"Come on Brawnz kick his ass!" Roy cheered on.
"Get a couple hits in Jaune!" Nolan called.
"No no no!" Dew cried.
"Quick stab him!" Octavia screamed.
"Almost got it!" Jaune yelled.
The TV flashed as Brawnz's character was sent flying outside the ring. A "player 2 wins!" logo was going across the screen as half of the room was cheering. The other half was groaning and hitting Brawnz.
"I lost fifteen lien Brawnz. Thanks!" Roy sarcastically said. His leader flipped him the bird which was returned with a smack in the head from May. Nolan then elbowed May and soon all of BRNZ was sissy fighting each other.
"Please don't fight each other," Jaune said but to no avail. The only response he got was some groaning from Brawnz as his team continued to punch him. He reached out for NDGO and Jaune.
"Jaune! Girls, anyone please help!" he called out.
"Should we help him?" Dew asked with a hand on her hip.
"I can't I'm too busy reading this," Nebula replied as she showed a "Camp Camp" comic book. It was a favorite issue of Jaune's where a rival camp accidentally became drug lords without even realizing it.
"And I'm too lazy to want to help out," Octavia added. Gwen just shook her head no. Jaune shrugged his shoulders and turned back to Brawnz.
"Sorry Brawnz, we can't help you," he said.
"I hate all of you!" Brawnz yelped just before he got punched in the face by Roy. After another ten seconds Brawnz was able slam his fist into the ground and push his team off of him. "Enough!" he yelled. The room fell silent as he tried to gain his breath back. And then Nolan yelled.
"DOGPILE!"
"No don't!" Jaune yelled out but to no avail.
Brawnz let out a girlish scream as everyone sans Jaune, stopped what they were doing and launched themselves at him. There was a small scuffle for about ten seconds before everyone stopped. When they all looked at their surroundings, they found that Brawnz was actually out of the dogpile. He laughed joyously when he realized he survived the attack.
"HAH! Suck it!" He taunted. Jaune sighed in relief at the fact that despite a giant human dogpile just happened, nothing was destroyed.
"Wait, so who's on the bottom?" he asked. As the students slowly got up it was revealed that it was Nolan at the bottom of the pile. He let out a weak moan.
"Well that didn't go as planned did it genius?" Dew said sarcastically.
"Nope…" he moaned out. Jaune rolled his eyes and helped the red head up. He dusted himself off and nodded at him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." The two smiled and everyone slowly went back to a chair or sofa to relax again. Jaune changed the TV from the console to the regular channel and began to flip through the channels. It eventually landed on a show about two brothers hunting paranormal beings, other than grimm of course.
"Love this show!" Octavia said.
"Please it's cliché garbage," Dew remarked. Roy pointed his thumb at her.
"Amen to that sister," he agreed.
"Hey you guys are allowed to have your opinions," Jaune said. "Even if they are completely and totally wrong."
"I like it…" Gwen mumbled.
"Dude change it to something else I'm begging you," May pleaded. Jaune shook the remote in his hand.
"My TV, my remote, my room, I get to watch whatever," he listed. "The minute you have the remote you can watch whatever." He rested his arm across the sofa with the remote in his hand taunting anyone to grab it. Dew looked at Roy and the two of them nodded and lunged at it to remove it from his hand. However he tossed the remote into his other hand using just his wrist, letting his arm continue resting on the couch.
Roy tried to grab the remote again but Jaune dropped the remote on his foot and caught it so it rested there. When Dew tried to dive for it the blonde kicked the remote in the air and caught it with ease. He then turned the volume a little louder as the two of them were making a ruckus.
"Okay, how the hell are you that agile with a remote?!" Dew asked.
"House of seven sisters," was all he gave to make everyone understand. "You learn to keep things from them. Otherwise they take it, or use it as blackmail. Neither options are fun." A couple of the students chuckle as some of them know what it's like to have siblings. Still seven sisters topped all of them. While everyone either watched the show or found something else to keep them occupied, Nebula had a question for the blonde boy.
"Hey, Jaune," she said. He looked over the couch to the bed she was sitting one with a cocked eyebrow. "How come you don't talk about your sisters?" A couple of the teens stopped what they were doing to hear his response.
"What do you mean? I tell you guys about them all the time." Nebula shook her head and persisted despite getting glanced at by Dew and May.
"No, you tell us that you have sisters, but you never go beyond that." Octavia grabbed Nebula's wrist to get her attention. The red head shook her head no but Nebula kept pushing. "I just want to know more about you and your family that's all."
"What's there to tell?" Jaune said in a slightly annoyed tone. "I have seven sisters, I grew up in a big house with them, we loved each other, end of story."
"Well, can you at least tell us their names?" Jaune curled his hands into fists, something that did not go unnoticed by the others in the room. Despite that the blonde sighed and turned to Nebula again.
