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Description
NOTE: This is still between “The Badge and The Burden Part 2” and “Jaunedice”.

NOTE 2: See comments for references.

Another week passed with similar results. Everyone eventually figured out Skye’s Semblance, but nobody was scared of her. On the contrary, they nicknamed her “Grimmwalker” since it looked cool. The few who did tried to bully her in the first two days were immediately stopped by me. In addition, my team and I managed to finish our work early so I could refine Skye's fighting style and teach my teammates about Aura control. All in all, nothing to worry about.

At least, not until the weekend.

It was another training routine. Dina and Sebastian were trying to get the hang of the first part of Aura control by climbing one of the columns in front of the school (yes, they had safety gear), Kendra was struggling to maintain her balance on a nearby lake, and Skye and I were sparring on the same water surface.

“You do realize that this is hard enough already without you and Skye making the water even more choppier,” Kendra stated when we all took a break.

“The enemy isn’t going to play nice, neither,” I retorted after drinking some water. “Besides, YOUR Aura control is most probably more refined than even mine; how else do you explain your rapid development?” I suddenly threw my apple up a tree with enough force to break a branch, cause team RWBY to fall to the ground and return to me. “And you girls know better than to try and spy on me.”

"That's the thing," Yang said as she and the others dusted themselves off. "How DO you know when we're around?"

“My nature,” I responded while looking down. “You four are too easy.”

“It’s not just that,” Weiss pressed on. “Nearly every time we see you, we see pieces of our personalities in your actions. That CAN’T be a coincidence!”

“I’ve been seeing you four for the last ten years,” I blurred out, only my teammates noticing the few drops of moisture dropping from my apple. “An impression is bound to be left behind as a result.”

“You’re lying,” Blake pressed on. “You’re looking down, you’re crying, and I don’t think that apple’s going to last much longer. And now that I think about it, your battle moves often have a hint of our own. However you’re doing it, we have a right to know.”

“Drop it, ladies,” I growled, the tears and apple juice dropping at an increased rate.

“Girls,” Skye said shyly. “Maybe we should let this go for the mome—”

“No,” Ruby interrupted, moved to anger/curiosity herself. “How do you do these things? Why do you shut us out? Why do you shut nearly everyone out? What are you so afraid of?!”

“I SAID DROP IT!!!!!!” As I yelled these four words while glaring at the girls, multiple more shocking things occurred: the same words echoed in their minds, the apple was crushed so fast that everyone was splashed, a blue glyph appeared and pushed team RWBY away, the color of my irises altered between my natural brown and the girls’ own, and the torches over my heart’s burn glowed and extended to include team RWBY’s symbols (and before you ask, the glow was basically flashlight-strong).

Realizing what I have done, I gasped in fear and stared at my hands as my eyes and chest returned to normal. “No,” I whispered, and with a simple look at team RWBY, I supposedly exploded into blue rose petals. They and my team suddenly saw me a few yards away, running to the docks.

“JOAQUÍN!!!!!!!” Skye yelled with worry at me before rounding to the girls, eyes and markings glowing red while Beowolf claws emerged from her hands. “WHY COULDN’T YOU HAVE LEFT THE TOPIC ALONE FOR JUST ONE DAY?!?!?!”

“Enough,” Kendra stated while grabbing Skye’s shoulder. “We don’t have time for this.”

“She’s right,” Dina agreed. “Right now, we need to figure out what just happened. Girls, you know our leader better than us, his own team. Any idea why this occurred?”

“That’s the problem,” Yang responded. “Even though we kept seeing him over the years, we barely knew him.”

“That's not the only problem,” Blake added, obviously shaken. “Somehow, he also screamed those words in our minds! How is that even possible?”

“It doesn't matter,” Ruby stated. “We all heard his fear; he clearly was afraid of how we'd react. We have to find him before he hurts himself.”

“There's just one problem,” Weiss spoke up. “We have no idea where he's going.”

By now, Skye has calmed down enough to deactivate her claws and turn her appearance to normal. “I think I might have a clue.”

A few minutes later, both teams were in Vale, following Skye to an unknown destination.

“Back when I was with Sensei William,” she explained, “he would constantly drone on and on about his ‘star pupil’. He also warned me about Joaquín’s SLIGHTLY unstable mind, but I never imagined it would be something like this. Anyway, William would tell me that if anything would go wrong, Joaquín would go to this nice, small bookstore to chill out in the basement.”

“And the owner just lets him?” Blake found this odd.

Skye nodded. “Apparently, his family met him back in their more-active White Fang days.”

“WHAT?!” Although everyone reacted the same way, Weiss and Sebastian’s outbursts were more about anger while Blake and Dina’s were more about shock.

“Relax,” Skye continued. “This is one of the less-loyal local members whose day job coincided with Joaquín’s future plans and an emergency refuge just in case anything goes haywire; we’ll be fine.”

Suddenly, they had arrived. A tall man from the counter greeted them. “Welcome to Tuskon’s Book Trade, home to every book under the sun.”

“You really need to change that slogan, sir,” Skye replied casually. “Otherwise people will use it as an excuse to get a refund. Or a traitor joint.”

Tuskon’s expression suddenly became serious as he darkened the door and windows. “He warned me that you might be coming. There are two reasons why I shouldn’t let you through. First of all, you might make it worse. Whatever happened between you guys really spooked him out; I don’t need to be a psychologist to guess that you might make him worse.”

“We’re his teammates,” Sebastian responded, gesturing to Dina, Kendra, and Skye. “Teams stick together.”

