I got requested this as well as the next one.
Chapter 20 Jaune Iron Arc 1
Concept: James Ironwood takes in A orphaned arc.
Appearance: None
James Ironwood was not happy, to say the day was unsettling was an understatement and it all surrounded one individual. Raven Branwen, the dark horse of Team STRQ had left in a 'drastic' matter condemning Ozpin, himself and the rest of they're circle. James was no fool, he understood that Ozpin nor he were heroes and every year cemented that fact.
But he also knew that sacrifices were necessary, especially given the alternative and to be talked down to by a woman who's so callously abandon her team and family for a band of murderers. Well let's just say whatever iota of respect he held for the traitor was essentially snuffed out when she drew her blade against her husband and leader. However, the problem stilled remained on what she did on her way out, more than three professional team dead or forced to retire due to injuries.
But more importantly the students of Beacon who tried to interfere when they saw her in combat with miss Goodwitch. So many… Too many aspiring souls snuffed out early, the cruel irony of how she had reached her goal of learning how to kill huntsman and its first victims being her fellow classmates and underclassmen was not lost on him.
Worse yet was when this had happened, not but a few months before the 31st Vytal Festival. Yet the worst part wasn't even Raven herself nor the rising concerns and student leaving vale her action had brought. Instead, it was her team, in truth he didn't want to believe Qrow was a liability but how could he not, he and Raven were siblings and came for the same reason. To not consider it would be foolish and he hated that fact, though to his credit at least Qrow was acting towards proving himself. despite the fact that all he needed to do was not show traits of disloyalty Qrow acted clear intent to show which side he was on.
Taiyang though… the newly made father was in shock and confusion, he could appreciate is situation and even empathize to a point after all he knew his fair share of father left single and they're struggles. However, the most concerning was Summer, if one had asked him who'd he'd trusted he'd bee able to count them off his hand. First and foremost being his dear teacher and father figure Nicholas Schnee who had sponsored him to Ozpin to enter the Circle after his promotion to Brigadier General for his action during the Faunus rights revolution several years ago.
Following him was Ozpin himself the man who had been fighting a war far older than that of the Great one and after him was his old flame and respective if not distant associate Glynda. After these three was Summer Rose who had proven herself time and time again. However, for the first time he found himself at odds with her, she insisted that they leave Raven's capture to her and Qrow. Something he could not permit it was odd for the child who had inspired hope in so many to look at him with such… disappointment, anger, hate and envy he was used to.
No lack of Faunus acted as those he was the devil himself for fighting against them to maintain his standing and too an extent he wouldn't' blame them. However, the point remained that the young Rose's gaze hurt in a way he was not use to. It didn't that Summer knew her importance to them and used it to her advantage. Evenly hew as forced to concede but any goodwill between the two was lost with that. Something he found himself sadden by.
Honestly between his standing with the Faunus, Nicholas's successor Jacques's concerning changes with the SDC and Raven defection and Summer's distancing herself he and numerous worries and all before the Vytal Festival of Vale. He wished, no needed positive and as he made his way through Anima after an unfruitful meeting with Leo he saw yet another premonition of concern in the form of a black smoke cloud raising though the tree line.
"General, we're picking up a transmission." Ironwood looked to the youth his brows furrowed at him even asking.
"Tune in to it now!"
"Y-yes sir!"
~To all nearby Huntsman, this is an emergency, requesting immediate aid! Please! To anyone whose listening, we have civilian running from the village while our Chief Julius draws the Grimm. Please, help! Help our families, our friends… please don't let our sacrifice be in vei- 'growl' Bzzt~
While his men stared dumbly at the nothing the General didn't waste so much as a second raising from the seat of his cruiser he glared at the smoke cloud like it was his mortal enemy.
"This is an order, all units converge on the village! Recover what survivors we can find and kill any Grimm on sight!" There was already to much for him to bear, he wouldn't let this add to his worries, no today he'd do so actually good. Even if it was just a single life, he'd save them, it was as his cruiser advanced alongside the three escort ships that something occurred to him.
