"It is good to see you alive, Mr. Arc." One of Vale's Councilors, Johannes Umber, said through the video call in Ozpin's office.

"Thank you, sir. I'm glad I'm alive too." Jaune said respectfully, doing his best to hide his nervousness.

Shortly after his parents had left Beacon to head back home Ozpin pulled him aside to inform him that the Council wanted to speak with him, after which he'd promptly been led to the Headmaster's office.

The other male councilor, Aristotle Brachs, chuckled at his response. "I'd imagine so." He leaned back in his seat. "Still, this is rather unprecedented. No offense, young man, but nobody expected to see you alive again. Especially not after we ordered an end to the search." He put on a contrite look. "Which I hope you are willing to forgive us for, even though we felt it was for the best."

"I understand, Councilor. You had no reason to risk more lives for somebody that was probably dead." He assured the man. And it was true, he did understand, even if a small part of himself resented them for abandoning him.

"Still, your return is truly fortuitous." The only female council member, Cienna Gunder, said with a smile. "The events of the Breach still hang heavy over the city. Once we inform the press that a Beacon student survived the Deathlands to make it back on his own, morale should improve substantially."

"The press?" Jaune asked, surprised. A part of him knew he shouldn't be, but he wasn't used to being someone the press could care about. That was more Pyrrha's thing.

"Of course, Mr. Arc." Ozpin said from his place standing beside his student. "You haven't really been exposed to the concept yet much, as a first year, but part of a Huntsman's duties is to make the citizenry feel safe and keep morale high. As the councilor said, news of your survival will help mitigate the feelings caused by the Breach."

Jaune scratched the back of his head. "I guess… I'm just not really comfortable with it. I didn't come to Beacon to become famous. I mean, I knew that returning would give me some cred, but nothing like what you're implying."

"Understandable." Cienna said. "However, even if we didn't make some sort of statement to the press regarding your survival, they would find out anyway simply due to word of mouth. I have no doubt your classmates have already begun spreading the word through social media."

Jaune frowned, not having considered that, before nodding in understanding. "Will I have to make a statement myself…?"

"No." Cienna said as she looked at her scroll. "I have my office preparing a statement that will be released within the hour, once Ozpin gives it a look over." She looked back at the call. "That said, you shouldn't be surprised when you're eventually approached by the press. They may not be able to reach Beacon without Ozpin's permission, but you'll have to leave sometime."

Jaune grimaced. "Yeah, I need some new clothes, along with a few other things. Also need to talk to some people in Vale."

After a moment of silence Aristotle cut in. "In any case, there are some other things to discuss with you." He said, looking down at his own scroll. "Ozpin has informed us of the wealth you brought back, showing us the coin you provided to Doctor Oobleck. I've reached out to my advisors on such matters, and they've stated that no coins such as those are known of so far." He said. "What do you plan to do with them, young man?"

"Well…" Jaune said after a moment. "I might keep one or two as souveniers, but they're not much use to me otherwise, so I was going to sell them. I asked Weiss Schnee about my options, but she said that selling them just for their gold content would lose me money, and I should sell to collectors and museums."

Aristotle nodded, pleased. "A shrewd young woman. Yes, that's most likely your best bet."

Ozpin cut in. "I already have Doctor Oobleck reaching out to his contacts in academia to find buyers for the coins in order to get Mr. Arc the best deal possible."

Jaune didn't miss how Aristotle's face briefly flickered into annoyance before his genial look was back on. "Good, good. Please let me know if there's any way my office can help."

"The coins do bring up another issue." Johannes said next after watching his colleagues talk with an amused smile on his face. "It has been less than a day, but I've already got several petitions from archeologists and historians to allow an expedition to the ancient city where Mr. Arc found them. Primarily from Doctor Oobleck and his associates."

"Well, you're obviously not going to approve that." Cienna said matter of factly. "While even I'll admit it's a valuable find, and I honestly know little of such things, the fact is that it's simply too dangerous."

Johannes hummed thoughtfully before glancing at his other colleague.