“And technically, it was OUR fault,” Ruby corrected while she and her team lowered their heads. “As his ‘spiritual sisters’ as he calls us, we have to fix this ourselves.”

“Which brings me to the second reason,” Tuskon continued. “His mother’s here, along with some friends from the family. And trust me, they value their privacy. You see them, you might NEVER see the sun again.”

“We held secrets for each other before,” Weiss retorted while grabbing her Myrtenaster. “This is just one more.”

Tuskon sighed darkly before opening the back door. “I know I may regret this, but Godspeed.”

One minute later, the kids were going down a spiraling staircase towards a sub-basement. As they reached the bottom, however, they heard several voices arguing with each other.

“-get him out here,” one female voice replied. “I knew Beacon was a bad idea, but he’s just as stubborn-headed as you, ma’am.”

“It was his choice,” a deep male voice stated. “There was nothing ANY of us could do. But I agree with the plan. I can take him to safety right now, Madam. You and Ozpin handle the cov—”

“Through the Darkforce Dimension?!” another female voice shirked. “He’s barely holding on as is. I’LL handle the extraction, ma’am. It’s the least I—”

“Your method of travel is hardly better,” an older female countered. “Unless we can get a ticket to the—”

“He’s not going anywhere,” an even older female said firmly. “Running away from this problem won’t solve anything. As much as it pains me, we’ll have to reveal his situation to—”

“Company,” the first female blurred out as the door was kicked down in front of the students.

All of a sudden, a woman in black and white shot spider-webs from her fingertips, ensnaring my teammates to the wall. Before team RWBY could react, a man in a black cloak appeared from the shadows and grabbed them with shadow claws. From the broken door came out a red-haired girl with green gunk-like energy flowing from her hands, and a blond-haired woman holding daggers made of light. “Ozpin’s students, ma’am.” The woman with the daggers reported to the doorway. “The eight we were just discussing, too. What should we do with them?”

A brown-haired woman came out. She was wearing a professional silver suit and stared at the kids with cold glasses-covered eyes. “Do any of you know who I am?”

“Beats me, lady,” Skye shot back while struggling against the webs. “But if you think you and y—”

“Watch it!” Dina yelled at Skye. “That’s Madam Aura you’re talking to!”

“She’s basically the greatest living legend of her generation,” Sebastian continued. “There wasn’t a single Grimm she couldn’t bring down. She’s even taken down a whole group of Goliath on her own once!”

“Those are just her offensive abilities,” Kendra carried on. “Her understanding of psychology and the humanoid mind lets her outsmart pretty much anyone and anything. And did we forget to mention that her mastery of her own Aura rivals that of Professor Ozpin?!”

“I get it,” Skye snapped. “She’s a big shot. Still doesn’t explain why—”

“THAT’S JOAQUÍN’S MOTHER, YOU URSA-HEADS!!!!!!!!!!!!” Team RWBY shouted at the same time.

"WHAT?!" my teammates replied with shock.

“That would explain why he's so good,” Skye simply said, her eyes and markings briefly flashing pink.

“Too bad you caused him fear,” Madam Aura replied while raising her right hand. Aura flashed from her fingertips, electrocuting them all.

“Enough.” The shocks stopped and EVERYONE turned to the doorway. There I was, tears still falling from my eyes and holding my arms close to my chest. “Mother,” I continued, looking to each adult as I said their names. “Silk, Ectoplasma, Cloak, Dagger, let them go and leave us alone. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Would there be any point in arguing against that idea?” the one called Cloak asked while the others nodded toward his idea.

“Mom,” I sighed. “Cindy, Erica, Ty, Tandy, please.”

They wanted to argue, but my tone when I used their real names convinced them otherwise. Dagger and Ectoplasma used their powers to cut down Silk’s webs while Cloak released the rest of the girls. “I had just finished making tea when we started arguing,” my mom stated as she and the adults went up the stairs. “We’ll wait with Tuskon.”

“Sorry about that,” I said as I served the tea. “Even Ty’s usually peaceful, but given my current condition, you can understand their anger.”

“Water under the bridge,” Ruby replied with a wave of her hand. “The only confusing part was how the others did what they did.”

“Your mom’s power, I understand,” Sebastian agreed while the others nodded. “The other four, not so much.”

I sighed deeply. “I shouldn't, but that secret was always too big for me to shoulder. You guys swear to never breathe a syllable of this to anyone?” They all nodded and started drinking their teas. “As shocking as this may sound, there are many ways to unlock one’s Aura and Semblance. Silk’s bite from a Dust-infused spider; Ectoplasma’s prolonged exposure to a magic-infused haunted mansion, and no, I didn’t just make that up; Cloak and Dagger’s experimental pharmaceuticals—”

Weiss and Sebastian suddenly spat out the tea that was in their mouths. “DRUGS?!?!” they asked in shock.

“Be nice,” Blake responded to their outbursts.

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed. “Those two were obviously poor runaways who were kidnapped and were forced to take the drugs. It was obvious in how they freed us.”

“Exactly, Pipsqueak,” I responded. “Anyway, the list goes on, ranging from fairy tales to science fiction. Back when it was common knowledge, these individuals were often targeted for their abilities. None of the attacks were pretty, and the few who succeeded weren’t the kind of people who you’d want to have ‘ultimate power.’”

Even Weiss had to cover her mouth in shock. “For how long?”

“Centuries, if not millennium,” I replied before sipping my tea.

“So much against history,” Blake and Skye muttered. “Religion, mythology…”

“If the truth came out…” Sebastian and Yang whispered.

“They’ll be panic,” Kendra thought out loud.

