3
8 days after the Fall of Beacon - Just outside of Ansel
It had taken them a week to get to Jaune's village, though that didn't speak to just how stressful it was to get there. The whole kingdom was in an uproar with grimm attacks on the rise and the general populace going wild over the attack on Beacon. The entire world effectively last saw the school being attacked by terrorists, Atlas, and Grimm then suddenly nothing. Word was slow to get around and in the meantime folks came up with their own version of events. In general the faunus population was turning against the White Fang, the schools represented the stand against the Grimm, take them out and everyone loses. Anti-Atlas sentiment was on an all time high, rivaling just after the Great War.
As such, it was easy for the criminal pair to move through and around Vale. Ruby had taken a short time to take a look in person at the state of her school, seeing the devastation and Grimm occupation. It had brought tears to her eyes but she swore then and there that it wouldn't happen again and apologized to Pyrrha for what she was about to do. But saying and doing were two different things, even to Ruby, and it was hard to be around the two criminals, the first night was especially terrible and she ended up not sleeping. After that, though, her body required rest and she got some, if fitful, sleep.
Eventually they made it and Ruby could say she was looking forward to having familiar, friendly faces around. The entire week had gone with only the base amount of communication necessary to get them to their destination, and a light application of Emerald's semblance. The other two waited in the forest on the outskirts of the town of Ansel, there was no reason to cause a scene at Jaune's home and the town itself was basically fully of retired huntsman and huntresses. It was better to be safer than sorry in this case and neither Mercury nor Emerald were keen to try their luck in the middle of a community full of professional hunters.
Ruby made her way alone through the town with it's bustling open air market. Try as she might she didn't spot even a speck of familiar blond hair. The silver-eyed girl cringed at the bitter taste of the coffee she bought from a shop on the way but felt better once she felt the energy seeping through her tired body, revitalizing her mind. The nice barista had even given her directions to the Arc's home as well, with Jaune's family being both well respected and established. His father Nicholas was extremely popular among the other hunters in the town, it seemed.
With only a little bit of trouble she found the place, set a little further away from the town with a lot of space around it. It was a large, almost idyllic, house that could be considered a mansion if one didn't know that the Arc family had ten members. As such there were portions that were clearly expanded on to provide more space. On the front porch was one such member of the Arc family, a blond woman reading a novel, not dissimilar to how Blake used to. Already Ruby could feel her courage leave her. Ask her to slay a Grimm and she would in a heartbeat but facing new people? That was a truly daunting task.
If the bespectacled blonde had noticed her approach she hadn't reacted to it until the brunette was stood on the porch, "Um… Hi. My name is Ruby Rose. I'm a friend of Jaune's." There. Who could argue with that? It was short and to the point, and she hadn't messed up!
Green eyes flashed up from underneath her glasses as she looked up at the small girl on her porch, giving her a considering look before returning to her novel.
"Uh… Is Jaune here?" Ruby asked getting more nervous by the second.
"Yes." Was the woman's short reply, much to her frustration. The brunette let out a low whine before freezing as another voice came from within.
"Coral? Are you talking to someone? You aren't harassing the mailman again are you?" The door opened and another blonde poked her head out, she had longer hair that was braided down the front, blue eyes blinked owlishly, "Who're you?" Obviously unused to having strangers come around.
"Ruby Rose." Came the short reply from the woman named Coral, Ruby guessed she was one of Jaune's older sisters.
"Hi. I came to see Jaune." At the mention of the only boy of the Arc children, her face lit up.
"Oh! I remember now. You're a friend of his from Beacon, aren't you?"
Ruby pulled a small salute, "Yup that's me. Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY. And before you ask: Yes, it gets confusing."
"Well come on in, Jaune's in the back." The older woman led Ruby through a hallway lined with pictures, one standout picture featured all of the Arcs together, Jaune looking about ten years old in it, " I'm Sapphire by the way. As worried as we were about Jaune running away to Beacon, I'm glad to hear he's made friends like you guys."
