why save her?"

Emerald gave Yang a flat look for asking it so harshly, but Yang wasn't in the mood. She looked to Jaune instead, waiting for him to either look up at her or answer the question.

"Em, could you… get me a glass of water?" Jaune asked, looking up to his side just enough to make eye contact with her. Something unspoken passed between them, with Emerald giving him a worried look. Whatever it was, it reassured her enough to leave him alone with Yang.

Emerald eyed Yang nervously as she got up and walked over into the kitchen. Not out of sight, but just out of earshot if they kept their voices low.

"Have you ever slit someone's throat?" Jaune asked softly, looking up enough to make eye contact with Yang.

"Have I…?" Yang started to repeat the question, trailing off as she understood the significance. She answered honestly. "No."

Yang had stabbed Adam, brawled more than a couple of people to death during the war, and snapped Cinder Fall's neck with her bare hands. Blades weren't normally her style.

Jaune nodded idly, expecting her answer. "It's messier than you think. She was on her knees and fell forward, and the blood pooled on her chin before dripping off."

Jaune stared at the ground in front of him, and Yang felt uncomfortable making him recount the tale. Anything she held towards Emerald aside, Yang had to admit that Jaune wasn't faking their relationship, at least on his end. It was hurting him to retell this. Anytime that anger for Qrow's murder flared up in her, it died whenever she caught the way Jaune looked at Emerald.

Yang's head was a mess. This whole thing was a mess.

"And it was slower than you'd think. I only punctured her throat with the tip. Didn't even make it to the spine." Jaune took a deep breath, and Yang's eyes nervously shifted towards the kitchen, where Emerald was taking her time preparing three glasses to give Jaune the time he needed. "Do you know what the worst part was?"

She had a feeling that whatever she'd guess wasn't what Jaune was getting at. "I don't."

He looked up at her again, their eyes locking. "The sound. Do you know what it sounded like?"

Yang winced as she tried to imagine it with someone she cared about. Just imagining Blake or Ruby dying like that make Yang's stomach turn, but focusing on such vivid detail as what it sounded like made it worse.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"It didn't sound like being a hero, that's for damn sure," Jaune let out bitterly, dropping his eyes back to the floor. "It sounds like choking, and pained gasps, and blood dripping on the pavement." Jaune's fists clenched. "It sounds like a scared girl crying as the life she'd never wanted was drawn out for one last, cruel minute. It didn't sound like I was fucking saving anyone. There's not a fucking person in the world who would be alive because she died right there, so h-how was that the heroic thing to do?!"

Jaune's voice cracked there at the end. He managed to look up at her briefly, just long enough for her to reassure him that she wasn't blaming him and to see that his eyes were watering. Jaune clearly hadn't been trying to convince her. He'd been practicing for someone who would have told him he should have killed Emerald: Ruby.

Fuck. What was she supposed to say to that? Even if she held a grudge against Emerald – jury was still out on that until Yang had time to process – she couldn't do anything to harm Jaune, and this was clearly real. She wondered if it went both ways, but even if it didn't, it had clearly lasted this long somehow. Yang wouldn't be able to bring herself to hold it against Jaune even if she did come to the decision that he was wrong to do it.

She was aware that she was being won over. It should have felt good to be reassured that everything was working out for the best, but if that were the case, then Yang was back on the hook for sleeping with Jaune. She really couldn't catch a break. And that said nothing of how Yang was going to look Ruby in the eyes after this.

Jaune held his face in his hands for a few moments, using the action to wipe his eyes subtly as Emerald's footsteps signaled her return to the room. She handed Yang a glass of water which Yang accepted hesitantly, not entirely sure if it was safe to drink. The evil grin Emerald teased Yang with certainly hadn't helped that.

By the time she sat back on the couch with Jaune, he had recovered pretty well.