“PANIC?!” I exclaimed, shocking them all again. “Forget that; the Kingdoms will be tearing themselves apart from within long before the first Grimm ever gets through the walls. Realizing this, a main brotherhood was forged, dedicated to keep the public in the dark. Mostly composed of families like mine, it became known as the Honor Hunt, due to its role of finding these noteworthy individuals and making them Honorary Huntsmen and Huntresses, allowing them to continue keeping the people safe while keeping their lives and abilities as safe as possible.”

“‘A main brotherhood?’” Ruby repeated with doubt.

I shrugged. “Sub-groups were formed over time, to help manage the ever-growing diverse list. In addition, the Huntsman Academy Headmasters found out about a low-importance stack of secrets once and formed their own group, currently led by Ozpin. They know about the Honor Hunt, but are still as much in the dark as the general public.”

Weiss gave a large breath before looking into my eyes. “As fascinating and shocking as this all is, I still don’t see how ANY of this has do with you.”

“You just HAD to bring that topic back,” Skye snarled at her, eyes already glowing red.

I merely threw four marbles at each of my teammates while they, my glasses and my ‘scar’ started glowing. Everyone hear my thoughts ok? I asked in my head.

You just linked our minds with whatever you have on your chest and highly advanced technology? Ruby asked by thought. And I thought you were hardcore before!

Hold on, Sebastian sputtered. As interesting as this, why did you do this?

Because it’ll be easier if I showed you what happened. With that, the entire room dissolved, showing my teammates and ‘sisters’ a story I rarely told anyone else.

Mistral, late afternoon, 10 years ago

“I’m going over to my friend’s house now, Mommy,” I yelled as I left the house.

“Ok,” my mom yelled back. “Just remember that I’ll be home late. Last-minute gatherings of old friends are killer on one’s body, as you already know.”

“Just please tell those twelve oddities that I told their six brats I said hi,” I replied before closing the door. As I walked up the street, I saw a jet-black-haired girl next door. “Hey, Sis!”

“For the last time,” the girl replied. “We’re not siblings, and I DO have a name.”

“Every time I come here, you do nothing but help out,” I whined. “Besides, what kind of adoptive parents would name their daughter Cinder?”

She crossed her arms. “Yeah, well, we both have strange parents. Like your mom telling you to visit a friend while she goes to visit several friends on the other side of the planet.”

“She wouldn’t say why,” I responded with a shrug. “But that meeting’s something neither I nor their spoiled brats should see. And you know I could just stay over at your place.”

“Not tonight,” she answered. “There’s something I need to do alone.”

“See you tomorrow then,” I replied before heading out.

It was well past midnight when I was walking back home with my friend’s father. “I swear,” he sighed. “Why your mother doesn’t let you sleep in our house tonight; I’ll never know.”

“Her work,” I answered casually. “Some things are-” I suddenly saw smoke and an orange light. “GET HELP!” I ran towards the source: my house and Cinder’s, both on fire. Acting impulsively, I ran into my house, grabbed my mom’s ‘laptop’, and ran back out. Slightly coughing, I opened it and checked its last program: a blue file that said A.L.P.H.A. had finished something. “I don’t know what you are, A.L.P.H.A.,” I thought out loud. “But at least my mom didn’t lose either of us.”

“Don’t be too sure, boy.” I looked up and was shocked by what I saw: Cinder, holding a Fire Dust and a murderous stare. Behind her, her adopted parents laid on the ground, dead. “Give me that tech, NOW.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked calmly, yet scared. “Why betray this time of peace? Why betray me?”

“I have dreams, too,” she replied. “I want to be strong. I want to be powerful.”

“Then become a Huntress!” I yelled. “There's no need to–”

“Just one problem,” Cinder continued, walking right to my face. “Love is for children. I want to be FEARED.”

“W-what?” My fear started to make itself visible. “Wh-why would you–”

“There's a saying.” We both turned to see a dark-dressed woman walked into the area. “It’s better to be feared than loved. And there’s nothing stronger than fear.”

“Mistress,” Cinder replied in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“Making sure you don't screw up even further, girl,” she replied before slapping Cinder. “Madam Aura was supposed to be burning in that fire, but I don’t smell any flesh burning, do you?!”

“She's on the other side of Remnant,” Cinder blurred out nervously. “She won't cause us any trouble right now.”

“Just one detail.” Suddenly, a blue circle appeared and my mom came out, blasting the ‘Mistress’ away from me. “In my field of work, you get to meet a few teleporters. As for you, Cinder, I am DEEPLY disappointed in you.”

“We all make our own choices,” Cinder retorted as she helped her boss get to her feet. “You taught me that personally.”

“Enough small talk!” In slow motion, I saw the unknown female hurl a black bolt of energy at my mom. Acting on instinct, I jumped… and took the bolt directly to the heart.

“NO!” Forgetting completely about her opponent, my mom rushed over to my shaking and barely-conscious body and started pouring her Aura into the wound.

“It’s pointless,” the stranger sneered. “That attack was the darkest of al—”

All of a sudden, Cinder threw a rock at her boss’s head at a specific angle, knocking her out. Then, she grabbed her elder’s amulet and ran to my body. “I may disagree with your idealism, but I still care for your son.” Cinder placed the amulet around my neck. “Keep the Aura focused on that and keep the wound clean of ANYTHING. Mental and psychological damage is unavoidable for this kind of curse, but nothing a large dose of—”

“Explosion break’s over.” The mystery woman grabbed Cinder by the throat and dragged her away. “You’re all just lucky that the police are on their way.”

