Hello once again to all of you lovely people! I hope you all had an awesome Christmas, I know I did. I am thoroughly overdosed on cheese and chocolate. I present to you the second Part of my Dustmas story Arc. Enjoy.
The first week of the holidays went by remarkably quickly for the Champion. Between watching Jaune and his sisters fight for the bathroom and the last of the hot water in the mornings and Jaune taking her out into the snow covered town for the day time flew by.
Despite his efforts, she never did get to see much of the town. Either they would be seen by journalists and have to make a hasty retreat back to the Arc family house, or they would end up in a coffee emporium Jaune had shown her, drinking hot cocoa.
Each subsequent day Pyrrha's excitement grew. On Dustmas Eve she thought she might explode with the sheer excitement of it. Her first proper Dustmas since time immemorial was only one night away, a mere 12 hours, thirty seven minutes and thirteen seconds... not that she was counting of course.
She had snuck out that very morning and completed her gift shopping, returning in the early afternoon very flustered and carrying what seemed to be the entire towns stock of carrier bags. It had taken an awful lot longer and was far more difficult than she expected to buy gifts for all of the Arcs. The eight Arc women looked at her with amused expressions and more than one cocked eyebrow. Jaune just stared wide-eyed in shock.
"You sure you've got enough there Pyrrha?" Sable giggled
Pyrrha blushed slightly and shrugged before struggling her way up the stairs and locking herself in Jaune's room.
The next three hours were nought but a cacophony of tearing paper and scotch tape unravelling. Behind the door Pyrrha was a flurry of wrapping. Every parcel had to be perfect, the wrapping precise.
When at long last she re-emerged the carrier bags had been replaced by hundreds of neatly wrapped objects. They were covered in a rich, thick red paper and trimmed with golden ribbon, all topped of with a single perfectly formed bow. She carefully laid each and every one out under the large fur tree with deliberate slowness, smirking at the inquisitive glances coming from the Arc family.
She stood at last and surveyed her work, pleased with the presentation of each gift she made her way back upstairs wiping a thin film of sweat from her forehead as she went. She entered the room and pulled an outfit from her bag as well as collecting her towel and wash kit before making her way into the bathroom for a hot shower.
The water felt luxurious against her skin after her morning out in the sub-zero temperatures of Nord-de-Neige, warming her body right through to the core. She loosed an involuntary moan, her hands flying to her mouth in surprise and her cheeks burning red.
After a good ten minutes she stepped out and dried herself off. She dressed in some loose fitting jeans and a red sweater. Rather than put it in its usual ponytail, Pyrrha elected to allow her hair to flow free. To complete her look she added a single white glass tulip behind her ear.
As she came downstairs she heard a collection of hushed voices all fighting for dominance over one another. Her curiosity overcoming her she crept down the final few steps and up to the living room door. Slowly but surely she peeked around the corner and had to struggle to stop herself laughing at the sight.
The entire Arc family were crowded around the tree on hands and knees, Pyrrha's presents spread across the entire room. They were frantically reading labels and lightly shaking the boxes in an effort to work out what was inside. No-one was innocent, even Mabel sat crouched in the corner with an expression of childlike glee on her face as she felt out the contours of a parcel.
"Come on! Hurry! She'll be down soon. Get them all back in place!" A voice whispered. To Pyrrha's amusement it was actually Jaune. The Knight stood with his hands on his hips issuing orders like some kind of Dustmas foreman. Directing each of his family on where to place their parcels so as to make them look undisturbed.
Content that all of the gifts were back in place the whole family shot back into their seats just as Pyrrha decided to burst from her hiding place. The Arc's all looked at her with nervous eyes, the only one who didn't was Jaune. He returned her gaze without any sign of guilt or nerves, solid as a rock.
'Clearly it isn't someone's first time doing this...' she mused to herself as she sat down next to him.
"Why are you all out of breath?" Pyrrha asked feigning innocence.
The Arcs' eyes darted around as they all looked at each other knowing the game was up. Sable sighed and was just about to break when Jaune jumped in.
"We were play fighting... I had the television remote and Madelein wanted it and well lets just say things escalated and the others got involved. It turned into all out war..." Jaune grinned.
