I mean, I can always be a Farmer III
Disclaimers I don't own RWBY, please support any to all official releases, also I've been reading through the comments of the previous chapters and I might as well own up and say yes, this story was influenced by Secondhand Lions.
It's been an eventful day, and I mean that because teams RWBY and PRN had an epic food fight in the cafeteria today and there punishment was to only help clean up the dishes in the back with the cooks.
"Jeez my hands are all pruny" whined Ruby, "Like seriously, it makes me wish I had robotic arms" said Yang, "Careful what you wish for" chimed Blake.
"It could've been worse, I mean we could've had to be part of the cleaning team" said Ren, "You're right, so let's take this as a learning experience and try to become better future huntsmen and huntresses" said Pyrrha.
As the group turned the corner, they all saw a large envelope posted on team PRN's room as the group made a rush for it.
"Guys, it's another letter from Jaune" said Nora excitingly as they all decided to take a quick shower and change into their normal streetwear before gathering back together in team RWBY's room to read up more on Jaune's origin.
"Weiss, would you do the honor in narrate for us this time" asked Ruby, "With pleasure" said Weiss as she began to clear her throat.
"Hey guys, how are you all doing, I can't believe I'm missing out on all of this excitement, but then again my life back home is also full of excitement as well, so I have no room to complain. Currently I'm overseeing the reconstruction of the towns newly built school house for young huntsmen and huntresses alike, along with the new fire department and police station. I've also read your guys plea about hearing more about my uncles, so let's pick up where I left off. Shortly after my mother left, I learned first hand how eccentric my uncles were…"
Many years Ago
It's been an hour since Jaune saw his mom drive off and currently he was sitting on the stoop of the porch of his uncles house, with Gareth finish mixing the lemonade into their Arnold Palmer, while Hackett was busy greasing up their guns.
"So question, can I know your guys wi-fi password so I can connect it to my phone and call my mom whenever" asked Jaune to his uncles.
"Heh, ain't got no wi-fi here" said Gareth, "No wi-fi!" exclaimed Jaune in surprise.
"Welcome to The Red Barn Town kid, ain't nobody here got wi-fi, maybe except down at the mayor/police station, but even then it's not openly accessible to the public" explained Hackett.
"Then how do you guys communicate with people and stream movies" asked Jaune, "We got a telephone inside, if you know your parents phone number, than you can call them through that" explained Gareth.
"And if you want to watch movies, be grateful we got a TV inside and a working VHS player and some tapes lying around" added Hackett as the last half confused Jaune.
"So what do you guys do for fun around here" asked Jaune as if on cue a man began to drive up to their property dressed in his best suit as he stepped out of his car.
"Gentlemen, am I glad to finally meet you 2" said the salesmen as he greet both Gareth and Hackett arm with the biggest salesmen smile he could pull.
"Now I hear that you 2 are a couple rich men trying to enjoy your lives out here, now what if I could you say you can still enjoy your leisureful life while still getting richer while investing in the business world of Dust and Gold" said the salesmen.
Hearing this got the older Arc men to react accordingly, and that was for Hackett to step his foot on a button just slightly under his chair, where a hidden gun rack appeared in between the 2 men from the floor.
Grabbing their scatterguns, neither man wasted time in firing buckshot towards the salesman, scaring him along with Jaune as he cowered behind one of the porches support beam and covered his ears.
"Can I at least leave you 2 some pamphlets" said the salesmen as he lifted said pamphlets only for Hackett to turn them into confetti, finally scaring the man out of sight out of mind.
"God damnit, Gareth I keep telling you to stop replacing my buckshot's with slugs" said Hackett as he began to cock out the remaining shells in his scattergun.
"Not my fault you're aims been severely lacking these last few years" said Gareth with a smirk, "Oh yeah tough guy, let's just see about that" said Hackett issued a formal challenge with his brother as both men holstered their scatterguns for repeaters instead.
"Jaune was it? To answer your question just about a minute ago, this is what my brother and I do for fun around here" said Gareth, "And our target practice. Want to give it a go" asked Hackett as he offered Jaune a single action army revolver, only for the young teen to shake his head no.
