Beta : Cyperink
/==/ Chapter Eleven /==/
"I know you don't like training with Crocea Mors." Glynda started as Jaune followed her into Glynda's room. "But do you want to know why I so wanted you to use it?"
"It's an Arc Heirloom its Da..." Jaune stopped herself from continuing.
"It'll take time, honey." Glynda smiled softly as she sat on the edge of her bed and patted the spot beside her. Jaune gave her mom a sheepish smile and took the offered spot.
"Dad's not my dad, is he?"
"No, he's not. You never had a chance to meet your true father." Glynda used her semblance to open her closet. "Back to my original question. Do you know why I wanted you to so much use Crocea Mors?"
"It's a family heirloom. Its blade has defended the Arc family and the people of Ansel for twenty generations. It was only eight generations ago that it was given the mechashift upgrade for the shield. Or that's what my tutors told me."
"There is a much more important reason, why I wanted you to use it. You see that small album on top of the others. I want you to get it." Jaune went to stand, only to find his mom restraining her. "No. Focus on it and think about it coming to your hand."
"I?"
"It will make sense soon. Please, try." Jaune bit her lip and then did as she was asked. Jaune's deep blue eyes on the indicated book and began to focus on the singular point and just thought. Seeing it, in her mind fly from the shelf to her outstretched hand. The slap of leather against her skin, with an accompanying yelp of pain gave Glynda a chuckle. Grabbing her daughter's stricken hand, she pulled it up to her lips and gave it a soft kiss, before leaning down and picking up the album from the floor where it had fallen.
"How?"
"You inherited my semblance. Or at least that's what I thought after the infirmary and the bathroom incidents. This little test just confirms it."
"Semblance? I have a semblance. Your semblance?"
"Yes. It's not unheard of, but we'll get into that later. Back to Crocea Mors. Open to the first page." Jaune did as she was bid. The five by eight photo took up the whole page. Its edges well worn, and corners dog eared. It showed a blond, blue eye man; clad in a full suit of grime covered plate-mail. On his left arm and very familiar shield, and in his right hand a sword Jaune knew all too well. "That was taken the day I met him... almost twenty years ago."
"He looks like..."
"He's Nathaniel's older brother, Jonathon Arc... your father." Glynda reached over and turned the page, showing an almost as worn picture of the same man, only this time clean with his arm over a very familiar female figure. A younger version of Glynda could be seen smiling, her arms wrapped around his waist. "That one was taken a year later, when we made it official, and he decided to inform his family that we were courting."
"So, you wanted me to learn how to use Crocea Mors because it was my father's?"
"We all did. We thought it would be best... to give you a connection to your father." Glynda's lip trembled, "You look so much like him, even more so when you were... that other Jaune."
"Did he know... know about me?"
"No, he never got the chance to." Glynda took a quick breath, as she turned the page, this one showing Jonathon, Glynda, Jasmine, and Nathaniel playing cards before a roaring fire. "Your grandmother loved to take pictures. Almost all the photos in this book are the ones she's taken."
Jaune reached out and traced her finger along the edge of the picture; her eyes focused on three of the most important people in her life, and one she wished to know more about.
"You're so much like him. He was so kind, always willing to help those in need. Always putting others before himself... much like you do." Glynda took another quick breath. Jaune knew she was trying to not cry. "If he was here now, none of this shit would have happened."
"What was my father like?"
"He was brave, powerful, a natural born leader... and kind to a fault." Glynda chuckled. "He once had to arrest another huntsman. Of course, they ended up fighting... Jonathon broke the poor man's leg during the fight... which of course drew Grimm."
"He didn't, did he?"
"No, he didn't. He shoved the injured huntsman into a tree and spent the next three hours defending himself and that downed hunter. He spent three hours fighting for someone that had tried to kill him, to avoid being arrested. Three hours until back up arrived." Glynda had a sad smile on her face as she turned the page showing a rather professional picture. It was just of her and Jonathon. A single lit candle between them as they gazed at one another. "This was the day he proposed."
Jaune said nothing as she took in the image, and let it burn into her mind's eye. Glynda looked so beautiful, enchanting. Jonathon so dashing, handsome. Jaune knew that Jonathon was dead. She had been told that during her studies, and even then how her mom was always talking in the past tense when speaking about him; was a dead give away.
