Cinder was woken by Jaune suddenly lurching upwards dragging her from her own dreams. she looked at him and saw that he was scared. she knew that face it was one she would wear every so often. when the dreams would bring back memories best forgotten.
before she could speak he calmed himself down and gently touched his mouth. too frazzled to go back to sleep yethe muttered. "I can still taste those damn mines." more to himself than her but Cinder still heard him.
wrapping an arm around him she asked. " the Hellraisers?"
he nodded his head as an answer before there was a knock at the door. acting fast Jaune scrambled his way into Cinder's walk in closet as Cinder threw on a bathrobe. when she opened the door Ferro was standing in front of her looking almost as scared as his father was a minute ago.
"what's wrong sweetie?" Cinder asked, picking the child up and carrying him into the bedroom.
"I had a bad dream," he sleepily answered, hugging Cinder as tightly as he could.
gently running her hand over his head she asked him "what happened?"
"I saw daddy kill that man again" he whimpered, making Jaune silently curse from the closet. He had hoped to keep his past from Ferro for as long as possible but now the young boy had seen more than he ever needed to.
"I know that things like that are scary." Cinder said soothingly. ``and I know that you don't want your dad keeping secrets from you. But you need to understand sweetie your father loves you and he didn't tell you about that because didn't want to hurt you. your daddy is a very strong man but sometimes strong men need to do hard things."
Her words seemed to be able to slightly calm the child. He wasn't as mature as Emerald so he wasn't able to hear everything yet but he was able to understand that there were simply things he didn't understand.
realizing that the boy was ready to go back to bed Cinder picked him up and carried him out of the room. that was Jaune's queue to climb back into the bed.
Cinder returned soon, discarding her bathrobe and climbing in right next Jaune with a slightly stunned face. Jaune was getting ready to ask her what was wrong when she spoke in a soft and uneven voice. "Ferro just called me mommy."
Jaune could see the tears in her eyes as he responded "I'm sorry I'll talk to him about that tomorrow..."
"No, wait." Cinder interrupted before stopping herself. She didn't want to overstep her bounds but she honestly didn't mind Ferro seeing her as a mother.
Jaune looked at her before settling back down and wrapping an arm around her. "Ferro is a very good judge of people. If he sees you as a mother then I think I can trust him." before snuggling into go back to sleep.
Cinder was stunned before but now she was speechless. She heard that Jaune used to be an emotionally dense boy but even he knew what he had just been implying. she had only known the new Jaune for a few weeks now but honestly she was happy with the man he was.
slightly shaking him she set about getting to know him a little better. when he rolled over to look at her she asked him. "who was your first?"
He looked a little caught off guard by the question but he recovered quickly. "You aren't talking about killing anymore right?" she sleepily asked. When he got a nod in response he answered. "you wouldn't believe me if I told you." he answered.
"Try me," Cinder pressed now with more intent than before.
Jaune chuckled lightly saying. " All I will say is that it involved Winter Schnee, enough vodka to get an entire squad sloshed, at least half a pound of refined fire dust and Glynda Goodwitch."
Cinder's eyes showed her shock just as much as her now gaping jaw. "You have to be Joking?" she asked.
"no I'm not." Jaune answered with a bit of pride on his face.
"you did not lose your virginity in a threesome with Winter Schnee and Glynda Goodwitch." Cinder stated.
"I never said I did, all I said was that Glynda was involved." Jaune explained.
"how so?' Cinder asked, completely forgetting about Winter for the time being.
"It was her idea actually, just after I took out ACE ops she decided that since Winter needed someone better than Qrow and I needed someone so she tried to set us up." he said.
"that actually worked?" Cinder asked.
"no," Jaune laughed. "Winter wasn't told I would be there so when she found me in the new Ace Ops Barracks she set me on fire." Cinder wasn't seeing the connection between being set on fire and sleeping with Winter Shcnee but she was patient. "After we managed to put the fire out Glynda called her and told her that I was supposed to be waiting for her. We had a good laugh about that and that got us talking. it turns out Winter is nothing like her sister, at least not in private. one thing led to another and then one drink led to another. by the end of the night we were out of vodka and out of all of our clothes too."
"you are full of surprises." Cinder muttered still not fully believing the story even though it sounded possible.
"how about you?" Jaune asked, wanting to learn more about her as well.
Cinder seemed like she was ashamed of the answer but she also knew that she needed to trust Jaune. she hadn't trusted Brenden and that ended badly. "Aurther Watts." she admitted.
