Jaune had no idea if Team RWBY had gone after Blake, found her, resolved the issue, or if they were in the process of any of that. He'd have loved to help but for the fact he woke up with next to no aura and had to be rushed to the infirmary yet again. His team were not happy campers about that, and he didn't have any explanations he could realistically give them. He could only deflect and laugh about how it was happening on a weekend and promise to take it easy.

Oobleck came around as well to ask what happened and see if he'd learned anything new, but there wasn't anything to really talk about. He'd knowingly used his Semblance to force the change of a dream and paid the price in aura for it. Oobleck asked him if he felt the situation warranted it, to which Jaune said he felt it had, and the conversation was over. He was to rest, recover, and take the chance to sleep while hopefully most people would be awake. And so, he slept. He slept through the day and until dinner, when he awoke to his team and was allowed to leave the infirmary and grab a meal in the cafeteria.

"It's only low aura and exhaustion so I'm allowed in and out as I want," explained Jaune. "I'm not actually injured or sick."

"There's obviously something wrong," said Pyrrha. Concern dripped from every word. "Having your aura be drained in the night isn't normal. I've never heard of anything like that."

"Doctor Oobleck says it's not unheard of. He thinks it's a hypnic jerk mixing with my undiscovered Semblance." He shrugged, leaving it hanging at that even if it wasn't a very good explanation. "I'm not actually at any risk from this, guys. It's not like my aura is draining in the middle of a fight or even a life of death situation. You don't need to worry so much."

"I suppose the teachers would be more concerned if it were dangerous," said Ren, nodding along. "It's just an inconvenience, then?"

"What if he never finds a way around it. What then?"

"It's way too early to be worrying about that, Pyr." Jaune laughed and nudged her arm, though she didn't look very comforted. "Come on, you're being ridiculous. I missed a morning of a weekend. That's it. My aura is back up at three quarters now. I'm good." He looked around and said, "So, any idea where Team RWBY is?"

"Ruby said they were headed into Vale for team business," said Nora. "They looked a little spooked. Or, well, her, Weiss and Yang did. I didn't see Blake."

Little wonder. It was good news they'd gone out, though he couldn't tell how much he'd contributed. Maybe Ruby always intended to go find Blake, maybe it was just her fears he'd helped deal with, but whatever it was he was glad he could help at all. He'd still have felt better if he could get out there and help find Blake as well, but then again Blake had little reason to trust him and more to avoid him after her last dream.

If I could direct my Semblance then I could reach out to her dream, but I don't think my range is that high. He'd so far only had dreams from people in Beacon, and those were low odds if he could reach Vale. There were ten thousand times as many people in Vale as Beacon after all. With any luck, no one in Beacon would be asleep.

/-/

Someone in Beacon was asleep.

Other than him.

Jaune would have shaken his fist at the dreamscape sky and screamed "damn you circadian rhythm!" but for the fact that there was no sky. He was inside a building of sorts. He said "of sorts" because it was constructed of impossible geometry with upside down staircases, archways in walls with mist inside, and never ending pillars going up and up and up, as well as down and down and down. Walkways criss-crossed above and over the empty chasm to an endless fall, and each walkway was connected either to a doorway, a staircase or an upside-down staircase.

He was sure he'd seen artwork like this at one point or another – those kinds where everything looked normal until you took a closer look and realised the shape twisted in such a way as to be theoretically impossible.

"Well," said Jaune, as he heaved a sigh, "at least this is the most dreamlike dream I've been put into recently. And hey, no child versions of anyone I know." He waited, just in case baby Weiss came toddling out a doorway, but everything was still.

Still, but not silent.

There was a heavy sound of breathing that seemed to come from everywhere at once. It wasn't the horror-movie style breathing that made you want to look over your shoulder, but more of an everyday drawing breath kind. It was constant, rhythmic and even, and might have even been the sound of the very dreamer breathing in their sleep.

Well, no one said he had to actively explore a person's dream. Weird as this was, the dreamer was probably just lost somewhere. That wasn't actively horror and it wasn't actively involving him, so Jaune crossed his legs and sat on his walkway. It was the easiest way to stay out of trouble while also avoiding exposing himself to anyone's secrets after all. Normally, the dream tried to involve him, but this one wasn't. It was a pleasant change.

