(A/N): So first off this is the start of the family weekend arc section. If you aren't up to date with the show I would suggest doing so. I don't own RWBY in any way but the parents that I mention in this chapter that appear on the show I'm not going to give much detail on. Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 13: Runs in the Family
'They are coming' he thought to himself with the most dramatic of voices he could muster inside his head. He was standing towards the back of the large group of students that had congregated at the airship docks. As a matter a fact, he was so far towards the back he was actually leaning against the gates of Beacon Academy. His anxiety of the most dreaded of days finally arriving being too much for him to stand the crowd of students. To anyone who passed by it was obvious he was having a nervous breakdown. The signs were all there: fidgeting with his fingers, tapping his foot a fast pace, and a look of fear on his face. The boy gave off the appearance that death itself was coming for him. To him the sight of the first passenger airships approaching Beacon for family weekend might as well have been just that.
That is how the rest of team JNPR found their fearless leader Jaune Arc when they arrived to the air docks.
"Jaune, relax. Your family can't be that bad, right?" Pyrrha spoke with a gentle voice as she put a hand on his shoulder. Her calming gesture only caused him to jump as he was jerked away from his thoughts of what his family was going to do to him.
"Pyrrha, have you ever heard of the saying 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'?" He asked.
"I may have heard the phrase yes." She said after an initial giggle escaped from her lips.
"Multiply that times eight and that is the hell that is about to be unleashed on me when that ship lands." Jaune practically whimpered as he pointed to the first airship that was approaching.
"How do ya know they're on that one Jaune-Jaune? Are you psychic?!" Is that what your semblance is?!" Nora yelled out enthusiastically before Ren could cover her mouth to stop her from ranting any further.
"My mother and sisters have had to hold off on scolding me for weeks Nora. Trust me they will be some of the first people off the first ship." Jaune said as he resumed fidgeting.
"Well then you might as well be at the front of the crowd so to avoid them having to search for you Jaune. You wouldn't want to make them any more upset would you?" Pyrrha said as she grabbed his arm and started leading him into the crowd with Ren and Nora close behind.
"Honestly I'm not sure at this point Pyr." He was still too busy worrying to notice the blush that had appeared on Pyrrha's face from him using the nickname he had adopted for her. He continued to be lost in his thoughts as they weaved through the crowd eventually reaching the front. When they did they noticed teams RWBY and FABL standing slightly off to the side of the front of the now dense crowd. Ruby waved as team JNPR approached, catching the attention of the other six.
"Wow vomit boy doesn't look too good. He isn't going to throw up just by being near one of these things is he?" Yang teased but still backed up a bit to protect her precious shoes.
"No, just wondering how much of my body will be left behind once my family is done with me." Jaune replied darkly.
"Yikes. That bad huh?" Ruby questioned the knight.
"You have no idea." Jaune's attitude put the rest of the group into a silent mood until someone's scroll dinged to signal it received a message. The group look up to see Jaune pulling his scroll out and opening it.
"Has the blonde horde arrived yet? Oh ha ha. Very funny Fenix." Jaune said sarcastically to which Yang seemed to take offense to.
"What did he call me?" She shouted furiously as her hair glowed and eyes turned crimson. The signature look that Yang was about to beat the ever loving shit out of somebody. Everybody in the group was a mixture of confused and worried for their own personal safety. All except for Nora who seemed to get it.
"No Yang. Horde. HoooorDAH." She put a very large emphasis on the 'D' (A/N: Giggity) to get the message across.
"Oh." Yang said as her eyes and hair returned to their normal state. Some were wondering how Nora of all people seemed to understand situations like this better than anyone else. When they asked Ren all he could say was, "that's the mystery of Nora."
"He means my family. Speaking of the sister defiling jerk, where is he?" Jaune asked as he noticed Fenix wasn't among their group of friends. The rest of his team looked around to acknowledge that the fire wielder was indeed absent.
"He said something about needing to go to Vale to get a surprise visitor. Maybe we finally get to meet this mysterious girl who he is constantly messaging." Liam boomed loudly enough for the nearby students all turned to see what the giant faunus was going on about. Yang at this point was seething while the rest of the group looked at Fenix's teammates with confusion.
"He thinks he is sneaky about it but its blatantly obvious he has a special someone he is messaging all the time." Alexis spoke up trying to avoid eye contact with Yang for fear the blonde would take her anger out on her.
"Yeah, his nose is glued to his scroll when he isn't in class, studying, or training. Even caught him messaging in Port's class the other day." Beau said off handedly.
"At least he stays awake in class." Weiss shot a glare Yang's way as she finished making her comment.
"Anyways…" Jaune interrupted. "Fenix isn't here so I'll let him know he is going to arrive after my family. They're not going to be happy about that." He mumbled the last bit to himself as he messaged Fenix letting him know he was going to arrive after the families. He got a reply back almost immediately.
That's actually perfect. Let everybody know we will be arriving on a bullhead right after the passenger ships clear out. Try and keep everybody at the docks to greet me and my guests. They are going to want to see this. BTW you're welcome in advance Jaune.
"O-kay?" Jaune said questioningly as everybody turned to look at him again. He turned his scroll around to show Fenix's messages so everybody could read it for themselves.
"On that note who all has family actually arriving?" Yang asked the group as everybody raised their hand except for Blake, Yang, and Ruby.
"Why am I the only one who has parents coming?!" Weiss shrieked to her teammates with a horrified expression replacing her normally calm mannerisms.
"Dad has to clear Patch of a new pack of Grimm that's threatening the local village." Yang said off-handedly.
"And Uncle Qrow is still off on a mission." Ruby piped up with her typical cheery expression.
"Reasons." Blake murmured quietly.
"Why are you acting like this is a bad thing Weiss?" Ruby asked worried about her partner.
"My father is very… difficult to get along with. I was hoping there would be more adults around to keep him in check." Weiss didn't miss the snort that Blake gave out when she mentioned how her father could be. Deciding it wasn't worth her time she just ignored it and looked to the rest of their group.
