Gilles was cradling his wife Joan to sleep, her tears staining his shirt; her sobbing were shaking his massive frame and her hoarse throat was repeating the same word again and again "Jaune". The name chosen from their son, the son that had died in her womb, her first miscarriage and truly a devastating one; a miscarriage that had devastated the entire Arc household, the girls were ranging from crying themselves to sleep for the older to confusion for the youngest.

Finally Joan managed to fell asleep and Gilles decided to smoke a cigarette before joining her, so he exit the house, that seemed so cold in those days, and he lightened a Vale Roasted Cigarette, the only luxury he allowed himself and he looked up on the night sky and he reminiscent of better days; when his wife wore a smile on her face, a smile so beautiful that lifted the day fatigue from his shoulder and lightened the house. The days in which the laughter of his daughters resonate in the garden under the peach trees and among the lilacs, now the house is cold and looming and the garden is shrouded in silence; looking to the starry night he couldn't ask himself why? Why the gods have blessed their family with a son only for them to take him away before he was even born? Had he displeased them somehow? Gilles decided that he didn't want answer and whit a last drag from the cigarette he went back inside to sleep.

The following months were a repeat for the Arc family, the girls grade kept falling and Joan was slipping in her depression, Gilles had started to drink; he was during an evening that while trying to drown his sorrow in cheap vodka that his old friend Qrow showed up at the local bar. Gilles was sober enough to recognize the sorrow in his friend eyes and also a little of pity and disappointment, so when Qrow reached him he simply kept drinking "Gilles, I'm sorry I couldn't come before" said his old friend while sitting in front of him, "Do not worry Qrow, it's not like your presence would have changed something" Gilles said while downing a shot of vodka that left a bitter and familiar sensation in his throat. "My presence was indeed necessary because you are trying to kill yourself" said Qrow with a determined expression on his face "I'm not trying to kill myself " countered Gilles whit harsh tone "I'm simply try to forget" he continued after another drink "I know what are you feeling" said Qrow "After all I've suffered the same" " YOU DARE" roared Gilles while shoving the table aside with a single hand, raising to his 7 feet and grabbing Qrow by the neck, cutting of his breath and making him turn purple " YOU DARE SAID THAT THE LOSS OF A FRIEND IS THE SAME THAT LOSING YOUR SON, I'V LOST COUNTLESS FRIEND AGAINST THE DARKNESS OF THE GRIMM, BUT NOTHING COMPARE TO THE FEELING OF LOSING YOUR CHILD. IMMAGINE IT, HAVING HIM TORN AWAY FROM YOU BEFORE YOU COULD EVEN HOLD HIM, BEFORE YOU COULD SEE HIS EYES OPEN FOR THE FIRST TIME OR EARING HIS FIRTS BREATH" Gilles was screaming in the face of Qrow, his face turned red and he was drooling from the rage; all of this while Qrow was tapping his friend arm, thrashing and failing to escape from his iron grip upon his throat. Finally Gilles relented and left Qrow falling to the ground gasping for air "Never, never speak to me again, and don't let me see you again" Gilles said with spite in his heart "But..." Qrow tried to counter but he didn't let him speak "I don't care about you reason, I stand for what I've said; never come close to me or my family again". Finally Qrow managed to speak "You are a Hunter, you have a duty!" "MY DUTY IS FORWARD MY FAMILY NOW" roared back Gilles before leaving the bar without looking back; and after a few calming breaths he started walking towards his house.

That night Gilles had problem falling asleep so, after a look at his wife sleeping form, he went outside for a smoke; he sat down on the porch of the house and lighted the cigarette without an hesitation, took a drag from it and exhaled the smoke in a circle while trying to think of something to chill him down; after a few minutes he felt the fatigue overcoming him and decided to join Joan in the bed. The next morning he rose with an headache for the alcohol he drank the previous day but he shouldered on and seeing Joan still sleeping he decided to make breakfast for the family, nothing to difficult, after all he was an Hunter not a chef, simple scrambled eggs and bacon; walking down the stair to the first floor he found Sapron waiting for him, so he hugged her and she started to cry. "Dad" she said whit sobbing voice "I don't want to live here anymore, I want to go away from this place from this cursed city" she managed to say; those words startled Gilles so he asked her what she meant. " I mean dad, first you are always away for work the Jaune died and now mom seems to have lost the will to live, please dad can we go away from Vale?" after a few moment of thought he answered " Yes darling, we will leave the city and transfer to the countryside, maybe the clean air will help your mother". Sapron hugged him tightly and started thanking him over and over again, so with the decision to move taken Gilles went on to cook and after having told the news to the other girls he brought the breakfast to Joan; entering the dark room he found his wife looking outside from the window, so in order not to startle her he softly called her "My love are you hungry, I've make you breakfast" at his words Joan turned around and her sight was like a stab in the heart for Gilles: his once beautiful wife was now a ghost of herself, her eyes were circled with dark areolas and her cheek were sunken so much you could see her cheekbones, she had lost at least 10 kilos since the miscarriage and her figure, already slim, was looking more like a skeleton nowadays.

