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-Y.A.R.N.
"What do you mean you won't?" Cardin protested loudly in his father's study.
"Exactly what I said." Winchester senior said calmly, "I have been told by an... rather important acquaintance that I will not shut down a small time and rather popular cafe. Even if they didn't call in, it is frankly a waste of time and resources I have no interest in wasting on your problems."
"But they have horrible customer service and their staff is incompetent!" Cardin growled, trying to convince his father they should be shut down.
"If everything I have read about them is to be believed, then you are lying or expect far more than you should from a cafe." His father replied shortly, having researched the cafe in the brief time when he was called by Taiyang and before Cardin returned, "These criminal outbursts of yours are growing less and less easy to brush off Cardin. You are a Winchester and should present yourself accordingly, instead you throw petty tantrums and flaunt your wealth as though you have earned it."
Cardin scowled, "I am acting like a Winchester, everyone should know that they belong under us—"
"However you wish to dress it up, every action you've done in recent memory does nothing but hurt my image!" His father roared as he stood straight, hands slamming down on the table in his study, "We are not in the middle ages boy! What do I need to do for you to recognize that this violent and arrogant manner you've developed will not help you in life? Ever since your return from the DUP forces, you've been just short of a criminal and that is only through my intervention! You terrorize and intimidate, expecting no retaliation! This cannot continue! It's bad enough you've damaged your own reputation, but you are starting to affect mine! Do you think me blind? I know every act you have done, injuring random people and harassing women are just the beginning of the charges that can be leveled at you if you continue down this path!"
Cardin and his father stared each other down, and Cardin finally looked away, angry and embarrassed.
His father sat back down and sighed.
"I will hear no more of this. You will learn restraint Cardin, you are no longer a child and I refuse to cover your mistakes any longer. If you step out of line one more time, I will not step in." Winchester Senior rumbled, "Leave."
Cardin stomped away and barely resisted the urge to slam the door shut on his father's office. Well that was pointless and now he had to lay low and under the radar till his father cooled and he wormed back into his father's graces. He had done it before, but it was still a long period of time for him, months of keeping his head down and waiting wasn't his style. What was worse was the face that without his father's influence, his money deal was in danger of suffering a serious detriment.
Cardin walked away and pulled out his phone to dial a number, "My father refused to help me cover the cafe attack up; so I am pretty limited. What do you want me to do?"
The person was silent on the other line for a long moment, "That freak needs to be broken. The longer he lives, the more the stain on my life grows. It would be beneficial if you could push him to kill himself — you were right in that a murder would draw too much attention — the children abandoned their family for that monster. That is not a forgivable sin. I will not let them reconnect with him, he needs to die alone and afraid or be living in hell."
Cardin rolled his eyes, the man talked like he was a movie villain, "Bit hard to do that now. Without my father's support I can't damage the cafe he works at without drawing undue attention."
"I am paying you well for your services." The voice rumbled, " Figure out how to destroy everything he loves yourself. I will hear no more of your problems. They are not mine to solve."
The call disconnected.
He stood for a moment and clenched his fist, concrete sprouting from his skin forming into a jagged gauntlet because of his annoyance. Cardin hated the fact that he was being hindered from his lifestyle because of his father. Either way, he was paid a rather nice lump of money every month he targeted Jaune Arc. Cardin honestly didn't think much of the blonde when he arrived, just some timid and quiet guy minding his business; Cardin didn't waste his time on nobodies. It was only after a month or so he got a call and met with a grizzled older blond who offered him money to kill Jaune Arc.
Cardin was no fool, regardless of what people thought of him. He wasn't willing to outright murder and chance jail time just for money.
Instead, he settled on a smaller amount in regular installments and harassed Jaune to the point of torture because he knew that if someone felt like they didn't belong, they often turn to suicide. Cardin wasn't exactly bothered by suicide, it happened to many people who lost everything. Of course Jaune didn't exactly endear himself when he distracted Cardin from scoring with that chick. The problem seemed to be that the more he beat Jaune down, the more support the blond seemed to get out of absolutely nowhere.
He walked to his room and sat on his bed, not much credit to his "employer's" skill as a father but really?
What guy would want to kill his perfectly unremarkable son? What sort of thing had Jaune even done that could've have driven his parent to hate him to the point of wanting him to die painfully and alone?
Cardin sighed, well he needed a plan.
His income depended on it.
