Chapter 12
Waking Up
Dawn came with little to herald it save for the faint titters of birdsong in the woods surrounding the cabin. Sunlight filtered through Jaune Arc's eyelids, and he squinted against the light before silently berating himself for sleeping past sunrise. He then remembered that he didn't have Sensei to get the tea on for any more, and thus allowed himself a moment of semi-conscious respite on the couch. What did finally get his attention was the soft drone of a snore not his own, emanating from just below his left ear, stopping before he felt warmth and humidity bloom against the side of his neck as a slow exhalation of breath washed over him.
"Ruby? I don't think this is a good idea," he sleepily whispered, lest he awaken and then incite the sisterly wrath of Yang Xiao Long. For the life of him, he couldn't even remember falling asleep with her in the room, let alone on the couch with him. The only answer he got from her was the soft touch of a very wet tongue, and his eyes flew wide open before he ejected his bedmate onto the floor. "Damn it, Zwei!" he grumbled, the monochromatic corgi plopping his fluffy butt onto the floor and staring up at Jaune like the adorable little miscreant that he was.
Even as rude of an awakening as it was, he couldn't stay mad at the dog, and he reached a hand out to lazily scratch behind his ears. Zwei moved his head this way and that, making sure Jaune hit all the right spots until he was satisfied, padding away towards his water bowl with soft claw clicks on the wooden floor. For far from the first time in his life, Jaune wished he could have such a carefree life, but then he'd never have been at Beacon, and never…
Ruby, huh? Makes sense I would think it was her, since there's no way Yang would be caught dead cuddling with me on the couch, and no one else is in the house, he mused silently, dismissing the notion easily. He'd been truthful with his family as well, unsure if Ruby was even interested in boys, or anyone in a romantic sense, so his imagination had just been casting her in the role of the ever-clingy Ivy Arc.
Right?
Shaking his head softly, he reached under the end table for his pack, pulling out the now thankfully clean pair of ratty blue jeans and fumbling about under the blanket to swap them out for the borrowed pajama pants he had slept in. Now at least decent again, he shuffled out of bed, bare feet against the warm wood feeling not unlike the last three months. He folded the blanket, trying to be a good houseguest, noticing a coating of dog hair on the top edge. Blinking once, he then looked down to the thin white undershirt he wore and noticed that it was similarly sullied. Growling softly under his breath, Jaune shucked the undergarment, bending down to collect a clean one from his pack. He stood up and pulled it over his head, slipping it down his torso and tucking it into his jeans, looking over towards the kitchen to identify the noise he thought he'd heard.
"Hello?"
"Morning, Jaune. You a coffee guy?" Yang called out from the kitchen as he heard the faucet opened to fill a carafe.
"Not normally, but I'll take some. Thanks," he added almost as an afterthought. "How'd you sleep?"
"Ehh, closed my eyes until I lost consciousness, the usual."
Jaune chuckled softly at the joke as he walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He watched Yang move through the room with her typical feral grace, a tiger on the prowl in short shorts and a halter top. Getting the appropriate materials situated, she pressed the start button on the coffee maker before she plopped into the chair across from him. "I never figured you for a morning person," he remarked with a lazy smile.
"I can be when I need to," she said easily, Jaune's nerves now on edge for some reason.
"Oh?"
"I needed to talk to you."
"Oh," he said, now realizing he was on dangerous ground.
"I saw you two out there last night."
"Ummm, you see…"
"Shut up," she interjected; forceful, but not really angry. "You don't think I know when she's sneaking out at night? She's never had my skill with that," she clarified. "I know she's been training, and I know she's hurting, Jaune. I've tried to reach her, but there's something else going on. Something she won't tell me about."
"Yeah," he said quietly, with a measure of shame.
"Oh, stow it. You're not in trouble. I just wanna know what the problem is."
"I don't think I can tell you, honestly," he replied, torn between helping a friend and keeping her confidence.
Yang's eyes narrowed at his response, and she took a long moment to answer him. "I'm going to allow that only because of how she came up the stairs and went to bed. I was watching with my door cracked, and she was smiling. She was happy. Happier than I've seen her in months. Whatever you did, thank you."
"I just listened. Gave her a hug. Let her vent. I swear it's nothing about you, Yang. You're a good sister."
"Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don't know."
"And here I thought you were about to kill me for defiling Ruby or something."
"Oh, please. Like you've even kissed a girl before," she said through a smile that faded as she heard him sigh, his expression darkening.
"Not that really counted, no," he said quietly.
"Okay, one, I was joking, and two, how the hell does a kiss 'not count'?"
"When there isn't mutual attraction behind it," he replied, his voice melancholy.
"Okay, there's a story here. Who was it? It wasn't one of those 'practice' kiss things with one of your sisters, was it?" she asked, her face wrinkled in disgust.
"What?! No!" he barked, offended nearly beyond his breaking point at the insinuation.
"Well, then who?" she continued to goad him, and Jaune knew there wasn't anything for it but the truth.
"Emerald," he said flatly, almost chuckling at how quickly Yang's expression turned. "Couple of days before...you know. Ran into her in a hallway and she just planted one on me. She didn't exactly look happy afterwards either, like I sucked at it. At the time, I just told myself she'd lost a bet or it was some stupid dare. Wouldn't be the first time I was the butt of the joke. Now, looking back on it, I think she was trying to distract me from something her team was doing. Gods only know what," he added.
Yang took several moments to process what he'd said before speaking. "I...no, that wasn't your fault. Fuck that bitch," she muttered venomously.
"Yeah."
"Jaune?" she asked quietly after a pause.