"How?"
"The day after this picture was taken, he was called away on an emergency."
"He didn't come back, did he?"
"No, he didn't."
"Do you know what happened?"
"He was killed, during the mission. In fact, the whole team he was supporting was killed. They say it was a Grimm horde, that they were just overwhelmed..."
Jaune took her mother's and gave it a soft squeeze, letting her know that she was there.
"You know Vert and Jade and how their semblances work right?"
"Yes. Vert's is Bastion, it creates a defensive area sort of like a bubble that moves with her. Jade is Bulwark; it also creates a barrier of sort, but more like a wall centred just in front of her. It also will move as she moves."
"And what do they do?"
"They limit physical damage. Bastion by slowing the velocity of anything that enters of is inside the area of the bubble. Bulwark by absorbing the impact energy and disbursing it into the surrounding air."
Jaune gave Glynda's hand another squeeze as she noticed the tears forming in her sharp green eyes. "Was my father's semblance like that?"
"It was. Those he helped and served with called his semblance Bolster."
"Was it like Jade's and Vert's"
"Yes, and more. When he used his semblance, he empowered those around them. It did many things, hence the name. No one really understood it, but by touching his allies and friends he would imbue them with strength" Glynda gave Jaune a weak smile, "Their aura would grow denser, making them more resilient to injury. It would remove fatigue, chase away fear. It bolstered the resolve of anyone who was touched by it."
"So, you don't believe it was Grimm?"
"It wasn't Grimm. The team he was with; were all exceptional in their own rights, add Jonathon and Bolster... they could have fought for hours upon hours. More than long enough for a assistance to arrive. There was no call for help. No report of a Grimm horde. It wasn't Grimm that took your father from us."
"What was it?"
"Tyrian Callows. A psychopathic Faunus." Glynda's eye grew hard, "Jonathon and the team he was supporting were tasked to check out a sighting of that murdering bastard. They vanished and two months later a different team of hunters on a completely unrelated mission discovered their campsite. There wasn't much left of the bodies by that time. The weather in Mistral and animals had done their work."
"How can you...?"
"Your uncle Lord Arc had a autopsy done, as he didn't agree with the 'Grimm Horde' theory either. Once they worked out what marks on the bones happened prior to death, they figured it out. It was Callows... the only person on the face of Remnant that has an Ansel Council issued KoS order on."
"Kos?" Jaune asked noticing how Glynda's green eyes became even colder, harsher, hinting at vengeful spirit
"Kill on Sight" Jaune stiffened at the callousness her mother spoke that single phrase.
"You miss him... really miss him."
"I do... and it hurts because the day your Uncle Nat and Aunt Jas came to tell me... holding his helm," Jaune looked from Glynda to the closet noticing the knightly looking piece of armour sitting next to the line of photo albums, "and Crocea Mors... was... was... the day I..."
"Mom?" Jaune was worried as she saw instant shift from vengeful anger to utter emotional devastation take over her face. "Tell me please? What happened? What did you find out on that day? It had to be important..."
"It was day I found out I was pregnant with you." Glynda's voice broke as she said it. Her heart felt like it was breaking in her chest as she relived that day. The happiest and most heart wrenching day in her entire life. Jaune's own heart skipped a beat in shock. Without a thought she released her hold on Glynda's hand and pulled her into the tightest hug she could managed as a perfect storm of emotions also rolled about with her. The pair sat like that clutching at each other, trying to find comfort in the warm embrace.
"I'm sorry." Jaune whispered as she started to bury her own face into her mother's shoulder. Tears coming to her own eyes.
"What? What did you say?" Glynda's breath was hitched, but a semblance of strength had returned to her voice, as she pulled free of Jaune's embrace. "Did you just say you're sorry?"
"I'm..." Glynda wanted to cry as she saw the tears rolling down her precious girl's face.
"No! NO! You are not allowed to be sorry, because none of that was your fault! You had nothing to do with it! You were not the cause of it!" Glynda crushed her daughter into her chest. "You are the BEST thing to ever happen to me Jaune. Without... without you... I wouldn't have been able to continue."
The pair at that point just sat there, wrapping in each other's arms, tears freely flowing. Neither had the emotional strength at that point to speak on anything else. They didn't know how long they sat their in the silence of Glynda's bedroom. A silence that was occasionally broken by a soft sob or a sniffle.