"By any chance do you think you guys could try and spend a little more time around us? He isn't exactly quiet about his blatant racism towards faunus but he will hold his tongue if there are more people around." She pleaded as she tried to adopt Ruby's puppy dog eyes to use on the other eight. It wasn't near as effective as Ruby's but seeing the heiress in this state caught them off guard.
"I'm sure we can do our best to help Weiss out. Right guys?" Jaune spoke up as he tried to play the hero. Weiss groaned and put her face into her hands as she inwardly wept that the dunce of all people had to be the one to offer his help. She wasn't going to deny it in this situation but she had to make one thing clear.
"Do not think this means I will agree to a date with you because of this Arc." She snapped her head up and pointed accusingly at Jaune. She shot him a fierce glare before it softened and she returned to her prim and proper mannerisms.
"But it doesn't mean I don't appreciate the FRIENDLY gesture." She emphasized the friendly part extremely.
"O-of course Weiss." Jaune replied sheepishly.
At that moment the first airship had begun its docking procedures as it came to a stop at the docks. The dull roar of the engines faded out as they finished landing. A sharp hiss pierced the quiet atmosphere as the passenger ramp began lowering to allow the first wave of guests to depart. Immediately four blonde figures bolted off the ship and bent over the trash cans located at the bottom of the ramp. As they attempted (and failed) to retain their stomachs, Jaune's friends all started snickering at the scene.
"So it runs in the family, eh vomit boy?" Yang teased as she lightly slapped him on the back. A light slap for Yang still equaled a heavy hit as Jaune stumbled to keep himself upright.
"Yeah, four of us kids inherited our dad's air sickness. Lucky us right?" He lamely joked.
"Too bad you didn't get common sense from your mother." A mature female voice spoke up causing Jaune to stand frozen in fear. He slowly turned to come face to face with the stone cold expression on his mother's face. If he would have looked around he would have noticed the glares that were also coming at him from the three sisters flanking his mother as well as the rest of the family that was approaching now that they had recovered from their motion sickness. Jaune Arc wasn't that brave though so he continued to stare into the piercing eyes of his mother. After a few moments of intense silence between the two, Mrs. Arc confirmed Jaune's worst nightmare.
"Girls, get him." She said with an almost evil smirk. At that moment all seven of Jaune's sister pounced on him. Effectively burying him under a dogpile as they all jostled to hug and playfully punch him. Each sister had their unique greeting for their only brother after all.
As Jaune disappeared under the sea of blonde hair and bright colored clothing, some of the group started to worry for the poor boy while others couldn't help but stifle their laughter. That became impossible when after a few seconds, Jaune's dad started laughing a very boisterous laugh. Soon the entire group had lost all sense of concern for Jaune as they joined in on the laughter after it was evident no real harm was going to befall him.
"Hello! My name is Pyrrha Nikos and I am Jaune's partner." Pyrrha started the introductions by speaking with Mrs. Arc.
"Judith Arc, and this is my husband Joseph." Judith nodded her head towards her husband as she returned the handshake offered by Pyrrha. As they locked hands she smiled brightly at the Spartan girl.
"So… before anymore introductions occur, do I need to save our fearless leader from suffocating under there?" Pyrrha pointed as she noticed a gloved hand pop out from the bottom of the pile.
"PYRRHA SAAAAAAVE MEEEEEE!" Came Jaune's cry for salvation from the mix of shouting coming from the dogpile. Pyrrha looked back to Mrs. Arc to see her shaking her head as she smiled at the familiar scene.
"He's survived through worse. This is actually a typical greeting for him." Came the loud and jolly voice of Jaune's father. Pyrrha suddenly felt a little bad for her beloved partner having to deal with this type of behavior on a regular basis. It suddenly made sense how he could handle Nora so easily now.
"OOOHHHH BEAUREGARD!" The call from a woman with an extremely southern belle accent interrupted everybody watching the Arc sibling reunion. All turned to Beau with a slightly disbelieving look as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"Dammit ma. Didn't have to use the full name." He muttered quietly as Liam and Alexis started grinning from the sight of the most stoic member of their team getting embarrassed. They turned to see a woman in a peach colored plain looking dress waving her hand above her head to get their attention. This action brought the wolf ears that sprouted out from her brown hair to everybody's attention. Behind her was a man garbed in a white shirt and brown overalls with what appeared to be a mountain lion's tail swaying behind him.
"Everybody, this is my ma and pa." Beau spoke simply as he embraced his mother in a hug.
"Oh my baby boy! How have you been sweetheart?" Beau's mom began gushing over him asking all sorts of questions. Most of the questions centered around how his well being had been. Beau sighed as he pulled out of the hug and got her attention.
"Ma, I'm fine. Team has been good and friends are all nice." He finished as he turned and motioned towards his group of friends. His mother got an odd gleam in her eye as she settled on Alexis.
"Oh my aren't you just the cutest thing ever!" She squealed as she let go of Beau just to grab Alexis in as tight of an embrace as she had just had Beau in.
"Ma, please." Beau begged as his father walked up along side him.
"You know there is no stopping her." Both father and son shared a laugh.
"Its good to see you."
"Likewise pa." Beau smiled as he and his father shook hands.
"Oh you should have seen how much fuss he made about getting the house ready for us to leave on time." Beau's mom spoke loudly to her son as she was now in the process of hugging Blake.
"Oh really? Thought you'd rather stay and watch the place than spend a weekend away." Beau asked with a quirked eyebrow towards his dad. His father had been raised on the family farm and never ventured too far. And when he did it was rarely for more than a day.
"Dear…" Beau's dad tried to plead with his wife for her to stop only for his pleas to be ignored.
"Oh he tried, but I told him under no circumstances was he going to miss seeing our baby boy at this big fancy school." His mother spoke now hugging Nora who was surprisedly hugging back just as much enthusiasm. She then let go and moved on to Weiss who shied away.
"Forgive me ma'am but for your own sake you should probably avoid me." Weiss said almost ashamed.
"And why would I do that dear?" She said ignoring Weiss's complaints as she embraced the heiress.
"Because…"
"WHAT IN THE DEVIL ARE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER YOU ANIMAL?!" Came the booming answer.
