Oh yea, to a comment from last chapter: Uh, ok I already have plans for the Summer Maiden that kind of make it impossible for her to be found. I'll make it a later chapter.
Jaune Arc sat on the floor of his room, staring out the window, looking up towards the shattered moon. He had turned 16 a month ago. He swore as he looked around his room. Video games, comics, and other indulgences. Was this all his life turned out to be? He was 16. Dad began training when he was 9. He was 16 and he barely knew how to wield a sword. He was 16 and realistically, his life would've been to maintain the Arc vineyard. When he was 9, his father told him that he was too young to train. When he was 10, his father said that he wasn't strong enough. When he was 11, his father said that somebody had to take care of the vineyard. When he was 12, he said that it was too dangerous. When he was 13, he had said Jaune would regret being a huntsman. When he was 14, he said that he didn't know the first thing about being a huntsman. When he was 15, he said that Jaune was too old to begin training. When he was 16, Jaune had stopped asking, and Nicholas thought the lesson was finally imparted.
It hadn't.
Jaune felt a burning in his soul. If he didn't leave tonight, what would he say twenty years later? That dad had been right? That he'd be ok fading into nothingness? Simply going back to working with wine? It was something he enjoyed, but being a huntsman was more enticing than the finest glass of booze.
So, with Crocea Mors and its sheath and letters left behind, he left home. He left town. He left it all. He planned to head to Vale. He planned that he'd buy some forged transcripts and then get into Beacon. He'd fake it until he made it, or at least that was the plan. Instead, he'd find himself lost, his map and scroll no help to him. He'd find himself kidnapped by bandits. And he'd find himself rescued by a cynical nomad. And later, he'd find himself a huntsman, a proper hero, without the need for an academy.
And so, a year after he had left, he'd find himself back in Ansel. The Prodigal Son returned at last.
Ansel was a small town in the middle of other towns. It wasn't dangerous enough for Jaune to be comfortable to call it 'frontier' but it wasn't in Vale, to be sure. It had walls, it had utilities, and it had people. It was still a small town though, where everyone knew everyone else. So when he walked up to the wall and saw Dormian, one of his childhood friends, manning the wall with a rifle? He recognized him immediately.
"Jaune?" Dormian always had the odd habit of wearing shades everywhere. Shades he put down for a moment as he stared at the returning boy. Jaune wasn't a pariah or anything, but he was frequently the village fool. The boy other boys talked to in order to ingratiate themselves with his sisters more than anything else. He once tripped on his own shoe and accidentally started a fire. He once started a riot over a wargame. To say the least, Jaune Arc, at least to Ansel, was a scrawny blonde noodle. Jaune Arc was not an experienced, lithe, and confident hunter that walked like a swordsman. At least the goofy grin was the same.
"That's me! By the way, Dormian, did you get married to Eya?" Jaune pointed to the ring on Dormian's finger with a cheeky grin. "I told you she was a keeper." Dormian was a good friend of Jaune. He always indulged him in his talks of being a hero and always comforted him when he was denied training by his father. Dormian was actually one of the people Jaune said goodbye to when he left.
"Y-y-yea, actually. Uh, you know what? I'll just let you in, alright?" Dormian opened the gate for Jaune, who gave a grateful nod before he strolled into Ansel with a cheerful whistle.
While jaws dropped and people whispered about the return of Jaune Arc, who was seemingly a thousand times for confident than before, a different scene was going on in Jaune's head.
'Are people talking about me? Is something on my forehead? Did Dormian put a 'kick me' sign on me? Do I stink? I'm pretty sure I took a shower and washed my clothes before this. Ughhhh, did I mess up and go to the wrong Ansel? I mean, Dormian's here, but, well, I'm not the best with directions.' Jaune was currently having a self-conscious panic attack as he strolled through Ansel. The whistling was mostly a means to calm himself down, as was the strained strolling. He picked up a few things as he walked through Ansel before finally making it to the Arc Family home. It stood tall and proud, a two story countryside villa. Rather small, considering how many kids Nicholas and Juniper Arc had, but it was home.
