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Cover Art: Jack Wayne

Chapter 100


"Dad!"

Emerald slammed into his waiting arms like a missile and was quickly swept up into a strong hug and twirled around. She didn't care that her team were watching, or how many people stopped to stare. All Emerald cared about was that her dad was back.

"You've grown so big!" Jaune laughed, squeezing her tight.

"I haven't grown a single inch or put on any weight…"

"Figure of speech, Em."

Her head cocked to the side, but she obviously decided it wasn't worth understanding. Shrugging, she went back to squeezing the life out of him.

Jaune could feel Taiyang's jealous eyes on his back. Yang was at that age where such public displays of affection with her dad were something to be shunned. If he so much as tried to lay a hand on her shoulder she'd yank away with a "Dad, no. That's not cool". He'd never seen someone so crushed by the concept of being `uncool`, nor had he seen Qrow laugh quite so hard.

"How have you been, Em?"

"I didn't get into any trouble. I made peace with Winchester. I've been good."

Jaune smiled at her and hugged her tight, but that didn't stop him looking over her shoulder to Yang without Emerald noticing. His raised eyebrow earned a nod and an `okay` sign with her fingers. Huh. Emerald really had been good this time.

They hugged for a little longer, until everyone else started to look awkward and he reluctantly put her down. Emerald didn't let go of his hand though and didn't understand why she was receiving adoring looks from some of the older students. They weren't the only ones there. Glynda and Summer had come down to greet them, while Taiyang had been waiting at the airport for their arrival. By nature of so many teachers congregating in one spot, curious students were also hovering around trying to pretend their presence was nothing more than a coincidence.

"No Miss Nikos?" Glynda asked.

"Ozpin sent us ahead," Qrow answered for them. "Said he'd follow with the girl. He hasn't contacted you?"

"He isn't answering any calls at all."

"He must be on the flight over," Taiyang said, which made a little sense. It wasn't uncommon for signal to falter when travelling between two CCT bubbles.

"You're likely correct. I've already prepared a room for the girl but I'm not sure what requirements are in place with regards to a team. Is she to be placed on one here? Are we forging a new one or is she remaining solo until her team from Haven arrives for the Vytal Festival?"

Jaune gave Qrow a look and the huntsman shrugged. "Ozpin didn't tell us. That's either something he planned to sort out when he got back, or he's keeping it close to his chest."

"That does sound like him." Glynda sighed. "I guess we can but wait."

"I was hoping we could talk later tonight, Jaune," Summer said. "Would you be free to talk in my office?" Jaune looked down to Emerald worriedly. "It's not academic related. Emerald is doing well. I just need to ask you something."

"Alright. After dinner?"

"Please. Glynda, why don't we leave Jaune and Qrow to settle back in. We can finalise the accommodation for Pyrrha." The deputy nodded and followed Summer, leaving him, Qrow and Tai behind with the kids. Taiyang was trying to eke a hug out of Yang, who was dodging away with a warning glare.

Jaune could almost imagine the tear tracks running down Tai's face.

"So, what's this about Pyrrha?" Yang asked. "That's the girl from the finals in Mistral, right?"

"That's right. Pyrrha is going to be coming to stay in Vale until the Vytal Festival due to a development in her Semblance. It's wide area and destructive, too dangerous to use without control." It was to be the official story for what she'd shown in the closed tournament. "Ozpin's a specialist in that kind of stuff, so he knows how to help with it. I was already there on some business for Winter when I ran into him and Qrow and got roped into helping."

"Any fun adventures?"

Qrow coughed, ruining any hope of lying successfully before he'd even had a chance. Jaune tried anyway with a quick "no", but Yang and Emerald looked entirely unconvinced. "Nothing I can tell you about," he said instead. "Feel free to befriend Pyrrha, you might have a chance since you fought her before, but don't try and pressure her to join the ASH Gym. Her family has a bit of an issue with it, so it'll be awkward."

