Welcome to Argus
"Here!" Cinder said, as she threw a bag full of lien cards on the table in front of the Malachite family. For Cinder getting the lien hadn't been hard, but it had been inconvenient. The information that thug claimed to have better have been worth it. Melanie and Miltia leaned down in anticipation of the things they could use the money on.
"Simmer down, girls," Lil' Miss said, holding up her hand to her daughters, before looking towards, Cinder, "I'll give you this, you can get a job done."
"Now, what about your side of the agreement?" Cinder said.
"From what I've heard, they were seen boarding the Argus Limited," Lil' Miss explained, "Something tells me they ain't interested in Argus. I'd say they're going to…."
"Atlas," Cinder finished for her, before turning on her heels to leave.
"Mama," Melanie said, glancing at her mother once Cinder was out of earshot, "What about the other guy?" As she watched her latest source of income leave, the gangster tapped her cigarette on the ash tray.
"What did I tell you two?" she asked.
"Never put your eggs in one basket?" Miltia answered.
"That's my girl," Lil' Miss answered with a smirk.
Meanwhile, Cinder stepped out of the tavern, intent on catching any kind of left to Argus. She didn't care what it was, so long as it was something. However, as she was going, she noticed a cloaked figure following her. Recognizing pretty quickly what this meant, Cinder ducked into an alley. Her tailer followed, and glanced around, as he suddenly felt a hot sensation behind him.
"Any last words before I take your head?" Cinder said, as she held a fire sword to his neck.
"Relax," the figure said, holding up his hands, "I'm a friend." As he did, Cinder noticed a red scaled tail coming up from behind him.
"I don't have friends," she responded.
"Then I'm an ally; or at the very least, I can be." Cinder paused, as she thought about that. While she didn't doubt she could do this all alone, having someone to help wouldn't be a wholly bad thing.
"What do you want?" she said, lowering the blade slightly. The figure then turned to face her, as he lowered his hood. His head was shaven, and covered with red flame tattoos, with blazing orange eyes, though a gruesome scar had carved its way down the left side of his face.
"My name is Drago Blaze," he said. Cinder recognized that as the leader of the mercenaries Watts had hired to track the teens.
"Not what I asked," she hissed.
"Fine then, I want the same thing you want," Drago answered, "I know who you're tracking." Cinder blinked at that.
"How?" she hissed, tightening her hold on her weapon.
"Because you're not the only one who wants those kids dead," Drago hissed, narrowing his eyes, as his tail flicked slightly. Cinder arched an eyebrow at that.
"Why should I believe you?" she asked.
"Why would I lie to you?" Drago asked, "I know what you can do to me." Cinder narrowed her own eye at that; how long had this lizard been watching her? But at any rate, he had a point.
"I'm listening," she said, as she let the sword dissipate.
"If you'd follow me," Drago said, "We can discuss this more… privately." Cinder wasn't sure about doing anything like that with a Faunus she just met, but figured if things went South, it would be his head, not her's.
"Lead the way, Mr. Blaze," she said, gesturing. As the two walked deeper into the alley, a silver mist peaked around the corner, watching them.
"How interesting."
(in Northern Anima)
The trip from the farm to Argus took a couple hours, as the group piled into the trailer attached to Yang's motorcycle. Considering how many of them they were, Pyrrha volunteered to sit on the back of the motorcycle. Jaune was sitting in it, with Ruby cuddled up next to him, while Weiss leaned on his other side. Having a girl on each side was certainly never something Jaune envisioned happening, but wasn't complaining. This got some weird glances from their teammates; Jaune would let the girls explain it if possible. He had no idea how Yang would react to sister being one of two girlfriends for her friend; Jaune shuddered slightly at the thought of Weiss' own sister, Winter finding out as well.
"By the way," Ilia said spoke up from the other side of the trailer, beside Blake, "How'd you turn that Grimm to stone?" Ruby leaned up from Jaune at that, looking somewhat surprised that Ilia, of all people, was talking to her.
"What?" she asked.
