Author's note: Fun fact about me- I'm a pretty heavy drinker and that probably bleeds into every story that I write.
Anyways, here's episode three of "Who's better than the author of this story?"
I hope you guys enjoy. Reviews are always fun to read, and it leads to a better story, so give me your worst and tear into what's left of my soul.
Jaune sat on the bar stool, contemplating his past. He raised the four-ounce cup to his lips and let the whiskey slither down his throat. A gray figure came sauntering through the bar's doors, stumbled slightly on the way to the seat next to Jaune, then sat itself down.
"I'll have what the kid's having," Qrow growled at the bartender, then turned to Jaune, "You're the blondie who's traveling with my cute little niece, right?"
"Yeah," Jaune said as he downed the last of his drink then watched a hand refill the glass with more alcohol, "what about it?"
"I've been watching over you guys since you left patch," Qrow motioned to the bartender to put his drinks on Jaune's tab, "every night, you've been crying about your dead girlfriend. I get that she's pretty, but why not move on? I mean Ruby's there for you and I bet she's ready."
Jaune spat out his drink in surprise, "Me and Ruby? I could never do that. She's my best friend, and besides, I don't think she sees me that way."
"Oh yeah?" Qrow smirked, "how many times have you said that about Pyrrha in the past?"
Jaune stared into the brown poison first in realization, then dismissed the notion, "It's Ruby, she's more focused on doing the right thing and getting her team back together. I'm here for revenge, and the others are here for the ride, I guess."
"And what'll you do after you get your revenge, kid?" Qrow watched in amusement as Jaune's face contorted in drunken confusion.
"I'll cross that bridge when I get there," Jaune continued to sip his drink, "maybe leave it up to a coin toss."
"I'm surprised that you can even say toin coss," Qrow jested before taking a sip, causing Jaune to mumble between the two phrases.
Qrow chuckled as he slapped down a wad of lien cards and turned to the bartender before leaving, "This should take care of the tab, kick him out when he reaches his limit. Call Ruby when you can't walk kid."
"Toin coss," Jaune mumbled to himself as he continued to drink, "whatever."
The night moved on slowly as patrons trickled in and out, some loud, some quiet. Just like the change of patrons, so did Jaune's behavior with each group of customers. With one group, Jaune joined their conversation, even matching their level of sound. As the bar emptied, Jaune moved to the corner of the bar with two bottles of whiskey. Jaune picked up the half empty bottle and took a rather large swig, followed by a shiver to cope with the burning feeling of the alcohol. Through his hazy vision, he watched a familiar blonde figure, cloaked in a gray hood, walk in through the doors, then immediately joined Jaune at his booth.
Jaune's vision still hazy, he picked up the bottle, took a swig and put it down in front of the figure in front of him, never taking his eyes off the intruder. The stranger stayed silent as he helped himself and poured a portion into a glass cup.
"God dammit, boy, how long are you gonna stare at me like that for. Don't you know how to show some respect?" the figure scolded, irritation present in his voice. Jaune squinted at the speaker before taking one more sip then squinting again.
"Sorry dad," Jaune pointed to the bottle as he lifted it above his head to take several more gulps, "I can't really see very well, the room is kinda spinning. By the way, what are you doing here?"
"Seeing as I haven't seen you since you ran away from home with your grandfather's armor and his Crocea Mors, I thought I'd talk some sense into you," the old man sipped his whiskey as if it were coffee, "I guess now that you're a huntsman, the best word to use would be 'beat.'"
"How'd you even find me? I haven't spoken to you, mom, or any of the girls since I left," Jaune asked as he struggled with the peanuts from the bowl next to the whiskey.
"Well last month, imagine my surprise when your sister calls me," the older gentleman began his story, "She talks about how she met this great blacksmith in a village near Shion, and that he was talking about some blonde idiot that looked just like her, wearing some stupid Pumpkin Pete hoodie who ordered a new set of armor and upgraded a sword. Now imagine my surprise when she tells me that he tells of the same idiot, after leaving his sword and shield, then heads off with his group to go fight a Geist with a giant rock body."
"Qrow told you, didn't he?" Jaune interrupted his father's slew of insults.