He considered dreaming up a pack of cards to play solitaire with but decided against it; instead, he laid back and peered up into the myriad walkways, staircases and archways and wondered idly whose dream this might be, and what it might represent. The maze created feelings of being lost, which wouldn't be that bad a nightmare idea. No one liked being lost and not knowing where to go, and it might even reflect real-world indecision on the dreamer's part. Maybe they felt lost – probably not in a maze, but lost about schoolwork, their training and career, or even just their feelings for someone else.

One of Oobleck's dream theories – or not his but theories he showed Jaune – had been that dreams might be a way of helping your subconscious deal with problems it couldn't while awake. Sort of a leaving the brain to "mull over" the problem while you were asleep. The dream might not make sense, but when the brain was just electrical signals and impulses then who could say how this transcribed into biological binary. The theory drew examples to how people could often to go to sleep agonising over something, then wake up with an answer. It wasn't an epiphany, but a result of your dream subconsciously helping you find the right path. In that theory, all dreams, good or bad, served a purpose, and that purpose was to help the dreamer.

Green light flickered ominously above him. Jaune blinked, eyes narrowed against the oncoming brightness high up the interior of the tower-like impossible structure. It was like someone had lit a lantern, except that lantern was coming closer and closer, filling up his vision as green light rushed downward. Fast. Too fast. Jaune scrambled to his feet but there was nowhere to run, and even if he could that wouldn't stop the wave of light hitting him. It was like fire, except not, it burned at the edges but the light was too intense, like a beam rushing down and filling the entire tower.

Just a dream, thought Jaune, clenching his eyes shut against it. Hopefully, he wouldn't instinctively use his aura for what must have been the ending of a dream. He held still and let it wash over him, the burning heat and the cleansing flame.

And behind it, high pitched and shrill, childlike voices screaming in pain and fear.

"DADDDDDDYYYYYYY!"

/-/

Jaune rocked up in his bed.

His bed, not the infirmary for a change. He checked his scroll and sighed happily. His aura was at a little under ninety, just a tiny amount lost, and it was six-thirty in the morning. The dream – if one could call it that when he just sat still until it ended – hadn't cost him much.

"Jaune," spoke Pyrrha, roused by his awakening. "Are you okay? Is your aura okay?"

"It's fine. Around ninety percent."

"You're up early."

"I guess I wasn't as tired with all that sleeping I keep getting during the day. I might go for an early breakfast."

"I'll come-" Pyrrha stopped to yawn

"It's fine, Pyr. It's Sunday and you should lay in. I'll catch you later."

Normally, Pyrrha would have argued, but this time she just mumbled something and collapsed on her bed, rolling over and dragging the covers up. He couldn't blame her when they'd been worried sick about him for so long. He left a note in case they woke up and Pyrrha didn't remember the conversation, then got dressed and slid out the room, closing it quietly behind him.

Beacon's facilities opened early on most days but the cafeteria opened at exactly six in the morning, and carried on until ten on weekends, and eight-thirty on weekdays on account of lessons. There were always those psychopaths who liked to wake up at four in the morning and train; Jaune was glad no one on his team was like that. On a Sunday, however, even the most hard-working of students normally took the day off, so he was a little surprised to see another team at breakfast. Surprised, and also elated. Team RWBY sat at their table with all four members. Jaune couldn't help but rush over.

"Hey, hey, hey! You're all here!"

"Ugh." Weiss eyed him like he was not only a piece of crap on her shoe, but one that had insulted her very being. "Arc. And this early? Have I not suffered enough tonight?"

"Ignore the sour apple," cheered Yang. She was a little scuffed and dirty but was wearing a huge smile. He could almost see the relief in it, and the way she had an arm hung around Blake's shoulder was as much to keep her partner in place than anything. "She's upset we all have detention. On top of the detentions we already got for clocking Winchester."