While Jaune was slowly making his way to the door, a different scene was playing out inside. At the door, Nicholas Arc, patriarch of the Arc family, father of 8, and huntsman, stood at the door with his newly made sword at his side. Standing behind him were the members of his family that hadn't left home yet. His wife and six of his children. Saphron was at Argus, but at least she made sure to tell them where the hell she was going! She didn't just disappear one day without a trace!
"Dear, are you sure what Ozpin said was true?" Juniper Arc stood at the forefront of her children with a concerned look. "How long may this take? A search through all of Vale. What if-" Juniper couldn't finish that sentence. The thought was truly that appalling.
"If he's anything like me, he will be alive. He's that stubborn." Nicholas Arc had a plan in mind when he finally caught up to his son. First, he'd hug him. Then, he'd crush his spine and ask what the hell he was thinking.
It was a simple plan, really.
"Well, if you must leave, I'll give you one last kiss." And so, Nicholas and Juniper kissed for what they thought would be the last time for a while. Their daughters, of course, all averted their eyes and gagged in disgust. Well, all except Coral, who was long since immunized to this sort of thing. After a few of the girls began protesting, Juniper pulled back at last. "Be safe, dear."
"I always will." Nicholas turned to face the door, ready to leave at last.
"Be sure to bring him back. There's plenty of things I'd like his input on." Coral Arc gave a subdued smile, her little brother always had the most humorous of takes on her stories.
"And he still hasn't returned the salt shaker." In hindsight, Jaune would realize he left home with his home's salt shaker in his pocket by accident. At that point, he was already in the wild with his mentor, so he shrugged and kept it around for the sake of salt being valuable for wildland cooking. The missing salt shaker would also mean that one of Sable's recipes were ruined by the sudden disappearance of the salt shaker and the salt inside it.
"And we still haven't figured out how he could tell us apart!" Jade and Hazel were still focused on that old point of contention.
Lavender stayed silent and averted her eyes, deciding to stay silent.
"And I still don't know how to make that pudding." Amber was hit the hardest by Jaune's disappearance, being the closest to the only son of the Arc Family.
"I'll make sure to bring him back, just you wa-" Nicholas Arc reached for the doorknob and was interrupted by the door, instead, slamming into his face. Because he didn't expect it, he was knocked into the wall as one Jaune Arc walked through the door frame, with a grin on his face. Not a single word was spoken by Juniper or her daughters as Jaune whistled and put his shoes on the rack.
"Hey guys! You wouldn't believe how sore my feet are from walking. Anyways, I did some shopping recently. Did you know that Sakura Corp released Amity Fighters 6? I picked it up at the store. Apparently, the graphics went through another overhaul, but I hear the gameplay is great!" Again, not a single word was said between the daughters of Juniper Arc as they stared in disbelief at Jaune Arc. "Anyways, I got some of those nice cookies from Hashin's shop, the ones that are hard as bricks but become really soft in tea? That stuff! Yea, here ya go!" Jaune opened Amber's hand and put a small bundle of ridiculously hard cookies in them. "If you don't want to sleep at night, you better add some sugar and cream to that tea." He felt his stomach rumble and chuckled. "Wow, you know, I think I skipped breakfast. So, I'm just going to go make some."
Jaune walked off to the kitchen, where he'd cook some toast and a sunny side up egg before eating it in the living room in front of the TV. In that time, not a single word was said as the door slowly creaked back into place, showing a very confused Nicholas Arc.
"Well, found him." Coral was the first one to speak. That entire time, instead of shock, she was trying to hold in laughter from the sheer absurdity of the situation. That was the only thing she could get out, unless she wanted to burst in laughter. She wasn't the best at reading the room, but she could tell that laughing wasn't the best idea at the moment. Beyond the surface of amusement, Coral felt intense relief at the knowledge that her little brother was both alive and doing well, from how cheerily he spoke.
In the next few moments, the Arc family recovered from their shock and walked to the living room to see Jaune, eating a sunny side up egg on toast, watching cartoons on the TV, as if he just went out for groceries rather than disappear on all of them for about a year.
"JAUNE!" The next few moments were an uncoordinated avalanche on the returning boy. Her mother hugged her fully grown son. Lavender and Amber poked at him while his elder sisters sat besides him and began talking, inquiring as to where he's been all this time.