"Does she hate us?" Emerald asked.

"No. No. I think she'd come if you asked just to be polite, but she'd get in trouble for it later." He gave Emerald's hair a quick tussle. "I'm just asking you to spare her having to make that choice. It's her old man who has the problem, and it's with me, not the Gym. Pyrrha's just a normal girl."

Or she had been in the past. There was no knowing for sure now. From what little he'd seen she looked the exact same, albeit a little happier thanks to Helena, which was good. I've got to stop assuming, though. For all I knew the changes I made could have made her more arrogant than Cardin at his worst.

"Just give her a chance. That's all I'll ask. Now." Jaune grinned and pulled Emerald in close, then snatched his younger self. Jaune felt himself flinch – and that was a sentiment he never thought would happen. "I hear the two of you have finally started acting like teammates. Is that true?"

"It's a work in progress, old man," Sun quipped. "They're able to talk without dipping the room into a blizzard."

"How about you, Sun? Any closer to thawing my daughter's heart?"

"Also a work in progress."

"Sun…" Emerald growled threateningly.

"Eh. I'm closer than Whitley anyway."

"Not if you keep that up, you're not," Emerald grumbled. Yang was too busy with the shit-eating grin to add her own comment.

"Guess I'll go check in on Ruby," Taiyang said, Qrow following. "At least one of my daughters will give her old man a hug." He waited to see if the hint would sink in. "…"

"Cool." Yang didn't even look at him. "Have fun."

Taiyang sulked off with Qrow patting his back. As he did, Jaune leaned down to whisper to Emerald and Jaune. "I'll arrange a meeting later. Keep quiet until then." Emerald nodded and, after a second's pause, his younger self did as well. He gave them a swift pat on the shoulders in acknowledgement, then spoke loudly. "So, you want to show me how far you've progressed as a team? How about a quick four on one? I guess all these people pretending they're not listening in can come watch if they want."

The students all around them had the good graces to laugh awkwardly, but as the team and Jaune made their way to the training rings, they were followed by a small audience, eager to see a good scrap. Beacon wasn't a huntsman school for nothing.

/-/

Yang gasped, catching her breath on one knee with a fist planted down. Her whole posture screamed of near collapse. Her pants came out raspy and raw as she glared up at the bastard standing cockily in front of her.

"You really think I'm going to fall for that?"

Ass. She'd only been half pretending. Groaning, she stood up, muscles aching and aura hovering around one third, close to that all-important red zone and her time to retire from the fight. Looking up, she saw him around seventy-five, close to yellow but still in the green. Still green after ten minutes of fighting against the four of them.

Son of a bitch…

"Emerald, go right in. Sun, support me. Jaune flank left and I'll go straight in."

"I can hear you saying that," their instructor pointed out. "You should really come up with hang signals or pre-planned strategies with code names. Something I can't understand."

"Yeah well, you should get a shave!" Yang yelled, charging in. It wasn't the snappiest comeback of her life, but come on, she was half dead. Luckily, playing distraction only required that, so even though her reckless assault earned her a fist in the stomach, she knew she'd done her job.

Sun's foot planted on her back as he used her as a vault to go over, swinging at Jaune's head. If he left footprints in her hair, he'd pay for it. Jaune brought his sword up to block that but Sun wasn't done and twisted one foot around, kicking at the back of his head. That was also blocked by the same weapon, the distance between the attacks not too great.

That wasn't the point, though. It was all about the timing. Sun kept his sword arm busy while Yang, even with spit and air driven out of her, reflexively bent over his other fist and gripped on for dear life. Emerald and Jaune came rushing in from the flanks.

"Got you," Yang hissed.

"You have. But I'm afraid it won't be enough."

Yang yelped as her feet were wrenched off the floor and she was hurled to the side, sent crashing into Emerald, who thankfully got her weapons down in time that the collision was the only damage. They went tumbling to the floor – but that didn't save him. Their final teammate slashed at Jaune's back, carving his sword down it with aura sparking.