"I think we need to take a little break." Glynda offered in a weak voice. "How about you go get a shower and dressed."
/=/
"The maintenance staff was here while you were talking with Jaune." Very offered pointing out the replaced bathroom door.
"Mirror?" Glynda asked as she watched Jaune enter her freshly cleaned room. Vert just nodded. "Find a way to cover it or smash it. Jade goes check on Jaune... keep her away from any of the mirrors."
The pair nodded and set about taking care of the tasks their aunt had set for them, as Glynda bit her lip. She needed to see Ozpin, find out what he knew, and if there was something to be done about it. Glynda worried that it was irreversible and Jaune would have to avoid mirrors for the rest of her life, and then another thought popped into her mind. What about photographs? Would they now have the same affect?
Jaune exited her room with Jade in tow. Glynda moved to intercept her as Vert exited the bathroom. Since she didn't hear the breaking of glass, Glynda assumed the mirror had been covered.
"Jaune DO NOT look into the mirror. Have you shower and then come to my room." Glynda gave her daughter a warm smile, "I'll fix your hair. Okay?"
Jaune just nodded and gave her mother a weak smile. Glynda could tell she was nervous. That she was dreading what she saw when she looked at herself. Glynda decided at that point she had to speak to Ozpin, regardless of how what transpired during their last interaction. Jaune came first, and always would. As much as Glynda knew she did her best and was there as often as she could; she knew she should never have let her go. That she should have been there for everything.
As the bathroom door clicked shut, Glynda returned to her room to retrieve her scroll. A she picked it up, there was a ping. She looked at the notification. It was a short message from Ozpin asking if she could speak to him. She was hesitant to reply, but after a quick deep breath she responded. It was seconds later that Ozpin informed her that he would swing by her apartment. That statement made her nervous. Ozpin was normally a creature of habit. All business was conducted in his office. Yes, she had trashed it, but still for him to want to see her outside of that controlled environment. It didn't sit well with her, not well at all.
"Vert? Jade?"
"Yes Auntie?" the twins replied from their places at the dining room table.
"IF I go into Jaune's room, has it really been cleaned or did you two just shove everything under the bed and into the closet?" Glynda eyed her nieces with a practised eye. Glynda might not have resided in the Arc home all the time, but she had spent enough there to learn some of the tricks all the girls tried. "So? Which is it?"
"Just taking a little break." Vert offered with a sheepish smile.
"What Vert said. Just getting ready to go back in and finish everything up properly." added Jade.
"Please see that you do." Glynda gave her nieces a soft smile. "And thank you."
"Thank you?" the twins asked, "For?"
"Being there for Jaune all these years."
"Jaune's our sister. Always has been. Always will be. Regardless of what anyone says." Vert and Jade stated with a tone of absoluteness.
/=/
Jaune found herself once again in Glynda's room. This time sitting on the edge of the bed, with her back facing Glynda, who was running an ornate ivory handled hairbrush through her shoulder length hair. Jaune was practising as her mother worked her still wet hair. Before her four Baoding balls floated in the air. It was taking a fair bit of concentration, but she was managing to not only keep them levitated, but also in a nearly straight line as she shuffled them around each other.
"Very good. Stay calm, and let it flow." Glynda commented as she continued to work with Jaune's slightly unruly hair. "Once you can softly manipulate objects without needing to focus so hard, we'll work on other aspects of your semblance."
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Why?" Jaune wanted to face her when she asked this, but with all the information about her father, which she knew there was even more to hear, she needed to know. "Why didn't you keep me?"
"I wanted to." Glynda replied a sorrowful tone colouring her voice, as she stopped brushing Jaune's hair. "And I tried. We had a little house in Ansel, just me and you."
"Just us?"
"Yes, just us, and it was hard. Really hard."
"What was hard? We were together it should have..."
"That's not how the real-world works, Jaune. Just because you love someone with everything inside you, doesn't mean things are always going to work out." Glynda cupped the hairbrush in her lap. She felt the bed shift and looked up from where she was picking at the bristles to see Jaune facing her, the Baud balls laying on the mattress forgotten. "I tried doing it all on my own. I wouldn't take help from Nathaniel or Jasmine. When my savings started to run low, you were about five months old, so I found a job, put you into daycare and pushed on."