"Jeez, your hair's as messy as ever." Sable had a comb out and was doing a bit of work on his grown out blonde mop. In fact, she began work on braiding the blond hair on his back. "And there are bugs." She immediately stopped and sighed. "Jeez bro, you need to take a shower soon, you stink." Jaune pouted, he had already taken one! How dirty was he anyways?
"It's good to have you back." Coral smiled a she poked at his arm with a pencil. "I hope you have some stories?"
"You're back!" Amber was hugging onto his arm.
"What were you thinking, leaving home like that?" Mom was also hugging onto Jaune, though her arms were able to wrap around his entire body. And while Jaune had aura, his mother's hug had a grip that dwarfed Beringels.
"Hey guys." Jaune spoke weakly, partially choking from the attention. "It's good to be back. And now do you know why I said puberty sucks, Lavender?" The girl in question, pimples and acne being hidden under some makeup, pouted at the tactless comment from her older brother.
"Jeez, it really is you." Lavender rolled her eyes. She kept the most distance, though they all knew she missed him as well. "So, what have you been up to since leaving?"
"Yes, young man. Start pleading your case now." Juniper had stopped fussing over Jaune (and also commenting about how dirty he was) and now had a very stern (and incredibly scary) expression. Nicholas had also walked in, saw the look on his wife's face, and wordlessly shrugged as he stood by, ready to listen into what his son had been up to since leaving. He was incredibly mad over the practically suicidal action taken, but his anger paled in comparison to the fury that Juniper held, mostly as a way to find catharsis after spending so long in perpetual uncertainty over the fate of her beloved child. On top of that, Nicholas felt a pang of pride at the fact that Jaune, despite being, as far as Nicholas knew, an active Huntsman on the frontier, came out of it looking none too worse for wear. Yes, Nicholas could see plenty of scars on his arms, but Jaune went from a blonde noodle to having defined muscles and a sharp edge in their eyes. And even with that experience, he smiled just as he did when he was younger, with eyes still hopeful.
"Mooooom!" Jaune groaned as Juniper continued to fuss over him, gasping at the scars while also pinching at the defined, but lean muscles he had put on. "Well, I sort of just left in the middle of the night." And then, he sort of got into the story of what happened since he had left. It wasn't a particularly flattering tale, given how he almost bled out in the middle of the road almost five hours in, but it was his story. And even if there were some things he regretted (not doing even the barest lick of research), he still wouldn't change a thing.
Ok, he wouldn't have changed most things. He definitely would've done some more research and training. But aside from that, he wouldn't have changed a thing. While Jaune was telling the events of the past year or so, his sisters had sat down, enraptured by the adventures their brother had went on, while Juniper and Nicholas Arc silently listened on.
"-Anyways, now I'm back here." Jaune concluded his story after briefly mentioning being in Vytal, mostly because the events that transpired there were so insane that even he was weirded out by it.
"Because you learned the value of family and will be staying?" Juniper dared to hope. Hope which was crushed very swiftly.
"Yea, I remembered how much I missed you all. It's been so long." He paused, regret clear on his face. "But, I'm sorry, the frontier is my home as well. And I can't promise I will stay for long." Jaune didn't try and avoid the subject. He knew he was going to have to say it eventually. Like with his stories, his family all had different reactions. Nicholas massaged his temple. Juniper seemed melancholic, but accepting. Coral simply nodded, respecting her brother's decision. Sable sighed, knowing how stubborn her brother got at times. Jade and Hazel seemed disappointed by the news as well. Lavender was indifferent on the surface, while Amber seemed absolutely broken.
As in, she seemed to be tearing up and quietly excused herself to go to her room. Juniper, Nicholas, Coral, and Jaune gave her worrying looks. Coral in particular stared at Jaune, practically telepathically yelling at him to fix his own god damned mess. He nodded, it was long time coming, anyways.
"I'll be back."
"It's not fair." Those were the words she said as she reached for the door to her room, where upon she noticed Jaune was standing in the hall with her. Jaune sat down, knowing this conversation would take a long time. "Why do you have to leave?" Amber looked towards Jaune, hurt in her eyes. All her life, Jaune had been her idol. The one who could do anything. He was always there, no matter what. And then he left.
