Beta: ShadowMeister234

It was strange to invite a complete stranger up to his room, but Jaune's only other option would have been to talk with the man in the living room where anyone could have listened in. His room was better, but not by much. Especially since the suited man was poking around his stuff without a care in the world.

"Um, Mr. Watts?"

"It's Dr. Watts, but you can call me Arthur."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Alright Arthur, would you mind telling me what exactly you're doing here? Actually, just start with who you even are. I wasn't expecting another caretaker to show up at my door."

"Indeed, us caretakers are a mainly secluded bunch. Oh, is this a transdimensional plate? Impressive, did you make it yourself?"

Jaune didn't even know you could. "No, and would you mind not messing around in my bag?"

"I see. Well, no shame in that. Not all caretakers are the crafting type." He completely ignored Jaune's other point. "As for who I am. I believe I already introduced myself. Maybe the name Salem doesn't mean much to you, but surely you must know about my work in Atlas." Jaune shook his head and the man frowned like a child who hadn't been congratulated by their parents. "Well, I guess walking the path of the unknown world didn't leave you much time to appreciate the realm of science."

Sure, let's go with that.

"Who's this Salem?" Jaune swore he had heard the name before. He even remembered the name appearing in his book, but he couldn't remember the specifics. If there had even been specifics in that jumbled mess of writing.

"To keep things simple, let's just say Salem is an ancient mage cursed with immortality and holds the position as Queen of the Grimm."

"Grimm! As in the creatures of Grimm? She's their queen? And you work for her!"

"I do." Arthur seemed remarkably unconcerned about admitting that tidbit. Jaune felt like he had missed some sort of fundamental information.

"Doesn't that make her evil? Isn't working for her like a really bad thing?"

"I suppose the majority of the population would believe so, but it all depends on perspective. Thankfully us caretakers know better."

Know better how? Also, how did the morality of following the leader of Remnant's most pressing threat depend on perspective?

Jaune was at a loss for words. First Roman, now this guy. Did all caretakers grow up to talk in riddles? It was to the point that Jaune wasn't sure which one of them was being the idiot in this conversation, but he was too invested to stop now.

"Why does an immortal mage even need a personal caretaker? Surely, she's got it figured out by now."

Arthur chuckled richly. "You would think, but it's not so simple. The world of the unknown moves slowly, but rest assured it does move. For an isolated immortal such as Salem, she finds herself trapped with the idea of the old unknown world more often than not."

Jaune's confusion must have been pretty clear because Arthur switched to a different explanation. "Think of it this way. You mostly find magic in ancient things." He pulled out Jaune's glass knife and stroked it happily. "Like the shards of an old mirror for instance, but these things weren't always ancient. Once they were new, and at some point, everything that's new to us will become ancient. I suspect that future generations of caretakers will be looking for magic in computer code and machine wiring. This is what stops Salem's mastery of the unknown world, among other issues. Her time heralded the invention of pottery and metalworking when magic was likely to be found in herbs and fire. How could she ever comprehend the magic of our modern world?"

So basically, she was a grandma yelling at her computer for not working correctly, Jaune didn't say. Not wishing to offend Arthur by badmouthing his employer.

"It's actually precisely for this reason that she sought my cooperation. You see I was a man of science before I ventured into the unknown world. Now I am both a scientist and a caretaker which makes me particularly valuable to my Queen. My goal you see is to better align the worlds of magic and science. As I said, this will happen naturally over time, but I'd very much like to witness it in my lifetime. My work is dedicated to giving this process a jumpstart if you will."

Dr. Watts sure had a high opinion of himself, Jaune realized. Just another thing he had in common with Roman. "And the Queen of Grimm wants this as well?" If she was already struggling with the modern age of magic, it would make more sense for her to want to delay the transition, not speed it up.

For the first time, Arthur held his tongue. "Not exactly, but she values my expertise in both fields, and while my work further hurts her understanding, I make up for it with my assistance."

Jaune didn't want to know what kind of assistance the Grimm Queen would need, so he left it at that. "Alright, I think I understand," he really didn't, "but that doesn't explain why you're here."

"Oh, my presence here has nothing to do with my current employment. This is a personal job." Then why bother mentioning the Queen of Grimm in the first place! Of course, Jaune knew why. It was because Dr. Watts liked to hear himself talk. "I'm on a hunt you see. A hunt for Timothy Bedlam."