"Bah, wussy-wussy little pussy" said Hackett as he and Gareth spent the whole afternoon throughout the evening shooting at any traveling salesmen stupid enough to set foot on his property, using a variety of firearms within their collection.
Once the sun began to set, all 3 men came inside to eat dinner, which was catfish that they had farming in the pond.
"Eat it kid" said Gareth warmly as Jaune nodded to the man and began to cut a piece of his catfish and took the first bite, only to feel like he bit into something hard and made of metal, causing him to hack it out of his mouth.
"Well look at you kid, you won 'who can taste a bullet first' and on your first night no less" said Gareth, "Careful now, I'm pretty sure that's the fish I killed with that boom stick of mine, so be mindful and don't choke" said Hackett.
After enjoying a rather dangerous meal, Jaune was lead by his uncles towards a lone stairway on the second floor of the house, as it looked cramp, dirty, and covered with bits of cobwebs.
"You'll be sleeping up at the top of the tower son, that's your new room" said Gareth as Hackett handed him a large lamp.
"Hey listen to us, in spite of what your mama and papa might tell you, we truly know nothing about raising kids" said Hackett, "Right, so if you need something, learn to get it for yourself" added Gareth.
"Better yet, learn to live without it. Now before we send you off to bed, we want to make something clear, we're both 2 old men who've been meaning to die for a while now, so if we kill haul in our sleep tonight, you're on your own kid" said Hackett as Gareth nodded in agreement.
Wanting to distance himself from their awkward peptalk, Jaune made his way up the stairs and brushed pass the cobwebs and a very old mouse trap with the mouse still being there.
Once inside his room, he tried flicking on the light switch only to find out there's not a single light bulb in the bed room.
Now fully understanding why he was given a large battery powered torch, he began to set it on the nightstand next to his bed, before dumping his luggage onto his new bed only for a bed of dust to bounce up.
Opening the window, Jaune removed his suitcase, before grabbing the blanket and proceeded to dust the living hell out of it.
As he was dusting, he was pretty positive he heard something metallic fell and hit the ground, so once he was done, he proceeded to search whatever it was that fell out of his bed.
Eventually Jaune fell upon a key and began to pick it up, and pondered what this key unlocks, though he hadn't need to ponder to hard about it.
Upon lifting his head up, he realized he was now face to face with a large trunk, covered in traveling stickers, all of which each named destination was written in that native languages tongue.
Curious to know what treasure lies inside the trunk, Jaune was about to unlock the treasure chest, but stopped when he heard a loud bang outside.
Peaking his head outside his window, he saw that his uncle Hackett, dressed in his sleepwear, was exiting the house holding a toilet plunger in one hand and the lid of a garbage can in the other.
Rushing down the stairs, he began searching for his uncle and called his name a few times.
"Uncle Hackett!? Uncle Hackett, you out here!?" called out Jaune only for his uncle to brush past him with both household objects fitted like old weapons he's been used to.
"Uncle Hackett?" asked Jaune as he began to follow his uncle towards the pond where the dogs and pig had already been waiting for Hackett.
"He's sleepwalking" Jaune said to the animals even though it seemed rather redundant for a multitude of reasons.
Once his uncle was a foot deep in the pond, the man began to have a shadow duel with the demons of his past that haunt his dreams, not that Jaune would know at the time, but what he did know was his uncles movements holding those household junk.
He's seen it a hundred times from his father when he would train his sisters, and could now see why his parents were insistent in him coming here to train with his uncles, after all no one makes a better teacher than the master of your master.
Completely hypnotized by his uncles performance, Jaune would eventually find himself drifting to sleep out in the yard that night.
When morning finally broke, Jaune found himself circled by the dogs and pig before he got up and went back inside the house.
After changing into some new clothes, Jaune would join his uncles who were just done preparing breakfast as he made himself a spot on the dinning room table.
"Ugh" groaned Hackett, "Everything good Hackett" asked Gareth as his brother sat down.
"Since you ask, I'll tell you, I'm still waking up sore after buying that brand new mattress that guarantees you well nights rest and feeling rejuvenated in the morning" scoffed Hackett.