The green bar above dipped down a good five per cent, changing to a vivid yellow. Yang let out a ragged cheer.

It soon died away when Jaune, without even flinching, spun, snatched the younger Jaune's sword by the hilt, twisted it out his hands, snapped said fist up into his jaw and then swatted Sun away with Jaune's own sword before he could land and dodge. The four scattered around the ring, but even then he wasn't done, something Yang knew and was already scrambling to avoid.

Most teachers let you make all the moves and just counter attacked. The whole point, or so they said, was to let you learn how to do things properly, so it wouldn't make sense for them just to stomp you or you wouldn't master anything. Jaune Ashari agreed with that on principle but had always told them that would only apply to the basics with him. Once they had those down, he would be teaching them what real combat was like.

That was why when he drew out a handgun and opened fire on their downed bodies, Yang wasn't nearly as surprised as some of the audience was, gasping in horror. Not all of them of course. Some of them were ASH themselves or had teammates who were and so had gotten used to such methods being par for the course. They just nodded knowingly as Yang and Emerald scrambled away from gunshots that tore up the ground around them.

"Pin him down!" Yang roared.

Jaune charged in with a yell. Shouting in battle was a bad idea, but when your goal was to announce your presence to spare your allies the attention, it was allowed. Or at least not scorned. The two Jaune's traded blows for a brief moment. A very brief moment. It must have been all of four swings before the elder disarmed the younger and savagely kicked him away.

That was still enough time for them to recover and begin a new assault. Jaune had bought them that chance. Yang, Sun and Emerald circled around and attacked from every direction, careful to alternate heights so that if Jaune somehow dodged, they wouldn't harm one another. Blades, fists and a staff whistled and cracked in the air, parried, diverted, dodged and sent back in equal measure. It was a mess of steel and flashing aura, some of it theirs, some of it his.

Yang was the first to fall. Her aura had already been low, since as the hardiest alongside Sun, she tended to try and take damage to spare Emerald. Sun followed, knocked back and out with his aura dipping red, his nose leaking a little blood as well. Suddenly reduced to two on one, it was only a matter of time before Ashari disarmed Jaune and brought him low, then snapped Emerald's weapons aside and brought his sword against her neck, forcing her to yield.

Sure. You force her to yield but knock me around like this. Totally fair.

Jaune Ashari grinned. "Good fight. You all did well."

"Oh sod off," Yang groaned, achily forcing herself up. "Your aura isn't even at fifty."

"It's at fifty-two and that's impressive." He sheathed his sword and worked his shoulder muscles to loosen them up. "I'm a huntsman, Yang. I've got much more experience than you, plus I know how the four of you fight and what your Semblances are. That's why I was careful not to trigger yours. Taking me down to almost half in your first year of Beacon is incredible. Had it been any other huntsman, I think you would have won – and that's no small feat."

Tch. Yang grinned and shook her head. No wonder he never gave me enough damage at once to get a proper shot off. Cheating bastard. Of course, you weren't trying if you weren't cheating – ASH Gym motto. The praise helped take some of the edge off.

"Your leadership wasn't bad either," he complimented. "Though you need some of those hand signals or codewords like I said. You might also want to consider letting your allies activate your Semblance for you if your enemy won't."

Have Sun wail on her until she could direct it all back at her opponent? That wasn't something she'd thought of, mostly because her usual opponents didn't put that much thought into it. Semblances were things you tried to keep under wraps if you could, and hers came with an activation cost that could be avoided by someone who knew it.

"I'll keep that in mind. I notice you avoided my hair too."

Jaune shrugged. "I know what sets you off."

Bastard. Yang laughed and leaned on Sun for support. Most of the audience had started to disperse now the fun was over, some talking eagerly about what they'd seen and some of the more fragile teams looking shocked at what a real huntsman fought like. Meh, they had no idea. Uncle Ashari was a definite exception to the rule of `most huntsmen`. The only one liable to be as dirty in a fight was Uncle Qrow, and even that was learnt from the man in front of them.