Bedlam? Wasn't that Alice's last name from Cryphilictal's library? Actually, hadn't she said that he would meet her father?

"He's much more well known as the Mad Hatter, though."

Jaune paled. Mad Hatter was a name he definitely remembered appearing in his book, several times in fact. The passages lacked concrete details about the entity, but they always managed to underscore just how dangerous he was and how stupid it was to try and engage him. Dear Brothers, that's who Alice's dad was. At least it explained how he could be cruel enough to force his daughter to be Cryphilictal's librarian.

"Why on Remnant are you trying to hunt him!"

"Because he needs to be destroyed. He is a threat to all on Remnant, but he is also a frustrating obstacle to my goal. To create an alignment between science and magic there must be a standard set of rules. The rules of science are easy, the rules of the unknown world less so, but they certainly exist. I'm sure you've exploited a few of those rules yourself. Why if magic didn't have rules there wouldn't be much of a caretaking profession. This would just be a unique way to commit a meeting place between these two sets of rules and branching out from there is the first step of the alignment." Arthur stopped to glare out the window and clench his fist. "Unfortunately, while everything should have rules, no matter how complex, the Mad Hatter proves the exception. Where one plus one should always equal two the Mad Hatter could make it equal to two, or he could make it equal to three, or four, or 2.56. His power is unknown even to the unknown world. He is the magic to our magic if you will, and I fear as long as he exists there can never be a true alignment."

This guy was insane, Jaune decided. What kind of brain damage did you need to have to be willing to risk your life for something so stupid? Also, wasn't it a scientist's job to adjust their hypothesis to better fit the new evidence instead of going on an extermination quest to destroy it? It was enough to have Jaune wishing for Roman. At least he was just in it for the money and prestige, and not whatever this was.

Arthur kept talking, but Jaune was barely paying attention as his mind was too caught up in a whirlwind, but eventually, he did pluck a coherent thought from that storm of madness. "Wait a second! If you're hunting the Mad Hatter and you're here doesn't that mean the Mad Hatter is here too?"

Arthur tucked his hand behind his jacket in a more formal posture. "Obviously. It's also why I stopped by. I've come to ascertain if you would be willing to provide assistance."

"How do you even know me?" Jaune half shouted.

Arthur seemed confused. "From your reputation of course. Why as much as it irritates me to concede anything, even luck, to that damnable Torchwick, I have to admit he hit the jackpot with you."

"Woah, what's this about a reputation? I'm not famous enough to have one of those."

Arthur looked into Jaune's eyes trying to see if he was joking. "Interesting. I guess it's true when they say that the husband is the last to find out their wife is cheating on them. But on the contrary Mr. Jaune Arc, you are quite famous. I doubt there are many caretakers who don't know who you are. Roman certainly blabs about you enough. Why I dare say you are one of this generation's aces."

Jaune was stunned. His jaw had met the floor and he didn't know what else to do besides try and pick it up. Thankfully, Arthur continued to fill the silence.

"Although I am in a bit of a unique situation as I have met you once before; though, I doubt you'd recognize me since I was in disguise as it was work-related. Perhaps you remember a certain journalist nosing around inside the CCT tower before Beacon's initiation this year. I'm sure I mentioned back then that it was strange that so many heavy hitters had left their own kingdoms to attend Beacon. Well as I suspected Ozma used the Relic of Choice to manipulate their decisions. Nothing he hasn't done before but this time he was especially blatant. Atlas and Mistral were very upset."

Jaune resisted the urge to ask about any of that. No more tangents. He needed to stay on topic or Arthur would keep chatting into the next century. "I'm glad you think so highly of me, but I'm not going to help you kill the Mad Hatter. It's not just because I think your reasoning is selfish, but because your information is outdated. I quit being a caretaker."

Arthur frowned. "You must be joking. You do realize you've been breaking speed records. Completing more cases within a year than most caretakers will handle in five. You even managed to survive Cryphilictal with barely any experience. Just how many people do you think can accomplish that?"

Jaune grit his teeth in frustration. If Arthur really did have his entire life story down, then he should know exactly why he was quitting. "I don't care. I'm done."

Arthur huffed, apparently finding Jaune's denial incomprehensible. "To think one measly failure could reduce you to this. Perhaps my opinion of you was too high. I do hope you realize Beacon's current state is due to Ozma's negligence and not any inadequacy on your part."

Jaune didn't respond.

