Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Five

Jaune ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He knew not where he was running, only that for some reason, his own father had just tried to kill him. His own dad!? Nicholas Arc, the man who spoke of justice and 'doing the right thing' had just tried to kill his own son.

Jaune's feelings were in complete disarray, the only thing he knew was that he had to get away. But he was young, but a child, he did not have the endurance to run that long or that far. But adrenaline does things to the human body. So Jaune kept running.

Eventually, Jaune did stop running. Looking around, all he could see were trees, dirt, leaves, and grass. No sight of his father.

With now some time to think, Jaune had no idea what to do now. He had never entertained the thought of running away before, he had no clue as to how to take care of himself, plus his hand was now itching, a sense of heat coming from the hand with the Outsider's mark. What was causing tha-

"Well what do we have here?" A female voice asked.

Jaune literally jumped in fright, he had not heard anyone coming. Turning around, he came face to face to an older woman, her hair grey and piled into a messy bun on top of her head. She was wearing clothes that looked of fine make and material.

"W-Who are you?" Jaune asked, backing into the tree trunk in fear. The heat from his hand was now throbbing. It didn't hurt, but it was an inconvenience.

"Call me Vera Moray" the old woman answered, though she sounded much younger than she appeared, and she spoke with a cultured lilt that spoke of a higher standard of living.

What do you want with me?" Jaune asked, unsure why this stern looking old lady was speaking to him.

"I was taking a stroll when I see a little boy lost in the woods" the old lay answered.

"I'm not lost," Jaune denied. "I'm... I'm playing hide and seek!"

Jaune tried his best to fake a smile as he lied to the woman.

Jaune sighed, he cast a wary eye upon the two Spider Droids blocking his path to freedom. It was going to be one of those days it seems.

Beside him, Blake shifted her stance nervously, black bow twitching as if an electric surge had gone through them.

For a former White Fang operative, her ability to plan ahead is terrible. He thought snidely to himself. Even I knew this was a bad idea, and I'm the guy who thought it was a smart idea to ride a sea dragon from Vacuo to Atlas.

Jaune reached into his satchel and grabbed one of the runes inside. With this contact came the knowledge and understanding of more of the Outsider's gift.

Underneath his glove, the mark shone brightly as it consumed the energy of the rune, causing the piece of rock to turn to dust within Jaune's hand.

With that, came the knowledge of how to possess another human being.

Looking up, Jaune saw the perfect target to possess. The white-haired man was currently smugly smiling down upon the two of them.

Sadly, Jaune would not get that chance as suddenly, both Spider Droids and all of the Atlesian Knights began heading north, soon after went Mr. Schnee and his retinue, even though they had already surrounded both Jaune and Blake.

What the-?

"What's going on?" Blake's question came out almost as a whisper.

"Not sure" Jaune answered, eyes scanning the trees just outside the Schnee property. "But I think I have an idea..."

Jaune trailed off as he set off to the edge of Schnee territory; if his guess was correct, then their little helper will be at the across from Schnee Tower from the southernmost point. In a condemned skyscraper as cover.

Jaune knew this because in some of his spare time, he had devised a plan to infiltrate Schnee Tower as a maintenance crew, and his spotter, according to his plan, would be in a building overlooking the property in case anything went sideways.

Which things usually do.

But regardless, the only other person whom had any inkling of this plan just so happened to indeed be his little helper. Though, Jaune would never be caught dead saying that to her face, he like his own face the way it currently was, all features intact.

With no pomp or even an explosion or two, Jaune and Blake simply jumped the wall and easily passed amongst the civilians on the busy streets of Atlas, which remained blithely unaware of the machines of death that had been a hair's breadth away from shooting in their general direction.

Jaune and Blake made it to the unfinished building, throwing back a piece of tarp blocking a door, Jaune led the way up the structure, seemingly ignoring every other floor until he reached about two-thirds up the building and onto the twelfth floor.

On this floor, Jaune entered the room directly in front of him. Inside was completely bare, there wasn't even carpeting, just cold concrete floors.

But up against the large pane windows was some form of human life; there was a chair, a portable lamp, and at least two dozen empty cartons of neapolitan ice cream.

Jaune gave a small smile as he shook his head. How long has she been following me?

What sounded like shattering glass was heard.

"UGHRK!"

Jaune turned to face Blake with a lopsided smile. Because now the two of them were no longer alone, another person had laid in wait in the room the entire time, having masked herself.

Blake currently did not look very comfortable at the moment with a sword pressed tightly against her throat. Her hand gripping her own sword, but not drawing it.

Jaune cast his gaze upon the wielder of said sword.

"How's it going Neo?"

Sometimes, during the lull of travel, when he was not puking his guts out, Jaune would sit down with just his thoughts, and he would reflect upon his life so far and go back to the times where everything was not so complicated, when he was but a child with an innocence to match, a time where everything was so much simpler.