"So yeah, imagine the look of horror on my face when I realized I didn't have it in me to kill Emerald while she's dying at my feet," Jaune tried to joke, putting on a front for Emerald's sake. She gave him a side-eyed look that cut right through all of his bullshit, but other than that let him have his 'recovery' and hid her expression behind her glass of water. "I was lucky I hadn't punched deeply into her neck. It doesn't matter how strong my Semblance is or how much aura she had still had; there's no way I'm un-severing her spinal cord."

Jaune laughed uncomfortably, still trying to play off the severity of his words through humor, but it fell flat. Yang found herself looking at Emerald's throat once again, trying to see any residual scar. It wasn't that she didn't trust Jaune to be telling the truth about this, but, well… okay, maybe she wasn't certain if she trusted Jaune. Given whose neck it was she was looking at, Yang felt justified in being hesitant to trust Jaune right now.

Emerald noticed what Yang was doing and rolled her eyes, before tilting her head back to give Yang an easier look. It was hard to see from her spot sat opposite Emerald, but Yang could make out a very thin line half-way up her throat, maybe three inches wide. Emerald's fingers traced it for her benefit.

Yang's eyes went wide as she looked back to Jaune. He looked guilty, his shoulders hunched down and his eyes sad, but he made eye contact with her.

That was the moment it hit Yang that this was real. That Jaune really had saved Emerald. That they really were married. That they really were happy and better off now. And that they'd been hiding it for years.

Yang didn't have time to decide what she thought about that. All she could think was that Jaune was finally happy and she'd damaged that. Her head started to spin again, and she changed the subject to try to avoid dwelling on it. "So then what? You healed her and helped her escape?"

"No," Jaune answered, shaking his head. His voice and mannerisms were starting to get back to normal now. "I just… let her go. And that was that."

"Don't listen to him," Emerald cut in, grinning. "I'm sitting there, with my own blood staining my top and tear stains on my cheeks, lightheaded from the blood loss, and this doofus—" Emerald turned to Jaune momentarily, who returned her grin with a chagrined one of his own, "—tries to give me a speech about morality and turning a new leaf..."

Yang met Jaune's eyes, and he shrugged. "All I said was that I never wanted anyone to find Emerald again, which meant no more being evil."

Yang gave Jaune a somewhat flat look. She could picture in her mind Jaune doing just what Emerald had described to someone who worked for Salem, and it was cringy. The leer on Emerald's face made Yang suspect it was just as bad as she imagined it.

"And?" Emerald prompted.

"…and that if she did, I would hunt her down."

Yang arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You had no intention of following through on that, did you?"

"No," Emerald answered for him, "but I didn't know that at the time."

"It worked?" Yang asked, surprised. After all, they were sitting there together now. She would have assumed that was how they got together. Emerald escaping there meant they had to meet again after that, didn't it? "What did you do next, track her down again?"

Jaune took a breath, steadying himself. "You know what happened next."

She knew what happened—? Oh. She did know what happened next. It was probably the single biggest event in the history of their teams.

Police tape walled off the alleyways he and Blake had chased their targets through just a few hours ago, thankfully keeping crowds and cameras out of sight. Jaune stood there, staring down at a body that had been tastefully covered with a black body-bag.

Blake had gotten her target. Mercury Black lay dead on the street, waiting for the rest of the team to fly into the city and confirm the kill for themselves. Some of them had already arrived, and Jaune could hear them talking to Blake in the background. Congratulating her.

She deserved it. Unlike Jaune, she had completed the mission.

But he had too. He just let Sustrai go, though. More than that, he healed her. That was specifically failing the mission. But he didn't regret it, even though he knew he should have. Why?

He always wanted to be a hero. More than anything else, he desired to be a hero. He needed it. It was why he joined Beacon without aura or experience. It was why he hated that Pyrrha died to protect him, when it should have been the other way around. It was why he never blinked when Ruby asked his team to stand by her side and fight the Queen of the Grimm. He was a fool with a shield and dream that should have gotten him killed.

And yet, he'd made it this far, neither dead nor a hero. He was famous as a hero, but to anyone that mattered, he'd been backup. A sidekick. A role-player. That ate away at him, and he knew it shouldn't have, but it did. It was selfish. He would freely admit that. Weiss had said it to his face time and time again, but she still tried to help him fulfill it. They both recognized that Jaune needed it.