"Because my father isn't the most understanding of people." Weiss said sadly as she looked to see Jacques and Whitney Schnee walking towards their group. Jacques had a scowl on his face while Whitney looked happy to be seeing Weiss. At first glance they appeared to be the two most polar opposite people you could imagine marrying each other. As Jacques reached the group he attempted to confront the wolf faunus who had the audacity to hug his daughter. His advance was suddenly halted by a monster of a hand suddenly clamping down on his shoulder. He followed the tree trunk of an arm that the hand was attached to until his gaze settled on the face of a burly man with a thick red beard in a Viking-esque outfit.
"I would take care not to cause a scene like that Jacques." The man spoke firmly but not harshly. Mr. Schnee's hateful look quickly evaporated at the sight of his old friend. He nodded knowing full well this friend would tear him apart if he acted up in front of the children.
"A pleasure as always Odin." He said snidely as soon as a pink blur rocketed past him and latched on the gargantuan man. Seeing his opportunity, Jacques didn't hesitate to move on towards his own daughter to have a quick word with her.
"Daaaaddyyyyyyyyy!" Nora squealed as she hugged him as tightly as she could. Which amazingly the man didn't seem phased at all regardless of Nora's immense strength. Her father's gaze softened immediately at the sight of his little girl.
"Ah my princess! How have you been min kjaere?" Odin asked as he seemed to suddenly transform from a large intimidating man into a doting father figure.
"I've been great dad! My team is the best! We've got a champion fighter in Pyrrha, Ren is basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, and we have our fearless leader Jaune!" She finished introducing her teammates by pointing to the pile of blonde girls still wrestling for position to greet their brother. At the sound of his name a gloved hand appeared once again out of the mess to give a weak wave.
"Lucky boy." Odin chuckled as he received a slap on his shoulder from his daughter and a spiteful glare from the red-headed champion fighter on her team.
"No daddy those are all his sisters!" Nora spoke as if what her father had said was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.
"Ah well I guess not all boys these days can be as successful at getting women as your old man." He boasted loudly as Nora started acting like she was going to throw up. Ren took this moment to intervene to save the rest of the group from any further Valkyrie family interactions.
"It is good to see you again Mr. Valkyrie." He said politely as he bowed.
"Ah Ren my boy! It is wonderful to see you as well!" He then picked his daughter's best friend and gave him a crushing hug that would have put Yang or Nora's to shame.
"Your parents were just behind me. I wonder, oh there they are! Li! An! They are over here!" He yelled as he set Ren down and turned him in the direction his parents would be coming from. As they came into view Ren could see they were accompanied by another couple. A tall slender man in a suite with light brown hair and green eyes walked alongside an equally tall fit looking woman with red hair and hazel eyes in dress pants and a red
blouse. Ren could easily tell they were Pyrrha's parents so he got her attention and pointed to both sets of their parents. She smiled as they both met their respective parents as they reached the now larger group.
"Greetings mother, father." Ren bowed respectfully as he met his parents. They both smiled and bowed in return before An pulled Ren into a hug as Li looked on in admiration. While the Rens were having their family reunion, Pyrrha and her parents were exchanging greetings.
"Hello father it is wonderful to see you. You as well mother." Pyrrha smiled at seeing her parents again. She was met with the usual neutral faces of her parents.
"Pyrrha have you been keeping up with your workouts?" Her mother asked of her.
"Well yes-" She attempted to delve further into that topic but was quickly cut off by her father speaking up.
"And have you been replying to your fan mail in a timely manner?"
"Yes of course-" Once again she was cut off from any further explanation.
"Excellent. It is good to see your time here isn't being wasted." And with that both of Pyrrha's parents brushed past her as they made their way towards the Schnee CEO. Undoubtedly attempting to strike up some sort of business proposal in order to get their daughter more publicity. She sighed as her eyes locked on to Weiss's so they could share an apologetic look that read 'I'm sorry'. Pyrrha then glanced back to the bulk of the group to see that the object of her affection had finally been released from his sister's grasp. While all the sisters were starting to mingle with the rest of their group, Jaune still lay on the ground in a comically dazed state.
"Jaune!" She gasped as she quickly rushed over to pick him up.
"Are you all right? Does anything hurt? Can you move all your limbs properly?" She started talking a mile a minute as she smothered him with questions making sure he was indeed fine. This action got the attention of the rest of their group as everybody looked on as the girl gave her obvious affection while the boy obliviously brushed it off.
"Yeah I'm fine Pyr. They have actually put me through worse before." He laughed as he tried to settle his partner down. He missed the knowing looks his sisters were giving him while Pyrrha's parents were glaring hatefully at him. Worst of all, he missed the gleam in his mother's eye as she watched the two interacting. It reminded her a lot of herself and Joseph when they were younger. She decided that she would have to play matchmaker since her son had inherited his father's obliviousness when it came to the opposite gender's feelings. That and she was beyond ready for grandbabies at this point in her life and the idea of little red headed blue eyed children running around was too much for her to resist.
"So aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend dear?" She asked smugly.
"What?! No its not like that!" Jaune sputtered as Pyrrha turned a nice shade of red from the embarrassment.
Jaune's mother started making her way towards the two when a yelp from Blake caught everybody's attention. They turned to see Blake being picked up from behind in a big hug. The woman who had ahold of Blake wore a black and white dress. Her attire wasn't what had people gapping at the sight, what they were all staring at was how this woman appeared to be a replica of what they all expected an older Blake to look like. That and the fact that she had two black cat ears standing atop of her equally black hair.
"Oh my baby girl!" She sighed loudly in contentment. As the words left her mouth Blake visibly froze up.
"Mom?!" She shreiked.
"Kali." A gruff voice spoke up as if to lightly scold the faunus woman. As Blake was put down she turned to see her fears had come true. Both of her parents were standing there. Her mother looking at her lovingly while her father was behind her pinching the bridge of his nose as he shook his head disbelievingly at his wife's antics.
"What are you doing here?" Blake asked cautiously.
"Well sweetie we received a message asking us to be here for parent's weekend. Seeing as how we haven't heard from you in a few months we just assumed it was your way of telling us you wanted to meet up. I'm guessing it wasn't you was it?" Blake's mom seemed hurt that her daughter was acting like she was upset that they were there.
