Shoutouts to TheOverlordOfIce and SailorOfMyVessel for being mad and being pals!
BTW, I got a tum blr now. Aravas-writing, check it out for irregular shorts and various flavors of shitposts as well as the occasional lewd.
Depending on my mood, really.
Beware: this fic will end in...dunno, maybe five chapters? More? Honestly, it's mostly due to the fact that I'm running out of shit to write for this fic in particular.
Besides, everything must come to an end eventually, to make place for something new.
Oh yeah, 2.000 followers achieved, for what began as a shitpost. Damn.
Enjoy!
For want of a knight
Chapter 29: filler nights (and days)
The weeks after the departure of the retrieval team were uneventful, at least compared to what went down during that early morning. The students of Beacon and those of the other academies as guests and participants of the festival and tournament had precious little to actually do.
Until, that is, Ozpin declared classes to resume, to the chagrin of many.
Despite that, Some dared to look forward to how Combat Class would happen without Goodwitch and with a substitute.
"Who do you think would come here to teach?" Yang wondered out loud as her team strode to the classroom, having just survived an onslaught of Oobleck on a new blend of coffee. Weiss threw her blonde teammate a look that implied that she should know or that it was obvious. Still, she humored the question.
"Mr Arc was announced as Miss Goodwitch's temporary replacement just yesterday evening. How have you-" she stopped short before sighing. "It was on the school site."
"And we all know I never check that," the boxer cheerfully completed. "Still, I bet he is chill."
Ruby hummed. "I hoped for uncle Qrow to come teach. He would be cool."
"I have heard nothing good about your uncle, at least from my sister. Is he actually alcoholic?"
The reapette seemed to shrink a little mid-stride. "He is getting better," she tried to defend, making Weiss sigh in defeat.
"Look, chances are that Mr Arc will be at least an adequate teacher. We should not dwell on what, or who, could have taken the place in his stead and focus on the here and now." She tried her best to cheer her somewhat moping team leader up the best she could.
"Wait a minute, Rubes." Yang turned to her sister, the walk going uninterrupted the entire time. "I thought you were mad at him for being an idiot and worrying more about you and Lover Boy than your birthday."
"Well, I'm still miffed, but-"
"Hey!" The talk was interrupted by a grinning Brawnz Ni. The leader of Team BRNZ seemed awfully chipper today. "You people as pumped as I am?"
They looked at him with mild confusion and curiosity as the teen continued. "I mean, Goodwitch was pretty cool, but really strict. I bet the dude now is gonna be chill as hell."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Yang yelled out and high-fived the fellow pugilist. "See, he agrees."
"With what I said?" Weiss sarcastically remarked. Yang's enthusiastic nod was answer enough as everyone swamped into the room, exchanging various gossip topics, like who in the world the shopkeep was or where Cardin regularly ran off to.
All in all, the students were looking forward to some more relaxing combat training.
They were so wrong.
"Get up, maggot!" John Arc bellowed down at a panting Ren. Nora in the stands looked torn between fighting on Ren's behalf and not drawing the man's ire.
"It only ends if your enemy is incapacitated or dead! You don't get to rest until then!"
Turns out that one of the reasons why Jaune wasn't trained was because of his dad being a drill sergeant. It must be.
"Ow, my arms." Yang was almost out of Aura herself and had been fighting off random 'flanking attacks' from John, just like Ren had to, on top of dueling the green ninja.
"No slacking off! You can rest if your enemy is dead!"
The students were much preferring Goodwitch now.
"Sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Mr Arc!"
"I get...overly into it whenever I teach."
"We noticed, yeah."
Weiss' legs felt sore, as did poor Reese's after their own match, which concluded a harrowing combat class. "Is this why you never bothered with Jaune?" Ruby asked before blushing at her poor choice of words and amended. "Training him, I mean."
"Yeah...one of the reasons," John admitted in shame, head dipping down a little as several other students bypassed him, groaning in various degrees of pain.
That man and his massive axe were not holding back. Though now this giant looked exactly like a kicked dog.
It made them all feel a little bad.
"We could…" Arslan started, then winced from the strain upon her left leg, which she had used to block a particularly brutal attack from the interim instructor. "We could always put something like a bell in the room and toll it if you go too far."
"If you want to!" Reese quickly added as the PatriArc seemed to think about the idea. Finally, he smiled and nodded.
"Let's hope it works, hm?" John walked on, head held a little higher, though leaving behind a few students looking at him quizzically.
"Hey, uh, Mr Arc?" Yang yelled at the giant. When he turned around, focusing on her now, she continued. "Where are you going now?"
"Oh." He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head, showing again just how alike father and son were. "I'm off to rehab the three terrorist we have locked up."
The students nodded along, accepting the answer, just before the words actually hit. Then they got loud.
"WHAT?!"
/-/
Saphron felt like things were really out of whack. It should have been a calm and normal day; filled with taking care of her dear son Adrian and watching TV when he takes a nap. Then, once Terra came back home, they would spend quality family time together before letting a tuckered out baby sleep while the pair would commit to sexy time.