They'd all eat in silence for a minute or so, before Jaune chose to sprung the question on his uncles.
"So you guys trained my dad many years ago, what was that like" asked Jaune, "Hackett, you can tell this one" said Gareth with a mischievous smile.
"You're daddy was a man at a young age, and was eager to be turned into a huntsmen, so our niece, your grandmother kid, went and dumped his ass on our shoulders some odd 20-30 something years ago" explained Hackett.
"He was little older than you, the kid had the energy, but no direction, so that's when my brother and I opted that what better way to train him, then by showing him the last remnants of the old world that we and our father knew and grew up with" said Hackett.
"Is that what we're gonna do, see the world" asked Jaune eagerly as both his uncles laughed at him.
"I'll tell you what kid, you got moxie, and unfortunately it's not enough for any of use to start your training" said Gareth, "Then what do I need to start training" asked Jaune.
"Well, you already got the moxie, what you need now is some gumption, and some true grit sissy boy" said Hackett as Jaune looked at him confused over the random insult.
"Right so, let's focus on building that up" said Gareth, "And how do I get true grit" asked Jaune.
Time Skip
Standing outside with his uncles, Jaune was expecting a lot of things like building up cardio, maybe some weight lifting, possibly punching a punching bag.
What he didn't expect was to be outside holding a hoe in his hands and digging it into the dirt alongside his uncles.
"So how does this equate to my training" asked Jaune skeptically, "Well, I'm not gonna lie to you and say how this is secretly helping you train in the ways of sensei Miyagi" said Gareth.
"Like we tried to explain to your mama, we're both retired, so we're forced to do this menial task to stay fit. Speaking of what are we doing again" asked Hackett.
"I told you, we're trying to build a garden, that's what retired folks do now" said Gareth, "That's right" said Hackett with a nod.
Hearing this really deflated whatever little hype Jaune had in him as he continued to help dig up the earth for his uncles.
"So what are we planning to grow here" asked Jaune, "Vegetables mainly" said Gareth, "Vegetables!?" asked Hackett in confusion.
"That's right, we're planning to plant some vegetables out here, you know so we can eat healthy and live to a hundred" said Gareth, "You can live to a hundred, I'm ready to die" said Hackett in a huff as he tossed his shovel aside.
As he began to walk back towards the house, he ignored a familiar looking family car as they tried to kindly greet the man, but he ignored them.
Eventually the car made a stop in front of Gareth as he and Jaune ceased their activity for today and deal with todays confliction.
"Uncle Gareth so good to see you" said a man who was in between the age of Jaune's grandmother and father as he was accompanied by his wife 4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls, with the oldest daughter being close to Jaune's age.
"We saw Hackett on the way, but he was acting all grumpy" said the wife, "Yeah, but can you blame him" stated Gareth as he too made his way to the house, leaving these new relatives alone with Jaune.
"Who the hell are you" asked the man bluntly, "Jaune Arc" said Jaune timidly as this got the man to scrunch up his face.
"And who might be your parents kid" asked his wife, also rather bluntly, "My father is Christian Arc" explained Jaune.
"Damn it, he's my cousins Juliet's grandson" said the man spitefully as he began to lead his family into the house.
Jaune stayed behind for a minute as he began to gather up the gardening tools and lay them firmly back in their place, before going back into the house.
His timing couldn't be worse since, he could hear the adults talking about him.
"Look, it's obvious that my nephew and his wife dumped this brat because they can't afford to feed another mouth, now if you were to ask me, I say it be better if you dump this boy at the orphanage" said the wife.
"Whether we dump him at the orphanage or stuff him in a bag filled with bricks and dump him in the lake is our business and concern, kids our responsibility now" defended Hackett with a sneer.
"Uncle, I've told you for the longest time that you shouldn't be trusting cousin Juliet after she ran off with that Romeo fellow all those years ago, none of us could really trust her after what she did in disobeying the family" said the man.
"And that's another thing, we decide who we consider family or not, and frankly you're walking on a thin line nephew" said Gareth as he showed signs of animosity like his brother for once.