Blake had finally run off from the White Fang like they had been begging her to do ever since it turned militant. However they assumed she was going to stay in contact once she fled, but she didn't. The last time her parents had talked to her was before she left the White Fang. They had been worried sick about what happened to her until they got this message telling them they were invited to parent's weekend at Beacon Academy. Since they only had one child they figured it must have been Blake contacting them and saying she wanted to see them.
"Blake, did you not send for us?" Her father asked.
"No. No I didn't." She whispered.
"Then…" Kali's next sentence was cut off by somebody deliberately coughing to get their attention. They three Belladona's turned to see one of the Arc sisters in front of them.
"That would be my doing. My apologies I didn't mean to cause any issues but I just assumed you would want them here. After seeing my brother's initiation footage I did background checks on all of his associates. Doing so I found your parents and sent them their invite since it appeared you had forgotten to do so." The three faunus just stared at the odd blonde girl who acted like what she did was a common occurrence. Overhearing the conversation, Jaune decided to make his way over to try and explain it a little bit to Blake and her family.
"Ah sorry, that's my sister Jessica. She works in the Atlas robotics division and is an absolute genius when it comes to anything about computers. Her social skills could use some work though." Jaune finished as he shot an annoyed look at his sister while she just smiled smugly before she stuck her tongue out at him. Blake sighed before putting on a small smile and turning to talk to her parents again.
"Well that explains that, and yes I am glad you are here mom. Its just, I wanted to take some time before I told everybody." Blake explained with a slightly depressed tint to her voice. She was sad that now her friends and teammates would look at her differently. Or so she thought until Yang spoke up.
"You seriously thought that you being part faunus would change anything?" Yang asked amusedly.
"W-well. Yes?" Blake stuttered out completely surprised that everybody seemed to be taking it so well.
"Blakey Blakey Blakey. We would never judge you for something like that." Yang chuckled as she shook her head at her partner's paranoia.
"Yeah you're our friend and teammate Blake. Nothing is going to change that." Ruby piped up as she suddenly appeared next to Yang in a flurry of rose petals. At that moment Weiss stepped up as well. This made Blake nervous because Weiss was the one she was most worried about with this issue.
"As long as you aren't one of those White Fang terrorists then I suppose I can deal with this." Weiss offered a small smile to show that she wasn't going to be a problem just because Blake had faunus blood in her. Blake smiled back but was inwardly worried about how she was going to explain to her team that she had indeed once been apart of the White Fang. She decided she should just enjoy the fact that Weiss didn't blow up at the moment and cross that bridge when she came to it. She then felt somebody tap her on the shoulder and she turned to see Liam and Beau standing there.
"You might as well show them now darlin'." Beau said as he glanced up at her bow to show what he meant. Liam crossed his arms and grunted as he nodded in approval. She had secretly told the two of them with Fenix helping to explain why she kept it hidden a few days ago. It was the fire wielder's idea to tell their faunus friends and the two were very understanding about the it. Seeing as now was as good a time as ever Blake just sighed and reached up to untie her bow. With one swift motion it came undone and she pulled it down to reveal her cat ears to the entire world. She then turned back towards her team. She was surprised to find Yang holding Ruby back from rushing her and Weiss staring at her wide eyed.
"That explains the fixation with tuna." Weiss mumbled under her breath but Blake heard it and laughed.
"Thanks Weiss. Yang, is that necessary?" She asked eyeing the struggling sisters.
"Yeah. Unless you want her pouncing you." Yang grunted out as she continued to hold onto her squirming little sister.
"Must. Pet. Kitty. Ears." Ruby said between different attempts to break Yang's hold. Blake just had a blank look on her face before she smiled and stepped towards the sisters causing them to stop struggling.
"Someday I will let you feel them Ruby. But you should know that is very disrespectful to touch a faunus's trait unless they allow you to. Right now I'm not comfortable with it but It'll happen soon, don't worry." After Blake's explanation Ruby slumped over showing she wasn't going to be a problem for the time being and Yang released her. In the few seconds of silence that followed as team RWBY gathered around to have a team hug, Jacques Schnee decided it was time to let his thoughts on the matter be known.
"Well I think this is lunacy! Look at her! She is no better than-" He was cut off by a hand grasping his shoulder firmly again and squeezing a pressure point. This hand was smaller than Odin's but the applied pressure to the soft spot in his shoulder caused him to wince in pain. He looked to see Joseph Arc was the culprit and he was glaring at the CEO hard.
"Walk away Jacques and take a few moments to cool your head." The elder Arc said coldly.
"But this-" He motioned towards Blake to more than likely say something out of line but was silenced again by increased pressure by Joseph.
"Walk. Away." He emphasized his point by pushing the Schnee male slightly backwards. Jacques made to have a face off against Joseph but noticed all the other parents (minus Hellena and Achilles Nikos) took stances to show there was no arguing the Arc's orders. With a huff that sounded suspiciously like one Weiss would give he turned and walked away from the group. Whitney Schnee watched as her husband stomped away as if he were throwing a tantrum.
"Thank you Jo." She said to the man who put her husband in his place before moving to stand alongside her daughter.
"OUT OF MY WAY!" The shout of Jacques brought their attention back to see him yelling at two women who parted to let him past. One was a faunus who had white hair and rabbit ears. She wore a lavender dress that only reached her knees with white leggings underneath. The other, was a taller woman who wore a flowing navy blue dress with turquoise hair. Upon noticing them two members of team FABL ran to greet them.
"Mom!" Alexis yelled as she spotted her mother in her formal blue dress. She wrapped her mother in a hug as soon as she reached her.
"Hello my dear." Her mother responded and then they fell into talk about how Alexis's time at Beacon had been so far.
The arctic hare faunus found herself swooped up by her youngest son when he reached her. Squeezing her tightly as if he had not seen her in ages. From an onlookers perspective it was evident that Liam was a big momma's boy. As they were embraced Liam whispered to his mother.
"Any word from papa and Magni?" He asked with worry in his voice. It had been over a year since his older brother decided to follow their father's footsteps in joining the White Fang. They had not heard from either in a long time and their concern only continued to grow with each passing day.