"Now why'd you go and ruin the fun for," Jaune's father gave a hearty laugh, "I'm just saying, I'm surprised is all. You've grown into a real man, son. Either that, or I'd have to admit that my only son is an idiot for fighting Grimm without at least his sword."
"Nope, still an idiot and that idiot is still walking and drinking, see? I'm totally fine, dad," Jaune said as he got up to demonstrate his proficiency in his use of his own legs, only for him to stumble and land flat on his face.
"I can see that," the man chuckled as he continued to sip his whiskey, "I also see that you've picked up some nasty habits. Like refusing to use your aura properly, instead you forgo training it and you bumble around using its most basic abilities; embarrassing our family. Do you know why I didn't allow you to go to Beacon Academy, yet still allowed you to run away?"
"Besides making the point that you're a shitty father and you're always in control, just like good old papa Roux before he died?" Jaune laughed as he turned over, only to receive a kick to his armored ribs as a response.
"Don't you talk shit about your grandpa, you little shit," the cloaked man scolded, "Sure, he wasn't the kindest father, but he loved my siblings and I in his own way, the same way he loved all of his grandchildren, even if some of them were a little rebellious."
"He left us without a semblance, I heard from Ozpin that during the war, papa Roux was the idiot general who led his troops against Atlas without at least a gun," Jaune's anger and frustration turned into giggles before he passed out.
The old man sighed, pulled out a lien card and placed it on the table. He looked at Crocea Mors that leaned against the chair that Jaune had previously fallen from. Attaching the sheath to his left arm, he pulled the sword with his right and jerked his arm ever so slightly, extending the shield. He looked over the careful craftsmanship that has added significant weight to the weapon, then looked over his son's armor and smiled. Turning to the bartender, he let out a small laugh and happily, yet softly proclaimed, "This is Jaune Arc, he is my only son and the grandson to my father, Roux Arc," he sheathed the sword and collapsed Crocea Mors, clipping it to Jaune's belt, before taking him by the leg to drage him out, "He may be an idiot, and the family disappointment before he was sixteen, but the boy does have a good taste in armor and weapons. Who knows, maybe the boy'll be better than his old man. He just might be stronger than I was when I was his age."
"He sure is a better leader than you ever will be, Bruno. At the very least, he's got the potential to," Qrow leaned against the wall next to the bar's entrance as Bruno dragged Jaune out of the bar, "He's definitely stronger than you, I can tell you I witnessed that. He once held a man up while he was grasping onto that fancy shield, and the idiot was still standing."
"The boy can definitely drink too," Bruno laughed and dropped Jaune's leg after his head was clear from the door's pathway, "he drank away your wad of lien and still managed to rack up a hefty tab that I still had to pay. On the bright side, I snagged us the last of his whiskey, got an extra flask?"
"What do you need my flask for," Qrow reluctantly pulled out an empty flask, "I only have so much of these."
"Oh please, your shoes are probably flasks that are still filled," Bruno said as he snatched the flask from Qrow's hand before filling it, "It's not for me, it's for the boy. It is his whiskey after all, we're just going to take most of it off his hands."
"So, you're not gonna do the head thing that your old timer did to you?" Qrow asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Bruno's demeanor grew cold at the sound of the question, he angrily screwed the cap back onto the flask.
"You know what I mean," Qrow said in a knowing voice as he crossed his arms, "I watched when Ozpin helped Old Man Arc do it to you."
"Yes, I do know what you mean!" Bruno yelled then sighed before sliding the flask into Jaune's belt pack, "It was my graduation from Beacon, I was twenty-one years old and I had trained all my life up until that point before I could even begin to bear the pain of receiving these powers. Jaune is only seventeen, he doesn't have the experience to handle it."
Qrow put his hand on Bruno's shoulder to comfort the old man, "Your kid's not talented, and he barely makes the cut to be a leader. He's pretty stupid too. He's had no handicaps in life to get him to where he is now. He has the strength, but barely the skill, that family thing that you do to his head will fix that."
"He has to be ready. I'm probably Remnant's shittiest father, but that's no excuse to needlessly endanger my son like this," Bruno cradled his son's face, seeing part of himself in Jaune's face.
"I know what it's like watching your little ones grow up, believe me. I've got two nieces, one of which has a crush on this moron and she doesn't even realize it yet," Qrow chuckled at the notion, "Dangerous, yes, but not needlessly. If you haven't heard from the other villages yet, they're going after Cinder, and by extension….."