"Yeah?"
"Do you want a real one? I mean, I'm not in love with you or anything, but a girl could do worse…" she rambled on, a bit unsettled but not actually nervous.
"I'm good," he replied, realizing that he was seeing behind her facade for the first time. He couldn't help but smile at the notion. "Appreciate the offer, but you don't need to thank me more than you already have."
If she was disappointed by her offer being rejected, Yang didn't show it, instead standing up as the coffee maker belched and sputtered at the end of its brew cycle. "Ehh, just thought for a second it might be fun. Don't read too much into it," she remarked over her shoulder.
"I get it."
"No. You didn't. Too late now. Besides, I don't wanna ruin you for other girls," she replied over her shoulder, returning easily to her teasing ways. "You like it nice and blonde, right?' she asked, remembering an ill-advised flirt from him several months ago.
"I like my coffee like I like my women, Weiss. Pale. And. Sweet."
The suggestive eyebrow waggle had nearly sold the statement, but Weiss had proffered a counterproposal of forcibly removing his kidneys by way of his sinus cavity that was too lucrative for Jaune to turn down. It was a pity, really. Yang was almost proud of the dork for his wordplay on that one.
"Yeah, thanks. Not exactly a proper cafe-au-lait, but close enough."
"Sorry we're backwards hicks out here. Coffee snob," she grumbled, setting a yellow mug in front of him labeled 'World's Okayest Dad' in black letters.
"Not what I meant, Yang. Sorry. I just...miss home sometimes," he said before finally reading the mug in front of him and giving a small snort of laughter.
"When was the last time you went back?"
"Since school started? I haven't," he admitted quietly, his smile now gone.
"Wow," she said simply, leaning against the counter and taking a sip from her own mug, glossy black with flames enameled around the base.
"It's complicated. Or, it was. We worked some things out over the summer. I might have swung through, but then Shion happened, and everything after."
"So why'd you end up in P.A. instead of Orleans?"
"Wasn't by choice, Yang. It's just where I was dumped. And there isn't enough time for me to fly there and make it back to Beacon by Monday. And that's if my mother doesn't tie me up and throw me in the basement for the next fifty years. I'll get a hold of them as soon as I can get my scroll up and running, I promise."
"You'd better. If Liv asks me to kick your ass, I will."
"Thanks."
"Oh, I wouldn't thank me…"
"No, for helping her," he interjected. "Our dad isn't huge on us following in his footsteps. He's lost too many people over the years."
"Yeah, she told me about it. Maybe that dustup you two had in Shion finally got the point across."
"I hope so."
"Morning, Yang. Hey, Jaune," Ruby said through a yawn as she reached the foot of the stairs. She was still in her pajamas, and Jaune recognized the spaghetti-strap top and pants combination from initiation night the year prior. He smiled at the memory of how they'd met, and had to stop himself from commenting on how much better she was at filling out the outfit now.
"Morning, Ruby. Sleep well?" he asked, sticking to an innocuous question and trying to keep things calm and civil, given his company.
"Not from what I heard last night," Yang interjected immediately with her mischievous grin manifesting fully again. "All that moaning kept me up half the night. So who's this 'Juan' guy, anyway?"
"You heard that?" she gasped, her hands covering her mouth as silver eyes went wide.
Jaune's eyes mirrored his friend's, his gaze flicking back and forth between both sisters as an awkward pause chilled the room.
"You got me. You actually got me. I'm proud of you, sis," Yang said at last, not hearing the bated breath leave Jaune's lungs as she stepped forward to wrap Ruby in a headlock and plant a brief noogie on her scalp.
"Yeah, whatever. We still have milk, right?" Ruby asked, breaking free and rummaging through the refrigerator, reaching down to scratch behind Zwei's ears as she did so.
"Last of it's in Vomit Boy's coffee there."
"What?" he blurted, trying to crawl out from the metaphorical bus he'd been thrown under.
"Do I need to remind you why I drink milk?" she angrily demanded of him with her brow furrowed and arms crossed.
"Because you like it?" Jaune ventured.
"Because I have to compete with that!" she retorted, pointing at her sister, who favored them both with her trademark shit-eating grin.
"I wouldn't worry about that, Ruby. You're your own kind of beautiful," he said with a soft smile, selling a line he'd given his sisters innumerable times before. "Besides, you're catching up pretty nicely," he added before he could stop himself, his smile evaporating even as Yang's grew wide. Ruby simply stood dumbstruck, a blush heating her cheeks as she gawked at the unexpected compliment.
"Hey, Rubes, is it cold in here, or are you just happy to see Jaune?" she asked, flicking her gaze downward for a moment. This had the desired effect; calling the pair's attention to the fact that Ruby was quite obviously not wearing a bra under her thin tank top.
"Eeep!" she let out, slamming her hands down over her chest before bolting back up the stairs, propelled by a cascade of rose petals even as Jaune found his coffee mug the most fascinating thing in the universe. Yang merely chuckled through a smile before closing the fridge and sitting down again.
"Now that we've got a minute, Jaune, you're gonna tell me what's going on between you two."
"Nothing, I swear!"
"What? Is she not pale, skinny and/or bitchy enough for you?" Yang fired back, pressing her advantage.
"Ruby's my friend, Yang. You can compliment a friend without it being...like that," he said, studiously avoiding the word sexual.
"Uhhhh-huh," Yang replied, clearly not buying it.
"Weren't you the one who complimented Blake on that sweater she wore last winter? How it 'really brings out how beautiful her eyes are'? You didn't hear me asking you when we'd be hearing wedding bells, did you?" he asked, silently breathing a sigh of relief when Yang's facade faltered in response.
