Junior had always been resilient, ever since he had started sleeping properly after he had scrounged enough money for the building that was now his club, he had rarely fallen ill or taken many injuries. He may not have possessed an aura or a semblance like so many others in his family did, yet he did not shy away from even the most daunting of tasks. He was big and he used his size well, often putting several overconfident thugs on their backs without breaking a sweat. He was smart, not the bookish kind of smart that people had come to expect from Bart, but the intuition kind of smart that allowed him to barter with the best of them and avoid any hidden dangers that were hidden within agreements or plans from other gangs. However, what mattered most was his determination; he never gave up, where others might back out or fold, he instead stayed the course and pushed forward on sheer brute willpower if nothing else. When he was young, he was called foolhardy and stubborn, but he would do it all again if it meant that he would give his family a chance to end up even half as well as they were now.
So, it had been a new feeling, when he woke up in pain. No, that wasn't true. It was more like an old friend that had come to visit him as he lay there in the hospital bed. His blood felt like it was on fire when he moved, and he could only sit up with the support of the bed's adjustment feature and not with his own strength. He hated it, relying on something else to do things. Even as a child he would often not bother the others with jobs and business unless he absolutely needed to, even if it meant he would have to push himself beyond what his body could keep up with healthily. Joy had always scolded him for doing so if she found out, but he wouldn't listen, and probably still wouldn't if it weren't for their insistence in being kept in the loop.
However, the pain that tore at his body was nothing compared to the pain that rent his heart as his family had come rushing to his bedside, bombarding him with questions and worry. It hurt him, to see them reduce to this state on his account; he wasn't supposed to fall, he wasn't supposed to need help, he had to be the one giving help. He couldn't help but quietly hate himself as the twins ran to his side with tears flowing freely from their eyes. One after another the various club members input their piece on his condition and their feelings towards him. Some passed jokes about him being to damn stubborn to die, others wept in a mixture of joy or sorrow and some simply played of other's remarks. It had been the best part of an hour before he had attempted to clear his throat and get their attention, he had coughed and spluttered instead, but Jax caught the meaning and whistled loudly to get everyone to shut up. Junior nodded to his friend in thanks before licking his cracked, dry lips and speaking.
"Thank you, all of you, for coming and seeing me. I assure you I'll be fine and I'll be back in the club by the end of the week, but there is somethings I must talk about with some of you, and I think it best I do so privately before talking to the rest of you about it." He received various nods of assent or understanding and began filling out, with only Jax, the twins, Joy, Nora and Ilia staying behind. Junior frowned as Ruby turned to leave with the others but was stopped by Jax who had noticed Junior's gaze and rested a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Junior was worried; Ruby hadn't come up to him at any point in the last hour, simply looking guilty in the back as she wall-flowered near the door. He felt the need to clench his fist, but the drip feeder in his hand stopped his muscles from closing fully, leaving his hands in a tense claw like pose. When the door finally closed Junior moved to speak again, though he swallowed as if struggling for words before doing so and was interrupted before he could form his sentence.
"I-I'm sorry!" The room turned to look at Ruby who was looking towards the floor as tears began to drip from her eyes. "I'm so, so sorry!" Most of the room was looking at her confused as she broke down and was mostly being held up by Jax. Junior understood, the others had been unconscious or not at the club during the incident, but he understood. She felt guilty for not reacting in time, for forcing him to have to get in the way, for failing to protect her family when she had the power to do so. After all, he would feel the same. Ruby had grown up to be a lot like his younger self, she wanted things, badly enough to put her mind and body on the line to get them, but she would never let herself put her own needs above those she cared for.
Over the last eight years, the people collected in the room a become accustomed to feeling death run its cold, merciless talons down their spines. Ruby's mark remained largely a mystery, even after years of testing and research, but there was one thing they did know, it was powered by emotion. Negative emotions held varying levels of power when creating Grimm; small common griefs would give only a small amount to her reserves for making Grimm and as the feeling grew stronger, more heartfelt, more negative and powerful, it would give her increasingly more and more power. However, her own emotions had always been the greatest catalyst, her trauma from Apep often giving her enough power to summon a small army of tall lupine Grimm, or Beowolves as they were known. A friend of hers had died when he had been involved in a small-time gang-war and her sorrow and grief had given Junior the overbearing feeling of death calling his name, and he could have sworn red, hungry eyes had dwelled in the shadows of his apartment, only to be dispelled a moment later. Junior could almost hear the Reaper himself sharpen his scythe as the girl wept in front of him, an underlying sense of dread setting in.