My mom was so busy watching them get away, only I noticed the four specks of light—red, yellow, black, and white—falling towards me. Upon landing on the wound, it was all I could to not scream as they morphed into their current marks. With that, I finally passed out.

Present day

“You all know what happened next,” I replied out loud, having severed the psychic links. “Mom flew me back to Vale and my life took an unimaginable detour. At first, I thought those specs were debris. But it was when the girls came in with their elders that I realized that they were pieces of Aura.”

“Wait,” Weiss interrupted. “So what you’re saying is that that mark links you to us?! How much?”

I started crying again. “I have access to your memories, personalities and Semblances. But the blasted thing has a mind of its own and whether I turn it on, my Aura gets depleted faster than usual. That’s why Mom let me in on the Honor Hunt WAY earlier than she thought, so we could find a cure. Nothing. Now you guys get why I’m socially awkward? Why I have no permanent friends?! With how big a fr—”

At that moment, team RWBY tackled me with a big group hug. “Don’t be stupid,” Ruby whispered. “You’re not a freak. Sure, your sense of humor is horrible, and your ‘condition’ does make things weird, but you always looked out for us. You’ll always be our brother.”

“And I think it’s safe to say that Ruby took the words right out of everyone’s mouths,” Dina added, seeing how the others were nodding.

My brain was frozen for a few seconds, processing all of this. Then, all of a sudden, tears of happiness poured out of my eyes as I basically squeezed Ruby into a hug. She merely patted me on the back as I let my emotions flow. When I was done, I looked down and saw that the mark was gone. “Compassion and Aura contamination,” I stated in awe. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You were a 7-year-old,” Blake replied. “Even you couldn’t have seen it coming.”

The following words were heard both from my mouth and inside team RWBY’s minds: That, and I was too busy hiding my depression through jokes that were worse than the time each of you girls caught me completely naked.

“Good to have you back, you horrible, back-talking boss,” Sebastian muttered as I used my blades to shield myself from the four offended girls.

I sighed. “Look, how about we stop by this nice café on the way back to school and I buy lunch for everyone? A little payback for making you all worry so much.”

The others agreed. When we arrived at the ground floor, the adults were there, waiting for us. “I believe it's safe to say that it won't be necessary to remove you from Beacon?” Ectoplasma asked with a small smile.

I chuckled. “And leave my friends and sisters behind? As annoying as they may, I'd take them over the Honor Hunt’s Protection Program—and no, I only told them the roughest of details—ANY day.”

“Wait.” Dagger suddenly rushed forward and placed a shining hand over my heart. “The mark. How can it be gone?”

“Compassion,” I replied with a smile. “The answer was more obvious than the benefits of eating vegetables.”

My mom gasped at how much better my joke was than usual and gave me and Ruby a big hug. “Oh, how I prayed for this day to come,” she muttered before turning to Cloak. “His Aura’s still tainted with the girls’, isn't it?”

“Yes,” he replied. “And if there’s a way to reverse it, we do not know it.”

“Stains set in over time, Mom,” I rudely replied. “Deal with it. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I have lunch to pay.”

“Wait,” Silk replied as I reached for the door. “We’ll be staying for the Vytal Festival. Any chance you and your team are going to participate in the Tournament?”

I merely looked at my team and RWBY before smirking. “Team RWBY, definitely; they never could keep themselves out of the spotlight. As for my team, let’s leave it up in the air for now.” Then I opened the door. “You adults take care, ok?”

Long story short, it was an enjoyable lunch and I swore to tell them about the individual Honor Hunt agents ONLY as they appeared (“The rules clearly stated that they could not be revealed beforehand,” I stated.).

It is now nighttime at Beacon. I was taking a stroll just outside of the dorms when an acorn fell on my head. I looked up and saw Skye on the roof, beckoning me to come join her.

“You okay?” I asked when I got there.

“I was just about to ask you the exact same thing,” she answered. “I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was to tell us what you told us.”

I shrugged as I sat next to her. “To be honest, pretty much the entire Honor Hunt knows a few details about it. The only difference is that I told the whole story to people I trust the most. I’m lucky that I can put away my emotions away for most necessary actions.”

“And me?” I turned my head in shock when she said that. “Ever since I got here, you've done nothing but help me adjust to the school. Was it kindness, or just another logical move?”

“Neither.” I looked directly into her eyes. “For an entire decade, I did all that I could to hide my curse, because I knew how the bulk of society would respond. I knew that the only reason I wasn't in some lab was because of my mom’s influences everywhere, not just in the Honor Hunt. And then, all of a sudden, I'm introduced to a girl who's going through a similar problem. I don’t know why I protected you so well. It could have been just kindness, but it feels too strange to–”

Skye placed her hand on my shoulder. “I think I know. All this time, I thought I was the only one who knew the burden of a curse, the only one who had a good reason to isolate myself for the greater good. Then you can into my life. Even before your outburst, I knew you were hiding a painful burden. You used the same movements I did at home before running away.” We both started to lean toward each other. “Your actions were caused by the same reason behind my outburst. And don't say you don’t know about my outburst; I saw your eyes change colors during lunch.”

“I guess I’m just that predictable to you, huh,” I muttered as we closed our eyes while our lips came closer and closer.

“You talk too much,” were the only words Skye spoke back before our lips connected. As the kiss got more passionate, her hands went past my neck and grabbed my hair as I grabbed hers with my right hand while my left hand grabbed her waist. When we separated due to the lack of air, both of our eyes were half-closed, her irises and markings were pink, and we were both blushing. “You have no idea how the rest of the school will react, do you?”

“I stopped caring what the overall public thinks about my private life the second you and the others accepted my secret,” I whispered before we kissed again.