"From oldest to youngest it's Erica, Sammy, Dakota, Calista, Jade, me, Nerissa, and Joli."
"What are they like?" This time Dew was waving her hands and shaking her head no but Nebula still prodded. "Which one of them where you the closest with?"
"What part of we loved each other didn't you understand?" His tone started to get low and to be frank, kind of scary.
"I think there's more to that story. Jaune, I just want to―,"
"I don't want to talk about them all right?" He stood up and faced Nebula with anger in his eyes when he yelled that. The blonde and the purple haired leader stare each other down for a minute. Jaune then stood up and walked to the door. "I'll be right back." he slammed the door behind him which caused the room to shake a little bit. There is silence for a few seconds before Dew made a snide remark.
"Nice going Neb," she said.
"Shut it," Nebula retorted with venom in her words. Despite saying that part of her knew that she shouldn't have pushed the subject. As much as she wanted to apologize, she knew that he wanted to be alone. She's probably the last person he would want to talk to anyway.
The sword and shield wielder began walking down the hallway with his hands in his pockets, grumbling to himself. "Why did she have to be so persistent?" he muttered. he didn't like talking about his sisters for a couple of reasons. Sure he'll mention them but he'll never go beyond that. That's because there was one giant glaring reason that would always pop up in his head.
He missed them.
He missed all of them. What made his heart ache was the fact that they didn't miss him. His own team that he has known for only a year contacted him before his family he had for his entire life did. Now? Bringing them up just poured salt into that wound.
Jaune finally realized that he was just roaming the dorms, stopped, and sighed to himself. He went over to the nearest wall, put his back to it, and then slowly slid down until he was sitting down. He sat with his arms resting on his knees as his thoughts began to consume him.
At first it was just blaming of Nebula, forcing him to remember his sisters which lead to him wondering how they were doing. Then he reminded himself that they didn't care like his team, and his final thoughts went to wondering how JNPR were doing without him.
He lingered on that last thought for a little bit. He did promise them that he would talk with them every now and then. Seeing as how it was almost a week since they first talked, he figured now would be a good time as any. Hopefully it would keep his mind off of his sisters.
He pulled out his scroll and put in all of JNPR's numbers and created a group chat with his new scroll number. He took a deep breath and began typing.
Twenty minutes later.
BRNZ and NDGO were still in Jaune's dorm but there was an uneasy tension in the air. They all assumed that he would just need a minute or two to relax and then come back in. However the fact that he was gone for so long was beginning to worry the two teams.
"I'm going to check on him," Nebula said.
"Neb you sure that's a good idea?" Octavia asked her leader. "I mean, you were the reason he left in the first place."
"I know, that's why I want to find him." She looked at her friend and gave a stern look. "I want to apologize to him. Can't do that if I'm sitting here reading his comics now can I?" Octavia shrugged her shoulders.
"Whatever you think's best, girl."
"Can I give ya my train of thoughts?" Brawnz asked the purple haired leader. She nodded her head. "Maybe you should take Nolan with you, just in case you make him angrier."
"Wait why me?" Nolan asked. He was watching the show with Brawnz and he didn't want to miss anything good that might happen.
"Because reasons." The red head glared at his leader who had a smug smirk on his face.
"I'll go with you Nebula," Roy said. "Knowing those two they'd keep arguing for hours before one of them actually goes."
"No we wouldn't!" Nolan said.
"Yes we would." Brawnz retorted.
"You wanna go Brawnz?"
"Bring it string bean!" Again the two stare at each other causing May to roll her eyes, and the rest of NDGO to chuckle at the stupid interaction.
"Let's go," Nebula said as she motioned her had to the door. Roy nodded his head and the two walked out of the room and into the hallway. As they began to walk down it, the two of them were discussing how they would find him.
"Should we call him?" Roy thought out loud.
"I think that would defeat the purpose of us leaving the room." He nodded in agreement. "Still if I was upset about my family where would I go to be alone?"
"Well personally I would go to the training area to blow off some steam."
"I'm more likely to go to my dorm to be honest."
"Well not like he could do that, we were in his dorm."
"True."
The two of them would have continued their conversation but Roy pointed down the hallway with a confused look on his face. Nebula followed his finger to a student sitting on the ground with his head between his legs. A mop of blonde hair was sticking from the top of the head. The two of them gave each other a look and nodded their heads. They slowly approached the student and Roy was the one to say something first.
"Jaune?" The student raised his head to reveal it was him, but Nebula noticed something. There was a small red tint in his eyes. Jaune bit his lower lip and looked at the floor.
"Hey," he greeted. It was barely noticeable but he sounded just a tiny bit choked up to Nebula.
