Jaune was still surprised by how quickly and easily he settled into the role of being a father.
Right now he was busy bathing Kara, who had the time of her life playing around with the bubbles around her. The chateau had every luxury available that Jaune was still discovering new things about it even two months into their stay. Even their bathrooms where luxurious.
Jaune was surprised by how easy fatherhood came to him. Maybe being raised alongside seven sisters was something that had an impact on it all, who could tell. But it certainly came in handy in these complex times. And things certainly had been complicated to say the least.
Weiss and him where barely talking since their kiss. And Kara was beginning to notice too. Jaune barely knew how to respond to those questions when they came and usually tried to change the subject immediately. It was already difficult for them, especially for Weiss to pretend to be her actual mother. In fairness she took it all in stride and did well to play her part.
Jaune was eternally grateful to Weiss. And through those last two months he felt old feelings awaken once more. That kiss had sparked it all.
Everything had come back. Those long lost feelings. Was it just a fleeting moment or did it mean something more? Jaune didn't know for sure.
"Daddy is something going on between you and mommy?" Kara asked.
Jaune sighed, he knew he couldn't dance around the question and Kara was quite observant for an almost three year old.
"Everything is fine sweety," Jaune lied patting Kara on the head "it's just been a difficult time and mommy and me are very busy."
"Can't you ask grandpa for help?" Kara asked innocently.
Kara's adoptive grandfather, the Mad Titan Thanos, leader of the Collective and without question the scariest figure Jaune had ever seen in his life. Ever since the two months and the battle at Atlas the fate of most of the Collective has been unknown. Ironwood was silent, his survival as good as unknown. And while part of the Collective had helped against fighting the invading Grimm, to Jaune it was no doubt that was only temporary.
Deep down he was worried. Both Qrow and Megumi had assured them that this mystery chateau in the mountains in a remote dimension the Collective couldn't possibly reach. But it had been two long months, and without a doubt Thanos had been searching for his beloved granddaughter. Undoubtedly he knew she was with him.
But even know with this peace. As he cleaned Kara and got her dressed in fresh new clothes he couldn't help but fear that this peace wasn't meant to last.
Location: The Garden
"Argghhh" Vecna groaned out in pain as Zemo put lotion upon his still aching clawed left hand.
Vecna was clearly still feeling the pain left behind by the intruder's action in the Upside Down. The Baron, who looked like he hadn't slept in days was taking care of him as the ghastly figure groaned out in excruciating pain as they sat at one side of the big table.
Raven Branwen stood on the other side of the table against a wooden column, smiling contently as she watched how her teammate suffered.
"So defeated by a little girl. Must be quite humiliating for you Henry?" Raven asked him rather condescendingly. Unexpectedly Vecna responded with "if you keep using that wise mouth I'm going to clip your wings bird girl."
Raven just scoffed at that a gentle nudge.
Silco, the second-in-command of the Collective stepped out of the shadows and walked behind Vecna.
"How is this possible? Your realm is supposed to be inaccessible to outsiders and you would instantly know if someone entered it. How could this have happened Henry?" he inquired both curious and annoyed.
An aggravated Vecna shot up from his seat, leaving an unsurprised Zemo sitting there as the former walked up to Silco.
"I already told you I don't know how she managed it. All I know she had some way to seemingly travel through different planes of existence And she had glowing orange eyes almost like….like a Maiden."
As if on cue, all the men in the room turned their gaze towards Raven. Who looked with bewildered eyes.
"What are you looking at me for?" she asked once again condescendingly.
Silco stepped forward in Raven's direction and asked "what do you know about the other Maidens?"
Raven placed her hands on the table in front of her "as much as you do. The Summer Maiden is unknown. The Winter Maiden is currently kind of tied up and the last Fall Maiden had her bones broken by Henry over there."
A sinking realization set into Raven as she recalled what Ozpin had told her about the Maidens long ago. How their powers are transferred.
"Orange eyes…the symbol of the falling leaves. The Fall Maiden" she spoke up.
"But how could that even be possible when you said that Henry here killed the last one" Silco demanded to know.
"The Maiden's powers are passed on to the last person in the previous wielder's thoughts. So unless we can read back into Cinder's mind, which is impossible considering she is dead, we are at a dead end."
"The Lord Titan read her memories with the Mind Stone before I killed her" Vecna told.
"Very observing of you Henry. Did you also remember that the Mind Stone was lost during the battle at Atlas," Silco pointed out to him in frustration before returning his one good eye to Raven "if this girl that invaded the Upside Down truly has the powers of the Fall Maiden, how do we stop her from doing it again. According to Henry she was looking at Weiss, and it is our duty to look after her until the Lord Titan returns from his mission."
"Just because I am a Maiden doesn't mean I have the answers. We need to figure out who the last person was that Cinder thought about, or who she was around, that way we can round out the options of who the Fall Maiden could be" Raven told as she grabbed her sword and swung it behind her, creating a red shimmering portal.
"I'm going on some reconnaissance. I'll report back later" the bandit leader said as she disappeared through the portal.
Location: Unknown
The frozen tundra wasn't exactly the best weather condition as the mysterious young drifter looked over it. Her face still covered by a black mask made out of fabric, her blonde ponytail waving in the cold wind as she overlooked the area.
Behind her the sound of a sudden impact came out and the girl slowly turned around to see a figure dressed in a red just arriving down the snowy mountain on a snowboard. As she approached the edge she scurried to the left and stopped right in front of the girl.
Silver eyes met the girl's blue ones.
"Glad to see you here. Sorry I'm late I'm still figuring this thing out" Ruby Rose said cheerfully picking her snowboard off of the ground.
"That's okay. Let's get ready we have much to do" the girl simply said as her gaze returned over to the frozen landscape in front of her.
Ruby moaned in discontent "oh come on! We haven't seen each other in so long so when you called me I figured it was important" she said.
"It is important," the girl said turning back to Ruby, her facial expressions obscured by her mask "look aunt Ruby I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't important. But there is no time to waste, we will catch up later but for now we need to move."
"Ugh fine" Ruby huffed out annoyed as she placed her snowboard back on the snowy ground and with one foot set off further down the hill, with the mystery girl following right behind her, running along the snow at an impressive pace.