Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Happy New Years and all of that good stuff, people. I'm back with a chapter I was supposed to be releasing on the 25th exactly, just to be cute, but I mucked it up and didn't manage it. This chap has been sitting near complete for about five days, basically just needing finishing touches.

I've touched it. Oh boy have I touched this fic. And speaking of people touching the fic, good ol' Kegi Springfield just so happened to make some art for this fic; I've tossed that up as the title pic. Thanks a bunch my dude.

Further, another fellow by the name of Racellos on Deviantart tossed something together too; it's an emblem for Frigus Jaune, which is pretty nice; he hit the nail on the head in my opinion, it looks great.

Disclaimer; I don't own RWBY. Hey, who wants to watch a ship sink?

Classes were back in session again for the students of Beacon Academy, and after the rather hectic events over the course of his time off Jaune Arc wasn't exactly disappointed by that.

Jaune and Nora had been subject to brief scrutiny from their teammates after arriving back in their dormroom, something they had merely waved off with a pair of smiles.

The next morning found Nora conked out in his bed rather than Ren's... or her own for that matter.

Pyrrha had given them a curious look, but Ren merely rolled his eyes at it as though he was used to it. And he probably was, honestly. Nora was the kind of person who just did whatever she felt like at any given time.

Over the next few days, Team CRDL had ended up pretty much keeping to themselves rather than harassing him. So that was good, and further Cardin himself had kept his shit to himself.

At the moment, they were in Oobleck's class. Currently he was on a rant about the Faunus War, darting about the classroom with a thermos that was probably filled with coffee. Or some kind of energy supplement maybe? Some secret brew to give him his powers?

... probably coffee. Jaune really hoped it was coffee.

"Yes, so prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly referred to as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, quite adamant on centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie." Doctor Oobleck intoned, darting behind his desk and vaguely gesturing at the board behind him.

The man was, per the norm, his usual state of disheveled professionalism. A white shirt and green slacks, a yellow tie, his reflective spectacles upon his face.

But the tie was loose, the shirt was untucked on one side, and he was toting around the lid of his thermos and drinking at each pause in his speech, which was every ten seconds or so roughly.

Jaune himself was impressed the man could even remember what the lesson was meant to be about with the positively horrifying amount of clutter on his desk, and that was without mentioning the board itself being covered in paper after paper with threads linking one to the next, covering over the landmasses of the map.

Next to him, Nora was fighting to remain awake. Ren and Pyrrha were settled in the seats next over, the pink-eyed teen between Nora and his own partner.

If Jaune didn't know any better, he would think that the other boy actually was sleeping. But his eyes were open, and he wasn't reclining or leaning on his hands in any way, instead sitting straight up and gazing forward.

But after a few moments of inspecting him subtly, he came to the conclusion that Ren had somehow mastered the art of sleeping with his eyes open... only to be proven wrong immediately as the teen lightly poked Nora's flank, which drew her back to wakefulness.

Huh. That was weird. Judging by Pyrrha's amused expression she thought much the same.

"Now! While this may feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events!" Oobleck continued on, darting about the room so quickly that it didn't even look like his legs were moving; he seemed to almost slide from place to place. "Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be felt today!"

Pausing, the man looked over the assembled class for a moment. "Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated against due to your Faunus heritage?"

At that question, a sort of uncomfortable silence hung in the air. A few scattered Faunus lifted their hands, many shyly, as though afraid to admit it.

Velvet was one of them, almost shivering as she slowly lifted her hand into the air just above her head, like she was afraid it would simply be slapped back down.

That brought a low growl to Jaune's throat as he pointedly refrained from turning his glare on Winchester, seated just a row above him.

Oobleck was similarly irritated to see such a majority of his Faunus students had suffered discrimination. "Dreadful, simply dreadful..." He rattled off, darting about once more. "This is precisely the kind of ignorance that breeds violence." The man took a deeper gulp of his coffee, as though calming himself. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at the White Fang! A peaceful protest group in the wake of the Faunus war became what we know them as today almost entirely due to such mistreatment!"

After a pause that lasted only a heartbeat, Oobleck shifted gears to a new, but still related, topic. "Now! Can any of you young scholars tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point of the third year in the war?" The good doctor asked, glancing among the students.

Unsurprisingly, Snow Angel was the first to reply. She stood from her seat, hand held high and a wide smile on her face. "That would be the battle at Fort Castle." Weiss exclaimed confidently, the girl studious to a degree that was near unmatched by any other student in Beacon.

Jaune sure knew he didn't spend as much time studying as she did, and realistically speaking he didn't exactly know all the key points of the war either. The Battle of Fort Castle was something he was sort of aware of, as it was a major loss for humanity against the Faunus, but he didn't know exactly how it went down.

"Precisely!" Oobleck complimented animatedly, glad to see that he was actually getting a response from his students rather than a listless group of stares. It would be a shame if he merely explained things without including them at all. Interaction was a key aspect to teaching, and something he did often come to argue with Peter over as his colleague was known for longwinded lessons with very little inclusion from his class, with exception to demonstrations that he did provide on a semi-frequent basis which asked for a volunteer. "And can someone tell me what advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

It was around this time that Jaune felt something flick into the back of his head. "Hey!" He grumbled out, head snapping up instinctively from the light impact.

Did someone just chuck a paperwad at him? Probably Cardin. The asshole.

And then all of a sudden Oobleck was before him, a wide grin on his lips.

"Ah, Mr. Arc! How pleasant to see your participation, excellent, most excellent. Now, could you give us the answer, please?" The hyper-mobile man rattled out, looking at him expectantly.

It was around this time that Jaune realized he didn't exactly know which advantage the Faunus had over Lagune's forces at all.

Was Fort Castle more defensible than another base in that war, was there some terrain aspect that the general hadn't taken into account? Did he walk into a trap, attacking only to find that it was exactly what they wanted?

Or was it a difference in training? Jaune wasn't entirely sure, but he felt that the human side in the war would have better trained men and better equipment in many cases, due to the discrimination that even ignited the war in the first place.

Gah, he really had no idea! There was just way too much that could have been the answer, he had no way to narrow it down even... wait why was Blake looking at him and pointing at her eyes? Uh... what exactly did that mean?

Oobleck was eyeing him with some scrutiny now, and Jaune figured he was pretty well out of time. "Uh, it was because the Faunus saw them coming, right?" He guessed, somewhat confident in the answer based off of what Blake was apparently trying to convey.

Judging by her eyeroll and the "more or less" gesture, he didn't completely muck it up.

"Partially correct, Mr. Arc." Oobleck admitted, backing away. "Can anyone else tell me why the Faunus were aware of the coming attack, and thus able to counter it? Mr. Winchester, your thoughts?"

"One of the guard-dogs probably went to mark a tree and smelled them coming, so they went back and warned the rest of the zoo." Cardin threw out haphazardly, uncaring of the real truth of the matter.

Oobleck frowned, quite displeased by the racial slur of an answer.

"You're not a very open minded individual, are you?" Pyrrha questioned, turning to regard the larger teen with an even look.

Cardin snorted. "You got a problem?"

"No, I've got the answer; night vision. Many Faunus are known to possess near perfect vision in the dark, which led to the failure of Lagune's night ambush on Fort Castle." The Invincible Girl clearly wasn't just a champion fighter, but also a top student.

Blake picked up from there. "The general was inexperienced and made the mistake of attempting to attack the Faunus in their sleep. His mistake cost him that battle as his much larger army was routed, the general himself captured." Turning a rather smug look towards Cardin, she continued. "Maybe if he'd paid attention in class, we wouldn't remember him as a failure... those of us who even bother to remember him, that is." Her piece said, the girl happily turned back to the front of the class as the other teen stood up angrily.

