Beta: Jefardi

Cover Art: Natzo

Spectrum

Epilogue

The airship began to slow, making its final turn as it prepared to dock.

Outside the window and the magnificent view of Beacon Academy came into view. The school had been almost completely redesigned and even two and a half years after the battle that had taken place was still undergoing additional reconstruction. A testament to just how serious the damage had been.

Yet two and a half years also felt like such a short amount of time. The repairs to the infrastructure would eventually be complete and all the scars of the battle removed. What couldn't be brought back were all the lives lost that day.

Violet stood from her seat and prepared to disembark. As she lifted her luggage from the storage rack above her the ship gave one final tremor just before landing. Her stomach flipped and she instinctively raised a hand to cover her mouth. Only to stop halfway, the motion-sickness never coming on. Even the mental image of her stomach flipping had all been inside her head, a reflex instilled into her over twenty-five years of life. A trauma that did not so easily disappear.

She made her way for the exit, ignoring the wide berth all the other passengers made for her. Most of them didn't look at her out of hatred, but some mixed combination of fear and awe. After all, she was pretty recognizable with her orange eyes, purple hair tied in a ponytail and the wooden bokken strapped to the side of her luggage. Not a single one of their faces were recognizable to her. Stepping outside and making her way down the ramp brought her to two immediately distinguishable faces, however.

"Autumn." She greeted her sister first. Her orange-hair was no longer in two twintails but a single ponytail not much unlike Violet's own. Over the past two and a half years she had grown a little taller, but the most striking difference was the muscle mass she put on. Combined with the gauntlets Ruby had made for her and Violet wouldn't wish for anyone to be on the receiving end of one of her punches.

"Yang." She greeted immediately after. Despite herself, her eyes always lingered on that deep scar across her throat. One Violet had been at least partially responsible for giving her. Her blonde hair had almost entirely grown back out now and she too had it tied in a ponytail. She was wearing an orange tank top covered by an open gray jacket and brown cargo pants while Autumn wore an almost matching outfit just with different colors. Violet had originally compared Autumn's ponytail to her own she was starting to wonder if perhaps that wasn't the case after all.

The two girls stood side by side, not looking to have been waiting for longer than a few minutes. Which was likely the case thanks to Autumn's Semblance. Her sister had learned to attune herself to the frequency of Beacon's land and could utilize her Semblance perfectly within, just as well as she could have anywhere else. So naturally she was able to track Violet right up until the moment she arrived.

"Welcome back, Violet." Autumn beamed straight across at her eldest sister, the two of them the exact same height now. A fact she almost always seemed to relish in if the shit-eating smirk was any indication.

"How long has it been?" Yang placed a hand on her hip, holding up her fingers with the other as she counted back. "A little over four months now, right? That mission took quite a while considering it's you. So how did it go? Find any trace of where Cinder might have gone?"

"Dead end, I'm afraid." Violet shook her head. "All things considered, it's probably for the best. Sometimes no news is good news" The Fall Maiden had gotten away. More specifically, Pride had set her free while still in control of Violet's body. When she did, she had also given her a pretty severe warning about what was coming. It would appear the enemy had taken that warning rather seriously. There was no movement by Cinder or anyone who could even be remotely connected back to her since she fled.

Maybe she never returned to her superior at all? Maybe she was already dead? Violet didn't know but whenever a reliable source popped up that looked like it might bring her closer to the truth and she went to investigate. It was her obligation to do so. She never went alone, her team always dropping anything they had going on to join her. It was better that way. Kept the rest of her family out of the public eye.

"What about you?" Violet asked, nodding towards Yang. "You still haven't gone on that trip to find your mother?" Beacon was on a break right now between semesters. Many of the students should be at home with their families. Classes had only started back up again this year but things seemed to be operating as smoothly as could be expected. Ozpin could at least be commended for that.

"Ah, no..." Yang averted her eyes, a normally uncharacteristic reaction for her. Staring at the ground, she swung her foot back and forth as if trying to sweep dust off the concrete. "He and I were supposed to go looking for her together. It just… I don't know, but it feels wrong to do it on my own now, you know?"

"Of course." Violet smiled gently, stepping forward to place a hand on her shoulder. "It takes some adjusting, but just give it time. I'm sure you'll be able to go on that journey soon. Nothing is more important than those you consider family." And her family was so much bigger now than just those of blood, but all those too who had risked their lives to help them.

A heavy silence fell over them, lastly only a few seconds before Autumn cleared her throat. "The rest of your team?" She asked.

"Rue and Lily both had business in Mistral." Violet stepped past Yang and started walking now. The two girls followed after her, just slowly making their way down the newly paved entranceway. "I wanted to visit Domremy again so I had Wanda drop me off there. The three of them should all be able to join us tonight. Everyone else is still coming?"

There would be a gathering tonight now that Violet was home. Everyone that was considered family would likely come. That meant everyone who offered them help at Beacon. Hei Xiong and his men usually offered to cater such events and he would use the full of his staff to make it an evening no one could possibly have any complaints about.

"Che- yeah." Yang clucked her teeth. "You're finally back after four freaking months! We all worked hard to save your ass, you know? We would like at least some kind of return on our investment here. So why don't you like, I don't know, try sticking around a while this time?"

"You're right. I'm sorry." Violet smiled but there was an uncomfortable truth to Yang's words. Even for as jocular as she said and meant them. Old habits died hard and that was true even for her. If she didn't strive harder to change, then there would be no meaning to the choice Jaune made that day. "So then what's everyone doing right now?"

Autumn smirked, skipping a couple steps ahead in order to lead the way. "Want to see?"

"Come on you slowpokes! Put some hustle into it! I don't see you moving fast enough, you hear me?" Violet heard her younger sister, Ciel, long before she saw her. As was to be expected, she most certainly sounded like she was enjoying herself.

Autumn had led them around the outside of one of the last wings of Beacon to not yet be completely restored. Although at the rate progress was being made, it likely wouldn't be much longer now. Atlas Specialist Robots were running around here and there, doing all sorts of things that ordinarily their code would simply not allow for.