'So he wants to play this game... well I'll let him win for now. Later however he will pay.' she thought mischievously.
"Oh, You should know better than to get between your sisters and their daily dose of dust-enders." She chuckled.
Pyrrha and the Arcs spent their Dustmas Eve playing 'cheat' with one another around the family's large mahogany dining table by the light of the fire. From what Pyrrha understood, the whole pack was dealt out evenly between those assembled, the object was then to lie and cheat your way through your whole hand and be the first to get rid of all of your cards without being caught out. Mabel darted in and out of the room to tend to the dinner, and it smelt fantastic. Pungent aromas of roasting meats wafted in with the warm air from the ovens filling the whole house with the tantalising scents of home cooking.
The card game itself was unrealistically tense. If Pyrrha had learned anything in her stay with Jaune's family it was that they were fiercely competitive, with scuffles breaking out over the smallest of things. Well that and that one should never interrupt the Arc sisters in the middle of an episode of Dust-enders, an odd soap-opera focussing around a group of people who seemed incapable of proper speech. The actors dropped their 't's and 'h's as though they were going out of fashion.
"Cheat!" Jaune called drawing Pyrrha out of her thoughts. he slammed his hand down on the table and pointing a finger at his oldest sister Amber. The eldest of the siblings looked him square in the eyes.
"Prove it Lover-boy." She challenged with a smirk.
"You can't have four sixes Amber. I have two here for a start!" He flipped over the top four cards triumphantly revealing that his sister had indeed lied.
"Dammit Jaune! One more turn and I'd have won!" She growled pounding a fist down onto the tables surface.
"Amber please, that table is expensive! Don't be so rough." Mabel chastised.
"Mom it's just a table!" She replied curtly.
"It is mahogany!" Her mother's voice thundered out, silencing the entire room. "Now pack the cards away and set the table. Dinner is ready."
Louis and the girls scattered; Coral and Marron fetching and unfolding the table cloth, Jaune came back in holding fistfuls of cutlery, Amber gathering up the cards and setting them in their box. Pyrrha grabbed the condiments and set them out upon the now 'dressed' table, Jaune following up in short order with the knives and forks. Once done the whole group shot away to the available sinks to wash their hands minor tussles breaking out over the basins.
Before long they were all gathered around the table. Louis sat at one end and Mabel stood at the other ladling soup into bowls for each of them. Pyrrha and Jaune sat side by side with Madelein and Sable. Marron, Coral, Violet and Hazel all sat either side of Amber whom was still shooting daggers at her brother.
The food was dished out and everybody was too busy eating to care about anything else. To Pyrrha Mabel's cooking was some of the best she had ever tasted, good enough to rival the finest chefs that Mistral had to offer and she told the old huntress so. Mabel just blushed and tried to hide it behind a mouthful of soup.
Every bite of the meal was an explosion of flavour to the Champion. She savoured each and every one individually, from the freshness of the crisp vegetables to the powerful and rich notes from the roasted meats. Every bite was a journey in itself and one which she never wanted to end but end it did. She pushed her plate forward slightly and gave a quiet sigh of contentment being completely and utterly full.
'One more bite and I'll explode' she thought with a soft chuckle. With the meal done the family all pitched in to help in the clearing up, their many hands making light work.
The evening was relatively short after their meal. Marron was shipped up and off to bed that that Father Dustmas would come along and leave her presents. The little brunette bid a goodnight to all of her family and gave Pyrrha a hug before scampering off excitedly to her room for the night.
Once she was gone and they were content she wouldn't come back the remaining sisters, Jaune and their parents all made their way out and into the hall. They returned piled high with presents of all shapes and sizes which the dutifully carried and rested both under and around the tree. They were all wrapped in golden paper with matching tags.
"Every year we wait until Marron goes up to bed before we get the presents out. She still believes in Father Dustmas and none of us have it in us to tell her otherwise, so we do this so she thinks Father Dustmas has been." Jaune explained.
They stayed up until near midnight chatting quietly with the sisters, Louis and Mabel until neither of them could physically keep their eyes open any longer. After what must have been the millionth yawn between them they decided to call it quits. The family bid them a goodnight before they disappeared upstairs to their shared room.
