A/N: Aaaaand we're back! Sorry for the delay on this. I was struck with an idea I eventually had to put down, but not before burning writing time. So, the story will be dealing with change of scenery and some additions to the cast; please let me know how I do in the coming chapter. I can't improve if I don't know what needs improving, after all. I'll have a bit more in post, which I think may become a more regular feature, Thank you for reading, and please enjoy chapter five!
This one goes out to A Stereotypical Gamer. I started writing because of you, and even if you published a Ninjas of Love fic while I was in the middle of writing one, you're still a writer I respect. Ya bastard.
It took his mother about ten minutes to finally accept that yes, Jaune was not harmed. Clair Arc had straight blonde hair, kept tied back in a bun, and clearly showed signs of having raised eight children. More than a few of the lines on her face were no doubt his fault; probably the ones she was reinforcing during this call. "Jaune, I know I'm repeating myself, but I have every right: I was terrified! Your father sprinting out of his office, telling me the school our boy is at was attacked by terrorists? I have every right to be worried."
"I know, Mom, but I'm alright. You don't need to keep worrying, I'm safe." His mom clearly wanted to counter that, probably with "Beacon was safe" or something, but decided not to beat the dead horse.
"So, what happens now, Jaune? What are you going to do?"
"I've talked with the professors, and they'd like the younger students to disperse. We're a drain on resources, and probably not really in the best mood for not attracting Grimm. My team is all from Anima, so we're planning on coming home to Bar." His mother brightened at the news. "I didn't want to show up with three guests without calling, and you needed to know I'm okay."
He could already tell his mother, masterly matron, was already planning how to take care of his team. "Three people?" He nodded, "Give me some details, honey. I'll not let anyone think little of Arc hospitality."
"One boy, two girls. They're Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha. Ren and Nora are from Anima, and are about night and day; one of the girls should pick up some tea for Ren, and we'll need to put the non-decaf in a locked cabinet to stop Nora. Pyrrha's Mistrali, and would be too polite to complain if we made her sleep in a tub. Pyrrha's allergic to peanuts, but no other big food things with us. Our room is co-ed, so you don't need to get two rooms ready, Mom. The four of us could just pile into Rogue and I's room."
His mother nodded along contently, until she heard "co-ed". "Oh, don't worry, honey. Blanche stayed the night last night, so Nora and Pyrrha can just take her old room. That won't be a problem." She spoke with such conviction, Jaune was unsure whether it was a threat or not.
"We'll probably be in tomorrow or the day after, I haven't check on the airship schedule yet. Wait, Blanche? What's Blanche doing at home, wasn't she stationed up in Vytal?"
"She's part of the emergency redeployment to Vale. She flew in on a redeye, and now she's waiting for pick-up along with a couple hundred others. The town's bursting with people right now; Mr. Green probably kept the diner open through the night, and town hall is an emergency barracks right now. But they'll be heading into Vale soon enough, don't worry about space, Jaune."
"Thanks Mom, I really appreciate this. Look, I'm about to get to my tent, so I have to go. I love you."
His mother smiled warmly: "I love you too Jaune. Say hello to your father for me, and stay safe."
He hung up, and paused outside his tent, going back over the talk.
Well, that went pretty well! He knew his mother wasn't happy about him going to Beacon, he honestly expected a very longwinded "I told you so" after she knew he wasn't hurt. He had the grim thought that the attack on Beacon apparently had that silver lining.
Jaune ducked in and promptly started speaking. "I just called home, and we're expect-" He promptly stopped speaking when he noticed their guest. His father, Col. Nicholas Arc, was standing in the middle of the tent, his team lined up like troops on parade, and RWBY looking very uncomfortable behind them. His father turned his head and eyed Jaune for a long moment.
Neither man moved, no one did.
In two great steps, Jaune's father had wrapped him in a crushing hug. "I was so worried, son", his father whispered in his shoulder, gripping tighter for a few moments. Jaune was caught off guard for a moment, but soon gripped the older man just as tight. After a moment, however, Jaune and his father stepped back from each other, his father's arms on his.
"Jaune, are you alright? I got here as soon as I could. The situation is far worse than I thought."
Jaune, still somewhat surprised, snapped back into himself. "I'm okay, Dad. We," and he waved towards his friends, "didn't have it easy, but we're still here. I called Mom, too, don't worry." His father nodded at that.
"I arrived a few moments ago, we had just started introductions." A polite cough from behind them. Jaune noticed the mild panic on Pyrrha's face, and confusion on _WBY. He turned his father to face everyone.
"Guys, this is my dad, Colonel Nicholas Arc. Dad, these are Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose of team RWBY, my teammates Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, and my partner Pyrrha Nikos." His friends offered various weak smiles and restrained hellos, save for Nora's dramatic wave. His father was currently zoned in on Yang and Ruby, however.
Clear concern was painted on his father's face as he stepped up next to Yang: "How is she, Miss Xiao Long?"