"I was trying to get her away from being so monochrome all the time. I can't always be the splash of color in the room."
"And I was trying to reassure a friend, okay? I get it, you're protecting her, and you and the rest of your family will castrate me with rusty spoons if I even so much as think about her that way."
"I never said that," Yang said, getting a doubtfully raised blond eyebrow in response. "I never said exactly that," she muttered. "Anyway, you'll get that and worse if you hurt her, dumbass."
"Wait, what?"
"All I'm saying is that Ruby can do worse. Don't prove me wrong."
"I'm...wow. I never thought I'd hear that from you."
"You're a dork, and have some of the most ridiculous blind spots I've ever seen, but you're a good person, Jaune."
"Umm, thanks?"
"Don't let it go to your head."
Jaune gave her a smirk in response, at last taking a sip from his mug. "This is good coffee."
"You expected otherwise?"
"I expected booze maybe."
"Not this early, no," she said with a smile. His banter was definitely growing on her, and represented a new level of difficulty in extracting a blush from the boy.
"You guys have anything planned for today?"
"Not really, why?"
"Well, I could use some help getting around town. I can't look up anything on my scroll, and I've got a lot of shopping to do."
"Oh? And what do I get out of the deal?"
"You ever had tarte tatin? That bakery we stopped at yesterday said they'd make me some."
Yang had to stop herself from repeating the joke from the day before regarding the long, thin baguette he'd shared with them, at least grateful for the minor expansion of her culinary horizons. Who knew that simple bread could be so damn good? "All right, sold. But we've got things to do around the house before we can go pokin' around town."
"Can I help with anything?"
"Yeah, let Zwei out while I clean up in here?" she said, indicating last night's dinner dishes with a nod of her head.
"You don't have a dog door?"
"Used to, 'til Dad found a baby Nevermore in the living room one day. I still say it came down the chimney, but nooooo," she moaned, complete with eyeroll, "Dad had to board up the dog door instead. Guess who had to clean up the mess when someone else wasn't fast enough to let him out?" she growled.
"Well, it wasn't really Ruby's fault, now was it?" he asked, getting a high velocity dish towel to the face as a reply. "All right, I'm going. Come on, Zwei," he called, tossing the towel over the back of his chair, the dog's stubby legs working overtime to carry him to the back door as Jaune opened it for him. He took a moment to watch the little corgi run ten yards from the house before he commenced sniffing any and everything he could find, as if he didn't know how any of it had come to be in his domain. Jaune smiled at the energetic dog, taking a few steps to retrieve Crocea Corax from the coffee table before he joined Zwei outside for some early morning peace and quiet.
Patch was a beautiful island, he had to admit, the warm breeze ruffling his hair gently as he sat on the stoop to keep an eye on a dog that by all indications didn't require it. How Zwei had managed to tear that Beowolf to shreds during the Breach of Vale, he couldn't say, outside of the obvious answer of 'teeth and aura', but he'd seen it first hand. He set down his sword scabbard-point first, resting his left hand on the hilt as he sipped at his coffee. The breeze caught the Tigan pommel cord, the blue leather braid swaying slightly in response. The motion caught Jaune's eye, and he watched it for several moments before his focus went past it to a small maple tree on the edge of the Xiao Longs' unfenced back yard.
Zwei had his front paws on the trunk, his attention focused up into the branches, his ears perked up adorably. Jaune couldn't see what had gotten the dog riled up, but knew from his posture that Zwei wasn't likely to leave without the issue being resolved, and thus he ambled over, grateful for Aura protecting his bare feet from the occasional sticks and sharp rocks.
"Whatcha got, Zwei?" he asked, before a frantic rustling preceded a large crow erupting from the treetop, wheeling about once before making a beeline back towards and over the house before passing out of sight. "Good job protecting us from the scary bird, buddy," he praised the corgi with mock enthusiasm, Zwei's only response an open-mouthed tilt of the head, a pink tongue lolling out as he panted. Jaune dropped into a squat, offering Zwei another ear scratch, which was gladly accepted for several long moments. Resting his sword across his thighs, he reached down with his free hand, plucking a few black feathers off the ground. He regarded them carefully, eyes narrowed as he contemplated his find. Jaune's face was pensive for a long moment before he looked at his pommel cord again, the one true ornament in his entire ensemble, now that he'd lost Pyrrha's sash. The corner of his mouth ticked upwards barely as an idea struck him, and he stood, sword and feathers in hand as he walked back to the Xiao Long cabin.
He sat on the stoop, his attention split between his weapon, and his charge, working with fingers unaccustomed to dexterous tasks. A few minutes later, he admired his handiwork, the loose feathers now with their shafts woven into the tail end of the blue leather, adding even more flair to the tassel already present. Zwei dashed up then, scratching at the door fervently, a loud whine of frustration coming from the dog after several seconds.
"All right, hold on," he said, standing again and opening the door. He could hear Ruby's excited voice, the high tone unmistakeable even as he couldn't quite make out the words, and he followed Zwei into the house.
"..believe you're here!" he finally made out, rounding the corner and finding the scene of a touching reunion. Or it would be if he didn't feel immediately on edge at the sight of the grizzled, cyclopean Huntsman currently being weighed down by a patented Ruby Rose tacklehug.
"Well, I was just passing through, and... Oh hey, I thought you were in Vale, T…" Qrow Branwen began, before realizing just who hadn't entered the room. "Who the hell are you?" he rasped out coolly, his easy smile fading..
"Oh! Jaune! This is my Uncle Qrow!" Ruby volunteered eagerly, her grip loosening on him a bit. "He taught me everything about how to fight!"