"You good man?" He sighed but gave a small nod. Nebula looked at Jaune's hands to realize he had a scroll in his hand. She could also hear the slight buzz of someone texting him. "You sure?"
"I'm fine." His tone was low and still a little heated. "Just leave me alone."
"Jaune," Nebula said in an apologetic tone as she sat down next to him. "I'm sorry I brought up your sisters. I didn't realize it was a sensitive topic."
"If you're so sorry, why are you bringing it up now?" The two of them winced at the edge in his voice. Despite that the two of them went together, they had no idea how to respond to him.
"Dude she's just trying to apologize," Roy antagonized. "So would you quit acting like a…"
"Like a what?" Jaune stood up and stared Roy down as he said that. "Like a sissy? Like a bitch? Is that what you were going to say?" Roy stood his ground and stared back as well neither of them moving. Nebula did not like where this is going. It seemed like the two of them were going to start fighting any minute if this kept up. So she got in between them shoved them apart.
"Enough both of you," she threatened. She turned to Roy and pointed down the hall and whispered. "Go, I got this." Roy looked down the hallway and then back at Nebula with a cocked eyebrow. "I'm sure." Roy growled but nodded his head and left the two.
Nebula turned around to see Jaune clicking his tongue and turning away from her. He sits down and rests his back against the wall again. Nebula followed suit which caused him to scoff.
"I thought I told you to leave me alone? What are you still doing here?" Nebula tried to find the best way to cut the tension down a bit. Hopefully a little joke will at least make them a little more comfortable.
"Well during initiation you said my bedside manner sucked so now I'm just practicing it." Nebula heard another scoff.
"I said your motivational speech needs practice."
"You say potato, I say potahto."
"No one says potahto." Nebula rolled her eyes.
"You're in a different country. For all you know when we say 'hi' it could mean 'bye.'" Nebula heard a small but still audible chortle and smiled. "Did I just hear a chuckle?"
"No," Jaune said trying to keep his angry attitude. She playfully nudged his ribs which caused him to chuckle again.
"Yeah I know did. Don't hide it!" she continued to nudge him. "Come admit it you smiled!"
"Never! I want to be angry!" Despite what he said he was giggling and had a smile on his face. "Stop it! I don't want happiness!"
"Oh quit being an edgelord and smile already!" She continued to poke him and he began to poke back causing the two to laugh. Eventually Jaune put his hands up to try and block the nudges and pokes coming from her. "Submit, submit!"
"Okay okay I give up just please stop!" Nebula giggled as she pulled away and Jaune rubbed his arm as they sat back up. "I think you bruised my arm."
"Suck it up you big baby." The knight stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the favor with two middle fingers. The two then began to smile and laugh at how childish they were being. After laughing the two sat there for a good minute before Nebula spoke up again. "Hey look, I'm sorry I kept pushing you back at the dorm." Jaune sighed.
"It's not your fault," he admitted. "It's my fault for talking about them all the time but not giving details. Still, why were you so pushy?" She leans into his shoulder a little bit.
"Well why do you think we threw that party for you in the first place?"
"Because I have a lot of room compared to other dorms, because you guys like to torture me, because you want to slowly kick me out of my own room, so you guys can use it as a party room. Shall I go on?" She flicks the side of his head causing the blonde to rub it.
"No ya idiot. We did it to learn more about you. Sure, we all did your initiation with you, but we barely know anything other than the fact that you left Beacon and came here when the headmistress invited you." Jaune looked down at the ground and groaned at the fact that she was telling the truth. Truth is they may talk with each other a lot, but BRNZ and NDGO know almost nothing about him, and he knows almost nothing about them. Sure, he remembers talking with BRNZ a little bit about their pasts, but it's been so long he kind of forgot about all of it. He chuckled depressingly into his arms. Some friend he was huh?
"I'm a horrible person…" he mumbled. Nebula drew out a long hum and then spoke up.
"Maybe," she said. He looked at her with gloom on his face but saw that she had a finger on her chin with a cute yet mischievous look on her face. "But we don't know you enough to decide that do we?" There was a beat, and then the two began laughing. Nebula stands back up and offers her hand to Jaune. "So, you done being a baby?"
Jaune took a second to look at the hand but grew a tiny smirk and grabbed it. He may not want to talk about his past, but these guys shouldn't be in the dark because of it. She pulled the blonde to his feet. The two smiled at each other and began to walk back to the dorm. However just as soon as they started walking his scroll went off.
"Oh right, hang on a sec." The blonde began to tap on his scroll. Nebula looked at the scroll with slight curiosity. She remembered he had his scroll out when they found him. Not to mention she saw that he was tearing up a bit before the two of them found him. She had to wonder what was causing her friend such distraught.
As he finished up, he caught her staring and chuckled silently. He shook his scroll in her face as he closed it causing the purple haired girl to straighten up as she realized she got caught.
