Jaune was younger.

It was hard not to notice it since he would put himself around thirteen or fourteen, right at that age when he'd had his growth spurt and shot up to nearly six feet, the last few inches coming later. It had been a gangly and awkward time when he'd flared out in terrible acne, embarrassed himself in front of girls, and generally made a fool of himself at every opportunity.

Something that Ren had casually told him he had gone through as well, and which Jaune now suspected every man had. Still, this was different enough from his childhood since the school he was in wasn't the one back in Ansel. For one, it was bigger, but the main telling factor was how all the students were armed, himself included. Ansel high school had taught maths, science, language and the usual stuff, with only twice-weekly PE sessions for more physical activities. Those certainly hadn't involved swinging at one another with swords.

Or punching someone out on a raised platform like Yang was doing to some unfortunate kid.

It was about as one-sided as her spars in Beacon, except when Pyrrha was involved, and Yang quickly dismantled her opponent with a flurry of blows, before sending them to the matt. A teacher Jaune didn't recognise called the victory and she came skipping down, then rushed over his way.

"You see that!? I kicked ass!"

Fourteen-year-old Yang wasn't so dissimilar to the seventeen-year-old version, except slightly less developed and with shorter hair. Not short hair, like the twin tails he'd seen her in as a child, but hair between that and her future one, tied up into a ponytail. Jaune found it absurdly cute, but mostly in the sense this was a smaller version of his friend. His girlfriend, even, but that felt very wrong to say when she was currently a child.

"You sure did." Jaune held up a fist, which she bumped. "He didn't stand a chance."

Yang grinned, flexing a muscle and showing off to a few nearby people. This must have been Signal, then, and the dream must be Yang's. It looked like Doctor Oobleck's theory had been correct. Ren would be pleased he'd suggested Yang as a possible dream as well. Jaune was just happy to realise they were getting closer to some degree of active control, even if it was just being able to predict who he would end up visiting in the night.

"Will Ruby Rose come up to fight next," called the teacher.

Ruby was two years younger than Yang but not all that much shorter than she was at Beacon. She must have reached her maximum height early and just not grown any later. Her hair was also about the same as it always had been, but then it wasn't like you could get much shorter. Her face was a little pudgier, a little cuter, with a bit more baby fat than he was used to seeing.

The most obvious thing was the nerves. Ruby smiled to some kids her age that must have been her friends and waved awkwardly to Jaune and Yang in the crowd, but she obviously had a long way to go to reach what she would be in Beacon. That was normal, though. He'd been less confident at her age as well.

So far, this doesn't seem like a nightmare, thought Jaune. Please don't let this turn into one of those naked nightmares. Not when Ruby is currently eleven and Yang is thirteen!

Luckily, Ruby's clothing stayed on. Yang's too.

A boy Ruby's age with a few extra inches on her stepped up and the spar began, with Ruby attacking with her Semblance and scythe. Her combat style hadn't changed much, it seemed, though she was less confident with her swings and a little less brutal. That might have been due to everyone's aura control being weaker in Signal, and there being more rules to prevent injuries. It wasn't a bad fight, though.

"That's my sis!" Yang whispered to him, and to everyone who would listen. "That's my sis! Look at her go!"

"I know it's your sister, Yang."

"Isn't she awesome!?"

"She's very cool," Jaune agreed, with a wry smile. "Cooler than she realises."

"Tell me about it! I keep telling her she's awesome and—"

"Winner by aura, Ruby Rose!"

Yang cheered while the rest of the crowd politely applauded. Ruby, meanwhile, twirled her scythe and stored it on the back of her hip, smiling shyly and looking to the teacher for the usual advice and critique.

The man looked down on her critically. "I suppose that was a satisfactory performance. Barely."

Ruby's smile fell.

Yang's ire rose. "The fuck he just say!? Ruby kicked ass!"

Jaune groaned. Maybe this wasn't Yang's nightmare at all, because this repeat of the self-depreciating nonsense was firmly Ruby's territory. Strange. The Yang standing beside him had felt so real as well, but if anyone knew her well enough to dream up a convincing replica then it would be her own sister.

"You're too reliant on your Semblance and too fragile to have any chance without it," the teacher continued, as Ruby fidgeted with her fingers and looked down at the floor. "The moment you come across someone who can counter it, you'll be hopeless. Still, at least you know you're weak without it, so that's something."

"Boooo!" Yang shouted. "Fucking boo!"

