AN: Welcome to second chapter of TPA! JJD ensured its readable.
'Well, a warm bed is a warm bed,' thought Jaune, stretching out.
He liked sleeping under the blue sky - he really did, but a little change was nice from time to time. He opened the window, and took a deep breath of cold, morning air. It was still gray-ish outside - sun only beginning to rise. The whole town seemed to be asleep.
Now, what to do? Go back to bed? Nah, won't be able to sleep anyway. Mei and Tob are probably still asleep, no need to wake them up. Guess I'll just work out for a bit.
He quickly put his clothing and armor on, then strapped on Crocea Mors. Picked up his other sword, hesitated for a moment, then strapped it on too.
Then he jumped out of the window. The second floor wasn't that high for Hunter - he was used to jumping, and falling, from much higher.
He landed with a roll, and used the momentum from the fall to push himself up and sprint ahead.
He briefly considered going through the gate, but discarded the idea. It would be closed, and he didn't want to scare the guards - an armed hunter running somewhere at full speed usually meant bad news.
Instead, he ran to the opposite side, towards a big chestnut tree. He jumped, landed feet-first at the massive trunk, and pushed out towards palisade, grabbed the lip, and pulled himself over the top. There he paused for a moment, to check if there were any surprises on the other side.
If he could help it, Jaune always checked what was on the other side of a wall he was jumping over. He'd learned that lesson the hard way.
Judging the area to be sufficiently secure, he jumped off, repeating his roll landing-into-sprint motion. He settled into a comfortable peace - one he could keep up for hours if need be.
His mind wandered as he ran.
Overall, Jaune Arc was satisfied with his current life. He liked to travel - and he traveled a lot. He got a chance to practice both his parents' crafts - and turned out to be rather good at both of them. He helped his fair share of people too.
He slowed down to jog as he entered a small clearing, and took in his surroundings. It was a nice place - around twenty meters of space, mostly free of trees, with relatively even ground, covered in a batch of short grass. Jaune closed his eyes, focusing on the sensations. The sound of wind whistling through leaves, singing of birds, the first rays of sun coming through the branches, the ever-present smell of forest.
Jaune smiled.
Only thing that could make this better...
He spun to the right, drawing his family blade. With the same motion, he brought it down on the neck of Beowolf who lunged at him from behind.
...would be some Grimm to kill.
He thought, finishing his spin and standing face-to-face with five more beasts. Judging by the small amount of bone-white plating, they were young ones. The way they all charged without even trying to surround him, only proved their stupidity.
Jaune stepped out of the way of the first one's lunge, blocked second's strike with his shield, and ducked under the third's swipe while countering with a stab in the gut.
Then he jumped to the left and rolled, avoiding the forth one's charge.
He ducked, avoiding a second lunge from first beast, but this time lashed out with his sword,
cutting off its arm. The fifth one jumped at him, but was stopped by a shield to the face. It fell, and struggled to rise.
It didn't help that it was now missing a leg.
Jaune jumped back as he took next blow square on his shield, using the added momentum to put some distance between him and the Grimm.
Two down, four to go. Two healthy, one-leg still learning how to stand. One-hand… was currently jumping at him, wanting to get a taste of the blond human. It received cold steel instead, when Crocea Mors' blade stabbed through the roof of its mouth.
Three to go…
The remaining beasts hesitated, slowly realizing that the lone human might not be such an easy target after all. One-leg settled for dropping on all three remaining limbs, and growling at him menacingly, while the second, still healthy, beast stood on its hind legs, trying to look as imposing as possible.
How predictable…
Jaune charged at full speed, both beast in front of him doing the same. He sidestepped the healthy one, cutting at its leg. Crippled, yet still carried by momentum, the Grimm sailed past him - and collided with the one who circled behind him earlier. Jaune continued his charge, caught One-Leg's swipe on his his shield, and buried his blade into its gut.
He spun, his sword easily tearing through the Grimm's body. His shield catching, and knocking the last healthy Grimm paw away. Cold steel bit into beast's left hip, cutting through its stomach, chest and finally exiting from the right shoulder.
The Grimm stayed still for a moment, looking surprised of all things. Then uneven parts fell apart, revealing the last beast already mid-attack. It had come low, aiming to bite off the teen's leg. Jaune's boot met Beowolf face, breaking its jaw, and driving the beast's head into the dirt. It tried to get up, to maybe get one last attack in, at the very least draw blood from the human that killed its whole pack. Cold steel pierced through its skull, ending its struggles.