That was because they had been brought to life by Ciel's Semblance and operating completely under her control. After the battle, Winter Schnee had filed a report saying the robots had all been destroyed and while it was true Pride had made them temporarily inoperable, it wouldn't have taken much to fix them. It was just one kindness in the many she had shown to them since everything with the swords ended. It went without saying, but if not for Winter, the Arc sisters would likely have had a much more difficult life than they were currently able to enjoy. If they had a life at all.

Also rushing around with the robots were Cardin Winchester and Dove Bronzewing. The two unfortunate souls likely the ones taking the brunt of Ciel's tirade. They were the only two members left of their team and while Dove received no permanent injuries, Cardin had lost a hand. Atlas technology wasn't to be underestimated and he received a new one within weeks. All without paying a penny. Again, courtesy of Winter.

Ciel stood atop a podium, hands on her hips and megaphone at her side. Not that she needed such a device. She quit wearing contacts about a year ago when Glynda Goodwitch got her a pair of glasses for her birthday. Now she wore those and her wavy blue hair was twirled into two thick twintails that hung in front of her shoulders. She still had the red scarf she was always so fond of but it somewhat clashed with the more business casual style dress she wore now.

Joan and Pyrrha were also both here, the two of them sitting on a bench next to the podium and taking a break. Her sister had grown her blonde hair back out to her shoulders after cutting it to fool Pride. Pyrrha looked almost exactly as she did when Violet first met her on the mission to Mountain Glenn in what seemed like an eternity ago. Even her artificial left foot wasn't visible while she wore her high-heeled boots.

"Violet! You're back!" Ciel caught their approach and so naturally felt the need to address her with the aid of that blasted megaphone. "Alright gents, take five! That means you Autumn's boyfriend. Oh, and I suppose the other guy too."

"Who the heck is my boyfriend!?" Everyone promptly ignored Autumn's rebuttal, not a single one of them fooled no matter how much she tried to deny it.

Ciel hopped down from the podium and together with Pyrrha and Joan met them halfway. "Good to see you're lively as ever." Violet greeted, at least able to appreciate that the Ciel on the inside never changed, no matter how much she changed the way she dressed on the outside. "Must be a pain for all the students here dealing with you as a teacher."

"Pssh, they love me!" Ciel bent over, squeezing her breasts together with her elbows and lifting the frames of her glasses ever so slightly with one finger. "Don't I give off this kind of sexy librarian look? Guys are practically starting fights just to get sent into detention with me!" Well at the very least it was somewhat comforting to know raging hormones was all it took to make teenage boys forget that this girl had once gone on a murder spree only a couple years ago.

"It's even more sickening having to watch it in person." Joan sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I'll seriously never understand the brains of men. She has blue hair! Not just anyone can pull off blue hair…"

Pyrrha giggled, patting Joan's back as if to cure her of the motion-sickness she no longer got. "Now, now. I think it's quite… sweet? Many of them are even improving their grades since they pay such good attention during Ciel's most excellent lessons. They're all scribbling so earnestly in their notebooks whenever she writes on the board."

"Yeah…" When Ciel grinned like that and any Arc sister knew it was time to run. Poor Pyrrha had no such warning system installed. "Hate to break it to you sweet summer child, but they're not really paying attention to what's on the board. They're all infatuated with this marvelous ass trapped in this tight fitting skirt. Only thing they're writing down is material for their spank bank."

"Oh-oh my!" Pyrrha flushed such a deep shade of red you could no longer distinguish her face from her hair and quite literal steam started floating out her ears.

"And with that, I think I've pretty much done everything I needed by coming here." Violet turned and began to walk away. "Rather, I've heard way more than I wanted."

"Aww- you're no fun!" Ciel called after her, naturally using the megaphone. "And hey where do you two think you're going!?" Joan and Pyrrha fell in line with Violet. Rather, Pyrrha was being pushed along by her partner. Her brain did not yet look like it had the capacity to perform proper motor functions.

"Anywhere but here is fine!" Joan hollered over her shoulder, only shortly after muttering a string of curses under her breath. Autumn and Yang caught up a second later but there was a notable hesitance in her sister's steps.

"Go talk to him if want." Violet nudged her shoulder. "Don't hold back because I'm around. We'll have plenty of time tonight and I don't plan on going anywhere for a while this time."

Autumn bit her lower lip and followed after them silently a few steps more. "I'll do that then. See you at home." The others also all bade her goodbye before she turned around and started to sprint off to where Cardin and Dove were taking a break.

"How nice…" Joan sighed almost longingly as they watched her run off.

"Speaking of-" Violet turned to her sister, completely missing Yang's frantic but silent motioning for her to abort. "How have things been going with Ren? Any progress?" Only when Joan's head fell and Yang audibly slapped herself in the face did Violet realize her mistake.

"He's uh… well, he's on a date right now with Nora, actually." Joan immediately lifted her head back up and gave a forced laugh as if to just blow it all away. "Happened right about after you left actually. I mean, it's my own fault. I just kept putting it off and putting it off. Let my insecurities keep getting in the way. Not to mention with what happened to Jaune-" Her voice hitched and trembled. "It just never felt like the right time for me and so I ended up missing it altogether. Just like Yang said I would."

"H-hey now-" Yang quickly stuttered, skipping around to Joan's side and resting a hand on either shoulder. "Let's not bring up that old fight, okay? I was being a pretty insensitive jerk back then when I said all those things."

Joan shook her head. "No. You were absolutely right." She looked up at the blue sky and a little bit of strength returned to her voice. "It's okay now. It took me too long to realize it but the next time I won't let my fears hold me back from making this mistake. Just because this one didn't work out for me doesn't mean it's a bad ending. My team's happiness is what's most important to me. They stayed with me after everything… so the least I can do is wish for them all the best."

"Joan-" Pyrrha turned to face her partner but was at a loss for the words to give her.