Description
NOTE: This is still between “The Badge and The Burden Part 2” and “Jaunedice”.

NOTE 2: See comments for references.

Another week passed with similar results. Everyone eventually figured out Skye’s Semblance, but nobody was scared of her. On the contrary, they nicknamed her “Grimmwalker” since it looked cool. The few who did tried to bully her in the first two days were immediately stopped by me. In addition, my team and I managed to finish our work early so I could refine Skye's fighting style and teach my teammates about Aura control. All in all, nothing to worry about.

At least, not until the weekend.

It was another training routine. Dina and Sebastian were trying to get the hang of the first part of Aura control by climbing one of the columns in front of the school (yes, they had safety gear), Kendra was struggling to maintain her balance on a nearby lake, and Skye and I were sparring on the same water surface.

“You do realize that this is hard enough already without you and Skye making the water even more choppier,” Kendra stated when we all took a break.

“The enemy isn’t going to play nice, neither,” I retorted after drinking some water. “Besides, YOUR Aura control is most probably more refined than even mine; how else do you explain your rapid development?” I suddenly threw my apple up a tree with enough force to break a branch, cause team RWBY to fall to the ground and return to me. “And you girls know better than to try and spy on me.”

"That's the thing," Yang said as she and the others dusted themselves off. "How DO you know when we're around?"

“My nature,” I responded while looking down. “You four are too easy.”

“It’s not just that,” Weiss pressed on. “Nearly every time we see you, we see pieces of our personalities in your actions. That CAN’T be a coincidence!”

“I’ve been seeing you four for the last ten years,” I blurred out, only my teammates noticing the few drops of moisture dropping from my apple. “An impression is bound to be left behind as a result.”

“You’re lying,” Blake pressed on. “You’re looking down, you’re crying, and I don’t think that apple’s going to last much longer. And now that I think about it, your battle moves often have a hint of our own. However you’re doing it, we have a right to know.”

“Drop it, ladies,” I growled, the tears and apple juice dropping at an increased rate.

“Girls,” Skye said shyly. “Maybe we should let this go for the mome—”

“No,” Ruby interrupted, moved to anger/curiosity herself. “How do you do these things? Why do you shut us out? Why do you shut nearly everyone out? What are you so afraid of?!”

“I SAID DROP IT!!!!!!” As I yelled these four words while glaring at the girls, multiple more shocking things occurred: the same words echoed in their minds, the apple was crushed so fast that everyone was splashed, a blue glyph appeared and pushed team RWBY away, the color of my irises altered between my natural brown and the girls’ own, and the torches over my heart’s burn glowed and extended to include team RWBY’s symbols (and before you ask, the glow was basically flashlight-strong).

Realizing what I have done, I gasped in fear and stared at my hands as my eyes and chest returned to normal. “No,” I whispered, and with a simple look at team RWBY, I supposedly exploded into blue rose petals. They and my team suddenly saw me a few yards away, running to the docks.

“JOAQUÍN!!!!!!!” Skye yelled with worry at me before rounding to the girls, eyes and markings glowing red while Beowolf claws emerged from her hands. “WHY COULDN’T YOU HAVE LEFT THE TOPIC ALONE FOR JUST ONE DAY?!?!?!”

“Enough,” Kendra stated while grabbing Skye’s shoulder. “We don’t have time for this.”

“She’s right,” Dina agreed. “Right now, we need to figure out what just happened. Girls, you know our leader better than us, his own team. Any idea why this occurred?”

“That’s the problem,” Yang responded. “Even though we kept seeing him over the years, we barely knew him.”

“That's not the only problem,” Blake added, obviously shaken. “Somehow, he also screamed those words in our minds! How is that even possible?”

“It doesn't matter,” Ruby stated. “We all heard his fear; he clearly was afraid of how we'd react. We have to find him before he hurts himself.”

“There's just one problem,” Weiss spoke up. “We have no idea where he's going.”

By now, Skye has calmed down enough to deactivate her claws and turn her appearance to normal. “I think I might have a clue.”

A few minutes later, both teams were in Vale, following Skye to an unknown destination.

“Back when I was with Sensei William,” she explained, “he would constantly drone on and on about his ‘star pupil’. He also warned me about Joaquín’s SLIGHTLY unstable mind, but I never imagined it would be something like this. Anyway, William would tell me that if anything would go wrong, Joaquín would go to this nice, small bookstore to chill out in the basement.”

“And the owner just lets him?” Blake found this odd.

Skye nodded. “Apparently, his family met him back in their more-active White Fang days.”

“WHAT?!” Although everyone reacted the same way, Weiss and Sebastian’s outbursts were more about anger while Blake and Dina’s were more about shock.

“Relax,” Skye continued. “This is one of the less-loyal local members whose day job coincided with Joaquín’s future plans and an emergency refuge just in case anything goes haywire; we’ll be fine.”

Suddenly, they had arrived. A tall man from the counter greeted them. “Welcome to Tuskon’s Book Trade, home to every book under the sun.”

“You really need to change that slogan, sir,” Skye replied casually. “Otherwise people will use it as an excuse to get a refund. Or a traitor joint.”

Tuskon’s expression suddenly became serious as he darkened the door and windows. “He warned me that you might be coming. There are two reasons why I shouldn’t let you through. First of all, you might make it worse. Whatever happened between you guys really spooked him out; I don’t need to be a psychologist to guess that you might make him worse.”

“We’re his teammates,” Sebastian responded, gesturing to Dina, Kendra, and Skye. “Teams stick together.”

