The Iron Knight
Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
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"… and the last wave of Grimm was finally repelled by Huntsman John Jones, an Atlesian Huntsman who was dismissed with honours from the Atlesian Military to become a wandering Huntsman. The final number of casualties is 71, with nearly three hundred people injured.
This final Grimm attack on Inspire was incited by the rash of fear and anger brought on by the Arc Scandal. Famous Huntsman and Huntress James and Gail Arc, descendants of the famous General Hadrian Arc, were discovered to have severely abused several of their children.
Accusations were brought forward six months ago by school teacher Aisha Grant, who contacted authorities when Jaune Arc, their only son, disappeared. She feared that his parents may have actually killed him, and while no evidence of such was ever found, Jaune Arc is still missing…"
"Sick ain't it?"
Jaune looked up from his scroll to the man a table across from him in the small café. He was a tall, well-built guy, very dark skin and black eyes, a shaved head with tribal tattoos adorning his scalp.
Jaune raised a questioning eyebrow.
"People like the Arcs, abusing their kids like that. Gives us Hunters a bad name, and makes everyone's jobs harder by drawing the Grimm in. Makes me sick."
Thankfully, Jaune looked nothing like the picture being shown of him. The picture was eight months old, taken by Morrigan when the two of them made it to the beach for a day. In it he stood about the same height as his sister, mid-length yellow blond hair and bright blue eyes.
He had grown since then, now hitting six foot two. He had filled out a bit, no longer being so skinny, his hair had been dyed honey blond, lighter blue contacts in his eyes, and a scraggly, dark blond, sort of goatee on his face; small changes that completely changed the way he looked, even at a glance.
Normally he would keep his face baby smooth, but a bit of facial hair changed the shape of his face enough to fool people, especially people that might be looking for him on behalf of his father.
He had settled quite a way away, a medium sized town within Vale's sphere of influence called Haddoway. He was living in a small bedsit, hiring himself out as a Scroll repairman; it was actually alright money, but every Lien was being saved so he could afford the equipment he wanted.
"I understand what you mean. Huntsman and Huntresses are supposed to protect people. This doesn't just attract Grimm, and neither is it just horrible. It dents people's faith in Hunters, making Grimm attacks even more likely in a vicious circle. It's not just sick; it's despicable."
Jaune's travelling and resettlement had not been particularly hard, but neither had it been easy, and he had seen things that put a whole new spin on his view of the world. He had seen poverty and Grimm attacks and their results. Luckily Vale was safe enough for a fair amount of travel between the major settlements, so he hadn't encountered any Grimm since the major paths were protected by Huntsmen and Huntresses.
Didn't stop him throwing up when he first passed the unfortunate souls that had encountered Grimm.
He had also made sure to look at the news here and there, to see if there was any new information on him.
"The name's Mako," the man introduced himself, joining Jaune at his table.
"John," the teen said, his cover name close enough to his real one for him to react to it.
"Nice ta meet ya John, you a Huntsman?" Jaune could smell the man's coffee from across the table, and wondered how his teeth weren't stained black.
"Someday I hope," Jaune replied evenly, "I'm guessing you're a local Huntsman?"
Mako leaned back and finished his coffee. "Yep, been here for nearly five years, ended up meeting the woman who would become my wife and stayed ever since. So what you doing while school's out? I'm assuming you go to High Tower?"
Jaune shook his head, wondering what had this man so interested. "Nope, never been to a Hunter school, and I don't go to civilian school anymore."
The man's smile flickered, but returned quickly. "Heh, so you think you go what it takes to make it to Beacon without even going to a Hunter school? Gotta hand it to ya, that takes guts kid," Mako laughed.
Jaune felt his hackles rise as Mako's stare became a lot more intense.
"So, Jaune," Mako began, and Jaune twitched violently, nearly launching himself out of his seat, but common sense told him it would be bad if it looked like he was running away from a Huntsman.
Criminals tended to do that.
"I'm guessing you've got something, something you think will level the playing field with the Hunter kids, else you wouldn't have found the courage to run away from home and make it on your own at the tender age of fifteen. Either that or you're dumb enough to think you've got a shot as you are."
Jaune felt his jaw drop. He wondered how on Remnant the guy managed to figure all of that out. The man snorted, the tension leaving his form and allowing Jaune himself to relax a little.
"I clocked you the moment you got into town kid, your disguise is good, nice and subtle, but I've been keeping an eye on the Arc case and I've seen more than one photo of you thanks to a couple sources."
Jaune eyed the man suspiciously. "Who are you exactly?" This guy was suddenly raising red flags in Jaune's mind.
"I guess Kelly and Jade never would have told you about our team then? Mako Armitage, the A of Team KAJU, aka Kaiju. Your sisters were a real piece of work, drove me and the final member of the team, Lan Ulu, crazy with their antics."