The 'back' of the house, as it was, didn't really have a backyard but rather an expanse of yard that stretched around the house. The clashing of steel rung out and even reached into the house. Out of the sliding glass door, Ruby could see her friend in the middle of sparring with someone that could only be his father. A blond scraggly beard match the long hair that hung down to his shoulders as he wove his sword in a gleaming, intricate, pattern leaving afterimages in the air. The pure force put into each blow that battered down onto Jaune's defense even had Ruby flinching.
By chance the silver eyed leader had looked up to see the pained grimace on Sapphire's face at each hit Jaune endured. Jaune's father's sword flicked to the side, sending his shield away from his body as the older man slide into his guard, sending an elbow straight into Jaune's cheek and his son tumbling to the ground. It was at that point that Sapphire slid the door open causing everyone present to look over for a brief moment.
A loud shriek thundered into Ruby's ears, "Ruby!" And a ginger missile collided with her a moment later, taking her to the ground.
"Hi, Nora." Ruby managed to gasp out from the death grip the girl had on her.
"Nora. You're crushing her." Calm the soothingly calm voice of Nora's partner, Ren., though the woman ignored it wholeheartedly.
"Ren look who it is! It's Ruby!"
"And it will be past tense if you keep hold of her like that." Ren retorted.
"Pfft. Noooo~" Nora answered but let go nonetheless and making Ren Ruby's new favorite person. Behind her sister, father, uncle, and partner of course. The small huntress gulped down more oxygen after being released and gave Ren a thankful nod. The pitying look in his eyes said that he'd been through much the same.
"Hey guys. And, um, it's nice to meet you Jaune's father." Even Ruby cringed at that however the older huntsman waved his hand and introduced himself.
"You can call me Nicholas. Since he's finally come home, Jaune's told us a lot about his friends. I hope he wasn't too bad at Beacon." Nicholas held his hand out and Ruby took it, noticing just how big and rough his hands were. They had definitely gone through harsh training, like her own Dad's hands.
"Hey Ruby." Jaune finally got a word in and gave her a brief side hug, "What are you doing all the way in Ansel?"
"Weeeelll…" Ruby poked her index fingers together and stole a glance at his father. She didn't know how much she could say in front of him. If he caught on to her travelling with two fugitives then things would probably get ugly, she was technically an accomplice after all. The thought was one to cause her stomach to flip uncomfortably, something she'd been having trouble coming to terms with in the last week. A part of her hoped she never did, "I'm on my way to Haven."
"Why?" Nora popped up, "What could possibly be in Mistral? Tell us!"
"Uh." Ruby really hadn't thought it through and panicked, "I'm going to school there!"
"But what about the rest of your team?" Of course she could count on Nora to ask the hard questions.
"Not coming." Ruby relented, her eyes casting downwards as she thought about the rest of her team. Yang was in a bad spot because of her arm, Weiss was taken back to Atlas by her father, and Blake was just missing. She would have loved to track their faunus teammate down, rescued Weiss and helper her sister but she couldn't. What she was doing was far too important.
"You're okay with leaving your team behind?" Jaune's voice wasn't meant to be accusatory but it hit a nerve for Ruby.
"I'm not. But I have to do it anyways. We- I have to get to Mistral." Ruby glared lightly at Jaune, trying to remember that he didn't know the stakes, not yet.
"Well." Nicholas barged in, "I'll let Jun know to expect one more for dinner."
"Oh, no Ja- er, Sir. I don't want to impose." Her cheeks started suffusing with heat.
"Nonsense. Juniper would have my head if you didn't." With the way he laughed it off, Ruby wasn't sure it was a joke, "Sapphire, would you go make sure Coral doesn't forget to come to dinner?"
With that the four teenagers were suddenly left alone as Jaune's father and sister disappeared back into the house. The silence stretched on and grew awkward, that was until Nora broke the silence. A lot of the time the girl seemed much more socially aware than she let on, like she could read the mood and choose to ignore it. This time, however, she was almost solemn and looked at Ruby with naked concern in her blue eyes.