"—you should take a leaf from your sister's book and train harder on your fundamentals. Your sister is one of the best in Signal, and you have every advantage she has. Ask your father and uncle to train you more. You won't amount to anything as a one trick pony."

The criticism was harsh, but it wasn't cruel. It wasn't even entirely wrong. Except that not even Glynda would compare one student to another like this. Ruby continued to shrink every time Yang was brought up, and she tugged her red hood down to hide her face.

"Thank you sir..." she mumbled. "I'll try harder."

"Good. Dismissed."

Ruby couldn't have left the stage fast enough – but that didn't mean she was quick enough to evade Yang. Ruby had just made it back to her friends by the time Yang caught up, all but dragging Jaune along with her.

"Ruby! Sis!" Yang caught Ruby's hood and pulled it back, revealing her face. Ruby wasn't crying, and she didn't look as upset as Jaune would have been had a teacher said that to him. Yang heaved a sigh of relief. "You okay, sis? You were awesome up there. Ignore the teacher. He doesn't know what he's saying."

Ruby giggled. "I think a teacher knows more than us, Yang."

"Yeah, normally, but he gave you shit for kicking butt!"

"He wasn't wrong, though. I do rely on my Semblance too much."

"Nothing wrong with that," Jaune said, and Yang nodded furiously. "A Semblance is a part of you and it'd be a waste not to incorporate it into a fighting style. Just about everyone does it if they can. Your Semblance is more versatile than most."

Ruby smiled awkwardly. "You mean it's a crutch."

"No," Yang argued. "He means your Semblance is way cooler than mine. I have to get hit to make mine even work, and it's only useful in a fight. You get to use yours in fights, outside fights, in normal life. Wanna trade?"

"Nope."

"Aw, come on. It makes your hair glow."

Ruby giggled. A nightmare like this ought to have made her feel terrible, but Ruby had come to accept her inferiority years ago. This was more reinforcement than anything, and the fact she wasn't in tears was a bad thing. It meant this no longer stung, which meant she'd been dealing with dreams like this for a long time.

"Hey Ruby. Ruby!" One of her friends, a boy, tugged on her sleeve. "Introduce us!"

"Eh?" Ruby glanced back at her friend. "Oh, right. Um. This is my sister, Yang, and Jaune – her childhood friend." Curious angle for her dream to pick, but Jaune would rather that than be dating a child. "And these are my friends Cole, Pierce and Sammy."

Two boys and a girl. They could have made for a team at Beacon had Ruby stayed in Signal.

"Yeah, I know them," said Yang, a little confused as the smaller kids stared at her in awe. "I mean, come on Ruby, it's not like I don't pay any attention to your life. Sammy has spent nights over and I've met your boyfriends before."

"Yaaang," Ruby whined. "They're my friends, not my boyfriends!"

"Heh. But they're boys, right? And friends—"

The familiar (too familiar in Jaune's mind, thanks to his sisters) teasing approach was derailed by one of the boys jumping in between Ruby and Yang and slicking his hair back. "I'd never think of Ruby that way," he said, in what he obviously thought was a suave lady-killer voice. "But I'd make an exception for someone as beautiful as you."

Yang leaned back. "Uhhh..."

It was nice to see an attempt at flirting worse than his with Weiss', though not so nice to see it from a boy four years younger than him. What was especially annoying was how Yang had the kindness to not snort and tell the kid to walk away, unlike Weiss.

"Thanks...?" she said, awkwardly. "But that's kind of a crappy thing to say about Ruby right in front of her, you know."

"It's fine." Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm used to it."

That set something off in Yang. "Used to it...? Used to what...?"

"Yang! Yang!" The girl, Sammy, hopped up. "Ruby said I can come over next weekend. Can we train? Can you spar with me and teach me how to do that uppercut move?"

"Uh. Sure, I guess—"

"And can you show me how to braid my hair like yours?"

"Ruby knows how to do that, Sammy."

"But your hair is so pretty!"

"Thanks." Complimenting her hair was normally a good way to win points with Yang, but she crossed her arms this time and took a step closer to Jaune, trying to use him as a human shield. "But if you're coming over to spend time with Ruby, you should spend time with Ruby. Not me."

"Eh? But it's not like Ruby minds."

Behind her, Ruby laughed and shrugged, used to it all by now. "It's okay with me, Yang."

Jaune heard her whisper, "Yeah, but it's not with me..."

The school bell rang and the two classes were dragged their separate ways. Having no idea how Signal worked or where to go, Jaune followed Yang while Ruby left with her friends. Yang took him out into a corridor, walking with a frown on her face.

