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Cover Art: Jack Wayne
Chapter 125
There were times when, looking back, he regretted the missed signs that Vernal saw him as more than a teacher, that he'd left her in the tribe when she'd been secretly hoping he would take her with him. He hadn't really considered it at the time, too focused on trying to prevent the past happening again, but she was right to feel cheated that he'd left her and adopted Emerald. He really did regret that.
Sometimes…
This was not one of those times.
"Girls!" he called from the kitchen. "Dinner!"
The stampede of feet on the stairs was expected, the sudden rush normal with Emerald who had never really grown out of the mentality of eating as much food as she could, but what he – and likely Emerald – hadn't accounted for was someone else meeting her on the staircase.
"Out of the way, weakling."
"I was here first!"
"That's where you're wrong. He was mine before he even met you."
"He's my dad!"
"He's my teacher."
"Dad beats teacher."
"If you're a total baby, sure."
"Fuck you!"
"Fuck you!"
"No, fuck you!"
"Fuck you times ten!"
"Fuck me more like…" Jaune muttered as he carried the plates out onto the dining room table, intentionally sitting in the middle of three seats because the last time he'd taken the left, it had nearly been a death battle to find out who got to sit next to him. "And I thought playing single father to one girl was hard. This is ridiculous."
The school holidays were only about a week in, and Vernal had come to live with them as he'd promised her.
Emerald was not pleased.
He sighed and waited for them to fight their way down the stairs in some ball of limbs, fists and insults, then scramble up and race to the dining room only to realise there were two seats next to him. Vernal beat Emerald there as usual and chose to sit on his right, which was somehow symbolic enough for her to grin smugly at her not-sibling. It might have just been the glory of being first because Emerald trudged up with a betrayed look toward him – how was it his fault!? – before sitting down.
"So," Jaune said. "How are things?"
"There's a vermin infestation in the house," Emerald said with a remarkable deadpan. "I think we need to bring in an exterminator."
He wasn't dumb enough to rise to that one. "That so? Well, let's see if you can't be mature enough to deal with the problem yourself. We live in what is essentially a mansion." As much as you could fit one in the densely packed streets of Vale, anyway. "The two of you don't need to see one another if you don't want to."
"Not my fault she's such a prissy bitch." Vernal said around a mouthful of orange and paprika stuffed chicken. He tapped her arm with his fork and told her not to speak with her mouth full. Rather than a tirade of insults, it earned a flush of colour and a quiet, "Sorry."
That scared him more than being called fuckface would have.
"I'm trying my best." Emerald said. "She's the one being stupid."
"You used your Semblance on me and made me walk into a wall."
Jaune frowned. "Did you, Emerald?"
"I… I…" Her eyes darted left and right before locking on Vernal. "Snitch."
"Emerald…"
"But dad!" she whined. "This was meant to be our time."
"It still can be." He ruffled her green hair, more amused than upset at her eyes glaring out from between his fingers. "Vernal is a guest, and so far apart from a few insults, it's been you causing most of the trouble. Treat her nicely or I will have to ground you – and you know what that means. No visits from Yang and Ruby. Am I understood?"
Emerald looked down and stabbed angrily at her food. "Yes dad."
Discipline had never been his strong point, but then Emerald had never needed it before. She'd been like this with Winter, but she'd been younger then and still unsure of her place in the world. Maybe he'd spoiled her. She'd grown up with it just being the two of them and now assumed it would always be that way, which was endearing in a sense, but he hadn't been lying. Vernal competed with her every step of the way and still had her potty mouth, but she hadn't broken a single rule of the house. He had a sinking suspicion that was because Vernal really did think he'd throw her out if she stepped a toe out of line, but whether Emerald liked it or not, Vernal was on her best behaviour.
"Good girl. You two need to learn to get along a little more. This isn't a competition and you don't need to fight over things, least of all me. We only have two weeks and if you spend it fighting, you'll miss out on chances for us to do stuff and you'll only be upset later about it, so let's try and get along, alright?"
"Yes dad."
"Yes da-fuckface."
