Dio smiled as Jaune sat down opposed to him and placed his tea cup down on the little plate that matched the cup in design and color scheme. The cups, plates and pot were a porcelain white like those commonly seen on the frilly dressed dolls that his sisters -and he, much to his later shame- used to play with. They were decorated with a dark blue crisscrossing pattern etched into the outer rims and handles that would pinch his finger if he held it too tightly while slightly scrape his teeth or gently bite into his lower lip when he drank from it. A moment later he remembered the manners Dio taught him and first refilled Dio's cup before filling his to an acceptable level, moving with the practiced grace of someone so used to doing the task.

The teapot was always a bit of a mystery to him and once was a topic for their discussions, no matter how much the duo drank the pot would always be full. The one time Jaune dropped the pot on the floor the contents kept flowing far beyond the amount it should have normally held until Dio picked it up and punished him for poor manners having him clean the floor with his clothing until the golden metal was stainless. Despite the mystery of the magical teapot the one thing that Jaune knew for certain was that the tea in it would always suit his mood by constantly changing in taste, sweetness, temperature and even color, becoming bitter when he was angry or sweet when he was happy. He always felt that it was an unfair advantage Dio had over him as with this Dio could practically tell how Jaune was feeling quite literally with a sip of tea while he in turn always struggled to read Dio's mood much to the man's amusement. Dio did warn him however that other people could read his mood just as easily if he wasn't careful, the tea allegory that Dio used to explain that to him when he was a child just helped him to better understand this.

"How did your farewells go Jaune?" Dio casually asked.

"Very well. Despite how mom is I think that she was happy to see me go in a strange way. I just wish I could have done it in a way that wouldn't have cause her so much grief." Jaune remarked sipping his tea. He looked at it with a quizzical look as it tasted both foul like the vomit from earlier and sweet like the cakes that he and his sisters loved so much. He forced a straight face with a slight smile a moment later as he took note of Dio's smile.

"She loves you and cares for you deeply. It is only natural for her to feel some grief seeing you leave her." Dio spoke, his smile still present even as he sipped the oddly bitter-sweet tea.

"Although I do have some concerns." Jaune said placing his tea cup gently on the plate so it wouldn't disturb his guest.

Dio's smile vanished at that comment "What do you mean? You have always told me that your dream was to become a hunter of Grimm and now that you are embarking on your journey you should feel ecstatic. Well more ecstatic." he said smiling slightly while the tea in his cup shifted as his hand twitched. Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Dio always told him to hide his true feeling behind a false expression or failing that to never let anyone know how intensely he felt, as it can be used against him. However given his concerns and the fact that Dio could easily tell his mood he hopped he would let it slide this one time.

"Yes. I am ecstatic. And I honestly do think that this is one of the happiest moments in my life, but I am concerned over my family. I am going to Beacon Academy, one of the top schools for hunters in Remnant to train for what is perhaps one of the most dangerous professions there is. And knowing that I can't help but wonder what my mom, dad and each of my sisters are probably going through right now. They say that they are fine with it or that they will accept it in time, but with each phone call from an unknown number they are probably going to assume the worst, like I had been killed or that something worse has happened to me."

He looked down at his left hand, the one that would hold his shield and protect him from harm. "I know I have done some preparation for this, but just thinking of what might happen makes me scared." he brought both hands together over his lap and stared down at them "Will my strength be enough? Will I be able to match or even come close to the expectations of Beacon? Will I be able to make a difference and maybe save the people I will come to care about in the future? It's this and so much more that in all honesty makes me question if this was such a good idea in the first place."

He heard the slight sound of metal scrapping metal then a few foot steps before a finger placed itself under his chin willing him to look up. Dio shook his head slightly as his gaze practically pierced through to Jaune's soul "Jaune to have concerns is understandable, but tell me. What have I, Dio, always told you about doubt?"

Jaune gave a weak smile "Never have any. If you feel concerned check if there is something you can do and when possible eliminate the problem before it destroys you."

Dio smiled again and took his seat opposed to him, taking up his tea cup. "That is correct Jaune." he spoke drinking his tea cup empty and placing it gently on the porcelain plate his smile still present. Jaune smiled as he refilled Dio's cup "What would you suggest in this situation Dio? What would you do?"

Dio took his cup again and sniffed it, the heat vapors ticking his nose "Now Jaune. If all the answers were given to you, how would you ever improve? What do you think you can do?"

Jaune smiled as he took up his cup, Dio never answered that question for him, instead he always made Jaune answer for him and he would either agree or disagree with it "I have been lead to believe that Beacon has excellent training facilities and capable teachers whom I can ask to help me. And with an abundance of students I can likely find one with similar equipment to mine and also ask them how they fight or get a practice match or maybe train with them. If nothing else I can practice on my own in the nearby contested land and improve through experience or I could even get new equipment and learn how to use that effectively. If one of these options works then I think I should be good."

"Very good Jaune. You have covered all possibilities currently available to you." Dio spoke before sipping his tea. "It appears that you have reached your destination. Finish your tea and go."

