Prologue

"In all honesty," the voice on the other line drawled. "I'm more surprise you bothered to keep the thing."

Nicholas Arc chuckled. The man had a point, and Nicholas had contemplated throwing the old audio-only scroll away when it had first been given to him many years ago. He'd opted to hold on to it if ever things should ever go horribly wrong. It would help to have somewhere relatively safe to send Juniper or his children, after all.

This was not such a situation, honestly, but it warranted his making this call.

"I held on to it in case I needed something from you."

The man on the other line laughed, the baritone had been gravelly with age for as long as Nicholas could remember.

"Well, I suppose you need something from me then, Nicholas?" if nothing else, the man didn't sound opposed to the idea, at least.

"Jaune has gone missing, and he's taken Crocea Mors with him."

There was a pause. Nicholas didn't even hear breathing from the other side.

"You want me to find him?"

Nicholas would have preferred that his only son had never left and that the boy had never gotten ideas of heroism into his head.

There was a scoff from the other line, audible enough that Nicholas couldn't have mistaken it for a different sound or static caused by the distance between them.

"You could just as easily track the boy down and take him home yourself. What does this have to do with old Charles?"

The self-deprecation didn't phase Nicholas.

"Jaune's decided that he wants to be a hero, he wants to save people. It's why I let him take the sword."

Another pause.

"And I know you don't want that, though your parents might have other ideas. Why not contact them?"

"Better you than them."

"Oh?" Well, the old man was laying it on a little thick, wasn't he?

"I know you still haven't found a successor, Charles. It's why you were perfectly fine to let me keep the old sword. My son wants to save people, and I'd rather he learn under you than under his grandparents." Charles's legacy for the safety of Nicholas's son. It seemed a fair-enough deal.

Nicholas could have gone himself, but he didn't have the time to train the boy, and he couldn't in the way that would have still allowed him to be a huntsman considering Jaune's age. Charles was the best compromise he could think of. The old man was adept at handling people, and lived far enough to give Jaune the experience he needed to accelerate his learning.

That, and at least Charles was trustworthy, or more trustworthy than Nicholas's own parents. He even trusted the old man more than Ozpin, granted, that wasn't saying much since he didn't trust the Beacon Headmaster as far as Nicholas could throw him.

And since Nicholas was rather sure Jaune would end up trying to get into Beacon, this was a welcome alternative. Unlike his own parents, Charles never begrudged him for his choice; there was no bad blood between them despite the distance ─ physical or otherwise.

So Nicholas Arc waited. Eventually, though, Charles Arc replied:

"I suppose you still live in Ansel?" Was what the man said. "Vale, then? Beacon, perhaps?"

Nicholas took a deep breath and began telling him what details he could.