It hurt sometimes, but he was currently feeling none of that pain as he was remembering the times he had spent running around the yard being chased by his sisters...

Oh, he had thought about his sisters and mother almost every day for the past seven years.

Guilt wormed its way into his heart once more; they had doted on him long ago, though they were not above ordering him around and making him join them in things he would rather not remember.

He shuddered at the memory of being put into a dress... multiple times.

He suddenly felt some tugging upon his left sleeve.

Turning his head, he was met with the concerned mismatched eyes.

"It's fine, just remembering some things from the past"

"..."

Jaune sighed. "No, I'm not mad that you decided to follow me, I'm surprised that you did though"

"...!" She looked at Jaune, eyes narrowed, though she had to tilt her head quite a bit to make eye contact with him.

"For the hundredth time; yes, I owe you, Blake owes you" Jaune rolled his eyes. "I'll take you out to Aubergine get more of that triple flavored ice-cream you love so much"

She smirked at Jaune, her face set into a look of supreme smugness as she sat back in her seat, one leg crossed over the other, parasol resting upon her shoulder.

Jaune suddenly felt another tug, this time upon the sleeve of his right arm.

"Yeah?" Jaune asked snappishly, he saw Blake recoil somewhat from him at his tone, so Jaune cleared his throat and asked again, albeit more softly. "Ahem, yes?"

"Who is she?" she asked simply, eyeing the girl on Jaune's other side.

Jaune opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it as he was pushed back in his seat by the tip of a pink parasol.

He raised a curious eyebrow at its owner, but found her to not even be paying him any attention, all of her focus was on Blake.

Apparently answering some unspoken challenge, Blake unflinching met Neo's gaze. The two girls continued staring at each other s they slowly began to lean forward towards each other.

All the while, they were encroaching heavily upon Jaune's personal space. Jaune himself had no idea what was going on, or what had even sparked this weird staring contest, but he felt that it was in his own best interest that he said and did nothing to draw attention to himself.

Call it a 'man's intuition'.

He could feel the tension in the air, so thick that he could probably cut it with a knife.

Jaune wasn't even sure where the tension originated from, it just appeared, though it centered around Neo and Blake, and by proxy, directly over himself.

Jaune paused as a new thought came to him.

"Who's flying the bullhead?"

Neo's gaze was broken as she answered with a dismissive wave of her dainty hand. Jaune took it as some random guy she coerced into doing it for her.

Jaune shrugged as he leaned back against the metal wall. Maybe if he fell asleep, by the time he woke up, everything will return to normal and Blake and Neo won't be trying to kill each other with glares alone.

Though it would appear that he couldn't have that pleasure, as landing lights flickered on overhead. Jaune could feel the bullhead began to descend

Back in Vale, on the docks was where they parted ways with Blake. She thanked Jaune for aiding in her misguided plan, and also for saving her, before also turning to Neo and also thanking her, though more hesitantly.

Before she left, she asked Jaune one final question;

"What will you do now?"

Jaune gave a shrug. "I'll figure that out along the way."

Blake turned and leaped away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until she disappeared from view going over a warehouse.

Leaving only Jaune and Neo at the docks now.

Jaune opened his mouth to say something, anything at all, but Neo punched the words back down his throat... literally.

Jaune was utterly blindsided by the sucker punch, leaving himself wide open as Neo took sweet, sweet revenge upon him.

Jaune groggily tried to block the axe kick from splitting his head open.

But Neo never fought fair.

The attack was a feint, the figure of Neo shattering like glass as soon as its heel touched Jaune's forearms. Leaving the real Neo to mercilessly jab Jaune with the heel tip of her boot.

Jaune's legs crumpled as he attempted to twist around and grab at her striking legs. Though that just left his midsection open to being stabbed at by the tip of her parasol.

Jaune grunted as the air was ejected from his lungs. He growled in frustration as Neo continued to attack him.

He felt a kick connect to the back of his head, sending him flying face first into a container on the dock.

Jaune groaned as he got out of the Jaune-shaped imprint in the container, surprised at not being attacked again in the past few seconds.

The ringing in his ears was replaced by the sound of metal clanging.

He turned around to see someone he had just said goodbye to not a minute ago.

Blake was currently fighting Neo, she had her katana in one hand, and her sheath in the other, trading blows against Neo at the blink of an eye.

Though Jaune was more than used to Neo's fighting style, he could easily tell when she was taking a fight seriously or not.

And this? This was child's play to her.

While Blake had a look of concentration etched on her face, Neo looked bored beyond belief.

Jaune really needed to break this up, he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself... and bad things tend to happen when Neo was bored, and that wasn't worth the hassle right now.

Jaune reached to draw his own sword, but for the third time this day, he remembered that he no longer had one.

With an aggravated sigh, and a thought, Jaune stopped time.

He grabbed both of their weapons before grabbing both of their frozen bodies by the collar and sitting them down next to each other on some crates.

