Jaune’s friends sent him to accept his fate alone. Or, well, as alone as he could ever be with Second in his head. Part of him felt like he’d been thrown to the wolves. Another part of him was immensely grateful that whatever embarrassment was about to hit him would be hidden from his friends, for now at least.

Especially Blake. His semblance hadn’t said a word, but team RWBY informed him that she had been the one to have a conversation with Second last night. The constant glances and faraway looks he had received at breakfast this morning had him on edge. And then there were the smirks, and the choked down giggles.

Giggles! From Blake! That wasn’t natural, and it frightened him. Even Nora had been put off by it, and she tended to easily accept the strange.

What exactly did you tell her? Jaune probed at his semblance.

I would never break client confidentiality, Second dismissed.

Client confidentiality? What are you, a lawyer?

No. Maybe I should be though. Do you think they’d let a semblance take the bar exam?

Jaune felt like he was being distracted from something.

That’s because you are. You’re not nearly as nervous about meeting the rest of your family now, are you?

I guess not, but only because I’m now worried about other-

A bullhead touched down, and Jaune’s stomach roiled as he realized who was likely to be inside.

Nevermind. My worry is back on my family.

Second sighed. Well, I tried. You’ll be fine, though! Don’t worry so much. Things worked out with your dad, didn’t they?

Jaune worried even more as a small horde of blonde hair moved onto the grounds of Beacon.

Wow. Second whistled in his mind. I know you said you have a large family, but seeing it is something else.

“There’s my little boy!” a mature voice shouted out from the small crowd, and the next thing Jaune knew, the air was being squeezed out of him as arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

A pair of mom jeans met a plain red jacket. Small hints of crow’s feet sat at the corners of her eyes, and her long blonde hair hung loosely down her back.

“Mom-” Jaune croaked out, “-crushing! Me!”

Jaune gasped for breath as his mother released him, her hands grabbing his face so she could inspect him. “Are you alright? Have you been eating well? I’ve been worried sick, young man! Your father told me you were fine, but I can’t help-”

“Let him breathe, Orianna.” His father placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to relax her a bit. “He’s not going anywhere.”

“This time…” one of his sisters snarked. With her hair done up in a ponytail, his sister was wearing a blue t-shirt with a white skirt that was long enough to appease their father. The little snake had dressed identically to her twin, so he couldn’t tell if it was Citrine or Clementine. They had to have done that on purpose…

The twins both have citrus based names? The color stuff is one thing, but really? Second asked in disbelief.

My parents have made… questionable choices when it comes to names.

You say that like it gets worse.

It does, Jaune mentally groaned.

“Now is not the time for your sass, young lady!” His mother berated his sister.

Don’t tell me your mom can’t tell them apart either…

They like to make a game out of it, Jaune explained, try to confuse people and see how many times they’ll use the wrong name. They swapped classrooms once when they were younger and not even their closest friends could tell.

“Yes, mom…” the other twin responded, but Orianna was still looking over her only son, so she failed to notice.

His mother stepped back, worry still clear on her face as her gaze left him and fell instead to the buildings behind him. “So it’s true then? You… you ran off to become a Huntsman?”

Jaune steeled himself. He had been the one to run off. He needed to accept the consequences of that.

Even if he really didn’t want to be here, getting stared down by his family as they looked at him like some kind of alien creature.

Don’t be so dramatic, they are not. They probably just don’t really know how to talk about all this. You and your dad were doing the same thing yesterday.

Jaune nodded. “...yes. I did.”

“That’s nice and all, but what makes you think that you get Crocea Mors? What if I wanted to get it from dad?” Solana got up in his face, poking her finger into his chest angrily. Her shorter hair was cut just above the neckline of her green shirt. Beige cargo shorts and a pair of boots made her look ready to go hiking in the Emerald Forest, especially if she was going to try and take Crocea Mors off of him.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“It’s just a sword, Solana, it’s not a big deal.” His father rolled his eyes as if they’d already had this conversation a few times already. “If you want a sword we can figure something else out.”

The glare the man got made it obvious that she didn’t agree.

Jaune fought back a frown. Would it really have been that easy? Just tell his dad he wanted a sword and it would happen? He hadn’t thought so. He’d gone through all of that trouble, and his dad was acting like this with Solana. Had he really been that blind? Or was it favoritism?

And now that he thought about it, since when had Solana wanted Crocea Mors? He hadn’t heard anything about her wanting to become a huntress. Though his dad had said the same had been true for him…

“Besides,” another sister spoke up, “We all know that if it had been up to father, Crocea Mors would go to Aurelia.” The girl wore a white hoodie with blue jeans, her messy hair held in place by a blue headband and her face framed by large, round glasses. From the way that the pocket of her hoodie was bulging, Jaune felt safe in assuming that she had brought a book or two with her, as usual.

Second had focused on something else though. …Aurelia? Daughter of Aurelius?