"You're curious about what that was huh?" Jaune asked. Nebula had a guilty look on her face as she scratched the back of her head. She nodded her head and grew a sheepish smile.
"Sorry," she said., "I know I've been kinda pushing you to be more open about yourself. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No, it's fine but… just let me tell everyone. It's kind of a long story and it intertwines with my sisters. Plus I don't want to repeat myself." Nebula gave an understanding smile. With that the two headed back to the dorm.
A few minutes later.
"Are you sure they aren't making out Roy?" Dew asked the dark-skinned boy. She was watching a different show as the one from earlier ended and she called dibs on the remote. Roy was watching the same show with her but turned to her to answer the blonde's question.
"Dude was acting all emotional like a girl on her period," Roy joked. "I highly doubt that's happening."
"I don't know dude," Octavia replied. She was reading one of the few books that Jaune had on his bookshelf. Despite having a decent sized bookshelf, it was mainly empty or filled with comics. Very few were books. "Out of all of us she hated him the least and the two seemed to grow close pretty quick."
"And if not now, they're definitely going to be banging sometime in the next month," Nolan added. He was leaning against the wall next to the door as he butted in.
"Ten lien says it's within two weeks," Roy betted.
"Oh you are on!" the two shook hands while May scoffed.
"Ya'll are fucked up you know that?" she quipped. "You do realize you just made a bet on someone else's date life?"
"Yep. Don't care," Nolan said. "Besides as long as we don't let them know who cares?"
"Let who know what?" A familiar voice said. The voice was right behind the redheaded boy which caused him to jump and scream like a little girl. As a couple of them laughed, Nolan turned around to see Jaune and Nebula standing in the doorway.
"It doesn't matter," Roy answered. "What does matter is if you're okay." Jaune cocked and eyebrow at the dark-skinned boy.
"You're singing a different tune compared to earlier. Weren't you the one who told me to man up about my problems?"
"Well you aren't acting like a little girl this time around."
"Ladies you're both beautiful, can we all be friends again?" Nebula said getting between the two of them. The two grumbled but nodded their heads. Then Roy elbowed Jaune, which Jaune retaliated with an elbow back. The two of them then began to swat at each other much to the amusement and annoyance of everyone in the room.
The two continued swatting each other until they both slapped each other in the face at the same time. Both grabbed their cheek and groan.
"Ow ow ow!" Jaune seethed.
"Agh!" Roy exclaimed. He rubbed his cheek and looked at the blonde. "Truce?"
"Yes please." The two shook hands and Jaune turned to everyone else in the room. "So uh… can I just say something to all of you?" The sincerity his tone held grabbed everyone's attention. Dew turned off the TV, Octavia set down her book and Gwen pocketed her scroll that she was on. Everyone waited for the boy to say something and it was causing the boy to be nervous. Taking a deep breath and began.
"I realize that I've been acting a little distant from you guys. Especially when it came to my life. The thing is… I'm not proud of my life." This caught everyone by surprise. Jaune always seemed to be so happy and full of light. Yet this statement seemed very out of character for him. "The reason being is… most of my life has either been boring or filled with lies and disgrace. Before Beacon I was just the son of a warrior family and the brother of seven sisters. After Beacon I was a fake trying his best to play catch up with some of the best fighters in the world. Then, after being called out, my lies came and bit me in the rear." Jaune looked down into his hands. "Finally, coming here, I'm just the fraud of Beacon pushing his luck." He squeezed his hands into fists as he made that final statement. He looked up at the students.
"This is why I was always so skittish talking about my sisters. There are somethings that are making me hate having to bring them up. I may never feel proud of some aspects of my life, but I also realize that just because I'm not proud of them doesn't mean I should bury them and get defensive whenever it's brought up. It's unfair to you guys, especially since all you want to do is be closer. I've been a horrible friend to you. I may not be proud of my history, but if you guys want to learn more about me, whether it be my past or my family..." He flashed his signature gigantic grin at them. "I'm willing to share it with you."
There is a shaky silence for a couple of seconds. Was his speech good? Bad? Cheesy? All these thoughts filled his head as he tried to read everyone. Finally, the sound of a hand clapping broke his concentration. It was May who began the slow clap.
"Good speech dude," She said. "Not the best but definitely in the top twenty." A groan is heard as Brawnz turns towards her.
"Seriously May? The guy just got something off his chest and that's what you say?"
"Well how am I supposed to react to that?! You know I don't do well with sweet and heartfelt!"
"Maybe don't be a snarky ass about it?" Nolan said.
"I'm like 75% snark!"
"So am I but you don't see me making a comment after something like that," Dew added.
"I hate all of you!"
Jaune began to laugh. These guys were his classmates. No, they were his friends. He had to admit it, there was something charming about this crew. He took a seat on the couch next to Dew and Gwen. Gwen gave him a soft smile which he returned as Dew continued to talk with May.