"Miss Goodwitch was furious at us!" said Weiss.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "I've never seen her like that. I thought we were going to be expelled. She was spitting while she talked and her eyes." Ruby shuddered, and even Weiss looked worried.

"I'm never breaking a school rule again." said Yang.

No one believe her.

Jaune took a seat. "What happened?"

Ruby was quick to retell the tale of how they'd fought the White Fang and Roman Torchwick at the docks until he'd run away. She kept waving her hands about as she talked; Jaune couldn't help but notice how breathless she was. "And Blake's back!" she finished. "Team RWBY is back together again!"

He caught Blake's wince, and Yang's brief palm to face moment. Technically speaking, he shouldn't have known about Blake being gone at all since they'd pretended it was just a little argument between them. Ruby must have forgotten that, confused it with her dream, or maybe she was just too happy to keep secrets. Jaune laughed and nudged her arm with his elbow, saying, "I guess that's why you're such an amazing team leader."

Ruby's face turned as red as her cloak. Her eyes were looking anywhere but at him. "I-I'm not! If I was so great then Blake wouldn't have left! Your team runs way smoother!"

Blake opened her mouth to speak, as did Yang, but Jaune had already started and couldn't stop himself.

"You saved your team and brought them back together when things went bad. You fixed something that was broken. That's a lot more than anything I've had to do. I've been lucky to have a team that all gets along and doesn't cause any problems. That's all I have. Luck. I think it says a lot more about you being able to succeed in spite of all the challenges then it does me not facing any. That's proof you're a great leader, Ruby, way better than me. Hard proof right there."

Ruby was gobsmacked.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with Jaune Arc of all people but I am," said Weiss, groaning into her hand. "Ruby, he's right. My father always says you can never tell the true worth of a manager until they've had to lead their department through a recession. It's easy to lead when things are going well. It's much harder when everything is falling apart."

Ruby looked down at the table and poked her fingers together. She sniffled, or sniffled, and he knew there were tears in her eyes. "Y-You guys," she whispered, laughing quietly. "I... I..."

"You don't have to say anything." Jaune laid a hand atop her hair and rubbed it with a gentle smile. He couldn't help but think of her younger, as she had been in her nightmare, and all the things he hadn't been allowed to say to cheer her up. There was nothing keeping his mouth shut or changing his words this time, and he refused to stay silent. "You're amazing, Ruby. You're a great leader. Team RWBY is lucky to have you. I consider myself lucky to call you a friend, too."

Ruby sniffled and mumbled something that might have been a "thank you" or might have been a cry for help or rescue from acute embarrassment; he couldn't tell. Jaune let go of her and turned his eyes back ahead, only to flinch as he noticed Yang staring at him.

The blonde had both elbows on the table, and her chin propped between her hands with her fingers on her cheeks. Her mouth was open, her eyes practically shining, and she was staring right at, or through, him. Jaune looked behind him just to make sure the Achieve Men hadn't walked through the door. They hadn't.

"Uh... Yang...? You're... kinda staring..."

"I'm just wondering if you were always this cool." Her smile grew at the same rate as his blush. "You know, if you acted more like this at the start of Beacon then you might have Weiss on your arm by now."

"Hard pass," said Weiss.

Yang was undaunted. "Then, hell, you might have me instead. Standing up for the faunus, beating down bullies, comforting crying girls-"

"I'm not crying!" cried Ruby.

"-and cheering us up when we get a huge detention like this. Who are you, what did you do with the real Jaune, and do we need to actually invite the real Jaune back to Beacon? Because I'm happy to stick with the upgraded version."

"The upgraded version is my dad," said Jaune, unable to keep looking at her. Yang's teasing was always something that was hard to handle, especially when she was so much more intent than usual. "A-And stop. I was just telling Ruby the truth. You can't call me a great leader when my team is so cooperative I could drop a Grimm in our room and they'd ask me if it was a training exercise after they killed it. A-Anyway, how are things with you, Blake?" He looked to her in desperation. "Happy to be back? Sorted your issues out?"

Blake's eyes were merry. The kind of merry that said she was taking too much pleasure in the squirming of a mouse. "I'm not some bunker you can hide in when Yang gets too much for you. I'm fine. Now, back to Yang."