"Now, now, please sit down Mr. Winchester." Oobleck spoke, his voice allowing no argument. "You'll be seeing me after class for additional reading due to your lack of knowledge on the subject matter."

The brunette growled at that, but said no more as he slunk back into his seat.

"Now, moving on!"

Later that week, Jaune made good on his promise to Nora.

Another awful airship ride later left the pair of them in Vale.

Nora was humming a happy little tune, glad that she wouldn't need to worry about their leader being ambushed by anyone without her there to break their legs for it.

Jaune himself was just recovering from the airship ride, shaking his head. "Man, I hate getting sick on those things... there has got to be some better way to do this."

Shrugging helplessly, Nora merely gave him a pat on the shoulder. "There, there...?" She mumbled, attempting to comfort her leader in his time of need.

That earned her an amused snort from the boy. "I'm better now. It'll be a bit of a trip to The Club from here, though." And he had never been so thankful that his motion sickness didn't get set off on buses.

"Oh, I just can't wait to meet your girlfriends, Jauney!" The girl giggled at the dull look this declaration earned her. "I meant to say your friends who are girls, of course."

Rolling his eyes at that, Jaune merely began walking, gesturing over his shoulder for her to follow.

Nora did so happily, hands thrown up behind her head as she walked and humming that same cheery tune.

"So just to be clear here, Nora..." Jaune began after a few moments of walking. "Don't take this as me not trusting you, but please don't cause any problems in there." He threw his hands up at the slightly hurt look. "Look, look, I'm not saying this because it's you! It's just that Yang literally tore the place apart last time she was there, and... well, you can be kind of rowdy." And frankly, she was pretty enough that someone may try and grope her on the dance floor. And if Nora reacted to that in any way he could expect of her, then it'd end poorly.

She frowned, but didn't argue that point. "I'm not gonna do anything bad, Jauney." Nora mumbled. "I just wanna meet your friends, and I don't want you getting attacked again without someone there to help." By this point they sort of figured CRDL had just given up, water under the bridge as Ren had put it. But that wasn't something she wanted to put to chance, because their fearless leader was not about to get hurt because they weren't around.

If Cardin and his goons tried again and they actually hurt Jaune, Nora knew that she would be going on a warpath; and the remaining members of the team probably wouldn't stop her.

"Sorry if I made it seem like that, Nora." Jaune apologized, giving her a one-armed hug. "I'm just a little nervous, I guess. I don't mean to make it seem like I don't trust you." Considering the strange things that had gone on around The Club recently he did kind of have a reason for his nervousness, he supposed, but at the same time he didn't want to seem like he was expecting Nora to cause a scene... but someone could provoke her, and that could spiral out of control.

If anyone did try and grope her or otherwise provoke her to take action, Jaune would gladly allow her to take her grievances out on them... so long as she got out of the building first.

A little smile came to her face. "Probably just scared I'm gonna embarrass you in front of your girlfriends, Jauney."

"Honestly it's more the other way around..." Jaune admitted, pointedly ignoring her referring to the twins as his girlfriends. "Melanie has a penchant for saying things people will take the wrong way."

"... or the right way." Nora chimed in with a giggle, ignoring the put-off look he gave her. "We're not lettin' you live that down, fearless leader; no way, no how." He was in a room with a pair of scantily clad twins while he himself was shirtless.

Really, how could they not heckle him for it?

Time passed fairly quickly, the partners merely conversing with one another on their way to the bus stop. After a short bus ride, they were let off at a stop somewhat close to where The Club was.

It wasn't that close, really, but that was kind of because Junior's place was right on the edge of the rough side of Vale. Bus stops weren't exactly safe places over in that area.

Jaune had been somewhat worried while passing through the rougher part of town that someone may try something, but apparently not. Maybe the weapon at Nora's back in addition to the moderately armored look the two of them had going on made people figure out they were out of their league? Or maybe he'd just made an impression over his trips, because he'd knocked around quite a few street toughs by this point.

Either way, they weren't accosted as the pair of them made their way into The Club.

As per the norm, the blazing music took Jaune a second to acclimate to. It was always so loud when you first walked in, but gradually you got used to it.

Nora seemed undeterred one way or another, the girl immediately bobbing her head to the music. "Say, Jauney? Where are your friends at?" She knew what they looked like, vaguely, seeing as the two of them were twins and she'd seen one of their faces briefly over the scroll. But she didn't see them at a glance.

Jaune took a moment to look around, brow furrowing slightly as he didn't catch them immediately either. "Huh, that's weird... Oh, there they are." They were off to the side near the back of the club, and they seemed to be in the middle of a rather intent discussion between one another while occasionally nodding their heads towards something pointedly.

... Weird. With that in mind, he figured he would give them a minute to sort it out... but then they started playing rock-paper-scissors and he couldn't help but wonder just what in the world those two were doing.

Nudging Nora, he began to take long, confident strides across the floor; by this point he'd become something of a familiar face in the club, and a few of the regulars gave him some waves and greetings as he passed. His little show the day before Yang trashed the place wasn't easily forgotten, and the rumor had spread that he'd beaten the girl who came to tear the place apart.

So altogether he had a bit of a fan base here, which was neat. Nora merely quirked a brow curiously at that, before going along with the amiable mood and waving back at anyone who did offer a greeting. "Wow, Jauney, you're popular!"

He chuckled. "I come here often, so I guess people know me." He wasn't easy to miss, honestly. Tall, white, and scraggly wasn't an inaccurate description for him.

After another moment of walking through the crowd, he and Nora came upon Melanie and Miltia after their final game of the set. A loss for Melanie, if he had to assume based upon the huff she was in.

That lasted until she spotted him. "Snowflake! Perfect timing." Melanie began, eagerly strolling up to him and wrapping an arm around his. "And hey there Carrot-top, glad to see one of our boy's friends could make it."

Nora offered a thumbs-up. "Of course. What kind of partner wouldn't make it a priority to meet up with Jauney's girlfriends? Gotta make sure he's treating you right!" Her already wide grin only got bigger at the dry look this pulled from the teen in question.

Melanie gave a snort of amusement, while Miltiades blushed lightly, offering a short nod in greeting to Nora before speaking. "Ahem... Sister, I believe we had something to take care of?" The red-clad twin hinted rather blatantly, nodding her head off to the side. "As glad as I am to see Jaune, we do have a job to do."

Turning towards where she was motioning, partially due to the wince from the girl on his arm, Jaune was greeted with the bizarre sight of a girl staring out over the dance floor a little ways away.

She was an orangette like Nora, that same shade almost, but her hair had quite a bit more curl to it and a large pink ribbon made any similarity even more distant. Her eyes were a bright green, and her pale skin and freckles were apparent even from this distance.

Though Jaune hardly had room to talk about pale, considering his own complexion.

She wore an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings. Altogether, Jaune thought she had a rather cute look to her; innocent, almost, much the same way that he'd felt upon looking at Ruby.

At the moment, she was gazing out over the dance floor with a tilt to her head, eyes wide and taking in the movements of the dancers as though nothing else mattered.

Huh. What were Melanie and Miltia so worried about? "So... uh... what's up?" He asked the question, jerking his head towards the girl.

"Weird ginger has been staring out at the floor for the last ten minutes..." Melanie began.

Miltia offered a brief chiding look at the statement, but didn't contest it as she picked up. "She hasn't blinked for that entire time from what I can tell. She hasn't moved. It's... really weird." The red-clad twin admitted.

"So we were gonna figure out who was going to go talk to her, cuz' she's creeping everyone who notices her out."

"And you lost, sister, so you were the one who was going to go do that." Miltiades pointed out dryly, fully aware of just where her sister was planning to take this line of thought.