“And technically, it was OUR fault,” Ruby corrected while she and her team lowered their heads. “As his ‘spiritual sisters’ as he calls us, we have to fix this ourselves.”

“Which brings me to the second reason,” Tuskon continued. “His mother’s here, along with some friends from the family. And trust me, they value their privacy. You see them, you might NEVER see the sun again.”

“We held secrets for each other before,” Weiss retorted while grabbing her Myrtenaster. “This is just one more.”

Tuskon sighed darkly before opening the back door. “I know I may regret this, but Godspeed.”

One minute later, the kids were going down a spiraling staircase towards a sub-basement. As they reached the bottom, however, they heard several voices arguing with each other.

“-get him out here,” one female voice replied. “I knew Beacon was a bad idea, but he’s just as stubborn-headed as you, ma’am.”

“It was his choice,” a deep male voice stated. “There was nothing ANY of us could do. But I agree with the plan. I can take him to safety right now, Madam. You and Ozpin handle the cov—”

“Through the Darkforce Dimension?!” another female voice shirked. “He’s barely holding on as is. I’LL handle the extraction, ma’am. It’s the least I—”

“Your method of travel is hardly better,” an older female countered. “Unless we can get a ticket to the—”

“He’s not going anywhere,” an even older female said firmly. “Running away from this problem won’t solve anything. As much as it pains me, we’ll have to reveal his situation to—”

“Company,” the first female blurred out as the door was kicked down in front of the students.

All of a sudden, a woman in black and white shot spider-webs from her fingertips, ensnaring my teammates to the wall. Before team RWBY could react, a man in a black cloak appeared from the shadows and grabbed them with shadow claws. From the broken door came out a red-haired girl with green gunk-like energy flowing from her hands, and a blond-haired woman holding daggers made of light. “Ozpin’s students, ma’am.” The woman with the daggers reported to the doorway. “The eight we were just discussing, too. What should we do with them?”

A brown-haired woman came out. She was wearing a professional silver suit and stared at the kids with cold glasses-covered eyes. “Do any of you know who I am?”

“Beats me, lady,” Skye shot back while struggling against the webs. “But if you think you and y—”

“Watch it!” Dina yelled at Skye. “That’s Madam Aura you’re talking to!”

“She’s basically the greatest living legend of her generation,” Sebastian continued. “There wasn’t a single Grimm she couldn’t bring down. She’s even taken down a whole group of Goliath on her own once!”

“Those are just her offensive abilities,” Kendra carried on. “Her understanding of psychology and the humanoid mind lets her outsmart pretty much anyone and anything. And did we forget to mention that her mastery of her own Aura rivals that of Professor Ozpin?!”

“I get it,” Skye snapped. “She’s a big shot. Still doesn’t explain why—”

“THAT’S JOAQUÍN’S MOTHER, YOU URSA-HEADS!!!!!!!!!!!!” Team RWBY shouted at the same time.

"WHAT?!" my teammates replied with shock.

“That would explain why he's so good,” Skye simply said, her eyes and markings briefly flashing pink.

“Too bad you caused him fear,” Madam Aura replied while raising her right hand. Aura flashed from her fingertips, electrocuting them all.

“Enough.” The shocks stopped and EVERYONE turned to the doorway. There I was, tears still falling from my eyes and holding my arms close to my chest. “Mother,” I continued, looking to each adult as I said their names. “Silk, Ectoplasma, Cloak, Dagger, let them go and leave us alone. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Would there be any point in arguing against that idea?” the one called Cloak asked while the others nodded toward his idea.

“Mom,” I sighed. “Cindy, Erica, Ty, Tandy, please.”

They wanted to argue, but my tone when I used their real names convinced them otherwise. Dagger and Ectoplasma used their powers to cut down Silk’s webs while Cloak released the rest of the girls. “I had just finished making tea when we started arguing,” my mom stated as she and the adults went up the stairs. “We’ll wait with Tuskon.”

“Sorry about that,” I said as I served the tea. “Even Ty’s usually peaceful, but given my current condition, you can understand their anger.”

“Water under the bridge,” Ruby replied with a wave of her hand. “The only confusing part was how the others did what they did.”

“Your mom’s power, I understand,” Sebastian agreed while the others nodded. “The other four, not so much.”

I sighed deeply. “I shouldn't, but that secret was always too big for me to shoulder. You guys swear to never breathe a syllable of this to anyone?” They all nodded and started drinking their teas. “As shocking as this may sound, there are many ways to unlock one’s Aura and Semblance. Silk’s bite from a Dust-infused spider; Ectoplasma’s prolonged exposure to a magic-infused haunted mansion, and no, I didn’t just make that up; Cloak and Dagger’s experimental pharmaceuticals—”

Weiss and Sebastian suddenly spat out the tea that was in their mouths. “DRUGS?!?!” they asked in shock.

“Be nice,” Blake responded to their outbursts.

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed. “Those two were obviously poor runaways who were kidnapped and were forced to take the drugs. It was obvious in how they freed us.”

“Exactly, Pipsqueak,” I responded. “Anyway, the list goes on, ranging from fairy tales to science fiction. Back when it was common knowledge, these individuals were often targeted for their abilities. None of the attacks were pretty, and the few who succeeded weren’t the kind of people who you’d want to have ‘ultimate power.’”

Even Weiss had to cover her mouth in shock. “For how long?”

“Centuries, if not millennium,” I replied before sipping my tea.

“So much against history,” Blake and Skye muttered. “Religion, mythology…”

“If the truth came out…” Sebastian and Yang whispered.

“They’ll be panic,” Kendra thought out loud.