Deep down, Jaune knew that he had failed. He had marched up the god-damned steps to Salem's fortress and he was still no fucking hero. If that wasn't the moment he would prove himself, then what was the fucking point? There was no moment in history more tailor-made to create a hero, and he walked out of there as Team RWBY's number one supporter.

What did killing Mercury accomplish? Justice? Vengeance? Heroes protect people, not avenge them. Who would killing Emerald have saved? She'd be a fool to ever expose herself by hurting someone again. In all likelihood, she was going to live her life on the run, keeping her head low.

No one was going to be hurt. No one to save.

Except for Emerald, ironically enough.

He didn't like that. He understood the importance of the mission. Jaune knew it was wrong to save Emerald, after what she'd done. But it boiled down to who Jaune was: a failed hero.

The mission wasn't right for him anymore.

"Blake!" Ruby's voice called out. She was the last to arrive. Jaune was dreading this. "Jaune!"

Jaune could hear the wind as Ruby cut through the air, zooming over to the rest of them with her Semblance.

"What happened?" Ruby's voice sounded from behind him. She sounded upset. No doubt she'd already heard. "How did she get away?"

"We had to split up," Blake explained. He could feel their eyes shifting to his back. Jaune didn't blame Blake for throwing him under the bus, but he was a little annoyed by it. "They separated to try to get away from us. I went after Mercury."

"Jaune?"

He didn't need to turn around and see Ruby to know she was giving him a sad puppy dog look. Guilt wracked Jaune. Anyone else wouldn't have faltered in his place. He was the only one here who couldn't have finished the mission.

He felt horrible for that, he really did. Qrow deserved better than someone who would let his killer leave. That just wasn't Jaune, though. It also wasn't Jaune to lie about it, as much as it would hurt Ruby to admit it to her.

"I let her get away."

They were the hardest words Jaune would ever say. He couldn't bring himself to turn around and face any of them. It felt like betraying them, and it was. He chose to let Emerald escape.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked, her voice fragile. That surprised Jaune enough to get him to turn around. He'd expected… well, a more pronounced reaction to his confession. Anger, betrayal, hurt, shock, outrage… Jaune was basically resigning from his role on their team by refusing to bring in Emerald.

Jaune's heart sank when he saw Ruby. Her hair was normally wild, but it was a mess now. Bags under her eyes and a sunken look to her. She looked like she hadn't slept since she lost her uncle, and that wouldn't have surprised Jaune if it was the case.

He didn't answer her, surprised that her concern was for him.

"Jaune?" she asked, trying to get him to respond. She pulled up her scroll for a moment, before looking back to him with a different expression. Ruby was too tired to hide her suspicion. "Your aura is almost full."

Jaune blinked at her. "Yeah…?"

"How did she get away?" Ruby asked, her voice picking up just a hint of an edge to it. "Blake said you had them in your sights."

"Ruby," Blake tried to intervene, "this is Emerald we're talking about. You can't expect just one person to be able to contain her."

Jaune blinked, looking back and forth between Blake and Ruby. He'd just said—

He'd just said he let Emerald get away. They weren't taking that as literally as he meant it. Everything started to make sense with that in mind.

"Jaune's Semblance can track her!" Ruby shot back at Blake, getting aggressive out of nowhere. It was clear to Jaune that Ruby was tired, and had no patience. And she was grieving still. He didn't take much offense when Ruby whipped her attention back to him. "How could you not stop her!?"

All of his friends standing behind Ruby were too shocked to say anything. Some might have let it play out anyways, but some he knew would have stepped in if they weren't so surprised by the anger that Ruby of all people was displaying towards him.

Ironically, they were all probably the most bothered by it.

"I just couldn't," Jaune answered simply. "I… I wasn't the right person for the mission."

Jaune stood tall and unreadable. Ruby looked hurt, then devastated, then outraged. They were having two very different conversations.