Vernal looked absolutely mortified for half a second but Jaune pretended he hadn't heard it, and she went back to her meal with eyes wide and aimed downwards. It wasn't exactly a surprise to either of them that she felt that way, but he wasn't sure if he should tell her it was okay or not. Luckily, the day was saved because not an hour after lunch, the doorbell rang, and Summer and her family were let into the house.
Ruby immediately went off the play videogames with Emerald, while Vernal goaded Yang into a fight in the training room, leaving Jaune, Taiyang and Summer to recline in the seats by a warm open fire with some glasses of beer and several heavy sighs.
"I really don't know what to do about those two."
"Welcome to fatherhood," Taiyang said. "I just leave the hard stuff to Summer."
His wife slapped his arm. "That's not good advice normally and even less so for Jaune. Have you tried making them work together on something?"
"I had them spar against me as a team. Didn't go well. They argued over who should be in charge, then Emerald held back and let Vernal get trounced by me." He'd seen the tiny grin on her face, too. "Did Ruby and Yang ever fight like this?"
Taiyang grinned. "Oh yeah."
"Really? Those two?" Jaune couldn't believe it. "They've always idolised one another."
Summer wore a strange expression at that, likely understanding he wasn't just talking about this lifetime and not knowing what to think about that. She sipped at her drink, content to let Taiyang laugh and answer.
"Now, maybe, but they weren't always that way. Yang was a nightmare going through puberty and Ruby had a habit of trying to copy her at the time because she adored her. Same dresses, same food, same hobbies. Yang took it well before, but with all those hormones going through her just snapped and started yelling at her. It was like a cold war. Then, when that was over, Yang and Ruby got into squabbles when Yang first started Signal and Ruby had to stay in prep. Jealousy, most like, but Ruby would not forgive her big sister for moving on. At least until she did, too, and then things were back to normal."
"It's normal, then?" Jaune asked hopefully.
"Course it is. Siblings fight, and those two are sort of like that. Hell, look at Qrow and Raven."
"I think there's more to their anger than sibling rivalry."
"True, but they were at each other's throats back when it was Team STRQ. It didn't start when she left me and Yang, it only got sharper. Those two couldn't agree on anything. Trust me. Squabbling is part and parcel of having more than one child. At least you skipped out on puberty and having them fight over dolls and scream and wail as babies."
"Taiyang is right, Jaune." Summer said with a quiet chuckle. "They're not acting any different than Ruby or Yang did, and if it seems worse then it's probably because it's sudden for them. They're squeezing years of sibling rivalry into two weeks."
Jaune groaned. "Lucky me."
"You are lucky," she pressed. "If they really hated one another they'd be much more violent about it. Vernal is envious of what Emerald has, and Emerald is defensive because she doesn't want to share. Give it time for her to realise you're not being taken away and Vernal to realise she doesn't have to be better than Emerald to share in what she does, and things will be fine."
"And until then?"
Summer giggled. "Prepare for hell."
They laughed and chatted for a bit, Taiyang and Summer taking his mind off things, up until Yang and Vernal started shouting from the training rooms and Taiyang downed his beer and said he'd handle it. They were probably arguing about who won or who was better. Once he left, Summer leaned forward and dropped her smile.
"I spoke with Raven."
Jaune sighed. "Since when? Why? Is she going to tell everyone about the mark?"
"Raven always was vindictive like that. I'm more surprised we're talking at all; she must be worried about you to call me out the blue like that."
Yeah, and his testicles could still feel her concern. "You know more than anyone why I had to let Salem put that on me."
"I do. And I'm not going to say you made the wrong choice, even if I'm upset. It's just… you've changed things. You've fixed them. Ruby and Yang are safe and so is everyone else. Can't you just leave it to Ozpin now? Do you really not trust him?"
"I trust him. I just don't think he can do it." Summer opened her mouth to argue, but he beat her to it. "If he could then he would have done already. Ozpin knows he can't, and that's why he plays defence. I can, though. Ruby killed her the last time and I can mimic the process. Without using her."
"Why not tell Ozpin and have him help?"
"Because he won't. It's high-risk and he's not a gambler."