Julius… where have I heard that name?
Ironwood had expected to find the horrid sight of a sea of black but what he found instead was much more unusual. It was the village, ruined and on fire like that of any other that'd suffered a Grimm incursion, however, what made it unusual was the bodies. Strone about the dirt roads were the corpse of men and women, old and young alike. And there lied the problem, rarely did Grimm leave behind corpses the beast preferred to devour their kills. Turning to one of his men he asked.
"Private what's the escorts I sent out status?"
"Betas already found more than a dozen survivors, Gamma managed to save a widowed father and her twins from an Ursa." James rose a brow.
"What about Alpha?"
"They haven't found anyone yet, but they did spot a few Beowulves in the distance." To that, he nodded before turning to one of his specialists.
"Rouge, what do the radar read."
"according to it they're almost no traces of movement, Grimm or otherwise." To that the general gritted his teeth before looking down and making his decision.
"We're landing, these people deserve a proper burial." Despite they're hesitation his surrounding men listened and begun they're decent, the second the ship was within reasonable distance the General leapt from it to the ground. He didn't bother checking himself for dust as he was sure from the ash cloud that burst upward when he landed that he was covered in soot but didn't care.
What entered his line of sight was a horrid but all too familiar sight, dead and plenty of them, of Faunus and human alike… however, because the bodies remained instead of being consumed it didn't remind him of a Grimm incursion, no what he saw was the battlefield. He looked to the ground and noted the footprints left behind by the Grimm.
"Odd?" They all lead to the village's center… from what he could tell not a one lead away, almost as if… His head snapped up towards the direction and it was then he felt it. a… pressure of sorts the kind left behind on a battle field. Sorrow, anger and hate but also determination and resolve, he didn't know when he had started to make his way to heart of the frontier village but by the time he came to his senses he saw it… saw him.
The man stood silently at the dead heart of the village his sword drawn, even now he could see a faint gleam but whether the worn blade's glow was from the sunlight or something else remained a mystery. He paused in caution upon the man and for a moment his fingers tapped his weapon's handle however when he finally looked beyond the scene and examined the man's form he stopped. All across the knight's form were wounds, cuts, tears, gnashes, punctures and bites along his once pristine white armor was now drenched deep crimson.
However, as he stepped closer to the hero like copse he found what left him truly speechless, it wasn't his clear drive till the final moment nor his sacrifice or even how clearly, he endured to his final breathe but instead something so much simpler and ye all the more amazing for it. It was the clear smile on the once great man's face, seeing James understood and looked to the surrounding and with it an incredible realization struck. All around the former knight lead the footprints of hundreds of Grimm but not one lead in the direction of retreat.
"He… killed them all." He looked to the man who smiled to peacefully and felt his form tremble when realization finally came upon seeing his now cold blue eyes.
"Julius… Arc." Those eyes were once filled with life and pride beyond measure and he remembered seeing them plastered upon newspapers throughout Vale and Mistral much like his own in Atlas after the Faunus Rights Revolution. The man who stood beside the oppressed, the Patriarch of the Arc's and wielder of the coward killer who captured General Lagune when his comrades-in-arms sought to kill the foolish general.
"What are you doing here?" A heart begun to burn in the general at the sight of the man before, but it wasn't of rage or resentment for an enemy.
"Why is such a man dead in this frontier village!" But of the injustice of this man who he'd dare to call his equal being left for dead a village he was sure would be forgotten.
"General!" Ironwood turned his angry gaze upon the specialist making his way towards him and saw his freeze in place as if staring down the barrel of a gun.
"What!" Despite the man being a specialist to anyone who could see the way he fumbled with his thoughts one could mistake him as a fresh recruit.
"That… Ah! Forgive me General, but I have a report from Alpha." Ironwood was about to reprimand the specialist but thought better of it instead taking in a deep breath and recollecting his thoughts and regained his bearings.