"They wouldn't have helped, right?"
"They would have, it was me who was not letting them do it. I lost your father; I wasn't going to lose the miracle he gave me. So, I struggled through the pregnancy on my own, keeping Nat and Jas at arms length. Then came the day I went into labour." Glynda grew very silent.
"Mom?" Jaune asked as she gently laid her had upon Glynda's.
"During delivery, I tore. I was losing too much blood... I didn't even get to hold you right away because as soon as you were safe, they had to deal with me."
"Did you?"
"Yes. Jas told me, she had been watching over you and me for three days. I was almost lost to you before I got to hold you." Glynda started to sob, "then she had to tell me, that you'd be my only one."
"Mom, I don't?"
"They tried everything to stop the bleeding, but nothing was working. Not aura boosters. Not stitches, or other surgical interventions." Glynda pulled one of her hands free from Jaune's and placed it against her stomach. "You'll be my only child. My precious miracle."
Jaune didn't know how to digest the information her mother was giving her. She was actually starting to feel angry at thoughts of how much hurt was being heaped upon them. It felt unfair, like she and her mom were being unjustly punished. Unable to put those feelings into words, Jaune just gave her mother a weak smile, and gently squeezed her hand. Glynda returned the smile with one of her own, even as her eyes were tearing up. Taking her hand from her stomach, she reached out and cupped Jaune's cheek.
"I love you so, so much. I can't bear for anything to ever happen to you, and I'm so sorry this all has."
"It's okay, mom. None of this is your fault. I love you." Jaune closed her eyes as Glynda leaned forward and kissed her softly on her forehead.
"My baby girl." Glynda chuckle cried as she leaned back from the short kiss. "I don't know what I did to ever deserve you?"
"I need to understand why." Jaune commented after the pair had sat in silence for several minutes.
"I don't know if I can explain it well enough for that to happen. Things were hard, I was barely sleeping as you were a fussy girl constantly needing to be held and comforted. You wouldn't sleep unless you were in my arms. Turn around let me finish with your hair." Jaune did as she was asked as Glynda once again picked up the ornate hairbrush and returned to running through Jaune's hair. "I should never have got you to cut your hair."
"It'll grow back."
"I know, but it is a shame. I should never have listened to Ozpin about all his suggestions about changing your appearance."
"Mom... please."
"As I was saying things were hard for us. Between my... surgery, and you absolute need to be coddled I was running on fumes. Then Jas and Nat made offers help. They tried to give me a stipend, due to you being an heir and an Arc."
"You refused?"
"Out of false pride I did. I wanted to do it on my own. I lost you father; I lost the ability to have more children... I had no control over those things, but I did have control over our lives. I was going to make it work." Glynda took a slow breath before continuing. "Looking back on it all I was stupid, and foolish, but at that point in time I had decided if the world was going to keep taking from me... it was stupid, and you ended up suffering for it."
"What happened?"
"You ended up sick. So sick that you ended up in the hospital... five months was all I lasted. I broke... I literally broke."
"What was wrong with me?"
"You had contracted a lung infection; your fever was so high that they were forced to using cooling mats to try and bring it under control... I thought I was going to lose you, like I had your father. That the world was going to take the last most important thing I had from me."
"Mom?" Jaune was easily become more and more comfortable addressing the woman she had known as Auntie for so long, by her proper title.
"Jas and Nat stepped in, took control and did everything they could." Glynda paused again letting out a shuttering breath. "I was institutionalized... postpartum depression... actually the doctors and therapists that worked with me felt I was borderline postpartum psychosis."
"I don't understand... why were you..."
"You uncle found me when I hadn't shown up at my normal time to be with you at the hospital. It seems your aunt and uncle were keeping tabs on us regardless of me trying to push them away." Glynda stopped brushing Jaune's hair and returned the brush to her lap. She clasped her hands around it, as her green eyes stared at the floor. The memories of that day making it hard to talk.
"Mom?" Jaune asked, her voice soft and pleading, as she adjusted her position on the bed to face Glynda. "I need to understand. I want to know."
"I was told the night before that you might not make it through the night... my world was crumbling." tears once again started to flow down her cheeks. "Since I was losing you I made a decision... we were always going to be a family... I wasn't going to be left behind... I was going to join you and your father"
Jaune's hands reached out and snapped up her mothers hand squeezing them tightly. Glynda calmed herself just enough to continue, while still starting at the floor.