Arthur sighed like a disappointed father. "I see. That is quite a shame. I will say that you must be extremely unlucky to have quit being a caretaker only for the Mad Hatter to show up on your doorstep after four decades of inactivity. I would have expected you to help if only to protect your home."

Jaune bit down a gasp and it felt like swallowing a lead ball, but did his best to resist being goaded into helping, but he did look out his window where the rain was pounding down as hard as ever. "Is this storm his doing?"

"Why do you care? I thought you were done with the unknown world."

Jaune shot Arthur an annoyed look. He wasn't going to play along with his jokes.

Arthur rolled his eyes displeased with the spoiled brat. "It is not. This storm is my doing. Best for everyone to stay inside for when the Mad Hatter arrives in full."

Jaune was skeptical. "That's quite generous for someone allied with the Grimm."

"You certainly are closed-minded for a caretaker, my mistake ex-caretaker." Arthur chastised. "Regardless of what you think of me, I don't prefer nor partake in mindless death. Tyrian is more than happy to take care of that side of things. Besides, it's to my benefit that the unqualified stay out of my way. The last thing I want is for the Mad Hatter to twist them to his advantage although if he does decide to go that route it's not like four walls and a roof will stop him."

Jaune thought about his family. If the Mad Hatter targeted them, it wouldn't much matter that his dad was a Huntsmen or that he was a caretaker. It would likely be a slaughter all the same. "What is the Mad Hatter even doing here? What does he want?"

"To cause chaos, or maybe madness is a more apt term."

"Why?"

"Why does a bird build a nest? Why do spiders spin webs? Why does a dog dig in the ground? It's because it's in their nature. The Mad Hatter is the same, or so is the assumption. He needs madness, and unfortunately for him, the world has been rather peaceful as of late, Vale especially. The destruction at Beacon was a good start, but not nearly enough and probably only served to draw him in. He needs more and what better place to start spreading the seeds of chaos than a nice, quiet, peaceful town on the outskirts?"

Jaune frowned. "But you can handle this by yourself, right?"

"I suppose I must."

"And if you can't"

"Then I suppose unless someone else steps in everyone here will go mad." Arthur let those words fester for a while. Letting them sink into the walls and floor. "Have a good evening, Mister Arc. If you change your mind, I'm sure you can figure out how to find me."

Without waiting to be escorted to the front door, Arthur left Jaune's room and headed outside. Jaune watched the black umbrella float away until both it and the man holding it were well out of sight.

Jaune collapsed on his bed soon after, feeling physically and mentally exhausted. All that effort to disconnect himself from the unknown world only to find out that he was famous within it and offered a request to help put down a legendary threat. Under any other circumstances, the answer would have been a clear no, but with his family in danger, he wasn't so sure. This wasn't even about his self-made promise to detach himself from the unknown world. This was about what would be best for keeping his family safe. Was it better to lay low and hope for the best, or was it better to help Arthur and get ahead of the threat? The latter option felt correct, but then Jaune remembered that it was sticking his nose out too far that let Sulfur pick him out and run him around like an idiot. Would the Mad Hatter do the same if he made himself a target?

He just didn't know.

Jaune was a paranoid wreck the rest of the day. He paced around the house and basically did a headcount of his sisters every thirty minutes much to their annoyance. It was ridiculous. No one was leaving the house in this weather, but Jaune couldn't let go of the feeling that if they were out of his sight for too long, something terrible would happen.

It had gotten to the point where he was setting up incomplete etches around the house. It was a pointless distraction. If the time came to use them, he doubted he would remember where half of them were, let alone what he had set each one to do.

If nothing else it did hide his worry which was something the rest of his family weren't as capable of. The irregularity of this storm had gripped the rest of his family. Mauve was obviously the worst off following their mom's every step and practically diving between her legs with every roar of thunder. For his mom's part, she did well in putting up a strong front, but Jaune saw the way her eyes swiveled to the windows every so often like she was afraid the storm would break through.

If his dad was here, he might have been able to reassure them, but he was locked away in his study pursuing the hopeless question of where this storm had come from and where it might be going. Jaune just hoped he wouldn't try and go outside to examine it.

"Jaune," his mom said. "Would you go get your sisters and tell them dinner is ready?"

"Sure thing."

He traveled to the living room where he knew the rest of his sisters were. On normal nights they would be fighting over the television, but here they were all crowded together around a board game. The game hadn't seemed to progress much since the last time he checked on them which confirmed his suspicion that the game was just an excuse to be close to one another. Safety in numbers as they say.