"What's going on Ruby?"
"What?" The girl in question was taken aback, "What do you mean?"
Nora gave her a flat look, "Well for one Ansel is south of Vale and Kingsport's the best way to get to Anima. If you're going to Mistral you wouldn't be heading this way, it would extend your trip by, like, two weeks if you walked."
Like a deer in headlights, Ruby froze for a moment before looking away guiltily. She wasn't even sure why she was hiding it, she needed to tell them anyway, "I am going to Haven. I just had a reason to come see you guys first." She pushed her fingertips together, "I might need, er, want you to come with me to Mistral?" Ruby wanted to slap her palm to her forehead.
"You want us to go to school with you in Mistral?" Jaune asked, clearly confused.
"No!" Ruby waved her hands in front of her, frustrated at how poorly the conversation had been going, "I'm going to Haven, but not for school." She looked around to make sure nobody was close enough to listen but her next words were in a whisper anyway, "I found out Cinder's plan. We're going to stop her from doing to Haven what she did to Beacon."
All three of them had visible reactions, but Jaune's was the strongest. His eyes flashed with anger and grief, "WHAT?!-"
He didn't get further than that because Ren's hand snaked out to land on his shoulder, the blond calming down unnaturally. Jaune cut his eyes at his teammate for using his semblance on him but when he continued his voice was under control.
"What do you mean you know what her plans are? How?" He hissed at her.
"I'll explain that later." Ruby deflected. That would not be a fun conversation, not that the current one was either, "Look, I need your help. I can't do this on my own and team RWBY is… isn't together right now."
The three remaining members of team JNPR exchanged worried glances and were hesitant to answer. Ruby's heart sunk at their reaction, she'd hoped they would hear her out. Tears threatened her eyes and she turned around so they couldn't see her face, "Fine. I'll just go on my own then."
Before she could take a step a hand latched onto her wrist, when she turned around it was to see Nora who had grabbed her. A sad smile crossed the girl's face, "I'll go with you Ruby."
Nora pulled the younger girl into a crushing hug while looking at Ren expectantly, the boy chuckled lightly, "What kind of huntsman would overlook something like this? If Nora's in, I am as well."
The person to agree hesitated, Ruby peeked out from Nora's bosom to look at her friend. She could see the conflict on his face but slowly he nodded and as he did so she could see the determination fill his sapphire eyes, "Team Juniper will stick together."
Ruby felt relief wash over her as she sank into Nora's bear hug. Despite knowing what kind of people her friends were a part of her had been worried that they, too, would abandon her. No, my team hasn't abandoned me either! She told herself.
"Thanks, guys. You have no idea how much this means to me." Ruby mumbled into Nora's shirt. Even if her team wasn't there to help her, she still had some amazing friends.
Dinner, for Jaune, was an awkward and embarrassing affair. His mother had bombarded Ruby with many questions and a few had left both Ruby and himself red faced with their implications. She had read way too much into a young girl coming so far out of her way to visit him and his sisters didn't help. Luckily enough, however, Lavender had been quick to make friends with his fellow team leader and Jaune was happy his sister had someone her own age to talk to.
Ansel was small enough that it didn't have many children so the girls tended to make friends wherever they went, except for Coral. His father looked disgruntled but he always had since Jaune had come home. He didn't like his only son following in his footsteps but now that Jaune had taken steps down the path seemed resigned to at least training him so he wouldn't die.
Once in a while Jaune caught Nicholas eyeing him but never held his gaze for long. It was almost a knowing look his father sent him and it confused the boy through the course of dinner. Ren and Nora started packing immediately afterwards and Jaune slowly stuffed his pack with spare clothes and camping equipment. The idea that he was going to run away once again was not lost on him and he felt just as terrible for doing it a second time.
But they would understand. They had to. If they could forgive him for running off to play hero then this was all the better. He had a goal now, people to protect and monsters to stop. Maybe when it was over he'd be able to fill that aching emptiness he felt whenever he thought of Pyrrha.