They snuggled into bed together eager to share in each other's warmth. It wasn't long before a low rumbling snore signalled Jaune's emergence into the land of nod. Pyrrha closed her eyes hoping to be absorbed into sleeps calming embrace just as she had so many times before, but she simply couldn't. She couldn't keep her eyes open and yet neither could she drift off. She just couldn't relax, her mind was alive with a never ending tide of stray thoughts without any form of order or pattern.
She lay with her head upon his chest listening to him snore on in a daze, trapped between sleep and being fully awake watching her minds wanderings with unusual curiosity. The thoughts all seemed to swirl around and focus upon on resounding fact; tomorrow would be Dustmas.
And so she allowed her mind to wander in anticipation between all the possibilities of what it might be like. Was it going to be an organised affair or a mad dash for the tree? She just didn't know and the waiting was driving her crazy.
She checked her scroll and sighed. It was only 3:30am. The night was seeming steadily longer and longer. Her thoughts drifted to little Marron and how she had gone to bed early.
'Just how does she do it?!' Her mind questioned.
She pondered every small and random thought that entered her head as her over-active mind trawled its way through the small hours of the morning until morning light began to bloom through the window. Once again she cast a look at her scroll. 6:30am... still too early. Or so she thought.
A door creaked open in the hallway outside the room, slow and quiet footsteps making their way down the corridor and past the door to Pyrrha and Jaune's bedroom towards the stairs. The nightly wanderer made her way down the stairs, her footsteps fading back into oblivion and leaving the Spartan to wonder if they had ever been there at all or if they had been a figment of her sleep deprived imagination.
They were proved to be a reality when little Marron came running up the stairs and burst into their room making Pyrrha jump out of her skin. The youngest Arc leapt onto her brother and bounced him trying desperately to wake him up.
"Jauney! Jauney! Wake up! He's been! He's been!" she cried, her little voice trembling with excitement. It was a truly adorable sight, so much so that Pyrrha felt her heart melt.
"M-marron... Who's been? What're you on about?" Jaune yawned groggily as he finally stirred. He sat rubbing his eyes and looking at his little sister.
"Father Dustmas Jauney! He's been! He left all the presents under the tree!"
"Really? Well then what are we waiting for?" He laughed, throwing aside the covers he grasped his little sisters hand and that of the Champion and pulled them both out into the hallway and down the stairs to the living room.
True enough as there had been the night before were hundreds of parcels, packages and envelopes piled near to the ceiling in some places. Jaune knelt down next to Marron and with a wide smile said;
"Y'know Marron, I think the others might need a little help waking up. What do you say? Think you can handle it?"He asked with a wink, his mischievous grin fixed firmly on his face. The little brunette saluted him and shot off back up the stairs.
The Knight made his way through to the kitchen followed in close order by his partner, he filled the family's large kettle and set it to boiling retrieving eleven mugs from a nearby cupboard ad precisely measuring out volumes of coffee and sugar for each one.
"Jaune won't your sisters be a little...upset at having been roused at the crack of dawn?" Pyrrha said whilst watching Jaune work away.
"Yep, they'll come thundering down those stairs like a horde of Ursai ready to kill everyone and anyone down here that resembles me. That's why it's important that I get these drinks made pronto. They're the only things that can hold them back."
There came a rumbling noise from above their heads as six angry women were dragged from their beds by Marron. True to Jaune's word they came thundering down the stairs and made a beeline for Jaune.
"Pyrrha get in that doorway, try to hold them off!" he shouted desperately pouring the fresh boiled water into each of the mugs and diving for the milk he knew was in the fridge and his only hope of salvation.
Pyrrha put herself in the doorway and planted her feet resolutely. At the other end of the hall stood the six sisters, they looked at the champion and growled. She shivered as they looked her up and down searching for any signs of weakness.
"There's more of us!" Hazel shouted
"Charge!" Came her answer as the women surged forward towards the Spartan. They clashed and in an impressive display of strength Pyrrha managed to hold her ground and repel them.
"You cannot pass!" She shouted. The sisters regrouped and charged again plowing into Pyrrha with all of their might. To her horror they began to gradually push her back.
"You shall not pass!" Pyrrha roared putting every last ounce of strength into a last ditch attempt to push the Arcs back. For a moment she succeeded before the advantage in numbers kicked in again. It seemed that all was lost when Jaune's voice rang out from behind her.
"Pyrrha! Loose the floodgates! Drinks are on!"
The redhead dived out of the way of the door allowing the six to burst through into the kitchen, Jaune backed away into the corner recoiling in fear as his sisters made their way towards him menacingly. The surrounded him ready to punish him for waking them up so early when they first caught the smell of fresh coffee.
One by one they caught the scent and peeled off to find the source. Before too long had passed they each had a mug in hand, sipping away at the scalding liquid their expressions of anger shifting to ones of more mellow qualities as the caffeine kicked in. Soon after Louis and Mabel made their way into the kitchen and wordlessly retrieved their own beverages before retreating back out of the room towards the living room, the six in tow leaving a relieved Jaune and an exhausted Pyrrha alone together.
"Jaune...What was that?" She asked.
"Those Pyrrha, were my sisters before midday." he replied. "Good job holding them off by the way, they're getting faster at getting up with each subsequent year. Soon they won't need me to send Marron."
He brewed up some earl grey tea and handed the cup to his partner with a smile.
"Merry Dustmas Pyrrha."
The morning was all that Pyrrha had hoped for. They all sat around the tree cross-legged drinking their coffee (or tea in Pyrrha's case) and taking it in turns to unwrap their gifts which were distributed by Mabel. It was calm and controlled presenting a pleasant contrast from the family's usual pace and Pyrrha wouldn't have had it any other way.
Before long each person had a small stack of opened gifts ranging from new Dustmas jumpers marked with the first letter of their names including one for the Spartan (who put it on in an instant and wore it proudly), to smaller items such as the ever present and always important Dustmas gift underwear.
They had unwrapped the golden gifts and had begun to attack the pile bought by the Champion. She had trouble sitting still in her excitement as she watched them all unwrap her gifts to them.
A new book for Coral, a whole new high quality weapon maintenance kit for Sable, a punk album for Madelein, Hazel was gifted the whole Sherlocked Home book series much to her delight, Violet was given a collection of the finest coffee grounds available on the market, Amber received a whale-bone hairbrush of incredible craftsmanship, Little Marron got a brand new set of high quality artist's pencils each one branded with her name as well as a new pad for her to draw her little heart out on. The brunette dived at the champion and hugged her tightly for so long that Pyrrha thought she might pass out from a lack of oxygen.
No-one was left out by the redhead, Louis got the single largest bottle of golden ale that he had ever seen and Mabel a book of recipes from the finest Mistralian chefs. The older huntress dived into it and began pouring over the pages gasping at the sheer variety of dishes it included. Finally she turned to Jaune.
"Jaune, I have you to thank for all this. You brought me into your home and have treated me as one of the family. Because of your kindness I have enjoyed my first Dustmas in my whole life. Not just you, your whole family. Thank you all for inviting me to spend the holidays with you. But for you Jaune, my Knight in scraggly armour I have this."
She reached behind her and pulled out a large object wrapped in the same thick red paper as the others. He took it from her and lifted the label.
'To my Darling Jaune, Merry Dustmas. All my love, Pyrrha.'
Jaune's excitement peaked, he couldn't fathom what it was that she could have possibly got for him that would require such a large box.
He looked her in the eyes as she passed it to him. It was remarkably heavy. The Knight lightly grasped at one of the many opening points and once again looked to his partner. She gave him a slight nod and a smile.
He tore through the paper with feverish excitement exposing a large box. The leader set it down and lifted the lid. With a gasp Jaune looked over the box's contents. Inside lay a brand new set of armour that put his current set to shame.
With great care he lifted out the metal plates, staring at them in reverent disbelief. They were of a similar weight to his old set however the style was entirely different. It resembled the style of Pyrrha's own armour.
Each plate was painted white just like his old set, however on the chest plate in the upper left corner was inscribed his family crest. The bright yellow standing in stark contrast to the white metal around it.
Jaune looked at his partner with tears forming in his eyes. He had something that was made just for him, not a hand-me-down or family heirloom. In his hands was a set of armour made specially for him, and it meant the very earth to him.
"P-Pyrrha I...Thank-you" He croaked past the lump in his throat and smiling brightly.