Light battered the walls and bathed the walls of the underground atrium as Jaune cut loose with his powers, letting out all his anger and rage. Light carved gouges in the wall and let flames rage and cast flickering shadows and light along Jaune's body. He drew them in and fired a wave of light, knocking over the boxes and cans he haphazardly erected into piles in some sort of a rudimentary set of targets. It was his usual set up and he would go through his various katas before working on his powers. After he got his supplies gathered, he would go to the area he mapped out and practice. He would hone his aim and how much he needed to throttle his powers, then he would work on intensity and focus.
Not that Jaune was trying for precision at the moment.
Waves of light rolled over his targets that shattered them into splinters and crumpled bits of metal. By the time he was done, Jaune was sweating and gasping for air but felt moderately better about his situation, any conduit who may have come here had probably turned an about face at the sheer damage Jaune had wrought. Jaune panted and drank in the light from the flames he lit before he started, letting his stamina and body recover. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back before he blew out a long and heavy breath. He let himself slowly relax and listened to the crackle and pop of the flames before rolling his shoulders and opening his eyes.
"That felt nice." Jaune Arc sighed.
With that comment, he walked over to the fires he had lit and pulled at the light, seeing as if he could snuff them out by pulling out all of the light. The fire's dimmed and pulsed softly before flaring back up the moment Jaune stopped pulling at the lights emitted by the fire. Jaune sighed — he could absorb the light, but his power was not really heat-or-flame-based (despite the natural light of fire was much 'tastier' than artificial lights). Mildly disappointed, he pulled out a bottle and drank some of the water inside before pouring water on the flames, dousing them. Soon the only thing emitting light came from the lights already installed in the walls of atrium that were still working.
It was a miracle Jaune hadn't shattered them in what could be considered a tantrum with his powers. Sometimes Jaune wondered if Cardin would be a better person who wouldn't attack anyone if Jaune showed off his conduit abilities and beat his ass to the curb. Maybe, maybe not. There really wasn't any way to have a definitive answer and the Jaune didn't regret the road he took, it helped him live the normal life he craved since his imprisonment. But he didn't want to muse over the way his life had turned out, it would only serve to bring back the memories he buried deep down.
But he was moderately more calm and made his way home.
Blake had tried Jaune's cell for seventh time and huffed in frustration and tossed her phone on the bed in her room before flopping gracelessly on her mattress. She had come to the cafe only to see her dad at the front desk when it was still time for Jaune's shift. Worried, she had asked her dad what was going on and while Ghira held valiantly against his daughter entreating and demands, when Blake threatened to set Kali on him, he caved and told how Cardin — 'The Bastard' Blake seethed in her head — Winchester came in and threatened his business for hiring Jaune. Seeing Jaune was in no state to work with him having something like a breakdown (much to Blake's apparent panic and dismay), he sent Jaune home to get some rest and relax however he needed to. Blake had been less than pleased that she couldn't talk to Jaune and even though she had been tired, she couldn't seem to settle into a comfortable position no matter how she positioned herself.
Blake had wanted to meet with Jaune at his house, but he had actually never mentioned his apartment's location to Blake, despite having to put somewhere as an address for his application. Ghira kept his application in a locked drawer in his office, and Blake never actually had much interest in actually finding out where Jaune lived despite them being good friends. Blake knew she could ask her father at any time to unlock it, but a part of her wanted to respect Jaune's privacy. She knew Jaune probably never had anyone over considering she was his first friend in the city by his own admission; she wanted to wait till he was comfortable enough to invite her over. The problem was that Blake couldn't afford to wait any longer.
Blake wasn't going to be able to ket Jaune deal with all his problems alone, Cardin was busting into every facet of her friend's life and trying to mess it up. To Blake's knowledge, there were plenty of quiet nerds that Cardin could've gone after and of all of them Cardin picked Jaune. Cardin didn't seem to focus his bullying as he would probably bully anyone and everyone, yet the only person he seemed interested in messing with was Jaune. She knew that Jaune had stopped him from intimidating a girl to date him, but his assault on Jaune's life began long before that. Why the hell did Cardin see Jaune as the only person that deserved that sort of treatment?
Her phone rang and she picked it up to see Jaune's face — her picture of him in her contacts — as he was calling her; she quickly swiped the answer icon, "Jaune?"
"Hey Blake." His voice replied somewhat tiredly, "You needed something? I saw the missed calls."
"I wanted to ask if you are okay. I know what Cardin threatened and you know my dad won't stand for that."
"What else can I do Blake?" Jaune sighed, "I love working at the cafe, but you know what Cardin can do with the support of his dad..."