Sheathing his sword, Jaune analized the fight.
Well, I picked as good terrain as I could.
He rolled his shoulders, trying to relax his muscles.
As for the fight itself… Probably could ease up on the baiting - that could easily go south if my timing was off. But then I managed to spread them out a bit, so they couldn't swarm me. A bit too much spinning…
He massaged his sore left arm.
And have to work on my shield play. A few of those bashes didn't connected as well as they should… and that last block was rather sloppy.
He paused and looked over the now decaying corpses.
Could probably have taken out One-hand on his first charge… or second if I aimed better. Maybe it would have been better to try and intercept that one who circled behind me? It was rather slow for a Beowolf…
He thought about it for a seconds, then shook his head.
Nah, I'm not that fast, the other two would have caught up to me, and it's better to have one Grimm behind you than two.
Jaune nodded to himself. Overall the fight went well. He'd noticed the pack following him around twenty minutes after leaving Little Frontier, and led them to wide open area (well, as wide and open as one could find in the middle of the forest), with a clear and relatively even ground to minimize his chances of slipping on something. The fight itself was rather quick, he didn't made too many mistakes, and the ones he had were minor, and more of not being as efficient as possible than anything else.
I'm can do this. I AM doing this. I'm getting stronger.
Jaune Arc liked fighting. Maybe even loved it. The rush of adrenaline, the danger, the elation of victory - it all was intoxicating. But there were one more thing Jane was getting out of every fight - something much more valuable.
A sense of progress.
Every fight made him faster, stronger, more perceptive. Every Grimm slain made killing the next one easier, every won battle made next one go smoother and faster.
And ever since Leon organized that meeting one year ago, even losses in occasional spars made him happy - because they were proof that there was still room for improvement. That he could still get better - and thus help more people.
Well, I better start heading back. Mei and Tob should be up soon, and I still have to call my family.
He started running back at a much faster pace than before. Normally, he wouldn't have done so, as it meant making more noise, a potential ambush would be harder to react to in time, and he would be more tired than necessary. But the area was relatively safe, and he was sure he could deal with anything that came his way.
Jaune was in distress.
This is… bad.
He'd made a mistake and found himself in this situation. Only two choices left, and both of them would leave him with regrets, and no one to blame but himself.
I could just pull back… but I know I would regret this now. If I carry on - I'll sure as hell regret this later.
In the end it was his teacher's words that helped him make his decision.
"Listen, Jaune. Sometime a man has do do something, even if he knows full well it won't end well for him."
Jaune actually smiled at the memory - and how similar his current situation was to the one when he heard those words.
So he took deep breath, steeled his resolve and spoke the words that sealed his fate.
"Yes, please."
Mei smiled and placed another serving of dumplings on his plate.
"So, you are going to Vale now?" She asked.
Jaune noded.
"Yeah, need to buy a few more things, and visit the Company office - see if there are any messages for me. Probably call my family - haven't heard from them in a while."
"You should visit them soon." She suggested.
"I know. That's the plan - after the next job I'll go to Silver Lake for few days."
Mei noded, and Jaune finished his breakfast. He checked his scroll - it was 8:12.
Well, I guess it's time to go to Vale.
He quickly washed the plate and fork he was using and headed to the exit. On his way out, he shook hands with Tob, and gave Mei a goodbye kiss on the cheek. When he reached the door she called to him.
"Will you be back in time for dinner?"
"Probably not. I want to wander around Vale for a bit, maybe visit some clubs. Haven't been in a proper city in ages"
Mei looked worried.
"You sure? There are a lot of robberies going in the city as of late. What if you run in some riff-raff?"
Jaune rolled his eyes.
"Then I'll beat them up. I've been fighting Grimm and bandits for a while now - I can deal with thief or two. Or at very last - outrun them."
Mei still looked worried. Jaune sighed.
"Or I could just tell them they would have to deal with you if they don't leave me alone."
Mei smiled at that and nodded. Jaune smiled too. He didn't know why this particular promise always put the older woman at ease - but it worked.
Probably, he mused, because dealing with Mei would mean dealing with Tob.
She walked up to him, and handed him a small wrapped bundle.