"But it'd be great if you could go handle that, Snowball; we'll stick here and get to know your partner a bit more. It'll be a great chance for us to get along." Melanie pointedly pressed herself closer to him, making good use of her assets in a bid to get Jaune to take over the unpleasant interaction.

She didn't even have to do it, though. Jaune was willing to just because it was a request from a friend.

... he did kind of appreciate the effort, though. Rolling his eyes and pulling away from the dark haired girl, he shrugged. "Sure thing. I'll go talk with her, I guess; hopefully it doesn't end up with the whole club in shambles." If something did happen to provoke hostilities, he had the twins themselves as backup.

But he also had a Nora. And one shouldn't underestimate the power of a Nora. Or the destructive capabilities, for that matter.

So he really hoped this went smoothly, because if Nora ended up breaking her promise to him in order to help him he was going to feel like a total ass. "Right, Nora. This is Melanie; you met her on the scroll-call." He nodded towards the girl, something that earned a playful wave from her. "And her sister is Miltia, she's the good one." This earned a pretty flush from her and an indignant "hey!" from her sister, who then merely pouted as he turned his gaze back to her, as if to ask "are you really going to contest that?"

She didn't.

"Hiya! I'm Nora Valkyrie, Jauney's partner at Beacon and leg-breaker extraordinaire!" She rather quickly managed to scoop the two startled twins into a hug, throwing her arms around them and quickly squeezing them together. "And we're gonna have a great time getting to know each other; anyone have embarrassing stories about him?"

As both of the twins began to grin wickedly, Jaune groaned before giving them a warning look that they merely returned with rolling eyes.

Good. They knew at least not to bring up anything about his less-than-legal shenanigans, and he trusted them with that.

With that in mind, he quickly began to make his way towards the still-standing-still girl who really hadn't moved at all.

Up until he managed to reach her little bubble, that is, as she immediately twisted her head to regard him with a surprised blink. "Salutations!" She greeted pleasantly, twisting the rest of her body to face him. "Your body temperature is distinctly low. Are you ill?"

Jaune blinked. "... Yeah, I know." He kind of radiated cold from him, yes, but it was... well, he at least thought it wasn't so noticeable, but this girl picked it up immediately. Was everyone at Beacon just being polite? That was... kind of disconcerting. "It's a side-effect of my Semblance, I can control ice." Somehow this wasn't what he'd pictured the conversation starting with. "I'm not sick, though. Thanks for asking." It was rather nice of her to be so concerned from the get-go, even if it did bring up some other questions.

The girl nodded. "I'm glad to hear that! Sickness in such a public area would pose a high risk of spreading."

"Yeah, I don't think I would be out here if I was sick." Jaune admitted, briefly trying to recall the last time he'd actually been sick in a way that didn't involve air-travel. "Anyway. What'cha looking at?"

"I'm fascinated by this place!" She replied gleefully, arms wide as she performed a brief twirl. "The sounds, the lights, the people! It's sensational!" Stopping mid twirl, the girl gave him another look before she seemed to realize something. "Oh! My name is Penny."

He chuckled at that. "Name's Jaune Arc; it's short, sweet, and the ladies love it."

"They do?" Penny questioned curiously, mulling it over in her head. "Jaune Arc." She repeated, as if testing the theory for herself. After a moment of apparently serious consideration, she nodded. "That is pleasant to say! I agree wholeheartedly!" The girl announced.

Jaune's chuckles went into full blown laughter at that. He managed to spot the twins being dragged over by Nora, the sisters seeming less enthused than the girl as they were brought over. "You're a real friend for playing along like that; I haven't heard that before." He'd heard a myriad of responses to his ice-breaker of a line, but this one took the cake. It was just something about the way she said it that tickled him.

Almost immediately, it was as if the whole place went silent.

It hadn't, of course, but upon looking into the wide, awed gaze of the girl before him, Jaune really couldn't tell if there was any other noise in the building other than his own steady breathing.

"Am..." She began slowly, as though unsure. "I really your friend?"

Behind her, Jaune could see the twins had gotten close enough to hear, and were both frantically shaking their heads at that.

Nora, on the other hand, was eagerly nodding.

It wasn't even a question for Jaune. A wide smile slipped onto his face, an expression so warm looking in a mirror would melt him. "My mother always said that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." He replied, lifting a hand to shake. "And we've gone through introductions already, you know." He couldn't help himself. That line didn't get nearly as much use as it deserved.

The girls behind Penny had their own reactions; Miltia was somewhat uncomfortable, but the blush on her cheeks was indicative of just what she thought of that whole scene. Melanie was altogether pouty at seeing the whole thing she had attempted to avoid, interacting with the weird girl, coming to bite her in the butt.

And Nora, bless her heart, was beaming.

But the real thing to notice was the absolutely blinding enthusiasm on Penny's face. "Oh, this is sensational!" She exclaimed, reaching forward to grasp his hand in hers for a hearty handshake. "I've made a friend! We can paint our nails, and do our hair, and talk about cute boys..." She paused for a moment, a light frown tugging at her lips as she released the hand. "Oh no, no, that's for girlfriends isn't it? What should I do with a boyfriend?" Apparently, this was a serious concern for her; she was suddenly quite troubled.

And it was around that time that Melanie's expression shifted from the huff she was in to something altogether more disturbing; a wicked smile that brought a shiver up Jaune's spine.

She sauntered up, and casually threw an arm over the now blinking girl's shoulder. "Don't worry, dear, Big Sister Melanie can teach you all about boys." Her gaze drifted over to Jaune, who merely quirked a brow at her. "Isn't that right, Snowflake?"

After a moment to consider, Penny's eyes lit up again in excitement. "Sensational!" She declared, happily throwing her own arm over the white-clad girl's shoulder. "Are we also friends, now, Big Sister Melanie?"

"We're going to be very good friends, I wager."

"... Oh no." Miltia mumbled, coming up behind the pair of them with Nora in tow. "Jaune, you've managed to create a monster..." She muttered, watching as her sister began whispering into the ginger girl's ear.

"How is this my fault?" He asked, indignant. Melanie had been the one to ask him to do this, and Miltia had let her do it!

"It just is, Jauney; don't argue with your girlfriends." Nora replied with a breezy wave, throwing his protests out the window.

After that riveting discussion, which had consisted of him insisting that he wasn't at fault for anything and Nora merely waving it off without concern, the group was now settled around the bar.

It seemed like a trend; no matter what happened here, they'd always end up seated at the bar. Junior would just grunt and give them a nod, before returning to whatever work he had at hand. They'd fallen into something of a system, Jaune figured.

That was... nice. It was comfortable, that he fit in well enough for this to just happen every time. He felt accepted, like he wasn't just some wanderer going from place to place, never really getting to know anyone. Altogether, Jaune vastly preferred this to the year he'd spent on his own. This was a place he really did feel at home, perhaps even more so than he did at Beacon honestly.

Normally at least one of the twins would be invading his personal space, but today Melanie was more occupied with "teaching" Penny just how you would act with a boy friend... with Miltia's exasperated interjections causing the ginger girl even more confusion, as she was quickly being forced to decide who would be the better person to listen to.

Naturally, it would be Miltiades as she was easily the good one out of those two; Melanie would surely fill the girl's head will all sorts of strange things.

But unfortunately, Jaune wasn't going to involve himself and tell her that. Because, God help him, he thought it was funny just as much as Melanie did.

Did... did that make him a bad person? He just wasn't sure.

Regardless, that was what had lead to the situation at hand.

"Jauney, your girlfriends are weird." Nora piped up cheerfully, seated next to him as she regarded the twins and the other ginger of the group. "I like'm!"

