Jaune stood at the entrance to the house. He had a contemplative look. Carrying a bag and wearing his grandfathers armor, with the accompanying sword at his hip, he looked ready to leave. But he was hesitant. Head down with his hair over his eyes. If he goes out now, like this, he couldn't turn back, not without proving himself the failure he couldn't let himself be. 'But i don't have to leave,' he told himself. 'There is no reason for me to become a hunter. I can live here, in Ansel, support my family by running a shop, or even baking. Hell, I could open up a tailor shop here with how skilled I've gotten.'
But reason as he might, his feet didn't move. And he began to steel his resolve. 'I can't turn away now. This has always been my dream. How can I tell Emi to follow her dreams if I never do the same. Being a huntsman is in my blood. I have to do this, for my dream, and for Emi.' His grip tightened on his bag, then slackened. 'Emi...'
He would be leaving her behind. He would have to miss her birthday. School would have started by then. And then he would miss Lilly's birthday, and Jade's.' he paled at that thought. 'Jade. She would kill me for running out like this, without telling her. It would take a lot more than taking her shopping to fix this one.' this thought more than the others seemed to break him. He took a step back, nearly falling from his now asleep legs.
"I was wondering when you would move." I jumped at the voice and this time I did fall. Picking myself up from the floor I looked to the voice. Standing behind me was Sapphire. She looked down at me, not offering to help, or even showing much concern. "So, you planning on leaving then?"
She had her sternest look on show, made even scarier by the fact that it was dim lighting. I feel even worse looking at her. Taking the opportunity to look away, I get up. Sapphire is my eldest sister, she taught me how to tie my shoes and stand up for myself. Her birthday is in three months. I'd miss that too. The thought leaves me even more conflicted.
"You want the truth?" I ask her, quietly, as to not risk anyone waking. She narrows her eyes at me.
"An Arc doesn't lie, especially not to family," She states. I wince at the phrase. Our house has a lot of rules for us. They are made so we stay honest and upstanding citizens. I try my best to live by every single one.
"Yeah, we don't. I'm sorry." I take a deep breath to steady myself. I open my mouth, ready to tell her that I'm leaving to chase my dream of becoming a hunter. "I don't know what I'm doing." I pause. That's not what I was going to say. I blink. I can't say it is a lie though. Saph looks a bit taken aback. I guess she didn't expect that answer. Something wet rolls down my face. Did I hit my head when I fell? I raise my hand to wipe it off. As I pull my hand back I see no blood, but my eyes are starting to itch. I'm crying? Yeah, I'm crying.
I Start sobbing as the full weight of what I'm doing hits me. Saph runs over and hugs me close. I hug her back just as hard. She puts her hand against the back of my head and gently massages. She doesn't say anything. Just holding me as I let my stress out. I hear footsteps on the stairs and hear Jade gasp. Soon enough I have two of my sisters hugging me. It makes me feel worse about trying to leave like this, knowing how much they both love me. God, I'm such a bad brother.
A bit later I stopped crying, and me, Jade, and Sapphire went up to Jade and my room. I sat on my bed and took off the armor. Jade and Saph sat across on Jades bed. Jade spoke first.
"So, what was that down there? Why do you have grandpas armor?" I sigh, too tired to wince. I look at her, looking away quickly.
"I was planning on going to vale so I could apply to beacon." I close my eyes and wait for her to yell at me. But it doesn't come. I look up, expecting her to be angry, but she looks on the verge of tears.
"You would just leave without telling us? Without telling me?" her voice cracks as he says this. I hurry across the room and hold her close.
"I wasn't thinking, I'm so sorry. Of course I wouldn't leave without telling you." I keep apologizing while she wipes her tears and regains her composure. She hugs me back and tells me she is fine. I let go and sit in front of her.
"You really are a stupid brother, you know that, forgetting to talk to your twin about things like this." She glares at me, the effect lessened and enhanced by her puffy eyes and hoarse voice. I almost cry again as I respond.
"I guess I still need my other half, don't I?" I smile at her.
She laughs. "Only till you find someone I like to replace me," she replies, the old joke easing the tension. Saph chuckles at us.
"Should I be worried about you to alone here together?" The idea revolting us, making us spring apart.
"She is way too ugly."
"He is way to gross."