"Her friends seemed a bit bitchy today," she muttered.

"They like you."

"Doesn't change what they said. And what crawled up the teach's ass? I've seen people do worse and get less ice than that. I'm gonna tell dad."

"Telling a teacher on the other teachers? That's—"

The dream began to swirl and change, which probably meant a transition. The corridor began to melt as Ruby – the dreamer – passed out of range. It was a reminder that this Yang wasn't real, and that she was just a figment of Ruby's imagination.

A figment that shrieked and grabbed Jaune's arm. "What's happening!?" she cried. "Jaune, what's going on!?"

He didn't have the time to comfort or calm her down because the world changed too quickly for it.

Yang screamed and held onto him tight as everything went black.

/-/

They landed down from a short drop onto a wooden floor. Birdsong outside a window, and soft rays of sunlight coming in, had Yang creaking one eye open and then the other. She looked around in abject confusion.

"M... My room...?" she whispered, glancing around the small and surprisingly girly bedroom. Jaune couldn't believe Yang, even at thirteen, would have bright pink sheets and no less than twelve teddy bears stacked on them. "W—What happened? Weren't we just in Signal...?"

"No. You invited me over for the weekend. Don't you remember?"

Was it callous to lie to dream Yang and gaslight her into thinking she'd imagined that? Jaune didn't think so, since she wasn't real and the truth would also just confuse her. He wasn't sure why she'd even remembered or perceived it. Had he somehow made her more real by touching her in a dream?

It was going to be very awkward – especially for Yang and Ruby – if they woke up tomorrow and found a thirteen-year-old clone of Yang in their bedroom. Ozpin would groan, and Qrow would probably laugh himself hoarse. They'd have to convince Taiyang to adopt her as a third daughter, too. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.

"Oh. Uh." Small Yang let go of his arm. "I guess... Did I do that? I must have. Huh. So, um..." Yang pulled away from him and side-stepped to her bed, casually sweeping an arm behind her to knock all the teddy bears off it and out of sight. "Here's my room! Don't mind the toys – they're Ruby's."

"Uh-huh."

"No, they are." Yang was an awful liar. "She must have snuck them into my room. A—Anyway, what were we doing in my room? I don't even remember why I brought you here."

"You wanted to grab your weapon so you could show it off outside."

It was a very safe choice for him to make. One that had Yang lighting up.

"Hell yeah! Ember Celica. You have to see it." Yang quickly snatched them off the side and put them on, then rushed for the door. "Come on, just you wait and see. This is going to be so cool. Ruby helped make them, you know. She's amazing when it comes to tinkering with weapons and stuff. I'm useless at it."

Outside, they quickly realised they weren't alone. Jaune had expected Ruby's presence since this was her nightmare, but he hadn't expected to see her with her friends again. It was more than just Sammy, as the whole trio were outside with Ruby. The two boys were just finishing off a clumsy spar while Ruby worked on the girl's weapon, a sword-gun hybrid, with a screwdriver. She had it balanced over her knees as she opened up the mechanism.

"Yo! Ruby!" Yang grinned and waved at her, then jogged over. "Didn't realise you had your munchkins here."

"Hey Yang." Ruby looked up and smiled. "Dad said I could. Uh. Did he say you could bring your boyfriend here?"

Yang squawked and went bright red. "W—What? Pshh. He's not my boyfriend! No way! Shut up!"

"Hmmm." Ruby giggled. "If you say so. Hi Jaune."

"Hi Ruby." He waved back at her. "You improving Sammy's weapon? Yang tells me you're amazing at them."

"Hmmm. I'm okay at it."

"Don't act all humble, sis. You made Crescent Rose from scratch and built Ember Celica for my birthday. That's more than just being okay with weapons. Honestly, I bet the teachers would move you ahead a year in just that class if they could."

"Ruby is really good with mechanics," agreed Sammy. "That's why she looks after all our weapons for us. She's even said she'll build us one each as well."

Yang planted a fist on her hip. "Did she now? What gives? And here I thought me getting one from her made me special."

"You are special," Ruby said, giggling. "But my friends are special as well."

"Hahh. Fine. But I'm gonna cry myself to sleep about this."

Ruby picked up a screw from the weapon she was working on and flicked it at Yang's face. The older girl caught it and tossed it gently back so Ruby wouldn't lose it. As they chatted, Jaune noticed the two boys staring at Yang with undisguised longing. In their defence, he'd crushed on the female friends of his older sisters as well, hormones driving him to believe he'd fallen in love with any older girl he got to spend any amount of time with.