Jaune stared wide eyed at the man, at Mako, wondering how lucky he could get. "Yeah, Kelly and Jade never told us about their team, we were just grateful they were gone for those few years."
Jaune felt being honest was okay here, he had a good first impression from Mako and the guy didn't sound too thrilled with his sisters either.
"I get that, if knowing your sisters as well as I do didn't tip me off about their sibling's home life, seeing all that stuff on the news about your disappearance definitely did… have you got somewhere to stay for now Jaune?"
"Yeah, I'm renting a bedsit a little bit away from here, doing freelance Scroll work to pay the bills." Jaune told him, not actually giving the man an address. Just because Jaune reckoned he was a good guy, he had learned to be a little suspicious about people.
Unfortunately, he'd learned that a little closer to home than he would have liked.
"You know Scrolls? Heck, I thought only those Atlesian Tech Specialists had any idea how to do more than the basics with those things?" Mako looked impressed; Jaune had learned that knowing the amount he did about computing and software was actually really rare.
"Uh yea, well, since my family were… obstructive when it came to my dream of being a Huntsman, I found other things to interest me that they wouldn't be able to…"
"That they wouldn't be able to take from you?" Jaune nodded, and Mako sighed. "I get that, really. Kelly was the leader of our team at Beacon, and she was… difficult to follow at times. I've always been a front-line fighter, but she relegated me to support so she and Jade could take all the 'glory.' So, I understand, at least a little."
"Huh, I forget that my sisters have an entire world of people to inflict themselves upon," Jaune remarked dryly, Mako laughing loudly at the quip. Jaune got the impression he was one of those people who didn't have an indoor voice.
A comfortable silence fell over them for a moment. "Look Jaune…" Mako began, though he appeared to be struggling with the words. A sigh passed his lips before he continued. "I couldn't live with myself if I didn't help you out, being my teammate's brother, and having the guts to get away from your family to become a Huntsman, to follow your dream. I'll put it bluntly, you're chances of going to Beacon as you are, are very low, so…"
Jaune worked through what the man was saying for a moment, before feeling his jaw drop in disbelief. "Wait a moment, are you… offering to help me get into Beacon? To train me?"
Mako rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah. Molly, my wife, would love to meet you I'm sure. Look, I know we just met, but, well, I think you're a good kid, and I feel like you deserve a break having to put up with Kelly and Jade for so many years."
Jaune felt stunned for a moment, and swallowed thickly. "I think I'll take you up on that," Jaune said a little hoarsely, holding back his emotions. Mako heard them, and gave him a manly slap on the shoulder in support.
"That's the spirit." Mako stood up, and Jaune stood with him. "Well I've got to get to work, and I'm sure you do too. Meet me back here about five, you can come around for dinner. I'll see you later Jaune."
Jaune nodded. "See ya."
xxxx
"Well hey there! You must be Jaune, come on in honey," Jaune heard amidst a flash of blonde hair and then suddenly he was inside, his coat was taken, his shoes were off and he was being sat down at a table before he could blink.
"What just…?"
A loud laugh from next to him startled Jaune. Mako was sitting over from him at a small table in what he saw was a kitchen/dining room combo. White tiled floor, yellow walls, and a mass of blonde hair moving about almost faster than he could keep track, a babble of sound accompanying said hair as it dashed around the steamy kitchen.
"The moment Mako told me he'd met his evil bitchy teammate's little brother and that he had run away from home to get away from said evil sister just like that story I read when I was little about the servant girl that ran away from her ugly stepsisters and married a prince except you're a boy not a girl and you'd marry a princess I'd imagine not that I'm judging or anything it's just the vibe that I get from you…"
Jaune tried to get a word in, but the woman was relentless, and it didn't help that Mako was laughing at him. "Molly! Slow down a second would ya?" Mako shouted over the sound of his wife rambling and all the pots and pans she was bashing as she made dinner.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I just get so carried away sometimes. It's nice to meet you Jaune," the woman said with a smile that Jaune could finally see. Under the voluminous blonde hair was a relatively pretty young woman with dark eyes and a natural tan, along with blindingly white teeth.
"Likewise, uh, Molly?" Jaune said with a questioning lilt at the end. Molly nodded at him that that was fine. "Would you like a hand with dinner?" Jaune asked courteously, after all he was an alright cook and it would be rude not to help.
He wasn't expecting her smile to suddenly turn disturbing… and dangerous. "That's okay sweetie, I like having my kitchen a certain way and don't like people making it… not a certain way. Okay? Awesome!"
Gone was the spine chilling aura and back was the hyperverbal blonde. Jaune kept his mouth shut and just nodded along before sitting down next to Mako.
"Damn I love that woman." Jaune looked at the man with an attempted raised eyebrow (he wasn't actually sure if he could raise just one eyebrow).
"You're insane, that was like… the third scariest thing I've ever seen in my life."
"What can I say? I'm an adrenaline junkie, it's half the reason I became a Huntsman," Mako said as he lounged in his chair.