"I'm proud of you." So Violet spoke first. "You and I both have a lot to learn it seems. That's okay and we'll figure it out together. Besides, I'm still single too so maybe we can go searching for a good man together?" She smiled confidently, hiking a thumb at herself.

Joan and Yang all looked at Violet. Then they looked at one another. Then back at Violet. There was another second's pause before they both said at once, "That's not very convincing coming from a bro-con."

The rest of the way was walked in a sulking silence.

More accurately, Violet sulked. The other three were chatting about much more light-hearted topics now that they were finally done with all the relationship nonsense.

Finally they came to a small circular garden located in the middle of an old, rarely used building. Flowers of all types grew in inside, creating a discordant rainbow of colors. A glass ceiling filtered the sunlight down in such a way it was almost unnatural, casting a calming glow against everything that fell under its domain.

In the center of the garden was a moss-covered rock taller than they were with the only way to get to it a spiraling pathway that cut through the flowers. Violet took point and they walked in a singlefile line, the pathway only big enough for one person at a time. The garden itself was small, and it would probably only take about twenty steps ordinarily to reach the center following this path.

The longer they stayed on the path, however, and the longer it seemed to become. The walls of Beacon slid away like a backdrop. The moss-covered rock grew taller and started to lean. Ridges grew into its side and by the time they reached the center it had transformed completely into a set of stone stairs that went two stories high. At the end it simply looked like they fell off, leading to nowhere but air.

Violet didn't even so much as pause, long use to the phenomena that would take them to their new home. Ascending the stairs had the same effect as the garden. To an outsider it would look like she had only taken two steps but if she were to look down it would appear to her as if she had already climbed two hundred.

There was no sense in trying to understand the reasoning behind it. This was just how it was when you took one of the few "proper" paths into Fae. Just as they reached the last couple of steps, the sky above them glowed terribly white as if they stepped too close to the stars.

Then their feet stepped down on the lush green grass of a beautiful and expansive yard. There was a bright blue sky, white and fluffy clouds slowly drifting past and being carried by a gentle breeze. Behind them was only a small square-shaped hole, the stone stairs descending into darkness below.

In the middle of the yard was a magnificent, old, wooden, two-story house. The whole area was blocked off by a post wooden fence. On one end of the yard was a deep, green forest. Beyond that forest and you could see Yggdrasil reaching into the sky. On the other side of the yard were rolling hills for miles.

"Welcome home, child." And just in front of them was The Queen of Fae herself. She was absolutely radiant. Her fair skin and deep forest green eyes almost painful to look at. Had Violet not been part Fae and she would have been.

Pyrrha and Yang had no such immunity, unable to look upon The Queen for even a full second unless she veiled her form. Made it something a human brain could categorize without going crazy. "I'll take them ahead." Joan took both girl's hands in her own and started to guide them away.

Violet waited until they were out of earshot to speak, fixing her gaze solely on her aunt. "I'd say it's a pleasant surprise, but it's not. You have a bad habit of popping up in front of me whenever I'm in Fae recently. You're still not trying to convince me to take that offer, are you?"

The Queen looked to smile, Her expression only somewhat changing. It was hard to read the mannerisms of the Fae for humans as they always looked perfectly neutral, but again Violet had a higher sense for these things than others might.

"Petulant as ever." She said. A phrase that was quickly becoming customary whenever the two met. "No, I am not here to ask you to take your mother's place this time. You have the disposition for it, but I can see now you are not quite ready for the mantle yet either. It is fine. In time, it will come to pass and I will be ready to accept you when it does. You've seen The Gate now. You know of my responsibility and of the one I will eventually task to you. It is inevitable."

She paused just long enough to let that haunting prediction hang in the air. No, to Her it wasn't a prediction but an already bygone fact. "This is neither here nor there, however. And this also is not perfectly Fae. You are at the interstice. An overlap between Fae and Remnant. The house of that Young Fool-"

"In our legends, we just refer to him as the Old Man." Violet cut her off. As far as she knew, she was the only one that had the guts to do such a thing to The Queen. She also suspected that might have been another reason her aunt kept coming around. It was just a hunch, but Violet kind of got the impression She liked having someone who would talk to Her this way.

"Yes, I suppose to the humans he would look that way." The Queen inclined Her head, violet and red hair being lightly jostled by the wind. "He has long since vacated the lands and by The Accords that means they were returned to me. Do not forget that it was the third favor I granted you: The ownership of this house."

Violet scoffed. "Is that what you've come to remind me of? The only thing that favor did was make you even with my mother."

"My point is, dear niece, that you spend all that time chasing after the child of Fall when you live in the home where its power originated." The Queen spoke as if She was talking to an infant, which by her definition Violet wasn't even that. "Consider this wisdom an exchange for having heard out my previous request." Having said Her piece, the Queen turned and began to walk towards the forest.

There was no doubt in Violet's mind She would be back tonight. So for now she just let Her go and decided to shelve Her riddle for another time. She had just gotten back home. It was too early to try and deal with shit like that.

Violet made her way to the corner of their yard where a decent sized garden had numerous vegetables currently growing. It was Amethyst's pride and joy, her sister spending most of her free time tending to it.

Joining her this time was Winter Schnee and the android girl, Penny. Winter stood outside the garden, arms crossed and watching the two of them with unveiled amusement. Amethyst was hunched over and looked to be attempting to explain to Penny the careful and delicate art of gardening. Neither of which those things Penny was even remotely good at.

"You're still here and not in Atlas?" Violet didn't speak until she was standing right next to Winter. The Specialist gave a small jump, face immediately arranging itself into its usual scowl.

"Of course not." Winter said, lifting a fist and clearing her throat. " You all should consider yourselves lucky that this house has a similar entrance at all four academies. It is my mission to remain by you Arc girls and report all your comings and goings. We have to make sure you don't start up another kind of world-wide disaster." That was what she said and it certainly looked convincing with her freshly ironed uniform and that saber hanging off her hip. However-

"You seem to spend an awful lot of time watching the comings and goings of one of us in particular." Violet nodded to Amethyst with a smirk Ciel would have been proud of.