"Hand this over to Jaff for me, ok?"
"Sure."
Finally leaving Hunter's Rest, Jaune made his way towards the main gate. He briefly considered catching a bullhead - but discarded the idea. It was a nice day, and he didn't have to hurry anywhere.
Only after passing through the gate did he realize he missed something important. He had no idea where to find this Jaff guy. Or even who he was. Sure, he knew a few regulars by this name, but which one had Mei ment?
Just when he was about to turn back, he got an idea. He reached to his pocket, pulling small piece of paper Tob handed him when they shook hands. There was address on it - no doubt where the plane he mentioned last night would take off. There was also the name of the pilot.
'Jaff Tagar'. Heh, should have known B wouldn't be able to keep it secret.
Three days earlier
Tob was inspecting the man in sitting in chair in front of him. He was a Hunter, quite good one, if memory served right. With a massive sword strapped to his back, a vast collection of scars and eyepatch he probably would looked intimidating to most people. Now though? There were three reason he didn't.
One - he was sitting near Tob - this made him about as intimidating as puppy.
Two - he was holding cup of hot chocolate with a drawing of cute little teddy-bear and reading "hug me."
Three - he was pale like death itself, and was shaking violently.
Tob's brow furrowed at that. From what he knew, the man hadn't done anything wrong. He came in a bit late, said he had some important info, and now here they were.
He shot quick glance to his wife. She was sitting in her favorite rocking chair, looking over the contents of the grey envelope the man had brought with him. Judging from her reaction - or rather lack of any - it wasn't anything too shocking.
Are those.. Photos?
He could barely see some faces… but no one important from what he could tell.
He looked at the man again. With each photo Mei put away, he looked like year of his life was shaved away.
Maybe he realised what he has is not THAT important? But he wouldn't be that nervous if that was it.
He looked back to Mei just as she looked at the last photo.
Her free hand met her cheek, and a smile appeared on her lips. One that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Oh my, oh my." She said with sweet voice. The man in front of Tob looked like he seriously considered committing suicide with the cup he was holding.
"Dear come here, take look at this."
He took a closer look at photo she was holding. There were two people in it.
The girl he recognized instantly - Rubin looked as cheerful as ever, no doubt talking with some f…
Corpse. Yes, other person was walking corpse. Or maybe not? He would decide whether or not he let him die at later date. Now there were some... arrangements to be made. The photo was taken at Silver Lake - he recognized the buildings in the background. It was three days old, but that shouldn't be too much of problem.
"You did well, bringing this to my attention young man," said Mei.
The man in the chair visibly relaxed. He even took one bear-shaped cookie from a nearby plate.
Tob took the envelope, packed all the photos back inside, and made towards the door.
"There is just one more thing I would like to know sweety…"
Tob left the room. Last thing he heard before he closed the doors was Mei's words.
"Why am I learning about this only now?"
Jaune checked time again - 10 a.m.
Well I guess they should be up by now.
He activated the terminal, and waited. Soon enough the call connected, and the face of a middle-aged woman appeared on screen, any trace of drowsiness disappearing when she saw him.
"Jaune! My baby boy, how are you?"
"I'm doing fine mom, thanks."
Victoria Arc was over forty years old - but looked twenty-something. None of the stress of bearing, and rising eight children showed on her. Long, brown hair framed her round face, with pair of the most intense green eyes Jaune had ever seen.
"How are you and the girls? I hope they aren't too much trouble. Are they home? What about Dad? I actually talked with him briefly few months back. We - me and my teacher that is - were in this small village in..." words flew out of him without much thought. He was just talking about anything. It wasn't very coherent - there was a lot of backtracking, and jumping from subject to subject. Victoria didn't interrupt him once, for whole hour and half he rambled on. She just sat there, nodding, small smile on her lips.
When Jaune was done, it was her turn to talk - in much the same manner. He learned that most of the girls were currently away from home. Crystal went with her team from Beacon to Vacuo on vacation. Violet and Lavender - twelve years old twins - went on a trip with their friend. Saphire - ten years old source of endless headaches for all the Arc adults, was sleeping over at her friend's house.
Neither Jaune's smile, nor voice wavered when he learned this friend was a boy.
What? He wasn't one of those crazy overprotective older siblings that chased any boy who even got close to their beloved sisters with sword drawn. He was all for letting his siblings experience as much life as possible. Keeping them too sheltered now would just hurt them in the future.