"Jaune...Arc?" he asked, making an educated guess.
"Yeah?" he replied coolly.
"Huh. Guess you aren't dead after all," he said with a shrug. "Yeah, I know. It sucks. Been there, done that."
"What?" Jaune asked, his mood broken in the confusion.
"Explaining to people that you didn't actually take a dirt nap," he replied, clearly speaking from personal experience.
"It does get old pretty quick," he conceded, taking in the ragged cape slung over his shoulders. It was no mystery who had been Ruby's inspiration for so long.
Yang passed her uncle a mug of coffee, and Qrow finally managed to dislodge the silver-eyed limpet from his arm to accept it gratefully, pulling out his hip flask and adding a heavy snort of some pale yellow liquid to top it off. Ruby straightened out her combat skirt-and-blouse ensemble as he took a sip, thankful to not be poking eyes out anymore, even as Jaune's eyes narrowed at Qrow's addition to his coffee. The grizzled huntsman's sole remaining eyebrow crooked up ever so slightly at the attention before Jaune's gaze slipped off of him and over his shoulder, the dust crystal-capped staff leaning against the wall in the hallway hauntingly familiar somehow.
"So how long are you staying this time?" Yang asked, hopping up on the countertop.
"Just passin' through, firecracker. Figured I'd swing by and check in on you two before we headed out. Maybe spend the night."
"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.
"'Fraid I can't tell you, pipsqueak. One o' those need to know things," he added, favoring his niece with as roguish a wink as he could manage while wearing an eyepatch.
"Oh."
"We?" Jaune queried, the two sisters obviously not part of his entourage for whatever errand he was on. Before Qrow could respond, the group heard the door to the downstairs bathroom open, a caramel-skinned woman walking out with a relieved smile on her face. Her shoulder-length hair curled inward at the ends, her beauty only slightly dimmed by the extensive spiderweb of dark scars covering the left side of her face.
"Yeah, this is my friend…" Qrow began, the briefest of hesitations heard as he either tried to remember or concocted a cover identity for his companion on the spot.
"Amber," Jaune said, a tone of pleasant surprise on his tongue.
Everyone in the room noticed the tension spike in Qrow's posture, his right hand flinching towards the hilt of Harbinger, visible over his right hip. Jaune's own reflexes sprung to life in response, the nearly forgotten sword in his left hand tilted hilt-forward, ready to be drawn.
"Have we met?" Amber asked hesitantly, stepping forward to stand between Qrow and Jaune, her left arm barring her bodyguard's path forward.
"Yes. But I guess you really weren't aware at the time."
Qrow blinked once before relaxing. "Oh. Yeah. Oz told me about that."
"It's good to see you awake."
"It's good to be awake," she replied through a beleaguered smile.
"I just wish I'd been able to help more," Jaune said softly.
"Oz said you did, kiddo. No sense beating yourself up over it."
"Yeah, that's my job," Yang interjected helpfully.
"Yaaaaang," Ruby growled in annoyance.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyone want some breakfast? We were gonna take Vomit Boy here into town and grab something at Saleen's," she began, the small restaurant in Port Arcadia having been a family favorite for as long as she could remember, "buuuuut, I'm guessing you're laying low?" she asked of her uncle, getting a rough grunt of acknowledgement in return.
"What do we have in the fridge?" Jaune asked. "I'm not my mom, but I make a mean omelette."
"I think we've got some eggs, what else you need?" Yang queried.
"Cheese, for starters. Butter, maybe some veg, any kind of breakfast meat will work. Anyone allergic to anything?" he asked of the group, remembering growing up with Ivy's dairy sensitivity whilst getting non-committal shrugs from everyone present. "Lemme see what I'm working with," he said absently, placing his weapon on the table as he walked over to the refrigerator. He hissed softly when his feet met the chilly tile floor, stepping back towards the living room. "On second thought, let me get my shoes on."
"Sorry, the fridge is on the fritz again," Yang said as he retreated to the living room again, apologizing for the ice dust leak.
A pair of socks was easy enough to find, as was his right boot, but the left proved elusive. A frustrated growl left his throat, his gaze darting about the room in increasing irritation until he found the footwear in question sequestered under the coffee table. Dragging the boot out from under the table, Jaune grumbled again, the handiwork of a very toothy dog apparent around the top edges. Rather than make a scene over boots he was planning to replace anyway, he sat down on the couch, slipping his footwear on and ignoring the traces of drool as best he could. Already formulating a rough menu in his head, his train of thought was almost instantly derailed as his gaze came up and found Amber standing just inside the living room, her back to the kitchen.
"Hey," he said, a little unnerved at how quietly the woman had moved. Made sense if she was one of Ozpin's agents, he supposed. The enigmatic Headmaster had the damnedest habit of showing up unannounced and precisely where he could do some good.
"Hello. Jaune, right?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, that's me. Jaune Arc," he stated, forgoing his customary introduction for the sake of simplicity. That, and not embarrassing himself yet again.
"You said that you helped me when I was...sick. I asked Qrow, but he doesn't know the specifics."
"You're wondering what I did," he said quietly, nerves threatening to overwhelm him.
"Yes," Amber replied softly.
"My Semblance…" he began, trying to find a way to describe something so abstract even he didn't understand it fully. "I can amplify aura. Heal people who have theirs unlocked. The first time I did it, it was like...blowing on the embers of a dying fire, trying to will it back to life. She was dying...dead basically. And I managed to bring her back. She was the first, but not the last. Every person I've healed has been much the same way. I can also boost the aura of people who are healthy, but that's a lot easier, like throwing fire dust on a campfire that's already roaring. But you…" he trailed off.