She knew at least there was some truth to Winter's words. It was convenient for many of them in that this house linked to all four academies. For that reason alone, Reese and her team would be able to come meet them tonight and so could Coco and Velvet who were vacationing in Vacuo. All they had to do was hop into Shade and take the proper path and they could be back at Beacon in a matter of minutes. That was also why Winter was able to spend so much time here, of which she certainly seemed to take advantage of.

Amethyst hadn't changed too much. She still had the same indigo hair kept short, only it was somewhat hidden by the sun hat she wore whenever gardening. She still mostly wore tank tops but had traded most the black one out for white and also wore short jean shorts. Numerous scars littered her exposed legs and arms from the Nevermore feathers, but she never seemed to mind. Said it made her look more "rock." Whatever that meant.

"T-that statement does not have the least bit of factual evidence! I keep a log of all my recordings that I have to send. I can show them to you. I'm simply here right now because she would be alone with Atlas property otherwise. There's nothing else going on here!" Winter sputtered out in rapid fire bursts, face quickly turning red. Violet was already ignoring her, focusing her ears on Penny and Amethyst's conversation.

"Alright Penny. So that's pretty much the basics of gardening. Think you've got this?" Amethyst took a step back, looking only cautiously optimistic about leaving Penny to do any sort of thing that had to do with maintaining her personal garden.

"I do believe I understand the rudimentary instructions behind the task given to me, yes." Penny bobbed her head, crooked pink bow swinging like it would fall off any moment. "However, I find this method to be a most inefficient way to procure fresh nutrients. Are there not simpler ways?"

"That's- well..." Amethyst sighed. "It's just the way the gardeners do it, Penny."

"And the garden people-" Penny asked. "They enjoy this?"

Amethyst paused, fought off another sigh, and nodded. "Yes, Penny. They enjoy it very much."

"Then I shall enjoy it as well!" That was all she said before vigorously setting to work under the increasingly anxious eye of her teacher.

Amethyst looked up just long enough to make eye contact and acknowledge her sister was home, but any conversation would have to wait until later.

So Violet decided to head back to the house and finally drop off her luggage.

Coming up to the house, she found Yang waiting on the front deck, but Joan and Pyrrha had already disappeared inside. The blonde was leaned over her faunus partner, Blake, who sat cross-legged on the wooden floor and was currently locked in an intense game of shogi with Yatsuhashi.

"What are you three doing out here?" Violet asked, coming up the short steps and dropping her luggage next to the front door.

"Apparently Olivia is going through one of her mood-swings again." Yang answered for them. The other two appeared locked deep in concentration, each one moving their pieces quickly and employing countless strategies.

They were the two most talented players of the game Violet ever had the pleasure of meeting. None of her other sisters would ever humor her with a game and while Jaune would always try, it was never much of a match. Watching them now made her want to relax and play, but from the sounds of things that probably would have to wait.

"Joan and Pyrrha went inside to try and help Rouge and Ruby calm her down but-" There was a loud crash inside.

Followed immediately by Ruby screaming, "I need an adult! I need an adult!"

Violet could feel the headache forming already. With a sigh that said she was getting too old for this, she opened the front door and entered her home. Yang followed behind, peeping cautiously over her shoulder to get a better view.

And what a view it was.

Rouge stood halfway up the stairs, hiding behind the railing and looking down into the living room. Pyrrha and Joan had barely made it past the entranceway, both lost on how to proceed without further complicating the situation. And Olivia was in the middle with a seven-month pregnant belly, one hand lifting an armchair with Ruby in it, the other sweeping under it with a broom.

"Olivia!" Violet barked, causing her green-haired sister to twitch and drop the chair. Ruby gave a sudden yelp and Rouge immediately bee-lined it to her fallen friend. Silence settled over the room, Olivia trembling like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and waiting for whatever punishment she would receive.

The eldest sister walked up to her, placed a hand on her shoulder and wordlessly guided her over to the couch. Once she was sitting and facing the tv, Violet turned it on and placed the remote in her hand while removing the broom. "Olivia." She repeated again, this time voice soft, but with the same harsh intensity as when she shouted.

"Y-yes…" Her indigo eyes glanced at what was playing on tv and then up at her sister before quickly going back to the tv.

"You're strong. Physically more so than any of us." Violet explained to her like she was a child and not a twenty-four year old woman on the verge of having a child. "However, you just cannot be doing things like cleaning and you most certainly cannot lift anything more than a few pounds, do you understand me?"

"Yes." Olivia looked like she had many things she wanted to say but she wisely kept them all to herself. It was just downright astounding that of all their siblings, it would be her that would be the first one to give birth to the next generation of Arcs.

Regardless, she was the one carrying what would be Violet's first niece or nephew. And if Olivia was going to do something stupid that jeopardized that child while it was still in her womb… it was a long time since Violet felt herself this mad. There was almost no describing it. Seeing the regret on her younger sister's face did succeed in calming her down if only a little.

She of course knew it wasn't entirely Olivia's fault. The additional hormones were making her act a lot more crazy than usual. They just all had to work together to make sure they kept her in check and take care of whatever it was she needed to help alleviate that burden however they could.

"Joan," Violet turned to her sister and partner. "Go make Olivia whatever it is she's been having cravings for this time." Her sister immediately complied, Pyrrha following after to help. "Rouge," Violet then turned to her youngest sibling who was just now helping her best friend stand.

"Yes, big sister?" Rouge smiled and waited for her instructions. Violet felt her breath hitch, giving Rouge another once-over. In the time since they moved into this home, Rouge had grown up the most of them. Which wasn't surprising considering she had the most to grow but Violet always felt a strange sense of longing for the little girl to come back when looking at the young woman in front of her now.

Her fiery red hair had grown long enough to hang halfway down her back and she no longer kept it in any kind of childlike pigtails. She was almost as tall as Violet and grew wonderfully into a gorgeous one-piece dress that she was wearing now. Most striking was simply her face and eyes which seemed to lack of all their innocence. She had been forced to grow up mentally fast thanks to everything that happened and it showed.