Yang seemed hesitant, but spoke up: "She's in some kind of coma, we don't know what's wrong. The docs can't find anything wrong with her…"
"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope both of you make sound recoveries. Things will turn out, trust me." Yang just nodded, returning to watching over her sister. His father stayed by Yang for a few more moments, before standing back up to face Jaune's team. Switching from his "Father of seven girls voice" to his "Commanding officer voice", he addressed Pyrrha.
"Miss Nikos, I do hope my son hasn't been too much trouble?"
Pyrrha, to Jaune's distress, had a hard time meeting his father's eyes. "Jaune saved my life not three days ago, sir." That certainly caught his old man's attention, who shot him a quick glance. Before they could delve deeper, however, Nora took the lead.
"Nice to meet ya, Mr. Arc! Jaune's a great team leader, thanks for lending him to us!" Jaune had to admire his teammate, she didn't intend to let everything weigh her down without a fight. Ren did not speak, simply nodding at Nora's statement.
"Well, it's good to hear you've been doing well, Jaune." His father loosened a bit out of the officer routine at his friends' words. "I'm sorry, son, I don't have much time, but is there anything I should know? Anything I can do?" Duty called, of course. Jaune could hardly be upset about that, given the circumstances.
"Uh, Professor Goodwitch can tell you everything about Beacon, but my team is planning to head home to Bar. We were gonna try and catch a ride out tomorrow, maybe the day after." His father waved that aside, though.
"I can get you out tonight. I assume your mother told you about Blanche?" He nodded. "You can take the flight picking her up out to Bar. I have to get to a meeting or ten, but once I'm free I'll take care of transport and come see you. We can talk properly, then." His father hesitated for a moment, but went to hug Jaune again. He embraced his father one more time, before Nicholas stepped back to face the group.
"Thank you all, for my son's safety. Good Luck." A chorus of goodbyes, and Nicholas Arc was off.
Jaune turned to face his friends. "Sooo, that's my dad."
Pyrrha felt her panic seep out when Jaune's father left their tent, nearly sagging back onto her bed.
The man had been kind, albeit concerned, when Jaune had been present, but Col. Arc looked prepared to tear Vale down around him prior to his son's arrival. The man's arrival and burning eyes were a reminder to Pyrrha that there was something wrong in the world beyond her friends' troubles, a reminder that something terrible had happened.
Even with Yang and Ruby's conditions, she'd almost forgotten that, hidden behind her friends. She had almost made herself ignore the troubles weighing on them. Mr. Arc was a new dose of reality.
"He seems like a good man." Yang spoke up from her spot by Ruby. Pyrrha realized Jaune was staring at her then, but he broke off to look at Yang.
"Comes with raising so many kids. You look like an Arc, too. Sorry about that, guys, I wanted to catch my dad before he ran into you all." Jaune headed to his cot, next to her, and made to check on what little gear he had.
"You alright, Pyr?" He whispered, digging through his half-empty bag. She just nodded, trying to collect herself.
"He can be gruff, I know, but it's alright, he," Jaune stopped and she could feel his eyes on her. "It's not about him?" She just nodded again. Jaune stood up, and gave her a light hug, which she returned with a bit more force. "It's not your fault, Pyrrha."
She found her voice eventually: "I know, it's just… having an angry soldier barge in and turn out to be a scared father is terrifying. I felt sick the whole time Yang was talking to her father, and then your father showed up, and it's been a bit too much." She let go of him, and took a few deep breaths. Ren had tried teaching the whole team some of his calming exercises before their first mission, and she decided now would be a good time to try them again.
While she calmed herself, Jaune went back to searching through his things. "Like I was saying, I called home, let them know to expect us. We don't exactly have a lot of baggage, so we don't need to worry about losing stuff." Ren chuckled a little at that. "Yang, Blake, Weiss? I didn't plan on leaving you guys so soon, but my folks are pretty adamant. Will you be okay on your own? We can help out with anything before we go."
"There's not much for us to do ourselves, Jaune," Weiss replied. "Yang father is going to take us in, and we'll head out tomorrow for Patch. In her condition, Ruby's obviously a concern, but there's nothing any of us can do about it. We'll get a medic to check on her before we leave, but none of us can do more than change the solution bags. We don't have much to carry either."
When she felt calm again, Pyrrha made her way over to Blake, plopping down next to her as their friends checked on their gear and packed spare rations in bags. "Well, today has been too exciting already."
Blake hummed a response, turning to face her. "I doubt it will get easier, Pyrrha. I have a feeling all of us are going to have a long few days."
Now it was her turn to hum back. They sat together, watching their friends try and act busy for a few minutes. Jaune checking and rechecking his equipment, Yang and Weiss mothering over Ruby, Ren making sure Nora had whatever she needed and Nora making sure Ren wasn't straining himself. "Thank you, Blake. Our little talk earlier, mortifying though it was, probably did wonders for all of us. I've been staving off the fear, and it helps when we can laugh a little."
"You said it yourself, Pyrrha; friends look out for one another. I needed to laugh just as much as you, too." They returned to amicable quiet for a little longer.
"So," Pyrrha began, "can you think of anything else to lighten the mood?"
Blake's smirk was deadly: "Have you ever heard Yang sing?"