Jaune had, by this point, decided that her referring to the twins as his girlfriends was going to be a thing he was unable to change. As such, he was just going with it now. "Yeah. They are pretty great, aren't they?"

The twins were great. Both of them had their own individual qualities that he liked, but together they were a blast; Melanie always poking at Miltiades until she got a reaction from the girl, Miltia turning things on Melanie out of the blue, the both of them doing that really hot and simultaneously creepy sentence-finishing thing.

He was really glad to have met them. They were good friends.

"Of course it's not as great as our team, though. We're way weirder." Weird equaled cool in Nora's mind. "We got a celebrity, a ninja, me, and do I even need to explain why? Because I'm awesome, and then we have a..." She paused, eyeing him as though deep in though. "... popsicle maker!"

He couldn't restrain the snort at that. "Geeze, tell me how you really feel Nora!" Jaune laughed, feigning a heart wound again. "I think I'll feel that one tomorrow!"

The girl giggled in response.

As their laughter died down, Jaune noticed the twins and Penny had come over to them with a purpose.

"Right, so, Snowflake." Melanie piped up, grinning widely as she pulled the girl along. "Penny here is now perfectly armed with the knowledge of how to act around a boyfriend."

A sigh came from her sister, who slowly stepped up behind them. "And more appropriately I've managed to explain the differences between that and, like, a regular friend who just happens to be a boy." Or so she hoped, but the orange haired girl had absorbed both of their info-dumps rather readily. It was like she was some kind of child, eager for anything you could teach her.

Strange, that. The girl must have been super sheltered.

"Anyway!" Melanie interrupted, pushing the blinking girl forward. "Penny, dear, go ahead and do your thing."

"Affirmative, Big Sister Melanie!" Penny replied eagerly, moving forward to offer Jaune her hand. "Would you like to dance with me? It's my first time so please be gentle!"

Jaune, normally, would have blushed that. But he was just so stunned by the statement that it didn't quite register. It just came out of the blue.

Nora was cackling wildly at that statement, whereas Miltiades was palming her face and groaning in humiliation.

And Melanie, dear, sweet, manipulative, wicked Melanie... she was proud as she could be.

Deciding to just roll with it, Jaune accepted the hand with a roll of his eyes. "Sure thing. Try to keep up with me, I'll start off slowly." Damn it that didn't come out right at all and he regretted it the very moment he said it, especially with the bright blush that came to Miltia's cheeks and the resounding laughter of Nora immediately coming to his attention.

He ignored it pointedly, though. It would be worse if they realized he hadn't said that on purpose.

And with that, Melanie and Miltiades were left alone with Nora as the two of them made their way to the dance floor.

The atmosphere didn't change between them immediately or anything extreme, but it was notable that the special snowflake that gave them a reason to hang around eachother had left as the twins were seemingly struggling with what to even say.

"Sooo! When are you two gonna' make a move on Jauney?" Nora asked, leaning back on her bar stool and grinning at the twins.

Melanie gave a light tilt of her head. "I think we kind of did already." She admitted, nodding to her blushing sister. "Sneaking into bed with him would count, right?"

"Pfft." The Valkyrie replied, a coy smile on her lips. "As if. Just sneaking into bed is nothing. I did that already too."

"You're into him too?" The white-clad sister asked, one hand on her hip. "Our special Snowflake can't seem to go anywhere without attracting the ladies."

Off to the side, Miltia huffed but said nothing.

Shrugging, Nora twirled on her stool a few times. "Nah, I'm just like that." She replied airily. "Jauney makes a good teddy-bear and I figured I'd give Ren a break."

That got Miltia's hackles back down. "... so you just did that for no reason?" The dark haired girl asked, eyes narrowed. It seemed rather odd for something so intimate to just be... normal.

"Of course not. Like I said, Jauney is a good teddy-bear." Nora chuckled at the incredulous looks. "In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm pretty big on the whole physical contact thing!" Personal space may as well not exist in her book.

Having been manhandled by the ginger already, both twins had to concede that point. "Fair enough, I guess... but after all the time I spent convincing Miltia to do that with me, you're coming in here and just invalidating it!" Melanie pouted, grabbing her blushing sister by the waist and pulling her close, rubbing her cheek against the other girl's shoulder. "She was so embarrassed at the suggestion, the poor girl, and you're saying it was all for nothing?"

Miltiades growled, eyes narrowing and a red blush on her cheeks. "Melanie! Don't go telling people about that!" She protested, squirming in her sister's grasp.

Melanie used this as further evidence. "I mean just look at her face right now even at the mention of it! The poor, poor girl nearly had a heart attack when we got into his room. And when I suggested we get naked first I think it almost killed her!"

It was at this point that her sister put an end to the conversation through a time-old method of shutting up your siblings; embarrassing anecdotes. "At least I can actually hold my alcohol, sister..." She hissed, face red as her dress and an evil glint coming to her eyes. The white clad twin stopped in her tracks. "Maybe I should, like, let our new friend here in on some of the things you have said or done under the influence, hm?" As humiliating as this entire incident was, Miltiades did have worse to throw back at her sister. She and alcohol did not mix well whatsoever, and it had lead to some very interesting events.

Nora nodded eagerly, excited to know just what went on when Melanie was drunk.

"... Shutting up now, sister." Melanie relented, releasing the girl from her grasp and walking a respectful distance away.

"Aw, darn." Nora mumbled as she twirled in her seat, disappointed in not getting any fun stories out of the two girls, Nora caught sight of the dance floor and promptly stopped spinning. "Uh... wow." She mumbled, blinking at the spectacle that caught her eyes.

The twins both quirked their own brows, turning to regard the dancers. They were fairly certain this was going to involve Jaune's dancing drawing a crowd, but considering he had the awkward girl with him they couldn't be going as crazy as he usually did.

Except... they were. The two of them blinked simultaneously.

"Melanie, where in that conversation did you give her a crash course on dancing?" Miltiades asked, absolutely floored by the sight before her eyes.

"... I didn't." Melanie replied, also unable to look away. "I expected them to be, like, all awkward and clumsy out there." That was not what was happening at all.

Instead of the awkward sight that Melanie and Miltiades had been expecting to see, with the ginger clumsily tripping around and their snowy haired knight guiding her through it indulgently as he tended to do, the girl was matching him move for move.

This was important, because matching Jaune Arc move for move on the dance floor was kind of a big deal around here.

So even as the two of them continued on, with the ginger girl perfectly copying Jaune's movements in time with the music, more and more of a crowd was drawn.

"Wow. I had no idea Jaune was that good at it." Nora chimed in, head tilted to the side as she watched. "Looket'm go!" And that Penny girl was right there with him.

Giggling, Miltia tossed her own two cents in. "Yes, Jaune tends to make a scene when he goes out there... I'm more surprised that girl is keeping up so well."

Melanie shrugged, shaking her head. "That's, like, the furthest thing from what I expected when I sent them out there." Now they were hand in hand out there, somehow keeping closely in sync with one another without any apparent issues.

That was weird. Everything about that Penny girl was weird!

As with all things, though, eventually their dance came to an end. Jaune, after taking a grand bow with the girl, began chatting excitedly with her. She seemed to be embarrassed by something he said, looking away bashfully.

And then the two made their way back over, accepting high-fives and pats on the back as they went; Penny was notably startled at each one, but her face was the picture of cheer.

"So, Snowflake, just how the heck did the two of you pull that off?" Melanie asked as they came back into range, shooing away the few stragglers from the crowd who had followed. They backed off with a few boos at that, but she just rolled her eyes at them.

"I've got no idea!" He replied, grinning like a loon. "That was all Penny; it was like she copied everything right when I did it. It was awesome!"