Unlike Autumn and Joan, she had decided against going to Beacon and finishing her Huntress education. For now she was happy just not to have to fight anymore, instead taking care of the house with Olivia. The only one of them who had returned to active duty was Violet, although Ciel still held onto her certificate to be able to teach. Amethyst might have had it somewhere but seemed content not to use it, just spending her time in that garden.

For most of their sisters, it was just easier to remain here on the border between Fae and Remnant. Many people still hated them, but so long as they remained here it felt like that problem was worlds away. In truth, that rage directed at them was already starting to disappear.

It wasn't that their anger went anywhere, it just got directed somewhere else. Since the last great war, the Sacred Arc Swords had been threatened as a powerful deterrent. No kingdom wanted to pick a war if it meant having the swords turned against them. Now that the swords were no more and tensions seemed to be escalating recently, in particular between Atlas and Mistral.

Vale continued to try and play negotiator between the two, but without the big stick they used to flaunt around it was finding that to be an increasingly difficult task. Even moreso when their own military was considerably smaller. If war did break out, Vale would have no choice but to stay out of it or pick a side.

Regardless of what they decided, Violet had already made up her mind and it was the same as Rouge. She would not fight. There had been too many lives taken by her hand already. It was something perhaps all of them agreed on.

It was better for them just to stay here now.

"You and Ruby sit on either side of Olivia." Violet hadn't even paused for a second, but it had been just enough for her sister to raise an eyebrow curiously. "If she starts to move too much, one of you come get me." She finished the next statement while looking directly at the culprit. "I'll come deal with her again." Olivia gulped.

"Now then," With that taken care of, Violet decided to move onto her last piece of business. Only after that could she finally take a minute to relax. "What is Noir doing?"

There was a slight strangeness that filled the room. It was barely noticeable and it only lasted for the briefest of moments in time but you could not deny that it had been there. It was the natural effect of talking about someone who had died a thousand years ago, was brought back to life, and was now living with you.

Noir was family. That was first and foremost important thing. Not just in blood, but in their lives as well. She lived in the same house as them, shared meals with them, told stories, listened, laughed, and shared the same weight of guilt. Her guilt may have even been the heaviest of them all. When their family had come together to heal, they welcomed Noir as their eighth sister. Even if she was a thousand years older than them all, in many ways she was the same as the rest of them.

"She's out back." Rouge pointed towards the rear of the house. "I believe they're practicing right now." Violet nodded and set out, but not before giving Olivia one last warning glance.

Yang again followed behind her and together the two of them went to meet Noir.

The two of them walked out into the backyard and stopped side-by-side.

An unnatural silence settled between the two women, one Violet was never entirely sure how to broach when it was just them. It was always easier when another one of her sisters was there, as they all seemed to know and get along with Yang better than she ever could. That bond had never quite been there for her.

Their first memory of one another was Violet putting a hole in her throat and nearly murdering her little sister. It was a distant memory for them both and one they both knew Violet hadn't been at fault for. All the same, it seemed to have left a kind of permanent awkwardness that they could just never get around. There was also the other matter to consider.

"You and I never really talk about Jaune." Yang said, placing a hand on her hip and looking out over the yard. Violet glanced sideways at her before quickly returning her own gaze forward.

"There's nothing about him that you and I have to talk about." Violet attempted to dismiss the topic. Perhaps this was Yang's way of trying to say that she wanted to talk about it. However, it still wasn't something Violet was ready or willing to address, even at twenty-seven years of age.

"That's fine then." Yang shrugged. If she was upset at having the topic brushed aside, she certainly didn't show it. "Just thought maybe you would want to sometime." She too went quiet.

"...Thank you." Violet whispered after several seconds of silent deliberation. "But it's okay. I think you and I understand each other without anything needing to be said." As two people who loved Jaune for who he had been, there was no need for words between them. Although, there was one thing Violet was always curious about. "Do you ever resent him for the decision he made?"

Yang gave an almost amused smirk, no doubt finding some sense of victory in prompting Violet to ask such a question. "Eh, not really." She said plainly. "He wouldn't have been the guy I fell in love with if he didn't make that decision and it was one I knew he was going to make before it even happened. The difference between him and me was I believed in Noir to make the right choice too. If they were really as similar as he said they were, than I had no reason to doubt her. That's why I never had any doubt that he would still be able to keep his promise to me while staying true to himself. And would you look at that, Noir delivered." She snapped a finger and pointed ahead.

Violet's gaze settled on Noir. As her youngest sister had said, she was standing in the middle of the yard. Her pitch-black hair was tied down in a straight ponytail and she had thick white wraps covering her mutilated hands. In one hand she held Sloth, the dagger she would project from time to time when training.

The weapons lacked the raw power they used to have when summoned. They were only strong before because they had a thousand years of Ambient energy built up. Noir only spent twenty-two years alive as a human and her average Aura levels reflected this. It was enough for her to be a force to be reckoned with in battle but when compared to the power they used to have and the weapons just couldn't hold up.

She had taken over Jaune's body, leaving him without a vessel to house his soul. It hadn't been a choice of her own, but a byproduct of Jaune destroying all the swords and completely restoring her soul inside the glyphs. Noir had even tried to give him his body back, but Jaune had rejected that. Now it was hers, the shape of the body conforming to her soul. When Jaune had made that choice, he had given ownership over to her and there was nothing left to anchor his soul in this world.

Only one of them was able to live in that body. It was an unwritten rule that they all had been aware of. It was a rule none of them had wanted to accept. Perhaps it was because it was an outcome no one wanted that led their ancestor to fight against such an ending.

Noir took notice of them, her blue eyes glancing over to Violet for a second. She gave a short nod in acknowledgement before turning back to her opponent, the man standing about ten paces away from her. He too noticed them and while it was clear he wanted to come over and greet them, he instead waited to first be dismissed.

"How about after this we take a break?" Noir asked. "Sound good, Jaune?"