"Ruby!" Junior fell into a fit of coughing after the short outburst, his body screaming at him for straightening enough to add volume to his otherwise croaky voice. The girl in question momentarily stopped her descent in sorrow and looked up at him, her eyes flickering almost imperceptibly between their usual calm, dark red hue and that of the bright red of a marked. He swallowed, restraining a wince at doing so, before he continued to speak. "Do not blame yourself for what happened, if you must blame someone, blame me. I was stupid enough to get in the way of that punch without an aura to protect me." He looked down, his voice dropping in volume as he trembled slightly from strain. "But, I would do it again." Ruby slowly crept closer to him before speaking herself.
"But it was my fault. All I had to do to stop that was…" She was cut off by Junior raising his voice slightly, though not enough to compare to his regular volume.
"And you have no idea what could have happened. We were lucky Bart had arrived with the prince in time to subdue you, or you could have been a murderer. You know better than anyone, I'll support you in any and everything you do, but I will always do what I think is best for you and your sisters. Even if that means I do things you don't like at times." Ruby nodded and the room remained in solemn silence for a few moments before she moved up and embraced him as gently ass she could manage as to not harm him further, which Junior returned. Nobody in the room was surprised, growing up with Nora had broken Ruby's fear of contact and turned her into someone who used physical contact to show affection often. Her sisters couldn't help but smile as they watched the exchange and even Jax, though he would never admit to it, felt his shoulder slump and lips turn upwards, Nora noticed and would tease him later.
After a moment Junior applied a small amount of pressure to her shoulders, indicating that he needed her to get off of him so he could correct his posture to speak properly, or as close to properly as he could. She did so, leaving him to slowly survey the room with a hint of pride and sorrow in his eyes as he did so. Melanie moved to say something but stopped when she saw him open his mouth, respectful of the effort it took him.
"What I'm about to say," he began gaining the room's undivided attention and prompting Nora to lean against the door so nobody else could enter, "some of you may not like." The sombre curiosity was practically tangible as ideas fearing the worst flew between the minds of his gathered family. He took a long, agonising breath, closing his eyes for several seconds when doing so, before opening his eyes with confidence to deliver his message. "I have told my attorney to prepare to rewrite my will with me tomorrow". The room collectively flinched as the statement fell on their ears. Melanie was the first recover.
"Jun you can't be serious. You'll…" she was cut off as he raised a hand and coughed. He levelled his gaze at his gathered family, a stern but mourning look was plastered against his face.
"I know Melanie, but the fact is there is currently no way I survive the month, if that long. It's best I do this before it's too late and you all deserve to know how this will impact you." He moved to continue after a moment, but it was his turn to be cut off as raised her voice.
"I don't want to know how it will affect me; I want you to live damnit!" Miltia moved over to support and embrace her sister as she broke down. She sniffled before continuing. "Y-you can't go, I won't let you act like you will, you're going to pull through, I know you can!" for a long moment the only sound in the room was Melanie's sobbing and occasional hushing from her twin. Though they didn't make sound Junior could tell Ilia and Ruby were either crying or close to doing so themselves. He took a deep breath before sitting up straight in his bed, fighting past the excruciating pain that shot like lava through his torso.
"Mel, I want you to know that I'm not giving up. You know me better than that, I will fight this until either it or I have nothing left to give, but you must understand, I must do what I have to, in order to make sure everything is taken care of should things go south." He paused looking sadly at each and everyone of his gathered family before finally resting his gaze on his four 'daughters'. For the first time in their lives the girls saw what seemed to be the beginnings of tears form at the edges of his eyes. "I didn't want it to end like this. I wanted to see you all grow up, to see my girls go into the world and show 'em who's boss, what you're really made of. I wanted to see Ruby become the world's best huntress and be free to use her powers as she wished. I wanted to see Ilia finally found someone who could give her as much as she was willing to give them and to watch her stop hiding from people outside the family. I wanted to watch as Nora and Jax stopped pussyfooting around each other and came clean to the rest of us so we could stop pretending we didn't know." The comment drew a choked giggle from the ginger girl as she pressed against Jax. "And I wanted to watch as you all made Apep pay for what he put you through." He paused to swallow thickly, phlegm catching in his throat as he leant forward and tried to hide the water leaking from his eyes. "But I might not get to. So please… just let me do what I can for you… whilst I still can." He trailed off, no longer bothering to hide the puffy red skin around his eyes.
Ruby felt something shift along her forearm but paid it no mind as she and her sisters moved forward to embrace their adopted father, being gentle as to not upset his wound further. Inwardly ruby cursed the blonde for bringing a man who had fought so, so hard for himself and his family to this point. The moment passed as she ruffled his hair as he embraced the four of them, before he eventually shifted, indicating he wanted to keep speaking. He turned to Jax.