"Dinner is ready—Wait, where is Crystal!"

"She went upstairs to get a sweater," Azura answered as Clementine tried to get Minty to pull her earbuds out.

"Although she's been gone for a while, wonder what she's doing?" Lapis innocently followed up.

Jaune's heart skipped a beat. "I'll go get her."

He took the steps two at a time knowing in his head that Crystal would be perfectly fine, but his body refused to believe that. He reached the top just in time to see the hallway lights flicker. He watched them as they came dangerously close to going dark for good, but thankfully they held onto life. Jaune walked the rest of the way to Crystal's (and Mauve's) room as if it was his impatience that caused the power to nearly die.

As expected, Crystal was in her room safe and sound though she was looking out her window with a serious expression. "Hey, dinner is ready," Jaune said from the doorway.

"I saw something." She didn't turn to look at him.

Jaune walked up behind her. "Yeah, everyone can see the water pouring from the heavens," he joked.

"It's not that. It was a beam, a huge one."

"Probably just lightning or a trick from the wind and rain. Let's go eat." Jaune placed his hand on her shoulder and tried to steer her away from the window, but she pulled away, annoyed.

"It wasn't that and it wasn't my imagination. It was only for a moment but there was definitely a beam of light, but it wasn't really light. It was one solid color so thick I couldn't see through it. Like a sci-fi laser."

Crystal was going into way too much detail for Jaune to just brush her off, and she knew it. "Jaune, what's going on?"

It was an exceedingly rare occurrence for Crystal to admit her worry about anything. Always trying her best to seem above it all. Probably just a by-product of having to put up with being the second youngest, but because of that whenever she did confess her insecurities, you knew it was serious.

"I'm not saying I don't believe you," Jaune eased in, "but what makes you think I would know anything?"

"Because you're not scared…" she paused her body no doubt having a negative reaction to her next words, "not like the rest of us."

Jaune bent his knees so he could look at Crystal on her level. "You must be joking. Do you know who you're talking to? I'm the brother that kept his nightlight on until he was twelve and had to look up to his younger sister for protection. No one is more scared than me. Maybe I just got better at hiding it."

Crystal shook her head not giggling or smiling at his self-deprecating humor. "You're not. I can still tell that you're scared, but it's different from the rest of us. You're not scared for yourself. It's like you're scared for us. That's the same way mom and dad sometimes are." Crystal's eyes hardened. "Which is why I know you know something. Does it have something to do with that guy who showed up?"

Jaune had to bite his tongue to keep from cursing. This was not the time for Crystal to be nosy. He doubted she could ever figure out the truth, but even one step closer to it was too far in Jaune's eyes. He had to head it off. "Listen, this is just a storm like any other. It will blow over soon and everything will be fine so there's no need for you to worry."

Crystal looked back out the window. The storm that had only gotten worse reflected in her eyes. "You promise."

"I do," Jaune said, cementing perhaps the biggest lie he had ever told her.

Jaune couldn't sleep. Just the noise of the thunder and rain would have made it hard enough, but knowing what it was hiding only made it worse. More than once he had considered leaving his bed and the house for a quick investigation just to see what was going on, but every time he talked himself out of it. Not just because he was trying to keep himself from being sucked back in, but also if something terrible was happening he wanted to be here with his family. He'd be damned if something happened to them while he was out pretending to be a caretaker. Even if any resistance he provided by being her was likely minuscule he wasn't going to abandon them, not again.

His bed squeaked as he tossed and turned trying to find that one mythical position that would let him sleep. One pillow, two pillows, feet under the covers, feet not under the covers, no cover at all; none of it worked.

Just then he heard his bedroom door crack open. He bolted up straight and clutched his hand in an effort to summon his sword before realizing it was sitting in the corner of his room since he had never reconnected it to the Apeiron.

Good thing he hadn't because when the door opened fully it wasn't the Mad Hatter or any other monster but his littlest sister. Mauve already looked nervous enough standing in his doorway in her purple pajamas and clutching a Pumpkin Pete plushy to her chest that he didn't want to imagine her reaction had he pulled a sword on her. "Do you need something?" Jaune asked.

Mauve just stood there staring at him wide-eyed. She went so long without saying anything that Jaune was wondering if he had finally lost it and was hallucinating. Eventually though, Mauve pitter-pattered over to the edge of his bed. "Can I sleep with you?"