Jaune mentally groaned. Yes.

So they decided to name a kid after your father, but instead of doing it with you, making you Aurelius Junior, they decided to gender swap the name and give it to a daughter?

I told you they made questionable naming choices. Apparently they got my name from one of my great grandfathers. Since Aurelia is the youngest, they started running out of “yellow” names for girls by the time she was born. Or that’s how they tell the story anyway.

“Would you knock it off, Kiara? Your father and I love you all equally,” their mother chastised the girl.

“Yeah, stop being jealous that I’m the favorite!” The youngest girl stuck her tongue out at Kiara. A few heads shorter than the rest of them, she wore a pink dress, her hair done up in twintails.

“That’s not very nice, Aurelia. Say you’re sorry,” the last of his sisters scolded. Zinnia was seemingly trying to hide behind his other sisters, her eyes darting between Aurelia, him, and anyone who happened to pass by the family. Messy hair that was a shade darker than her sisters hung down just past her shoulders. A black, long sleeve shirt was paired with black pants.

Aurelius let out a long suffering sigh, likely having resigned himself to his last daughter entering the most troublesome years as his daughters devolved into bickering and mindless chatter.

The lot of you looking so similar is a bit weird with how unique everyone else you interact with is, but they seem like a normal enough bunch.

Why is that weird? Weiss and Winter look like siblings, don’t they? Jaune pointed out, and what is that supposed to mean? Did you expect them to be weird?

Point taken, and maybe just a little. I figured your mom might be in hysterics after seeing you for the first time, but she took it pretty well. Though maybe your dad saved us from that, coming alone yesterday and all.

Maybe…

You don’t think so? I’m just making assumptions, it’s your family.

Then, in what Jaune could only assume was half an attempt to shut his daughters up, and half an attempt to keep the reunion moving, he placed his free hand on Jaune’s shoulder and spoke. “You’re doing it again. Your family has come all this way to see you, speak to them instead of your semblance.”

“We would love to see it!” His mother chimed in before pausing. “Meet him?” she corrected, “I’m still a little confused about how all this works,” she awkwardly laughed.

That got the attention of his sisters. The squabbling stopped as they focused on him once more, a mix of anticipation and uneasiness on their faces.

When did I turn into a party trick to show off to guests?

Just get out here, Jaune rolled his eyes as he focused his aura and pushed Second Thoughts out.

A few of the girls gasped, and several took a step back in surprise.

Solana, though… “Your semblance is just you, but blue? That’s stupid.”

Second’s eye twitched.

----------------------------------------

“I kind of wish we had waited to get more details on how this thing works from Oz before this.” Qrow complained as he looked over the list before him.

“That would indeed have been a boon, but alas, this is the hand we have been played. Unless, of course, your accursed semblance is at fault.” Oobleck replied as he quickly wrote all over the list.

“Can you seriously read all of these that fast?” Qrow arched a brow, both impressed and slightly doubtful as he ignored the jab at his semblance. It wasn’t like he disagreed.

“You can’t? My students are just as capable, perhaps you could stand to further your education if you’re struggling.”

Qrow thought back to his nieces’ complaints about the professor before him. He’d thought most of it to be idle whining from the kiddos, but as he watched Bart tear through entire pages before he finished a single question, he found himself reevaluating that notion.

“Right…” he looked back at the list. “What method of neutralizing Salem, Queen of the Grimm, would result in the most positive outcome as defined in the following terms:...” He didn’t bother reading out the several paragraphs of clarification that followed. “Why do so many of these questions sound like legal jargon?”

Bart hummed. “It’s not necessarily a bad question, but I’m not quite sure of the wording. I’ll have to confer with them…. But in regards to your query about legal jargon,” he paused his markup to do some air quotes, “we do not know what sort of entity we are dealing with beyond the vagueness supplied by Ozpin. There are ancient tales of evil creatures granting any wish one might desire, but applying your request in rather unfortunate ways. One who wishes for a large sum of lien, for example, may find that a loved one has died, and the money is a life insurance payment. Or perhaps that it suddenly appears in their possession through one method or another, but that it is stolen and they are made to be the perpetrators of the crime.”

Qrow nodded along. “Yeah, I get that, but we’re just asking for information, right?”

“Indeed we are, but who is to say that our words will not be twisted? That if we ask what is Ozpin hiding from us, that it would indeed reveal a secret, but one that is benign, and not what we were actually after?”

“I guess that makes sense,” Qrow agreed. “Even then though…” He looked to the large stack of papers on the desk before them, “when I asked ol’ Irondick if they’d come up with any questions, I wasn’t expecting this.”

“You know James,” Bart sighed. “The man likes to be prepared, even if I don’t always agree with his methodology. I will, however, agree with his thought process in this one case. We only have three questions at our disposal. We must use them wisely.”

Qrow hated that he thought the same.