“PANIC?!” I exclaimed, shocking them all again. “Forget that; the Kingdoms will be tearing themselves apart from within long before the first Grimm ever gets through the walls. Realizing this, a main brotherhood was forged, dedicated to keep the public in the dark. Mostly composed of families like mine, it became known as the Honor Hunt, due to its role of finding these noteworthy individuals and making them Honorary Huntsmen and Huntresses, allowing them to continue keeping the people safe while keeping their lives and abilities as safe as possible.”

“‘A main brotherhood?’” Ruby repeated with doubt.

I shrugged. “Sub-groups were formed over time, to help manage the ever-growing diverse list. In addition, the Huntsman Academy Headmasters found out about a low-importance stack of secrets once and formed their own group, currently led by Ozpin. They know about the Honor Hunt, but are still as much in the dark as the general public.”

Weiss gave a large breath before looking into my eyes. “As fascinating and shocking as this all is, I still don’t see how ANY of this has do with you.”

“You just HAD to bring that topic back,” Skye snarled at her, eyes already glowing red.

I merely threw four marbles at each of my teammates while they, my glasses and my ‘scar’ started glowing. Everyone hear my thoughts ok? I asked in my head.

You just linked our minds with whatever you have on your chest and highly advanced technology? Ruby asked by thought. And I thought you were hardcore before!

Hold on, Sebastian sputtered. As interesting as this, why did you do this?

Because it’ll be easier if I showed you what happened. With that, the entire room dissolved, showing my teammates and ‘sisters’ a story I rarely told anyone else.

Mistral, late afternoon, 10 years ago

“I’m going over to my friend’s house now, Mommy,” I yelled as I left the house.

“Ok,” my mom yelled back. “Just remember that I’ll be home late. Last-minute gatherings of old friends are killer on one’s body, as you already know.”

“Just please tell those twelve oddities that I told their six brats I said hi,” I replied before closing the door. As I walked up the street, I saw a jet-black-haired girl next door. “Hey, Sis!”

“For the last time,” the girl replied. “We’re not siblings, and I DO have a name.”

“Every time I come here, you do nothing but help out,” I whined. “Besides, what kind of adoptive parents would name their daughter Cinder?”

She crossed her arms. “Yeah, well, we both have strange parents. Like your mom telling you to visit a friend while she goes to visit several friends on the other side of the planet.”

“She wouldn’t say why,” I responded with a shrug. “But that meeting’s something neither I nor their spoiled brats should see. And you know I could just stay over at your place.”

“Not tonight,” she answered. “There’s something I need to do alone.”

“See you tomorrow then,” I replied before heading out.

It was well past midnight when I was walking back home with my friend’s father. “I swear,” he sighed. “Why your mother doesn’t let you sleep in our house tonight; I’ll never know.”

“Her work,” I answered casually. “Some things are-” I suddenly saw smoke and an orange light. “GET HELP!” I ran towards the source: my house and Cinder’s, both on fire. Acting impulsively, I ran into my house, grabbed my mom’s ‘laptop’, and ran back out. Slightly coughing, I opened it and checked its last program: a blue file that said A.L.P.H.A. had finished something. “I don’t know what you are, A.L.P.H.A.,” I thought out loud. “But at least my mom didn’t lose either of us.”

“Don’t be too sure, boy.” I looked up and was shocked by what I saw: Cinder, holding a Fire Dust and a murderous stare. Behind her, her adopted parents laid on the ground, dead. “Give me that tech, NOW.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked calmly, yet scared. “Why betray this time of peace? Why betray me?”

“I have dreams, too,” she replied. “I want to be strong. I want to be powerful.”

“Then become a Huntress!” I yelled. “There's no need to–”

“Just one problem,” Cinder continued, walking right to my face. “Love is for children. I want to be FEARED.”

“W-what?” My fear started to make itself visible. “Wh-why would you–”

“There's a saying.” We both turned to see a dark-dressed woman walked into the area. “It’s better to be feared than loved. And there’s nothing stronger than fear.”

“Mistress,” Cinder replied in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“Making sure you don't screw up even further, girl,” she replied before slapping Cinder. “Madam Aura was supposed to be burning in that fire, but I don’t smell any flesh burning, do you?!”

“She's on the other side of Remnant,” Cinder blurred out nervously. “She won't cause us any trouble right now.”

“Just one detail.” Suddenly, a blue circle appeared and my mom came out, blasting the ‘Mistress’ away from me. “In my field of work, you get to meet a few teleporters. As for you, Cinder, I am DEEPLY disappointed in you.”

“We all make our own choices,” Cinder retorted as she helped her boss get to her feet. “You taught me that personally.”

“Enough small talk!” In slow motion, I saw the unknown female hurl a black bolt of energy at my mom. Acting on instinct, I jumped… and took the bolt directly to the heart.

“NO!” Forgetting completely about her opponent, my mom rushed over to my shaking and barely-conscious body and started pouring her Aura into the wound.

“It’s pointless,” the stranger sneered. “That attack was the darkest of al—”

All of a sudden, Cinder threw a rock at her boss’s head at a specific angle, knocking her out. Then, she grabbed her elder’s amulet and ran to my body. “I may disagree with your idealism, but I still care for your son.” Cinder placed the amulet around my neck. “Keep the Aura focused on that and keep the wound clean of ANYTHING. Mental and psychological damage is unavoidable for this kind of curse, but nothing a large dose of—”

“Explosion break’s over.” The mystery woman grabbed Cinder by the throat and dragged her away. “You’re all just lucky that the police are on their way.”