"I was different."
"Yeah. I reached out, and felt so...jumbled. Like looking at a shattered mirror."
"Fractured," she said softly, her eyes misting over.
Jaune looked up into her eyes again, taking a moment before speaking. "Yeah. Good a word as any, I guess. It was like someone had just run up and kicked the fire around. The logs were still burning bright, but there was no center to it. The light was scattered, casting weird shadows everywhere. Honestly, I don't know how, or even if I accomplished anything." He paused again. "What happened to you?" he asked, his voice conveying concern and confusion in one tidy package.
"I was...attacked. After that, I don't know. All I have are glimpses of what was. Who I was. You know I can't remember my mother's face? If I even knew her," she added, her light brown eyes closing, forcing a tear to trickle slowly down her cheek.
Jaune stood and walked slowly to her, taking Amber's hands in his own. "You're still here, though. That's gotta count for something, right?" he reassured her, letting his Aura bloom ever so slightly. Pyrrha had seemed almost euphoric when he'd used his Semblance on her the one time they'd experimented with it. Yang had been rather giddy as well, but he couldn't exactly trust her to be truthful on the subject. And so, he allowed his Aura to flow into the touch they shared, trying to help Amber feel better about her situation. The pale glow was barely visible, and went unnoticed by him in the face of her unexpected reaction.
Her eyelids snapped open, her gaze locking onto his own as a fiery aura sprung to life over her eyes.
"That's never happened before," he said nervously.
"You," she whispered.
"Umm…"
"It was you," she continued, ignoring him completely it seemed. Before he could voice another word, Amber stepped forward and embraced him fiercely, Jaune's hands frozen awkwardly in midair. "You were my anchor," she whispered into his collarbone. "All that time in the hospital, trapped in my own head. I remembered what you told me. That I needed to come back. I needed to come back…"
"To the people that care about you," he finished for her. "I didn't know that you'd heard me."
Amber stifled a sniffle as she clung to him. "I did. And I remembered. Every time it felt like I was going to slip away. Every time that I heard the doctor say that I wasn't getting better and I couldn't scream at him that he was wrong. You were there. Just on the edge of perception. I didn't know your name, couldn't see your face. But your words stayed with me."
"I...I'm just glad I could help," he said, relieved of a concern he hadn't thought of in a while. He just hoped she wouldn't ask him anything else about that day.
"Okay, we've got a couple onions and a bell pepper, is that...enough?" Ruby asked, trailing off as she came into the room.
With a start, Jaune realized that his left arm had come to rest in the small of Amber's back, and he let her go. The both of them looked at Ruby, an awkward pause taking over the room before Amber likewise broke her embrace, looking between Jaune and Ruby for a moment before she mumbled an apology and brushed past Ruby to head back to the kitchen. Jaune was left mystified, both by Amber's reaction, and the confused, almost hurt look on his friend's face.
"Soooo, you two know each other, huh?" she asked, her eyes finding the floor.
"Not really. I mean, sort of?" he scrambled, trying to figure out what he'd done wrong this time. "Amber's...kind of in the same boat as you, Ruby," he began, pausing again as he collected his thoughts. "I don't know if you remember, but when you were in the hospital, Headmaster Ozpin came to see us. He said he needed to borrow me?" he added, seeing a glimmer of recognition in her eyes as she met his gaze again. "Amber's why. She was in a coma, and they couldn't find a way to bring her back. I tried using my Semblance, but it didn't seem to work at the time. I guess I still helped, from what she told me."
"Oh. Okay," she replied, the worry falling from her shoulders.
"You okay, Ruby?"
"What? Oh, yeah. Was just kind of surprised to find you two like that."
"Okay," he replied, letting the matter drop for now. "You know how to cook?"
"A little," she said, even if they both knew it was largely limited to baking cookies.
"Awesome! You get to help. Come on," he added, walking back into the kitchen, a conflicted Ruby Rose in tow.
The two of them, with Yang's occasional help (and pranks), began working on throwing breakfast together, bacon crisping in the oven as Jaune beat eggs into fluffy perfection. Qrow and Amber sat at the table, relaxing with cups of coffee in their hands.
"So where did you manage to find a Tigan weapon braid, kid?" Qrow asked, eyeing the pommel of Crocea Corax.
"It was a gift from Casian Râuri. He's the one who reforged Crocea Corax, and built Liv's weapons."
"Oh my gosh, those things are so cool!" Ruby chimed in. "I mean, not Crescent Rose cool, but…" she amended, afraid of offending her baby.
"A gift, huh?" Qrow retorted suspiciously. "Tiganii aren't known for being the generous sort."
"They're known for a lot of things, actually. I've found that almost all of them aren't true. Except for the fact that they're devoted to their families. I saved his son's life," he stated matter-of-factly. "After that, he kind of adopted me. I think," he amended, still not entirely certain of the dynamics involved.
"Huh, first time for everything I guess."
"So what's with the feathers?" Yang asked of the new additions.
"Oh that? Funny story actually. I found them outside this morning when I took Zwei for his potty break. Crow feathers, I think."
"Oooh, someone's got a fan club!" Yang quipped, winking at her uncle. What she failed to notice was Jaune's teeth gritting briefly in irritation at the insinuation.
"Crows are kind of a guide animal to me," he corrected her gently.
"Look at Vomit Boy getting all spiritual on us."
"Remember initiation? The end of it, at the bridge?"
"Yeah?" Ruby piped up.