Summer sighed and shook her head, clearly disagreeing but unwilling to get into an argument on it for now. "I was surprised Raven got in touch with me at all. Did you know it's the first time she's willingly done it since Yang was born?"
"Doesn't surprise me. Raven isn't exactly touchy-feely."
"No. That she'd do it for you…"
"I know Raven cares for me. She told me."
"She… She told you…?"
"Right after she'd introduced her knee to my balls, and it sounded like she was threatening me with death as she did." He paused to tut at Summer's sudden laughter. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Is that how she told Taiyang she was in love with him, too?"
Summer's laughter faded but she didn't look upset to talk about it. Then again, she'd won in the end. Taiyang was hers. "I don't think she ever actually said it. That's not to say she didn't feel it, it was obvious to everyone, but she was never one to put her feelings out there. You were expected to figure them out for yourself."
"And if you can't, you're probably too weak to understand."
"Yes!" Summer giggled again. "I bet it's something like that. Ah." She wiped her eye with one finger. "It's so strange being able to talk and laugh about her with someone again. Her name's been a taboo for so long. Make sure not to break her heart, okay? Even if she did us wrong, she's still my teammate."
"Break her heart? Summer, I really don't think it's like that."
"Hmm." She sipped at her beer with sparkling eyes. "I guess you're still too weak to understand."
"Don't you start."
"Don't start what, weakling? You know, she told me something else that was interesting as well. About the little spy you brought along from Beacon."
"Cinder? What about her?"
"About how the last time we talked about her you were planning to kill her, and now you're acting like a big brother concerned for his baby sister."
Sighing, Jaune took a long swig of beer and wished Qrow was there to break up the tension. He still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing or why he'd felt so sorry for Cinder. No, that was a lie. He knew why he felt bad – because you had to be seriously messed up to watch a person screaming and writhing in pain and not want to help them.
"I couldn't do nothing. It was horrible…"
Her hand touched his knee. "You did the right thing."
"I know I did. Not hard to figure that out when someone is being tortured in front of you." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was getting long again, making him look like Ren after Beacon, but shaggy and unkempt. It needed a good cut. "It's just… it was easy to see her as a frail child then, but then there are times where I see her and remember Pyrrha being murdered. And I know," he said, "It's not happened yet, and I shouldn't blame someone who hasn't committed a crime, but there's a difference between Emerald and her. Emerald changed early, like Adam did, whereas Cinder is still loyal to her cause and wants the power of the Fall Maiden. It doesn't matter how sorry I feel for her if she'd still kill Pyrrha given the chance."
"Then work on her. Help her."
"Help with what? Summer, the girl wants power. I can't give her that."
"Then try harder. People don't just want power or money, Jaune. They want it for something.There has to be a reason why she wants to be powerful, so dig deep, figure out what that is and address it." Her smile turned impish. "Then adopt her. You can start your own evil minion foster family. I can see it now – Jaune's Home for Formerly Evil Children."
"I'm not some poor sap you can throw all your bad guys at and hope he fixes them."
"Why not? It's worked so far."
/-/
Tucking fully grown girls into bed wasn't even the strangest thing he'd had to do in the recent weeks. The fact they wanted it at all was embarrassing, but just one more attempt from Emerald to `one-up` her rival. He'd kept things safe, tucking them both in, planting a kiss on both foreheads and ignoring the results of it to hurry back downstairs and bring out Salem's handwritten tome on the Ashari language.
Finally, finally, there would be some progress. He was tempted to try it with the murals he'd sent Oobleck or even get back in touch as Henry Waters-Brown, but that was probably the same history of the Ashari he'd heard from both Salem and Ozpin now. What he really wanted was the book he and Emerald had found what felt like so many years ago. The one that still tingled in his hands and sent the sigil on the back of his left glowing like a nightlight. Carefully cracking open the first page of both books and laying them side by side, he sat down and read.
Or, well, he tried to. Salem had come through on her translation, but it was more a treatise on how to read the Ashari language, and that wasn't as clear cut as going through it word by word. There was syntax and gender, accusatives and ordering, form and function. It was clear the more he read that Salem had never had to teach anyone before, and although she'd tried her best, he wasn't going to be able to read the language without months of practice.