"What was the other half?" Jaune inquired, wondering what drove a man like Mako.
Said man sat forward at that and sighed. "Truth is I just don't like bullies. I was really fat as a kid- yeah I know," he chuckled as Jaune goggled at him. Mako's muscles had muscles.
"As you can imagine, the little fat kid thinking he could be a Huntsman? Oh man did I get bullied. But here I am, protecting people from Grimm, and proving wrong everyone who doubted me."
"Wow," Jaune said, genuinely impressed. To achieve his dream in spite of everyone else; Jaune was starting to understand why he and Mako had hit it off so quickly.
"Here you go boys!" Molly came over somehow balancing three large plates with two thin arms, and set them all down. "Spaghetti carbonara! Dig in!"
Jaune looked up to say thanks only to see Mako and Molly already half way through their own meals and glowering at each other as they attempted to finish first. In a burst of worry, Jaune wondered what would happen if there was still food on his plate when they finished.
His stomach rumbled, and with a determined grimace he set about eating his own dinner. He had to fend off the occasional fork going for his food, but there was apparently more food still in the kitchen which the two would go after once he successfully fended them off.
The food was great, and Jaune said as much once the meal was finished, causing Molly to go off on another babble of nonsense that Jaune was slowly learning to filter out to understand what the woman was actually talking about.
Jaune promised Mako that he'd meet up with him at the weekend, and then made his way home. He went to sleep that night with a smile.
xxxx
Jaune panted, feeling like a dog more than a man as sweat ran down his back and arms. Any previous positive emotions he felt towards Mako were left back at the start of the dirt track the man was making him run round, again, and again, and again.
And again.
"Hunters have endurance! Stamina! Greater physicality than the average citizen! But this requires work! Run Jaune! Run!"
"I'm running!" Jaune half shouted half rasped back at the crazy man.
The thing that made the training so insane was not the amount of running, or even Mako's demotivational speeches. It was the fact that the moment Jaune slowed down, his sister's teammate would fire a shot at his heels with a small, and yet very real pistol.
And they were getting closer every time.
"Why the violence?! I thought you didn't like my sister!"
*BANG*
"I don't! But she did get results!" Came the all too happy reply.
After the running session, Mako made Jaune lift weights, stretch, and generally exercise every muscle he didn't know he had and then some he was sure he didn't have, despite their aching.
Once he was done with the three hour torture, he and Mako sat at their kitchen table while Jaune slowly sipped a glass of water, lest his stomach rebel.
"So," Jaune began, disturbing the silence, "why the extreme exercise? I've never seen a Hunter really have to maintain their athleticism before. Their skill, focus and technique yes, but nothing that requires high intensity workouts."
"What do you know about Aura?" Mako asked him in return, confusing Jaune. What did Aura have to do with it?
"Only that all Hunters have it, and it makes you harder to hurt," Jaune answered honestly. Mako nodded, as if he was expecting that answer.
"That's about what the average civilian knows, right?" Jaune shrugged, not knowing what others knew about it really. "Well, what they don't know is Aura is like a multiplier. It does act like a shield, but it also makes you stronger and faster, turns up your reflexes to the maximum, and allows you to shape and direct Dust."
Now, Jaune wasn't slow, and could see where Mako was going with this. "If it acts like a multiplier, then the stronger you are before activating it, the more it will benefit you. Why doesn't everyone do that?" Jaune knew for a fact that Hunters in training had their Auras unlocked the moment they started combat school, usually at age 11.
"Because it's not necessary. Aura is such a powerful force, that it makes children stronger than champion weightlifters and faster than footbound couriers. Why bother increasing the baseline if the end result is stronger than a regular human has any right to be?"
Jaune could easily see how a system such as that could fall into place. Back when the fight against the Grimm was a little more urgent, instant results like that, resulting in lots of powerful people without having to spend time training them up, would have been better than a few highly trained soldiers.
"So you'll unlock my Aura when I'm as physically fit as I can get without it?" Jaune asked, looking for clarification.
"… you want me to unlock it?" Mako asked, leaning back with wide eyes.
"Yeeaaahh?" Jaune asked slowly, wondering why he wouldn't.
"Blimey," Mako said, shaking his head. "Unlocking someone's Aura is a very… personal experience. It's usually done by close family members, though there are one or two people that unlock it on their own, though that takes some intense spiritual meditation and more time than you have."
Jaune absorbed that, and made a decision. "Then I'd definitely like you to do it." Seeing Mako's surprised look, Jaune explained. "Out of everyone I know that actually has Aura, you're easily the closest to actual family I've got. We may have only met a week ago, but, well…"
Jaune wasn't really sure how to put it. He looked up to Mako; the man was everything he wanted to be. If he were honest, Mako was the closest thing to a male role model Jaune had.
A large hand clapped him on the shoulder. Mako was grinning happily. "Then sure thing."
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