Blake almost laughed but instead smirked, "Turns out, Cardin's dad put his foot down."
"What?" Jaune queried, sounding confused, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"My dad called Yang's. Taiyang Xiao Long may look like an average guy, but he's a pretty important figure in the city. My dad and his are good friends after me and Yang hung out as kids and they met to chaperone." Blake explained, "He put in a request to Winchester Senior, and he agreed that he had been letting Cardin run amok far too long. He's cutting Cardin's immunity off cold turkey, Cardin doesn't get a free pass anymore."
There was silence for a long moment, "Are you sure? I don't want to chance this —"
"Jaune." Blake almost groaned, "Stop moping and just accept the fact that you don't have to worry about us. Worry about yourself for a little bit."
She heard him laugh and she smiled softly to herself.
"Alright," He chuckled, "I'll show up tomorrow and get back to work. But you'd better be telling me the truth Blake, I don't anyone else to get hurt because of me; I can't handle that happening ever again."
Blake blinked at that line, that was probably the biggest hint to his history he had ever given her, "Jaune?"
He went silent for a long moment, "I'll see you later Blake."
He hung up and Blake sighed.
She knew Jaune's past was probably something he didn't like to think about, but what had happened that made him so closed off to it? She sometimes wondered why she felt the need to watch out or over Jaune, it wasn't like he wasn't a capable person. He would've definitely gotten the job at the cafe with or without her recommendation, it just gave him a bit more cash since he skipped the probation period that her father used to see if an employee was worth keeping. If anything though, Jaune excelled at the job, he loved chatting up the people who came to order and he always made sure to make every person who came feel special and like they were important.
Pyrrha was walking down the road when she bumped into someone who stumbled back with a small yelp of surprise.
She had been walking around the city, getting a lay for the land and seeing what the place was like; maybe even get a small snack as she had only just moved into her new apartment and her fridge was empty. New Empire City was pretty typical as far as cities went in her opinion, she had childishly and unfairly expected it to be a lot more subdued. She expected no one to be outside and dull grey monotony as the city was built from the ashes of The Beast's rampage to New Marais. But if anything, it was much the same as any other place. It actually wasn't all that much different than simply strolling around her hometown except a bit more urban. She wanted to see if there were good places to relax and maybe have a snack rather than lounge around in her empty and nearly depressing apartment.
Either way, none of those observations changed the fact that she had not being paying attention and ran into someone.
She steadied herself and looked up with frown at the blonde-haired man who just caught his footing. He fumbled with the phone as it slipped from his hand and frantically juggling it like a cartoon character from a tv show before managing to snag it with a sharp swipe. looked up and when he saw her face he flushed in pure embarrassment and ducked his head. He awkwardly ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair and averted his ocean blue eyes away.
'He not too shabby in the looks department.' The stray thought flitted through Pyrrha's mind.
"Sorry." He mumbled embarrassedly, looking up after running his hand through his hair to brush it away from his face, "I am so sorry! I just finished talking to a friend and wasn't paying attention!"
Pyrrha shook her head, hands up, "Oh no, you don't need to apologize! I should've been looking forwards rather than getting lost in my head. It was my fault."
"Well," The blonde replied, firing off a small smile, "Getting lost in thought isn't something to be sorry about, I often go there myself."
Pyrrha smirked, "Do you?"
"Yep." He chuckled, smile widening, "Horrible room service though, I never given the bell for lunch until I'm starving."
Pyrrha regarded the blonde as she giggled, he seemed like a nice person, earnest and friendly if a bit awkward.
"My name's Pyrrha Nikos." She said holding out a hand.
"I'm Jaune Arc." The now identified Jaune replied, taking her hand in a firm grips and shaking it once in greeting, "Nice to meet you Pyrrha."
"Likewise." She said kindly.
Pyrrha withdrew her hand and some of the awkwardness left over from running into him seeped back into the air now that the greetings were done. He was a stranger and she had no idea as to what they should do now. Back in her old town, she would offer her apologies and move on, but she was well known in her hometown for being polite and humble, if not a little distant. As much as it might make things quieter, she didn't want that sort fo reputation to be cemented to her. She wanted back what she once had
Now she was left with nothing to say or do in regards to this interaction and simply saying 'bye' seemed abrupt and rude.
"Are you looking for something?" Jaune offered, snapping Pyrrha out of her musings.
Gah, She needed to keep her mind on the present.
"Um... Yes, actually." She replied, "I was just hoping to see if I could find a nice place to sit down and unwind."
Jaune's eyes lit up.