We glare at each other.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
We glare at each other more before breaking and laughing at each other.
We all sit back down and after a moment the mood turns serious again.
"So what brought all this on?" Sapphire asks. The question making me think a bit.
"It was kinda spur of the moment, but I've been wanting to head out for a while. I'm seventeen, if I want the best chance at getting into beacon, this is the year to do it. I didn't mean to sneak out in the night. I was planning to talk to you all before I left, but I was up earlier, thinking, and I felt as though if I didn't leave tonight, I'd never get to leave." I look at Jade. "I really wasn't thinking, and I didn't mean to hurt any of you."
Jade shook her head softly, "I know you didn't, you always were pretty emotional. But you were always kind and caring towards us. Even Sapphire here, and lord knows she doesn't need it." She teased at the end, getting a soft smack on the arm for it.
"Well, I think it would be a bad idea for you to go tonight. You probably didn't check, but there is supposed to be a heavy storm for the next few days." She stares pointedly at me. I have the decency to look sheepish at that. "So hows about we talk to everyone tomorrow, get everyone on the same page so there isn't a manhunt for you involving half the town." She smirks a bit at that last part. Jade chuckles at the memory.
"Hey, its not my fault. Grace told me to hide as well as I could," I protested. "Not my fault the town sucks at hide and seek." I grumbled that last bit.
Jade laughed properly at that. Half the town and all of the Arcs looked for half a day before Jaune popped up asking for bread in town. When they asked him he said that he got bored of hiding and wanted to get mom, Jade and Emi a snack.
Our spirits a bit brighter I answered Saph, "Okay, but can we leave out what happened tonight? Please?"
"No can do little bro. I may love you, but mom would kill me if she found out I hid that from her." Ouch. Fair enough though, I know how bad mom gets when she is upset.
"Alright, we will talk to everyone tomorrow." I heave a deep sigh, relieved now that I talked it over with my sisters. Sapphire surprised me by hugging me tight.
"Don't be stupid again little bro, I'd miss you too you know." She let go and smiled at me before leaving the room. I sat there a bit surprised. She didn't often show us her soft side. I guess this is hard on her too.
I look over at Jade and see her downcast again. I move over and sit next to her. She leans against me and I put my arm around her. "I'm still here. I'm sorry I'm such an idiot." She attempts to smack me, but it barely brushes me with how weak it is.
"Shut up, I'm the only one allowed to call you an idiot." She seems to have lost all of her energy. I come up with an idea, getting up, I pull my mattress onto the floor, and start piling up pillows. I turn to her with a wide smile.
"Come on, I need your help with the roof, you never showed me how to make it stay like you do." she gets up and starts to put up the sheets when she stops herself.
"Here, this is how you do it." She starts to show me how to put up the sheets so they stay up all night.
We spent a while talking and laughing with each other, then I read her favorite story for us until we fell asleep.
Morning came around and Sapphire told everyone to wait after breakfast before heading out today. Everyone groggily agreed before heading down to the kitchen. Sapphire then came into our room and woke us up. I woke up cold because Jade took most of the blankets, but I am used to it at this point.
Knowing she would take a while to actually get up I offer to save her a plate of breakfast and head downstairs. I sit at the table and load up two plates. Mom not minding, knowing how my twin is. I set the plate beside me at the table and was halfway through my plate when Jade came down. I got up and poured her a glass of milk as she sat down. When mom wasn't looking I passed some of my bacon over to Emi's plate, earning me a smile.
After breakfast we all gathered in the living room. Everyone looked to Sapphire for the announcement. She got up and stood in front of everyone. "So, last night, I heard something downstairs between songs, it was pretty late, so I thought it probably wasn't one of us. I went downstairs to check and I found quite and interesting sight." Mom and Dad seemed worried, probably fearing we had an intruder, Emi was confused, and the rest of them were intrigued.
"I saw Jaune, standing frozen at the door, with grandpas armor and sword on, and a bag in his hand. He didn't move for a good half hour, and when he did, he took a step back that seemed to take a lot out of him."
There was stunned silence as everyone absorbed what she just said. A moment later I had nine different questions being asked of me at once, and a nail file bounced off my chest. Before I could even make sense of any of the questions, I was being hugged by no less than 5 of my sisters and my mom. I was confused and surprised, enough so that I couldn't react to it all for a few seconds after it stopped.