Yes, Jaune Arc was reasonable man. If one of his sisters brought a male friend home - Jaune wouldn't try to scare young man off. Quite the opposite - he would try to befriend them. If he had any concerns - he would take them for nice walk around lake, and they'd...talk things out.
And if after that they never came close to his sisters ever again, and got panic attacks at mere sound of the word "Arc" - well that wasn't his fault.
Eventually Victoria Arc finished her tale of the misadventures of Arc family, and let her daughters take her place.
The first new face to appear was that of Cere Arc. She was lithe, with blond, almost white, hair.
She nodded to him in greeting and spoke.
"Did you perhaps visit Hunter's Rest?"
"Yes."
"Did Tob pass on my message?"
"Yes."
She nodded once and walked away. This was Cere in nutshell - straight to business. At least through the phone. In reality, she might be the most emotional of all the Arc children, but she could never make it translate to phone calls. "Feelings should be discussed directly with other person. Failing that - letters," is what she said when he asked her about it one time.
Next up was Vivi. Youngest of the Arc siblings, she had her seventh birthday only a month ago. To his disappointment, he'd only been able to take part through scroll - a sudden worsening of weather had prevented him for coming home in time.
"I want a dress," were her first words. She tried to glare at him. Key word - tried. She was too young, and too cute, so she looked adorable instead. Her hardly concealed smile when she saw him didn't helped.
"What?"
"You said that I could ask whatever I want if you didn't make it to my birthday. You didn't, so I'm asking. I want a dress."
Jaune smiled. Yeah, little, pragmatic Vivi. She never let anyone forgot a promise made to her - nor did she forget the ones she made. She had no problem with using her cuteness to extract favors and sweets from people - family, friends and strangers alike. But she also never did anything to hurt another person - at least not on purpose.
"Sure. Any preferences?" Of course there were. She gave him a description so detailed, he doubted he would find exact match in any shop - it would have to be custom made.
And it would be. It was a little secret of Arc family - every female member had a dress hand-made by Jaune.
The last one to come to the phone was Rubin. She looked a lot like her mother - chestnut-brown hair that looked almost red if you looked from the right angle, green, focused eyes, oval face. There was small mole under her left eye, that she didn't like, but everyone else thought it made her look more adorable.
The moment he saw her, he knew something was wrong. The normally wide smile was just a little bit strained, the cheerful greeting a little bit less excited than normal, and her tale of how school was going lacked its usual energy.
They told her. Or she found out herself, she is smart girl afterall.
"Hey Jaune?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think its ok to not talk with a person who you thought was your friend, but wasn't, and he did something wrong to someone else you know, and he was really mean, and…"
"Yes."
"Huh?"
"Yes. It's totally fine to not talk to someone like that. They were probably going to hurt you too at some point. They're not worth your time. So it's totally ok to not talk to them."
She nodded, looking a bit more cheerful.
"What you should do, is forget all about them. And let your brother…"
"No."
Jaune blinked a few times.
"Pardon me?"
"No. You can't take away his ring."
"Why would I want to take his ring?"
"Dad said the same thing when I was talking with him. He said I should forget about him, and that he will take care of it, and then, when he thought I wouldn't hear, he said he would take away his family heirloom, but I heard him and made him stop. So you can't do that either. He was mean, but it's not a good enough reason to take away something important to him."
It took Jaune a few moments to process this.
"Heirlooms?"
She nodded, hesitated, then put her finger to her mouth, thinking for a moment.
"He might have said jewels…"
Jaune took deep breath, counted to ten, then let it out. He would have to talk with his old man about what phrases can and can't be used near girls.
"Don't worry Rubin, I won't be taking his ring, or any other jewels. I'll just talk with him, and warn him to not be mean anymore."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
After that they talked for a bit more about a variety of topics. When he noticed it was almost 3 pm, he decided to end call. They made their goodbyes, and he left CCT tower.
Now time for some shopping. Need a few things for the trip tonight.
First stop was general store, where he bought a knife (cheap, but solid), some rope, a hammer and two nails. Well, he didn't lie to Rubin. He wouldn't be taking anything away from this guy. There were… other methods.
Next was buying materials for Vivi dress. He knew a shop, not too far from there that had quality materials, was reasonably priced, and the owner knew him - so he wouldn't get too many strange looks.