"Okay I think we're all getting out of hand," Nebula said gathering everyone's focus. "You heard the guy, the Jaune official Q&A is now in session. I call dibs on the first question!" The purple-haired girl looked at Jaune. "How close were you with your sisters?"
"I'd say pretty close. After all I was their only brother, so my older ones would always baby me and the younger two would look up to me. IT also helped that they would need a bit of male perspective that wasn't from dad. Although I'd have to say the ones I was closest with was Dakota, Jade, and Joli." Jaune chuckled as he recalled a memory. "In fact this one time we were in Dakota's bakery before it opened because she was babysitting us. We were bored out of our mind so Jade and I started messing around. We were playing with a foam ball and Jade chucked it at one of the doors. The thing was it was the door to the back where Dakota was prepping something. She walked through it with a tray of I think cookies and the ball hit her in the face and it caused her to drop the tray. Needless to say, she was pretty angry at us. So, both Jade and I had to remake the entire tray and couple of other chores."
"Sounds rough," May commented. He pointed at the sniper as he said the next sentence.
"It was. But she felt like she tortured us enough because when Mom and Dad picked us up she gave us both our choice of something from the bakery." The soft and warm smile he had on his face was a large indicator that he still loved his family. Deciding to move along with the questions, Brawnz went next.
"Where do you sit in the family?" He asked. Jaune tilted his head not understanding what he meant. "I mean age wise."
"Ah. Jade is my twin so I'm on the younger side of the family."
"Four older sisters?" Gwen asked. Jaune nodded his head and Gwen gave a little shudder. "I have an older sister that treats me like a kid all the time. I can't imagine what having four is like." he laughed at Gwen's comment.
"It's annoying a lot of the time, especially since I'm their only baby brother." The swordsman smiled as he recalled another memory. "Still I can't blame them. They were just trying to protect me. I mean that's why Erica trained me a little bit, remember?"
"I remember," Roy said. "I still can't believe I lost that sniping bet."
"It was beginners' luck," Jaune said with a shrug. "Anyway, any other questions?"
"You said you didn't want to talk about your sisters before," Octavia began. "Why was that?" Jaune's breath hitched. Three questions in and he's already hit with the biggest one. He knew it was coming, he just didn't expect it to be so soon.
"Well… part of it has to do with my old friends back at Beacon…"
"Was that who you were texting on you're scroll?" Nebula asked. He nodded his head.
"Yeah… See my team and old friends were able to track down my scroll number despite the fact that I changed it." Jaune chuckled weakly. "What's really funny is that Calista is a computer fanatic and could easily find my scroll number. Yet my team contacts me first." Jaune could feel some tears beginning to form but he stays strong and holds them in. "My own blood didn't even try to contact me before people I've only known for a year did." A heavy silence fills the room before Nolan said something that shocked Jaune.
"Fuck 'em."
"What?"
"Nolan…" Brawnz warned.
"I said fuck 'em." Nolan got off the ground and began to pace around. "Family is supposed to be there for you no matter what. They're supposed to make you feel like no matter what hell you go through, they'll be there for you. They're supposed to make it so you feel safe somewhere in this fucked up world." Nolan paused and began to rub his arm. This was a personal topic for him Jaune could tell.
Does Nolan have family problems as well? The red head took a deep breath and continued his monologue. "To betray you like that, are they even family?" Jaune looked at the ground and shook his head.
"I can't…" Jaune admitted. He sat down and covered his face with his hands. "I can't bring myself to hate them…"
"Why not?" Nolan seemed angry at the fact that Jaune wasn't ditching his family. The thing was…
"I don't know. Maybe it's because I know why they ditched me. Maybe it's because I think I deserve it. Maybe it's just because I have some hope that after some time has passed, they'll get over what happened."
"Jaune," May started. "Like you said, they haven't even tried to contact you. Maybe Nolan's right."
"May!" Brawnz yelled. "Jaune, belay what they said." The leader walked over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I think it's a good thing you still have hope for them. Family fight all the time."
"This isn't a fight Brawnz," Nolan retorted. "His family just left him like a little kid in the woods!" Nolan realized how harsh that was and turned to Jaune. "Sorry I didn't mean…"
"It's fine," Jaune said. He looked at the sniper and the redhead. "I know you two are right. Maybe it's better that I just erase them from my life. But I've been through so much with all of them that it's kind of hard to. Besides, like Brawnz said…"
"I have some hope that they'll change their mind."
In a household somewhere in Vale, a girl with medium-length blonde hair was packing clothes in a suitcase. Along with clothes she was also packing; shampoo, deodorant, a handheld gaming system, a couple of books and comics, and a knife held in a leather sheath. The girl was about to zip up the suitcase when her sister walked in.