It hurt.
And now he was back! And not even a day in, he said that he was going to be leaving soon. It just wasn't fair. Why did he have to go?
"Because there's people out there who need my help." And why did he have to have such a good reason? Why did he have to look so determined? Why did he have to set his mind on this course? Why? Jaune had always been stubborn like that. And she couldn't say anything against his reasons, she knew of his dream of being a huntsman. The whole family knew. But like the rest of her family, they thought that it was a dream he'd give up on. She couldn't deal with the stress of him dying. It was even scarier when she learned that he wasn't even in one of those academies! That nobody knew where he was!
"But you could die! D-d-d-d-don't you know how sad I'l be if you died?" Amber was scared. It all came down to fear in the end. She was scared of this change being permanent. She told herself that the academies were safe and that he'd be fine. Then she told herself that he was too stubborn to kick it. But now? Hearing the things he's went through? It was scary. The thought of him being gone, forever, it scared her. It was as scary as the thought of Grimm attacking their home. As scary as the thought of dad dying. And dad always came home at least once a week! Jaune wasn't even going to give that reassurance! Jaune seemed to realize that as well and looked away, grimacing.
"Yes, I do." There really was no way of downplaying the danger he was putting himself in. Huntsmen who took one mission a week and who lived in the cities already had a life expectancy in the early 30s. Huntsmen who lived on the frontier in one place had it in the 20s. Huntsmen who traveled constantly? The rate of death was so high that the fact that Jaune was still living was a miracle. Though, in Darling's words, miracles are merely unforeseen consequences.
"Then why!? WHY!?" Amber was pounding her door. She was still a prepubescent child, so it didn't do much other than shake the door a bit. "Why do you want to risk your life like that? You have a home here!" She turned around to see Jaune, her invincible big brother, the one who always played with her and Lavender, smiling serenely as he cried. His armor and hoodie were gone, leaving him in a t-shirt that revealed just how many scars he had on his arms.
"Because not everyone has a home." Amber's heart stopped. Consciously, she knew that. Not every village was Ansel. Not every village had good walls or sufficient guards. Not every village was as fortunate to be passed up by the Grimm. Jaune continued. "I'm sorry for worrying you, squirt." He ruffled her hair, earning a pout from the definitely not short girl. Jaune was just too tall! Seriously, how did he grow to be six feet!? When could she grow that tall? "And I'm sorry for leaving without telling anyone."
"B-but you're not sorry for leaving?"
Jaune laughed, she knew him all too well. "Yea. Sorry for missing out on so much." There was silence in the hall for a moment. The rest of them had an idea that some of their family was listening in. "So, how's school?"
"Ugh! It's the worst! The math is so hard and the boys are so gross." Jaune chuckled as Amber took the out and began to complain about school. He'd sometimes miss those days, when he could gripe about it as well.
"Oh don't worry, we get worse when we're older."
"Yea!" There was silence for a moment. "We all missed you, you know."
"I know." While a part of him insisted that his family would be fine without him, realistically, he knew that they'd miss his presence. It was just like when Saphron left home. She was everyone's older sister, practically their second mother at times. And when she left? Well, it was a sobering experience. The reminder that things changed. And they all accepted it, mostly because she was going to college and still called frequently. Remembering those online calls the entire family had with her brought a smile to Jaune's face.
"Cause it seems like you don't. Seriously, bro, do you remember what your notebook said?"
"Ha, sorry, no I don't." Amber rolled her eyes and then recited it from memory.
"Dear Amber, my sweet little sister who could probably out-eat a lion." Jaune snickered at that, his memory was being jogged, but it was still foggy. "If you're reading this, I'm gone. I suppose that means you get all my stuff now, take it before Lavender gets it." Jaune would later learn that Lavender never even touched his room, even when told she could take his games. "I'm going to become a hero, just like I always told ya. I know it'll be dangerous, but what isn't? I'm probably going to be gone for a while, so make sure Lavender doesn't get too cranky when I'm gone. Otherwise, it'll be like I never left. Really."