Aristotle scratched his chin. "It might be a profitable venture." He said slowly. "Not only is there the possibility of more coins like the ones Mr. Arc found, but the report Ozpin submitted mentioned weapons and armor that have somehow survived the test of time. I'm no smith, but if they had some sort of special forging technique used to make things last that long, it might be invaluable to us. And then there's whatever other relics that might be found other than what the young man reported."

Johannes folded his hands, looking down in thought for a moment before looking back at Jaune. "What do you say, Mr. Arc? As someone that's actually been there, I imagine your opinion would be of some value."

Jaune was surprised he was being asked for his opinion, but after a glance at Ozpin he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess… it depends on the security and method of travel…" He said slowly. "When they were out looking for me they used bullheads and managed to search without any losses, at least from what I know. If it was a decently sized force of huntsmen, maybe with some of General Ironwood's mechs to work security on the perimeter and stand watch, and they could head straight for the site without having to travel by foot… It would still be dangerous, but not as much. At least in my opinion."

Johannes was nodding along as Jaune spoke. "I'll take that under consideration as I weigh the matter." He said once Jaune was finished. "Doctor Oobleck said you were going to assist him with a paper on what you found. I have no doubt I'll receive more requests after that, so I'll hold off on making a decision till then."

"That sounds like a wise course of action." Ozpin said as he nodded as well. "In any case, is there anything else you need my student for, councilors? I have no doubt he wants to be with his friends at the moment."

The councilors glanced at each other before Cienna shook her head. "No, that should be all, Ozpin." She smiled at Jaune. "Again, it is good to see you alive, Mr. Arc."

After the council had signed off Ozpin turned to the blonde. "You did well, Mr. Arc. And I'm glad you've agreed to use your situation to boost morale."

"Thank you, sir." Jaune said before hesitating briefly. "Councilor Brachs didn't seem happy that you were helping with the gold."

Ozpin sipped his coffee as he moved behind his desk. "Councilor Brachs is in charge of Vale's economy and trade, among other things. He was likely hoping to obtain part of the money from the sale as a brokerage fee to add to the treasury by helping you sell the coins. It is, after all, a not inconsiderable amount of money."

"Oh." Jaune said simply. "But you shut him down by telling him that Doctor Oobleck was already helping."

"Essentially." Ozpin said with a small smile. "The man wouldn't exactly have tried to cheat you, Mr. Arc, but that doesn't change the fact that he would have been more focused on getting the best deal for himself than for you."

Jaune once again adopted a thoughtful look. "Alright, in that case… If Beacon helps me get them sold for the best possible price, ten percent of the total will be Beacon's to help with funding, including a bonus in the teachers' paychecks." He smiled at the surprised Ozpin. "How does that sound?"

Ozpin blinked before chuckled slightly, a smile curling his lips. "That's quite generous of you, Mr. Arc. That's likely more than Councilor Brachs was hoping to get out of you. Are you sure?"

Jaune shrugged. "If it's going to be as much money as you're implying, then it won't actually hurt me much. It'll still be more than enough."

"I'll let Bartholomew know. It will incentivize him even more to find good buyers. I will reach out to some of my own contacts as well, of course."

"Thank you, sir." Jaune said with a smile. "Was there anything else?"

"Not at the moment, Mr. Arc." Ozpin said. "Please, go relax with your friends. Enjoy the week off from class you've been given to the fullest. You have a lot to catch up on afterwards, after all."

Jaune grimaced. "Don't remind me…" With one last smile and respectful nod he turned and left the office, leaving Ozpin to ponder.

The next morning Jaune was dreaming that he was in a rap battle with Ren as his female friends all wore extremely inappropriate cheerleader uniforms, doing cartwheels and high kicks that revealed they weren't wearing any underwear as they cheered the boys on. In the background Zwei was having a pie eating contest with an ursa, and winning, while Goodwitch did a kegstand as Ironwood, Coco and Jaune's mother chanted 'Chug, chug, chug!' and Ozpin breakdanced beside them.

