Chapter Nine: The Battle of Remnant

Vale, Vale Kingdom, Sanus

"Who is it?"

A familiar voice asked after Jaune knocked. The front door opened to reveal his mom, Juniper Arc, who looked at him with surprise. She quickly pulled him inside for a hug before she closed the door behind him. "Where are your friends? Where's Summer?"

But Jaune didn't answer. He only stared at her dark blue eyes. He then heard footsteps. His sisters all saw him and ran to hug him too while his mom stepped back. She seemed… worried by his expression. His sisters noticed too and stepped back with confusion and worry. But Lavender stayed beside him and took his hand.

"Jaune? What happened?" Saffron asked quietly.

"Summer." Jaune said quietly. And his mother's eyes widened and her mouth opened but no sound came out. His sisters looked between them before the twins asked the unanswered question.

"Mom, what's going on?" Sapphire asked.

"And why did he say Summer?" Indigo asked.

"Jaune…" Juniper began tearfully.

"Is it true? Is what she said true?" Jaune asked quietly.

"You don't understand…" Juniper tried again.

"Understand what? That you're the daughter of the Queen of the Grimm?! That Ozpin knew! Grandfather knew! Dad knew! But not any of us!" Jaune asked angrily. He noticed the shocked looks from his sisters.

"You're all too young… We would have told you all… After…" Juniper lowered her head.

"After what?!" Jaune asked angrily.

"After we killed her!" Juniper yelled tearfully. "You don't understand! She changed! After Fall, Winter, and Spring… My sisters… After they were killed, she changed… Your grandmother scared me… She was cold… My father… Ozpin… Ozma… took me away from her… He regretted it for a long time… But people change Jaune… Your grandfather did… Your dad did too… And Ozpin…We tried to talk to her years later but she was set on this… Taking back what was hers. She gave up on our family… Not us…"

Jaune said nothing as his mother fell to her knees and sobbed. He bent down and hugged her. She cried onto his shoulder and he let her. He felt another pair of arms around them. And more joined one by one. It was Cyan who finally spoke.

"So our maternal grandfather… was the last King of Vale? And our maternal grandmother… is the Queen of the Grimm? And our mom… is a Princess? And we're all princesses and Jaune is a prince…?"

"Yeah…" Jaune chuckled weakly. His sisters did too. And his mother. She raised her head to look at them all.

"I'm sorry…" Juniper whispered.

"Me too, Summer."

Jaune turned and unsheathed his sword quickly. He stood in front of his family and faced the one who spoke. Salem. Black smoke covered their living room floor. And outside, he heard the sound of fighting. He realized Salem never intended to fight them directly with the Grimm. The 'war' he had believed would be them fighting together was a distraction. The kingdoms were never her first priority. They were.

He turned to his family and saw the look of shock on his mother's face and the look of horror from his sisters. But Salem had a thin smile. But there was no warmth in her smile or her eyes. Her eyes were bitter, aimed at his mother's wide eyes.

"When you arrived in Vale, I followed from a distance. And I waited patiently. Because I knew you would see them. I knew you would take me to them. Your friends can face the Grimm while we talk." Salem said softly.

"M-mother…" Juniper whispered.

"Hello, daughter. How have you been? How many years has it been since our last meeting? I believe it was when your youngest was born… Lavender… She looks just like you when you were a child…"

Salem looked at Lavender who was frightened. Jaune hid her behind him, while Coral and Jade held her, and glared at Salem. She moved closer to him and he held his sword, ready to fight. But she stopped and ran her cold fingers along his blade.

"Crocea Mors. Your grandfather's sword. He once fought for our family. The Schnees. And our kingdom turned on us. I'll give you a choice. Fight for our family. Or watch our kingdom grow from a broken tower." Salem finished coldly.

"You're not doing this for our family! You're doing this for yourself!" Jaune said angrily.

"Everything I do is for our family." Salem said bitterly.

"How is this for any of us?! Innocent people are risking their lives fighting the Grimm to protect the people they care about! Mom doesn't want this! What makes you think her sisters would have wanted this?!" Jaune asked angrily.

"Enough!" Salem shouted and the windows of their home cracked. Before anyone else could speak or move, Juniper stepped in front of her son. And took his sword and hid it behind her back.

"Mother… Please… Please stop… Fall, Winter, and Spring… They wouldn't have wanted this… Dad didn't… He regretted everything that happened… I did too… We should have stayed… I should have stayed… Even after everything… I still love you… Please don't do this to my children… Your grandchildren… Go back to the Land of Darkness… Keep the Grimm away for as long as you can… Please… For your family…" Juniper said tearfully.

Silence. But Jaune saw a single black tear leave Salem's eye. Her expression changed quickly. Anger. Sadness. Guilt. Over and over again. She lowered her head and more tears fell. Before she raised her head and her tearful eyes narrowed onto them. She then moved quickly toward them.

But stopped.

When Crocea Mors went through her heart. Juniper tearfully held the sword. Jaune, his sisters, and even Salem were shocked. Her expression then changed to pain and guilt. Salem fell to the floor as the black smoke faded away. Juniper held onto her while Jaune and his sisters watched. No words were said but his mom and his grandmother cried.

Jaune knelt down beside his mom and took Salem's hand. As did Lavender. Salem looked to them both. Their sisters. And then his mother. Before her eyes closed.

All while the sounds of fighting outside faded slowly.

The Battle of Remnant had ended outside and all the people of Remnant had won. But the Arc family had lost their own battle.

…

Jaune found them an hour after what happened. They were at Beacon Academy. A Grimm dragon laid dead beside the broken tower and many bodies were spread apart. But he saw them in the courtyard.

Ruby saw him first and ran to him. She hugged him and kissed him. Yang, Weiss, and Blake did too. And Neo hugged him tightly. Winter, Whitley, Penny, Ciel, Ilia, and Vernal smiled when they saw him. Even Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. But they noticed his expression. And the adults did too. Summer, Taiyany, Crow, Raven, Willow, Klein, Ghira, Kali, Sienna, and Dorothy. They knew something had happened.

The new Headmistress of Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch, a woman with blonde hair and green eyes behind glasses, escorted them all to her office where he told them everything that happened at his home during the battle. Silence had followed and he simply told him he would be with his family for the rest of the day. He hugged Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang and promised he would see them again the next day. When he left the castle, Neo had stopped him and signed to him that she wouldn't leave him alone. And he signed back that he expected as much from his adoptive sister. That made them both smile a little.

Jaune had returned home with Neo and introduced her to them. They immediately got along. Especially his mom and Lavender. He knew they were all trying to distract themselves from what happened. But he knew they would move on. He knew he would too.

Because they had to.

For each other.

And for their family.

A/N: A very short A/N because the next chapter will be the last and I'll have a lot more to say then on the Salem-Arc twist, the Battle of Remnant, and the Arc family in this story.

Next up: Twenty years later...