Penny herself was smiling as well, though she looked a bit nervous. "I cannot take all of the credit! Friend Jaune was most excellent. I would have floundered without his example to follow." More so than they could possibly imagine.

"Excuse me." A girl's voice cut into the conversation.

Melanie sighed, prepared to ask yet another of Jaune's fans to leave them be, before a surprised squeak from Penny caught them off guard.

"Hello Ciel!" Penny spoke, preempting anything anyone else could say. "I was not aware you would be here."

The girl in question was taciturn, strict looking, and clad in a blue beret, a plain gray button-down shirt with an asymmetrical collar, a blue combat skirt, and fingerless, elbow-length black gloves with a wristwatch on her left hand. She had tanned skin, navy hair and blue eyes, and a mark on her forehead in the shape of an oval surrounded by four circles. "Ma'am. I've been asked to retrieve you." She glanced at the wristwatch, making note of the time. "As of three hours ago, as a matter of fact. This is hardly where I expected to find you." The girl grimaced at the surroundings, clearly unimpressed.

Unsure of what exactly was going on, Jaune stepped in to sate his curiosity. "Uh, so you're a friend of Penny's? Nice to meet you, I'm Jaune Arc." He held out his hand to shake, refraining from using his tried and true ice-breaker as the girl before him seemed something like a miniature Goodwitch.

As though to further that image, she merely gave him a dull look in response to his offered hand. "Jaune Arc. Leader of Team JNPR of Beacon Academy..." She again looked around, before returning her gaze to his outstretched hand. "Status; questionable." Waiting another moment for the teen to lower his hand, she spoke again. "I have come to collect Ms. Polendina per orders of my superior officer."

The rather monotone way she said this, and the seeming insult to Jaune, irritated three of the assembled girls. Seeing that, Penny quickly stepped in. "I am sorry for this, Ciel! I must have lost track of time. Please, let's go back."

Ciel nodded. "Very well. Please come along." And with that, she turned and began to walk away, clearly expecting that Penny would be right behind her.

The ginger girl turned back to her new friends and offered an apologetic wave, before quickly following behind the dark haired teen who had arrived to collect her.

Which left Jaune, Nora, and the twins.

Jaune blinked. "Well. That was... weird." What was that even about?

"Glad that's over." Nora chimed in. "I was about five seconds from introducing her to Magnhild."

A wince came from the white haired teen at that. "Come on, Nora, it wasn't that bad." He chuckled.

"I dunno what she meant by questionable, Snowflake, but the way she said it sure didn't sound pleasant." Melanie chimed in, rather offended herself. The uptight bitch seemed flat out repulsed by even being in the damn club.

Miltia hummed in agreement, her own feathers ruffled by this as well. "It seemed like her opinion of you went down the moment she met you, Jaune. Just because you're here, if I had to guess." How rude. On the surface, they were running a perfectly respectable business... and the less said about what went on under the surface, the better, as it would destroy that argument in a second.

But this was their home, damn it. Miltia knew they didn't exactly play by the rules, and they did things that weren't quite morally sound... but it was just how these things went.

If the two of them hadn't caught Junior's attention, there would be other people standing in their position. And then who knows where they would be, students of Beacon like Melanie had pitched so long ago? Or would they just be wandering around scraping out a living somewhere else?

Yeah, no thanks. Miltiades was content with her place in life, even if it wasn't the cleanest background. They were alive and comfortable, and she could get her good karma in her day-to-day life to try and make up for all the crap they'd done and would continue to do.

Jaune sighed. "Yeah... I'm not sure what that was about either. Who the heck was that girl? And who is Penny that she has some babysitter calling her ma'am?" He wondered aloud, shaking his head.

Seeing a collective of shrugs, Jaune just threw his own shrug in for good measure. "Well, whatever; she's gone. What were you all talkin' about while we were gone, anything important?"

Seeing Melanie's face light up at that, Miltiades glaring her back into submission with the fiercest look he'd seen on her to date, and Nora restraining wild snorts of laughter, Jaune wisely decided that he was going to drop that subject.

Women were weird.

"There, there, Jauney..." Nora mumbled, gently rubbing her hand up and down the lower back of her partner. "Just let it all out." In the middle of the walkway from the landing pads to Beacon, the Valkyrie stood beside the white haired teen as he shook in discomfort, the two of them illuminated in the dark by the lights surrounding the walkway.

Leaning over the wastebin, Jaune finally stopped shaking. His breathing was heavy, but he was slowly getting it back under control. "... I hate my life."

"Now, now, Jauney, that's not true at all." Nora replied soothingly, still consoling her poor leader. "You don't mean that."

A sigh came from the white haired teen. "... damn it, you're right." He grumbled petulantly, grimacing as he finally got himself back under control. The teen released a second, much longer sigh. "Motion sickness sucks. And damn it again, because this was my own fault." The twins had ordered Mistrali takeout for the lot of them and they'd enjoyed a meal together before leaving, as the two of them were taking their lunch break so to speak.

Apparently Junior had been the one to foot the bill, even though the big man wasn't aware of it. Jaune felt a bit guilty about that, but his attempt to pay back his own meal had been met with resistance.

This was likely karma for him giving up on that so easily...

No, actually, it was more his own stupidity for eating right before he got on one of those flying metal deathtraps. "Uhg... I'm better now." He groaned out, finally raising up from the waste basket he had been hurling into. "... got a mint?" Jaune asked weakly, trying to make a joke.

A moment later he started as something was flicked into his mouth. Nearly swallowing it in surprise, Jaune managed to catch himself after a moment of fumbling. He blinked.

"Oh." The leader of Team JNPR blinked, working the small object around with his tongue. "Thanks." Apparently she did have a mint.

"No problem, Jauney. Feeling better?" Nora asked, a little smirk on her lips as she cocked her head to the side, turquoise eyes sparkling in amusement.

He nodded. "Yeah, much better." Reaching up to run a hand through his snowy white hair, the boy took a deep breath and enjoyed the tingling sensation the air brought to his tongue. "Much, much better. Thanks a bunch, Nora. You're a life saver."

"Glad to help." She replied, quickly turning on her heel with her hands clasped behind her back. She leaned forward, nodding towards the school. "Shall we be off, oh King of Cold?" Nora asked.

Releasing another breath, the white haired teen replied. "But of course, Pancake Queen; it would be most unwise to keep our fellows waiting." Because Pyrrha and Ren would probably come looking for them eventually if they didn't show up, just because Ren would assume the worst and Pyrrha was actually a big softy when it came to her team.

Or in general. He still had such a hard time reconciling the Invincible Girl of Mistral with his upbeat, peppy, sweet as could be teammate. The girl didn't seem the type to hurt a fly, and she would probably be appalled at herself if she did; the image of a distraught Pyrrha apologizing to a poor, defenseless fly she had swatted from the air was... actually pretty realistic.

As they walked, himself quiet and Nora humming to herself, he couldn't help but be glad that Nora and the twins got along. It could have gone far worse.

"Say, Jauney?" Nora's voice drew him from his musings. Seeing his head turn towards her curiously, the girl spoke again. "Earlier, when you asked me not to cause trouble, that wasn't because of me right?" Her tone was questioning.

Wincing at that, he replied quickly. "No, no, it's just that, well... It can get kind of rowdy down there sometimes, and I didn't know how you would handle that." He felt bad for wording it in such a way earlier. That was kind of misspoken on his part. "Again, I'm sorry about that. I didn't really word that right."

The ginger girl grinned, her sullen look disappearing. "Were you worried some thug was gonna try and put the moves on me?"

"Actually yeah." Jaune admitted. "You're pretty, I could easily see someone trying that. And you hitting them with Magnhild is the second thing I see when I think of that."