A jolt traveled up Jaune's spine. As much as he had wished otherwise, he had never been the strong or cool enough brother to have any of his sisters come to him when they were scared. "Wouldn't you rather sleep with mom or Clementine?" It was what she had always done before.

She shook her head along with her whole body. "No, I want you."

Jaune felt his heart melt just a tiny bit. Why couldn't Mauve be like this all the time instead of the hyperactive whirlwind that damaged everything around her. Still, Jaune couldn't deny such a sweet request from his sister. He lifted the covers and she crawled right in, curling up into his side and squashing the Pumpkin Pete plushy between them. Funny how upset she had been when he had given it to her after winning it in a promotional. 'It's not purple,' she had complained as if that was the only thing that mattered.

By the time Mauve had fallen asleep, Jaune was still wide awake and now couldn't even adjust his position or he'd risk waking his sister up. He spent close to an hour just staring up at his ceiling begging for drowsiness to take him when his door opened again.

"So, this is where Mauve ran off to." Crystal approached his bed and before Jaune could even ask what she wanted; she made her intentions clear. "She does look comfy. I think I'll try it too."

"Wait!"

Completely ignoring his feeble protests Crystal made herself comfortable by clinging to his other side and falling asleep almost immediately. Now Jaune was trapped between them and definitely not feeling better for it. He felt like a tube of toothpaste being squeezed for its last drop.

Before he could think too much about it though, his door opened again.

"Psst, Jaune you awake?" It was one of the twins. Jaune couldn't tell from voice alone and he was keeping his eyes firmly shut, feigning sleep and hoping they would just go away.

"Look! Mauve and Crystal beat us here."

"I told you we should have just gone for it, but you wanted to wait it out."

"Shut up! It's embarrassing to ask our younger brother if we can spend the night with him. He's the one that should be coming to us."

"Well, look where your ego got us? There's not enough room."

"Nonsense. He won't even notice."

Jaune very much did notice the two human-sized objects positioning themselves on his chest. Knees and elbows dug into his stomach and sides. It would have certainly woken him up had he actually been asleep, and it was surprising that they didn't wake Mauve and Crystal.

Once the twins were comfortable, Jaune was truly entombed by his sisters. It was hot, and stuffy, and he had an itch on his back that he couldn't scratch.

It was going to be a long restless night.

Jaune was roused from groggy half-sleep by the flash of a camera. He opened his still tired eyes to see his mom and remaining sister standing in his room looking fondly over him. Clementine had her scroll open and held a hand to her cheek. "This is the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm making this my new wallpaper."

"Oh, send it to me." His mom begged.

The noise awoke the rest of his temporary bedmates and slowly they got off one by one. The twins in a huff like it was his fault they were there, Crystal in a cat-like stretch and Mauve in a barely upright walk.

The rest of the morning went by in a hazy blur as Jaune tried not to fall asleep on his feet. Breakfast might have consisted of eggs and pancakes and Minty probably teased him for getting four of their sisters into his bed, but Jaune truly couldn't tell if those things had actually happened or were just part of a waking dream.

The only thing he knew for certain was the day was sunny and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The storm had receded sometime during the night, and Jaune wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It might mean that Arthur won, or it might mean that he had been killed. There wasn't any way to tell which meant there also wasn't any way to know if the storm would return.

His mom seemed to be of the same opinion because she sent him and Clementine out to grab some extra supplies just in case. Apparently, everyone else in town had the same idea as they crowded the streets in massive lumps.

It was a chore just to walk around, but at least being in the sun helped wake Jaune up into a coherent state. It was far from perfect. The foremost thought in his mind was still how nice it would be to go back home and sleep the day away, but now he noticed just how tense everyone looked. Even Clementine looked like she was just one good scare away from jumping out of her skin. The storm might have left, but the effects it had on people's nerves clearly remained.

The few stores that had bothered to open were being hounded by the townspeople. It hadn't gotten violent, but it was disruptive, and Jaune realized that it wouldn't be long before things escalated.

Was it just the storm that was causing this behavior or was it something more sinister? Was it possible the Mad Hatter was responsible? Did he cause people to start acting agitated and irrational just from being in the vicinity?