But seriously, is it really that rare for a Hunter to know how to sew a dress?
He chuckled.
I guess it is. Let me think… Cooking, herbalism, sewing, making drinks, childcare, dancing and playing guitar… not most Hunter-like set of skills… Maybe if I spent more time practicing fighting, I would have made it into combat prep-school. But then I wouldn't met Leon.
Four years ago.
Helping people was what Jaune always wanted to do. He grew up hearing stories of the heroic deed of his ancestors. His own father, a veteran Hunter, and later his older sister Crystal had added their fair share of stories to that legacy. So it came as little surprise that young Jaune decided he wanted to be Hero and help people - just like his father, and his father before him.
But becoming a Hunter (for Jaune Hero and Hunter were one and the same) wasn't easy. The Arc family wasn't strapped for money - Arthur Arc was a well-known, and skilled Hunter. His wife, Victoria Arc, was a skilled herbalist, and her home-made products were very popular. But taking care of a growing family took time - something the Arc parents had less and less of. So four year old Jaune decided that it was his duty to help his parents - and now two younger sisters. After all, that's what Heroes did - they helped people in need.
So he took it upon himself to look after the three year old Cere, and not even a year old Rubin.
He started learning how to cook and sew, sometimes helping his mother making her herbal products.
Unfortunately, all of this, combined with growing number of siblings (Jaune couldn't be held responsible for what would happen if he heard the term "parent's night out" one more time), him getting more and more involved in his mother craft, and his own school - hadn't left much time for training.
Sure, both Crystal (five years older than Jaune and a huntress-in-training) and his father helped when they could, whenever they were home. But it wasn't enough - so when the time for combat prep school entrance exams come - they went about as well as expected.
After that, Jaune spent around a hour wandering aimlessly. He didn't fell like returning home - his dreams were just crushed, so he wanted to mope around for a bit. What brought him out of his somber thoughts was thud, clattering and a pained moan coming from nearby alley.
Respecting his parents teachings, to always help the ones in need, Jaune made his way towards said alley.
Respecting the fact that he was not an idiot, he didn't run in - instead he plastered himself on a nearby wall, and carefully peeked inside.
The alley, wasn't too dark, or gloomy. It was even fairly clean. There was only one person there - currently kneeling, his forehead pressing against the wall, one hand clutching his stomach, other covering his mouth, muffing occasional moans of pain. The man was obviously trying his best not to puke.
Confirming he wasn't about to walk into a situation over his head, Jaune stepped inside alley.
He opened his mouth to speak, and hesitated. What should he say?
"Are you ok?" The man was obviously not.
"Do you need help?". Again - stupid question with obvious answer.
"Does your stomach hurt?" Well… not the best one, but at least he was confirming what the problem was, right?
The man shot him a glare, and hissed through clenched teeth.
"Kid… get.. away…"
Someone else might have judged the man rude, or perhaps dangerous, and backed away. Jaune was all too familiar with such situations - usually it was him kneeling and puking his guts out though. One look at the other end of alley, where part of Silver Lake's bullhead dock was visible, gave him a pretty good idea of what man's afficition was.
"You have motion sickness, right?"
The man shot him another annoyed glare.
Jaune reached into his backpack, taking out a small bottle he learned to always carry around.
"Take this. Its herbal medicine. Won't cure you completely, but at very least will ease the pain."
/\\\
"Kid, you are a lifesaver," said the Hunter next to him about an hour later. They were sitting on a bench in the nearby park, and Jaune had the chance to take a good look at the older man. He hadn't paid much attention to it at first, but now this was obvious.
The man's clothes were heavily damaged and dirty, but of high quality. He wore dark green pants, olive shirt, and black, heavy looking boots. His torso was covered with a breastplate that looked like leather from afar, but under some closer inspection, proved to be some synthetic material. It wasn't one piece either - it was made with multiple, tiny, hexagon-shaped parts.
The man's shoulders, elbows, knees, and shins were protected with similar material.
His hands were covered with fingerless gloves, each had plate from the same material on the top. Shoulder-length hair, tied in ponytail, was so pale that it appeared almost white. Or rather grey. Two longswords, now set next to the man, completing the image of a veteran Hunter.
Or Hunter-in-training. Jaune wasn't sure - man looked fairly young.