"Um. Um." His eyes flicked every which way and then found their distraction. "You've forgot to put your bow back on!"

Blake froze.

Yang, Ruby, and Weiss did as well.

"I..." Blake touched her hair, her ears, with wide eyes. "I... I did forget. I've been without it since the docks and-" Her eyes met his, widening first, then narrowing, then widening again. "You're not surprised. You didn't even react to them. You... You knew...?"

If he ever wrote an autobiography it would be called Foot in Mouth. At this point he might as well replace his tongue with his foot for how often he was pulling it off. "Oh, uh, I mean... oh wow, you're a faunus, Blake? I never knew!"

Blake's eyes were flat.

Weiss' were flatter.

Yang snorted.

Ruby was still wiping her eyes, but she giggled at his suffering. Thanks, Ruby. Not like he drained his entire aura to help cheer her up, but no, laugh at his embarrassment and agony. Very nice. He'd remember this the next time she had an embarrassing dream.

"I... uh..." Jaune struggled to find an explanation but it was clear they weren't going to let him go. "I guess I just noticed things. Your bow moved every now and then, and you were always wearing it. I mean, always. When my sisters had hairbands or a bow they'd adjust it several times a day but you never did. It was like it was stapled to your head or something. And then..." He found another angle. "And then when you jumped in with me to fight Cardin it just kind of clicked."

"I also jumped in to fight Cardin," said Yang.

"Yeah, but you're... well... you. I'm not sure you need a huge reason to get involved with smacking down someone who's being an asshole."

"You know me so well. Have you been stalking me?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "You've caught me. All the desperately asking Weiss out was a ruse so I could get closer to the true object of my desires, the great Yang Xiao-Long."

"Ah!" Yang feigned shock and pointed at him. "I knew it!"

"If you two can stop flirting for one second," groused Blake.

"I wasn't flirting!" cried Jaune.

Yang didn't say a word.

"Did..." Blake sighed and leaned in. "Did you really know all the way back then? Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't my secret to tell," said Jaune. It was the truth this time thankfully. He'd learned Blake's secret in a different way to what she believed, but that didn't change the fact it was her secret. He knew more secrets about her, Yang and Ruby than he should, and he wasn't about to start sharing. "You had your reasons, whatever they were, and it's not like I didn't understand them after what happened to Velvet." He faced Blake head on and shrugged. "That's the long and short of it. I didn't tell them because it wasn't my secret, and I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to stress out worrying about whether I would or wouldn't keep it."

"And you didn't tell Ruby or Yang?"

"Like I said, not my secret to tell." He looked to Yang apologetically, but she didn't seem unhappy at all. If anything, she was intrigued, head tilted as if she wasn't sure what to make of him. "Even if you'd never come back, I wouldn't have told them."

Blake looked stunned.

"Are you going to keep wearing it?" he asked.

"I... Yes, I... Even if it's not a secret to my team or... well, you... I don't see the need for everyone in Beacon to know."

"Fair enough."

"I'll tell your team."

"You don't have to. Seriously, this is your secret. You don't have to share it."

Blake took a deep breath, and then smiled weakly. "I want to. Let it be practice. And it would be nice to be able to let my ears out around a few more people. Thank you for keeping it a secret. You didn't have to."

"I did. And it's what I'd do if I found out any secrets of my friends."

Blake looked even more surprised, and then laughed softly. "I guess so. Thank you, then."

"Seriously!" said Yang. "This you. Where? When? How?"

"Why are you making such a big deal of that?"

"Because you have changed," said Weiss, surprising him. "Even I can freely say you've been less annoying of late. You haven't asked me out in a week." Her eyes sharpened. "That is not an invitation!"

Had he changed? He didn't think so. He just knew more about them now, and more about how to approach them. Or maybe it was that he saw them differently. After finding out that Yang wasn't just a bundle of absolute confidence and certainty, he'd started to pay more attention to her and treat her more seriously. After discovering Ruby's insecurities, he'd taken steps to make sure she knew just how much he respected her. Was that all it took? Or was that not as small a thing as he thought it was? It seemed not asking Weiss out was all it took to improve her feelings toward him, but that was only because he'd been more concerned about Ruby, Yang and Blake.