"Nat caught me in the act. I don't know how he knew, but he smashed his way into our home and stopped me... I tried to fight free of him as he held me, I begged with him and pleaded with him, telling him I wanted to be with my baby and her father." Glynda sobbed, "I even made him promise that we would be buried together... but never once did he let go. Never once did he stop reassuring me that you'd be fine. That I wasn't alone."
The pair sat in silence. Glynda trying to regain some composure, while Jaune was doing her best to digest everything she was being told. She was starting to get angry. The seemingly unending trials felt if someone was punishing her family. Unjustly causing them untold emotional pain, just because they existed. A knock on the bedroom door drew both of them out of their thoughts. The looked towards the open portal seeing Vert poke her head through.
"Aunt Glynda?"
"Yes, Vert?"
"Headmaster Ozpin is here to see you. He said you were expecting him?"
"Ah, yes I was." Glynda turned to look at Jaune. "I need to speak with Ozpin about a few things. We'll continue when I get back. Okay?"
Jaune just nodded. Glynda leaned forward and brushed her brow with her lips, before rising and heading out the door, leaving Vert with Jaune.
"So sis..." Vert started to ask as he moved over and plopped down on the bed, next to Jaune.
"We're cousins, not sis... OW!" Jaune grabbed her forehead in response to being flicked by Vert.
"We're sisters. Always, and never forget it." Very looked at Jaune her pale blue eyes serious. "You have six sisters, and Jade."
"I heard that." Jade commented as she walked into the room as she shuffled a deck of cards. "By Vert is right Jaune... you're our sister."
"But..."
"No Jaune. There is no buts. Regadless now that you know that Aunt Glynda is your biological mom, you're our sister. You grew up with us as one... you stay as one." Jade cut her off, as she also plopped herself down on the bed, on the opposite side of Jaune, sandwiching her between the pair of older twins. "Before you ask. Aunt Glynda needed the dinning room."
"So do you want to ask us anything sis.. or do something else?" Vert asked as she leaned back on the bed bracing herself with her arms.
"Something else." Jaune replied. "But what?"
"Heard you got a semblance." Jade commented as she held up the deck of cards in her hand, "Wanna show it off. I remember you used to be pretty handy with cards."
Jaune snorted, as she reached out and took the deck from Jade's hand.
/=/
"Before you try to say anything Glynda, I understand what happened, and I don't blame you." Ozpin spoke after the second twin entered the room where Ozpin assumed Jaune was. "But this altercation, the incident with CRDL and our constant arguments have also shown me something."
"And what would that be?"
"You need to be with your daughter." Ozpin replied wincing as he leaned forward both hands on the top of his cane. "As old as I am, and as many lives I've lived... somethings are just more important to others than my big picture."
"So what is your plan now?"
"First I'm going to to step back from interacting with Jaune. First and foremost she is your daughter, regardless if she has a maiden's powers or not. So there will be no more schemes from me trying to hide her. I will leave her education, training and protection in your capable hands." Ozpin shifted slightly to the side, "But I need you to remember... the ways she moving; worry me."
"You feel she'll target Jaune."
"I do. So keep that in mind. No kid gloves Glynda. She needs to understand; if someone comes after her..." Ozpin noticed the grim look crossing Glynda's features, "she needs to be ready to put them down hard."
"You know I understand that Oz."
"I know you do, but it needed to be said."
"What about this mirror issue? She sees herself as him every time she looks in one. That's why she's freaking out."
"The rital was a failure. The circle had been broken before it was complete. But I have a theory. One which can be easily confirmed if true."
"What is this theory?"
"That even in it's failure the ritual did affect Jaune. I believe there is residual energy inside her, causing the issue." Ozpin shifted his stance again, Glynda could tell he was still in pain. "Bleeding off that energy is a simple matter. So simple that I can do it right here and now if you wish."
"I would."
"Then it is settled. I'll fix the issue I caused aftre we finish our discussions."
"Discussions?"
"Glynda..." Ozpin suddenly looked even more uncomfortable, and it was not because of physical pain, "You are a strong ally, an extraordinary teacher, and a good friend... but..."
"But?"