"Well, we'd just gotten done with that Deathstalker, and we're all just kind of collapsed on the ground in relief. Except Pyrrha, because of course she wasn't even winded," he added with a playful eyeroll. "So we're sitting there, watching you guys fight, when out of the corner of my eye, I see what I think is a baby Nevermore, red eyes and everything, perched on top of one of the pillars. I figure I'm going to try and at least contribute something to the fight until I take a closer look. Turns out it was just some raggedy old crow. Looked like it'd gotten hit by a truck, from all the missing feathers. Damnedest thing was, it was just watching the fight, like the rest of us were."
Unseen by the busy teenagers, Amber raised an eyebrow at Qrow, getting his patented 'I'm protesting my innocence because of course I did it, because I'm cool like that' look in return, complete with the self-point of the finger.
"That's kinda flimsy, not gonna lie," Yang cut in.
"That's just it, though. That was the first time."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. There were a few times I swear I saw that same stupid crow in a tree outside the dorms, usually on your side of the building, but sometimes on ours. I mean, there's no way it could be the same bird every time, right? Anyway, I'd never really thought about it until the Breach. We were clearing the perimeter, trying to keep containment around Liberty Square, when I saw it again. Circling the area like it was looking for something. I guess it found what it was looking for, 'cause it dove out of sight around a corner. Our area was secure, so I decided to go take a look. I know, crazy, right?" he asked, continuing to whisk away at the eggs.
"So I get to the corner and take a peek, and there's Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, interrogating a White Fang soldier who survived the train crash. I asked if they needed help, and I guess I distracted them long enough for the Fang guy to pull a rifle from Gods know where. I swear, I didn't see that thing until he whipped it out. Mercury took him down hard, ends up killing him. Damn near kicked the dude's head off his shoulders. He was cleared, of course. Self defense against a terrorist combatant. After everything with those three, I'm stuck wondering if that's what actually happened. I look away from the gore, and that same damn bird is sitting up in a tree, watching everything."
"Okay, that's just a little creepy," Ruby said with an awkward scowl.
"Oh, it gets better. A few weeks later, I'm just walking out of the locker room, Cardin's right behind me, bragging about my impending ass-kicking. We pass Yatsu and Fox on their way to the showers along with those two guys from FNKI, Kobalt and Ivori, I think their names were? Their teammates are following after them, just got out of a super tight full team match. There's this massive explosion, from when the Dust magazine went up. Half the damn building falls on us. Only thing I remember is Coco and Velvet yanking me and Cardin clear as it all came down. The dust starts to settle, and I look around and find a total nightmare. That faunus girl, Neon? A girder dropped on her after she dove clear of most of the debris. Cut both of her legs off at the knees. She's bleeding everywhere, so I pull the tourniquet from my belt pouch, the one thing I'd managed to remember from Port's class, and get it on her. Me and her partner, Flynt, end up using her nunchucks and his tie as a tourniquet on her other leg; saved her life," he said softly, taking a deep breath before he continued solemnly.
"The ringing in my ears starts to go away, but I wish it hadn't. Coco is yelling at the rubble, trying to dig into it, but it's too much for her. She must have been really low on Aura from their match. Velvet...I can still hear her screaming," he added with a shiver. "She knew, somehow. She knew that Fox and Yatsu were gone. All four of them. Flynt didn't say anything, but I think he knew too. He was just too busy with Neon to let it show. Cardin's arm was pinned under five tons of concrete, so he wasn't going anywhere either. The only thing I could think of was finding Goodwitch, so I told Coco what I was doing and ran out of there like a bat out of hell."
"Panic was everywhere. Nobody knew what was going on. I got back to the arena, but she wasn't there. Once I got out onto the quad, I ran into Yang, who told me about the attack, and told her the locker rooms were a lost cause. Neither one of us had any idea where any of the professors were, and she didn't know where Ruby was either. Then there was an explosion in the auditorium. We could see that a good chunk of the dome was collapsed, with rubble in front of the west entrance. I was going to head to the south entrance instead, but then I saw that damn bird again. It circled low from the south back to the west before darting into the building through a broken window. We only found out later that the explosion had collapsed the south lobby. If we'd tried to go in through there, we...I wouldn't have made it in time," he concluded, his voice hoarse as he teared up. "It's crazy and weird, I know. I'm just glad I convinced Yang to come with me somehow."
"You did say I wouldn't believe you if you told me," Yang remarked wryly. "Still don't by the way."
Jaune simply sighed, suddenly registering that he'd dropped his whisk into the eggs. Hesitantly, he looked up, worried about Ruby's reaction to his tale more than anything. To find out that your very life had hinged on the slimmest chance of a goofy friend interpreting some esoteric sign from the Gods correctly was sobering to say the least. Her face was blank, pale and staring straight ahead for a long moment before she blinked once, shifting her gaze to meet his with the barest hint of a smile on her lips. Without another word, she closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around his abdomen and squeezing herself tightly to him.
"Thank you. For being you," she whispered. "If you weren't 'crazy weird Jaune', I wouldn't be here."
"Well, if it wasn't for you and a couple others, I don't know that I'd be here, Ruby," he replied though a smile.
"All right, you two. Less lovey dovey and more breakfast," Qrow reminded them gently.
"Yeah, you two can go suck face later," Yang added helpfully, getting a grumbling scowl from her sister and a peeved look from Jaune as they stepped back from each other.
The omelettes came together quickly, filled with grilled peppers and onions to accent the simple cheddar cheese within. Ruby manned the toaster, a good fit for her relative lack of skill in the kitchen, and soon the five of them were seated at the table with large platters of food to pass around as they broke bread. Conversation came easily, if sporadically, mouths full of food not well-suited to extended bouts of talking. Qrow updated his nieces on the less sensitive details of his recent travels, which were few and far between, and the girls babbled on about school for the most part.