Months he would willingly put in.
For now, he took out a separate notebook and began the arduous process of word by word cross-referencing. Taking a scribble from the magical tome and comparing it to Salem's for something similar, then listing down the possible meanings. What resulted was a disjointed and disorderly mess of words that could form a sentence if he first ordered them differently and then kept an open mind as to different meanings.
For instance, the line quoting, "Fire time in the third dawn"made no sense when he wrote it, but after jiggling the words around and thinking outside the box, he jotted down "It is the third day of summer" in his notebook.
Not an exact translation, but enough of one to complete the first of what was about two hundred pages. In an hour. The weight of the task loomed heavily on his tired brain, but he had to tell himself the progress wasn't bad. If he put in four hours a night, even assuming he didn't get better as he went on, then he'd have it translated in a little under two months. If he could find eight hours over a day, in less than a month. Setting his pen down and taking a sip of double strength coffee, Jaune sat back and propped the notebook up in one hand, reading it out loud in the quiet of his study.
"It is the third day of summer and the food/crops will not be harvested this autumn. The those who dwell underground – I'm assuming that's their word for Grimm – have continued their attacks on the farmlands and forced Ashari back to the city."
He paused to take a sip. They used the word Ashari a lot, both to describe an individual who wasn't named but also a great gathering of their people. One person was an Ashari. Many people were Ashari.
"The Mother and the Father-" That was the direct translation, but it was used so often he believed it was a term of leadership figures, aka Salem and Ozpin. "-have put much thought into defeating the Dwellers. Through the power of the-" Untranslatable word, "-they have enabled the Ashari to fight back."
The missing word had to be Relics. Or their term for it. Salem had missed its translation out, and he couldn't help but assume that was intentional. Unluckily for her, she didn't know he had context cluses in the form of the mural's pictures.
"I do not believe this will be enough to defeat the Dwellers. The farms have laid abandoned. The Dweller Farms have also been abandoned. The Mother and the Father make their plans to seal the Ashari away. Wisdom has been forbidden. We are no longer to use Wisdom for the fear that it has brought the Dwellers to the Ashari."
Wisdom. A curious word and one that didn't make sense, but thinking outside the box again, wisdom could mean intelligence could mean brain but also mental? Power, perhaps? Magic? If there was no direct translation for magic, then couldn't it be said to be something relating to intelligence? Those who were taught its use might have been considered wise men and women.
"I will seek answers at the Temple of Knowledge and request a meeting with She Who Grants Knowledge. If I am worthy of her time."
That was as far as he'd gotten. It didn't sound like much, but that was a lot of words to work his way through and it at least gave an idea of what this was. It was the account of someone who had been close to Ozpin and Salem, lived as an Ashari and – if the last bit meant what he thought it meant – someone who had gone to find the Relic of Knowledge, which was literally sealed in a temple sharing the same name.
The same temple he and Emerald had found the book in? Maybe this whole Relics sealed in Vaults thing wasn't as modern as Ozpin made it sound. Why should it be? Super powered artifacts had to be protected and couldn't be left hanging around. For a civilisation in ancient times with a religious bent worshipping Ozpin and Salem as immortal beings, why not have a temple dedicated to each Relic? They obviously weren't secrets back then given their prominent inclusion in the mural. Instead, they must have been seen as divine constructs that granted humanity the power, and perhaps the knowledge, of how to fight back against the Grimm.
Four temples for four Relics. The knowledge wasn't much use now since there was no way Ozpin had him them there still, not when Salem knew their location. Abandoned temples by now. Why, then, had this book been left there on a raised pedestal? Had that pedestal once contained the Relic of Knowledge?
And that vision I had. I felt someone kill me from behind. Temple guards? Or something trying to steal the Relic away? If it could only answer three questions per hundred years like it did now, he could imagine people being willing to kill either to protect a question or take it for themselves. The mural showed that Ozpin and Salem had two Relics each when they split. I wonder if the person who killed this man was there on Ozpin's orders, maybe to steal the Relic away for use in the civil war.