Ren and Nora had gone ahead with Ruby as he finished up packing because his father wouldn't question them, but rather him. So he waited and waited for the sun to fall and the night to burn on. It was close to midnight and he was sure his family was asleep as he made his way through the house as quietly as he could. Stopping in the darkness he let his gaze linger on one of the pictures on the wall. It had been taken he'd returned from Beacon, his family had forced it on him because they had been so worried about him.
With a sigh and an apology he left through the front door, being careful to close it quietly behind him.
"If you were sorry, you wouldn't be doing it, Jaune." The voice came from the side as the door clicked shut and startled him. His father was standing there, waiting for him, and Jaune's eyes trailed to his father's waist feeling his blood run cold. Nicholas' faithful blade, Argentum, was sheathed there. The son's mind raced as he tried to think of a way he could get away but knew it was futile.
His father was not just a professional huntsman but a really successful one, he had to be to support a family as large as theirs. Not only that but the man had been knocking him around since he'd gotten home, trying to pound some swordsmanship into his skull, literally if the bruises were anything to go by.
"Dad?" Jaune asked, taking a step back.
"Idiot son." Was the man's reply as he stepped forward, "Where are you going this late?"
"Arcade." Jaune said, desperately trying to play it off.
"When it's closed and with a travelling pack?" Nicholas shot down the excuse with ease, "Where were you really going?"
"To Haven. I want to become a huntsman, after all." Jaune tried Ruby's excuse.
"Really? I thought you'd given up on being a hero, Jaune." His father's eyes hardened as he stared his son down, "Heroes are only good for one thing. Dying. And I won't let you go off and get yourself killed on a pointless quest for vengeance."
"Vengeance? How did you…" Jaune trailed off, shocked.
"How did I know?" Nicholas scoffed, "Your friend was a terrible liar, I heard her little confession."
"You eavesdropped on us?!" Jaune asked incredulously.
"Don't deflect!" His father roared, "I'm not going to let you run off and die, Jaune. I refuse to see your mother hurt like that."
"And this isn't about me!" Jaune roared back, no longer caring about being heard, it was all pointless anyways if his father had found him, "Ruby's off to face someone dangerous and she's going to do it with or without me. I'm going to protect her, not for revenge."
"Then you'll die with her." Nicholas said with a voice that said he was feeling all of his years.
"I won't. I'll make sure we all come back, I'm not gonna lose someone else." Jaune felt his frustrated tears burn against his eyes.
"Prove it then." Nicholas said as he drew Argentum, the steel rasping against the sheath, "Prove that you're strong enough to come back."
Was his father giving him a chance? It didn't matter, then. Nicholas was strong but Jaune only had to prove himself, not necessarily beat him. Crocea Mors was drawn and deployed, Jaune taking a stance from behind the shield with his blade held pointing towards his father. There was nothing left to say, one of the first lessons his father had instilled in him being that talking had no place in combat.
Jaune kicked off the ground and followed behind his shield, trying to use the blunt force to batter his way into Nicholas' guard. The older huntsman spun to the side in a wide sweep of his sword. Jaune acted quickly and brought his blade up to meet his father's. The clang of steel marked the true start of the duel and the first strike sent a numbing feeling up his arm. His father hit like a truck and for sure wasn't pulling any blows.
Nicholas slid his blade along Corcea Mors and up into the air into a vertical swing, putting both hands into the blow. Jaune raised his shield right over his head to receive the strike but felt his knees driven into the ground by the force. His father wasn't about to let up and drove his knee into his chin. With spots dancing in his eyes Jaune rolled back to his feet and managed to face his father just in time to move his head to the side of a thrust meant for his eyes, seizing the opportunity Crocea Mors shot out and scored a direct hit across Nicholas' ribs, skittering off of his aura.