The crowd wasn't being nearly outrageous enough to support that speculation, but it did give Jaune pause. He did explore around town to see if he could find any signs from the battle that, assumedly, had taken place the night before. He didn't find much. In fact, he found so little that it was suspicious. There was a bit of damage to the homes and streets, but it was minor and could have easily been caused by the storm itself. Certainly, nothing to support Crystal's claim of a giant beam.

It was very strange though. Jaune knew that being dangerous didn't necessarily translate into raw power, but for someone as infamous as the Mad Hatter, Jaune really felt like there should be more evidence. Maybe Arthur had done something to keep the damage to a minimum. As usual, it was impossible to tell unless he dived back into the unknown world himself.

He clenched his fists at the thought. When he gave up being a caretaker, he knew he'd be giving up the action and adventure, but he didn't realize how frustrating it was to just not be in the know.

He fumed for the rest of the shopping trip only relaxing when he got home to deposit the numerous shopping bags on the kitchen counter. The television was on in the living room, and Jaune gave half an ear to it as he put things away. At least until the programming switched to a sudden news story.

"Breaking news! Willow Schnee, who has been out of the public eye for nearly a decade, has suddenly reemerged with news that will shake the very foundation of the Schnee Dust Company and perhaps the entire world."

"Yes indeed. Court documents show that Willow Schnee has filed for divorce from her long-time husband and current Schnee Dust Company CEO Jacques Schnee this morning. There has been no official comment from any SDC company source, but there is no doubt the company will be impacted."

"Speculation is already running rampant with numerous experts weighing in, but perhaps the most burning question is if Jacques Schnee will remain CEO during this time and if not, who will replace him."

"Whitley Schnee is the currently recognized heir to inherit the company, but should he be elevated to CEO his young age would make him the youngest CEO on the planet at the unprecedented age of 15."

"Other possibilities create similar problems. Willow Schnee will be busy with the divorce. Winter Schnee is closely tied to the Atlas military. Weiss Schnee is currently studying at Beacon academy, and anyone outside the Schnee family lacks stake and company shares to make a viable claim."

"Only time will tell what the future holds."

Jaune watched the television, unblinking. His next move wasn't a conscious decision on his part, but he went up to his room, took out his scroll, and dialed Whitley's number. There were four long rings before the line was answered on the other side. "Well, isn't this a surprise?"

It was only then that Jaune had no idea what to say or even what he called about.

Whitley chuckled at the silence. "What? Surprised I answered? Did you think I would be angry with you for not giving two weeks' notice before quitting your job?"

"Sorry," Jaune mumbled.

"Ah, he speaks. Did you call just to apologize because don't worry about it if you did. Our relationship wasn't really one of employee and employer, so I never really had the right to try and stop you or control you. That said, it was disappointing to learn of your decision. I'm over it now though."

"I didn't call because of that." Although he should have. It probably reflected pretty poorly on him to have not even considered checking in with his only sponsor for all this time. "I…I saw the news."

"Oh, that. Yes, it's been busy around here. Mother came back from rehab a changed woman and started acting with a fire I had only ever heard rumors about. Father is not going to have an easy time."

"You don't seem that upset about this."

"Please. My parents have been divorced in all but name for my entire living memory. While it is unfortunate they couldn't settle their differences amiably, they were long past that point. Besides, if you want to be cynical, this divorce is very beneficial to me."

"Are you really going to become CEO?" Jaune couldn't imagine being asked to run one of the largest companies on Remnant at that age.

"Not on paper. That will be one of the members on the board of directors, and no doubt he will seek to make his new position a permanent one, but unofficially all company decisions will go through me. It was the one thing mother and father have been able to agree on while this whole mess of assets and wealth gets sorted out. Little surprise as I'm the favorite child." Jaune wondered if Whitley had already called his sisters to brag.

"But enough about me," Whitley continued "let's talk about you."

Jaune wished he had the courage to just hang up. "What's there to talk about?"

"Don't play dumb. We both know you didn't call just because you wanted to check-in. Are you finally sick of your vacation?"

"It's not a vacation. I'm done being a caretaker, period."

"Sounds to me like you're trying to convince yourself of that."

Normally Whitley's self-assured confidence was charming, but Jaune was beginning to see how frustrating it was being on the other side of it. "You don't know anything."

"But I do. Because, unlike some people I know, Emerald was gracious enough to call and fill me in."

Jaune's breath hitched. Not a day went by that he didn't at least think of her. Despite himself, he asked, "how is she?"