"You're not even hurt!" Ruby shouted out taking a step towards him. "Did you even put up a fight? Or was it easy for uncle Qrow's killer to go free?!"

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted out. She stepped forward to chastise Ruby and come to Jaune's defense, but was held back by Yang's arm. The blonde wanted to see how this played out.

"We fought," Jaune answered solemnly, looking Ruby in the eyes. His were distant, and his mind focused somewhere else. "I'm not sure who won."

"Obviously it wasn't you!" He was agreeing with that point more and more. "And it wasn't my uncle! How could you do this, Jaune?"

He didn't answer. Jaune had the chance to correct the record then and there, and tell Ruby that he'd chosen to let her leave. Looking over Ruby and the state she was in, he just couldn't bring himself to do that. Her uncle's death had been traumatic to her. He'd rather her be angry at him for failing than for betraying her. That would hurt her less.

And it was easier on him, too.

Ruby's rage started to die out, and tears welled in her eyes. She was far too tired and stressed to hold them back. She turned her back to him, starting to walk back to the others.

"I'm sorry, Ruby."

She stopped in her tracks, her fists balling at her sides. She spun around to yell at him. "Well I'm glad for that!"

"Ruby!" Weiss chastised again, this time pushing past Yang.

"This was our best chance, Jaune! I trusted you to do this!" she continued to yell at him, ignoring Weiss' attempt to separate them. Tears fell down her face unhindered. "You couldn't even stop one person, Jaune! What sort of a hero are you?!"

Weiss gasped, her eyes flicking over to him. She wasn't the only one. He knew why they were looking at him, and he should have been hurt by that.

He wasn't, though. Not now. It was becoming crystal clear that they had different ideas of what a hero was. There were two entirely different conversations going on right now.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted, grabbing her partner by the arm and yanking her back. She looked up to Jaune sympathetically.

He stared at Mercury's body bag. To the others, he looked to be hanging his head in shame. In reality, he was lost in thought. He couldn't escape the thought of how there might have been two body bags laying there. Jaune suspected the memory of killing Emerald would have bothered him in a way that killing Cinder never would have. Cinder had wronged him by killing Pyrrha, and had taunted him about it. She was filled with hate and evil until the moment she died.

Emerald? She and Mercury had probably killed Qrow, sure, but he had been hunting them the same way that he and Blake just had. He never remembered her delighting in her work the same way Tyrian or Cinder did. Her final moments were the furthest thing from remorseless or defiant.

"Jaune?" Weiss asked, her voice scared for him.

He made his choice. He made it the moment he realized this wasn't the hero he wanted to be.

Jaune Arc walked away without a word.

Yang stood on the back porch of Jaune's home. She'd forgone any of the seats, far too worked up and confused to be able to sit and relax any longer. When she'd asked Jaune if she could have time to herself to think, she'd caught a flash of panic on his face. He recovered and told her she could come back here before she'd even needed to reassure him.

She wasn't going to do anything that would harm Jaune, that much she had decided on. Emerald, well, she wasn't as sure her, but it was pretty clear to Yang that hurting Emerald would hurt Jaune. That ruled out taking direct action against Emerald.

Beyond that? She didn't have a clue how to feel.

Jaune was happy. That was an easy place to start. There were a lot of things Yang needed to reevaluate now, but thinking back on her conversations with Jaune and Weiss before today, things were starting to make some sense. He had found someone and settled down, much like Blake and Sun, or Ren and Nora. That much Yang was happy for him for.

And she was confident that he wasn't faking it, not that Yang really could come up with a reason why he would fake it for her. The way he'd gotten choked up when talking about how they met, the way he looked at her, the fear in his eyes when he looked at Yang… none of that was fake.

The problem was that it was Emerald.

How was Yang supposed to just reconcile with that fact? She was at least trying, for Jaune's sake, even if it made her uneasy, and even if he had been lying to them for years. Emerald had worked for Cinder, and for Salem. She'd been there when Beacon fell all the way up through when Salem fell. And she'd killed Qrow! Yang may not have been super close to her uncle, but she was short enough on family already with both her mothers gone.