"Pft." Nora stuck her tongue out. "That's not nice. I don't just hit people with a hammer." She also used grenades, he knew that.

He deadpanned at her. "Explosions are the third thing I see. Also the worst thing."

She nodded, accepting that. "Okay, thought you may have forgotten. But you know, Jauney, it's really weird to think that you hang out in a gang hotspot like that." Nora giggled at his surprised look. "Renny had to do some snooping so we could look for you if we needed to. He found some stuff out, and there isn't much that he doesn't tell me." There were some things, though. But she never pried into it that much.

Jaune stopped mid step, looking at her seriously as a realization hit him. "So that was why you insisted on coming along."

She paused as well, quirking her head curiously at him. "Uh... yes? The whole point was to make sure no one messed with our fearless leader, after all." Be they CRDL or some wacko criminal types, Nora was quite adamant on keeping their leader from being hurt.

Considering the shortage she had of people who could put up with her enthusiasm as easily as Ren, even now with her new team, it made Jaune Arc even more important to her.

He shook his head, a light chuckle coming up from his throat. "No, no, I get it. You're telling me this now because you've got me trapped in a corner, Nora."

The girl's turquoise eyes widened a bit. "I dunno what you're talking about, oh Fearless Leader." She denied.

Ignoring her denial, Jaune stepped forward and looked her dead in the eyes, both amused and impressed. "You made friends with Melanie and Miltiades really fast, Nora. At first I thought it was good fortune, you guys just clicked! But I'm thinking that was your plan." He took another step forward, beginning to invade her personal space in a fashion similar to how his own was treated.

"Because now," He began after his pause, "even if you tell me you know what goes on down there, I can't do anything to keep you away; Melanie and Miltia both asked me to bring you along again. You have an excuse to head down to visit so you can see them, and not just to keep an eye on me. And you're telling me you know now, because I can't actually do anything about it." He reached up and, under Nora's cautious gaze... "You trapped me here, Nora... Boop." He poked her lightly on her nose.

She broke down immediately into giggles, leaning up against one of the lightposts on the walk way to keep herself up. "Y-You got me!" Nora managed to get out through her humor, the girl positively tickled with just how he had decided to end his little rant there. "If I told you I knew before we went, you would've been way harder to convince. But now you're already knee deep in it, oh Fearless Leader." Her eyes were practically sparkling in both amusement and satisfaction. "No going back now; you're stuck with me!"

Leaning in closer, staring into her eyes as though trying to figure out just what went on in her head, Jaune eventually gave in with a sigh and a small, exasperated smile. "You know, Nora, you fooled me all this time. You're even smarter than I thought you were, and let me tell you this; I didn't once think you were dumb." She was hyper, she was silly, and she was at times somewhat airheaded... but Nora Valkyrie was not dumb.

"Aw, shucks Jauney!" She replied, waving a hand at him teasingly. "You're gonna make me blush!" Nora didn't get praised for her smarts very often. Considering the way she acted, it just didn't ever come off to people that she was much more than an airhead with a hammer.

But Jaune had figured it out, much like Ren before him. And her "moments" of smart were adding up enough around Pyrrha that Nora suspected her other teammate was beginning to realize that she wasn't quite as ditsy as she seemed.

... okay she was still kind of ditsy, but her point still stood! Just because she sometimes had genius ideas that she didn't think entirely through, such as the amazingness of the pillow fort that she was forced to take down due to Pyrrha's insistence, did not mean she was dumb. That was just what people thought.

"Well." Jaune muttered, stepping back and returning Nora's personal space to her. "I've danced with a stranger that became a friend, been insulted by some girl who knew a little more about me than I'm entirely comfortable with, had some takeout for dinner, barfed that takeout up after I got on a bullhead, and realized I've been thoroughly played by my partner today." He paused, shaking his head and letting loose a little chuckle. "Been an exciting day, Nora, let me tell you."

She giggled in response, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Welp! Let's head on back. Gotta make sure Renny and Pyrrha know I didn't lose you somewhere in Vale; they'd never let me babysit again!"

And with that, she took off running back towards the dorms, laughing as she went.

Jaune twitched at that, a rather strained grin coming to his lips. "Babysit, huh..." He muttered, quickly breaking out into a run behind her; using timely bursts of wind to give himself a bit more speed, he was going to gain ground on her quickly.

With that in mind, his grin got wider. "Hey, Noooooora~!" He sang, conjuring a pair of snowballs in hand.

His partner turned in time to see this and her eyes widened. "Eek! Jauney's mad! Run for the hills!" One of the snowballs flew past her head. "You better hope that was a warning shot, Jaune! Your aim is slipping if it wasn't!"

The second one very nearly hit her in the back of the head, and Nora wisely chose not to antagonize him more lest his aim spontaneously improve.

Having calmed down from their game of "run around Beacon while lobbing snowballs at Nora", the half of JNPR that had been out and about that day finally made it back to their dorm room.

Opening the door, Nora offered a bright greeting to the inhabitants of the room. "Reeeeeen~, Pyyyyyyrha~, we're hoooooooooome~!" She sang out happily, still brushing some snow from her hair as she entered.

The remaining set of partners had their own reactions to that; Ren was subdued per the norm, merely quirking a brow at her entrance and the obvious powdered snow she was brushing off before he rolled his eyes. "Welcome back, Nora, Jaune." The teen then returned to the game board located between himself and Pyrrha.

Across from him, the champion fighter was regarding the board with surprising intensity. She looked up to wave at them, before her gaze returned to the game.

Jaune couldn't stifle his chuckle. The two of them had gotten to playing chess with one another almost every night. Pyrrha hadn't manage to claim her win from Ren yet, though that was in no way due to her own skill at the game lacking; Ren was just a natural at it, or so it seemed.

As she skipped into the room, Nora glanced at the board casually. Inspecting it and finding it not to be worth further attention, she flopped back onto her own bed.

Just as Jaune was preparing to enter the room, a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Heya, Frosty." Yang spoke up, a wide grin on her lips as she peered into the room over his shoulder. "Guys." She nodded in greeting, getting scattered acknowledgement from everyone. "I gotta borrow your leader for a lil' bit, that cool?"

The shrugs were unanimous. "Bring him back before morning, Yang." Ren said with a small upturn of his lips. "Otherwise we'll have to start a search party."

Giggles came from the other members of the team, before they went back to their business. Nora quickly got her headset out and relaxed on her bed, idly watching the game progress between her teammates.

Jaune himself replied after a moment, turning around to face the girl who had stopped him. "What'cha need?"

"Come with me for a bit." And with that, she began walking off, gesturing for him to follow.

Shrugging again and snapping off a quick wave to his team, he followed along without any strong complaint.

Jaune still didn't necessarily like her that much, but she was Ruby's sister so he wasn't going to be outright spiteful. If she just wanted to talk, that wasn't a big deal. On the other hand, though... "So not to sound like an ass, but I do wanna get some sleep tonight." The Arc teen didn't want to be out all night. He and Nora had taken a good bit of time out in Vale, and it was sort of late.

She tossed him a look over her shoulder. "Just need a bit of your time, Frosty. Gotta make sure we're somewhere private for this chat."

"That sounds ominous, Yang." He muttered blandly as she continued leading him along.

Shrugging in response to that, the girl opened up one of the doors in the hall and peered inside. Seeing it was an empty classroom, she nodded to herself before walking inside and beckoning Jaune to follow.

After a brief moment of hesitation, the white haired boy did so. "Really ominous." He repeated, settling in on one of the desks, leaning back on his hands. "What do you want to talk about so bad that you had to drag me off in the middle of the night?"

She paused for a moment. "I'm going to just be blunt with this; you know what kind of crap goes on at Junior's club, right?" The blonde girl asked, looking at him from her position near the teacher's desk as he relaxed on the front row.