"Oh yea. I wrote some letters for all you guys. I had something for Saphron, but I think I kept it in my room." He shrugged. "What about it?"
"You're stupid." Amber had her face in her hand, but then she laughed. It was a soft thing, cracking due to the strain and emotion. "I still can't believe you're here."
"Well I can and am. And I'll call more, this time, alright? I can't promise I'll always be available, but shoot me a text and I'll try and answer, alright?" Jaune pulled out his new scroll and handed her his scroll ID.
"You better!" The rest of their time together was Amber excitedly catching Jaune up on some of the things he missed.
"10%" Coral Arc was at her computer, her typing paused when Jaune was let into her room. It was a messily structured place, her bed the only thing with any semblance of order. The shelves had stacks upon stacks of books. Her desk was littered with paper and the cork board on her wall was messy with charts, pictures, and outlines. "Every year, 10% of hunters suffer from a workplace accident. Mostly Grimm. When you left, I threw myself into researching it. I should thank you for giving me the inspiration to learn something new."
"C-"
"Save it, little bro." Coral turned her chair around. Her blonde hair was tied back into a messy bun and blue eyes stared at blue eyes. "It's fine if you want to chase your dream. I just want you to know the dangers." She sighed. "The occupation with the second highest rate of death is frontier farming. There's about 251 deaths per 100,000 people in total? It goes down from there. But for Hunters, around 10,000 out of every 100,000 hunters die every year." She stared him in the eye. "While you were gone, whenever you were brought up, I was brought back to that statistic. 10,000 out of every 100,000. 10%. That's not a good number, not when your life is on the line, you know."
"Cora-"
"I said, save it." She forcefully adjusted her glasses before sighing. And with it all, she kept a level tone. She might've not been the most affectionate of the family, but there was no doubt she cared deeply about all of them. "What would've happened if you died?"
"..."
"Funnily enough, I have the answer to that, you handed us a copy of your will." She pulled out a piece of paper with his messy handwriting on it. "Deer Coral, I suppose this must be a novel experience for you. You never were one for grand gestures of emotion, so I guess I'll make this simple. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't help test read for you anymore. I'm sorry for taking so much of your time after school distracting you. I'm sorry I was a bother. I just want you to know that, in case I don't come back." Coral paused, staring at the paper before looking up. "Jaune."
He gulped. "Yes?"
"You're not just a test reader. While you bothering me after school was annoying, it was also pleasant mindless chatter. And when did I ever say you were a bother?" Coral sighed as he stammered for an answer. "Save it, Jaune. If you want to be a hero to help people, I cannot stop you. But if you are doing this to prove to yourself and your family that you aren't weak, get it out of your head. We'd prefer our wimpy little brother to a dead man." Her foot was tapping, a nervous tick.
...
"In other news, I've been publishing more novels. Have you seen them?" Coral allowed a rare smile to appear on her face as she thought in satisfaction about the fruits of her labor. "The Valean Writer's House contracted me to make a multi-book series for Booth #7." Oh yes, that personal labor of love of hers. From what Jaune remembered of the prompt, it was about a young girl's romance with someone she meets in a coffee shop booth. From there, they'd fall in love, fall on hard times, and go through trials and tribulations until they grow old, retiring together to run the coffee shop they met in. The story was essentially just Coral's depiction of a life of love."
"Really?" And from what he remembered, the first part, which was dedicated to the couple getting together, was long enough to be a novel on its own.
"Yes. Progress on the second book has been going steadily. On a completely unrelated note, have you had any torrid affairs recently?"
"Coral, I don't even have a girlfriend." Jaune sighed, she had a habit of asking a lot about this sort of stuff. "How would I cheat on someone who doesn't exist?"
"You make it so the other person thinks you're cheating. You know, to make it hotter." She somehow said with a completely straight face.
"I mean, I guess it would. But wouldn't that be having a relationship with someone under a false pretense? Didn't you tell me that counts as sexual assault?" Coral paused for a moment before shrugging.
"Fiction is not reality and the inclusion of it does not necessarily mean condoning it. On top of that, it's not really that big of a deal. I mean, as long as the other person isn't soley having the affair because they think the other person is married. But anyways, you told us the broad strokes of what happened on the road, why don't you tell me about the more interesting bits."