"Jade, mom's been calling you for…" her older sister, Calista, had stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what Jade was doing. Her long messy brunette hair with the single streak of dark blue covered part of her face. Even so, Jade could see that Calista was confused. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" Jade spat out faster than lightning. Despite Calista being a bit of a shut in, Jade still feared her older sister. You never mess with an Arc, especially if they are the older sibling. Calista gave her a hard stare and crossed her arms.
"A little quick to the trigger there. Spill." Jade liked to think she had an iron will. Yet that iron crumbled to dust as her sister stared her down. Jade grumbled and zipped up her suitcase.
"I'm going to Vacuo to find Jaune," She admitted.
"Really? You're going to run away?" Jade set the suitcase on the floor and went up to her sister and pushed her.
"Don't give me that! If you love him, you know what Dad did was wrong! I'm not going to let my brother feel like no one in the family loves him anymore."
"That's a stupid move Jade," Calista said. Jade ignored her and moved past her to head to dinner, but not before forcefully bumping into Calista. Her sister than grabbed her wrist and looked her in the eye. "It's a stupid move because you don't even know where he is. Not to mention, mom and/or dad are going to wonder where you are going." Jade knew she was right, there was no point in denying the fact that she didn't really have a plan, just find Jaune.
"What do you suggest?" She asked. "And don't say nothing, or else I'm leaving, with or with out a plan." Jade's blue eyes stared into Calista's brown ones. Calista smiled at her little sister.
"Simple, little sister. But we'll discuss it after dinner, okay?" Jade was going to retaliate but the growl of both their stomachs stopped her from speaking. She laughs lightly and agrees to Calista's idea of dinner first, plan later.
"I love them too much to forget about them," Jaune finished. "If that's dumb of me, then I guess I'm dumb."
"That's the understatement of the year," Octavia joked.
"Oh come on he can't be the dumbest person alive!" Nebula said with an innocent smile. "Maybe top ten."
"More like top five," Nolan added with a chuckle.
"Can we go a day where you don't insult the poor guy?" Brawnz asked.
"No." Everyone else sans Jaune responded.
"Anyway, moving on…" Jaune said. "Any other questions?"
"What was it like at beacon?" Gwen asked. Jaune took a deep breath, knowing it would be a long story. As he began to tell some stories from beacon, and how things went for him, they began to ask other questions about him and he asked questions back. Back and forth they discussed and talked and began to learn more about each other. As they did, the world continued to turn and change as it does. The future for the students at Shade was beginning to unfold.
In a small part of the city of Vale, a group of construction workers and huntsmen, both Atlassian and Valian continue to pick up the rubble from the invasion of the White Fang and grimm. One huntsman, who was from Atlas was about to carry a bag of rubble to the transporter when he saw a couple of civilians watching them. He set the bags down and walks over to them a smile on his face.
"Can we help you guys?' he asked in a polite tone. Despite being non-threatening, a mother covered her child away from the man, and he was met with dirty looks.
"When are you leaving?" a braver soul asked the huntsman.
"Excuse me?"
"I said when are you heading back home?" The man who challenged the huntsman glared at him with a fire in his eyes. "Is it when you think you've 'helped' enough? Or is it when that coding in your head says you did?" The huntsman winced. After that robot girl got cut to pieces during the festival, a lot of Atlassian huntsmen and soldiers had to deal with this. Still, at least he wasn't a Valian huntsmen. They were facing a… different, effect of the attack.
"What do you mean you don't need our help?" A Beacon third year asked. He was a faunus with a rat tail and was arguing with a town secretary. "You called Beacon for help right? And we were sent. So what's the problem?"
"There is none!" the women said with her hands up. Right now a team of third years was in outside of the city helping a village that was getting repaired as grimm attacked them just as hard as they did Vale. Now they're asking them to leave. "That's why we're sending you back. We fixed the problem ourselves and we didn't want to waste your time. That's all there is to it!" The third year felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at his teammate.
"Let's just go, Cap," She said. "I'm sure Ozpin has another mission for us waiting anyway." The leader looked at the woman one more time before sighing and nodding in agreement. Just as they were about to leave though, a person opened the door and eyed them. He pointed at them and asked the woman behind the counter a question.
"These the Mistralian huntsmen?" The woman tensed up as the third-year leader turned towards her.
"What does he mean Mistralian huntsmen?" He asked.
"Please just leave," she begged.
"No, I want know what he meant by 'Mistralian Huntsmen'!"
"It means we'd rather trust them than you," the guy said. The leader turned around and faced the man. The leader looked into his eyes to see stubbornness and anger.
"Why? What did we do to you?"
"You seriously think that we'd trust you after what happened at the Vytal festival? For all we know all of you were just incompetent as that blonde brat."