"None." She replied sorrowfully. Liam took a moment to hug her tighter in an attempt to console her. This was not the time to cause his precious mother more unneeded stress. This was a time to distract her from her constant worrying and make her happy.
"Momma. I missed you." He spoke softly as he set her down and kneeled down so he was eye level with her. It was the gentlest any of his friends had heard him speak since they had known him.
"And I you my little teddy bear." She replied with a smile as she put a hand on his face. Their moment was interrupted by a high pitched squealing sound coming from behind Liam. They both turned to see Nora acting like she had just witnessed the cutest thing in her entire life.
"TEDDY BEAR?! Can I puhleeeaaase call you that Liam?" She begged as she shot forward and latched onto his arm. Liam blushed a fearsome shade of red as Nora started cuddling his arm like he was an actual teddy bear. Liam's mother raised an eyebrow towards her son in amusement and curiosity at the situation.
"Oh? And who might this be Liam?" She asked teasingly since she could see how her big strong baby boy was turned to putty in this bubbly girl's embrace.
"Yes my little one who is this?" Came the gruff and angry voice of Odin from where Nora had just come from. As Liam tried not to wilt under the intense glare Odin was shooting him Nora detached and went to give her dad the exact same hug she had just given Liam.
"That's Liam daddy! He is on one of the teams we are friends with, team FABL! It has him, Beau, Alexis, and Fenix. Hey when is Fenix getting here anyways?" She had pointed out each member as she introduced them until it came to Fenix. Everybody in the group seemed to be distracted by the fact they were still missing one member except for Odin who continued to glare hatefully at Liam.
At the mention of Fenix's name multiple females in the group perked up and started asking why he wasn't there to greet them. All were from the Arc clan except for one odd inquisitive look coming from Whitney Schnee.
"Fenix? As in Fenix Fall?" She asked Nora.
"That's the one!" The hammer wielder stated excitedly.
"Hmm, interesting." Mrs. Schnee mused as she thoughtfully stroked her chin with a grin on her face.
"Mother?" Weiss asked worriedly. The only time she had seen her mother like this with boys her age was when she was thinking of suitor candidates. That is when her father actually listened to her mother's input.
"Oh don't worry. Its not for you dear." Mrs. Schnee attempted to wave her daughters distress off but her statement only increased it.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" The heiress shouted completely horrified that her parents would consider her older sister for Fenix. Her worrying was cut off by Jaune shouting to the group.
"Ok everybody we were told to try and keep you all here until Fenix arrived. He had to go pick somebody up in Vale via bullhead. I just got a message from him that they are on approach." With that the group started making its way towards the landing pads since the passenger airships had finished clearing out. They looked to see a lone bullhead approaching from the direction of Vale. Many of the Arc girls were getting jittery at the idea of seeing Fenix again.
As the bullhead touched down the group shielded their eyes from the gusts of wind coming from the bullhead's engines. Usually the bullhead would touchdown, open the side doors, and drop its passengers off before taking off again. To much of the hunters in training's surprise, this bullhead kept its doors closed and started to shut off its engines once it had successfully landed. When the engines finally died down the side doors finally popped open. Everybody fell into a state of shock at the sight they beheld once the doors completely opened to reveal three people getting out of the bullhead.
Many of the students were expecting two of the people who got out. The first and most obvious was team FABL's leader and renown fire wielder Fenix Fall. The second one, that irked most of the teenage blonde females at the landing pad was Neo. She walked beside Fenix as she held onto his free arm. She was in the blonde haired blue eyed disguise that she had used to see Fenix at the initiation ceremony. Since the Arc's had already seen her in that particular disguise she and Fenix had both agreed that would be the most logical one to use for the day. She had decided to just wear a pink shirt and white jeans with her disguise. She really didn't care if people thought it didn't match with her disguise's hair and eyes, it was her color scheme and she was sticking to it.
Some of the Arc girls as well as Yang would have been furious at the sight of Neo clutching onto Fenix's arm. That is, had it not been for the third person who overpowered the girl's feelings of jealousy and kept them flabbergasted.
The third person in question had her head resting on Fenix's shoulder on the opposite side of Neo. Her hands laid limp at her sides to show she was asleep. Her tiny figure had her back turned to the group so she could lay comfortably across his chest. As they continued walking towards the group Fenix was prodding the child to try and wake them.
Child.
That simple word echoed through everybody's mind. The adults had for the most part recovered from the initial shock and looked on at the sight of the young man trying to wake the little girl. The students, however, had not fully snapped out of it yet. They were so floored that the big secret that Fenix had been stalling on revealing to them, was that he had a kid? Then, one by one, it slowly started to click. Just then Fenix and his little party arrived at the group.
"So here's my big surprise. Everybody, I'd like you to meet my daughter. Flayr Fall." He said as he turned to present the still snuggling girl to the group. They expected to see the face of a sleeping child but that wasn't what they were greeted with at all.
They were instead met with the wide heterochromatic eyes of the toddler. As the girl realized she had a crowd she sat up straight still being held by her young father. As she did this the rest of the group now had the chance to get a good look at her.
Her eyes and hair were the most noticeable features about her. The two different colored eyes caught the attention of the group. Her right eye looked just like Fenix's. At a quick glance it appeared to be a fiery orange but when they looked closely they could see the 'fiery' aspect was quite literal. Her iris looked like a flame that was constantly flickering. Her left eye did not have the same lively feature that her right eye did. It was a constant deep cobalt blue. Her hair matched the same color scheme as her eyes except they were on alternate sides. Where her right eye was the fiery orange, the right side of her hair was cobalt blue and where her left eye was blue, the left side of her hair was orange. As if to accentuate her hair, it was perfectly split down the middle where the two colors met and was tied into short pigtails at the back.
Other features noticable about the little girl was her face. Now most people will say all toddlers look cute at this age but this little girl was levels above the typical toddler cuteness. The level of cuteness that deserved to be used for marketing children's clothing lines. One could tell even at this young age that this child was going to grow to be a beautiful woman.