"Kid...do you always carry bottle of stomach medicine with you? Not that I'm complaining, mind you."
"Yeah."
The man looked at him, surprised.
"One of my sisters gets stomach-aches. Learned to always carry a bottle around in case she needs it. Plus… I have motion sickness too."
The man shot him curious glance, and Jaune met it. Something passed between two of them. Some silent message between strangers, who suddenly met a kindred spirit.
"So, what were you doing there kid? Unless you want to tell me you patrol the city looking for people with motion sickness on a regular basis."
"That's… not that far from truth"
The man, currently rummaging through his backpack, paused and shot Jaune a strange look.
"My Mom makes a lot of things from herbs - medicines, cosmetics, that sort of thing. So I often run around the city delivering them to people who are too old, sick, or busy to get them themselves."
"Really? Must be tough." He said, taking out two cans of soda, and throwing one to Jaune.
He raised his own in toast and said:
"To those cursed by motion sickness."
Jaune chuckled and took a sip.
"So you have a sister, huh? I don't have any siblings. What's having one like? You have to be really close if you carry around a bottle of medicine just in case she gets sick."
"It's more because she is really young - three years old. My other sisters try to help, but they aren't good at taking care of small children."
"Other sisters? You have more?" His companion asked, taking another sip from his can.
"Yeah… Seven." The man sprayed his drink, and looked at Jaune with a mix of horror, and… admiration?
"SEVEN?!"
"Yeah. One older by five years. The rest are younger. I had to help with raising most of them."
"I…" he shook his head.
"I can't even begin to imagine…"
His companion looked like he was looking for the right words, but then just shook his head again.
"How did you even survive that much estrogen?"
Jaune closed his eyes, as some of less than pleasant memories come back.
"With great care. And sweets. Lots and lots of sweets."
They talked some more. The older man shared a few stories from his travels, Jaune answered with his own about his family. They spent some time debating what was more dangerous - being single man in house with eight women, or a freelancer hunter.
Freelancer hunter was the winner - but Jaune pointed out only two out of his women had..."that" time of month yet.
After some brief consideration, his companion agreed that when the girls got a little older - the winner would probably change.
They separated soon after. And as Jaune was making his way back home, he realized two things.
First: he no longer felt terrible about his rejection. It still hurt, but the pain was dulled. When they talked, the older man didn't show any pity or scorn when he learned Jaune failed his entrance exam to combat prep school. He instead was surprised, and - dare he say it? - impressed by Jaune's tales of how he helped raise his sisters. Well, his praises sounded genuine enough. His parting words really stuck with Jaune:
"Don't be down kid - be proud. There are hundreds of thousands kids your age who make it to combat schools. But how many of them can say they raised 6 kids, learned how to make medicine for some of the worst plagues Remnant knows (motion sickness), and graduated their school with decent grades? Hint - not many. So hold your head high, and be proud. See ya around, kid."
Second - he forgot to ask the older man's name.
.
.
.
Oh well, they would probably never see each other again.
Heh, come to think about it - it was always like that. He taught me things, and made me feel better when I was down without me even realising it. And I was teaching - and helping - him too.
Jaune smiled at the memory. Teacher, master, friend, rival, best buddy, companion - he was many things to Jaune. And as much as he knew about surviving in the wilds, fighting, killing Grimm, and many other things, there were many things he didn't know. He didn't know much of anything about interacting with people for instance. Many judged him as brash, rude, uncaring - but Jaune knew it was far from truth. He cared about people - in his own way.
Some of his old friends told Jaune that his teacher has a pack mentality. There is his pack - family, friends, people he cares about, and then there was everyone else. The pack always came first - if someone from outside of it tried to harm someone inside - it would be met with an immediate, and violent response. That didn't ment he didn't care about people outside it - quite the opposite. He was always happy to add another member to his pack.
The buzzing of his scroll woke him up from this thoughts.
He took device out of his pocket and saw he had one new message. He opened it - and sighed when he saw what was inside.
"'HEC:1$WVwdATL:L;d:ootwthf' DON'T UNDERSTAND IT?! WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT MEANS? SEND "ANSWER" ON 7272 FOR FREE!"
If he were someone naive, or perhaps extremely curious, he might have sent a message back.
If he would be your average person, he would just scoff off at the blatant scam.
Jaune Arc was neither of those, so he did neither.