"Understood, report." Hearing the General's professional tone the man visibly calmed from his flustered state and spoke just as evenly before standing at attention.
"Sir, we found two survivors."
"They're condition?"
"One is clean no real threat beside not having eaten in twelve or so hours." This made him raise a brow.
"Twelve hours, forgive me specialist Mile but that's hardly a concern."
"The survivors an infant." At that he sighed in understanding but also tensed as he had an inkling of the other survivor's relation to the first as well as a guess of her condition.
"The other." He saw it, it almost went unnoticed, but he spotted the momentary twitch.
"She's… she won't make it." He steeled his heart already knowing that'd be the case.
"I see, cause of her injuries?"
"It was a faunus…" This earned surprise from him.
"What? Not the Grimm." The specialist shook his head.
"honestly sir, we haven't seen Grimm activity very much… we expected them to overwhelm our men but all four groups together and we've seen less the forty so far." Ironwood nodded at that sparring a glace to the former knight behind him.
"Understood, now explain to me why you believe the perpetrator to be faunus?"
"The cause of her condition… she was repeatedly injected with Venom, at first I thought it might be a Juvenile Death Stalker based off of the puncture wounds size but…" Ironwood understood.
"The infant was left unscathed and the mother to die alone." Ironwood understood, Grimm could indeed be cruel but not new one like a juvenile, they relied almost entirely on their instincts. If the case had been one of a women being attacked by a Death Stalker it would've killed her then the infant before devouring them bones and all.
"Yes… the reason we believed it to be Faunus was due to the tracks leading away from what we could tell they originated from a cliff not too far away." He didn't know why'd he asked maybe it was from his memories from the revolution.
"A vantage point?" To his question, the specialist paused confused before he shifted his thinking and nodded.
"Now that you say it… yes. It would be perfect for viewing the city but judging from the diagnostic we gave the woman her first sting was as early as 1600 hours yesterday." He felt a chill as another almost preposterous thought occurred.
He was watching the Grimm incursion… no he was waiting for survivors.
"Were there any other survivors who died in a similar matter?" According to the information, they gathered they had figured out the time of the invasion was roughly around midnight. He watched as the specialist sighed and with that his heart trembled hoping his answer wouldn't be what he was sure he was about to hear.
"Several dozen… among them, she and the infant seem to be the only survivors." James gritted his teeth at that, to get the jump on so many including faunus. This wasn't merely a bandit but planned… planned? Could the incursion had been directed instead of merely occurring? No that couldn't be that would require…
beads of sweat ran down his brow as the more he pondered the possibility the more obvious it became and that terrified him as the name of a single being repeated in his head.
Salem…
He looked back to Julius's form and all his feared morphed into anger towards the witch, his next action was swift as he stepped past the specialist towards Alpha's ship. Despite how much he yearned to roar in anger or huddle up in fear, James Ironwood did what he always did and what Qrow despised about him most. He hardened his heart pushing aside his humanity as he stepped forward to gather what information he could even at the cost of making a dying mother recall her trauma.
-Alpha Airship-
As he entered the room what greeted the general was an all to familiar it was a white room devoid of any character or color aside from the form in the bed ahead of him. The only sound within the white room was the steady beeping of the machine and the wheezing breathes of the form laying there. Looking to her he felt sympathy, she'd done nothing wrong and didn't deserve the fate that was encroaching upon her.
But sympathy didn't matter on the battlefield, it wasn't merely a luxury but in fact an obstacle and he knew that as he made his way to the woman. Looking down to her his fist clenched, he had hoped miles had over-exaggerated but clearly, he hadn't. Large swollen lumps were littered across her body. From points of punctures pus leaked, he could see her body tremble and felt his anger rise towards the woman's assailant.
"H-help…" James looked up meeting the gaze of the woman and paused, deep blue is what he saw as the woman looked to him. Her face was pale devoid of color what he was sure was once bright golden hair was now dirtied and ragged. Looking to her he was sure she was a beauty but as she struggled to speak the thought left him.