The thought of Raven jarred Yang's mental process a little, giving her a kick she needed. Yang had reconciled with Raven of all people. Or not reconciled, but… gotten closure. She'd left the meeting with Raven without violence, and had successfully put that chapter of her life in the past. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done, to realize that revenge wasn't worth it. No one but Weiss knew.

In a way, that was similar to what Jaune had done, wasn't it? Everyone else thought one thing about Raven, but she thought a little differently. Had a more nuanced perspective, and more forgiveness than anyone else. And in both cases, Weiss had helped keep it a secret, apparently. Maybe she could swallow Jaune and Emerald's secret if she had to.

But it was Emerald! Yang was still suspicious as hell of her. She was convinced that Jaune loved Emerald, but not that it went the other way around. How did that relationship work? Did it work, or was Emerald just using Jaune for safety?

If Jaune was happy, did that last one even matter? It had clearly lasted this long, after all.

Idly, Yang wished she had Ruby's guidance on this one. Ruby had such a simple outlook on the world, so black and white, that she could break down almost any conundrum instinctually. It just came naturally for her, and that was one reason they all followed her so earnestly for years.

Yang's one hand pulled her scroll out of her pocket, popping the device open.

Something slapped her wrist hard enough to make her drop the scroll.

"What the hell?" Yang recoiled more out of surprise than pain. What Yang thought was an empty porch faded away to reveal Emerald standing right in front of her, giving Yang a frustrated frown. "Were you spying on me?!"

"What were you going to do with that scroll?" Emerald asked, not bothering to hide an implicit accusation and not caring that she had been spying on Yang.

"I—" Yang cut herself off. She'd been about to text Ruby. It dawned on her why that was a stupid idea. Even if she wasn't sold on Emerald, Yang knew better than to tell Ruby about this until she'd had days to process it. Maybe even weeks.

Emerald cocked her head to the side condescendingly. She'd known exactly what Yang was trying to do.

To Yang's surprise, Emerald bent over and picked up Yang's scroll, holding it out to Yang. When Yang went to accept it, she didn't let go. Emerald stared into Yang's eyes purposefully. She was defensive. The stare she gave Yang was intense, but it looked more like an animal backed into a corner.

"I'm sorry," Yang let out, bowing her head a little. "I would have stopped myself before doing anything. That would have been stupid on my part."

Emerald held onto the scroll a little longer, before closing her eyes and releasing the scroll. She clearly wanted to push there, but was restraining herself for Jaune's sake. That, or she was trying her hardest to make Yang more comfortable with the idea of her and Jaune.

"I'm sorry," Emerald forced herself to admit, "for spying. It's just that you're a threat to everything I care about. I didn't even want to tell Weiss, or Cardin, or… you get the picture. I'm a little on edge."

Emerald's tone wasn't particularly friendly, but she was very obviously being honest. Yang appreciated that much. If that continued, maybe Yang could get answers that would put her mind to ease. Everything she was uncertain about revolved around Emerald, after all.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

Emerald stared at Yang blankly for a moment.

"Invade my home, uncover my existence, jeopardize my entire world, and you want to ask about my feelings?" Emerald drawled, with more sarcasm to her voice than anger. She let out an exaggerated huff on top of it. When Yang went silent, Emerald took a moment to collect herself and refocus on the question, giving Yang a softer look. "What is it?"

Yang hesitated for a moment. She had a lot of questions competing with each other in her mind at the moment and had to boil down to the most important one, since there was no guarantee Emerald would answer follow-up questions. "You and Jaune… how does that work?"

Emerald's eyes narrowed slightly and she turned her head to the side, giving Yang a curious look. "Well, when a man and a woman get horny enough, the man will stick—"

"Not that," Yang let out flatly, giving Emerald an irritated look. Emerald grinned at Yang. "I mean—"

"I know what you mean," Emerald cut her off. "You really want to know?"

Yang tried to answer, but the words wouldn't come out. She nodded instead.