She was also wearing a little outfit that matched her heterochromatic color scheme. A cobalt blue tutu with equally blue frills that had orange trim along the edges. She had little orange tights underneath the tutu as well as blue tennis shoes. She was also wearing a t-shirt that was blue as well. On the front of the shirt the words "Daddy's Girl" were printed in white lettering along with more orange trim.
"I may or may not have picked out the outfit." Fenix spoke as if he were slightly embarrassed that everybody noticed how he dressed her up to match himself. The hunters in training just took turns staring at the father daughter duo not knowing what to do or say in this situation. Finally, Jaune broke the awkward atmosphere as he walked up to the two.
"Congratulations man. Now the change in the color scheme for you makes more sense." He chuckled as he shook Fenix's hand that was now free from Neo's grasp.
"Thanks Jaune. Flayr, this is your uncle Jaune. Can you say hi?" He said introducing his daughter to his best friend.
"Hi." The little girl echoed cutely. This caused many of the on looking girls to sigh and aww at the scene. Fenix then made his way over to the rest of the Arc family. Introducing each of the girls as auntie: Jocelyn, Juliet, Joy, Jordan, Jillian, Jessica, and Joan to the little girl. When it came to the Arc parents he introduced them as nana Judy and papa Jo to the little girl. This was enough to make Judith start tearing up from the joy of hearing her appointed title to the little girl in Fenix's arms.
Fenix then made the rounds introducing little Flayr to all of his friends who had grouped up while he was introducing his little girl to the Arcs. He reluctantly left Neo at the hands of momma Arc who felt she had to interrogate the girl who seemed very attached to Fenix. He tried to reason that Neo didn't need to be questioned but he was waved off by the little mute who insisted he go introduce his daughter to everyone. The introductions went how he expected it to go. Nora and Ruby tried to steal Flayr from his arms but she just held onto him tightly to show she didn't want to go to them. They looked a little hurt but Fenix laughed it off telling them they had the whole weekend to get her to warm up to them. Yang, Alexis, and Pyrrha all started acting motherly towards the little girl which earned them a few giggles and smiles from her. Ren just nodded and patted the little girl's head. He then moved on to Liam, Blake, and Beau who had grouped up since their parents were all talking to Blake's dad. Beau was first as he just complimented how she was a little cutie. When it came to introduce Flayr to Blake, he got quite the surprise.
"Kitty!" Little Flayr squealed as she actually reached for Blake to hold her. Blake just stared at the little girl wide eyed before looking to Fenix for what she should do. Fenix was confused how Flayr knew about Blake's faunus traits. Then it clicked in his head as he looked up to see sure enough the bow was gone and her cat ears were out in the open. He decided to hold off on commenting on them for the time being.
"Well this is rare. Flayr usually doesn't like new people but she seems to like you." He smiled as he handed the little girl over to Blake who awkwardly held the toddler. Flayr immediately started trying to climb up Blake to get to her faunus ears. Blake initially tried to fend the little girl off but after a few unsuccessful attempts she stopped and started tearing up.
"Oh no please don't do that." Blake said trying to calm the little girl down. It was no use, she started sobbing and teetered on the edge of crying. A sudden gust of wind and rose petals signaled that Ruby had arrived on the scene.
"No no Flayr! You gotta do it like this! See?" Flayr stopped her crying only to see Ruby turning her puppy dog pout on. After a few seconds Flayr attempted to copy Ruby's facial expressions and soon she was closely resembling Ruby's patented puppy dog pout. Once Flayr had it close enough Ruby turned towards Blake and soon the little girl followed suite.
"That's just not fair." Blake mumbled.
"RUBY DON'T TEACH HER THAT!" Fenix yelled as he discovered what auntie Ruby was teaching his baby girl. Something he personally considered one of the most deadly weapons she could wield against him at this age.
"Fine." Blake finally caved as she raise little Flayr up so she could have access to her cat ears. The little girl squealed in delight as she started roughly petting Blake between the ears. With each pet, Blake's impassive face winced when Flayr's tiny hand brushed up against her ears just a tad to rough for her tastes. Fenix gave her an 'I'm sorry' look to which Blake just shrugged it off and continued to let the little girl pet her.
"Why did you have to do that little sis?" Fenix said exasperatedly as he then turned to face the little reaper.
"Because every girl should know how to have her dad wrapped around her finger." Ruby stated proudly.
"She already does! You just gave her another weapon for her already stacked arsenal!" He whined in reply.
"Good." Ruby said as she skipped away completely satisfied with her work. Completely neglecting the fact that Flayr had been allowed to touch Blake's faunus ears when she had been denied. At that moment Fenix decided Flayr had harassed Blake enough for today and he grabbed ahold of her. Surprisingly she went with no fuss. She giggled at her daddy as if to say 'haha I got what I wanted' to which Fenix could only smile. He wasn't lying when he said she had him wrapped around her finger. Then all of the sudden she stopped giggling and started jumping in his arms excitedly.
"TEDDY!" She exclaimed loudly as she continued jumping and pointed at Liam. To Fenix's complete and utter surprise Liam walked over, plucked the little girl from his hands, and put her on his shoulders to give her a piggyback ride.
"Well that was… unexpected." Fenix said quietly to himself. He then noticed an elder faunus woman watching the spectacle of Liam walking around with a happily laughing Flayr on his shoulders. Fenix then remembered a description Liam had given of his family before and she noticed this woman perfectly fit the mold of Liam's mother. He then walked over to introduce himself.
"Mrs. Randgrid?" He asked as she turned her head in response.
"Yes?" She asked in kind.
"Fenix Fall. I'm Liam's partner." He offered his hand to which she smiled and brushed it to the side to give the slightly surprised fire wielder a hug. He needed to remember to thank Coco for suggesting he drop the hand kissing greeting. Since he had stopped doing that he was getting a lot less awkward looks from people.
"Its so nice to meet you Fenix. Are you keeping my baby in line? I know he can come across as a bit difficult at times. And do call me Kari dear. Mrs. Randgrid makes me feel too old." Kari chuckled as she released Fenix from the hug.