"Really? Do I have to?"
"Jaune, you've been gone for a year. Something juicy has to have happened." Jaune rolled his eyes before recounting some of the places he'd been to and the people he'd met on his journey through Vale.
"Could I have the salt shaker?" Sable stretched out her hand. Jaune found her in the kitchen, working on lunch. Mom, Dad, and the twins were tending to the vines while Sable had taken over cooking duty, at least for lunch. Suppers were when mom would come in and get to work. Before Jaune had left, he was essentially Sable's sous chef.
"Wha- oh." Jaune fumbled around in his pocket until he found the salt shaker in question. "Yea. Did you really not get a replaceme-"
"No. No I did not." She took the salt shaker and gave the chicken she was preparing a few shakes. "What have you been eating out in the wild anyways? High grade tree bark?" She chuckled a bit. "That reminds me, you kind of sucked at cooking at first, remember those days?" Oh did he remember. Back when he was first learning, he'd burnt his hands more times than he could count with a careless and innocent touch. If Sable had been less patient, she'd have just stopped trying to teach him after the fifth time he'd cut his hand open.
"Well, I came a long way because of a great teacher." Sable rolled her eyes.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Number 2." Oh yes, that old nickname. When Jaune was starting out in the kitchen, she told him the role of the sous chef and essentially dumbed it down to 'you're my number 2.' And it stuck.
"I think I'm number one in height." Jaune, by now, had grown just a few inches taller than his sister, who sarcastically scowled at Jaune for pointing out the fact. "Anyways, what are ya cooking?"
"Well, Ben recently gave us a chicken that he slaughtered. I'm going to cook it. Could you prepare the chicken while I make some stuffing?" Jaune nodded and relied on old instincts. They did something like this before and he knew the basics. On top of the salt she just put, Jaune got some oil and thoroughly lubricated the chicken with it. The crispy skin that would be made was worth the unhealthiness of the oil. Plus, at least for him, he could probably burn off all the calories gotten in a single day. Well a single day full of him fighting with the least amount of effort he could feasibly get away with. "So, you didn't answer the question, what have you been eating, baby brother?"
"Who are you, mom? I've been eating rations." He pulled out a stick of beef jerky and chewed on the rather salty treat.
"Rations." She spoke as if he had uttered the most vile curse.
"Well supermarkets aren't exactly easy to find in the wild. And I don't exactly find the prospect of carrying around groceries all day to be exciting." Sable gave him an unimpressed look, to which Jaune simply shrugged. "Foraging isn't as easy as you think. I almost suffocated cause I ate poison ivy once."
"Really?" She was probably wondering how in the world Jaune had survived at all.
"Really. Yea, makes it hard to breath and it feels like my throat is on fire!" Jaune grimly chuckled at his own dumb mistakes before moving on, accidentally unnerving Sable with the rather grotesque imagery and the blase attitude. "Anyways, I thought you were opening up your own diner?"
"I'm working on it, Number 2. I'm still a chef at the old diner, so it's not like I'm getting rusty. Plus, god knows that without you and me, mom would be the only one here to cook." Jaune had to agree with that. "And you spoiled me when it came to actually having a good helper at the kitchen."
"Oh?"
"Oh c'mon, 2, don't tell me you think you were just some superfluous lackey I keep around in here because you needed the experience." Jaune averted his eyes. "Jeez. Coral was right, you really are incapable of recognizing these sorts of things." Before he could ask, she began speaking. "I really only noticed when you wrote that letter. Dear Sable, looks like Number 1 will have her chance to shine alone at last!" She chuckled. "Sorry for bleeding all over your knives, maybe your recipes will taste better with less iron. Well, without me, I guess there'll be less reason to scream in the kitchens now. You'll do fine, your cooking was always great, even if your temper wasn't. And maybe you could teach Amber or Lavender how to cook? Well, who knows how that poorly it'd go. And, I know how you made it 'our special time' as an excuse to get me to stop asking to spend time with you and refine your skills, but I had fun. So thank you for dealing with me." She was facing away from him, but he could hear the sound of her voice waver. He could hear the sound of water dropping into the sink, despite the fact the faucet was off.
