JOURNEY
Volume One: First Steps.
Prologue
3rd November, year 88 ABC (After the Battle of Calenhad).
2am.
It was raining when two figures limped towards the old house. They both wore cloaks over their clothes, obscuring most of their frames: one was taller, a black cloak slung across their body, and the other was shorter, with her red cloak flapping in the wind behind her, revealing her corset and dress.
"You're sure about this?" the black-clad figure asked the red-clad figure: the voice was male, earnest in its own way, but filled with worry.
"Sure?" the woman replied, her voice high pitched and soft. "No. But what else can we do?"
"We can still go to the authorities," the man said quietly. "If they knew what happened -"
"If they knew what happened, we'd probably get arrested," the girl said with a twinge of wry humour. "I mean, given everything…"
Her voice trailed off, and the two trudged in silence towards the house. After a moment, the woman passed the man a small bundle she had been carrying beneath the folds of her cloak, and the man sighed.
"You're not going to at least say goodbye?" he asked quietly.
"No," she replied. "I… I think if I tried, he'd never let me go."
"Yeah," the man said after a moment. "I guess I see what you mean."
Without another word, he trudged onwards alone towards the wooden house. The woman turned away, her eyes alighting on the house, before she walked off, disappearing into the woods that surrounded the house.
Taiyang Xiao Long was staring at the ceiling of his bedroom when he heard the bang on his door. He didn't sleep very well these days. He supposed he couldn't be blamed for that: one wife had abandoned him, another had died. Neither of his daughters had been back home in months, and both were in the same, incredibly dangerous line of work that had killed his second wife.
The banging at the door was actually a welcome respite from his thoughts, even if it was a little louder than he would have necessarily liked for 2am. As if to punctuate his thoughts, another round of banging sounded.
"Alright, alright!" he said grouchily. "I'll be there in a minute! Jeez…"
He got out of bed, before trudging down the stairs, feeling grouchy. Another round of banging served only to irritate him further.
"Alright!" he yelled, pulling the door open, only to blink in surprise at the sight which greeted him.
Standing in the doorway was a tall, muscular blonde man, maybe half Taiyang's age, sporting a scruffy beard and damp hair and wearing a long black cloak over battered armour. The most interesting thing about this man, though, was the small bundle he was holding.
Taiyang's mouth worked silently for a moment in shock.
"Mr Xiao Long," the man said quietly.
"Jaune Arc?!" Taiyang finally exclaimed. "You - you're - what are you doing here at this hour?"
Arc smiled wryly. "Uh, would you believe that circumstances demanded it?"
Taiyang sighed. "Y'know, I'd say no, but I'm not a liar." His eyes alighted on the bundle. "What's that?"
Arc sighed. "Maybe we should go inside."
Taiyang stepped aside and let Arc walk in, the younger man trailing mud and water into the house. Normally Taiyang might have cared, but he had a sudden bad feeling that made mud seem like something of a non-issue. A moment later, his feeling was confirmed when Arc dropped his cloak on the floor - revealing the dark haired baby he was carrying, asleep in his arms in a red swaddling cloth.
"What the hells?!" Taiyang hissed, eyes widening.. "Where - who - how -"
"Mr Xiao Long," Arc said, holding up a prosthetic hand that whirred slightly. "Please. Calm down."
"Calm down?!" Taiyang whispered, still looking at the baby. "Why do you have a baby?!"
"I'll explain everything as best I can, but you need to relax," Arc said quietly. "This is a really, really complicated thing to have to explain."
"I'll just bet," Taiyang said heavily. He frowned. "Wait - Ruby said she was meeting up with you and Weiss. Does this have something to do with that?"
Arc's expression became somber. "You… might wanna sit down."
When Arc had finished speaking, Taiyang's expression was blank. He didn't know what to think, what to say. What the younger man had told him…
"So," he said after a moment. "She's not coming back."
Arc shrugged. "I don't know what she's gonna do."
Taiyang sighed, putting his head in his hands. "And she's left me with - with -"
"With Jo," Arc supplied helpfully, still holding the baby. She was sleeping peacefully.
"It's hard to believe," Taiyang said quietly. "What you've told me doesn't seem physically possible."
Arc smiled wryly. "Yeah, that's what I said, but there you go."
Taiyang looked at the sleeping baby, struggling to feel anything other than sadness. She was a beautiful child - but she heralded yet another of the important people in his life choosing to leave him. He closed his eyes.
"So," he said quietly. "You want me to take her."
"Ruby thought it was best," Arc said quietly. He looked down at the sleeping baby, a soft smile on his face. "She… she thought you'd be the best dad for her."
"You've got kids already," Taiyang pointed out. "They're pretty young still, you'd -"
"People would ask questions about me and Pyrrha suddenly having a third child," Arc said quietly. "She's still under a lot of scrutiny, after all."
Taiyang nodded slowly. "I suppose she would be." He frowned. "Still. Leaving me with this… this…"
"Baby," Arc said firmly. "This baby girl, who deserves more than she was going to get. Who deserves a family. Ruby trusted you to give her the love she deserves, and no one else."
Taiyang looked Arc in the eyes. "And I won't betray that trust. But this girl also deserves to know the truth."
Arc's expression became more morose. "You're right. She does. Ruby's written a letter for her, you can give her that when you think she's ready."
"A letter," Taiyang repeated. "You think explaining all this in a letter will do."
"No," Arc admitted. "I think you, personally, should explain this to her. Yourself. But only you will know when the time's right."
Taiyang sighed, shaking his head. "You know, I wish Ruby would have come herself to tell me all of this, since she's essentially dumping a grandchild on me with no warning."
Arc smirked. "Well, what can I say? She didn't think you'd let her leave."
"And she'd have been right," Taiyang said. He held out his hands, and Arc carefully lifted the baby and handed her to the older man, still wrapped in the red swaddle. For a moment, Taiyang could only look down at the baby with a small smile on his face as she stirred.
"I guess good luck is in order," Arc said quietly as he stood up, retrieving his black cloak. "Remember, whatever else you do, try to keep quiet about her. We don't know who else may be watching out for her after what's happened."
Taiyang nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll bear that in mind."
Arc paused, looking like he wanted to say something more, before turning to leave. The door creaked and slammed, the rain still pelting the world outside.
At the sound of the door banging closed, the little girl stirred, before letting out a soft moan of complaint. Taiyang sighed.
Jo, he thought quietly. Well, kid, this is certainly going to be… interesting.