My mom was so busy watching them get away, only I noticed the four specks of light—red, yellow, black, and white—falling towards me. Upon landing on the wound, it was all I could to not scream as they morphed into their current marks. With that, I finally passed out.

Present day

“You all know what happened next,” I replied out loud, having severed the psychic links. “Mom flew me back to Vale and my life took an unimaginable detour. At first, I thought those specs were debris. But it was when the girls came in with their elders that I realized that they were pieces of Aura.”

“Wait,” Weiss interrupted. “So what you’re saying is that that mark links you to us?! How much?”

I started crying again. “I have access to your memories, personalities and Semblances. But the blasted thing has a mind of its own and whether I turn it on, my Aura gets depleted faster than usual. That’s why Mom let me in on the Honor Hunt WAY earlier than she thought, so we could find a cure. Nothing. Now you guys get why I’m socially awkward? Why I have no permanent friends?! With how big a fr—”

At that moment, team RWBY tackled me with a big group hug. “Don’t be stupid,” Ruby whispered. “You’re not a freak. Sure, your sense of humor is horrible, and your ‘condition’ does make things weird, but you always looked out for us. You’ll always be our brother.”

“And I think it’s safe to say that Ruby took the words right out of everyone’s mouths,” Dina added, seeing how the others were nodding.

My brain was frozen for a few seconds, processing all of this. Then, all of a sudden, tears of happiness poured out of my eyes as I basically squeezed Ruby into a hug. She merely patted me on the back as I let my emotions flow. When I was done, I looked down and saw that the mark was gone. “Compassion and Aura contamination,” I stated in awe. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You were a 7-year-old,” Blake replied. “Even you couldn’t have seen it coming.”

The following words were heard both from my mouth and inside team RWBY’s minds: That, and I was too busy hiding my depression through jokes that were worse than the time each of you girls caught me completely naked.

“Good to have you back, you horrible, back-talking boss,” Sebastian muttered as I used my blades to shield myself from the four offended girls.

I sighed. “Look, how about we stop by this nice café on the way back to school and I buy lunch for everyone? A little payback for making you all worry so much.”

The others agreed. When we arrived at the ground floor, the adults were there, waiting for us. “I believe it's safe to say that it won't be necessary to remove you from Beacon?” Ectoplasma asked with a small smile.

I chuckled. “And leave my friends and sisters behind? As annoying as they may, I'd take them over the Honor Hunt’s Protection Program—and no, I only told them the roughest of details—ANY day.”

“Wait.” Dagger suddenly rushed forward and placed a shining hand over my heart. “The mark. How can it be gone?”

“Compassion,” I replied with a smile. “The answer was more obvious than the benefits of eating vegetables.”

My mom gasped at how much better my joke was than usual and gave me and Ruby a big hug. “Oh, how I prayed for this day to come,” she muttered before turning to Cloak. “His Aura’s still tainted with the girls’, isn't it?”

“Yes,” he replied. “And if there’s a way to reverse it, we do not know it.”

“Stains set in over time, Mom,” I rudely replied. “Deal with it. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I have lunch to pay.”

“Wait,” Silk replied as I reached for the door. “We’ll be staying for the Vytal Festival. Any chance you and your team are going to participate in the Tournament?”

I merely looked at my team and RWBY before smirking. “Team RWBY, definitely; they never could keep themselves out of the spotlight. As for my team, let’s leave it up in the air for now.” Then I opened the door. “You adults take care, ok?”

Long story short, it was an enjoyable lunch and I swore to tell them about the individual Honor Hunt agents ONLY as they appeared (“The rules clearly stated that they could not be revealed beforehand,” I stated.).

It is now nighttime at Beacon. I was taking a stroll just outside of the dorms when an acorn fell on my head. I looked up and saw Skye on the roof, beckoning me to come join her.

“You okay?” I asked when I got there.

“I was just about to ask you the exact same thing,” she answered. “I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was to tell us what you told us.”

I shrugged as I sat next to her. “To be honest, pretty much the entire Honor Hunt knows a few details about it. The only difference is that I told the whole story to people I trust the most. I’m lucky that I can put away my emotions away for most necessary actions.”

“And me?” I turned my head in shock when she said that. “Ever since I got here, you've done nothing but help me adjust to the school. Was it kindness, or just another logical move?”

“Neither.” I looked directly into her eyes. “For an entire decade, I did all that I could to hide my curse, because I knew how the bulk of society would respond. I knew that the only reason I wasn't in some lab was because of my mom’s influences everywhere, not just in the Honor Hunt. And then, all of a sudden, I'm introduced to a girl who's going through a similar problem. I don’t know why I protected you so well. It could have been just kindness, but it feels too strange to–”

Skye placed her hand on my shoulder. “I think I know. All this time, I thought I was the only one who knew the burden of a curse, the only one who had a good reason to isolate myself for the greater good. Then you can into my life. Even before your outburst, I knew you were hiding a painful burden. You used the same movements I did at home before running away.” We both started to lean toward each other. “Your actions were caused by the same reason behind my outburst. And don't say you don’t know about my outburst; I saw your eyes change colors during lunch.”

“I guess I’m just that predictable to you, huh,” I muttered as we closed our eyes while our lips came closer and closer.

“You talk too much,” were the only words Skye spoke back before our lips connected. As the kiss got more passionate, her hands went past my neck and grabbed my hair as I grabbed hers with my right hand while my left hand grabbed her waist. When we separated due to the lack of air, both of our eyes were half-closed, her irises and markings were pink, and we were both blushing. “You have no idea how the rest of the school will react, do you?”

“I stopped caring what the overall public thinks about my private life the second you and the others accepted my secret,” I whispered before we kissed again.