Given how popular Yang was, it was no big surprise Ruby's friends would crush on her, especially if they came over and got to see her acting all casual like this. The fact Ruby didn't react to it suggested she knew as well. Jaune suspected Yang did too, because she was doing far too good a job of not looking their way and having to deal with it. The boys weren't exactly subtle about it.

Yang dragged Jaune off to show him Ember Celica as promised, but she tugged him a little away, feeling the gazes of Ruby's friends on them.

"I'm not sure I like the fact they're expecting weapons off her," she mumbled.

"Hm? Is it that or is it Ruby offering to make weapons for them?"

"Probably the last one," she admitted. "But I still don't like it. They should be friends with her because she's awesome and they love her, not because she's useful. I mean, look at them. The boys are trying to show off for me and the girl is trying to show off for them and Ruby is just sat there maintaining their weapons." Yang huffed. "It isn't right."

It wasn't.

But Jaune didn't feel right criticising some children he'd never known, especially since this version of them might just have been Ruby's insecurities painting them in a bad light. For all he knew, her friends had adored her and the boys had crushed on Ruby and never cared about Yang. This wasn't real life; this was Ruby's nightmare twisting things to make her miserable. He doubted a teacher had really talked to her like the one had earlier.

"I'm serious Jaune," she said. "Ruby invited them over. They should all be having fun playing games or running around the forest or, I dunno, eating snacks."

"Doesn't Ruby enjoy working on weapons?"

"She gets excited for new weapons but that doesn't mean she likes doing basic maintenance. No one likes that."

True enough. Jaune and Nora hated it, and it was only Ren and Pyrrha being do disciplined that forced the two of them to comply. Come to think of it, Yang hated it as well but always looked after Ember Celica on her own. She never made Ruby do it for her, though if it were ever damaged then Ruby had to be the one to repair it. It had only happened once in his memory and Yang had been very apologetic and bought Ruby a big box of sweets from the city as a thank you. Even then, Ruby had tried to argue she didn't need rewarding.

"I don't like this," Yang repeated, crossing her arms. "This feels weird, Jaune. Something isn't right. Like, something keeps twigging in my head as not being normal."

Figment-Yang was being a little too self-aware for his liking. Jaune kept his aura sealed as best he could, all too afraid of making her real. If she did end up real, should he be the one to adopt her...? Good lord, what would Yang think? It'd be like them having a teenage child when they were teenagers themselves.

Nope. Keeping my aura down. I mustn't change anything!

Heck, Ruby had enough issues with inferiority without him accidentally reverting her physically to an eleven-year-old. Or physically and mentally. That'd be a disaster! If the nightmare wasn't violent and putting Ruby at risk, he wasn't interfering.

"Maybe you can talk to her later," he suggested. "After everyone is gone."

"Yeah, I guess so. Have a sister-to-sister chat. I know Ruby is bad at making friends but if they're taking advantage of her then they're not friends at all."

"Hmm. But then what? New friends?"

"I can introduce her to some of mine..." Yang sounded uncertain even as she said it.

"Would that work?"

"Probably not. Apart from you, most of my other friends aren't into anything Ruby would be. And a few of them are shitty around her."

"Really?"

"It's just stupid stuff," she said, rolling her eyes. "Ruby tried to follow me around when she was younger and I let her, and some of them act like she was interfering or something. Sheesh. I've told them it's stupid to hold something she did when she was nine against her, but they can be assholes sometimes."

Jaune hummed. He'd had friends of Amber and Lavender bother him a few times, and while he'd always been mature enough to humour them and realise they were just kids, it probably helped that he grew up in a big family. Yang's friends might have been only children who weren't used to the idea of having to share attention.

"You could be her friend," Yang suggested.

"I'm happy to be—" and already are, "—but don't you think she'll figure out that's you interfering? Ruby isn't, I mean she doesn't strike me as, the kind of person to let someone step in and help her with her problems."

Speaking from a whole lot of experience.

"Yeah. She can be stubborn like that." And, apparently, it wasn't just him noticing it. "Should have seen the time she struggled with her homework and I did it for her. You'd have thought I tortured an animal in front of her or something. Sheesh, she almost cried!"

That must have been a while ago, when Ruby was still feeling the inferiority more keenly. Yang had only wanted to help but, to Ruby, it must have felt like further proof that she wasn't as clever as her sister. Except that Yang was two years older so it made perfect sense why she'd know the school material better than Ruby did.