All of these plans flew out the window once a visitor rang at her door. Said person was now sitting on her sofa, playing and cooing at Adrian. It would have been unusual, but still somewhat okay, considering the visitor meant no harm to Saphron.
Or so she claimed.
Thing was, the woman looked like a hybrid of human and Grimm, red eyes and all, yet behaved nothing like these terrible beasts, instead greeting her like family would.
The eldest of the Arc siblings shook a bit as she made tea, spying on her guest. Salem, as she introduced herself, was apparently distant family and sought to reconnect. Saphron, somewhat shell shocked, had let her in mindlessly, not heeding her rather dangerous exterior, instead focusing on her soft, kind demeanor.
Hell, the Arc could swear this woman was a tad nervous. It was endearing, in a way, to see such a woman act differently than her appearance suggested.
Perhaps that was the reason why she was currently making tea for this Salem while listening in on what she said to Adrian.
"Why, who's an adorable baby? Who is going to be a handsome boy?"
"Ubaa!"
"Yes, sweetie. You are. Goodness me…"
She started to sound a little choked up at the end. The blonde woman blinked at the sound, bewildered, before looking into the living room where her visitor sat, a now very worried Adrian on her lap.
"Oh dear." Salem shed silent tears as she looked at the dark-skinned baby, yet she smiled down at him in her arms, cradling him gently. Saphron slowly approached, a teacup of steaming hot liquid in hand.
"Are you okay?" she asked, wondering how she could have worded her question better. Still, the intention was clear, and Salem smiled at her now, red eyes wet with tears.
"It has been so long," she began after a sigh as Adrian placed his tiny hand on her cheek. "I have been without any family of my own for so long. You have no idea what it's like; to be alone. Truly alone."
Saphron showed her concern clearly on her face. "I'm sorry to hear that." Then her face brightened up again. "But hey! Now you've found us, so-"
"I am no longer alone," the woman in black robes finished, much calmer now. Her tears had dried, leaving a face filled with gratitude. Saffron smiled seeing that; she couldn't help but want her to be happy, despite just meeting this woman. The blonde wondered why.
"So, um." Saphron sat down on another sofa, placing the teacup in front of Salem beforehand. The woman before her smiling wistfully at her, then back down at Adrian. She gave him a playful little pouty lip, which the toddler giggled at.
"How, exactly, are we related? I-i mean-"
"A fair question." Salem showed no offense taken by the oddly phrased question. Instead, she raised her arm, finger outstretched and pricked it with the nail of her thumb.
Blue eyes widened as the blood drop that shouldn't emerge from her skin at all flew off the finger, rising in the air and rippling into…
A diagram?
Saphron could not believe her eyes as the blood changed into an intricate web, glowing in places, one strand extending towards her. She shrunk back as it came towards her slowly, though Salem assuaged Saphron's concerns.
"It is alright, dear. I have been born in a time when magic still existed. This." She nodded towards the web, showing ten glowing lights. "This is a certain spell which shows me who and where the ones of my blood live. I never used it-"
The sorceress choked back a sob as she hugged Adrian a little closer. "Ever since I believed my daughters to have died, I didn't use it at all. Why should I? But then…"
The door to the home in Argus clicked open, Terra Cotta-Arc walking in with a smile on her face before noticing the visitor. The pale skin, white hair and black-red eyes stopped her in her tracks, even as Salem owlishly blinked back at her. The woman's gaze turned to a curious Adrian, then to Saphron.
"Oh," the blonde gasped as she understood the unspoken question, even as she bade her wife to come forward with a wave. "Um, Artificial Insemination. My brother helped."
The supposedly ancient woman cocked her head in curiosity. "Huh." Then she turned to the new arrival with a smile. "Please sit down, dear. I have a lot to tell you both."
As a shocked Terra trotted in and sat down while bombarding her wife with a mountain of questions, Salem smiled at little Adrian, who looked up at her with big eyes and genuine curiosity.
Meanwhile, Moby sat in the waters around Argus, hidden beneath the waves, and looked at fish.
It liked the weird looking ones.
Two days after he told the students, five days after the departure of the retrieval team, the 6th of November…
John felt how his perception of time seemed distorted. A routine of beating the students into shape and interrogating slash helping the prisoners rehabilitate themselves had settled in, which was only slightly disconcerting in how it affected the man's perception of time.
Still, there was progress on all fronts.
The kids were getting tougher - either that or he managed to be more lenient. It was not really his fault that, in a profession as dangerous as being a hunter, he saw style over practicality as a threat to life. Grimm didn't need to be bedazzled, and dangerous criminals would not hesitate to interrupt any acrobatic routine.
Well, that or it was about the regular interruption from Amber.
Yes, that was a thing now. Amber Autumn, the VIP in service of Ozpin, was playing at being his teacher's aide and doing a fairly okay job at it. Sure, she was keeling over regularly and made some snide remarks about how John was "courting fire" and "he liked it hot".