He skipped ahead and to the page showing the mark that had been inked onto his chest, and which he had inked onto the back of his younger self. His mouth felt dry, fingers itching to translate that page and screw the rest. He had to force himself back to the second and force himself to lean over with pen in hand.
Rushing ahead with no thought for the consequences got him in this spot in the first place. Rather than try something he didn't understand, he was going to translate the whole thing and make sure there wasn't any key information he was missing. If it took time, it took time. There was no immediate reason to rush with the Vytal Festival still being three months away.
/-/
"Just because it's your holidays doesn't mean it's time to slack off, especially those of you looking to join Beacon next year. Get to running!"
Jaune Ashari's eyes were heavy as he sent the ASH Gym students around the mats while their parents watched from above. It was a wider array of students than usual thanks to the holidays, including some from Signal and other prep schools that would be attending Beacon next year. News of his success had gotten out and parents wanted the best chances possible for their children.
He'd give them that, even if the kids panting and puffing as they ran laps wouldn't thank him for it. The students from Beacon were doing better, especially his regulars. That kept everyone else from complaining since if Beacon students could handle it, they didn't want to be seen as less capable.
There were familiar faces among the crowd, too. Emerald, Vernal and Yang obviously, but also Nora and Ren – the latter exhausted while the former was showing off her limitless energy and keeping up with Vernal at the front. Pyrrha was there, too, albeit she rarely spoke with him. Weiss and Whitley were around the centre of the pack, while Sun was doing his best to keep up with and harass Emerald with mid-lap flirtation. The only one that hadn't shown up was Blake, and he knew she'd never accept training here. To be honest, he didn't know what or where she spent her holidays. Maybe back in Menagerie, though probably not with Adam.
"Legs up!" he shouted. "I want to see you running, not jogging. Running is a valuable skill. A Huntsman who can run away is one that can survive to get better. I see you there at the back trying to pace yourselves. Don't make me take that as a challenge." The ones he'd called out to pushed harder, faces red. "Better. The burn is good – embrace it. If you don't, I'll be forcing it on you anyway."
He called a halt five minutes later. This was after a full day's training and spars, and the upstairs stands were only full because it was around the time for parents to come pick them up. They were chatting and laughing, some helping ease concerns of newer parents that yes, this was for their own good, and yes it was fair. There were plenty of first generation huntsman, it seemed. Ozpin would be pleased.
As some of the students went off to the changing rooms and others collected their gear and left with their parents for showers at home, Jaune slid to one side and caught the shoulder of a young woman stumbling by with black hair covering her face. Cinder Fall mumbled an immediate apology before he could even speak, but he dragged her aside all the same.
"Relax. You're not in trouble. Here. Drink." He pushed his water bottle into her hands and watched her shake as she drank it. Her fingers were shivering. "You weren't doing so well out there, and we both know that's unusual for you. Are you injured from our training session before?"
The code for the meeting with Salem wasn't lost on her and Cinder nodded silently. Too tired to speak, she brought her left arm up and behind her in a circling motion. Jaune tracked it as it came up, eyes narrowing as she reached a high point and suddenly had to shift her shoulder and push her arm out to complete the rotation. Everyone did to a degree as your shoulder bone rotated in its socket, but Cinder almost had to go flat out, and it came with a wince from her.
"You must have damaged a muscle." he said. "Let me feel." Stepping behind and pulling her arm out, he tested her shoulder and bicep with his fingers, stroking her flushed and sweaty skin and tracing the muscles. For reference, he felt the other and hissed. "Your shoulder is burning up. You should have told me you were hurt."
"Didn't realise," she mumbled.
"Ah. That explains it. I know you're smart enough to not train if you knew something was up." He let her nod and then took her shoulder in both hands. "I'm going to push my aura into your arm with my Semblance. This might feel a little odd, but don't worry. You know what my Semblance does, right?"
Another nod. "Heals."