"Please… my son…" This made the general pause as he remembered Mile's report and for a moment his humanity broke through as he leaned forward gripping her hand in his own.
"Its okay ma'am your sons alive and well…" He watched as he dull eyes lit up and tears of relief form.
"Thank… you." HE shook his head to her words.
"It was you who protected him, not me… However." He exhaled as he readied himself to speak… to break this woman's hope.
"You won't make it past the hour." He lowered his head.
"If we had left you as is you would've remained unconscious but alive for a few hours… but I need information, so we injected you with a stimulus." It was funny really, he'd killed many both face to face and by virtue of order and yet the choice that shortened this dying woman somehow left him guilt reddened.
"You were assaulted by an individual, faunus correct, we believe he was responsible for the Grimm incursion against your village." He could see it in her gaze, the moment she stopped looking at him and instead relived her nightmare, he knew making her relive it was inexcusable but even so.
"There were other he attacked." The woman snapped from her nightmare the stimulus starting to take effect.
"Others?"
"43 and counting…" Her eyes widened and horror at the revelation.
"S-survivors… please tell me…" He could see the desperation in her gaze.
"15, including your son 16… I'm afraid anyone the assailant encountered where killed the sole exception being you." She shook at the information, but he couldn't let her remain, so he had to gather as much knowledge as possible he decided telling her would be beneficial… after all she wouldn't live long enough for it to prove a disadvantage.
"Please I know it's difficult but we need information the assailant, the ability to hold influence over the Grimm and his lack of ethics . We can't let such an individual roam freely. Anything you know could prove vital, a description, what they said, or they're gender?"
"A name…" He paused.
"He told me his name… before he began to 'play' with me." The general was speechless that was more then he could've dreamed of.
"Please ma'am tells me, so we can bring that bastard to justice." Her eyes gained an uncharacteristic sharpness as she spoke her next words.
"One condition…"
"Condition?" He couldn't believe it, she was attempting to negotiate… in her state and with so little time. Most would call it preposterous but to him it was genius, she had all the cards and her state left him with no time to hesitate. Just like she had hoped he took her bait.
"Name it." Another relieved sigh escaped the woman's trembling lips betraying her worry.
"The Survivors… please… protect them." Ironwood looked perplexed, really was it such a thing.
"Ma'am we can't very well leave them to the wilds, of course we will aid them and take them to Mistral-" The pale woman shook her head.
"No… you leave them there, to many enemies." This caught his attention.
"Enemies?"
"We left… after the revolution, they lost but refused to buckle any more than necessary… We took those who fought for freedom and left… the families who stayed were ostracized…" Ironwood shook at the newfound knowledge, surely this had to be a lie and yet… he knew all to well it wasn't. Atlas had given little concern to the law erected after the Faunus Rights Revolution it wasn't hard to imagine that in Mistral were the segregation wasn't merely between the races but even wealth would be much different and with that another fact that made his blood boil became to too clear.
Julius, that why he was here, he fought for freedom and for that very reason he couldn't endure living a city that made light of that. He had put into practice what he fought for, a world without hate or prejudice, Salem wouldn't want that and acted through her proxy. Looking to the mother who'd requested her fellow villagers' safety he bowed.
"I understand… they will be in Atlas's care… no in my care." The woman nodded.
"I understand… his name was Tyrian, Tyrian Callows, he was… faunus with a Scorpion tail…" James took in each detail from his name to trait and then his description even when so weakened the woman spoke detail after detail and eventually described her encounter. James recorded while a nearby assistant wrote her words to paper all the while his eyes would look to the monitor noting how it begun to slow… she didn't have long left, it was with a heavy heart he rose up.
"Thank you ma'am this information… I won't let it go to waste." The woman looked to him and he could see the life slowly dull in her eyes. He turned away and begun to make his way to the nearest console to give his report and prepare arrangements for the refugees.