"Ok Mrs. Kari. And nah he is pretty easy to get along with once you get to know him. But I've got to ask, is he always like this? The only time we've seen him smile is after a good fight in our combat class." Fenix asked with genuine interest. It was true the members of their team had tried to get Liam to act a little more cheerful but all of their efforts had just seemed to annoy the bear faunus.
"Oh yes he has always had a soft spot for children. In our village he was a popular one amongst the little ones who liked to play war and rough house. But you could also talk him into playing dolls or having a tea party with the little girls." She smiled warmly reminiscing all the times she had found her son being held captive by the younger children wanting his attention.
"So he is a big softy?" Fenix chuckled as Kari nodded matching the boy's silent laughter.
"Yes but I wouldn't exactly let everybody know it. He tends to get a bit rough when people start teasing him." Kari rushed the words out as if she realized she had just made a grave mistake. She did recall how many times she had been called by the school to meet about Liam beating up the other kids in his class for making fun of him.
"So a big sensitive softy? That's alright we won't give him too much grief over it. And don't worry about me ma'am. I can take him." He finished with a wink. Liam's mother didn't seem to believe him from the look she was giving him.
"You must be hiding a lot of strength in that lean frame of yours then Fenix." She stated skeptically as she finished giving him a once over.
"It isn't always about strength ma'am. Sometimes its more about finesse." He said as he flicked his semblance to show her his burning eyes for a brief moment.
"I see." Was all she could say as she stared awestruck at the boy's ability. Just then Fenix jumped as a single petite finger poked him in his side. He turned to find that Neo was standing there smirking at the reaction she got out of him.
'A little ticklish are we?' She signed instead of using her scroll to type out their conversation. Fenix may or may not have warned her of Jessica's habits of hacking all nearby electronic devices. Neo's use of sign language caught the attention of some of the members of the group.
'Only because you know how to use your hands so well.' Fenix quipped back with a flirtatious wink. Neo in turn grinned and waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
*cough cough* "If you two could not flirt in front of the rest of us that would be marvelous." Whitney Schnee said with the slightest hint of irritation to her voice.
"Mrs. Schnee my apologies. It is good to see you again ma'am." Fenix bowed respectfully to her to which she smiled at. He was slightly surprised that Mrs. Schnee could read sign language. The more he thought about it the more he reazlized he really shouldn't have been all that shocked.
"You as well young Mr. Fall. Winter will be most disappointed to know she missed seeing you here." Before Fenix could retort to the smug lady Schnee she turned and strolled away to find her sulking husband. Neo and Fenix just turned to each other before shrugging simultaneously. Fenix then turned to address the entire group. As he did Neo latched onto her favorite spot on his arm and leaned into him. He smiled before continuing on with his announcement.
"Well now, I apologize for holding everybody up but now that we all are here we can continue on. Unless you'd rather spend your evening conversing at the docks." He spoke loudly to get everybody's attention. He was met with a lot of smiles and giggles at his last comment as he motioned with his free hand to the gates behind him. In the background Beacon tower stood tall and proud seeming to call for the group to move towards it. The group then started to move towards the academy so they could officially begin their weekend at Beacon.
To Fenix's surprise, Liam kept Flayr on his shoulders as they walked down the long main entrance of Beacon. Fenix offered to relieve the bear faunus of babysitting duty but Liam just waved him off quietly mumbling that he didn't mind. Neo stayed latched onto Fenix as she could practically feel the heated glares being shot her way from three of the Arc sisters, Yang, and Mrs. Schnee. This negative attention just fueled her impish nature, causing her to relish the feeling of being the source of their jealousy. It was somewhat astounding in a sense that no matter where she went she could always stir up trouble. But, she wouldn't be in her line of work if that weren't the case. That, along with her willingness to kill and make a quick buck, were the main reasons Roman decided to incorporate her into his business.
The sudden ringing of a scroll brought her out of her inner monologue. She quickly realized it was her scroll that was buzzing and recognized the ringtone. She groaned as she untangled one arm to fetch her scroll. Once she fished it out she unlocked it and brought it up to listen to whatever message her boss was going to give her. 'Speak or think of the devil and they shall appear' she exasperatedly thought to herself.
Fenix watched with mild amusement as his mute girlfriend seemed to huff a lot of air and roll her eyes as if she were annoyed with someone. He deduced it must have been the equivalent of a groan as she pulled her scroll out and then put it to her ear. He stifled his inner child who was giggling at the idea of a mute person talking on their scroll for fear of his life. Although he had to admit he found all of the little things she could only do because she was a mute to be adorable. It was what made her who she was and that was what seemed to make him fall more for her.
Soon she started pouting as she hung up her scroll and looked at him with sorrowful eyes. He had never seen this side of her before but he had an idea what it meant.
"Let me guess. Duty calls?" He asked slightly disappointed. She nodded in response. She then looked towards Flayr and signed to Fenix he wanted to say goodbye to her. Fenix understood and motioned to the large statue in the center of the courtyard that they had just passed. She nodded once again as she understood what he meant.
"Hey Liam!" He shouted and immediately regretted his decision as everybody turned to stare at him. He pushed aside the slight nervousness that crept up from being the center of attention in an awkward way.
"Could I have Flayr? Somebody here needs to go and she would like to say goodbye." He said motioning to Neo with his thumb.
"Already? I was hoping to tal- converse! Yeah have a conversation with you!" Alexis spoke awkwardly as she realized she had probably just insulted Neo. She figured saying things like talk and speak to a mute person would probably push a few buttons. To her surprise Neo smiled and seemed to shake her shoulders like she was laughing. She then signed to Fenix to which he turned to her.
"She says don't worry she won't get upset over stuff like that. And she will probably be back tomorrow." He finished as Liam approached and pulled Flayr off his shoulders to hand her to her daddy.
"Life of a Huntress must be a busy one huh?" He asked Neo to which she held her hand out and rocked it back and forth as if to say 'so-so'.
"Wait what? She's a Huntress?" Yang spoke up to which many of the other students seemed interested in the answer as well.
"Yeah graduated from Shade Academy two years ago." He said offhandedly to which Neo nodded in confirmation.
