AN: The next update cycle is RWBY. After the last posting I put up the Poll but have since taken it down and reuploaded it as I forgot to put in an idea I really wanted to see the opinion on. If you haven't gone back to vote again since it was put back up, it would be a good idea to do so now.
AN2: Also, seriously? I put an AN last time and people are still ignoring it. 'Having a sister means Pyrrah can't feel isolated'. Please actually READ before you put a comment like that.
AN3: I don't think the timeline for the great war is accurate. Jaune mentions that his great-great-grandfather fought in it, but the war was later said to have been eighty years ago. At the same time technology went from basic sword and shield to a mechashifting sniper scythe in that short of a time frame? I'm changing timeline to the war having been closer to two-hundred years ago and the council was formed after Ozpin (who is confirmed as the Warrior King of Vale) decided to stop being king and didn't pick an heir. The Vytal festival is eighty years old to try and help keep peace and prevent rising tensions.
AN4: This chapter is in part to show Jaune interacting with Blake. Next chapter will include a part of Jaune with Monika. While I would love your opinion on Jaune's interactions with Blake here, please hold off on saying who you want Jaune with fully until you've seen both parts.
True Potential
Chapter 7
-Jaune-
Groaning, Jaune dropped his pencil on the table and stretched out his hands. "There, that's everything I know from the family library." Jaune winced, rubbing his sore palms as Blake took the sheets of paper. Oobleck had made assigned pairs for a history report and Jaune was paired with Blake, their subject being the Warrior King of Vale.
"I've never even seen some of this." Blake looked shocked as she leafed through the pages, "I've never seen most of this! Where did you family get all this information?"
Letting out a small click of his tongue, nodding as he bit his lip, Jaune looked over at Blake "The Warrior King of Vale didn't start out as a King. Originally, he was a simple soldier, having been part of the village guard before joining the war effort. Most of his family hunted Grimm or enemies of the kingdom but he was still rather young and was kept around the homestead until the war. He grew stronger and more skilled, gaining renown and, after the previous Vale King died along with his heir, the Warrior King rallied the troops and was named the leader. After the war, he was officially coronated and did his best to help rebuild Vale. Still, he was a fighter, not a monarch, and the same could be said for his family. So, when he got old and grey, he formed the council of Vale, ending the monarchy and letting his family go back to being warriors."
"I heard he just didn't have an heir fit for rule." Blake frowned, flipping through one of the many biographies and histories they had pulled from the library, the books sprawled out of the study room they had booked.
"Didn't have an heir who wanted to rule." Jaune snorted, "Most people didn't know the family name the Warrior King was born with. His name was Ozmium, the soldiers he led dubbed him Ozmium Dragun, Ozmium the Dragon. What most, if any, don't know is that he was born Ozmium Arc." Blake's jaw all but hit the table at that little revelation.
"You're kidding." Blake gaped, "You HAVE to be kidding!"
"Nope." Jaune smirked, "His private journals are actually in the family library. I wrote down everything I can remember but if you want we could go back with Saff and Tera for the coming three-day weekend to use the library. I could tell the rest of the family in person just what that bastard pulled, and we could finish whatever's left of our report."
"Already introducing me to your mother?" Blake made a mock gasp, smirking "My, my, you are bold. Should I arrange a time to introduce you to my dad?"
"Ass." Jaune grumbled, unable to keep a smirk from his lips as he gave Blake a playful shove.
"It's one of my better features, I know." Blake laughed, the silent sullen girl who had entered Beacon academy having been changed by having friends around who helped her up and supported her.
"I would comment but I know that would just ask for an ass kicking." Jaune laughed, "If not from you than your partner who likes to punch first and ask questions…does she ask questions?"
"She asks who took her shampoo, where the bathroom is, and when does the bar close." Blake laughed, dividing up the books they'd pulled into two piles. "I'll read the notes you gave me today and we can work on our paper before that weekend trip."
"You're sounding rather eager." Jaune teased, picking up the books from the rejected pile "Is it the chance of getting to see all those rare books or is it so you can spend a weekend with yours truly?"
"Hmmmmm, I don't know." Blake stretched, picking up the books they planned to use as well as the notes he had just spent an hour remembering and writing out. "You know how much I love my books."
"Ninja's of love right?" he smirked as the cat Faunus let out a startled 'eep'. "You know, the new book comes out in a few months."
"You…read Ninja's of Love?" Blake looked more shocked by that than him being the descendant of the Warrior King of Vale.