"No idea. When she called to explain your resignation, I asked her if she was going to take your place. When she said she wasn't, I kicked her out of the penthouse and she hasn't been in contact since.

"You did what!" Jaune screamed.

"What were you expecting?" Whitley countered. "I do consider us friends, but that doesn't mean you can just squat in my luxury penthouse for forever. That along with my money and help were business relationship benefits. Lose the business, lose the benefits.

Jaune could have crushed his scroll; he was so angry. Yes, he understood the home was the SDC's property, but Whitley didn't have to kick Emerald onto the streets. Didn't he know how much she suffered because of that?

"You're an asshole!"

"If we're comparing sizes, you're a far bigger one than me. I only legally evicted one squatter while you jumped ship in Vale's greatest time of need."

Weeks of pushing it to the back of his mind. Weeks of pretending he wasn't involved. Weeks of trying to stay strong for his family, and all it took was a single impulsive scroll call for the damn to break. Jaune collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You think I wanted to run away! That it was just that easy. Well, it wasn't. I did everything I possibly could. I infiltrated Beacon. I stopped the imaginary friend. I tracked down the impostor Blake, and you know what? It didn't matter! Emerald still went behind my back. Beacon still got attacked. Yang still lost her arm. Russel and Sky were still killed. Sulfur won, I lost, and it wasn't even close."

"You didn't lose!" Whitley retorted, still calm but with an unseen edge to his words. "You only fell behind in a game you didn't realize you were playing. Yes, it sucks Sulfur was so far ahead that it got to that point, but how can you say he beat you when you didn't even get a chance to try. Do you know how many times I felt helpless as I watched my sisters be granted everything so easily just because they were older? Jaune, I was never meant to become the SDC heir. Everything was stacked against me, but I never gave up even knowing that if I did everything perfectly nothing was guaranteed. If it wasn't for my sisters' blunders and a lot of luck, I wouldn't have made it, but if I had accepted my fate and given in, I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of those situations. You're in the same boat. Sulfur may have gotten his victory, but in doing so he revealed the game he was playing. He lost his biggest advantage. Round two won't go so smoothly for him. Of course, that's only if you stop this tantrum to sit down and play. For real this time."

Jaune was exhausted. Even more so when he saw what had started outside his window: rain. Whitley mistook Jaune's silence for something else. "I see. Well, when you finally remember who you are, give me a call. I'll be waiting."

The line was cut and all Jaune was left with was the constant thud of water hitting the roof and window. Robotically, Jaune approached the window and placed his hand on the glass. Wiped away the tears that he saw in his reflection.

Despite only beginning a few seconds ago the storm was in full force. Arthur was still alive and so was the Mad Hatter. There wouldn't be a storm otherwise.

Jaune was drained and he was lost. He still didn't know what the right answer to any of his problems were. He didn't even know what he really wanted to do anymore. The one thing he did know was that he was sick and tired of waiting around. Screw it, even if his motivations were unclear and wrong decisions costly, he'd rather try and fail than do nothing.

It was time to brave the storm.

Memories of the past

When a young maiden and her three sisters visited an old wizard, they did what they always did and helped the poor soul for they had been raised to be kind to everyone. Once the day was complete and the wizard happier than he had been in a long time, he offered them gifts in gratitude. At first, the four sisters decline, but the wizard was insistent and granted the four of them magic powers.

At first, the four sisters were grateful for they thought of all the good they could accomplish with these new powers, and indeed for a few years that's what they set out to do. But, tales of their deeds spread through the world and brought with it jealousy and strife.

"Why should they receive your wondrous blessings why we must go without?" Those without the sisters yelled.

"Why must you leave and take your wonders with you? Don't you care what happens to us?" Those with the sisters yelled.

Realizing that their existence was spreading misery instead of hope, the sisters agreed to exile themselves to the four corners of Remnant and never use their powers again.

They dedicated themselves to quiet lives, but the world would not forget them so easily.

The youngest was hunted down and killed for abandoning her duty.

The second youngest broke her oath and used her powers to avert a coming flood only to accidentally send the disaster crashing into a neighboring kingdom.

The third youngest could not take the isolation and went mad.

The eldest was bit by a poisonous spider and would have perished had a runaway slave not happened upon her and nursed her back to health. The two married and lived the rest of their lives together.

On her deathbed, the eldest sister was grateful that her death would finally put an end to this curse. She smiled as she thought back on her life, and she passed peacefully thinking of her beautiful daughter.