Emerald's eyes trailed down to the ground, lost in thought a bit. A somewhat warm, gentle smile worked its way across her face, one that Yang hadn't seen yet. The grin she gave Yang when she looked back up wasn't as antagonistic as it was genuine, if subdued. "Truth is, we're pretty fucked up."

Yang snorted. Understatement of the year. Emerald laughed a bit too, before dropping her head back down. She crossed one arm across her body and fidgeted with her fingers, making her look nervous. Or maybe uncomfortable, considering what Yang had asked her to explain.

"To be honest, our relationship is pretty selfish for both of us," Emerald stated, looking up to Yang finally. There was a mix of timidity and aggression in Emerald's eyes, and Yang understood exactly what it meant because it was a look she herself had used in the past. It said 'I'm being vulnerable right now and if you betray that I'll cut you.' Yang had never been forced to be vulnerable like Emerald currently was though. "He tracked me down a month after our… meeting. Weiss had gotten a lead on me and she had offered it to him without telling the others, as a chance to make up for not getting me the first time. She didn't know what he'd done yet."

Yang blinked as she processed that. At this point, she wasn't surprised by it, but just was digesting new information. Yang's shock center had been overloaded beyond recognition already this morning. She half expected Salem to come out and announce their three-way marriage or some other crazy shit. "I'm guessing that Jaune had other things in mind, and that's how you got together?"

Emerald nodded softly.

"I… I was in a really shitty place. I grew up alone and abandoned, and…" her fist clenched at her side, "…and I thought Cinder was going to fix that. I needed to feel safe. Protected. Cared for."

"And you wanted that from Cinder?"

"I never said I was smart," Emerald snipped back bitterly. Yang made a point to back down. "Cinder put her hooks in me. By the time I realized she didn't care about me, it didn't matter. I had nothing but security while working for her. After you beat us, after it all ended…"

"You only had Jaune?"

"I had nothing," Emerald corrected her. "No safety, no security, no future, no life, nothing. When Jaune found me again, after he'd saved me once, I… I would have done anything he wanted me to do. I was lucky it was him, and not… not…"

"I think I get the point," Yang interrupted gently. Emerald clearly wasn't great talking about this sort of thing, and Yang didn't really want to go down a dark path like that anyways. It was enough to say that Emerald was fortunate she wasn't found by someone who would exploit her again. "So that's why you're married? For stability?"

Emerald cut her eyes at her defensively. "No. That's just how he convinced me to go with him. He was going to set me up with a new identity somewhere, and I just… stuck around. He couldn't bring himself to force me to leave, not when he was clearly helping just by being there."

Yang nodded. She could picture that in her mind, at least the part about Jaune. It fit into her conception of who he was, even with today's many, many revelations. He wouldn't have it in him to make her leave.

"From there, it isn't hard to see how things developed. I needed someone to support me, and protect me, and make me feel secure. Someone to actually care about me. To… to love me. And he did." Emerald dropped her head, embarrassed. Yang could see her grinning, though it was a bit of an awkward, goofy grin. It reminded her a ton of Jaune. "And in return, he finally got to save someone."

Yang went silent. She studied Emerald as closely as she could, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see Emerald as being anything but honest. A lot more honest than Emerald wanted to be, and Yang could tell that Emerald was only doing this because she needed Yang to keep their secret.

The worst part was that Yang had come around. Forced honesty or not, this Emerald was not the same person Yang had fought against years ago. Jaune had done good. Part of Yang wanted to know how Qrow died, but she recognized that she wasn't in any state of mind to digest any more huge secrets. Right now, even if she assumed Emerald herself did it, she wasn't certain that would change her mind. Maybe it would, but Yang needed time to process things. She could get the story from Jaune later.

That… that left one awkward topic left for them that Yang couldn't hold off on. The one that had been eating away at Yang all night.

"E-Emerald, about—about the other night," Yang started off, that sinking feeling in her stomach returning with a vengeance, "with me and Jaune. Y-You know he didn't want to do that, right? I practically forced him to! I—"

"Yang."