"Sable?" He reached out and touched her shoulder, making her turn around. She tried punching him, but there was no real force behind it. Fury tempered by sorrow and regret. She embraced him in a tight hug. One that didn't crush his ribs, but did make his heart stop.
"I'm sorry if I made you feel that way." Tears stained his t-shirt (his hoodie was being washed) as she dug into his chest. "I'm sorry for yelling, I'm working on my temper. I'm sorry." She muttered apologies like a mantra. It seemed like she was deeply afraid of her brother's dying impression of her to be a bitch with a firey temper.
"Sable, you know I think the world of you guys, right?" Jaune chuckled, patting her on the back and feeling a bit teary eyed himself as she let those lingering thoughts flow out of her. "I could never think poorly of any of you."
"I know that now, Number 2." Sable, once dried of tears, detached herself from her younger brother. Looking into his eyes, it almost felt like he was the elder in the room. Oh how the tables turned. Just two years ago, he was her lackey in the kitchen. She chuckled. "When did you get so mature?"
"Had to. Can't exactly be a kid on the road." She sighed, a part of her missed those years before, but those nostalgic desires were cut off by the reality that Jaune was here, right now. And why spend time wishing for better times when the times were here right now?
"Alright, let's get to work. If we waste any more time, by the time dinner is done, everyone will have starved." And with that, they got back to preparing lunch.
"Hey little bro." Jade greeted him with a smile in the barrel room. The twins were the ones who really took up the family business. While the process of picking through the grapes and other tasks that required many hands was often left to the locals, who were hired to do the job, things like taste testing was often left to the whims of the twins. While Saphron took an interest in programming and computer science (along with her hobby of dancing), Sable had a passion for cooking, Coral with her writing, the twins were the ones who really got into the making of wine. They were also notoriously hard to tell apart.
"Hey Jade." Jaune waved back to the twin, whose face became a pout. They were also very proud of their reputation as being indistinguishable. Only Juniper and Jaune Arc could consistently tell them apart. With mom, they accepted it because she was their mother and no matter how hard they tried, she could tell the difference. With Jaune, they had spent a good part of their childhood trying to figure out how the hell he managed to do what even the rest of the Arc sisters couldn't when they tried.
"Damnit, so a year away didn't dull your senses? Ughhhh! It looks like I owe ten lien to Hazel." Jade sighed. The twins have had their struggles with each other, like any siblings did, but like family, they worked through it and worked together well. That didn't mean they didn't have petty competitions like the bet they apparently made over whether or not he'd lose the ability to tell the two apart after a year.
"Knew it!" Came out a similar voice from within the room."
"And we changed everything we possibly could!" It was true. For a uniform, they wore classy jacketless suits. Complete with snazzy ties and nice shoes. They had their hairs cut to a bob cut, and just to make sure it wasn't something with the shading, they actually got their hairs dyed to matching shades of pink. Sure, it took a while of convincing both mom and dad that their decision to dye their hair to try and fool their brother who may or may not be coming back was not incredibly stupid, but they managed to convince her on the grounds that they were going to pay for it themselves.
Anyways, the wine fermentation facilities, as well as the fields themselves, were actually relatively small. Not enough to sustain a city, but more than enough to provide for Ansel. And while in most wineries, there'd have to be a full crew dedicated to stirring and taking care of the barrels and fermenting wines, it was just small enough so that those duties could be carried out by the twins. But, they made up for the lack of quantity in quality. Because they didn't have the demand of a city nor the will to really expand, they were able to forgo cost-cutting and mass-manufacturing methods to instead focus on the craft itself.
"You'll find out how I'm able to tell some day." Jaune rolled his eyes. Even though Jade and Hazel were older than him, it sometimes felt they were actually much younger. He supposed it was a mark of maturity, there was a time when they tried to be 'grown ups' and the idea fell flat on its face almost immediately. And he'd much rather them acting like this rather than trying to emulate whatever TV dramas they could find. TV dramas where the end result is often the total collapse of the main characters' lives.