"Salem," Bruno finished the sentence in disgust.
"That's right, big guy," Qrow patted Bruno on the back to calm the huntsman down, "Sooner or later he's going to be fighting another one of her big four, and later, the bitch herself. How many years has it been since you received your gift from Roux?"
"Sixty," Bruno spat, "it makes a little over a thousand years down this Arc's bloodline."
"The last time you saw him, it was over a year ago right before he ran away from home. Jaune is going to need it, and it's not an 'if' it's a 'when,'" Qrow ranted, slowly raising his voice with every word, "and when they face Salem, he's going to need it if you and his mother want to see him alive when he comes home, and he really needs it if he's the one protecting my niece!"
"Fine, I'll do it!" Bruno screamed to shut Qrow up, "I'll do the procedure, but you need to call Ruby to make sure he lives. It'll drain most of my aura, but I'll live. Since he's still young, the fusion of aura reserves will cause him to start losing small pieces of himself. Ruby is someone he's close to, so having her help will make him stronger."
Qrow nodded his head and pulled out the boy's scroll and dialed Ruby's number. Bruno pressed his left hand to the middle of Jaune's chest while his right hand cradled Jaune's left temple. He pictured a large swirling mass of yellow energy, from which a comparably small amount of white energy emerged from. Bruno left the white mass of energy in his mindscape, making sure it's enough for himself before leading the yellow mass to Jaune's mindscape where the young knight's consciousness was waiting.
"Dad?" Jaune asked, perplexed, disoriented and oblivious to what was taking place.
"There's no time, Jaune," Bruno's projection winced in pain, "Show me your aura and I will show you what our semblance is."
"I don't know how," Jaune tried to concentrate, but failed then proceeded to panic. Bruno punched the boy's face, sending a shock of information through.
"Try it now, for fuck's sake," Bruno shouted, "I can't hold this forever, and it can't go back."
Understanding the situation immediately, Jaune focused inwards and pictured his aura. Jaune inhaled deeply, then exhaled sharply, causing a white-hot flame to emerge from his chest. The flames shot out of the knight then expanded rapidly, growing to size of the yellow mass of energy. Bruno stepped back to admire his son's resolve, then gave an approving smile. He let go of the energy that was already trying to be pulled into Jaune's aura.
The yellow ball of energy began to orbit Jaune's orb of aura and unravel. The tip of the golden strand circled the white ball until it had flattened into a sort of ring. As the strand started to spin into Jaune's aura, the flames began to burn hotter. The golden strands of aura finally contacted the white sun that Jaune's aura had become, and he gave an unholy, blood curdling. Bruno watched on and laughed, overwhelmed with pride and joy.
"Jaune!" Bruno gave an understanding yell, "This is our semblance. You, me, my father, his fathers before him. It is called 'The Perfect Inheritance' and is the crown jewel of our family. It all started one day when a lowly soldier tried to save his family. You'll soon see that he could only save his son, but wanting his son to be better than him, he made a wish. That wish was to pass on what he knew as a warrior to the rest of his family, so he met with a wizard and that wizard made it happen."
In his mind, Jaune watched countless times, from father to son, so forth and so forth, the passing of the family's gift. The wizard was always present to watch and supervise the operation. He watched each moment, sometimes it was a joyous occasion such as a first Grimm slain or a first deer killed, sometimes it was out of desperation such as a way to give the more able-bodied son a chance to fight for his life, but the only constant was Ozpin's face. He watched and understood the wars between tribes, sometimes villages, even between the kingdoms. The next constant was Salem's darkness, he watched her as she seemed to cackle at him, taking pleasure in his pain. The next constant was each companion. There was always a companion. The torrent of memories quickly flooded his mind, but Jaune accepted it all in. A millennium of memories, history, power and battle experience, Jaune wanted it all. He needed it all.
"Uncle Qrow, I got your call and I got here as quickly as possible," Ruby slowed her sprint, petals scattering in her wake, "Who is this man and what happened to Jaune?"