"And what are you doing up so early without your team?" added Weiss. Ah, perfect, a distraction and a change of subject. Just what he needed.

"Oh, I woke up with no aura yesterday and spent the whole day in the infirmary again. I guess I slept so much that I couldn't stay asleep all day tonight and woke up-" There was a hand on his elbow. Ruby had his arm between two of her hands in a tight grip. "Uh, Ruby?"

"Good job, sis." Yang appeared on Jaune's other side, gripped his arm and held her scroll to his shoulder. "Eighty-five percent. You should be full aura after waking up."

Jaune gulped. "I can explain?"

"You sure can. At the infirmary."

"Aw. Come on, guys. I just got out of there last night!"

"Were you at one hundred when you did?" asked Blake.

Jaune pouted at her. "Et tu, Blake...?"

The faunus smiled. "Were you?"

"I was..."

"Then your aura is still draining," said Yang, hoisting him up. She and Ruby flanked him like prison guards escorting a potential runaway. Blake stood and walked behind, followed eventually by Weiss, who sighed a storm about it all but came along either way. "If your aura is draining then something is wrong, and you should be resting this off. We'll tell your team when they get up. Now come on, and no whining or I won't spoon feed you."

"I don't need to be spoon fed."

"But do you want to be?"

"Can the two of you stop flirting already?" groaned Weiss.

"Why? Jealous?"

The trip to the infirmary was undertaken loudly, with banter and accusations back and forth from Weiss and Blake, and protestations from Jaune or outright teasing from Yang. The doctor wasn't even surprised to see him when they arrived.

"Ah, Mr Arc." Tsune's tail wagged. "I wondered if you'd be back again today. Doctor Oobleck suggested I have a bad ready for you. He's concerned that your situation hasn't been-" The doctor trailed off as she finally noticed the frantic manner in which Jaune was shaking his head. Team RWBY, Yang and Ruby especially, were very interested in the conversation. "Ah, well, lay him down here and let him get some rest."

"If I sleep all today then I'll be awake all night and be exhausted during lessons on Monday."

"If I allow you to attend your lessons," warned the doctor. "You can go, Team RWBY." The four of them were uninterested in doing so until the doctor added, "Unless you would like me to run a few tests on you? I've been very interested in testing how much force it takes for a needle to work its way through aura-"

The door flapped shut behind the fleeing girls.

"I thought so," said the doctor, snorting under her breath. "And to you, Mr Arc, you can either rest quietly or I can offer some sleeping pills. You needn't worry about being the only one resting. Many transfers are arriving or will have arrived today for the Vytal Festival and will be sleeping off the time zone difference."

That wasn't as comforting as she probably thought it was. Jaune did his best to stay awake as the hours ticked by, but boredom and the soft bed soon took their toll. He was asleep before he realised he was even falling asleep.

/-/

Jaune blinked his eyes open to an unfamiliar bedroom. It was spartan, bare of the usual things you'd expect like posters, books, or anything much in the way of furniture. There was a bookshelf and a window, but there were bars over the outside of it, and in the corner on the floor was an open book, some kind of travel brochure.

"Great. Two dreams in one day. This is just what I need."

He drew his legs out the bed and stood to look around the room. The bed was small, fit for a single person, and it looked like it needed a good clean. Looking at the bare interior he couldn't help but rule out Weiss, Pyrrha, Yang and Ruby. They had too much life or too much money to live like this. He knew Ren and Nora were orphans, so this could have been a hostel of some kind they stayed at. Bare furnishings and bars on the window could be forgiven if it was to keep the person inside safe, or if the budget was stretched. He didn't know enough about Blake's past to comment and this could have been fear of a prison of sorts.

Pushing open the door, he walked outside into a barren corridor. The walls were light, the floor carpeted, and there were photo pictures with cracked grass here and there. Not a single one was whole, and it looked like they'd been punched to break them. The impact points had spiderweb cracks coming out from them. Whomever lived here was not a happy individual, that was for sure.