"You're going to judge us based on one guy?"
"Well you know what they say about rats. You find one in the open, there are ten in the rafters."
The leader let out a growl at that jab and was about to deck the guy in the face. However he knew that if he did it would only prove them right. Maybe the guy will say that Ozpin would make sure the incident would get buried by playing favorites again, or that all faunus are brutes or something like that. So he just growled and left with his team.
Even though Atlas and Vale was having some bad luck with huntsman, some people in Vacuo were starting to think twice about them as well.
"Oi, there has to be more to this right?" the Vacuan huntsman asked. He was inspecting the Dust that the mining group had mined that day. See Shade made a deal with this town where twenty-five percent goes to Shade to help fund the students and huntsmen.
"I don't know what you want from us," The head miner said. "We had a slow day today. Maybe the mine's running out." The huntsman raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on his weapon. The head miner eyed the weapon and gulped.
"We just moved here a couple of days ago. There's no way the mine can be running out already."
"Not all mines are filled to the brink with Dust sir. There are some mines where all we find is iron and stone." The huntsman sighs and rubs his face.
"Fine, if we don't get a better haul in a few days we'll move." The head Miner nodded, and the huntsman took the dust over to the pickup point. When the head miner returned to his workers, he noticed a few of them on break and decided to talk with them. At first it was normal stuff, how their families were, how good the haul was today, etc. But eventually, it went around to how the huntsman were doing in town.
"They're fucking robbers," a worker said. "A bandit has the decency to rob you up front. Shade tries to be your pal while forcing you to pay up."
"I heard one town only has to pay ten percent of what they find," Another one added. "What about you boss?"
"It's not like we have much of a choice," the lead miner stated. "We pay for protection against the grimm and bandits, and huntsmen are the best equipped to handle that."
"Yeah, and where was Picaro's protecton when it got raided?" The first worker said. The lead miner was silent to this. Picaro was one of the fastest towns to get raided. Rumors began going around that the huntsmen in charge there extorted more Dust and money than they needed and left the town to die. The kead Miner didn't believe that, but still…
"I can't deny that. But I'd still rather have both huntsmen and our guards protecting us than just our guards." The first miner grumbled but knew he was right. "Besides, this is Vacuo. Any protection is good protection."
"Not really," Miner two said. "did you hear that Shade let in the fraud of beacon?" The other two leaned in as they heard this.
"You're shitting me," the first one said. The other miner shook his head. Despite being almost week old news, some people were still just finding out about Jaune's acceptance in Shade. After all, people in Vacuo have better things to do than worry about some shmuck who's going to get himself killed.
"No. So not only are we being robbed, but it could be going to a guy who doesn't even know how to use it."
"Well I mean, wasn't he the one that also burned down the bandits who destroyed Picaro?" The lead miner asked. "All I'm saying is if the kid can burn down a bandit camp, he's got to know what he's doing." The other miners nodded in agreement, even if it was only reluctantly. "All right, I'm heading home for tonight guys. Hopefully we'll find a bigger cache tomorrow."
"Good night boss," Miner one said.
"Night." With that they all went their separate ways until tomorrow.
While some of the Vacuan Citizens may think that the huntsman are bandits, they were unaware of what some bandits were planning.
"Why can't we just attack in a few days?" Junkrat asked. "With your mates and mine, not to mention the plan, we can overrun Shade no problem!" Right now Junkrat, Julian, Adam, and Roadhog were in the war room of the camp. It had a giant map of Vacuo in the middle with; dunes, grimm hives, villages, Shade, and other bandit camps painted on it.
"Junkrat, the plan is a rough sketch at this stage," Adam said as he gripped his cane. "Even if all us here were to attack Shade, we wouldn't make as big of a dent if we had more time to gather troops and have a more decisive plan." Adam pointed at a couple of the other bandit camps. "If we try to gather more troops, from the others, there's a better chance that Shade will stay down for good. We don't want to replicate the attack on Vale, we want to make sure it comes crashing down."
"He's right," Roadhog grunted.
"You guys make it sound like we're going to war here," Julian said.
"We are," Adam answered. Junkrat and Julian looked at the red-haired man as if he was nuts. "I'm just preparing for the worst that's all. It took the White Fang had to take months to plan for that attack on Vale, and they didn't even get close to destroying it. Shade is weaker than Vale, so we don't have to plan as long as they did. However, I want to make sure Shade is destroyed, don't you?" Jamison grumbled but nodded his head. Adam could see that the explosive obsessed man was getting antsy. The man sighed, walked over, and gave Jamison a tap with his cane.
"Listen, If there is a chance we can improve our odds, I want to take it. That's why you came to me right?" Another nod from Junkrat. "And, in the event that we fail this attempt, we should be able to get back up and attack again. If we have to start a war just so we don't have to live under Shade's boot, I'm okay with it." He turned and gestured to everyone in the room. "Do you all agree?" A firm nod from Roadhog immediately, and a small one from Julian.
