Chapter 11
Jonathan King, born in Mistral, one of the Kingdoms of Remnant, was an only child and lived with his mother and father in poverty. Their Faunus heritage and less that unsuccessful ancestry forced them to live in a dangerous and cruel environment. However, the boy's parents and himself tried to stay strong through desperate times, and the boy was taught never to lie, cheat, or steal, no matter what the circumstance.
At the age of 8, Jonathan's father had already landed a successful job, and Jonathan had almost graduated elementary school. Everything seemed as if the good parts of life were finally starting to shine on the King family. Unfortunately as there is a good, shining part to the world around us, there also exist the evil in the darkness.
Even today, Jonathan still asks himself why they did it. Why did three strangers enter his house and ruin his life? Why did his mother and father have to suffer while they died? And why did he only sit there as his parents were beaten mercilessly?
After what had seemed like an eternity, Jonathan left the dresser that his father told him to hide in, and saw what he and his parents worked so hard for… destroyed. He walked into the kitchen, already afraid of the deathly silence, and saw something that would change his life forever.
In the middle of the kitchen laid his mother bruised and bloodied while, his father lay next to her with one of their own knifes stabbed in his chest.
Never once did the boy ever picture losing his parents, especially not so quickly. He ran to the floor where his parents lain cold, and screamed "Mommy!" and "Dad!" over and over again, still unable to comprehend their lack of being.
After Jonathan's painful episode, his mother was able to begrudgingly open her eyes. "Jonathan," she managed.
The boy's eyes shot open from his tears and was just about ready to start bawling. The sight of his mother trying to give out her last breath was nothing but pure torture for him. "Mom! What happened? Why did they do this?" he rushed, tears reforming at his eyes.
"Because of who we are," she grunted out furiously. She grabbed Jonathan by the palm of his hand and changed from a stern look to a sweet smile. "Jonathan, listen. You must do one thing for me."
"(Sniff), (Sniff). What," he was desperately trying to hold himself back from exploding into tears.
"Remember what we taught you. Do the right thing. No matter….What."
The pressure from his mother's grip escaped his hand, and her head fell back onto the ground. The boy sat and bawled the hardest he ever had in his life. That day, he left a greater pain then any physicality could ever do to him. Physical pain comes and goes, but the loss of someone you hold dear to your heart can burn inside of you forever.
The worst part was, he never asked what his mother's name was.
"Jonathan!" a familiar voice called.
The cat Faunus groaned with just the slightest bit of annoyance. He loved Weiss' company, but he knew she was just going to get mad at him for sleeping on the job. "Oh, hey Weiss. What's up?" he asked hesitantly.
She gave him a smug look. "Hey, shouldn't you be working. Your shift isn't up yet," she threw in coyly.
"Well, yeah but… I… got tired," Jonathan tried to defend himself.
The boy's poor defense made her giggle in delight, "it's fine, I'm not here to nag you, I just came to give you something," she reached into the back pocket of her winter wear to pull out a package of lien. "This is for you. It's your first weekly payment. It may not seem like much but it's enough to provide you with some decent commodities. If I were you though, I'd start saving up for a place to live once you're old enough. Something tells me my father isn't full thrilled with me living in the same house with a boy my age,"
The boy took what Weiss thought of as a "Not much" and put it in his pocket. "Nah, this is great. Tell your dad I said thanks," the boy said with his casually perky attitude.
Weiss slowly walked closer to Jonathan. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the park after your shift. Or maybe to the library," she gleamed.
"Actually, I need to do something. This lady helped me out just last week, and I need to repay her. But maybe afterwards," he offered.
"Sure, we'll probably go to the library, so be sure to meet me there, okay?" Weiss briefed him.
"Not a problem, later," he sent her off.
A few minutes later, Jonathan's hours had finished, and he was off to the clothing store to repay that woman who helped him. He rushed as fast as he could so he could meet up with Weiss in time; the last thing he would want to do is keep a girl like her waiting.
Jonathan finally made it to the clothing store, only to be taken back by what he had seen. The clothing store was no longer there, and the spot was now taken by a building similar in size and shape which read "Tuxon's book store."
He was confused if anything. There was no possible way that he went the wrong direction. The book store was between the exact same buildings the clothing store was.
Maybe she still works here, the boy hoped. He walked in and saw the room covered with book shelves and book stands littering the floor. The scruffy attendant was a male rather than a female, and gave him a welcoming look. "Hi there, welcome to 'Tuxon's book store'. Home to every book under the sun. What kind of read are you looking for?" he asked.
"Actually sir, I was wondering if I could ask you something about you're store," Jonathan said meekly.
"Why sure. What do you want to know?" he said willingly.
"How long have you been working here?"
"Five years. Reading books are king of a passion of mine, so I decided to open up my own business." The man's words almost broke Jonathan's saintly. There's no possibly way that this place could have been here for that long. Where is the clothing store? Where is the store owner?
It was only then that Jonathan realized that he forgot the woman's name. He even asked for it after he got his formal wear. Why couldn't he remember it? Jonathan was starting to get a head ache just trying to wrap his head around what was going in. "Um… thank you sir. And what was this place before it was a book store?" he continued to inquire.
"I think it was a bakery. Or was it a sushi shop? Oh well, I know it served food because I talked to the owner while eating something. Why are you asking?"
Jonathan lowered his head. "No reason. I thought I could find somebody here, but I guess I was wrong," the boy turned around and headed for the door.
"Wait, is your name Jonathan?"
The boy shot up his head and turned around. "Yeah, why?"
He reached under the front counter and pulled out a sticky note. "Here, a lady dropped this off for you. Don't worry, I didn't read it."
"Thanks."
Jonathan walked outside to read the note because the light in the store was too dim. The note read…
"Dear Jonathan. Thanks for remembering. Love – Serra."
His heart was weak. His legs felt faint. It all came to him in a swift furry. Everything that had happened had now made sense. Jonathan was once again at the brink of tears, as he fully understood what the note meant, and who it was from.
The last gust of wind on that cold day blew into Jonathan's back, and sent the note soaring into the air. He looked up into the sky and wiped the formulating water bubbles off his face.
"Thanks mom."
Author's note: thank you all so much for sticking by this fic as long as it lasted. I know there are a few spelling and grammar errors in the first few chapters and I might go back and fix them if they bother me that much, but in a way it's just one of the things that I can learn from the experience I had from writing this.
For those of you who may not know, one of the most important people in the world to me, and to you as fans of rwby, Monty Oum, died a week or so ago. It hit me harder than anything ever has in my life, and I'm sure a few of you feel the same way. This may be the only fan-fic I write, but that's only because I'm working on much bigger projects. If there's anything I learned from Monty it's to keep making things, and to never stop.
So thank you all soooooooooo much for your support. Hell, it would be awesome if you told a friend to read this fic but you reading it good enough. Thanks!
-LJ