After his father had left, the day had been surprisingly nice, if a little tense. RWBY and JNPR traded stories, trying to keep the air light, laughing like it was any other day at Beacon. It felt good to pretend, even if for only a few hours.
The team had slung their meager packs, and made to make their goodbyes to RWBY. Nora gave each of them a tight hug, while Ren was a little more reserved. Pyrrha gave Blake a letter, asking her to pass it along to Sun or another Mistral student. Jaune himself gave a quick hug to Blake and Yang, a simple "see you around" to Weiss, who was still recovering from Nora's hug, and then he sat down by Ruby.
"Hey Ruby. JNPR's off, but well come visit Patch, oaky? Normally, I'd make sure a friend wasn't sleeping in so much, but with what you've done, I'll let it slide this once. Make sure you get better though, we need you back." He gave her a light hug, ruffled her hair a bit for old time's sake, and joined his team. She slept through it all.
"We'll see you around. Keep in touch." A chorus of teary goodbyes, and JNPR was off for the docks.
He checked his scroll to get their landing pad number from his father. His dad wanted to talk to him before they took off, so he'd meet them at the ship. Jaune felt like he should have been nervous, but between his mother's response and his father's initial actions, he didn't think he'd be in trouble. Beyond that, the team was in good spirits, all things considered. Ren seemed to be back at full strength, Nora's cheerfulness felt more organic, and Pyr's concerns had eased as their day went on. A part of him was sure this was a sign of only worse to come, but paranoia never did anyone any good.
Well, that wasn't really true, but it wouldn't do him any good.
The camp was a mess of activity, with soldiers and huntsmen running this way and that, despite the growing darkness. The impromptu airfield at the end of the stadium was crowded, with groups coming and going constantly, and a line of vehicles ranging from passenger aircraft to mass transit vehicles shuffling between pads and the sky.
"We're due at pad 4 in fifteen minutes, come on." They pushed into the swarm of people, keeping their eyes locked on their target. After not a small amount of pushing, sidestepping, scrambling, and apologizing, JNPR piled onto the large carrier craft waiting for them. The only occupants present beyond themselves was Jaune's father. Nicholas stepped towards a door out of the main passenger bay, and motioned for Jaune to join him. Stowing his things, he ran up to catch him.
"Hey, Dad. Thanks for this."
"It's nothing, Jaune, the ship has to head out anyway." His father looked down at his boots, trying to find the right words. "We weren't happy that you went behind our backs when you applied to Beacon, Jaune. None of us wanted to see you go get yourself hurt. But, your mother and I decided we couldn't stop you, and we didn't want to end on a bad note." Here was the rebuke he had been waiting for.
"We were wrong, Jaune. I was wrong. You've done well here, it shows in how your team looks at you, stand up for you. I can feel it in your grip. See it in how you walk. The boy I saw off while his mother distracted his sisters has grown into a man, and I wasn't there to see it happen. I'm sorry, Jaune. I doubted you, and you went and proved your old man a fool."
What. Jaune wasn't sure he could make a real sentence.
Well, he had to try.
"But… but Beacon? The festival? All that's happened!"
His father shook his head: "None of it is your fault, son, none of this was inside your power. Someone else made an already dangerous place even more dangerous, someone I intend to hunt down, but you were already out there. You are strong enough for this future, I don't doubt it, and I've asked around. Charging to the center of the arena in the middle of a Grimm attack to save a teammate from shell shock? Jaune, how can I ever think you incapable of the path you've chosen when you would do that?" Nicholas pulled his son into another hug, holding him tight against his wiry frame. "I'm proud of you, Jaune. I won't ever stop worrying, nor will your mother, but you can do this."
Jaune and Nicholas were gone for a while, and Pyrrha fidgeted in her seat. Jaune's father didn't instill fear in her like he had before, but the man was still Jaune's father: a bit of nervousness was perfectly normal, right? Nora was rambling about what it'd be like to meet Jaune's family, but she fell quiet when the two stepped back out of their conference. Jaune stood a little taller, his father seemed happy. They walked over to them, his father addressing them.
"You're all welcome in our home for as long as you'd like, I'm sure my wife will make that apparent. I'll do what I can for Beacon, I promise. It's the least I can do to repay you for what you've done for my son." He shook Ren's hand, as well as Nora's. He stopped in front of her, though. She fought with all her might to keep eye contact with him.
And was completely surprised when he pulled her into a hug.
Jaune sure does come from a physical family, she mused, but Mr. Arc spoke quietly to her then.
"Thank you, Miss Nikos, for caring for my Jaune. Watch out for him, will you?"
She felt an immense rush of pride at his words. She replied simply: "I always will, sir."
Post: There we go, JNPR has flown the coop and will be off for a new setting! I know I left last chapter with a bit of a threatening air, and then get all warm with the family. I've realized over the last few months of writing that I'm something of a fan of literary bait and switches. Which is not to say all my cliffhangers will resolve nicely, just that I may do that. As I've mentioned in the story, RWBY will make a return, but they will definitely not be players in the story. I don't believe many other members of the cast will make appearances, but I'll see where my fingers take me, yeah? Have a good one, folks!