"Do you think we have a chance in the Vytal Festival?" Sun asked. Yang listened eagerly.

"Depends on the quality of your competition. You're first years so that's a disadvantage, but I'm sure there are plenty of older teams you can beat. The problem isn't going to be foreign teams though, it's going to be domestic."

"Eh?"

"He means Team VCVC," Emerald explained. "Vernal's team."

"Ah crap, yeah." Sun sighed. "Aside from Vernal, Coco and Velvet have the same training we do, and that Cinder chick fought Vernal in that tournament. She lost, but she was still able to hold her own longer than most of us could. Ah man, I don't mind losing, but does it have to be to her?"

Yang couldn't have said it better herself. "We'll just have to work on our teamwork. They're better than us individually, but we can out team fight them."

"You think they won't be doing the same thing?"

Emerald snorted. "With Vernal on their team?"

"Good point." Sun grinned. "Guess that means it'll be Coco, Velvet and Cinder working as a team while Vernal is her usual bitch self running around alone. We team up to take her out quick, then outnumber the other three."

"Ha!" a loud and obnoxious voice called. "I can't wait to see that, weaklings."

Speak of the she-devil…

"Vernal," the older man smiled indulgently. "I wondered if you'd smell a fight."

"Fight? Ha. Not much of one with these idiots." Strutting into the gym, she cast her eyes about dismissively, followed by her partner, Cinder. In stark contrast, Cinder kept a perfectly polite smile on her face, and even offered them each a quick nod. "If you wanted a real fight, you should have come and seen me, fuck face."

The retreating audience paused. Yang didn't feel too far our saying they were hoping Jaune would take her up on that and pound her into the ground. She kinda wanted to see it as well.

"Maybe another day," he said, disappointing them all. "My aura is at half and I'm a little fatigued. An old man like me needs to rest my heels every now and then." With a grin, his eyes slid to her. "And apparently, I need a shave."

Mouth, meet foot. Say hello.

"Half?" Vernal scowled. "You weren't going easy on them, were you?"

"Not at all. Their teamwork is that good. Maybe even enough to put your team to the test."

Oh hell, please don't let Vernal take that seriously and drag them into a four on four brawl right here and now. Not with her body feeling like it'd just been thawed out of solid ice. Luckily, Vernal didn't appear to be in the mood for fighting the exhausted.

"Teamwork? Pah."

"You don't think it can outclass individual strength?"

"Teamwork is a way for weaklings to cover their asses. I don't need it."

"Is that so." Jaune stroked his chin and Yang's heart faltered. "In that case, maybe we should see if-"

The doors slammed open, interrupting them as Uncle Qrow staggered into the room, eyes wide and face paler than Yang had ever seen it before. "Jaune!" he all but screamed, coming to a screeching halt as he saw all of them.

"Qrow. What's the matter?"

"It's…" Qrow looked to them and swallowed loudly. "I need you. There's news. Big news. Staff room now!" Something in his voice made it clear just how bad it was. Mr Ashari was down immediately and hurrying to the door.

The students were left behind, all feeling nervous.

/-/

"Ozpin is dead."

The news was a sucker blow to his gut. Wind whistled out his lips as his hands slammed down on the table. Glynda, Oobleck and Port were in attendance, the latter two stunned silent and clearly in distress. Summer, Taiyang and Qrow were also there and seemed worried but less critically hurt by the news. They knew. They definitely knew.

Glynda did as well, which must have been the only reason she was calm enough to deliver the news.

"How?" Jaune rasped. This wasn't supposed to happen. Cinder was the one to kill Ozpin, and only when Beacon fell. He'd been in a position of power, the unassailable fortress that was Beacon. He was supposed to be fine. Even if he moves onto Oscar or someone else, this could change everything!