The older man's arm trapped the blade to his side, using his aura to prevent getting cut while he brought this sword around to smash his fist into Jaune's cheek repeatedly. The third strike met the shield portion of Crocea Mors. With a kick to his father's stomach, he drew his blade free with a flourish that grated on Nicholas' aura.
Allowing the disengage, his father straightened his stance while Jaune mirrored him. Nicholas' face could have been carved from granite with a certainty etched into his face that his father knew with unfaltering belief what the outcome would be. Jaune wouldn't let him have it his way, however, and was determined not to let his father have his way.
Both men tensed as a voice rang out, "What the hell are you doing!"
Both had the decency to look guilty as Juniper Arc strode angrily out of the homestead, fire in her green eyes, "Why is it that I wake up to find the two men in my life beating each other in the middle of the night?"
She stopped just short of Nicholas causing the tall man shrink into himself in front of his wife's glare.
"Jun, I was stopping Jaune from leaving again." He said quietly.
"Oh good! And how were you going to do that then Nicky?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice, "Break his legs as lock him up inside?"
"If I need to. Better he be alive to hate me." Nicholas finally looked Juniper in the eyes and she looked over at her son, standing there defiantly with Crocea Mors still drawn though he withered under her glare, the tip of his sword drooping to rest on the ground.
"You're both idiots." Juniper finally came to a conclusion with an exasperated sigh, "Tell me what's going on."
It was an order and Jaune complied out of habit, "Ruby." Both of their attentions turned to him, "She's doing something dangerous and she needs my help."
"She can't be the only one who can go after these dangerous criminals, Jaune." Nicholas spoke up, regaining some of his backbone now that Juniper's ire wasn't exclusively on him.
"Maybe not but she's doing it anyway. So either I can sit this out and let her get hurt, or look after her." Jaune finally sheathed Crocea Mors back at his hip but his posture didn't change, he stood tall, as tall as his father. Juniper looked her son up and down.
"You'd go that far for her?" Jaune nodded to his mother and she looked back at her husband, "Look at him Nicky. Do you think you can stop him?"
Jaune met his father's gaze steadily, sensing his fate hinged on that question. Blue eye met blue as the father and son stared at one another, sizing each other up, "No." Was his final answer.
"I know you didn't want this life for him, but it's something he chose. Maybe before I would have agreed but look at him. Look at how our little boy has grown. He's chosen his path, Nicholas, is it right for you to deny him?"
Nicholas stared at her in anguish, "I suppose you are right Jun. I don't like it. But I can't force him."
He walked up to his son, pulling the tense teen into a crushing hug, "Promise me Jaune. Promise me you'll come back."
Jaune felt something stick in his throat but forced past it anyways, "Of course, Dad. I promise."
After another crushing hug from his mother he left them with an apology to his sisters that he couldn't say goodbye to them either. They would be angry but if he had to face them like he was at the moment he doubted he would be able to go through with it. Jade and Hazel would be the most angry, Sapphire would be the most worried. Jaune hoped it wouldn't affect Lavender too much. He forced himself not to look back and instead proceeded through the settlement to just outside it, where the coordinates Ruby provided earlier led him.
There was a campfire going in a small clearing just far enough outside the walls of Ansel that they couldn't be seen in the woods. He couldn't hear any talking and as soon as he entered the campsite he understood why. Nora stood with her hammer in her hands and even Ren had Stormflower drawn. In front of them stood Ruby placing herself between the two and the others in the camp. He didn't know what he had expected when he heard that Ruby had others helping her. Jaune had assumed they were other students from Beacon, he hadn't expected this. Instead he saw two of the people responsible for the state of the academy as it was standing there behind Ruby, Emerald and Mercury.
There was a rasp of steel as Crocea Mors was drawn in a flash.
A/N: Well here it is and once again the Arc family I'm using here are from Coeur Al'Aran's stories.
Here we go, Jaune's seen Merc and Em. Sorry for ending it on a cliffhanger I just felt that the scene would need it's own setting. Not much to say really except that I hope to be off my official hiatus sometime soon and back to a steady schedule.