He smiled and nodded right away, "Yeah."

Violet started to rise from Noir's lap, Lily and Wanda helping her to her feet.

There was silence. Jaune had disappeared completely now, having given his life so Noir could live.

As his sister, it was a complex series of emotions that gripped Violet's heart. Losing the brother she loved and was willing to die for was heart-wrenching in the worst possible way. Like a part of her had been ripped away and she would never be whole again. She was also so immensely proud of him. He got to be a hero to someone in the way he always wanted, saving not just all of his sisters but now Noir as well. Even though she didn't ask to be saved, he did so anyways.

The one who was saved sat there, staring blankly at where Jaune had last been. It was like Noir was unable to accept it and still saw him there as he had been.

"Come on, Noir. We need to go." Violet bent down and offered a hand to help her ancestor up. They couldn't afford to stay here much longer. Not too far from them was a giant black door. The Gate as it was known in Fae, a source of such pure malignant evil that humanity itself could not comprehend it. To remain near the Gate even as long as they had been already was unwise.

The wound between Violet's ribs ached. Wanda was an incredible healer, borrowing power from the little sprites she talked with. In this part of Fae and she could only do so much. That was fine. Violet did not much mind this wound. It was one she had received trying to help Noir too. Just like Jaune had, she was prepared to sacrifice herself for someone who never before had someone willing to do that for them.

"...You idiot siblings." Noir mumbled under her breath, not looking at Violet's hand but still where Jaune had been. Her body trembled, self-mangled hands coming up and gripping the side of her head as if to fight off an impending migraine.

She crawled to a stand with her own strength and then glared up at the cloudy sky. Lightning flashed between the dark clouds, as if reacting to the budding rage that festered inside her tiny body. In only a matter of moments it all boiled over and Noir was able to contain it no longer.

"You stupid, selfish asshole-!" Noir screamed out against the man who saved her. "What do you mean by go to Beacon!?" She screamed out against his idea. "What do you mean by make friends!?" She screamed out against his wish. "What's the point in making wonderful memories if you aren't there to share them!?" She screamed out against his one-sided decision. "I refuse to accept an ending like this! I'll show you an ending where we both get to live! So don't go telling me all these things like it's already been decided you know-it-all!" She screamed against the ending he sought.

Noir placed both hands over her chest and closed her eyes. There was a small flash of light in her hands as she projected something, this time an object Violet had never seen before. It was a sheath like Pride, only it couldn't have been Pride. This one was pure white and too short. A full-length katana could not have fit inside but instead it was just long enough for a wakizashi.

"What is this?" Violet asked. It could not have been formed from any of Noir's sins but it had to be formed from some fragment of her soul. Perhaps more importantly, what did she plan to do with this?

"This was an experiment." Noir answered, holding up the sheath in front of herself like it was a holy relic. "The first of the swords I ever projected, even before my Lust. This one was born from my Humility, or a small piece of it at least. However, it was a failure and did not have any combat potential. The only thing it has is the ability to "accept." I did not see a purpose in such an ability at the time and destroyed it, but now…" Her voice trailed off.

"Now what?" Violet couldn't help the voice that leaked into her voice. Was Noir actually saying- was there a way to save Jaune? Noir hadn't looked for such an answer before because she fully intended to die. She and Jaune were the exact same in that regard. Now that it was obvious that both sought an ending where the other got to live, she turned to something she hadn't even before considered.

Noir did not answer, closing her eyes and putting all her concentration into the task at hand. Jaune's soul must have nearly been gone now. All Noir needed was the smallest remaining fragment and from the middle of her chest she pulled a tiny glowing white orb. It flickered in the wind, like a weak candle flame that could go out at any moment. She cupped it with the palm of her hand to keep the wind from snuffing it out and then placed the small flickering light inside the sheath from where you would insert a blade. Once safely inside, she then capped the sheath with the palm of her hand as if to keep the soul from popping back out. There was a moment where it looked like nothing would happen, but then the whole thing glowed in an extrinsic white light. With a flash too bright to see-

Jaune was reborn using that sheath as a vessel.

Violet's younger brother tensed for his practice battle against Noir.

Noir took her shape when she superseded Jaune's body. Despite the fact he was taller than her, shoulders more broad and had an extra piece of flesh she most certainly lacked. In that same way, the sheath had transformed into Jaune when his soul was inserted. He looked almost exactly like he used to except for two key differences.

The first, his hair was no longer blonde but a white completely absent of color. The second, the scars on his hands were no longer there. He was completely free from the curse of the glyphs.

No longer having the scars was expected. Jaune's soul was completely his own now whereas the Shatter Glyphs had just been a way to pass on Noir's Semblance.

The white hair was a mystery, even to their ancestor. She theorized that it was because Jaune's soul had been weak and on the verge of disappearing so it assimilated a part of Humility's soul to complete itself. Although this didn't seem to have much effect on his personality and he was the same Jaune he had always been. He was as much a human as the rest of them.

He charged, closing the distance between himself and Noir while completely unarmed. Violet noticed there was no falter in his step and no sense of his balance being off. This was a major improvement, even upon four months ago.

The fact of the matter was, Jaune had been brought back to life by using something not a human as his vessel. Whereas Noir's new body already had all the necessary muscle-development and proper conditions to use her body immediately, Jaune's lacked anything like this. When he had first been brought back, he was like a freshly awoken coma patient with muscle atrophy.

Even just walking or putting his own clothes on had been impossible for him. It had taken a year of physical therapy just to get him to a state where he could go out and function normally enough to perform all the tasks of a regular given day.

Now that he had progressed beyond that and they were working on improving his combat and self-defense skills. Jaune would never be as strong as he once was and even if he could be it would take many more years to reach that state. All they needed was him to become at least strong enough to hold his own. That way when he and Yang one day left in search of her mother, he wouldn't die the first moment she took her eyes off him.

In that regard, it was fortunate he had something of a Semblance now too.