Yet more secrets for me to have to keep... Could this be Blake's past? I don't know anything about her home life but she's obviously troubled.

He moved down the corridor a little before hearing a male voice raised. "This is for your safety!" said the man, calm and even, but obviously frustrated. "It is not out of hatred that we keep you here, but for your safety. Please understand that there are people would do you harm."

"I know that! Why do you think I trained to be a huntress? You can't keep me locked up forever."

"I'm not asking to, but you must give me time to find people to travel with you. It isn't safe-"

"How much time are we talking about because I've been stuck here for over a year now! In this... In this prison!"

There was silence, and then, "These things take time."

"Argh!" A door ahead slammed open and shut again as a young woman stormed out and almost into Jaune. Her skin was a light tan, her hair brown and straight to her shoulders, and she had brown eyes that locked onto him the moment she saw him. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Ah. Uh." It was perhaps the first time, aside from Velvet, that someone had challenged his presence in their dream. He didn't think the babysitter angle would go down well with someone who looked his age or even a little older. "I'm just some guy," he said, helplessly. His time with Velvet had taught him that it wasn't a good idea to say his name when this might be a woman in Beacon. An older year, obviously.

"Some guy, huh? Fine, I bet you're one of his people. Here to stalk my every step?"

"I'm not stalking you."

"Yeah? Well, you're still keeping me locked up here, aren't you?"

"Am I...?" Jaune watched her storm by and, for lack of anything better to do, followed her. The woman walked back to the room he'd appeared in and kicked the door open. He caught it as it would have closed and stepped inside. "Sorry," he said, "I'm a little confused. Where is this, exactly? Who are you?"

The woman turned to face him. "You don't know?"

"I..." Jaune went with a dumb excuse. It was a dream after all. Logic didn't have to apply, nor common sense, and she might believe anything. "I just sort of wandered in."

"Are you serious?"

"Yep."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're not one of his?"

"I don't even know who he is."

"An overbearing old man who thinks he knows better than everyone," said the woman. "Including what I want." She marched to the bed and flounced down on it angrily. "And this is a safehouse. Safe for me and safe for everyone else, or so he says."

That explained the bars. A little. "Why do you need to be in a safehouse?"

"I don't!" shouted the woman. "I'm a huntress – I can fight. I have aura, and my Semblance, and... and other things." Her eyes flicked away and back again. "But he says I can't, even though my team has already gone off. Just up and left me." Her legs came up so she could rest her chin on her knees. "Can't believe they just went off without me."

A graduated huntress. Had she come to visit? A teacher from another school coming along with the students? Jaune hovered in the doorway, uncertain, but at least he felt confident she wasn't a student. Also, her team sounded like assholes. He couldn't be sure but he'd say with ninety-nine percent certainty that Nora, Ren and Pyrrha would have waited for him if he was injured or needed time off before missions. He was sure Team RWBY would be the same.

"They sound like assholes..."

"Yeah." The woman smiled awkwardly and patted her bed. "You can sit down if you want. Not like I'm gonna tell on the first person I've got to talk to in, like, forever."

Jaune walked over and took his seat. "The first? Seriously?"

"Well, the first who isn't blatantly on his side. There have been others who deliver food and books and stuff, but they're always regurgitating his words. This is for the best; it's for your own safety; you knew the risks when you agreed; trust in him, he has a plan; it won't be forever." She snorted at the last. "It totally would be forever if he had his way. And even if he does let me out, what's the point if it's only when I'm escorted by his people? That's not a life. I won't be able to make friends with anyone who isn't vetted. I won't be able to go anywhere unless they know why and can follow me. That's not a life."

It sounded like overprotective parents, though why they'd have let someone become a huntress in that case he wasn't sure. Definitely not anyone I know. I mean, the only older women in Beacon I know are Coco, Miss Goodwitch, Tsune and Professor Peach. Neither were this young, and their skin colours were wrong to even suggest this was a younger version of them. Still, he might not know this person's situation, but this was a dream, right? Nothing he said here would hurt her in any way. There might well be reasons in the real world why it had been unsafe for her to leave, but this was a dream, and he could see an easy way to improve it for her. Better yet, it'd be without expending a whole bucketload of aura like usual.