"I'm leaving the club in your name." before Jax could protest he continued. "The club, the complex, the warehouse, all of it, to you. You're the best at leading after me, you may not be the most level-headed, but hopefully the others can help you with that. Whether they know it or not I see the others look up to you and follow you, it was nice knowing you would always be behind me, so I don't think anyone will contest me on this." There was a unanimous nod from everyone in the room except Jax who just looked stunned. Junior continued, turning to Joy.
"Joy, you've helped me from the start. Stayed with me when I passed out, nursed me when I was sick and kept the rest of the idiots in good health and mind when I wasn't around. I'm leaving you a small fortune to do what you wish with. It's not as much as I would like to give you, but I'm sure Jax will need you for a long time when he runs the club, you have my permission to smack him behind the ear on my behalf." A weak and sad chuckle left the older woman's mouth as Junior moved to look at Ilia.
"Ilia, though I may not see you as often as the others, be it due to you hiding from sight or being out on training with Mavis, I want to help as much as I can. You've always dreamed of helping with faunas' rights and being a part of the stealth division of the hunters. So, I leave to you a small fortune and a few ledgers with some personal contacts, the contents of which I think you will find helpful in doing both things." The younger girl nodded but tightened her grip on his hand. He smiled sadly before looking at Nora.
"Nora, I must admit, I wasn't sure what to leave to you, but I hope alongside Jax you can help lead the club in the future." He glanced playfully at his friend, "Put a leash on him for me, yeah?" The ginger gave him a sad nod, which he returned before continuing. "Also, the key to the liquor cabinet in my kitchen is under my mattress." He winked at her but failed to suppress the wince as he leaned into it too much. Nora chuckled before thanking him. Junior slowly moved his gaze to the twins who were barely recovering from their mourning.
"I want you two to know that I'm sorry for not being the best father figure growing up, and if there is one thing I regret, it's not spending more time with you two when you were younger. I hope you can forgive me." He looked down, waiting for a reply but was surprised when he felt two pairs of arms embrace him again. Miltia spoke up though her voice was slightly muffled as her face was pressed close to his hospital gown.
"You were the best we could have ever hoped for, don't you dare regret a single thing you did. We took pride in knowing that you did whatever was best for everyone, even at your own expense. It made every moment more special, knowing that when you had nothing to do, we were important enough to deserve some of your time. You gave us a home, a family and a future. Thank you. Thank you so much." Occasionally Miltia had drifted off of her sentence but Melanie had flawlessly filled every gap she left just in time for Miltia to pick back up. He firmly returned the embrace before speaking again.
"To you two, I leave my remaining fortune along with ownership of the club once Jax decides to step down. I am so, so proud of you two, how you've grown and how you will grow more. In my bedside cabinet I have stockpiled any and all information on Apep that may be useful to you. It isn't much, but it's something I planned to give you after your time at Beacon." He waited for them to give their agreements, though they were slow and between ragged breaths. Eventually satisfied he locked eyes with Ruby, who was openly weeping at the scene she found herself in, her eyes red for reasons other than her eye colour.
"That leaves you, Ruby. It's to you I feel I owe the most in recent memory." She opened her mouth to reply but he continued on, fearing he wouldn't have the strength to continue if he stopped now. "What I have given you has taken me many years to locate and I was waiting to see you off to Beacon to give them to you, along with your weapons like your sisters before you. On your birthday, you will find out what I have left for you. I pray that you can forgive me for doing what I have to you." She once again moved to stop him, but he powered through. "I know it hurts Ruby." His knuckles whitened around his blanket as the thought ran through his mind. "I know that it hurts to keep holding back, to always have to pretend that you're average and I know that you hold back, even without summoning Grimm." He drew a ragged breath. "But that is why I want you to walk away from this free." He received confused looks before he continued. "Ruby, as of today you are free to use your mark as you see fit. I trust you to be sensible and not to abuse your power. The royal family know who and what you are now, there is no need to hide anymore."
He could feel darkness pulling at the edges of his vision, overexerting himself after waking had taken its toll and his conscious was slipping, but as he lost colour from his sight, he managed to find the strength to smile, wholeheartedly at her and speak. "Give 'em hell girl… give 'em hell." He slipped from conscious and fell back as into his pillows comforting embrace. The sisters broke down once more.
An: As always thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed and feedback and criticism is appreciated. If you couldn't tell I hope to keep this story going for a long while and have roughly weekly updates. We are approaching the end of what I am calling the 'set-up for Beacon' where I hope the story will take off in proper form. Thank you again for the support that has been shown to my story, even before I divided it up into more reasonable chapters.
As I have said before I plan to add more stories soon, but am deciding which ones to do so with as I have a lot that I have made in my free time, I could upload them all, but I would rather be consistent with two or three than having monthly updates on six or seven.
- Tabaxi