Jaune did his best to hide his shock as she explained. "I was young and dumb and he was older and refined. he was the first man to talk to me like I wasn't a burden." looking away her voice and eyes grew bitter. "then I found out that he was all talk and I wasn't nearly as wise as I thought I was."
"I got the better end of this discussion," Jaune started, making Cinder laugh. leaning over and partially draping herself on Jaune Cinder asked.
"So what happened with Winter, you don't seem like the type to just disappear without a trace leaving a lover behind." her tone made it clear that she was joking but when she recognized the pain in Jaune's eyes she regretted her words.
"After I killed ACE ops, Winter and I spent about a year together. We became the new ACE ops. We were Ironwood's hidden dagger. I was the brain and Winter was the power. As sad as it sounds that year where we were running around killing and stealing for Atlas. Those are the second most treasured memories I have."
Cinder was about to change the subject when Jaune held up a hand to stop her. she shared her past now he was going to share his. she deserved to know. " We were going to get married when her contract ended. I even asked Ironwood first and he approved. I still have the ring."
Cinder could see tears welling up in Jaune's eyes but she let him keep going. "then she went on a mission without me, she got a tip about the whereabouts of a couple of wanted fugitives and she needed to act fast. It was a trap and they killed her. I was the one who found the body."
"who did it?" Cinder asked, feeling an unexpected wave of empathy.
"it was Mercury. Emerald would insist that it was her but we all knew who it was that pulled the trigger." Jaune answered, making Cinder turn to face the door that Ferro was standing at a few minutes prior. Jaune was raising the son of the people who killed the love of his life. what kind of man did that?" she wondered.
"In that moment I was back at Haven I wanted nothing more than to rip the life form their bodies in as violent and gruesome a way as I could." wiping away he still hanging tears Jaune leaned back onto the bed saying. "but then I remembered the truth about revenge. all it ever does is take, it never gives. So I let it go. Qrow never forgave me. He insisted that I should have been there and that I got her killed. To be honest I think he's right."
"if Mercury set up a trap then it was meant for both of you. if you went with her then you have died too." Cinder said laying down
"maybe I should have." Jaune half said half asked.
Without hesitation Cinder reached over and slapped him. "No, if you had died then who would have been there for Ferro." she scolded.
Jaune nodded his agreement with her and did his best to push away his shame at what he had just said. "Yeah, you're right. But honestly I'm just tired." he said this time instead of rolling away from her he turned into her before resting his head on her shoulder and trying to go back to sleep.
…
Adrian Cotta stepped out of the elevator and into headmaster Rose's office. She was waiting for him with a folder in her hands. "Mr. Cotta I'm glad you could make it please have a seat." she said not looking up from the folder.
"You wanted to see me?" Adrian asked nervously.
"I did," she answered while reading the file in her hands. "You have a remarkably bland record on your application. It's really a shame that it's all fake." she said tossing him the file containing his application to Beacon.
Adrian knew that this day was going to come. He had cheated to get into Beacon and now he had been caught. "Your progress however has been very real." Ruby continued getting up and
Circling around the desk to look out the window. "You are the top of Mrs. Winchester's history class, and you are Ms. Xiao Long's favorite student. You are passing all of your classes. So tell me what should be done with you?"
Adrian had no answer. He never concerned himself with that question; it wasn't his choice until now. "I have no idea ma'am." he said honestly.
"I'm sending you on a special mission," Ruby explained, smirking at the boy's surprised face. "You have all the makings of an excellent covert hunter. Including the completely forgettable record and expectation performance. That being said I should tell you who you are before you go as it may cause problems for you one day."
Her choice of words both worried and intrigued him. He had never known his birth mother. She was killed when he was an infant. His second mother, a woman named Sahpron, had raised him. But he always suspected he was being kept from something.
"You are the descendant of a long line of warriors that until I saw your name on my registry I thought was ended." as she spoke she went back to her desk and got a second folder. "Do you know this man?" she said, handing him the folder containing a picture of a smiling man with messy blond hair and sharp blue eyes.
"No, who is he?" Adrain asked.
"His name was Jaune Arc, he was your uncle but he died twelve years ago. He made many enemies before then one of whom tried to kill you and your mothers. They succeed with your birth mother Terra Cotta but it seems that Saphron was able to escape with you and go into hiding, rather well it seems. I do not know if any of those enemies are still out there but if they hear your name and recognize you they may attempt to kill you. I just thought you should know."
Adrain was processing everything he had been told when he remembered his mission. "Ma'am where am I being sent?"
"Have you ever heard of the Brendan Browne gang?" she asked.