"And that's why our Jaune here is Vomit Boy!" Yang chirped at the end of one particular story.
"Damn, when I call Grimm, at least I earn it."
"Call...Grimm?" Ruby asked.
Rather than explain, Qrow simply leaned over, miming a puking spell complete with frighteningly accurate sound effects. Yang erupted into raucous laughter, and even Amber giggled at his antics.
"Grooooosss," Ruby pronounced in disgust, while Jaune still stared daggers at Yang for bringing up that story yet again.
"This is a good omelette, Jaune," Amber complimented genuinely.
"Huh? Oh, thanks. Big family like mine, everyone has to chip in in the kitchen, especially when you've got so many different palates and diets."
"How is your mom these days?" Qrow asked.
"She's...Mom? Good, I guess. Probably gonna be furious with me," he muttered in chagrin. "You know her?"
"Long time ago, yeah. Back before she got married to your dad. She was one of the docs in the trauma ward at Beacon. Used to call her Doctor Vampire."
"Huh?" Ruby blurted.
"Mom always insists on getting a blood sample. For anything. Told me once she lost one of her first patients to the Grimm Pox, back before the vaccine was widely available. Came in for a broken wrist, and was dead the next morning."
"Yikes," Yang added. "Guess that's why Signal was so anal about shot records."
"Probably didn't hurt that her maiden name was Leach," Jaune added with a smirk, earning a gigglesnort from all three girls.
Ruby and Jaune returned to their breakfast, a chunk of omelette and a glass of orange juice nearly finished off before Jaune's fork froze halfway to his mouth, Ruby's juice spraying forth in a literal spit take at her sister's next comment.
"So, did Jaune's mom ever suck anything out of you, Uncle Qrow?"
"Yang!" Ruby nearly screamed, blushing furiously even as Jaune fixed Yang with a glower that would have done Weiss proud.
Qrow read the room well, his experience in bars and taverns across Remnant telling him they were about three comments away from a literal brawl. "No, Yang. We had coffee a couple times, but that was it," he said, bending the truth only a hair. Hey, that was basically the truth with him these days, right?
"Gods, Jaune, I can't decide whether you'd be awesome or five kinds of messed up with that for a father, to be honest," Yang shot back, taking a shot at a man she knew well the vices of. Her generally even treatment of him, Qrow and Ruby was what was keeping Jaune's temper at least halfway in check, and her sister from leaving the table out of sheer embarrassment. Qrow rolled with the punches as always, fixing his eldest niece with a smirk.
"Well, even if you're not actually my kids, you two turned out all right."
"Oh, so I'd have a crippling cookie addiction and an obsession with punching guys in the junk?" Jaune quickly added.
"Hey!" both girls protested vehemently.
Amber could only offer a melancholic smile at their antics, faint slivers of memory of her own family only barely visible through the everpresent fog in her mind. For the first time since she could remember, she felt like she was home. Playful sibling bickering was something that struck a chord with her, and she knew she had to have a brother or sister out there somewhere.
If only she could remember their face.
She started out of a trance as she felt a hand on her arm, Ruby nudging her gently with a look of concern on her face. "Miss Amber? You okay?"
"Oh, sorry. Just lost in thought for a moment. What was the question?"
"I was just wondering how long you and my uncle have been...working…together," Yang said with a knowing smirk. "I mean, I've never seen him bring home a woman before, so you must be pretty special."
"It's not like that, firecracker," Qrow averred. "Strictly business. And we've known each other for about five years."
"Wow. And here I thought you were mister love'em and leave'em."
Qrow leveled a withering gaze across the table at her, still effective despite the missing eye.
"Well, I guess you come by it honestly then," Jaune nimbly slipped into the line of conversation.
"Oh, you're one to talk about relationship issues, Jaune," she snapped back, her voice oozing with sarcasm.
"Meaning?" he retorted, his woeful attempts at romance having already been discussed ad nauseum during breakfast.
"Didn't your dad tell you? You're supposed to warn your friends if you start dating the yandere."
"What are you…?" he asked, trailing off as the blood drained from his face.
"Yang?" Ruby chimed in, worried at her sister's tone and Jaune's visible fear.
"Oh, he didn't tell you about his last girlfriend being jealous of all the time you were spending with him?"
"Yang. Don't," Jaune said with a quiet, icy calm.
"What is she talking about?" Ruby asked, now thoroughly bewildered as to what was going on with the conversation.
"Just that time he spent playing tonsil hockey with Emerald Sustrai."
The only sound that could be heard after that statement was several pieces of flatware clattering to their plates, Jaune and Qrow's focus shifting fitfully between each other and both sisters in turn. Yang's face was a cocky grin, while Ruby's looked like someone had murdered Zwei.
"What?" she said softly, her brain still not registering everything yet.
"She kissed me once, obvious to me now that it was a distraction, as I made crystal fucking clear to your sister," Jaune growled menacingly. "I'll tell you more later, Ruby."
"Umm, okay," she replied quietly, seeming to shrink inward, fingertips scratching subconsciously at her scars.
"Okay, kids. Let's try and stay calm about this," Qrow began, wholly unused and unsuited to the role of peacemaker. "Say, the more I think about it, the more I think we'll spend the night here after all. Ruby? Why don't you help Amber get settled in upstairs? Put her in your dad's room for now, I guess."
"Okay," she said, glad for an excuse to leave the kitchen. "This way, Miss Amber."