"Well, why don't you leave?"

The woman looked at him askance. "Leave...?"

"You're obviously not happy here. Why not go?"

"The house is watched all the time. The doors are all locked. I don't even know how you got in without being stopped. And the window..." She looked to the bars. Those steel bars would have been enough to stop almost anyone. "It's not like I can bend metal with my bare hands."

He could; he could bend the rules of reality in this dream. Sure, it might cost a teensy bit of aura, but he could handle that. "My Semblance lets me burn through metal." A small lie. "I can get those bars off for you if you want."

Her eyes were wide. "Really!? Are you serious?" She licked her lips and leaned closer to him. "This isn't a trick, right? You're not with them and just trying to trick me into saying I want to run away, are you? I don't need that. Please don't get my hopes up if you are."

In answer, Jaune stood and made his way to the windows, opened the glass and reached for the bars. He imagined them being as fragile as straws and pulled. Sure enough, they snapped off – even with a sound like a paper straw breaking. The girl on the bed didn't even notice the irregularity; she was up on her feet, shaking with excitement. She rushed past him to shove her face out the gap and take a big gulp of fresh air.

The scenery beyond was nowhere he'd ever seen. It looked like the house backed out onto absolute wilderness, which made no sense at all because he could see a cityscape that was likely Vale to the left and right, and he knew for a fact the city was ringed with a wall. It shouldn't have been possible for a house to be backed out onto a huge forest with open fields, a river and bright grassland running through it.

The woman ran back inside and pulled out a knotted rope made of blankets from under the bed. She flung it out the window and then shimmied backwards out of it, gripping on tight as she climbed down the side of the building. Jaune followed after, knowing he could take the drop even if the rope failed. Luckily, it didn't. His feet touched down on grass and he turned to look at her, even as she stood in absolute awe. Her eyes were sparkling as she gazed at the nature and wilderness before her.

"It's beautiful," whispered the woman. "I... I never realised how amazing it was until it was taken away." She turned, eyes wet, and flung her arms around him. Jaune stumbled back under the assault. "Thank you! Thank you! I'll never forget this! You're my only friend, my best friend, and I'll always be thankful for this!"

It was only a dream, sadly, but he could hope that whomever it was dreaming about this wasn't cooped up in real life. She surely wasn't, and this was either a fragment from her past or, perhaps, a representation of feeling confined and trapped in some way. There was little chance he'd actually reached out to some home-prisoner in Vale, especially not when there wouldn't be a house backing onto a nature reserve like this.

"I don't even know your name," said Jaune.

"Oh." The woman pushed off, blushing faintly. She laughed, embarrassed but still delighted. "Sorry. I was... I'm too excited to think straight." Another burst of laughter, and another tight hug. Her mouth was close to her ear as she whispered, "Amber. My name is Amber."

The slam of a door above them broke the moment, and a male voice shouted out, "Amber? Amber! Amber, no! Don't!"

"Welp." Amber let go of him and winked, already moving swiftly away. She had a cloak about her shoulders now, one that had appeared seemingly from nowhere. It was a dark forest green, and she pulled the hood up over her hair. "That's my cue to go! Thank you, stranger. Thank you for saving me. I'll see you again someday. I'm sure of it."

The woman, who shared the same name as his youngest sister, turned and sprinted into the woods with her cloak whipping up behind her. There were more shouts from inside the house, shouts for her to be pursued, for them to catch her, or for her to come back on her own, but Amber would have none of it. She vanished into the woods, her delighted laughter echoing in his ears as the dream world twisted and faded.

Of all the dreams he could have entered he supposed this wasn't such a bad one. He might not have fixed whatever happened to her in real life, but at least he'd turned a nightmare of sorts into a happy dream about a girl achieving the freedom she dreamed of.

That wasn't so bad.

In a glass tube far below Beacon, in the dark, a woman's lips quirked just once before she lay as still as she always had, as still as the grave. The tiny gesture went unseen, and would go unseen, as the dim light of the machinery continued to keep her alive.