"... people drink, dance, and try to look cool in front of the opposite sex?" Jaune tried, only just trying to play dumb.

Yang growled in response. "Cute, Frosty. But no. The big man has his hands in a lot of things, and most of them aren't legal. If it wasn't for someone around me being involved in that whole thing, I wouldn't have felt a speck of guilt for tearing that place up." After having thought things through, really thought on how she felt about that night, Yang had figured out that she really just didn't care whether or not she inconvenienced those people. They were criminals, even if some of what they did was legal; that didn't make them not guilty of the rest.

If Jaune Arc hadn't been involved at all, she would have forgotten all about that until she needed info on something else... and they would've repeated the process, unless Junior played ball.

If it wasn't for Jaune throwing it in her face as the injured party, she wouldn't have cared; out of sight, out of mind.

Jaune himself growled at that, but didn't contest it. He couldn't make her feel guilty.

Seeing that, Yang continued. "There was a reason I wasn't worried about the cops being called on me for that. It was because Junior couldn't afford that. The only way they can handle things is with the force they can get on their own. It's cuz' they're criminals, and the only reason they haven't been arrested is because the bearded wonder has his ways." Blackmail, more likely than not, keeping people from looking his way. Everyone had skeletons in their closet, and Junior had a way of finding them.

"And your point in all of this is what?" He asked, irritation prominent in his tone. "I get all of that. I know full well that the people there aren't squeaky clean. Does that mean they're not still people, then?" Jaune muttered angrily, before he calmed himself some. Truthfully, Yang wasn't wrong. Wasn't in the wrong. Even if the way she started that fight with them was entirely on her, from a moral standpoint she was the good guy because Junior may as well be a gang leader who's place she'd trashed. Since he was already subverting the law, he couldn't use it to his advantage either. "What are you trying to say?"

Junior, the twins, and every last suit they had on payroll; they were criminals in varying extremes. If someone ever did point an investigation at Junior that he couldn't work his way out of, there wasn't anyone who was clean. He was an extortionist, his men sometimes got hired out to people for dumb muscle, and Jaune couldn't remember the last time anyone was checked for an ID at his club. The twins were enforcers in a sense that they made threats to other gangs in the area, and if those threats were ignored they put them into the ground.

Jaune understood all of that. They weren't nice, and if he wasn't on good terms with them then he would probably not have any qualms with what Yang did.

But he was on good terms with them. He didn't know every random suit and tie goon there by name, but they'd all gotten to the point of acknowledging him when he arrived. He was around enough that the thugs were used to him, and some of them he'd even carried on conversation with because they were okay folks to talk to. Junior wasn't the closest friend he'd ever had, but they got on well enough. The big man was actually pretty fond of him if the twins were to be believed.

And the twins themselves were some of Jaune's favorite people. Melanie and Miltiades Malachite were people he was close with. Even if they had done some bad things in their life, he couldn't fault them for it; they had a rough upbringing and becoming Junior's enforcers got them off the streets and into a comfortable lifestyle.

But Yang wouldn't know anything about their positives, just what they did. And from the perspective of anyone else, it would be the same.

He was the odd on out, the one who actually cared about these people. And as much as Jaune knew that, and knew that it was perfectly fair, it still kind of made him angry.

"They're people all right, but not good people." Yang replied, stepping closer to him. "And I knew you were hanging out there, I knew you liked those two." He would have to have liked them to get as mad as he did that night. "But at first, I didn't think you had any idea what actually went on there, so I didn't think much on it. And then it hit me that you didn't even think to call the cops on me that night, so you had to have some clue." She paused again for a moment to let that sink in.

Jaune growled a bit. He had kept himself from turning her in to the police for exactly that reason; Junior was an extortionist who had his hands in VPD pretty deep. If he gave them an excuse to launch an investigation, they would find way too much stuff on him. "And what if I did?"

"It wouldn't be that big a problem." Yang answered quickly. "Hey, your favorite hang out is one of the city's not-so-secret secrets. Like half the people that go in there have some clue. Big deal." Seriously, she knew about the place before ever going there. It wasn't hard to find out, but no one with the motivation to do something about it had the ability to.

"And then what is the problem? Because I can't see you dragging me off just to vent like this."

A deep sigh came from the blonde girl, she reached up to run a hand through her long hair. "Look, Fr-... Jaune." She paused, transitioning to using his actual name rather than one of her nicknames for him. "I'm gonna be blunt. Nora isn't too good at keeping secrets, we heard about your little playdate. Rubes lit up like a light bulb and Ice Queen was scandalized."

Jaune grit his teeth visibly, a wide blush on his cheeks. "... Damn it, Nora..." He couldn't be that mad. She probably hadn't realized just how much he didn't want that getting out. "We didn't do anything. That was a misunderstanding."

Briefly, she looked amused. "Sure it was." Yang replied, before her amusement died back down and she became serious again. "Point is you're getting close to those two; really close. And the two of them are bad news." She got closer, leaning forward, almost into his personal space as he sat on the desk. "And Ruby likes you a lot. You were her first friend here, you made her first day go from bad to good all on your own just because you were there for her. I'm never going to stop appreciating that."

"I'm sensing a "but" coming on here, Yang." Jaune offered in response, unconcerned with her drifting closer; his idea of personal space had pretty well left him after all the time he spent with Melanie, the somewhat few and far between incidents with Neo, and now the whole "being Nora's partner" thing.

Her hand slammed down on the desk next to him. "I don't want you around my sister if you're going to be involved with people like that." With that, Yang took a more aggressive stance, as though blocking him from getting off the desk. "Simple as that. You have to pick; them or Ruby." She made this statement with all the finality of death itself.

Jaune, for his part, was flabbergasted by this rather sudden announcement. "W-wait, what!?" She couldn't be serious.

But she didn't budge. "You heard me. Ruby or those twins. We're not walking out that door until you pick."

"How do you expect to make me choose between them?" Jaune was not about to let this girl tell him that he had to choose between the friendship of her little sister, who was all around one of the sweetest, happiest people he had ever met, and the twins who had become some of his closest friends in the last few weeks. There was just no way he could make that decision. He met her gaze, unflinching. "I'm not going to be doing that."

"You will." She replied just as firmly. "Because if you don't, I'm gonna have to do something about it."

He snorted in response. "What? You're going to beat me up?" The boy leaned in close to her, a wide grin on his lips. "Go ahead. Try me." The Arc boy knew full well she had him beat in terms of experience, training, skill, and strength. His advantages over he lay in his speed and the versatility of his Semblance, and little else. Having more Aura than her was irrelevant since she could deplete it in huge chunks. But either way...

"This isn't some bet where if I lose I'm going to give up. There isn't some magic amount you can hurt me to make me surrender." The air around them was frigid by this point. "So what are you going to do? If you go to the professors it's your word against mine, and I actually haven't done anything that breaks the law." Except lying through his teeth like he was right now.

Yang could not ever become privy to his false transcripts. She would have legitimate blackmail on him then, he would have to surrender his friends or his dream.

Ignoring the cold, the lilac eyed girl kept her gaze steady. "I'm not going to fight you, Jaune. This isn't a fight. It really isn't." She stepped away, not backing down, but in a simple gesture that conveyed her sentiment; there was no fight, because she had already won. "I'm the kind of girl who needs to know things from time to time, and Junior's one of the best people for any kind of information. You do the math."

Eyes widening, Jaune's calm broke noticeably. "... You really think Junior won't play along from now on, after what you did? He's not an idiot." Yang had taken on Melanie, Miltiades, himself, and all of their cannon fodder in a marathon that left the place shattered. He would just play ball with her to make her leave.