Jaune nodded, drinking his tea in one go and gently placing it on his plate, relishing the wonderful taste. As he got up he wishing for the umpteenth time that the chairs wouldn't make that sound whenever either of them got up. He knew that it was bad manners and even though the chairs couldn't be lifted for any reason -both he and Dio trying at several occasions- it forced them to push the chairs back in order to get up from the table. Although Dio had never criticized him for it when he realized that the chairs were impossible to lift, it was still bad manners. As Jaune walked he focused and calmed his mind and soon his body began involuntarily kneeling.

He got up from his kneeling position as the real world collided with his senses. True to Dio's word the had boat had pulled up to the docks and passengers began to disembark. Within minutes Jaune exited the boat and began making his way to his hotel.

As he walked through the town of Mythbay he opened his map, his route marked in bright red highlighter along with some basic information on each of the towns and villages he would need to pass through before he entered the main city of Vale and pinned cards that had some basic tourist information. "Ok I am ahead of schedule by several hours." He folded his map and dodged a lamp post. Taking a moment to look around, it was still evening and unless all the shops had closed early he could get some food before nightfall. Despite being built around it's ferry docks Mythbay had a reputation for serving good fish and salad dishes made from locally farmed vegetables and freshly caught river trout, and while the local economy relied on exporting these things and the tolls from the ferries it still had the ability to grow as it did.

'Apparently the fish is that good'. Jaune mused before noticing something else. There was tension in the air.

Another quick glance showed him that there was an unusually large presence of armed people here, a militia as recognizable by the cheap weapons and distinct lack of quality armor. He frowned as he made his way to his hotel, something was going on here. This deep within Vale's territory should mean that the town was relatively safe and as Mythbay was hardly a frontier town this many militia personnel shouldn't be warranted, unless they were going to be attacked by a swarm of Grimm soon. That didn't make sense, if the people knew that a swarm of Grimm was coming then they would be working on barricades or seeking the local huntsmen and huntresses. Unless of course they hadn't arrived yet and the swarm was days away. And if the swarm was days away and huntsmen were coming then this wasn't going to be his problem. After all he would be at the gates of Vale's city by then and as much as it saddened him, staying to help these people was going to be more a liability to him as it meant that he would likely miss the important entry exam Beacon used to filter out it's candidates.

He collapsed on his bed in his hotel room not bothering to change out of his clothing and armor, all the stores were closed, with him arriving in town just as they closed for the day. He sighed and opened up a snack bar, sure he wouldn't go to bed hungry but it still sucked that he couldn't taste the town's trout dish. He opened up his map and looked at it again then signed again as he closed it. Tomorrow he would have to walk 10 miles to the next town and another 14 to get to the next one if he wanted to get ahead of his schedule. If he got up early then he could walk that distance in 8 hours, 6 if he walked briskly. After that it was another 163 miles to Vale's gates then Beacon and his adventures would begin. He rolled over and stared at the ceiling, the fan's rotation looked almost like the hands of a clock spinning as time marched onward, not stopping, not reversing, but always foreword, and for some reason it was oddly hypnotic and in a bizarre way it seemed appropriate.

"Please you have to stop her!" a voice yelled as the ceiling fan suddenly froze.

He woke with a start and sat-up, he didn't even realize he had fallen asleep while watching the ceiling fan. He put his hand up to his forehead. A voice, it sounded like his, but if so who was he begging to? He knew that it was familiar somehow, the name just eluded him. He wanted to say 'Winter' for some reason. He sighed, it was truly bizarre. His head perked up as he heard something from outside his room into the streets below. There shouldn't be any commotion going on this late and the local festival was still months away. The realization hit him like a lightning bolt, the Grimm swarm had arrived early!

He dashed to the door grabbing his shield which also was a scabbard that held his sword Crocea Mors. He practically flew down the stairs and body slammed through the front door drawing the blade in his right hand and expanding his sheath into it's shield form in his other hand. He looked around and oddly enough didn't see any Grimm. Instead he saw people, fighting other people. The militia were fighting bandits! He couldn't believe it, this deep in Vale's interior there shouldn't be bandits, they were all in the contested lands preying on the settlements there. For them to be in-

Something triggered in him. A reflex, instinct, whatever it was it saved his life on more occasions than he could remember while he temporarily lacked control whenever it happened he wouldn't trade it for anything else, it guaranteed he wouldn't be taken by surprise and react first to any situation.

"MUDA!" he yelled as he jumped backwards swinging his blade. The pommel connected with something hard and a moment later he saw what it was. A fearsome looking Grimm mask with 4, now 3 eye slits. The 4th being destroyed revealing part of a pale face belonging to a raven haired woman in a shallow cut black dress, red gauntlets and a giant scabbard that was too short and thick for the Katina blade she was using. She recoiled several steps and swung her blade harmlessly foreword, even with it's incredible length it still fell a foot short of him. She growled and held the blade foreword in a typical sword stance while she kept the other on her scabbard. Whomever this bandit was she intended to murder him. He gulped as he brought his own sword and shield up in a ready position, something telling him that he was in deep trouble.

/=====To be Continued =====/

AN: I, Noob, have spend the last week binge watching Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and reading the manga in an attempt to do Lord Dio justice in this fic and understand how he might interact with Jaune and how their relationship might develop over the course of several years. In any case leave reviews to tell me if I have pleased Lord Dio and done the portrayal justice. Tune in next time as Jaune Arc faces off against Raven Branwen.