Ruby waited the few moments it took for her to collect her small pack and weapon from the hallway before leading Amber up the stairway, Zwei's Ruby-sense tingling enough to get the pup clambering up the stairs after them. The short hallway was somewhat bare, populated only by the few family pictures that Taiyang Xiao Long could stomach seeing on a daily basis. The pair ended up in Tai's bedroom without further ado, Ruby rocking back on her heels as the isolation she felt in having to deal with an unfamiliar face solo made its presence felt.
"So, umm, bathroom is through there, and I guess everything else is pretty self-explanatory...This is the door to the hallway, and...well, yeah, that's pretty stupid to point out when you think about it," she nervously added.
"Thank you, Ruby," Amber said with a gentle smile, setting her pack on the bed before turning around to face the nervous girl. "And I'm sorry."
"Oh it's no big deal, really. Lots of Dad's friends come to visit sometimes. Okay, maybe not a lot of them, but…"
"I was talking about Jaune," she cut in softly. "I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression."
"Huh?"
"He's special...I guess you'd know better than anyone, wouldn't you?" she added with a smile.
"Well, duh. He's, like, my super best friend. Well, him and Weiss are tied, I guess. Don't tell her I said that," she whispered, silver eyes darting around in fear of her partner having somehow heard Ruby comparing her to Jaune in any way.
"Mum's the word," Amber replied with a conspiratory wink. "So how long have you two been together?"
"Well, we met on the first day of school last year, and we've been…" she trailed off, her cheeks aflame as she realized exactly what she'd been asked. "We're not like, you know, together together," she muttered nervously before the shock set in, her eyes going wide. "Oh, Gods, tell me I'm not Nora! I don't even like pancakes."
"Nora?"
"Jaune's teammate. Her and her partner are like, the most obvious couple ever, but neither one of them want to admit it."
"Do you want to be with him?" Amber asked softly, trying to calm her host down through a soothing tone of voice.
"I just want to be the greatest Huntress Remnant has ever known, like my mom was. Kick butt, take names, all that jazz. All that...boy...stuff? I don't know. Maybe, some day. Besides, his partner is over the moon for him. She's so sweet, and kind, and strong, and beautiful. I'm just some fifteen year old kid who nerds out over weapons and eats her own weight in cookies every week," she muttered bitterly.
"But they're not dating?"
"No. I don't know how much more obvious Pyrrha could be, but he's never picked up on it," Ruby said, her voice sounding sad for reasons even she couldn't identify.
"I take it talking to your sister about this isn't an option?"
"Oh, hell no. She keeps insisting I've got this massive crush on Jaune, and then threatening to punch him in the...well, you know."
"I hadn't noticed," Amber deadpanned, getting a soft chuckle from Ruby. "What's he like? I can't say that I've gotten to know him, not really."
Ruby thought for several moments, trying as best she could to not go running off at the mouth much like she could on the subject of armaments. "He's...comfortable."
"That sounds...odd."
"Well... He was so worried about losing me that he unlocked his Semblance the day that I almost…" Ruby began, before her voice failed her.
"You must be very important to him," Amber prodded subtly. "I still don't see how that translates to 'comfortable'," she added, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
"There was so much pain. I was scared, and cold. So cold," she whispered. "Then he touched me, and it all went away. It was like...getting caught out in the rain, and walking in the door to your house, and your mom's got a nice, warm blanket fresh out of the dryer. All you wanna do is just snuggle into it...wrap yourself up in that warmth and never let go," she finished, hugging herself tightly.
"You're smiling." Said smile vanished in an instant later, but the damage had been done, Ruby covering her blushing face with both hands. "Ruby? My head's a mess right now. There are so many things I'm missing the details of. People and places I can picture clear as day, but I have no idea who or what they are. Emotions I've felt, but I can't explain why. Experiences I've had, but I can't remember the details." Amber paused, gently pulling Ruby's hands down far enough to look into her eyes. "What I can tell you? I've been in love before, and it felt a lot like that. There are going to be moments that take your breath away, that make your heart pound in your chest so hard it hurts. Those come and go. But to be able to just be yourself around someone without fear? That's something special."
"Normal knees," Ruby whispered so quietly she wasn't even sure she'd spoken.
"You're smiling again," Amber said through a broad smile of her own.
"Shut up," Ruby replied, her heart clearly not in it, judging by the fresh blush on her cheeks.
"Oh, hello there!" Amber said in surprise when Zwei leapt up onto the duvet beside her, demanding attention.
"Sorry, he's kind of an attention whore," she apologized, before her smile evaporated at the distant sound of raised voices coming from downstairs. "Crap. I hope nobody's put a hole in the wall again," Ruby grumbled.
"That...doesn't sound good."
"My sister's got a temper sometimes. Lemme go see what's going on," she added with a sigh.
"I think I'll take the chance and grab a shower. You wouldn't believe some of the places we've been the last couple days."
"Okay. Gimme a shout if you need anything," she added before stepping back out of the room, a slight frown on her face as she stomped down the hallway. Descending the stairs, she was prepared for quite a few things, if she was being honest. But none of the hypothetical scenarios in her mind matched up with what she beheld.
Yang was nowhere to be seen, the kitchen door leading outside standing ajar the only clue to her whereabouts.
Jaune was against the wall at the base of the stairs, his deep blue eyes practically aflame as he stared down her uncle. The source of his ire was presumably Qrow's left forearm, braced against Jaune's throat but far from pinning him in place. And Qrow…
Qrow looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"Uncle Qrow?" she asked hesitantly. "What's going on?"