"All right all right," Junkrat grumbled. "Ya made ya point drongo. I can hold off if I need to."
"Besides," Julian added. "Even if some of the others won't help us, I'm sure a few villages share our viewpoint. There'll be no shortage of men."
"Right," Adam agreed. "So that just begs the question: where do we start recruiting?" Roadhog pointed at a map.
"Here," he grunted. Despite a man of few words, Roadhog was able to explain his reasoning for this place. However, Julian proposed they try another place. This meeting was just a back and forth on where to start their recruitment.
Meanwhile, someone else was doing a little bit of recruiting. Only his was a little more… forceful.
In an alley of a town a couple of huntsmen walked down it, hoping to use it as a shortcut to get back home quicker. One was a female with a greatsword, that seemed to have teeth like a chainsaw that would move. The other was a male with a shield and spear, that could shapeshift into a Warhammer.
"You sure this a shortcut, Luna?" the male asked.
"Trust me Jake," Luna said. "We'll be able to get to the shack faster this way." The huntsman known as Jake let out a soft sigh as he continued to follow his teammate. Just as they were about to exit a sack was pulled over Jake's head and he let out a muffled yell.
Luna turned around and unsheathed her sword and saw a masked figure strangling Jake, now with a sack on his head, with a garrote. Luna let out a viscious growl and charged at the wall beside her and kicked off it to get an angle on the assailant.
The assailant kicked Jake over and dodged Luna's sword swing just in the nick of time. Luna was so focused on the guy in front of her she didn't notice two more pop upp from behind her. One was restraining Jake while the other slowly approached her.
Just as Luna was about to swing her sword again someone came from behind and pulled her into a full nelson. She tried to struggle out, but soon the masked man in front of her placed his hands around her head and sent a surge of aura into her head.
"Stop resisting!" a voice said in her head. She could feel her body and mind go numb. "You work for me now!" Luna continued to try and drown the voice out but it continued to get louder, and her body and mind became number. "You will join me and destroy the brats who wronged me!" Eventually Luna stopped struggling and stood straight up. The man let her go and she swayed side to side a bit before she shook her head and saluted the masked man in front of her.
"Yes sir," she mumbled. The masked man nodded his head and went over to Jake, who still had the sack over his head and was being held by the other person. The masked man did the same thing as he did to Luna and eventually the huntsman was under his control. The three assailants then removed their masks. Two were part of Junkrat's gang, but when the last member decided to leave Junkrat's gang, they followed this guy instead.
Eric rubbed his temples and let out a groan. Subduing these two took a lot out of him. When he was done massaging his head commanded the two huntsmen to follow him back to camp. The other two gang member weren't under his control but were just as impatient at getting back at the students who burned their camp down.
"Now what?" one of them asked.
"Now?" Eric said as they all continued to walk. "Now we get our ammo and supplies, sneak into Shade, and gut those brats who made us homeless!"
The next semester for the students at Shade would be interesting. Very interesting indeed.
End of Arc 2.
A/N Holy hell it's been a while huh? Let's see when I last updated and… 4 months. 4 months I left you guys in the dark. I know no matter what excuse I come up with it won't change that. All I can say is that I needed a break to rest my brain, and then college happened. And with the way I ended things with this Arc I know there are some, a few… a lot of questions. So not only will I hold a Q&A, but I'll answer some that I think are on the back of everyone's minds.
Where is Salem and the crew?
Here's the thing, I can't add them into the story, at least not yet. If I did I would basically become RWBY now: Too many plots and not enough time to finish them. Right now I want to focus on Vacuo, and a little bit of Vale and Atlas. I don't want Salem and crew scheming just for the sake of adding them into the story. They may turn up, but that's if and only if I decide to make another story that continues off of this one. Yes I will mention them but they are not the focus of this story.
How often will I update this/when will Arc 3 come out?
Don't count on it being soon. As much as I love updating this fic, College is going to take priority than this. I've already messed up my first semester and have to retake some core classes all over again. That's not exactly something that motivates me to write.
Who am I shipping Jaune with?
Can't say. I may ship him with someone from Shade, I may ship him with someone from Beacon, or he won't be shipped at all! It all depends on what I (and ShadowofZama of course,) think feels natural for them. I don't want to ship people for shipping sake. All I can say is you can interpret my scenes anyway you want.
And those are the ones I can think of. Send me a message or a review for your question and I'll answer them as best I can! Again, for plot's sake I won't give away too much of my future plans but I will try to answer questions as best I can. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and will hopefully see an update soon!
-Ish
Special thanks to ShadowofZama again for sticking with me through this trash heap of a story.