Gilles managed to smile at Joan and offer her the plate of breakfast, which she started nibbling on, and after a few profound breaths he started speaking "Joan I..." but he couldn't find the words so he simply stood there in silence. After a few terribly long minutes Joan lifted her sapphire eyes and looked at him, and with low and slow voice she asked "What?" and, with some renewed courage Gilles started talking "I was thinking, would you like to leave the city? To go live in the countryside?" "Why?" was her simple response. After a moment Gilles responded "I'd like to think that the new air would do you good, and the girls would surely like it. Also I'm tired to fight for a living, I think I would adapt well to the farming life" that managed to get a weak chuckle from Joan; which after a few moment was joined by the rumbling laughter of Gilles. "Very well" she said "But I don't want to take anything from here to our new home, they carry terrible memories for me" " As you wish" was Gilles response.

So in the next weeks the Arc family made preparation in order to leave the city: trunk and bags were packed, the school of the girls was notified and Gilles officially retired from his role as Huntsman, and after a long travel they reached the village where they would live from now on. The place was beautiful, cobblestone roads surrounded by parks and brick houses with slate roofs; a river running in the middle of the village with gardens and orchards along is banks; truly the village of Domrémy was a jewel in a dark world. The Arc estate was actually a few minute of walking outside of the village, situated in top a small hill, the house was made out of planks with a stone base, with a porch overlooking a orchard of cherries; the only bad thing was an empty room in the attic, as a mocking to their suffering; still for the rest the Arc's found themselves in a happy routine: while Joan was teaching to the girls with the help of Sapron, Gilles was working in the field or helping the smith, where is massive muscle and Aura would help him working for hours without any rest.

A year had passed and it's was the time of the Vital Festival, so the girls with some friends from the village had gone to Vale to watch the fights while Gilles and Joan had remained behind; it was a starry night and they where resting on a couch on the porch, Gilles hugging his wife from behind and thinking about how she had recovered in the last year; the sadness wasn't gone but her body had recovered is previous shine, and her eyes were now filled with love again. His daydreaming were interrupted by Joan excited voice "Look a falling star, should we make a wish like when we were children?" at this word Gilles looks up upon the sky to see this falling star and he manage to see it, but to is surprise instead to disappear the star seemed to become bigger and bigger; with fear in his voice he managed to say "That star is coming down on us". Indeed the star seemed to crash onto the house only to miss it by a breeze and instead finish is course in the surrounding fields; Gilles and Joan were startled by the crash and by the fire that was spreading from the point of impact, so they started running towards the water pump in order to put down the fires. When they finally managed to put out the flames Joan decided to take a closer look to the star and she gasped at the sight attracting her husband attention who races to her; the star was a small object, no more than two meters for two, and was of a golden colour just like their hairs. Despite Gilles concern Joan leaned forward in order to have a better look, as she was doing so she call his husband to have a look by himself "Look there it's glass" "What?" was his response " The star has a window on it" " It's impossible, you must be wrong" said Gilles "Look there you big lump" Joan said while reaching the star "But is matt I can't see what is inside" and taking out a handkerchief from her pocket she proceeded to clean the glass window. Before Gilles could stop her there was an hiss and the star started to open revealing a mass of cables and wires and under that... "It can't be" said Gilles "Is that a baby?" he couldn't believe his eyes because inside the star was a child, with blond hair and pallid skin; but what was extraordinary was not the child but the reaction of Joan to him, she simply reached the star and took the baby in her arms. "What are you doing?" asked a panicked Gilles to his wife " Put that thing down, you don't know what it is" "He is a baby, and from now on it is my baby" was her simple response, all the while cradling the children to her bosom; at that site Gilles heart was filled with hope, seeing his wife loving a child like that had never appended, not since Jaune death, so he decided to accept his wife choice and he simply asked "What are we going to call him?" and Joan without leaving her eyes from the baby said " Jaune, like the older brother he will never knew but who would have loved him nonetheless" and she started walking toward the house leaving Gilles to follow her, who instead decided to observe better the star. Looking over the ruined piece of what he was now sure was metal he managed to see imagines of birds and lightning and in the middle a strange symbol he wasn't able to recognize, after a while he reached the decision to go back to the house while still thinking about that symbol, it was impressed in his mind.

XII