Realizing that Jaune had been here this whole time, the man and his wife glared angrily at Jaune.
"Hey! You little sneak-" said the man as he tried to grab Jaune, but Jaune acted quick and kick the man in the shin, before running out the door as fast as he can and out the property.
Later
Having no idea where he was going, so long as he was out of that house and away from those people, Jaune knew he'd feel a lot safer by then.
Having ran about 5 miles in this humid heat, Jaune was thankful to see that there was some establishment that could provide him shelter and possibly a phone.
Once there, Jaune saw that it was small plaza, with an abandoned burger joint, a pizza shop that wasn't even open yet a weapons shop, also not open, but also a weird establishment called 'Arturito's Beans and Chips', the only business that was open.
"Welcome to Arturito's Beans and Chips, only place where we serve Mexican food and various gadgets and gizmos for you techies" said a young man wearing a black apron over ratty and torn button up shirt as his hair had been spiked up by gel as he smiled at Jaune.
"Hi, any chance I can use your phone" asked Jaune, "Sure, which kingdom you'd like to receive or send an invoice too" asked the team member.
"No, I mean can I use your phone to make a personal phone call" asked Jaune, "Oh, sure go right ahead" said the team member as he handed him the phone to make calls like that.
Typing in his parents home number, Jaune waited eagerly for someone to pick up the phone.
"Come on, come on" said Jaune patiently before someone finally answered.
"Hello, you've reached the Arc residence, this is Saphron" said Jaune's older sister.
"Oh thank god, Saphron this is your brother Arc" said Jaune happily, "Hey little brother, how you doing" asked Saphron happily.
"I'm… honestly I'm not doing ok" said Jaune as he began to hang his head down low, "I'm sorry to hear that, anything I can do for you" asked Saphron.
"Yes, please just please send either mom or dad over to come pick me up, I… I want to go home" choked Jaune as tears began to well in his eyes.
"Jaune, I'm sorry, but I can do that" said Saphron, "But why!" demanded Jaune.
"Because mom and dad are gone for the weekend, on a camping trip with half of our sister" explained Saphron, "Can't you come and pick me up" asked Jaune.
"I actually left my car with my girlfriend" said Saphron as her heart began to break upon hearing her brothers sobs over the phone.
"Jaune, I'm sorry, I promise to tell mom and dad to call you back once they return home, just please hang in there ok" said Saphron as she got no answer from Jaune as he hung up the phone and began to cry for a bit.
After loitering around the establishment for a bit and just brooding over his emotions, Jaune was starting to doubt he could ever achieve his dreams in becoming a huntsmen, as he was certain he'd prove his uncles right by being a lily livered sissy boy from the suburban's.
However before he could dwell on those thoughts any longer, he was startled by the sound of someone laying a plate of 3 potato flautas with a side of bean and rice, right in front of him.
"I don't know what's got you down buddy, but like my abuela always tells me, nothing makes a man feel better than some good food" said the team member with a warm smile.
"But, I don't got money to pay for this" said Jaune, "It's on the house along with what drink you grab from the fridge over there" pointed out the team member as he left Jaune alone to enjoy his meal, which really did perk him up.
He'd stay around the establishment up until it was time for them to close up shop where Jaune would wait outside the establishment just sitting all by his lonesome.
Not sure what he should do, Jaune just figured he'd spend the night out here and try to make the long journey back home in the morning, if it wasn't for a car driving up near him.
"Thank god we found him" said Gareth in relief, "Yeah, now I can teach that little punk a lesson in respect" said the man who chased Jaune out the house earlier.
"You've done enough today damnit, now unless you want to walk your yellow chicken hide back to the farm house, shut up and stay inside, Hackett come with me" said Gareth.
"Hold on, I'm terrible with kids" said Hackett, "Don't argue with me" said Gareth bluntly as both men stepped out their nephews automobile and to check up on their current nephew who was in their care.
"Hey there kid" greeted Gareth, "Hey" said Jaune awkwardly.
"Mind if we sit down and join you" asked Gareth as Jaune nodded at his uncles to sit next to him.