He knew perfectly well what the bolded text meant. The rest of the message was irrelevant - nothing more than a cover-up, if someone were to take hold of his scroll and read it.
Not that it would remain there for long.
Jaune looked around - there were far too many people around for next part. He REALLY didn't want for anyone see rest of the message. That would... complicate things.
"First - get a spare one"
He made his way to nearby scroll store and bought the cheapest model. The lady behind counter did her best to convince him to buy better one - but he politely refused.
"It's for use at work - and I wouldn't want to bring anything fancy out there," he said.
One look at his swords and armor was enough for her to make the connection.
Wrong one. But it's better for everyone involved if she doesn't know the truth.
With new scroll in hand, he made his way to a public restroom. There were 3 people inside - but all cabins were free.
Good.
He quickly took one of them - farthest from door - and waited. After around 3 minutes, he heard the door close after last person. He waited for a few more moments, just to make sure he was alone.
Then he activated his new scroll, typed a short message, and sent it to a number he memorized long ago.
Exactly 10 second later, his new scroll started buzzing. He picked it up, quickly said:
"ID:447657 contract: one, one, two, three, five", and ended the call.
Almost instantly he received three messages.
The first message contained tactical information. Target's last known location, map of surrounding area with possible hiding places being marked. He scrolled down, to "combat experience" line, and smiled when he saw "none" written there.
Second message contained a short bio of target. Nothing important - he didn't need to know any of this for what he'd been hired for.
Third one contained the target's photo - the only thing he really needed to complete the contract - and some basic info, like name and age.
Jaune spent a few moments memorizing the face of the young man.
Then he tore the scroll in half.
One part went down the drain.
The second he would dump somewhere far from here - maybe after breaking it down a bit more.
Jaune Arc closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.
The Professional let out his breath and opened eyes.
He had a contract to fulfill.
Cr00cy: You guys remember how I said I'll drop hints about what crossover this is? Well I may, or may not have dropped a bit too much in this chapter.
Not too much action in this chapter, but don't worry - it will pick up soon. For now a little omake - this one is about meeting Jaune mentioned Leon organized for him.
Omake: "Thank you"
Around a year and a half ago, Jaune had had a crisis. He couldn't stop thinking about his failures - real and imagined. When his mentor beat this info out of him (literally), he just nodded, and left it at that.
Two weeks later, when he'd come to Hunter's Rest on some stupid errand (he couldn't even remember what it was - it had just been a way to lure him there), he found place packed full. That wasn't so unusual - Hunter's Rest was popular.
What was different this time, was that every person present was either someone Jaune helped personally, or friends/family of such people.
What followed were some of the most… intense moments of his life. People who he barely remembered, or didn't recognize at all, were coming one by one, shaking his hand, patting his shoulder, and saying things he always wanted to hear, but never thought he would. Or that he would deserve to.
"You saved my daughter - thank you."
"That salve you made did wonders for my leg - thank you."
"We wouldn't have made it out of that forest without you - thank you."
"You brought our children back home - thank you."
The stream of people had continued for over an hour. And each "thank you" made the voice in his head that was always telling him to just give up, that there is no point in trying, because he would fail anyway, a little quieter.
What silenced it for good was a drawing made by a 5 year old girl.
Just when Jaune thought it was over, one more woman approached him. He recognized her instantly - and felt his heart stop for a moment.
The woman was beautiful - or rather had been once upon time. The whole right side of her face (and, as Jaune knew, the entire right side of her body) were covered in terrible burn scars. Scars that were his fault.
A little over a year before, he and his master had come upon a village under bandit attack. While his mentor was clearing out the trash (Jaune long since stopped considering bandits as human beings), he went to help the wounded villagers. When he was applying salve on some old man's wounds, he learned that two of the bandits had taken some of the villagers to the forest. Noting that his master was still busy with pest control, he decided to do some clearing of his own.
Finding bandits was easy enough - they hadn't expected a pursuit, and probably never even heard the phrase "covering your tracks." At first, he wanted to create a diversion, then free the hostages, and either run with them towards village, or stay and stall bandits.
When one of them pulled one of the captured women out, and started tearing her clothes off - he tensed.
When another one of bandits pulled out a long knife - he sprung to action.
Both of the them were turned away from him, completely drunk, and solely focused on the now half-naked and sobbing woman in front of them.