"Wow no offense but you don't look any older than Rubes over here. And she got in two years early." Yang spoke slightly shocked at the older girl's appearance. Neo was annoyed only in the sense that she was always assumed to be way younger than what she actually was. She figured most women would kill for something like that but for her it was just a nuisance. Her attention was then brought to the little reaper of the group who was now looking a bit shy from all the attention. Neo then pointed to her and raised and tilted her head as if to ask 'you?'.
"Y-yeah me." Ruby stuttered out. Neo then rolled her eyes and spun her hand to urge the girl to explain. Noticing how awkward the situation was making Ruby feel, Fenix stepped in.
"Apparently she stopped a dust robbery by a wanted criminal who goes by the name of Torchwick?" His voice raised at the name of the mention of Roman as he looked to Ruby to see if he got the name right. She nodded to assure him he got it right. Neo's eyes went wide as she finally had a face to put to the girl that her boss had lovingly dubbed "Red." By lovingly she totally meant that Roman wanted a chance to get back at the little girl for making him look like a fool in front of their employer. She then turned to Fenix and signed a quick question.
"She wants to know was that really you?" He asked Ruby as she shyly nodded again. Fenix saw the poor girl looking as awkward as she did the first day and decided he needed to try to cheer her up.
"Don't worry Ruby. Its impressive that the fully fledged Hunters have heard about what you did." He said shooting her a smile to which she seemed to brighten up to.
After making sure Ruby had recovered from her social anxiety, Fenix took Flayr and Neo and started leading them to go behind the large statue. He did this so Neo could teleport without being seen by the group of friends. He wasn't sure why but something told him that Neo would prefer to do that away from the prying eyes of his friends and their family. Didn't want one of them noticing how she did it and recognizing her as the famous Huntress she was.
As soon as they rounded the large statue and were out of eyesight of the group, Neo moved so she was facing Fenix and Flayr. She brought her face so it was directly in front of Flayr's and let a small part of her disguise fall. Flayr giggled and started reaching for Neo as she saw Neo's natural eye color. The little girl seeming to recognize that Neo's mismatched eye color was similar to her own. Neo was surprised that the toddler had picked up on that as she reached forward to take Flayr from Fenix.
Once Neo had ahold of her, Flayr reached for Neo's face. Neo allowed her to as Flayr tried to guide the pinkette/brunette's face towards her own. After a bit of awkward fumbling on both party's ends, Flayr had it so their foreheads were touching and their eyes were staring into the other's.
"She's pretty smart for her age." Fenix said as he looked at the spectacle warmly. It was a cute sight to see Flayr liking somebody so much. Especially since he compared his daughter's shyness to that of Ruby's. It really meant a lot to him that his daughter seemed to almost accept Neo as her daddy's girlfriend. Of course she didn't fully understand everything going on about this but it was obvious she liked her. That was what Fenix was hoping for.
Neo smiled at the little girl's display of affection before breaking if off to hand her back to her dad.
"So there's been something on my mind lately that I feel like I need to let you know." Fenix said awkwardly as he took Flayr back from Neo. Neo tilted her head slightly and looked at him with those pink and brown eyes. He felt himself melting under that cute stare. To avoid falling under her spell, he snapped his attention back to what he was wanting to say.
"Listen, I just want you to know that the reason I like you so much isn't just because you have the same genetic mutation as my daughter. I love you for you. Not because you remind me so much of her." He finished hoping he hadn't messed that up. One misstep on something like this could lead to a misunderstanding which would probably lead to her hating him. He wasn't sure he could handle that.
To his surprise he watched as Neo seemed to break apart and shatter before him. A moment of worry was quickly dealt with as he remembered that was part of her semblance. Well part of one of her semblances. When the figure before him shattered he was greeted with the Neo he knew. Ice cream colored hair, eyes, and clothes toting a parasol. Flayr squealed in joy at the sight and that caused Neo to smile more.
She then walked up to peck him on the cheek. She was surprised when he turned at the last second so the kiss on the cheek turned into a loving kiss on the lips. She didn't delve in too far for the sake of the toddler in his arms. Although she really wanted to after he was so sweet with his little confession. She backed away after a few seconds of kissing and tucked her parasol under her arm.
'That was sweet but you didn't need to tell me that. I know, besides…" Her sign language trailed off as she then pointed to herself.
'I' (she said wordlessly as she pointed to herself)
'Love' her hands made the shape of a heart in front of her face.
'You' she pointed to him.
'Too' she held up two fingers.
Fenix beamed a smile at the first time she had said this in return. Before he could say anything else she winked and in a blink she was gone. He had noticed this was a favorite exit strategy of hers and thus he had gotten used to it by now. His attention was then caught by Flayr whipping her head back and forth as she frantically searched for Neo.
"Yeah you don't need to be playing peek-a-boo or hide and seek with her. She will just distort your perception of how to play the game." Fenix laughed to himself. His daughter smiled at her daddy's laughter and bounced up and down in his arms.
"Well you ready? Now that Neo's gone we have to deal with the Arcs." He grimaced as he had an inkling how fast he was going to be swarmed by them once he rejoined the group. He loved them like they were his own family but sometimes having seven sisters could be overwhelming for any boy.
"Ohhh Feeeeniiiiiiix!" He heard the unmistakable voice of Joan calling his name. Giving a defeated sigh as he resigned himself to his fate, he started walking to rejoin the group with his daughter happily babbling her toddler jabber.
(A/N): Welcome Flayr! I hope you guys were satisfied with Fenix's big secret reveal. Don't worry we will have at least one more (probably two) chapter(s) of this family weekend episode. We will be seeing a lot more interactions and Flayr isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
I know I may have stepped on some toes here straying from the cannon and having almost all the parents here. I personally liked my idea of having Li and An (Ren's parents) here and alive. Ghira and Kali (Blake's parents) showing up pushed up Blake's faunus reveal but I wanted to include them all in the story.
As for Tai, there will be a chapter completely dedicated to Fenix meeting with the two male members of team STRQ at some point. That will be an emotional roller coaster for our young fire wielder but I'm sure a lot of people would like to read.
As always if you liked this story/chapter please review, follow, and favorite! Hope you guys enjoyed the read and I'll see you again soon!