Time resumed, and both girls pitched forward, hands suddenly empty and momentum stopped. Both girls took a second to steady themselves before simultaneously glaring at Jaune.

"Right" Jaune began. "Before this devolves into the dock blowing up or something..." Jaune turned to Blake. "Thank you for coming to my aid, I didn't need it, like really, but the thought was there, and I am sincerely, touched. But you didn't hav eto come back to save me, I am perfectly fine, Neo wasn't actually going to kill me or anything, she just has a more... physical way of showing that she cares"

He turned to face Neo. "I know you're angry with me, but please, please, can we not do this right now?" Jaune sighed. "I had half a mind to just leave the two of you fighting, and just go find somewhere to crash. I have had a terrible day, and I am this close..." Jaune showed a miniscule amount of distance between his thumb and index finger. "This close to - where did Neo go?"

Blake looked to her right, Neo was still sitting next to her, a look of boredom on her face. Then Neo shattered like glass, along with the parasol Jaune held.

There was the sound of a engine turning on.

Jaune and Blake turned around to see the Bullhead taking off from the docks.

Partway through its ascent, the two of them could distinctly see someone being thrown out the back gangway, before the hatch closed again.

The person screamed before splashing into the water.

Jaune frowned at the Bullhead; it was heading east, last time Jaune checked, there, their safehouse wasn't located in that direction, in fact, not once have they ever taken the bullhead to the safehouse before.

Also, why in the world had Neo suddenly left like she was being chased by the Devil himself?

Jaune's question was answered almost immediately as two new individuals stepped around from some containers across the dock.

The first was a woman, white, middle-aged woman, light-blonde hair in a bun, but with a curl framing the right side of her face, green eyes with glasses. She wears a white pleated top, black pencil skirt, black stockings, and heeled black boots. She also wore a purple cape with an unusual design. She held no visible weapon.

Hidden weapon? Dust user?

Jaune's eyes flickered to her companion; he was an older man, white, possible in his middling years, messing silver hair, thin brown eyes, a mix of black and darker greens as clothes, including a green scarf. The man held a cane, yet walked unassisted.

hidden weapon in the cane like Roman's?

Jaune took all this information in scant seconds and filed it away for future reference, though for the life of him, he swore that he knew the two of them from somewhere. The answer was on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn't quite place them.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Blake stiffen momentarily in surprise before she suppressed the reaction.

Well, she knows who they are... Jaune mused to himself. Which means I should as well.

Jaune's eyes wandered over the two individuals one more time before they were in speaking distance, and this time, something else caught his eye.

It was a pin on the man's scarf.

It was a purple cross.

Jaune had only ever seen that design once before; as a tattoo on his father's wrist as he swung Crocea Mors at him all those years ago.

Blake had had more than her fair share of surprises for the night, heck, maybe for her life; stuff ranging from meeting Miles a second time by pure chance upon a train headed to Atlas, breaking out of Schnee Dust Company headquarters, to meeting one of Miles' friends and subsequently getting into a fight with her to protect Miles after she saw Neo give her best shot at turning him into paste.

But she was completely and utterly surprised when she caught sight of the Headmaster and Deputy headmaster of Beacon Academy. Just what were they doing here? It couldn't have been for them, could it?

Blake wasn't sure what had set Miles off, but suddenly, the very air seemed to vibrate with tension. She took a step back from Jaune, his body emitting white aura, trails of it curling into the air like living tendrils of smoke.

Her ears flattened themselves against her head. instincts telling her to flee from the young man before her.

Blake blinked, and she missed it complete.

One moment Jaune was standing but a few steps in front of her, the next, he had teleported to in front of Headmaster Ozpin and was now effortlessly holding the older man in the air by his lapel.

Blake was so shocked by what just happened that she just stood there, unsure what to do with this new development. Does she take this chance to run? Should she help Headmaster Ozpin and try to de-escalate Miles? Should she just simply wait and watch?

That could not be said about Glynda Goodwitch though, she overcame her surprise and with a gesture of her hand and a frown, she attempted to free her boss from Mile's hold.

That is, before Ozpin raised a hand, and with a placating word stopped her momentarily to her surprise.

"Yes Mister Arc?"

Blake's eyebrows rose at the new name, though they furrowed as she realized that 'Miles' was most likely not his real name.

Blake saw the aura Miles was leaking suddenly stop, before returning as a blazing inferno.

"Who are you!" Miles practically shouted into Ozpin's face. "And why do you have that symbol!?"

"This is very good stew, Granny Vera" Jaune complimented, a smile on his face as he stuffed it full of the meat stew served to him by Vera Moray. "What's in it?"

"Oh? Just whatever is need to help a young boy grow strong... Yes, only the best choice cuts went into the stew" the old woman gave the young boy a smile that did not fit her face at all.

A/N: Been a while hasn't it? Short chapter sorry, I hope to be able to write more, but for now, this is all that I can muster, thank you to those that have bared with me and this story.