"All it takes is me getting one guy to throw a punch. You think I can't do that once or twice? That's all it'll take. And even if I can't, it's my word versus theirs. Enough goes down around that place, the VPD will finally have an excuse to investigate and Junior won't be able to stop it. Too much attention and that ship sinks." As she spoke, she radiated a calm confidence. Not her usual brashness, but the aura of a woman who knew she had won and was just waiting for her opponent to realize as much. Like she was bored of this, she just wanted him to cave and be done with it.

Jaune Arc faltered. Junior going away would be awful, he was fond of the big man, and the grunts he got on with well enough... but the thought of the Malachite twins behind bars was enough to make him pause.

After a moment of merely staring at Yang, eyes wide and honest fear in them, he calmed himself with a deep breath, exhaling with a chill that sent ice crystals scattering as the moisture before him froze. "So I guess I would just need to stop you each and every time, wouldn't I?" His fist clenched tightly in his anger, cool winds blowing around the empty classroom as Yang watched on.

She was unimpressed. "Are you even listening to yourself, Jaune?"

The use of his name, when all she had ever referred to him before was some variety of her nicknames, actually grated on him. She was speaking to him like he was a child who didn't know what they were saying. She was talking to him like she was his mother and she knew better than him, like he was just being an idiot and eventually he would thank her for this.

He knew full well what he was doing, what he had said! "I said I would protect my friends from someone trying to hurt them." The teen reiterated firmly, eyes locked on hers and standing tall.

Yang shook her head with a sigh, her long, blonde hair cascading around her like a golden waterfall. "And when the teachers get involved and wonder just what your deal is?" She asked. "If we get into it enough in Vale, they're gonna ask questions. And all I'm doing is defending myself after someone gets set off, or at the absolute worst I'm taking action against criminals in Vale. And you'll be the one helping them. What's the going to say about you?"

That had his teeth gritting so hard he was afraid he was going to damage his Aura. As he tried to keep from giving himself away, Jaune Arc had to admit that she had him.

Damn it, she had him!

And with that realization came the falter. The room became colder, the windows beginning to show signs of it. Their hair was tousled by winds that circulated the room, winds that weren't under his control.

Jaune Arc was boiling with rage. He wanted to fight back. He wanted to make her pay for this. For trying to take away his friends or his dream, leaving him in a situation he couldn't find a way out of.

The white haired teen had no qualms with losing. It wasn't the fact that she had outplayed him that infuriated him.

It was the stakes. No matter what his choice, he lost something of incredible value to him.

He wanted to fight back. So badly. It was something he wanted to do more than anything else.

But even if he fought her, even if he won... it wouldn't change anything.

Should he break down and make the choice, he would either sacrifice his friendship with the twins or he would deny Ruby her first friend from Beacon.

And outright denying Yang would result in a downward spiral of events that would likely culminate in the dream he was willing to risk his life for being stolen from him, the loss of Ruby's friendship as her view of him was destroyed, and the loss of his team.

He couldn't make that choice. He would lose everything, yes, but worse would be all of the people who he would hurt. His team, Ruby, perhaps even Blake and Weiss.

And if he chose the twins, he would be forced to isolate himself from Ruby, who would want to know why. And he would have to lie to her, because it was clear that Yang would not be able to do this with her approval. And her knowing what Yang was doing would lead to a confrontation between the sisters, in which Yang would smear his reputation with her before going straight into her threats and culminating in that worst case scenario.

But cutting out the twins, Melanie and Miltiades, who had been so kind to him, who had become such good friends... to do that hurt him. Of course it would hurt if he were to begin ignoring Ruby, he would be reminded of his decision each and every day for four years, but Ruby had other friends. Eventually she would move on, even if she began to hate him for it.

Melanie and Miltiades had only themselves and Junior. They'd said as much themselves. And the two of them were strong, he knew that, his disappearance wouldn't be the end of the world for them. But just the thought of hurting them like that hurt him just as badly.

Emotions in a rage, he was just short of roaring in fury, at the world for putting him in this situation, at anything he could think of, just to release this anger, just short of attacking Yang for bringing him to this point...

And then, his rage cooled. As if washed away by a harsh winter wind, the fury was chilled. His breathing was heavy, the lingering anger taking a toll on him, but he remained calm rather than exploding. He didn't know how or why this happened, but this was what became of his anger now. Whenever it got too far, he found himself losing control, it was like a switch flipped in his head.

His anger didn't burn. It merely froze and sharpened, waiting for it's time to be unleashed.

"You win." He stated simply, dull eyes meeting those of his opponent. She didn't even nod, as though she had expected this and it was just a foregone conclusion.

She was right. Jaune never had a chance to win here. This wasn't a fight. It was simply delivery of terms. He realized that now.

"I need to hear you say it, Jaune." She insisted sternly. "What do you choose? Them, or Ruby?"

This almost goaded him back into anger, but he restrained himself. "Don't act like you don't know!" He growled out, clenching his hand tightly. "You make it sound like I have a choice, but we both know you came in here knowing I had one option! You know exactly what kind of situation you put me in!"

It had to be the twins. He couldn't afford to run the risk of slipping in front of Ruby, causing her suspicions to land on Yang. If Yang was caught blackmailing him, he would still go down. She could tolerate the hit it would bring to her relationship with her sister, she would have time to fix things. And she knew that.

"Say it." Yang repeated, unmoved.

"I choose Ruby." Jaune snarled out. "There, are you happy now? I give up, Yang! You win!" Calming himself again, taking more deep breaths and forcing back the frustrated tears that threatened to spill out, he turned to face one of the windows just so he wouldn't have to look at her. "Now... just leave me the hell alone." Jaune wanted nothing to do with Yang for the foreseeable future. "I don't even want to think about you right now."

The sound of footsteps was music to his ears, as they were moving away from him. But before she left, Yang had one thing left to say.

"You said I'm putting you in this situation. That's not it." She kept her voice steady, calm. Just as she had been this whole time, the voice of someone who never had victory in question. "You put yourself here. You're the only one to blame."

And with that, she was gone.

Wide blue eyes stared out the window, as Jaune's whole body shook.

He was furious. At himself. At Yang. At the world.

Because she was right. Because of the way he had done things, this situation was inevitable. He faked his way in, put himself in a position where he needed to be as unnoticed as possible. He befriended the twins because of how he had gotten in, made tangible connections with people he knew were on the wrong side of the law. He'd set himself up for failure.

He'd even gone further now, actively agreeing to work with Roman and Neo.

Jaune had thought of what may happen if people found out about that, at least. That was, for certain, a dangerous agreement he had made. One that, in time, could prove to be worth the risk. But it was a risk nonetheless.

But Melanie and Miltia? They were just friends. He had no stake in their business outside of whether or not it put them in danger. He wasn't involved with them for connections. He was just there because the two of them were his friends.

Jaune almost began laughing. "I can't believe it. I can't freaking believe this happened." Of all the things to happen, to trip him up, it was this. And from Yang of all people? The punny berserker of an older sister to one of his favorite people, a girl he expected to eventually get along with after he finally got over her involvement in hurting the twins, was blackmailing him and threatening those same friends again.

Needless to say, he was done with her. Staring out over the darkened campus, Jaune sighed once more and rested his head against the glass. After a few moments, fern-like patterns of ice began spreading across it.

An Arc was not the type to give up so easily. He would find a way out of this if it killed him, he would have his friends- all of them!- and his future as well.

And damn anyone fool enough to try and stop him.

AN: So yeah. That happened. We now have actual conflict in Beacon rather than CRDL being moderately annoying and whatnot, and it's Yang that's holding the sword over our boy's head. That ought to be fun.

So yeah. I thought this chapter would get to Forever Fall. It didn't. Expect that next chapter!