"There's no time, Ruby put your left hand here and your right hand on his temple," Bruno growled, then concentrated for another minute to talk to Jaune in his mindscape, 'Son, I've done all I can and I'm going to leave you now and let your friend take over. I know I don't say this much, if at all, and I don't know when I'll get the next chance to tell you this, but I'm proud of you. I saw your team fight during the Vytal festival, though your leadership skills need a bit of polishing up and you're still an idiot, I've never been happier as a father to see you fighting for what you wanted. I love you and don't be a good man, be a better man than I'll ever be. The only reason why I didn't agree with sending you off to Beacon is that I thought the family gift will give you everything you needed, but I realized that it wouldn't have given you the friends that you have now. Keep them close and protect them as best as you can. Goodbye Jaune.'
As quickly as Bruno faded from Jaune's sight, Ruby appeared in his place. Quickly she inspected her surroundings to find Jaune's ever expanding aura, burning brighter and hotter than Remnant's sun. She jumped as the ball suddenly expanded. She looked up and screamed, "Okay, I see Jaune, what do I do now?"
"There are going to be tears in his aura, little bits of white flames poking through the gold," Qrow's voice came out of nowhere, then appeared next to Ruby.
"Ruby? Is anyone there? Dad? Qrow?" Jaune pleas were weak as he lied on the ground under the ball, light being expelled from his eyes, "Please help, it burns so much."
"I'm here to help kiddo, but you're the only one who can be hands on here if you want the idiot to live," Qrow's feet lifted off the ground and flew to inspect the ball of aura, to which Ruby followed.
"What can I do to help?" Ruby frantically grasped onto the lapels of her uncle's shirt, "Is it even possible for me to help?"
"Ruby, I need you to calm down first," Qrow quickly cupped Ruby's face, lightly slapping her in the process, "I need you to carefully manipulate your aura into the shape of a needle and thread, but you can't do that if you're not calm."
Ruby closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She pictured in her hand a needle connected to an endless piece of thread that came from a spool deep inside her. As she opened her eyes, she saw exactly as she pictured. "Show me where to patch him up," Ruby said as she wore her confidence on her face.
"There are eight major tears right now," Qrow noted as he inspected the aura, then pointed at the biggest tear, "Right here."
Ruby took the red translucent needle and threaded it through. As her aura pierced Jaune's, he felt a flood of her emotions circulate his mind. He saw jealousy, envy, anger, sadness and lonliness. He realized her smile had just been a mask of the demons she'd been hiding from everyone. Ruby finished threading her aura through the wound and began to tug the thread, causing a wave of relief to crash over Jaune. As Ruby continued to work, each bit of aura left behind left a bit of Ruby's memories, emotions and feelings behind. He saw bits of important memories and felt the emotions behind each of them like when she was told her mother had left and the sadness and depression she had spiraled into. He saw mostly pieces of her first day at Beacon, he felt the anxiety that had overcome her, and the loneliness she had brought along. He felt the pain of the dust explosion and the helplessness as she lied in the aftermath. He felt her heart skip a beat when he seemingly appeared out of nowhere and her gratitude towards him when they quickly became friends. With each tear being tugged closed, the pain began to fade, relieving Jaune slowly.
Dropping to her knees next to Jaune's unconscious body, Ruby doubled over then looked over at Jaune. His breathing began to slow and his face slowly relaxed until he no longer appeared to be in pain. Acting quickly, she pulled the projection of his body out of the way and into the corner where she cradled the young man while watching the aura expand.
With Bruno's help, Qrow brought the two unconscious teens back to the inn. Bruno insisted on dragging Jaune's body, while Qrow walked along the sidewalk with Ruby over his shoulder. Before putting the two to bed, Bruno took care to remove Jaune's armor for him, then gently set him down next to Ruby.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Qrow asked the older huntsman.
"My son's aura is still expanding, Ruby needs to be there," Bruno explained, to which Qrow relented before setting Ruby's fingers on Jaune's temples.
"Just this once because he's Ruby's friend," Qrow grumbled before leaping out of the window. Bruno just simply smiled before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
In their sleep, Jaune had wrapped an arm around Ruby's waist and cushioned her head with his other arm. Likewise, Ruby had snaked one arm around his neck and had locked her fingers in his hair. In their shared mindscape, Ruby sighed as she ran her fingers though Jaune's hair, "Thank God you're alright. I felt all your pain, Jaune, and I know you've seen mine, but everything's going to be okay."