Just before Jaune reached Noir, he held an arm out and a short sword materialized in his right hand. Noir waved Glacies Inferno like a wand and a pillar of ice formed in between the two of them. Jaune gripped the sword with both hands and swung horizontally. With that one swing, he split the pillar in half and pressed the charge.

It wasn't the Semblance he would have been born with. That was forever lost even now. It was yet another side effect of having his soul stuck into a different vessel. Since his true body was actually a sheath, something meant to hold swords, perhaps it made sense that his special ability was now being able to store and project swords.

It was like a dream come true for Ruby, who constantly kept smithing new and increasingly elaborate swords for him to use. Just by simply touching the sword he could absorb it and store it inside himself. Then he could summon them at will, although he prefered to use the simple ones compared to Ruby's more off-the-wall designs.

Jaune chased Noir down, their ancestor constantly back-peddling and creating a series of pillars between herself and him. He continuously cut his way past them, always striking at the most vulnerable point and with the least amount of effort wasted. Even if his natural reflexes would never be where they once were, his combat-sense was still top-notch and his skill with the sword was getting continuously better.

"Looks like he still needs to work on his stamina." Violet observed aloud, the fight coming to an end. Jaune collapsed to his knees and was panting desperately, sweat dotting his forehead and shirt. This was only after a minute and a half of continuous effort. Considering where he had been and it was a tremendous improvement, but in the wilds it wouldn't be enough to outrun a single Grimm.

"Eh, I don't know about that." Yang grinned and gave Violet a suggestive wink. "He had plenty of stamina last night if you know what I mean."

"Bring up your sex life involving my brother again and I won't hesitate to finish what Pride started." Violet said without humor. She seriously wondered for a second if she could even blame it on the sword. Wasn't her fault, it just took back over for a moment and then disappeared. She didn't even know what happened.

"You're just jealous." Yang called over her shoulder, already walking towards Jaune. Violet clucked her teeth but did not pursue, instead remaining standing at the edge of the house. Yang passed by Noir who was going in the opposite direction, dispelling Sloth and returning the sin to be a part of her soul.

"Welcome back, Violet." She stopped next to her and together the two of them watched as Yang helped Jaune to his feet. When they leaned in to kiss and Violet averted her eyes, looking down at her ancestor.

"Things seem to be going well." Violet noted, saying anything to give her an excuse not to focus on Yang and her brother.

"He's making remarkable progress." Noir agreed with a nod, leaning her back against the wall of the house and crossing both arms. Unlike Violet, she had no problems with looking at Jaune while he talked with his girlfriend. "Having a goal to drive him forward I think is a big part of it. He feels guilty for holding Yang back on her quest. That and he's always been pretty tenacious, not knowing when to quit."

"That's true too." Violet rested a hand on top of Noir's head, rustling her hair like she would any of her sisters. "I was referring to you, however. Everything been going alright with everyone else?" They all treated Noir well enough when in Violet's presence, but she couldn't help but be curious when she was gone for a length of time how things held up.

"Heh, you really have to ask?" Noir scoffed as if to tell Violet she worried for nothing. "You're the only one in this family I've seen able to hold a grudge. Your sisters have welcomed me since day one and have never given me reason to think they were being fake about it. Maybe awkward at first, but never fake."

"That's good then." Violet left it at that, not bothering to add that it was only natural they would welcome her. Noir had saved Jaune's life. He tried to sacrifice himself for all of them and if not for Noir, he probably would have succeeded. Noir couldn't see it that way because she still blamed herself for a lot of what happened, but to the rest of them it was an obvious truth.

She was their family now too, just as much their sister as if she had been born to the same parents.

"Violet." Jaune walked up to them, smiling brightly down at his big sister. It always surprised her to realize that he was the taller of the two. It had been that way for a long time and yet she couldn't help but always feel like he should be shorter. "I missed you." He said. Words he never would have given voice to before he said freely now. With strong hands, he wrapped Violet in a hug and pulled her tightly against him.

It was a normal gesture between family. Yet one Violet hadn't realized she missed so much until just this moment. It really made her feel like an idiot and a jerk for having managed to stay away so long again. Resolving herself to be better, Violet returned the hug and held her brother as if she never meant to let him go.

"I missed you too, Jaune." She whispered in his ear. "This time I'll stay for a while. I promise."

This was different from that promise of thirteen years ago. That was one she never would have been able to keep and it was one he had never expected her to keep. They had both finally managed to grow up since then and were almost completely different people now.

He was no longer that boy who wondered what his purpose was. She was no longer the girl that didn't know how to protect him.

Time had frozen for them in that shed for many years. Her image of family had been broken that night and his idea of what he should be for family became skewed. They both were lost and remained stuck, unable to move forward and unable to change who they were.

It wasn't until they both decided to save someone and in return that person saved them that they were able to resume walking again. Jaune and Violet had so much catching up to do in order to make up for all the time the two had remained standing still.

That was fine, however.

There was plenty of time for them to do that now and they had a huge family to help show them the way. Together they would move forward alongside with everyone else.

That was also part of what it meant to be family.

Epilogue End

Afterword

Real Talk: How many of you skimmed through this chapter to see if Jaune made it? I don't know how many of you will believe me if I say this, but I will anyways- there was never an ending in this story where I had planned Jaune to die. Noir was supposed to die in my first few original drafts. In fact, her surviving was a much more recent change. I brought it up before, but Noir was intended to be the real villain of this story and that gradually changed throughout the writing process.

In my very first version of the ending, Jaune was actually never supposed to be the one who transformed into Noir. In fact, it was supposed to be Olivia. My original plan had Envy's true sword as a little needle blade hidden inside the giant claymore. Jaune was supposed to destroy the Claymore and Envy from then would pretend to be Olivia until he broke the last sword and all the souls would merge with Envy, leading to Noir getting revived inside Olivia. Jaune would win, but his hands would still be messed up and useless after breaking all the swords.