Coming to my senses, I said the most reasonable and understandable thing I could in the given situation. "Wha?"
Jade laughed at me, bringing me out of my stupor. "How come you all aren't mad at me and yelling at me?" I asked, confused, but relieved that they aren't too upset with me.
"Oh, we are upset, but I'm sure you have your reasons. And you are still here, so you don't just want to run away. I want to hear you out at least," Coral said reasonably. I'm glad one of us turned out logical.
"Well, I have been thinking about my dream of becoming a hunter for the last few weeks. And it has been burning a hole in my mind. Last night it came to a head. I thought, if I don't leave now, I wont ever get to live my dream. So I packed up a few things and got grandpas armor and sword. I was about to leave when I stopped and thought about what I was doing. Heading out on my own, chasing my dream, having an adventure, it was all so tempting. But then I thought about you all. And I couldn't do it. I can't just leave you all here, especially without saying goodbye. I stepped back and then Saph scared me. I broke down crying, and then Jade came down. We went back up and talked for a while before deciding to talk about this with everyone today." I slumped a bit at the end of saying it all. It took a weight off of my chest to get it all out there. But it took a lot out of me to say it all.
There was silence for a bit as everyone soaked it in. Mom was the first to speak. "I understand what must have been going through your head, and I'm proud of you for stopping and thinking. Heavens knows that Nicky wouldn't have at your age." Dad gave an indignant yell at that. "I think we all want to know what you want to do now." the girls all nodded except Emi. She got up, sat on my lap and hugged me.
"I know what you want to do big bro. I'm glad you stayed to talk to us." She hugged me tightly as she finished. I was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized what she meant, and just as quickly realized she was right. I hugged her back.
"When did you get so clever?" I asked, making her smile.
"I pick up a lot from all those books you read." She leaned against me, looking at the rest of the family. They were looking at us as though we were a pink Beowulf that was playing with a ball of string.
"She figured me out before I could figure myself out. I want to go to beacon, but I don't want to just leave you all without saying goodbye and I still want to see you all during the year. But I wont go if you all need me here."
At that last bit Emi glared at me, as well as my sisters. Confused, I looked at mom.
"You really think that we cant get along without you? Honestly, we taught you everything except how to pee straight. And I still helped with that one." The girls looked disgusted and disturbed at that. "We can make it just fine here without you. What matters is that you are happy and healthy." The girls and dad all nodded and smiled at that. With Coral adding in that I need a girlfriend as well.
"Well, I guess that's that then?" I questioned instead of stating. This didn't go how I thought it would at all. Mom got up and made her way to the kitchen with dad following close after. The girls all crowded around me, planing the next few days, and from what I heard, I would be very busy.
The next week passed by, but it wasn't quick. I learned a lot from my sisters, how to manage money, how to read maps, how to start a fire without dust or matches. Dad taught me as much sword fighting as he could, and then taught me some stances and movements to go through to help improve.
The last day before I left was filled with a lot of crying. Mom, Jade and Emi were the only ones to ride all the way to vale with me.
"Well, here's hoping that all goes well." My nerves starting to betray me.
Mom smiled and rubbed my knee, "It will be fine, I got Nicky to pull some strings. Your transcript is already on Ozpins desk. And if nothing else, you can always come home."
Emi smiled and gave me a thumbs up, with Jade doing something similar.
"Arriving at Vale in twenty minutes."
The automated voice alerted us to how close we were. Jade and Emi Hugged me and we talked about what it would be like. The ride passed quickly, and soon enough we were in vale.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. I'll make sure to call at least once a week, okay?"
"You better, I'm not gonna let you off the hook if you don't." Jade choked on the last word.
"You will do great big bro. When you come home, I wanna hear stories of how big of a hero yu are. Okay?" Emi hugged me as she said that, and she was beaming at me.
"You be safe okay? I tought you how to treat most things, but it never hurts to be cautious. And for gods sake don't rush into everything head first like your father." She smiled as she said this, but she was crying through it all. They all hugged me and we all broke down. We must look like a total cliché, crying at the station. We eventually stopped, and managed to say goodbye. It hurt a lot to say it, but I knew it wouldn't be for too long.
I turned around and walked into Vale, my future ahead of me. And my family supporting me.