"Wait…" he paused.
"Your name… please?" He looked to her.
"James." To his surprise her eyes seemed to raise in recognition.
"General Ironwood." It wasn't truly a question her tone betrayed that, none the less he nodded expecting her gaze to fill with disdain for a man so opposed to what her village represented. However, her hateful gaze never came.
"Thankyou." He looked to her shocked and felt his breathe catch in his throat when he was greeted by the sight of the frail woman placing her hand over her chest in a salute.
"I was your enemy during the revolution so tell me why do you thank me?" She shook her head.
"You were the one who pushed for surrenders and ceasefires when possible… you always tried to keep casualties as low as possible. The SDC and council and General Lagune how many of county men must despise you, yet you didn't stop or hesitate…" Ironwood stood there, unable to speak, in all his years he'd heard dozen upon dozens of empty praises and false smiles.
However, he knew that he was resented by Atlas as a whole, those who didn't hate him sought to use him or manipulate him. Even his own comrades, even Ozpin and the others saw him as a tinman who'd long since abandoned his humanity for cold efficiency. Yet this stranger spoke with both levels of empathy and sympathy and to her words, he found himself only able to breathe out a single word.
"Thankyou…" She smiled at him before letting out a small laugh.
"I heard you didn't cry general." This made him pause and raise and hand to his cheek with his human arm to find a slight wetness, seeing this the woman smiled weakly. Looking to her he felt the need to ask despite knowing it would only serve to endear the dying woman to him.
"What is… your name." She paused at his question looking to him a bit surprised before giving him a solemn smile.
"My name…'heh' My name his Aria, Aria Arc." The face of that man's body flashed through his mind and made him tremble as the reason behind his smile finally became clear and with it a horrible realization.
He smiled because he had ensured his wife's escape.
James gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.
But it was a trap… by Salem.
He looked to the feeble Arc who looked to him with kind eyes.
"Is there anything I can do for you… to make your final moments easier."
"My son…" James nodded before looking to the doctor behind him and gave the order, it hadn't taken long until a tiny form was brought into the room. The Nurse holding him looked down to the infant smiling, James found himself looking to the child, his eyes were a bright blue like while his hair was brought blonde, looking to him his parentage was obvious at a glance. A frown formed as he realized that soon he'd be alone but for the moment he had a mother and he knew every moment was crucial.
The Nurse presented the smile bundle to the frail woman and the moment she took him in her arms James could swear slight strength emanated from the mother. Her swollen hand lightly brushed over the infant head pushing aside his few golden locks, and her gaze was met by his. A tear ran down her cheek as she looked to the child she was sure she'd failed when she was caught by Tyrian.
"My, Little Knight…" The baby giggled to his nickname while Aria smiled, glad that in her final moments she could hear his small voice.
"Mommy has to go…" Her hand rested on his cheek settling there and directing his gaze to her.
"She doesn't want to go… she doesn't want to leave you alone… but daddy and your sisters are waiting…" The young infant seemed to somehow understand and reached his little hands towards her.
"Ma…ma." Aria's eyes shot up at the sound as fresh tears formed.
"I'm sorry…" she had so much to say to him but she could feel the world beginning to dim and as if confirming it she heard the beeps of the monitor begin to slow.
"I swore I'd take care of you… like I did for your sisters… 'hic' I-I failed them… and now, now I'm leaving you by yourself…" She looked into her only sons eyes and saw not just his gaze but seven others, the daughters she'd failed… However, before she could burst into tears and pressure settled on her shoulder, she looked up and was met by a pair of greyish blue eyes. To any man on the ship the supportive gaze he sent her was unthinkable and yet to her it seemed all to right on the man others called cold and uncaring.
"You only fail if you leave his last moment with you as one of sorrow, let his final moments with his mother be with your smile and not your grief." Perhaps the words could've come from anyone but they in fact came from him, from the man people thought unfeeling through trembling lips she gave a silent 'thankyou' to the general before looking to her son.