Jaune was about to decimate Ren with a rap after the other boy, who was wearing an Atlesian military uniform, finished his own response. Unfortunately what came out as he opened his mouth was a wheeze as he felt something slam down onto his stomach.

Eyes popping open he flailed, wondering if a Bouncy Ball had ambushed him, before he realized he was back in his dorm at Beacon with a pajama clad Nora sitting on his belly, apparently having landed there after jumping on top of him.

"N-Nora!" Jaune gasped as he tried to get his breath back. "What the hell?"

"You're on the news, Jaune-Jaune!" Nora chirped happily as she hopped off of him, leaving him to lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as he took deep breaths.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said as she walked over to Jaune's bed, red hair slightly dishevelled as she peered at him worriedly. "She'd already jumped before Ren or I could react."

Finally catching his breath Jaune sat up with a groan, rubbing his stomach as he felt phantom pains. He gave Nora a look which made her scratch the back of her head with a sheepish grin before sighed. "Alright, why was I woken up again?"

"I had the news on when they began talking about you." Ren said as he sat with a cup of tea in front of him as the projected screen showed VNN.

Curious in spite of himself Jaune got out of bed and moved over to watch, Pyrrha right behind him.

The screen was showing Team JNPR's team photo with Jaune highlighted, as Lisa Lavender spoke. "-lost months ago in the area of Sanus known as the Deathlands. He is the first person in history to ever return from it, and he did so on his own. Arriving at the border town of Gernsback during a Grimm attack he helped repel it, slaying the massive elder Grimm that was leading the attack single handedly according to eyewitnesses. Afterwards he was brought back to Beacon Academy, where he has been resting and recuperating for most of the time, aside from an exhibition spar with his partner, the champion, Pyrrha Nikos."

The display changed to a video of the previous day's fight, obviously taken from one of the students' scrolls. Jaune watched with interest, seeing himself fight for the first time, making note of what he'd done wrong that he hadn't noticed at the time.

Once the clip of the fight was done the screen turned back to Lisa. "Obviously a huntsman to look out for. Gernsback owes quite a bit to this young man. We'll see what he does next." She glanced at her papers. "In other news, repairs after the Breach-"

Ren turned the broadcast off as he finished his tea. "Quite flattering. You've obviously made an impression."

Jaune blushed and scratched the back of his head as Nora grinned madly and Pyrrha smiled with amused pride. "This is going to be a problem, isn't it?"

His partner patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Not too long afterwards JNPR was having breakfast in the cafeteria when RWBY joined them. Ruby plopped down beside Jaune with her food, yawning and muttering as she brought some milk to her lips.

"Good morning to you too." Jaune said, amused at the reaper's lethargy. "Yang keep you up all night with her snoring?"

"I don't snore!" Yang cried in offense. "Weiss does!"

"Hey! That's not true!" The W of RWBY said, offended.

"None of us snore." Blake said calmly as she spread jam on some toast.

"That didn't keep me awake." Rwby waved off. "Just some weird dreams."

Jaune looked up thoughtfully. "Huh. Yeah, I can kinda remember having one last night. No specifics though."

"Well that's not important!" Nora declared before grinning at RWBY. "Fearless Leader was on the news this morning!"

Ruby perked up at that. "Really?" She asked him.

"It's not surprising." Weiss said as she ate some fruit. "Jaune did say that the council mentioned they would be having the news networks talk about it to bring up morale. They'll likely run the story several more times during the day. Don't be surprised if they try to interview you." She advised him at the end.

"What should I do if they do try?" He asked, directing the question to both Weiss and Pyrrha, who glanced at each other.

"If you don't they'll likely keep trying." Pyrrha said, speaking from experience. "Maybe if he gave a definite time and place?" She directed the question to Weiss, who considered it.

"It depends on how far he wants to go." Weiss said. "He could arrange to have a sit down interview with someone from VNN, get all the questions out of the way, and make it clear that's the only full interview he's going to give. He might still get random questions afterwards, but it should satisfy most people, even if the newspapers would want their own."