How was it his fault that he wanted to redeem people he saw as misguided? What kind of society were they if they didn't help those on a crooked path back into the light? It was his reasoning and it was final.
Besides, Mercury was well on track to being released. He said what he could on Cinder's group, and, from what he heard, Qrow was now in Mistral, ready to kill Lionheart if necessary, Emerald seemed hesitant but wanting to trust in the PatriArc, and Cinder…
"Hey there, witch." Amber insisted on visiting her regularly. "Ready to die?"
"I always were, from the moment I chose my side," the prisoner shot back. She had become a little more spirited as of late. "I'm certain you can relate."
"Sure can, no thanks to you. I lost months of my life because of you."
"And you lost years because your power made you a fugitive."
"Whose fucking fault is that, hmm?"
"Ozpin's."
"Not only his."
"Enough," the man interrupted the bickering between the girls, staring sternly at the both of them. "This is leading nowhere. Amber-"
"Who are you working for? Is it Salem?" Amber shot out before recoiling. For some reason, John felt like she was not meant to say that name in his general vicinity. Cinder nodded, solemn instead of smug.
"What power does humanity have against her, Amber? Who could best someone who existed for so long?" Amber narrowed her eyes at Cinder, the scar on her face crinkling peculiarly.
"Does it matter? We have endured so far, we will endure even longer."
A short, dark laugh escaped the captive's lips. "Humanity persists because Salem allows it. Because her goal is not extinction but subjugation. To become truly divine. Humanity is still alive because she wills it to be. What is a queen without subjects?"
The VIP took a step back, glowering at the prisoner the whole time. John looked, and felt, lost in the whole exchange. He should needle Ozpin about this, try to find out even the tiniest morsel of info. For now, though, he should pester these two some more.
"Yeah, well, I didn't manage to scare off my love interest!"
"Implying you ever had any?"
"In fact, I do! He's the guy who saved my life!"
Oh?
"Don't you dare…"
"Oh yes, I do dare! In fact, I'm gonna be that girl and steal him from you, because you don't deserve him!"
John suddenly saw Cinder falling into herself, something that even took Amber aback with how quick it was. "You are right," she pressed out. "After what I've done, why would he want me?"
This just became a little more difficult for John. He really hoped for Tori to return soon; she would know what to do.
Sienna was a woman on a mission. By sheer happenstance she had managed to find out that her fiance's birthday was, in fact, today.
Nine days after the attack on Beacon, where she kid- no, eloped with him. Yes, that sounded more romantic to her. Sure, she did so while he needed cheering up from the lethargy of a prolonged boat trip as well as a fist fight with a seagull for his fish'n'chips.
Which he lost.
Sienna didn't quite see fault in Jaune for it. Seagulls, particularly the hungry ones, could be vicious annoyances. Still, it had left him bummed out and open for her to inquire when his birthday was.
Today was the day, and Sienna strode towards his cabin. She had already picked out a birthday present for him.
"Hello Jaune, and happy bir-" Her words were cut short when she saw Ilia in the room, innocently playing cards with Jaune while sitting on the floor. Her arrival had interrupted a spirited conversation between the two; what about, she couldn't tell. Though Ilia's presence here meant that Sienna could not immediately give her fiance his present. The two stared at her, surprise showing, as the Khan shot her subordinate a withering glare.
"Ah, you need me elsewhere? Sure!" the infiltrator blurted out and bolted out of the room, leaving a bewildered blonde behind.
Now, Sienna was not a detached or complacent woman. She had inquired about his relationships and prior sexual history. It was disconcerting to hear, after a lot of probing, that he was no virgin and that he was very confused about his feelings in regards to many women and a young man.
Though the tigress had resolved that this...merely spiced things up. She didn't mind, in fact relished a chance of proving herself top dog - or cat, as it were - to others in a playful way. The fantasies made her feel truly hot and bothered, something she intended to remedy at once.
Sienna was a big, hungry kitty in need of her milk.
Jaune opened his mouth to speak, but the woman's feral grin kept words from coming out.
'Good. Save your breath to moan my name.'
"Happy birthday, Jaune."
"Ah, yeah! Um, thanks." Adorable. Like a prey animal, he squirmed under her gaze, like he knew what was about to go down. Or rather, who on whom.
She could barely keep it together. "Want your present?"
He stood up and nodded, eager to see what she had for him. With a smirk, she unwrapped it herself.
Her clothes came off one after another, her smirk growing as his blush did. At last, she was bare before him.
"I believe it is time for us to know each other more….intimately," Sienna purred as she strode closer to the young man, peering up at him slightly. The difference in height between the two was small, yet revved her engine something fierce. "Won't you agree?"
Instead of waiting on his response, she shoved him onto the bed and pounced on him like a tiger on prey.
The few faunus who were in on the whole thing with her betrothal did their best to ignore the noises coming from the cabin; they were all busy making enough noise to drown it out.
The White Fang was not ready for this bombshell yet.