This is an idea that came to mind a little while back that I decided to act upon now. This story will be a few chapters long. Hopefully it's a good read and that whoever is reading this now sticks around until the end.
At 10:30 pm on a Friday night, you would expect Downtown Vale to be the hotspot for all those who wanted to get away from the dreads of life and cut loose. Tonight, however, was a special occasion. While most Fridays would see the streets, restaurants, and bars engulfed in people, most establishments adhered to the practice of closing early on this night. For Vale, the next day was one of the most important days for Vale. The 42nd Vytal Festival Tournament was to be held with contestants from the various kingdoms participating in all manner of sporting events. Track, Swimming, Archery, Shooting, Boxing, etc. You name a sport, it was featured. Every two years when the tournament comes around Vale has all its businesses close early so no one person has the chance to miss attending or miss preparing for the weekend long tournament; many set up booths and concessions for all manner of tournament goers to try out whatever product they might have. As for Jaune Arc, this meant losing a few hours of possible business.
Jaune sighed as he continued cleaning glasses from behind the bar. He was happy that Vale gained so much money from everyone coming in to see the tournament, it helped all the businesses quite a lot, but he still saw it as an annoyance to have to close shop early. Not only because of the monetary loss but also for the fact that he just loved being at work.
26-year-old Jaune Arc is the proud owner of the Crocea Mors, a family run bar that sat near the outskirts of Downtown Vale. A modest sized place that featured many amenities for a customer to relax. Plenty of seating, televisions, a jukebox, electronic dart boards, a pool table, an arcade machine, a popcorn machine, a kitchen, as well as a side room for parties and game nights. Of course, there were plenty of drinks on tap with a healthy amount of rotation for customers to partake in. Jaune was proud of the place he's worked at for what he felt like was forever. He always had fond memories of helping his parents and older sisters whenever he could. He too loved hearing the stories the customers brought with them. From the mundane to the exotic, to the exciting to the down-right creepy, Jaune heard so much about life he felt like he traveled the world. His parents were the original owners, running the place for years. Eventually, they wanted to hand the reigns off and Jaunes eldest sister became the new owner. His parents still worked in the bar for many years until the transition of owner from another older sister of Jaunes, Saphron, to Jaune himself where they retired from the business. It was likely that Jaune would stay the owner for a long time due to his younger sisters either not having interest in owning the place or being far too young.
Crocea Mors always had patrons a plenty. To Jaune, it felt odd to have no customer in sight at such peak day of the week. The last customer left about a half hour ago so the time was mostly now spent cleaning and organizing the bar for when they could open again after the tournament. Jaune didn't dislike the tournament however he didn't care too much for it. Jaune had never been one interested in sports. Put a comic book or video game in front of him and he'd be set to go but sports just weren't his cup of tea. While his family had participated in setting up a booth before, Jaune found it too much of a hassle and opted out. While he wasn't happy with losing business, with how competitive the booths were with one another to gain business the young man felt it was just easier to close shop and wait for the weekend to be over.
Jaune picked up another glass to start cleaning when he became lost in his thoughts.
"What am I going to do this weekend now? I should have planned ahead I knew this was coming up. Maybe I should plan some specialty drink to serve to make up for lost business once we can open back up? Or should I just veg out with some games? I could call Tuskon about that peach beer of his. Maybe I could promote that? Hmm."
He was taken out of his thoughts when he heard laughing off to his right side. He looked over to see two of his workers, and two of his best friends, Ruby Rose and Oscar Pine sitting down laughing. He had known the two for a long time now. Ruby and Jaune went to the same high school and even enrolled into college at the same time. While he didn't do terribly in school, he was always impressed with how well Ruby did, especially since she managed to get into college two years earlier than her peers. They stuck together a lot through college as they were really the only two of their friend group to attend. Those times were some of his fondest memories. Once they were in their third year of college is when they met Oscar. They had joined the video game club that year while Oscar joined his first year. The three of them hit it off rather well, though they were all quite awkward at first. After they overcame the awkwardness, they became fast friends.
The two of them had taken occupancy at one of the long tables, meant for a party sized group of people, and were laughing while idly playing with the darts stored near them for the electronic dartboard. The blonde owner looked around the bar to see that they went to every table, wiped them down as well as stacked the chairs. Jaune looked back towards them whilst smiling to himself, happy he had such good workers and friends.
"Ruby, Oscar, can you come over here?" the blonde called out to them.
The laughing stopped as they looked over at their boss and friend. Oscar put the darts away while Ruby stacked the chairs they were using. As they walked over to the bar top Ruby was the first to speak.
"Yes Captain, how can we be of service?" the red-haired girl gave a mock salute as she said this earning a chuckle from Oscar.
Jaune chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Ad ease soldiers. I just wanted to thank you guys for cleaning up. It looks great in here!"
"Well, it was pretty easy to since there's not a soul here besides us" Oscar said as he gestured loosely to the empty bar.
"Maybe there is a soul here! A long-lost soul who haunts the place, watching our every movement!" Ruby dramatically exclaimed as she waved her arms around, mimicking a ghost.
"It could be the soul of someone from my family. Maybe they died and are watching to make sure you two are doing your jobs right." Jaune cheekily said as he pointed to his younger friends.
"They have nothing but good work to report to you!" Oscar exclaimed as he once again gestured to the bar but with more emphasis.
They three of them shared a laugh as Jaune looked over at the clock hanging behind him. It was 10:50pm. Crocea Mors usually stayed open until 2:00am on Fridays. Whenever the Vytal Festival came to town that meant the place closed at midnight. Giving another scan of his surroundings Jaune decided that wasn't necessary.
"You two can clock out. Head home for the night." Jaune told his friends.
"Really!?" the two exclaimed.
"Yeah, go for it. I only have a few glasses left to clean and just these two stools here to stack. There's no reason for you two to be here any longer."
Ruby and Oscar both smiled with appreciation. They thanked Jaune and hurried to the back to clock out and retrieve their belongings.
"Thanks again Jaune! Don't have too much fun without us!" Ruby said.
"Yeah thanks Jaune. Have a good rest of your n-NIGHT!" Oscar yelped as Ruby grabbed his hand and started to make their way towards the door. Ruby excitedly talked about what game they should play when they get online tonight.
Jaune chuckled to himself at the eagerness of Ruby dragging Oscar out and the obvious blush that spread across Oscars face. He waved them off while wondering which one of them would ask the other out first. They both seemed clueless to the other's feelings so who knows Jaune mused.
Once they left Jaune set about washing and cleaning the last remaining glasses. Satisfied with his work the blonde owner stacked the cups underneath the bar and proceeded to go to the kitchen to put away the rag. As he rounded his way back to the bar top Jaune heard the familiar bell of the front door 'ding' followed by the front door abruptly closing, sounding off a much faster 'ding'. Before Jaune could see the door, he called out.
"Ruby? Oscar? Did you forget someth-…?"
His sentence was cut off due to the sight he saw. As the front of the bar came back into Jaune's view the person that quickly rushed in wasn't Ruby or Oscar. It was someone Jaune had never seen before. Standing in front of the door was a tall young woman with striking red-hair looking out of the small glass windowpanes engraved into the door. She was panting and had a worried look upon her face.