"You mean an on camera interview?" Jaune asked, paling. "Like what they do for celebrities and politicians? Why would they want to do one of those with me?"

"Jaune." Yang was surprisingly the one to speak this time, looking uncommonly serious. "You are a celebrity now. At least when it comes to the huntsman community. You might be almost as famous as P-Money once news has been able to spread. You better get used to it now."

Jaune sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. "I knew I'd get a bit of a reputation when I got back, but nothing this big…"

"Perks of being a newly certified badass." Nora said with a cackle.

"You don't have to worry about it right now, Jaune." Ren told him calmly. "What were the plans for today?"

Jaune gave his best guy friend a grateful smile. "Well, I need to buy some arrows, and a new quiver. Even if I can use aura arrows with Vanquishing Thorn, yesterday's fight showed that I should have regular ammo to use so I don't waste my aura when I don't need to. I also need some new clothes to wear under my armor, and a few other supplies. And I wanted to pick up the comics I missed."

"Let's make a day of it, then." Ruby said with a grin. "We can all go into Vale together and have some fun in between Jaune's shopping."

When everybody else made sounds of agreement Jaune turned to Yang. "In that case, can you introduce me to the Malachites while we're in town?"

Yang nodded agreeably. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"Good." Jaune said with a smile before turning back to his meal.

Of course, things weren't quite that simple. Not long after the bullhead from Beacon to Vale let them off several reporters had made their way towards the teens, shoving microphones and scrolls in Jaune's face aven as his friends tried to keep him away.

"Mr. Arc, what were the Deathlands like?"

"Is it true that you found the remnants of an ancient kingdom there?"

"Are the rumors that you found a vast repository of riches valid?"

"How many Grimm did you kill?"

"Is there really and alien race living in the Deathlands, and you romanced their Queen, so that's why you were able to get out?"

"How many of these girls are you dating?"

"Enough!" Weiss yelled in her best 'You foolish insects are beneath me but I will tolerate you… for now' voice. "Mr. Arc is trying to relax and recuperate after his ordeal. He is not in a position to answer questions right now. Especially such idiotic ones." She said scathingly, surprisingly glaring not at the one that had asked about aliens, but the one who asked the dating question.

Jaune set a hand on Weiss' shoulder before speaking. "Please let us through now. I promise I will arrange for an interview at a later date through Professor Ozpin. Right now we want to be left alone, though."

The reporters left, grumbling to themselves about not having gotten anything, letting Jaune's friends turn to him in surprise. "Are you sure, Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah." He said with a sigh. "Weiss was right. I should probably go all in and do an interview to get most of the heat off my back."

"Hopefully that won't egg them on instead." Blake said.

Jaune sighed again. "Whatever the case, I'm committed. So let's just forget it and do what we came to do."

The group agreed and proceeded to head into town, seeking enjoyment.

Hours later, with the late afternoon arriving, Yang led the group to an area near Vale's industrial sector. The reached an old brick building, Yang pushing the doors open when she reached them. A bouncer inside turned when the door opened. "Hey, we aren't open yeoh shit!" He cried when he saw Yang approach, quickly turning and heading to the bar as fast as his legs could carry him.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked suspiciously, eyeing Yang.

"Nothing." Yang said, shrugging nonchalantly.

The group approached the bar where a heavyset man with a beard stood behind the counter, eyeing them all warily. "Blondie. Why are you here again?"

"I just thought my friends would like to go to one of the best clubs in Vale, Junior." She said with a sweet smile that fooled no one.

"Well, we don't open for another half hour, so come back later." Junior said in a voice that clearly indicated that he was trying to get rid of them.

Jaune stepped forward. "Actually, sir, I was hoping to speak with a couple of your employees."

Junior eyed Jaune, studying him, before he spoke. "You're the kid that was on the news for getting out of the Deathlands." He sighed. "Fine. Who do you want to talk to?"

"The Malachite sisters." Jaune said simply.

"Us? Why do you want to talk to us?" A female voice said, making the group turn to see two attractive girls in red and white approach from a side room, their heels clicking on the tiled floor.