"Not quite." With a chuckle, he pushed his aura in, watching Cinder shiver and then relax as his aura worked its magic and soothed her muscles. "Don't go spreading it around, but the healing is just a side-effect of what my Semblance does. I can bolster and enhance, share aura and refill that of injured people. It's the latter which helps you heal as the excess aura bleeds into your skin and heightens growth. Or so I assume. I'd rather that stay between us. No reason for those idiots to know."
In truth, it wouldn't be a big deal if Salem found out, but he did wonder if Cinder would share it if he asked her not to. I'm putting too much thought into this. Hurt or not, this is the girl that killed Pyrrha. I should take the first chance I get to rip her head off and burn the body. As Cinder gasped for air and massaged her shoulder, he couldn't help but think that unfair. Summer was getting to him again. For crying out loud, she needed to stop making things complicated.
"Tell me if anything else comes up," he said gruffly. "And I do mean anything. She may have said it's spiritual or the soul, but you were writhing on the ground and could have done all sorts of damage to your muscles or bones without realising. Maybe you should take tomorrow off to rest. You don't have to become powerful now. It can wait, especially if it helps your body heal."
"No, I…" Cinder burst out angrily, only to catch her breath and then sigh. "I want to be stronger."
"You're getting stronger, Cinder. You know that. You just need to pace yourself, so you don't drive yourself to the point of collapsing, because then you'll need to take even more time off to rest, and that's where problems set in."
She looked away. "Maybe you're right. I'm impatient."
"You're driven. Nothing wrong with that."
"Yes. Perhaps so." There was the tiniest smile. "I shall take tomorrow off," she promised. "May I come to watch, even if I don't train? I don't want to miss any lessons."
"Of course you can." He pushed her toward the changing rooms. "Try and have a long hot bath tonight if you can. A good soak will help ease your muscles, but then you know that better than I do. You have a place to stay, right?"
"Yes, Jaune." The answer was delivered with a little more of her normal arrogance, and even a sly smile. "You don't need to pick me up as another stray like my aggravating teammate. All she would talk about for the last week before the end of the term was how she was spending the holiday with you. Velvet and Coco couldn't stop laughing at her."
"Behind her back, I assume."
Cinder snorted. "Naturally. They'd have black eyes otherwise."
Vernal and Emerald were just coming out the changing rooms, too, hair still wet and clothes haphazardly thrown on. It was another race to get to him first. Just his luck. Cinder pulled away before she could be bowled over, laughing silently as she waved his way and slipped into the women's side of the changing rooms. Vernal and Emerald reached him as one and gripped an arm each.
"I was first!" Emerald lied.
"Like hell you were! Did you cast your illusions on yourself this time?"
"Girls." He planted a hand atop each head and steered them in front of him. "Save your fighting for training. I told you to be on your best behaviour today, didn't I?"
"Only until gym!" Vernal crowed excitedly.
"And we were!" Emerald agreed with her. For once. "That means we did it – and you promised…"
Summer and Taiyang had finally been able to come up with one bit of advice for him, one parental secret custom designed to stop siblings arguing – even if they didn't realise they were siblings. The tried and tested childhood-raising method.
Bribery.
What could you bribe a street urchin and a violent tribal killer with, however? Money? Valuable jewels? Promises of power and strength the likes of which would let them destroy all around them? The chance to go and attack a village of innocent people? Honestly, he hadn't known, but Taiyang had. As one man to another who'd had to throw the bribery down to stop Ruby and Yang tearing one another's hair out, the man knew a trick or two.
Jaune hadn't been convinced but Summer promised it would work, especially on Vernal, who seemed the least to like it at all. A girl who routinely swore her mouth off and considered anything and everything to be beneath her or weak liking this? He hadn't been sure. All it took was Summer's smile and the suggestion that Vernal would like it because he was taking her, and he caught on.
"I know I did, and you know I don't go back on those. So…" He watched their excitement mount. "Yes, I'll take you both to the waterpark tomorrow."
The two girls burst into cheers.
Vernal just wants him to fulfil the quota. Now if he'd only go out and play catch with her, she'd finally have it.
Next Chapter: 3rd October
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