The first one never knew what hit him.
Jaune's shield slammed into his back, sending him tumbling forward, and before he could do anything else, the pommel of teen's sword met his neck, knocking him unconscious.
Jaune turned towards the other bandit, who was still gaping dumbly at the very young, very armed, and very angry boy who had appeared out of nowhere.
Not one to waste an opportunity when it presented itself, Jaune charged at the other man.
The bandit's parry was clumsy, and left him off balance. The shield that slammed into his head a second later didn't help either. Another slash directed at his stomach was barely dodged - and almost caused the man to topple over.
"He is no match for me - no training, no aura and he's drunk," thought Jaune, throwing another telegraphed and easily dodgeable attack.
Jaune "barely" swatted aside bandit's mace, and countered with a thrust towards his chest - one he had to slow down quite a bit for the man to dodge.
"I have to drag him away from the hostages, can't have him pull some desperate, last-minute bulshit near them."
After taking care of first bandit, Jaune briefly considered trying to knock out the other man in similar manner, but thought better of it. The second man was much bigger and muscular than the first. If many scars and deformed face were anything to go by - he was used to fighting. Plus, the alcohol in his body would dull the pain. Knocking him out would be bound to take a while - so he opted on dragging him as far away from hostages as he could. All the time "struggling" with the fight, convincing the older man that he was pushing him back.
"Remember Jaune - if you are weaker than your opponent - make them think you are stronger. Taunt them, play off any hits as not hurting at all. They might get impatient, and give you an opening. When they are weaker - make them think they are winning. Let them feel safe, in control, wait for a clear opening and take them down, preferably with single strike. People tend to pull out some desperate shit when they are backed into corner. Plus, it's so much more satisfying to kick them back into dirt when they are sure they've already won."
The next counter - a shield blow to the face after another "narrow" dodge sent bandit to the ground.
Jaune spared a quick glance behind him - no more than 2 meters between them and the still sobbing woman. When Jaune turned back to bandit, he was on one knee, one hand reaching behind his back. A moment later man threw something at him.
The Fire Dust crystal hit his hastily risen shield, washing the blond teen in flames.
Jaune Arc greet his teeth.
The woman behind him screamed.
Jaune stared at the woman who had suffered the consequences of his mistake. He came out from the encounter relatively unharmed - and beat the second bandit to bloody pulp. Then spent another week preparing salves and medicines for the woman. It helped ease the pain.
But it didn't fixed what was lost. It never could.
Jaune wasn't sure what he expected from woman. For sure rage - but what would she do? Call him the failure that he was? Blame him for the pain she suffered? Hit him?
He earned all of this, and much more.
So when she enveloped him in gentle hug, and whispered "thank you" into his ear - he thought he could be excused for needing a few moments to reboot his brain.
When he regained ability to perceive his surrounding, he noticed the woman still standing there, and still smiling at him. She wasn't alone though.
He recognized the man next to her as her husband. He was constant presence near her bed the week Jaune had been there.
The young girl peeking from behind her he recognized as well - she was much smaller back then, but the woman's daughter looked even more like her mother now.
He didn't recognize the second child. She (or he?) could only be a year old at most. But Jaune was fairly sure they had only one child back then.
The woman took the child from her husband. Her smile widened.
"She will be two months next Sunday," she said.
What?
She blushed a little.
"Ït happened around a month after you two left."
The realization struck him like hammer.
There's no way...
"She would never have been born if you didn't save my wife," said her husband.
Stop.
He stared dumbly at little girl. The little life that would never come to be, if not for his action.
"Her name is Jennie."
Please, stop.
Without even realizing, he reached towards the sleeping child. The woman placed her in his hands without any hesitation.
He felt her weight - the weight of life that existed thanks to him. It felt… good.
Something tugged at his sleeve. He looked down and saw the other girl presenting him a folded piece of paper.
Slowly, as to not wake up the little wonder in his arms, he took it and unfolded.
It was picture - about as well drawn as you would expect from 5-year old girl.
There were five people on it.
The four of them, holding hands, had to be girl's family. The fifth one, much bigger, with sword, shield, and blond hair was apparently him.
There were a few words written by someone who was still learning how, but put as much effort as possible.
"Thank you for saving mama and bringing us sis!"
That was final straw. All his regrets, doubts, and fears flew out in the stream of tears.