Jaune turned to face them, feeling nervous about the following conversation. Thankfully he had his friends with him, which helped him keep calm. "I wanted to talk to you about your uncle, Morado."

The twins stopped in their tracks, staring at Jaune in shock. "You know where he is?" The one in white asked with a tinge of desperation in her voice.

Jaune hesitated before before unstrapping the knife he'd taken off Morado's body from his boot, holding it out to the girls, the one in red taking it, as the white one took the quiver he'd brought along as well. "I found his body in the Deathlands. I probably wouldn't be alive if I hadn't. I used the supplies still there to keep myself alive. That knife and the quiver are the only things I have left of the supplies I took."

"You're lying." White twin said, though her voice indicated she didn't believe that and was just reflexively reacting, especially as she seemed to recognize the quiver.

"It's the knife we gave him for his birthday, Melanie." Red twin said quietly after unsheathing it to study. "See, it has his initials right where we had them engraved."

Melanie looked at the knife, studying the part her sister was pointing out, before her jaw set and her fist clenched and she turned and left back into one of the club's side rooms.

"You say you're alive because of him?" Miltia asked as her sister left.

"I don't see how I would have survived without the things I took from him." Jaune said honestly.

Miltia was silent for a few moments. "Then you better stay alive." She said firmly. "You don't get to die till you're an old man." With that she turned and began walking after her sister, the knife clenched in her hand.

Junior sighed as the door closed behind Miltia, setting a drink down in front of Jaune. "Thanks for that." He said, sounding honest. "They've been wondering what happened to their uncle for ages. Maybe now that they know maybe they'll get some closure."

Jaune studied the drink briefly before his shoulders untensed and he grabbed it, bringing it to his mouth and gulping it down. He set the glass down with a small cough from the burn. "Wish it could have been better news."

Junior shrugged. "At this point we all pretty much knew it was never going to be good news." He said. "In any case, you're welcome here any time, kid. Drinks are half priced for life." Then he looked at the other teens, who had all remained respectfully silent. "You all are welcome too, though the drink thing doesn't extend to you." Then he glared at Yang, who started whistling innocently. "Assuming you don't cause any trouble. Wreck the place again, I won't be so generous."

"Thanks." Jaune said as Ruby and Weiss glared at Yang. "I think I'll take you up on that." He looked around the club. "Mind if we stick around till it opens?"

Junior shrugged. "It's fine, as long as you don't get in my boys' way."

As the two Beacon teams sat down in the VIP section with various drinks in hand, Jaune let out a long sigh.

"It was a good thing you did." Ruby said as she sat beside him with a non-alcoholic drink, Pyrrha doing the same at his other side.

Jaune rubbed his face. "Still wish it could have gone better…"

"It went as well as could be expected." Pyrrha said as she sipped her drink. "Junior is right, maybe now they'll be able to get some closure." She picked up Jaune's drink and held it up to him. "Try to relax, Jaune. You deserve it."

Jaune took the drink from Pyrrha, staring into the alcohol, before he huffed a small laugh and held up. "Cheers then."

"Cheers!" His friends all said with a smile, clinking their glasses together.

I AM HERE!

So, this is a bit late, as might have been noticed. I've been having some issues IRL that have taken precedence and sapped my motivation. However, I promised that I would get out my Patron winner each month at the very least, and so I keep that promise. I'll hopefully be able to do a chapter for either Brightest or my newest fic, Finding Healing, before the month is up.

So, in this chapter we see how things begin to ripple out. It's still small scale at the moment, but I've set things up for events down the line.

Then ending to the chapter isn't really satisfying me. Partly the part with the Malachites, though I think it's a realistic way of how things would go if you got confirmation a long lost family member was dead. Still, I might go back to it at some point in the future.

I don't think there's much else to say. Just to remind you all that you can have a say in what I write if you become a patron. Just go to Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis, and you'll get votes equal to the amount you donate which you can use to vote for what I update next month.

In any case, thank you for reading, and please review. Till next time!