I abandoned this plot around the time I was working on the battle scenes happening in Junior's club so it was a very early change. It got changed for two reasons: The first being it made Olivia's role redundant and Jaune just ended up saving her twice. Then to a lesser extent, it also had plot holes I never worked around. My beta actually fought me really hard against making this change. He liked this original idea because it was a more out-of-nowhere kind of twist. He didn't like the Jaune-being-taken-over route because it was way easier to see coming and more cliche. In the end and I chose the cliche over getting that plot-twist. Maybe some of you would agree more with my beta in this case?

After switching it to Jaune getting possessed, Noir was still supposed to be the primary antagonist. All seven sisters were supposed to fight Noir together and she was going to die by running out of Aura and Jaune taking back over. It wasn't until I wrote Noir's backstory and had to implement it that I realized she was too flat a character as she was. So her role got changed and that big climatic fight removed. I also kind of realized that the fight between Jaune and Pride was the real emotional climax of the story. So what I did was make the two fights after that smaller, more personal battles and they were intended to be the falling action.

I don't know if you noticed, but I quit writing from Jaune's perspective entirely after chapter 50 and didn't write from his PoV again until chapter 66 when they found out about their mother. This was because his growth stagnated and in some ways also relapsed after that first conversation with Noir. The story became much more about the rest of his sisters and resolving their personal conflicts for the last third or so. Family was always the core theme of the story, so of course they were all going to be important in more ways than just a check-list to be saved. It just wasn't until I started considering Noir as someone very much like them that I got an exact idea on the ending I wanted to reach.

Just a small bit of insight from me about how we got to this ending. I know it won't convince anyone who was dissatisfied with it and if anything it probably made some of you wish I stuck to one of the older plans. All the same, I felt it worth saying.

Jefardi was the beta and helped me in many ways when creating this story. From the early planning phases he helped me with some of the abilities of the swords and with choosing a variety of the weapons. He helped me figure out Jaune's fighting style and suggested some good videos to give me an idea of what I was going for. He is also the one who named Olivia, as originally I was calling her Ivy but wasn't quite feeling that name. He wrote one of the omakes and also read almost every chapter before release to make sure it was as good as could be. So serious credit goes to him for helping as much as he did.

Now a word from Jefardi:[Huzzah its done! I really don't have a whole lot to add to what Cynd said; its been a crazy ride lasting close to three years (since the outlining started or at least when I was brought in).

My comments are thus;

Winter and Amethyst fuck. They fuck a lot in the futuuuureeeeee. (Its the one pairing I wanted to have happen)

Originally we were going to have every sister be with someone, with the only exception being Violet and I think Ciel? This was one of the few fights I think I won... or Cynd just decided to scrap it because less work? It's all a nebulous thing at this point.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this project, for me, was hearing the entire outline, and then every 15-20 chapters later (almost without fail) going "wait, this doesn't make any sense?" and finding out that Cynd had changed it. Fairies are a good example of this, which came in rather abruptly to me because I believe he was reading the Dresden Files. Speaking of...

I know Cynd has said this before, but this deserves to be reiterated. I don't think there has been a single original idea in his writing. A very good case of this is the amount it pulls from Fate. I won't give any spoilers besides which route (Heaven's Feel), but I recently played the game and I swear, I fucking swear, this fucker was copying line for line in some of the combat. It was really hilarious when you have the context.

So if anyone noticed that the writing style towards the end changed... well, that's why.

If you want a good laugh and have time, there are a handful of series to watch/read if you ever want some more context about what I'm talking about;

A Certain Magical Index, Katanagatari, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fate/Stay Night (the Visual Novel, especially Heaven's Feel) and probably the Dresden Files (I haven't read that one so less sure). I'm probably missing some but those are the big influences on this.

Wow, I just started to ramble, well shit.

Anywho, thanks for reading! The comments to the chapter before this were really funny! Now back to Cynd and the rest of his notes!

P.S. The one thing that got cut that really did make me sad was Gluttony was supposed to summon Adolf Reinhard from Terra Formars... poor guy got screwed even in fan fiction.]

Everything he said is true, by the way.

Natzo is another person who contributed immensely in a way I would never be capable of by myself by drawing all of the Arc sisters and several other works depicting characters from the story. The latest one includes portraits of the Arc parents, Fae Queen, Noir, Jaune's uncle and a little comic with VLWR. As always, links to these are all on my profile page.

The Spookiest of Noodles and Aegir01 both wrote an omake to help flesh out the Arc sisters further and Confections101 drew some fanart of Lily that I also have linked on my profile. The following users all gave me fantastic suggestions for omakes that I ended up using, sometimes suggesting things I had never thought of and helping me add a layer to these OCs I might not have been able to without their input: Eunoshin, greyshinobi1, insert name, a very lazy person, Elfzero, volcaniclord, Suna no Ken, Drake D Zero, TheLittleJimmy, the things that define you, Master Attlon, The Flippant Writer, Eternal King, and Cormag Ravenstaff.

Seriously, thanks to everyone who reviewed this story at one point or another along the way. There have been many insightful responses throughout the whole story, even amidst some of the more rightfully critical ones. Even if I didn't respond as much as I should have, I read every single review and spent a lot of time thinking about many of them. Some brought up things I hadn't even thought of and ended up making it into the story. Some brought up really good points that unfortunately just didn't get addressed or the story was already going down a different route. There was a lot of great constructive criticism that's helped me improve and I'll look back at again to continue improving.

Spectrum covered a lot of different themes and I experimented with several different styles of writing throughout, trying to find what works best for me and exploring how to be a better writer. As I mentioned above too, but my ideas grew and changed a lot throughout the writing process. Sometimes those changes were because of plot-holes, sometimes they were because I found ways to better serve the themes/plot, sometimes they were because of new information Canon gave us, sometimes because of good suggestions in a review, and other times they were just on a whim or I was reading something that influenced me. I think that created a sometimes uneven reading experience and certain parts of the story ended up much stronger/weaker than the others.

Regardless of all the flaws it has, I do thank everyone who stuck it out the whole way. I know it was asking for a lot to get you invested in seven OC characters right off the bat and even more along the way. So really, thank you.