"Nat has offered reparations, and I have accepted them, just so you know. Even so, this is something that needs to happen. The smaller picture in the big picture of Beacon is you and Jaune need to be with each other." Ozpin sighed, looked at the floor, and then raised his eyes to look directly at Glynda. " With that in mind, plus the recent incidents you've be involved in... I want you to tender your resignation. Effective immediately."
"What?" Glynda took a step back as if physically struck.
"I want you to resign, Glynda. Take Jaune, leave Beacon and focus on not only educating her, but just being her mother. You deserve that time with her, and after everything that has happened, I can tell so does she."
"But I can..."
"I know you can Glynda, and I know you would openly, without hesitation face a disciplinary action, as well as an legal issues that occurred. I'm going to save you all those headaches." Ozpin offered her a very weak and feeble smile, "Word it as early retirement, or for personal reasons; but I need a resignation from you... the sooner the better."
"But... but... my classes? The students?"
"They will be taken care of... I'm going to offer your niece Violet, a one year contract as a temporary combat instructor, with an option to extend. You can help her and advise her in that role from a distance."
"I..."
"Glynda, I wish there was another way. I do, but recent events have made it abundantly clear, Jaune needs to be your focus, and nothing else. She needs her mother, and you need your daughter."
/=/
"You know," Very started as she chuckled watching Jaune manipulate the entire deck of cards without the use of her hands. They shuffled, cut, fanned and floated about before the younger Arc. "I always found it interesting, at least until mom and dad told us..."
"Found what interesting? Jaune asked trying to keep her focus on the cards she was working with.
"How for EVERY special event in your life there sis... birthdays, recitals, holidays..."
"That Aunt Glynda was always there." Jade finished her twin's statement.
"I guess she was." Jaune agreed as she fanned the entire deck of fifty-two cards into a circular pattern.
"Don't guess Jaune. Dad postponed your sweet sixteen three times, because Aunt Glynda couldn't make it. I mean seriously, think about it. WHY would Dad do something like that if Aunt Glynda wasn't extremely important? I know you're dense sometimes but come on!"
"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed, losing control over the cards, and causing them to scatter all about the room.
"Vert's right Jaune. Anything that had to do with you, Aunt Glynda was involved" Jade put her finger to her pursed lips as if she was considering something. "Wasn't it Aunt Glynda who put the fear of the Brothers into your first girlfriend? I mean the little slut was lucky Vert, Violet and I were out at school training when she hit you."
Jaune shivered remembering how Glynda was basically foaming at the mouth when she was comforting her after that incident.
"I hope this Coco is a good girl for you." Vert commented, "She seems nice and I'd hate to have to..."
"Leave Coco alone!"
"As long as she treats you proper... unlike your past girlfriends... we will." Jade spoke with a very flat tone.
Glynda at that point entered the room looking a little defeated, which even further deepened when she saw the mess of cards scattered all about the room. Without a single word Jade and Vert got up and started to clean the mess as Jaune regarded her haggard looking mother.
"Ozpin thinks, he has a way to fix the issue you are having with mirrors."
"Really?"
"Yes, he believes it is residual energy within you from the failed ritual." Glynda moved to sit down next to Jaune on the bed as the twins quickly finished cleaning up the scattered deck of cards. "He's waiting out in the dinning room to attempt to pull that excess energy out of you."
"Is it going to hurt?"
"He honestly said he doesn't know, but he doubts it." Glynda looked Jaune squarely in her eyes, "He said it may be uncomfortable, but he's going to take it very slow. Are you willing to try this Jaune?"
"I don't know?" Jaune ended the statement like a question.
"Neither do I, but I refuse to have you spend the rest of your life unable to look into mirrors. I think we should try it. Okay?"
"It hurt so much last time."
"He's sorry about doing that to you. He said he's sorry about quite a bit when it came to how we treated your issue, with gaining these powers. So do want to try now, or wait?"
"I guess now. Better to get it over with." Jaune replied letting her shoulders droop. "You're going to be there?"
"I'm going to be at your side the whole time. I promise."
"You know Arcs never go back on their word, right?"
"I know." Glynda replied with a soft smile.
/==/
So I have a Beta for the rest of this story. Thanks to Cyperink to offering. So hopefully with their help I can improve the quality of my chapters, and possible pull some of the "funner" elements from the Original into the Revamp.
Hope you all enjoy.