"We don't know. The news came from Mistral – apparently, there was an attack on Nikos and her convoy. Ozpin was killed in the defence, while the girl is missing."

Panic gripped him. "They have her…"

"We're not screwed yet," Qrow rushed out. "The girl is fall and that vault is in Vale. They can't make use of her."

"They can still kill her!" Jaune shouted. "How did they even-?" His eyes widened. "Lionheart…"

"Leonardo?" Glynda frowned. "I'm not sure what you feel he has to do with this. He called to deliver the news and was obviously distraught. He has teams of huntsmen mobilised to try and find Miss Nikos and has promised we'll be the first to know if he finds the one responsible."

Of course he would. Bastard. Jaune pushed away from the table.

"Mr Ashari," Glynda barked. "Where are you going?"

"Mistral. I'm finding Pyrrha."

"The entire Kingdom is up in arms and you'll be seen as a suspect given how the Nikos think of you," Qrow said, grabbing his arm to stop him. "Where would you even look anyway? How would you find her if she's been stolen away?"

"I have my ways…"

"It's her, isn't it?" Qrow whispered. "Ray…"

Jaune yanked his arm free and faced the lot of them. "I'll find the girl and get her back here safe. You all defend Beacon. I'm sure Ozpin left plans in place for if this happened. Glynda becomes headmistress, right?"

"The Council gets the final decision, but I'm the only reasonable candidate, yes."

"You'll have SDC support," Jaune promised. "Make sure to toss that around if they try anything. They won't risk pissing off the city's biggest supplier of dust."

"I will. Thank you. I also can't stop you leaving, but please be careful. Mistral is not safe right now."

"I know it's not safe." Jaune waited until he was out the room before muttering, "It'll get a whole lot less safe when I get my hands on Lionheart..."

/-/

"You'll defend me, of course?"

"Naturally, friend." Watts' smile stretched his moustache wide. "You've done us a grand favour in toppling Ozpin, even if only for a little while. Unlike him, we look after our allies and those who serve us well."

"Right." Leonardo stopped pacing and sat down, hand shaking slightly as he poured himself some rum. "Not that I doubted you. I'm a loyal servant of… of our…"

"Our Queen."

"Yes. That." The faunus was sweating profusely, his eyes darting left and right. "You'll do your end, yes? I gave you the maiden. You'll leave Haven be?"

"We may have to return when we acquire the spring maiden, but we can do so peacefully. It doesn't serve us anymore than it does you to cause a ruckus." Watts strolled over and sat on the edge of the headmaster's desk. "Relax, friend. All will be well. You'll see. There's no one who can trace this back to you. I personally made sure any evidence was destroyed."

"Ozpin can trace it. When he returns…"

"Leave him to us. Focus on yourself, have a bit of fun."

"What about Ashari?"

"What about him?" Watts asked, smiling. "He has no reason to doubt you and would only be exposing himself if he returned. Don't worry. We have plans for him as well. And even a nice, dangling bit of bait to draw him in with."

"The girl. Yes." Leonardo chuckled nervously. "I suppose you're right there."

"Yes. The girl." Watts didn't bother to correct Lionheart as to his mistake. "Carry on as normal, friend. You've done your job. The rest, you may leave with us."


My parents have gone into isolation now, my mother being 72, cancer survivor, collapsed veins and a low immune system after all the chemotherapy she's been through. I had to do so some shopping for them this morning and the panic buying is driving me nuts. I had to travel to eight different stores in a journey that took 90 minutes to find a single bottle of milk for them.

No eggs, no bread, no hand sanitiser. Meanwhile there's probably some perfectly healthy idiots with like a hundred bottles of it in their cupboard, rubbing their hands together and muttering about how smart they are to be prepared. Bastards.

Still a short chapter due both to that and how sicky I feel.

No update next week due to no updates 23rd – 29th.


Next Chapter: 4th April

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur