Knight Takes Kingpiece

by Twisted Fate MK 2

Jaune Arc must return home and gather his strength, to stand against all comers. Ozpin, Salem, Adam, Ironwood. From Vale, to Atlas and beyond, Jaune is done being used, manipulated, and taken to do other's will. Now? His future is his own. Uncaring for titles like Hunstman, he will protect what is his. No matter the cost.

5. Interlude and Intrude

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Jaune sighed almost sadly, looking down on the dented, damaged helmet in his hands where he sat on the edge of the bed while Neo got dressed on the other side. He ran a thumb along the side, the dents and damage done to it from Hazel's attacks at Salem's castle adopting a warm sheen of light as the sun crested the mountains around his ship and lit the forest and Ansel in a warm orange glow. This mask was a gift from Salem, and he knew she had to be watching from somewhere and that wearing it would mean something to her regardless of whether he meant it that way or not. But he needed it, at least when it wasn't just him and Neo spending time together.

He'd… Lost himself, he'd found. Lost who he was, before all this. Changed, from a man who simply wanted a title, to a man protecting what he wanted and taking what he wanted if he didn't already have it. He was done letting people step all over him, that was still the truth, but…

He couldn't beat Salem and Ozpin, just to turn into them after everything he'd been through and done just to make it where he was now. Not that where he was now was particularly amazing, or safe even, but it was the best he could have hoped for until now.

"You're going to start wearing it again." Neo said, Jaune looking up at her as she came to him, looking at it with a flat, unreadable face. "It's because of Nikos, isn't it?"

"Yeah." He admitted as an answer to both items, nodding and sighing when she frowned. "I'm… Turning into something I hate, Neo. I'm starting to manipulate people, to use them. And… I can't turn into that. I left Ozpin for less than that, he can't read minds and use the information to control people." Looking at the small woman, he said, "I can, and that can't be allowed. I can't allow it, Neo."

She let out a puff of breath, taking a seat next to him on the bed with her jacket in her hands. "You're scared of losing who you are. Yeah?"

"Yeah." He answered, grimacing and taking a deep breath. "I… I need this, at least for now. I don't want to use people, or… Or use their emotions against them, or their attachment. I did that to Pyrrha and… And I was lucky that we salvaged something out of that at all. Even if it is kinda..." He wanted to say weird, but let it hang for a moment and added, "odd."

"I did what I could." Neo answered, "But… I get it. I like who you are, I don't want that to change. I just…" He felt a spike of fear, possessiveness, and other emotions he couldn't understand and she took a shaky breath, "I-If we can't talk like this, if you can't… Feel me the way you do…"

"I still love you." He said simply, the girl looking at him in surprise at the frankness, eyes flashing to pink at the sudden assertion and her shoulders stiffening. He smiled, "I will love you even if, out in public at least, I need to use a drone to speak to you. O-Or sign language, or whatever. And when it's just us, I won't wear the helmet. I just… Need it for other people."

"Do you promise?" Neo asked, nervous hesitation rolling off her in waves.

"I promise." He honestly answered, putting an arm around her to hold her and leaning in to steal a kiss. When he pulled back, leaning his forehead against hers and letting her lean against his chest, he added, "Just bear with it for now? Until we can figure out something else to control my powers."

"Okay then. I won't fight you over it when I know you've made up your mind." A hand reached up, tracing the outline of his scar on his stomach where Cinder had stabbed him. It was too small for Neo to feel, but she knew where it was by now, the small line on his flesh marking his wound forever. "But don't turn against it. It's a part of you now, Jaune. Don't turn your back on your abilities, you'll just get hurt for it."

"Speaking from experience?" She hummed a response, leaning her head against his neck and just breathing, and he set the helmet aside to pull her into his lap and hold her ther. He could sense her emotions and her thoughts, fear mixing with an anxiety he only partially understood.

He also knew he couldn't say anything else to her to help. She just needed to be held.

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Jaune finished tightening the straps of his breastplate, checking in the mirror that it looked alright - scarification notwithstanding - and sighed as Neo stepped up beside him, dressed and with her parasol in one hand, offering his helmet to him. He took it from her and mumbled a thanks before sliding it on, the familiar feel of the helmet as comforting as it was discomforting to him. A reminder of Salem, everywhere he'd go from here.

"Master." Cinder greeted as soon as he stepped out the door, noting the helmet he wore, at least as far as he could tell from the ways hers eyes sharpened and she seemed to depress slightly, "Roman wanted me to tell you he'll be busy today, using the drones to load up the cargo your father wanted us to transport and then plotting out a path to deliver it all and meet his own contacts." He nodded and turned to walk towards the Mess, the woman following on his other side from Neo, "Your father also sent a message, your sisters wish to see you. Apparently, the twins were quite insistent."

"Headed to see him now, so I'll visit them as well." Jaune said quickly, "How are the drones, now that I think about it?"

"They need better maintenance than we can provide, frankly, Master." Cinder answered honestly, sighing as she followed him, "They are fine for now, I assure you, but… This ship needs technical crew to run it. Drones can't handle more than basic maintenance, and they can't even perform that on themselves. The engines, for instance, will need to be maintained at some point. We can do it in Vale, but…"

"But we'd need to register the ship with a mechanic or something, and that'd draw attention?" Jaune half-asked, Neo grabbing a droid and signing her demands to it as they walked. Cinder nodded and he sighed, "Okay, so what can we do about that?"

"Hire on someone for the job, honestly, Master." She answered, sighing at the prospect, "We can last for now, Master, but the ship itself… Requires more than anyone here is able to give. Shall I see if Roman can find a solution to that?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what he'll find. If he ends up finding something for this too, I will seriously question why the man was ever a thief." Or why he worked for Cinder at all, Jaune kept to himself. It would have only dredged up things she didn't want to think about, and it wouldn't even manage to accomplish anything. "Do you have anything we could use?"

"Mercury would be helpful, honestly." She said after a moment's though, "His legs require routine maintenance on the complex mechanisms. He told me once upon a time that he was quite adept at mechanical maintenance, usually. Well enough to learn how to maintain his legs easily than the maker of them thought he could, at the very least, Master."

"But we don't know where he is." Jaune groaned as they rounded the door into the cafeteria, Pyrrha looking up from her food and waving brightly at them. She at least looked a lot more comfortable, but… Jaune was still unsure what to make of everything, with Pyrrha or everything else he was caught up in now.

They took a seat together to eat, Pyrrha raising an eyebrow at him curiously, "You're wearing your helmet again?"

"Yeah." He sighed, Neo scooting her chair closer to his needily. "I… Wanted to keep myself in check, from now on. My powers were starting to run away with me, that's why yesterday I..." Neo thumped a foot against his shin and he looked down on her, the small woman shaking her head for him not to get into it, "Nevermind, I guess. I just wanted more control over when I use my Semblance and when I don't, honestly."

"I suppose that makes sense." Pyrrha agreed, smiling warmly and sparing Neo a glance before making a point of avoiding her eyes. Instead, she leaned forward to speak to Jaune, "I-I remember when I awakened my Semblance. My family had to use plastic silverware for months while I adjusted. They kept getting… stuck to me."

An image in Jaune's imagination of a younger Pyrrha with spoons and forks covering her hands made Jaune choke for a moment, and the Mistralian gave him a curious look. Waving the look off, he stammered, "Y-Yeah, I guess yours might be a problem, huh?"

"Only for a while." She agreed, nodding and sighing as she tossed her knife in the air and used her Semblance to call it back to her. "But with some practice, it is very useful to have around. Almost ridiculously, frankly. Metal is, after all, a preferred material to use in making weapons and armor. My opponents quite literally come dressed as my weapons."

"Yeah, they're useful in the whole not 'dying' part of our career." Jaune remarked, chuckling as a drone brought over a grilled cheese for him. Light meal before he headed out, the twins were liable to try and force a meal down his throat regardless. "So Pyr, gonna head into Ansel to see the Twins later, you wanna come? I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

"Sure, Jaune." She said quietly, an odd look on her face for a moment before she seemed to brighten. "I-I'd love to meet your family, in a more… Personal way, I mean."

"As opposed to a strict 'you ran away' kind of thing?" Jaune asked, the Mistralian grimacing slightly but nodding. "Yeah, kinda want you to too. You, then Neo and Cinder and then Roman. I want you guys to get closer, close enough that they'll be willing to take you in." He paused, looking at the table sadly as he thought, "I don't think any of us have anywhere else now, really."

A strangely somber and depressing silence reigned for a few moments and Jaune took the moment to wolf down the small meal, the awkward feeling of the moment only ending when Neo spoke through her droid, "So, I can't go see the cute little kids? I promise not to spoil them or anything."

"Later, Neo." He said after a second of thought, "I need to ease the family into everyone, get them used to me being back too while I'm there. If I take you of all people down there, they'll spend the whole time fawning over you."

"Fiiiiiine." The droid translated for her, voice warbling oddly as it tried to mimic the human inflections. "But I wanna meet the little ones next time. I love kids. They're so cute." She clapped her hands and bounced in her seat with an oddly wide, toothy smile, and everyone gave her an odd look, the small woman looking around in confusion before signing, "What?"

"That was… unnerving." Pyrrha said simply, rising from her seat and looking to Jaune with a gesture at the door with a wave. "Shall we, then?"

"Yeah, probably should get going." Jaune agreed, shoving the last bit of his food down his mouth as he stood and turned to Cinder, "Work with Roman. I want a fully fleshed out plan by tomorrow. Supplies we need, people we need to get our hands on, all of that. And I need Roman to get in touch with his contacts, see if anyone has seen Emerald or Mercury. Neo, go and have your back checked out."

"They know too much to be left alone, Master. I was going to suggest similar myself." Cinder agreed with a small smile, inclining her head and rising respectfully as he left while Neo pouted in her seat. "I hope you enjoy your time with your family."

"I… hope I will." He sighed, nodding a goodbye to the two and leaving.

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Winter watched Jaune disembark from his ship and start making his way up the hill towards Ansel with her body pressed close against one of many trees closer to the mountains, sometimes waving at workers milling about. That they returned the gesture with friendly, if distracted and mildly tired, waves told Winter several things. Chief among them, Jaune was welcome here. He wasn't forcing his presence here, the people welcomed him into their settlement. Droids nearest to where the civilians were working in some places to help them, carrying loads or assisting with other menial tasks.

Why? It made little sense for him to spend his resources, limited as they were, helping these people. What did he gain?

Shaking her head, she channeled her Aura into a small glyph that spun to life in her hand, a clock spinning faster and faster with every passing second. In her other, she held a small tracker up and took careful aim with the glyph, dropping the small silver disk into her hand. It shot from the glyph as soon as it hit, arcing high, and Winter watched closely to make sure it landed. When she was sure it had attached without being noticed, she ducked behind the tree she'd been pressed against, fishing out her Scroll. It only took a few minutes to confirm that the bug was active, and she went to work at the systems of the ship.

Bypassing the security was therefore child's play, especially for her, and within minutes she was checking through the cameras for people ahead of her infiltration. Roman and Cinder were on the bridge, talking about something, and they looked engrossed so it was likely they'd be there for a while. She tagged them in her Scroll's monitoring systems anyways, just in case.

Next she searched for Neo, the lethal assassin that she was, finding her in the halls of the ship, seemingly wandering about near the medical section of the ship. Or the pseudo-medical area, at least, the rooms looked to have been changed to fit the need. A single woman sat, bored looking and a Faunus to boot, and Winter tagged both of them as well. The woman was unarmed and unarmored and probably a medic, but better safe than sorry.

The final step was… a bit trickier.

Running a program on the Scroll, she went through the multi-step task of overriding the drone network's security systems and adding herself to the authorization list. Something that sounded a hell of a lot easier than it ended up being. The system was multi-tiered, with redundant receivers and protocol systems all tied to an on-ship command Scroll she didn't have, and that she would have to get past the very network she needed access to in order to accomplish that.

Which would mean getting aboard the ship.

Which was her goal in the first place.

"This is going to take a while…" She sighed, turning to watch the town with a frown. "I hope you don't try and run off before I can get on your ship, you damned traitor."

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The twins were the youngest in their family, assuming his father and mother didn't put another bun in the oven some time soon, and easily the most excitable. Airi and Cairi, both blonde with short, bowl cuts hair and bright blue eyes, wearing simple red button down shirts and denim shorts with thin, wiry frames normal for kids their age, especially active ones like you had to be in a settlement like Ansel. The only real way to tell them apart was Cairi's scar, a small slash above her left eyebrow from a rock the two had been throwing back and forth when they were younger.

And both of them slammed into his waist hard enough to drive him back out into the hallway, past his father and Pyrrha both, and into the wall across the hall with twin screams of, "Jaune!" He hit the wall and slid down, the girls crawling all over him, poking at his damaged armor, and the helmet, Cairi poking his chin under it as they barraged him with questions until their father grabbed them both by the backs of their pants and hauled them up, twin whines of "Daaaaaaad!" sounding out.

"You two behave and calm down, or I will have your mother give you more assignments." They whined and he dropped them, Pyrrha offering Jaune a hand up as the man sighed and pointed at the library with a stern grunt.

"But we wanna know why his outfit is all dinged up!" Cairi whined, Airi nodding enthusiastically. "And why's he wearing that funny helmet?"

"It's probably cuz he's ugly." Airi said with a sad bob of her head, shrugging her shoulders and holding up her hands in a gesture of 'oh well'. "I guess it was about time he realize. At least he finally understands, after all this time. Took ya long enough."

"Actually, it's because my Semblance is so powerful you could get hurt!" Jaune teased with a bright laugh, chasing after the girls who squealed and ran into the library to escape his tickling fingers. Jaune stopped just inside the door, turning to Pyrrha with a smile she could see even with the helmet on, his eyes sparking brightly and happily. He noticed her slight hesitation in the door, his father ust behind her. "They're a handful, but they're good kids. They'll like you, Pyr, just relax and let 'em get used to you."

"Are you our big brother's fiance?" Cairi asked, surprising them both and appearing at Pyrrha's hips, hugging a leg from behind, her head barely poking over Pyrrha's hips.

"We know he has one! Mama said he did, and that we could meet her eventually." Airi added from her other side, Pyrrha blushing and trying to stammer out a response as the two girls wrapped arms around her thighs and hugged her excitedly.

"U-Um, well, I'm not his fiance, no, I'm his-"

"Hey Airi, she looks familiar to me." Cairi interrupted, leaning forward and giving her sister a look. "Doesn't she?"

"Yeah!" Airi answered, Pyrrha giving Jaune and his father a suffering, helpless look as the two men pushed by and into the small, cozy library, bookshelves surrounding and stacked high with all manner of texts, a desk against the back wall with scattered papers and writing utensils. "But where do we recognize her from, Sis?"

"Jaune-"

"Give 'em a minute." He sighed, plopping into one of two large, comfortable chairs against a bookcase. "They'll cool off once they get used to you, Pyr, I prom-"

"Pumpkin Pete's!" The two yelled excitedly at the same time, startling Pyrrha while the two male Arcs sighed. Pyrrha squeaked as they redoubled their efforts to climb the person they'd latched to, Pyrrha unfortunately inexperienced in handling two squirming children, quickly buckling and collapsing with a dull thud as they wormed their way on top of her, barraging her with questions.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out from under the girls, a hand flailing in the air desperately. "H-Help me!"

"Hey, if they want to crawl all over a cereal box mascot, they can." He heard Pyrrha's whine and chuckled, resting a foot on his knee and sighing. "Just means they won't get to hear any stories." The reaction was instant, the two girls launching off Pyrrha at Jaune as he slid from his seat to a kneeling position, catching Cairi by an arm and spinning her to his other side before grabbing Airi with the same hand and pulling them into his lap. Sliding into a cross-legged position while Pyrrha sat up and fussed with her messed up hair, he chuckled, "Hey, helmet stays on, stop poking, Airi."

"Why though? It's ugly!" The twins both complained, snuggling against his chest as he relaxed, head reclining against the chair behind him.

"That's… That's a story for later. For now, wanna hear about my first real fight with a Grimm?" The two nodded, and Jaune took a nice, long breath. "So, first off, Pyrrha had to get me out of a tree…."

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Winter clicked her Scroll shut, slinking from the forest and towards the ship's ramp, smirking as she walked up it and not a single droid paid her any heed. Now she needed to look around, gather information about Jaune's plans and goals, and record it. And trap him, of course, if she could manage it. But how could she manage that?

She could have the drones take him and force him back to the Atlesian base. They recognized her as crew now, and getting the override codes to the command console would be possible now, even if it was tricky to do… But how would she get past Roman and Cinder, the console she needed was only on the bridge, unless it was destroyed in which case it would reroute to the Captain's Quarters and then Engineering if that was destroyed as well. But she was sorely lacking in explosives on that level, or the willingness to start a fight with Roman, Cinder and the forces of Ansel who would surely respond to any attack she might be perceived to be staging against the settlement. Eliminating a warship and its drones would be a good strategy for such an attack, for many obvious reasons.

She ducked into a room to check the camera systems, Roman and Cinder still on the Command deck for the ship, the woman literally leaning against the console she needed to get access to. Which was… typical, honestly, to have happen to her.

So how would she be able to get them out of the room?

"Ma'am." She turned to a droid as it approached, the silver 'face' looking at her respectfully even though she was skulking in an apparently underused room. "It is nearing meal time. Would you like to place an order?"

"Meal…" Winter smiled, "Yes, and one for the other members of the crew. As a surprise, to… raise the mood on the ship." It'd be a surprise all right… "Now, do exactly as I say."

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Xealxhim :

Depends on what you define as a resolution. I define it as a solution to a person's issues under a circumstance or in a situation. In this instance, Pyrrha's. She was angry, wanted payback, but too kind to just hurt someone like that. Combined with Amber's own psyche and traumas affecting her.

Impossible Muffin :

I agree with you, but the voice in my head doesn't. And says I should off Neo. Painfully. It's rude though, so ignore it.

Blazin' Hot Head :

Shush, you. And yes, you should get a Worm vibe.

Emperor King Perby :

….. What is a 'wide-on'?

Arukon :

Yeah, I feel as though people neglect the fact that for possibly a couple solid months, Jaune was b himself with just Neo and actually Satan and her minions for company. The one and only who didn't want him doing some nefarious fuckery was Neo, and she was even along to protect him.

People seem to neglect that in their judgements. Honestly, what did Pyrrha do that Jaune asked for here? As in, what did he ask her to do and what did she decide to do of her own accord? End of the day, she was trying to do things to make him hers, not simply get him free. She even outright states she would 'get him back' several times. Neo didn't. Everyone around him wanted Jaune, and worked to take him, in one way or another. Except her.