But people aren't always rational about these things. I know that well enough...

/-/

The world morphed again and suddenly they were at a table eating food with Yang's father.

"Huh..." Yang looked around, confused again. "But weren't we outside...?"

"Elbows off the table," said Taiyang.

"Ugh. Sorry dad."

Ruby giggled.

"So, Jaune—" Taiyang addressed him. "What did you and my daughter get up to today?"

That sounded a little too pointed for Jaune's liking. "Yang showed me Ember Celica and we sparred a bit."

Yang's head whipped around as she tried to remember that. Dream Yang was really struggling to keep up, and he wasn't sure why. Something to bring up to Oobleck maybe.

"Good. Good. Did you win, pumpkin?"

"I... I dunno... Can't remember..."

Taiyang paused. "You didn't hit your head, did you?"

"Yang won," said Jaune, avoiding a scene. "And it was me getting my head knocked around. Maybe Yang is just conveniently forgetting that part."

Taiyang and Ruby laughed.

And Yang changed tacks. "So, dad, I wanted to ask about Mr Steele." The opener had Ruby cringing back. "We did spars recently and Ruby kicked butt, but then Mr Steele got all on her ass about relying on her Semblance and not doing a good job!"

"Language," chided Taiyang. "He's your teacher."

"He's a—" Yang wilted under the stern gaze, "—mean person. Is he going through a divorce or something? He was way too harsh on Rubes!"

"It's not nice to speculate on someone's marriage," Taiyang said. "And he's not going through anything to the best of my knowledge. I'm sure he didn't mean any criticism to sound harsh; it can be trying work putting up with you kid, especially in combat class. He might just have come across worse than he meant to."

"Yang," Ruby urged. "It's fine. It didn't upset me."

"That doesn't make it okay," Yang insisted. Ruby shrank back. "Dad, he told her she was overly reliant on her Semblance and said she was weak without it! Who says that? And he kept going on about comparing her to me! A teacher shouldn't do that!"

Taiyang sighed. "Well, maybe he has a point, princess."

Yang froze. "What...?"

"Ruby does only have one trick at her disposal and that's not a great idea. You're so much better than her in every way—"

Damn it, Ruby.

Yang slammed her hands on the table.

"T—The fuck is this!?" she stammered, standing and knocking her chair back. "Is... Is this some prank? Are you both pulling something on me? Tell me this is a joke!"

Her father frowned. "Yang, sit down."

"No! What the fuck is this? Who the fuck are you!?"

"I'm your father!"

"Bullshit!" she shouted. "Dad would never talk like that! Never! He'd never talk shit about Ruby! You're some freaking imposter!"

Taiyang lunged to his feet, snarled and gripped the table. He yanked it up and threw it out the way, making Yang flinch and Jaune jump to his own feet. The absolute shock on Yang's face made it clear this was not typical behaviour for Taiyang Xiao-Long. Not at all.

"You will not talk back to me in my house!" roared the man. "Favourite daughter or not—"

"Favourite!? Dad would never call me that!"

Ruby lunged between them. "Dad! Yang! Stop!" she cried, tears running down her face. "Don't fight because of me!"

Taiyang raised his hand.

Yang snarled and lunged, flames exploding from her body.

And, as Ruby screamed, the world went white.

/-/

Jaune lurched up to Ruby's panicked scream – one that cut off as Yang roared angrily. There was an explosion of Semblance-related heat, two startled cries, the sound of something breaking and falling, and then a more frantic scream.

"Oh shit!" Yang howled. "Blake! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"I knew those bunks would collapse!" Weiss yelped. "Lift! Lift!"

The three remaining members of Team JNPR, who had woken when Jaune did, turned to look at him with dull and tired expressions. No words were spoken, but none needed to be, because they all knew anything causing a panic from suddenly waking up had a high chance of having his name written all over it.

"Yes," he admitted, without having to be asked. "This was my fault. I think I may have somehow dragged Yang into Ruby's nightmare."

"It's never easy with you," Ren complained. "How likely is it that either of them realised?"

Outside, they heard the door slam open. "I've got her legs, keep her arms up. Don't walk into the light, Blake! We'll get you to the infirmary!"

Jaune winced.

"Given it sounds like the bunk beds collapsed and landed on Blake, I think they'll be a little too distracted to connect the dots for a couple of days. Still, I should probably talk to Oobleck about this development."

He'd have to buy some chocolates for Blake as an apology for this one.