"How you feeling son" asked Hackett, "I'm… ready to go home" answered Jaune honestly.
"Really? What about your dreams to be a great huntsmen" asked Gareth, "What's the point, you're both are right in me being a weenie and a sissy boy, I don't have the gumption or grit to become a huntsmen" said Jaune.
Hearing this took both the older Arc man aback, as they both had an obligation to not let their nephew give up on a dream that only a true Arc only ever has the ambition for.
"Listen son, there's no shame in a man running away, especially if it's for his own safety and well being" said Hackett.
"He's right, we can both admit to that based on some experience" said Gareth as they got their nephews full attention.
"Besides, what you did back at the house showed you got some grit in you, now if you want to earn some gumption, you just need to get in that car and come back to the house with us, and show that stupid nephew of ours that you've got the makings in becoming a real man, cause trust me you've already proven to be twice the man than he currently is" said Hackett.
Hearing these words of praise and encouragement really did a 180 on Jaune's view over how he saw his uncles.
"Besides you'd be doing us a favor in annoying the hell out of him, so let's make an arrangement, you can stay here as long as you like if it means it helps us send off the riff raft packing their bags back home early, deal" said Hackett.
"Deal" said Jaune as he got back in the car and returned back to that farm house with newfound resolve as he was ready to do whatever it is he can to make his relationship with uncles happen.
Present Time
"… That night I slept in peace, knowing that my uncles Gareth and Hackett had my back when it came to turning away some of our worst relatives, and trust me I didn't know I had a side of the family that were truly the worst. But I'm getting ahead of myself and there's still so much I want to tell you guys, especially what happened tomorrow and that very night after my uncles came to get me. Till next time guys, with love from your fearless leader and best friend, Jaune Arc" read Weiss.
"Ok, now he's just teasing us with cliffhangers on purpose now" said Yang angrily as this got the group of friends to laugh.
"Well I can see how his uncles mean a lot to him" commented Pyrrha, "Yeah, must be nice to know he has some relatives out there willing to care for him" said Ren as he felt Nora gently held his hand since they, and pretty much everyone within their circle of friends have issues with their parents in some way or another.
"Hey Yang, we should try to give uncle Qrow a call soon" said Ruby, "Yeah, we definitely should" said Yang.
"For now, we should probably start writing back to Jaune let him know how we're doing" said Blake, "Let me take over this time, so he can really understand why no one likes a cliff hanger" said Yang.
"Yang, you do realize he's probably got a lot of stories about him and his uncles and something tells me he can't tell us everything in just a few letters" said Weiss.
"Then we'll tell him to write it down in a damn book or something" said Yang, "Yang I've seen you how you treat and use books for, or do I have to show you the current state of our bedroom, and more specifically our bunk beds" said Blake.
"Doh" said Yang as she shot herself in the foot with that one, "Right, so let me write back to Jaune this time around" said Nora as she took out a pen and paper this time.
"Should we really let Nora be writing this letter" asked Weiss, "Believe or not, Nora has amazing calligraphy, just look" said Ren as team RWBY saw Nora at work.
"Point taken" side Weiss before the group began to discuss on some of their most recent exploits worth mentioning along with how they're feeling individually as they continued to stay in touch with their lovable blonde leader.
Ok guys here you go, chapter 3 up and running to your guys amusement, so I hope you guys like it so far, cause from the looks of it, you guys are, so please if you want to stay updated, please be sure to fave and follow, and leave me your guys thoughts in the review section and share with me what you think so far, cause I enjoy reading your guys thoughts as much as you guys enjoy reading my work.
I know I already said this, but I'll say it again, this story is inspired by the movie Secondhand Lions, however I do plan to twist it up a bit in a way to make the story interesting.
Speaking of movies, I should mention that every other adult arc mentioned from here one are all named after the characters from a specific movie trilogy, which is a very obscure one, but it's actually one of my favorites, which I won't say here, but I already named drop Jaune's grandmother and her husband, along with his father and mother, and that's as much of a hint I'll be giving out.
So until next time, be safe, be good people, and please support your local fandom communities.
This has been your Humble Narrator and official author Tobi Yaza. =3