"Well…," Ilia said slowly, before pausing. This was the first time she tried to make small talk with anyone, let alone a human. If she was being completely honest, she had been doing her best to avoid talking with the humans on Blake's team, but figured if she kept going that, it'd be impossible.
"It's just… when the Wendigo was attacking the Schnee…"
"Her name is Weiss," Jaune said, with a frown. He wasn't going to let his girlfriend get referred to like she was an object. Weiss smiled at that, as she intertwined her fingers with Jaune's.
"Sorry," Ilia said, "When… Weiss was being attacked, you're eyes flashed, and the Wendigo was turned to stone." That got everyone to look at Ruby at that. It wasn't like Ilia was the only who had noticed.
"I'm…. not sure actually," Ruby said. In fact, at first, she wasn't even entirely sure it had been her that did it.
"I just saw Weiss on the ground, my head hurt, and…." She trailed off; that was all she really remembered about the event. Just her head hurting, and the Wendigo turning to stone. Oscar's eyes flashed yellow, as Oz took over again.
"If I were to venture a guess, I would say it would have something to do with your eyes," he said.
"My eyes?" Ruby asked.
"There's more to the Silver Eyed Warriors than just the fairy tales," Oz said, "In my days, I've had more than a few encounters with them."
"So, what're they all about?" Ruby asked.
"Unfortunately I can't tell you," Oz answered, "For all my lives, I've never bonded with one with silver eyes." Ruby's brow furrowed at that, as Jaune put a hand around her shoulder, as she leaned closer to him. She pondered if Darkness would be able to answer such a matter. Of course he wasn't here to help, so…."
"If it's worth anything…," Oz began.
"Look!" Nora interrupted, as she suddenly sat up pointed. Everyone followed her finger as Yang rolled to a stop. At the bottom of the hill they were on, was a walled city sitting on the coastline. It was a welcome sight after it all that had happened.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Yang said, looking behind her, "we have arrived in Argus."
The group rolled down to the city, where Yang was able to store her motorcycle. Most of the group was rather impressed by the size of the city, while not as big as any of the capitals, it was still quite big.
"So… what now?" Nora asked, "Where're we going to stay?" Pyrrha would've suggested staying with her parents (who she made a mental note to visit while here), but figured that her house wasn't big enough for all of them.
"I've got an idea," Jaune said holding up his hand, though he said with a sense of apprehension, "It's not far from here, but we'll need to catch the trolley to get there."
"Well, if anyone has any other ideas?" Oz asked, looking around, "No? Lead the way, Mr. Arc." Jaune proceeded to do just that.
"Where're we going?" Weiss asked, as she and Ruby came up next to their boyfriend, each girl taking a hand.
"You'll see," Jaune said. The two would've protested, but the way he looked made it seem like he really didn't want to talk about it, so they didn't pursue the subject.
After a brief trolley ride, they came across a nice neighborhood in central Argus. Once they disembarked, Jaune lead them up to one of the various houses not he block. He came up to it, and held up his fist to knock, only to pause.
"What's wrong?" Ren asked.
"Just… nothing," Jaune answered, as he finally did knock. It took a moment, but the door was soon answered by someone. And, to the group's surprise, it was a little boy, with four red tentacles coming out of his back, marking him as an octopus Faunus. That surprised both Blake and Ilia; Jaune was taking them to a Faunus' house. The boy, who looked to be maybe six, looked up at Jaune, as his eyes widened.
"Uncle Jaune?" he asked as a smile slowly spread over his face.
"Hey Flynn," Jaune said with his own smile, as he came to one knee, allowing the boy hugged him with all four of his tentacles.
"UNCLE?!" Ruby, Yang, and Nora all blurted out.
"Why don't you go tell your mom I'm here," Jaune said as he separated himself from Flynn. The boy nodded happily as he ran back into the house.
"Mommy!" he called as he ran back into the house, "Uncle Jaune's here!"
"You have a nephew?" Yang asked.
"You're nephew's a Faunus?" Blake and Ilia asked together.
We're going to be aunts? Weiss and Ruby thought together.