"You're welcome Jaune" She beamed back "Now let me see you wear it!"
He nodded and stood up, after some help from his partner in strapping the plates to him he stood in his full armour rotating his joints through their full motions to test the fit.
The armour was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was lighter than his older set and yet thicker and more robust. It provided a greater protection to his body, fully covering his arms and legs in light weight plating. How the smiths had managed it Jaune didn't and would most likely never know.
"It's a unique Mistralian armour. The metal they use cannot be found anywhere else. It's a form of iron they find which has formed in conjunction with a rare dust type which alters the properties of the metal making it lighter and much, much more durable than it ordinarily would have been. It's usually quite difficult to get ahold of but I pulled a few strings and had them make you a set." The Champion explained.
"Pyrrha...I love it." He grinned drawing her back into a hug. Pyrrha pouted, the armour thoroughly uncomfortable against her as her bumbling blonde drew her in. She couldn't help but smile at his childlike excitement.
Jaune carefully removed the armour and returned it to its box before he too retrieved his partner's gift. He proffered the small parcel to her. There was no label to it, it was wrapped in simple yellow paper and far too much scotch tape. The tape was twisted and tangled, no doubt from the Knights clumsy efforts to attempt and fix the problem.
In place of a label one side of the gift was marked with a single heart drawn in black marker pen. Inside the heart were the letters JP with the foot of the J running through the loop of the P. It was a simple yet effective symbol.
With difficulty she unwrapped the gift to find a small black jewellery box. She paused at the sight with a gasp, her mind running astray. She pushed one thought in particular out of her mind as childish fancy.
Opening the tiny box she found a locket made of what seemed to be rose gold. It was a simple oval style with the edges trimmed with complex knot patterns. Engraved onto the face of the smooth metal was the same heart/letter symbol from the wrapping paper.
She turned and smiled to her blonde boyfriend before opening the locket itself. On the inside were two small photographs. One was of both of them soon after they had come out of their favourite ice cream parlour in Vale (Nora's sugar cravings often leading them there.) Pyrrha was in the process of using a napkin to wipe melted mint ice cream from around Jaune's mouth. Both of them were laughing, merriment aglow within their eyes. Nora had snapped the picture in the heat of the moment, forever capturing it.
The other was a photograph from initiation day, Team Juniper all gathered together. Nora was holding the two white rook pieces with a wide grin across her face, Ren stood behind his partner with a rare smile upon his lips. Pyrrha had a hand on her leader's left shoulder, and Jaune was sat in the middle of his team a small plastic crown sat crooked on his head. It was Pyrrha's favourite photo of her team.
Her heart swelled as she looked at the two photographs. Her eyes welled up both from the memories that the locket brought up and at the amount of thought her boyfriend had put into his gift to her.
"Jaune...It's perfect!" She smiled.
The knight knelt down behind his partner and gently grasped the golden chain of the locket. He paused to allow Pyrrha to lift her hair and grant him access to her neck. Once she had he fastened the locket around her neck and sat back in his place pleased at how well his gift suited her.
She hugged him tightly, a single solitary tear rolling its way down her cheek.
"Thank you Jaune. You're the greatest boyfriend anyone could ask for. You've helped make this the best Dustmas I could have wished for."
The family sat in awkward silence around the two teenagers, unsure of what they were supposed to say or do. It was Marron who broke the silence.
"Just kiss her already!" She sighed impatiently.
Jaune turned in shock to his sister who blushed bashfully. He returned his gaze back to the Champion and with a shrug leant in and pressed their lips together. The familiar tingling sensation flowing through him sending butterflies dancing about his stomach. One thing was certain as they kissed hand-in-hand, this was the best Dustmas either of them had ever had.
There you have it my dearest readers. I hope you enjoyed that. Now I have an issue I need all of your help in solving and that is the conclusion for this fic. The way things are going for me I could most likely continue writing this tale indefinitely but as we know all good things must come to an end. It is to that purpose that I would like you all to PM me suggestions for how I might bring about a good end to this tale. I may well go on to write a sequel but I don't know yet for sure. As always please do follow, favourite and review so that I can continue to provide content for you all to enjoy. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all in the next chapter.