"I'm so sorry!" Yang let out, her voice threatening to crack. Gods, not only had Jaune found something important in his marriage, but it had changed Emerald's life. Their marriage had redeemed Emerald, and she had undermined that. Yang hadn't thought it possible for her greatest sin to have gotten any worse. "I promise you that I'll make it up to you! I—"

"Yang," Emerald tried to stop her again. There was a grin growing on Emerald's face that was confusing Yang. "As much as I love watching you squirm, you don't have to apologize."

"No, I really do! I swear that—"

"You didn't have sex with him," Emerald blurted out, struggling to get a word in edgewise.

Yang stared at Emerald dumbly.

"I'm pretty sure—"

Yang cut herself off immediately as the entire world around her shifted. The porch changed into the bedroom in the suite she'd had sex with Jaune in. Yang took a quick look around before turning back to Emerald and giving the green-haired girl a suspicious look. Emerald nodded to confirm Yang's suspicions, and a few moments later, the projection around them shifted to show a copy of Yang laid back on the bed, legs open for business, having sex with nothing but air.

"How—?"

"Semblance," Emerald explained, grinning.

"But I felt it…?" Yang mumbled, confused. "It was more than just a vision."

Emerald nodded.

"I can make you hallucinate more than just visually. Sure, I had to mix in some personal memories, but hey, we needed you to buy it. You'd be amazed at how realistic I can make something when my Semblance gets boosted." She shrugged. The gears started to click in Yang's mind. "What, it didn't feel a little different to you? Like you were experiencing someone else's memories, maybe?"

"You faked my orgasms?" Yang let out, grasping on the first word she could as it all clicked into place.

"No, those were all you," Emerald answered with a shrug, and just a bit of a grin at Yang's expense. "I just provided the stimulation as I remembered it. I didn't realize that it would be that effective. It was the first time we'd tried this."

Yang stared at the wall distantly, before another revelation hit her. "I knew he couldn't be that good!"

"The fuck did you just say about my husband?"

Yang ignored her, already charging back into the house to find Jaune. There was going to be some hell to pay, as Yang had been so embarrassed about how she had thought that night had gone for her. If the heat in her cheeks now was any indication, she was once again embarrassed again at having been made a fool.

Jaune was still sitting on the couch, but on a scroll call. As soon as Yang burst back inside, he abruptly said a quick goodbye and shut the scroll. It had looked like Weiss, but Yang didn't get a good look or even care to.

"You asshole!" Yang yelled, walking right up to the couch. "I thought we had sex! Do you how sick to my stomach I've been all night!?"

"Keep your voice down, Yang," Jaune replied, trying to placate her.

"That was pretty fucked up, Jaune!" she accused. "Letting me think we'd fucked and that you weren't interested in me?! That I wasn't good enough for anything but a one night stand!"

Nevermind the fact it had all been Yang's idea.

"I had to do anything to keep this secret," Jaune answered in a hushed tone. "It wasn't personal, Yang. I didn't want to hurt you, but I couldn't risk you getting suspicious if I kept turning you down."

"I wanted him to actually fuck you," Emerald called out, having followed Yang inside. "Wasn't certain my Semblance would work that well, and there was no way in hell I was taking any chances. We had a big fight about it, too."

"The chance for what, me to find out?" Yang let out indignantly, finally finding an avenue for all of the stress and tension she'd built up. "You didn't trust us to give her a second chance! You didn't trust us to trust you! How is that not personal?!"

Yang was only realizing it as she said it just how far they'd gone to hide this, too. Years of deception with Weiss' help, an embargo on his name in the news, almost no contact over a decade, ducking out of every reunion and meetup… It was way overkill. Sure, it would have been rough, but the fact that he couldn't fucking trust them to adjust to it?

Even if Emerald had killed Qrow, surely Jaune knew they would forgive her eventually. They wouldn't hold her past against her once they saw how she'd changed, and they would definitely give her a chance if Jaune vouched for her.