"What's going on!" Nora demanded. Before Jaune could answer any of those questions, what literally looked the rainbow burst from the door, and tackled him down to the street. The group all took a step back as seven girls, all older than Jaune piled on top of him.
"I'm so glad you're here!" red said.
"I thought you weren't coming!" orange said.
"I'm going to kick your ass for making us worry like this!" green said.
"How could you be so dumb like this?" cyan said.
"Get ready!" first blue said.
"You're going to be in for it now!" second blue said.
"I'm so happy to see you!" violet said. RYP and BRWN and the others could only stare in confusion at the sight of the seven girls and their teammate.
"Wait…," Ruby said, "Are these…" Then she paused as she looked from the girls to Jaune, to back again. They all had the same blonde hair, and large blue eyes her boyfriend did. Her eyes lit up happily.
"Weiss!" she said, grabbing her friend's arm, "We're meeting Jaune's family!" Weiss didn't seem so thrilled, as she just stared at her potential in laws.
"Hey, guys," Jaune just said having long since gotten used to this kind of behavior from his sisters, "Good to see you all too."
"Why are you in Argus?" Saphron, the second oldest, asked.
"It's kind of a long story," Jaune said.
"Well, you're going to have to tell us all about it later!" Violet said.
"You look tougher," Jade said, as she overlooked Jaune's muscles, "We're going to have to sprawl later."
"Jade, please no," Jaune moaned.
"I hope you learned something from all this," Cyan said, as she stood back, adjusting her glasses slightly, "I'd rather not have to deal with your silly questions."
"Girls!" a stern voice called. Immediately, all the Arc sisters left their brother alone, as they stood up straight to face a tall, older woman with long blonde hair tied into a bun and blue eyes. She was dressed in a grey shirt with blue jeans. One her shirt was a quote that read, "I had eight kids, don't test me".
"Give your brother some space," she said, flicking her wrist slightly, as the seven quickly parted allowing the woman to descend.
"Hey Mom," Jaune said, as he rubbed his arm. Rain Arc walked up to her youngest, as she looked him over. She lifted up his arm, as if to examine his muscles the way Jade did. She then took her chin, and looked him over.
"Have you been eating well?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jaune answered after a moment. After what just happened with the Wendigo, he didn't want to really think about eating at the moment.
"Have you been getting enough sleep?"
"I'm trying to." Rain looked at her son closely, before she embraced him tightly.
"It's good to see you sweetie," she said softly.
"You too, Mom," Jaune answered, returning the hug. The Arc daughters also came close, and hugged their baby brother. Ruby and Weiss smiled at the sight of their boyfriend with his family. It was hard not to honestly.
"Well," a new voice said from the stairs, "That's a sight for sore eyes." Standing by the door was a tall man with broad shoulders, and a bald head. He had blue eyes as well, and his face looked weathered. He had a scar under his lip, and was wearing a grey shirt with blue jeans like his wife.
"Hey Dad," Jaune said, as his female family let him go, and he approached the foot of the stairs. Alistair Arc descended the stairs, as he looked at his son. He then glanced at Corcea Mors on Jaune's hip.
"I take it you've been taking care of it," he said.
"Yes, Sir," Jaune answered. For a moment, he was quite, until Alistair put a hand on Jaune's shoulder.
"I knew I made the right choice letting you have it," he said.
"Thanks Dad," Jaune said, standing up a little straighter.
"So," Rain said, as she turned to look at the group Jaune's traveling companions, "Which one of these beautiful young women is going to be ninth daughter?"
"We're getting another sister?" Violet asked excitedly as she turned to look at the girls.d
"Mom!" Jaune cried out, as Weiss and Ruby both turned the same color of Ruby's skirt.
Note: So after so long, Drago from Team DRKE is back, and he seems to be getting into league with Cinder. That can't be good. And to top it all off, the same silver mist Salem was speaking to is stalking them.
Considering how each of the Arc children represented a different color of the rainbow, I figured it would be suitable for their parents to wear grey, neutral colors that sit in between black and white, the two color extremes.
Be sure to review.