"Ma, ma…Mam ah!" Aria had heard each of her children call her they're first times and yet it never ceased to be one of the happiest moments of her life. Even to a mother like her, her little knight still gave her so much. Raising her now trembling hand to him she placed it against his small chest earning a giggle, she felt his small heartbeat even as her sense of touch begun to numb.
"I love you, no matter what anyone says or what you go through… my little knight, please remember you were loved. Your father, sister and every member of the village… we all cherished you when I bore you I remember how often you kicked…you were so eager to see us all." Her eyes begun o flutter and for a moment she let the dark take her only to be brought back by the squeeze of the general.
"Don't leave anything unsaid Aria."
Not yet… I need to finish.
Aria struggled to remain with her son.
"Jaune, my precious son, my little moon lite knight, when things seem at they're worst when you think you're alone, please… remember, you were… are, our pride and joy… That every moment you breathe, every moment you live you made our sacrifice worth it…" She didn't want to leave, not yet… but she knew.
"You are our greatest, gift to this world… my…son…" she couldn't feel his touch and even now his calls to her begun to dull, she really wanted to stay but, it was time and one final time that firm hand-squeezed to draw what little consciousness remained.
"I will keep him safe, I promise you, as long as I breathe he will as well." She could barely hear his words and yet the intent of them was clear, and in that final moment, hear fears and worries were erased and she took in the sight of her son one final time as the general other hand help bring her son to her face and she kissed him one final time.
My… little… Jaune.
James looked to the form hearing neither the long beep of the alarm nor feel the staff members rushing in to treat the deceased however they could. All her heard was a small infant cry for his mother specialist Miles stepped in but froze when he saw the man they recognized as the strongest in all of Atlas. The man who resolve and was as strong as metal, the unstoppable General James Ironwood, the specialist saw that man who stood at the peak cry as he took the small life into his hand and brought him into his embrace.
And for the first time the members of his ship truly recognized that the man they had come to look at like a machine had never been anything more than a human burdened with so much that he couldn't afford to act as anything else but the Iropn General they had come to fear.
-Atlas-
It was a solemn day for the general and his men as they stood in the field just outside of the city… not by virtue of the weather nor of military action, no the reason was so much simpler. The four squads stood before a black stone Obelisk, upon it were more than three hundred names, names that the world had forgotten but they had made sure to identify. James looked to the eight most prominent the letters line with gold the names of the Arcs, the family that breathes honor. He looked to the name that spoke the strongest to him.
Julius Arc, A paragon who lived and died with honor.
He had never actually met the man in person, but he knew of his action and of his intent upon death. However, he found himself looking to the name beside his and.
Aria Arc, A honorable wife, loved mother and respected friend.
With a heavy heart the general turned away and was met by the sight of a small group of people each shivering despite wearing thick coats betraying they're nationality not being of the soil they stood on. However, that didn't matter because I promised her, they were Atlesian now and he'd fight anyone who dared to say otherwise. As he stepped close to the group he was met with the sight of the mother his men had saved, clinging to her side was her son.
A young faunus boy no older than two with large wings sprouting out his back, if he recalled the child's name was Yuma. However young Yuma was not who his focus was one but instead the bundle in the woman's hands the son he swore not to her but to himself he'd protect. A small clink sounded and looking down the sight of a small golden locket tapped against his metal chest. He caught it and opened the locket to reveal a picture of the infant and eight others, each smiling revealing a time long since passed.
"Ma, ah…" James locked up to see the infant reaching for the pendant and with slight hesitation he hid it from his sight. Now wasn't the time he knew this but none the less it left a bitter taste in his mouth. The infant begun to cry but soon her was lulled to sleep by the woman he'd learned was a comrade in arms of Julius. As he and the former refugees made way to the Bullheads he looked back one final time to the Obelisk.
"I will protect your gift to Remnant… till my last breath."