"Read it? I helped edit the damn things." Despite himself, a blush crept up his neck as he remembered helping edit certain passages of the books "My second oldest sister, Joan, wrote them. I help act as a second set of eyes to see what she might miss."
"Early copies of the series, what'll it take?" Blake demanded, not even wasting a second as they returned the books they didn't plan to use, checked out the ones they did, and started walking towards their dorms.
"Hmmmm, I don't know." He grinned, neither of them too worried about the little back and forth, and both knowing that if he was lying that the ass kicking that team RWBY would dish out would make the Vytal festival tournament look like a game of tag.
"Come on Jaune." Blake grumbled, "Just tell me what it'll take."
"Relax Blake." Jaune laughed, giving her another playful bump "You're my friend. I'll have the early copies sent to you as soon as I can." He promised, giving Blake one last smile as he diverged to head to his dorm room, his friend left rooted to the ground in shock.
-Uther Winchester-
Swirling his glass of brandy, Uther looked out over his family docks. His family were rich, and they were powerful. Nowhere near the Schnee fortune admittedly but if what his grandson had told him was true then that fortune might soon be brought to bear upon the situation as well.
"Michael Arc." Uther gave a derisive snort, "I warned old Arthur that Michael would screw over his girl."
"Mr. Winchester," looking up, he saw his secretary enter the office, "the conference call you requested is ready."
"Thank you Amy," he nodded to her, "head on home. I'll lock up the office when I'm done."
"Have a good evening sir." His secretary nodded, giving him a happy smile as she walked out. Heading into his conference room, Uther sat in his chair, projectors on the ceiling flaring to life as three other holographic figures appeared in other chairs at the table.
"Uther, what's this about?" Nicholas Schnee asked, the man making the call from the villa he had retired to, the previous head of the Schnee Dust Company coughing roughly as a nurse wiped his brow.
"I would like to know this as well." Mari Bei-Fong, current head of the Bei-Fong family of Mistral asked. Roland, of the Crimson Raiders of Vacuo, just gave a grunt.
"Oh trust me, you'll all be glad I called." Uther sipped his brandy, "It has to do with the Arc clan."
"The Arcs?" Nicholas frowned, "I haven't heard anything of them since old Arthur passed. What on earth would they have done to make you call us with how late it is in Vale?"
"Michael Arc," Uther smirk soured with distaste at the name "I'm sure you all heard how he married into that family, much like how Jacques married dear Willow."
"Don't mentioned that bastard to me." Nicholas growled, coughing harshly as the man's temper flared at the bastard son in law who had destroyed everything Nicholas had worked to build.
"You know he detests that name." Roland grunted, "And what does it have to do with the Arcs?"
"Michael Arc tried to murder his son, the actual successor to the Arc family." The room went dead silent at that, "My grandson, Cardin, brought the information to me after his group of friends found it out. Jaune Arc is one of the ringleaders of this little group which includes Weiss Schnee, my grandson, Pyrrah Nikos, the two heirs of team STRQ, and many other members of the top huntsmen of their year."
"The Arc charter would make the kid the family head in the next four years anyway." Mari frowned, "I agree that what he did was despicable but even if it can't be proved, Michael will lose what little power he has then anyway. Why bring this to us now? What's so important?"
"Because of the…opportunity available to us." Uther gave a smirk like a shark that smelt blood upon the water. "I own a seat on the council of Vale, as does Ozpin, but we can still get nothing done as we don't have enough pull. I know the same situation is true for all of you. What I'm proposing is this. We help the kids deal with Michael, it will make them trust us. We can guide them, shape them into something far more useful than our families are now. We are the first example since our families were founded that all four heads, or who should be head," he nodded to Nicholas who had been conned by Jacques "have been at least neutral with each other. My heir is friends with the heiress of the Schnees, of the Arcs, the Nikos family is likely to get more prestige. They've mentioned a Faunus girl named Belladonna who I would bet my right hand is Ghira's lost daughter."
"You're talking about overthrowing the councils." Roland sat forward, suddenly far more interested.
"The councils run remnant, they even interfere with the Academies which are the real military power of all the kingdoms. If we make these kids into a strong alliance, help them grow into a group of world powers that aren't tearing at each other's throats? Then we might just make something strong enough to put the councils in their place, or in the garbage, either will do."
"And let us deal with any rivals or enemies." Mari snorted but seemed to be considering the idea.
"Why of course my dear." Uther laughed, his feral smirk deepening as he began planning with the rest of the most powerful families of the four kingdoms.