It wasn't like they were going to attack Emerald and Jaune on the spot! Ruby maybe would have, but even then, they both have aura. They could just put some distance between them and let Ruby cool off. Even if they came to blows, surely Jaune could see than everyone else would break up the fight, even if they didn't like Emerald. No one was going to hurt her in cold blood.

Honestly, it was insulting! He trusted them that little!

"We couldn't take the chance, Yang," Jaune pleaded with her. "I couldn't take the chance."

"You two would have been fine and you fucking know it!" Yang accused loudly, jabbing a finger in Jaune's chest.

"Daddy?" a new voice called out, sending a shiver down Yang's spine. "What does 'fucking' mean?"

Yang turned around to see Emerald panic. Her body went stiff and her eyes went wide, and she looked up at Yang, fearing the worst.

Yang's eyes shifted to the source of the sound. A little girl, maybe six years old, had walked into the room, yawning and rubbing sleep from her eye. She had a skin tone between Emerald's and Jaune's, with long locks of Jaune's blonde hair and Emerald's red eyes. It was like looking in a mirror at an angry Yang, topped off by the fact that the girl was wearing a set of Yang's pajamas from the Team RWBY line that had been licensed.

Yang's words died in her throat.

"I hear mommy say it a lot," the girl continued.

Yang turned to Jaune, eyes wide. Jaune put a hand on Yang's shoulder and leaned in by her ear as he walked past her, whispering a warning. "I will not take any chances, Yang."

Her blood turned to ice with each whispered word. Yang didn't miss how firmly he grabbed her shoulder, or that both Jaune and Emerald were now between Yang and this girl – their kid!

"Sweetie, I have someone I want you to meet," Jaune announced, going down on one knee to get his daughter's attention. Emerald about flipped out on Jaune at that, very clearly against letting Yang anywhere near the kid, but Jaune met her eyes and signaled for her to calm down.

Yang's stomach flopped. She'd just accused Jaune of not trusting them and now he was letting her do this? Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

Once the little girl had wiped all the sleep from her eyes, she looked up to see who her dad was talking about, and her jaw dropped to the floor. Yang could have sworn her eyes sparkled. It clicked: she was wearing Yang pajamas!

"This is a friend of mommy's and mine. Say hi to Yang."

The girl went from amazed to gun-shy in front of her idol almost instantly, fidgeting with her long blonde locks. "H-Hi."

Yang almost melted.

"Yang," Jaune called out, playing along but hiding just a hint of something else in his voice, "this is our oldest daughter, Bixbite Arc, though we call her Bixie for short."

"No!" Bixie shouted, apparently forgetting her bashfulness, stamping her foot and oh my god she's adorable! "I'm fye-ree!"

Jaune laughed good-naturedly, which drew Yang's confusion. He turned to 'correct' himself. "Sorry. We usually just call her 'Fiery.' Emerald wouldn't let me pick any of my friends' names, so I had to figure out how to trick her."

Jaune's eyes trailed up to Emerald's slyly. She gave him a flat look.

"So... 'Fiery'?" Yang asked, confused.

"I was gonna call her a sunny little dragon, but," Jaune looked back over at his daughter, and pointed out her red eyes, "I think she's a little more of a fiery little dragon. Don't you?"

Jaune gave Yang a goofy grin, knowing full-well what that name meant. Yang tried and failed to formulate words several times. Her eyes flicked from Emerald to Fiery to Jaune, and her mouth never quite closed.

"Did… did you say your oldest daughter?"

AN: Fuck me, this chapter covers so much and it still didn't get everything I wanted, and it is 12k words. Next chapter will take care of the rest, if I can ever sit down and write it. We've now caught up to everything I have pre-written.

As for "Bixbite," the name picked itself when I was researching gemstones. Since Emerald, understandably, wouldn't want to name her child after any of Jaune's friends on account of them still being on the hunt for her, Jaune decided to name their kids the same way that Emerald was named: after gemstones. Bixbite is a red gemstone, but there are plenty of those. The reason I went with that one?

Bixbite is a member of a family of gemstones, and the most common and most famous of this family? The emerald.