"Whatever you say." Hazel came by to greet her little brother. "Anyways, what brings you by? Going to be drinking on the road? If so, I recommend this batch of grain alcohol, I call it Death Sentence." She pulled out a bottle of clear liquid. Oh yea, part of being in the business meant having an alcohol resistance. Even then, her up and downing grain alcohol straight from the bottle was a bit much.
"Hazel!"
"Oh lighten up, Jaune, it's water." Hazel pulled out a lighter and, indeed, the liquid from the bottle didn't catch fire. It would've been concerning that she had a lighter on her, but considering the fact that the wine shouldn't have had more than a 15% alcohol content, it was mostly fine.
"Oh yea! You actually did mention in your letter to us that, if you came back, you'd tell us how you could tell us apart."
"I did?"
"Yea!" At the reminder, Hazel seemed excited. She rummaged about in a cabinet before finding the letter in question. "Dear Jade and Hazel, the terrific and terrible two, sorry I couldn't stay and help with the family business. Though, I suppose I am continuing the family legacy, though dad would disagree. I know you kept on wondering how I was able to tell you two apart, it was really the only thing I had over you guys. Well, if I ever come back, I'll tell you, Arc's word."
"Huh, oh yea!" What felt like a lifetime of adventuring had a way of overriding memory. "Well, I guess my hands are tied." The twins seemed ready to do a preparatory drumroll if they weren't so excited. "Jade, you have a slight mark in your eye. Hazel, you have a scar in your eyebrow."
...
"Really!?" Jade seemed underwhelmed. She kind of was guessing that their little brother had some magical way of telling them apart, but nope, it was simply that.
"Yep."
"Hmmm, alright then." Hazel shrugged.
"Well, I guess we finally got a way to trick you!" Jade smiled in anticipation. Later that day, the twins would groan in frustration at the fact that, in his travels, Jaune had learned a different way of telling the twins apart. And that was by aura sensing. Even if it wasn't unlocked, Jaune could see a vast differences in their soul.
And there was no makeup or outfit that could mask that.
"Hey Lavender!" Jaune saw his other little sister in the living room, reading a school textbook.
"Hey, Jaune." Ah, she was in her 'indifference' phase. It wasn't like he didn't go through that as well. Though, that thin veneer of stoicism was broken in a week after relentless teasing, where upon he went back into his normal routine. But still, it was cute.
"Oh c'mon, can't muster up anything more for me?" Jaune teasingly poked at her cheek as her eye twitched. "Well, wanna play some games?" Yea, after Saphron and Coral began getting busier, Lavender had grown up and became insatiable when it came to trying to beat him at a variety of video games. Rhythm, shooters, fighting, strategy, and many, many other games were their battlegrounds. Very rarely did co-op go well, where their disagreements would boil into competitiveness and then they'd go into Amity Arena or something.
"Eh, gotta study."
"Lavender, isn't this week a break?" Jaune raised an eyebrow, she typically would've risen to the offer and grab a controller before trying to beat him in whatever game they chose. While Jaune won a good amount of games, Lavender proved just as a quick learner as her big bro as she actually managed to get an edge in fighting and rhythm games.
"Yea, still gotta study." Huh, well that's a thing.
"Ok then." He shrugged, he was going to play some stuff anyways. He pulled out the Gamestation 4 that dad had gotten for his birthday and pulled out Amity Arena 6, which he had gotten when he took a walk through Ansel. Huh, the graphics were actually pretty neat. He decided to do some online matchamking, where upon, despite all his admittedly decent skills at actual combat, he really fucking sucked at fighting games. Oh yea, that was the one thing that Lavender held over him, though he contested that and got pretty close, he still lost most of the time.
"You suck." Lavender looked up from her book and even closed it as she watched him get pummeled in online matchamking.
"Shut up, it's a new game."
"They really didn't change the mechanics." Lavender yawned before grabbing a controller. "You know what, screw it, game's on, big bro, let's see how bad you've gotten." Jaune shivered at the thought of Lavender actually being able to deal a decisive blow to his ego, or at least the part of his ego that cared about winning some arbitrary and petty competition with someone half his size.
What he didn't expect was for Lavender to be just as shit as him. Her timing was off, her inputs sloppy, and it seemed like she had forgotten about some elements entirely.
"Jeez, Lavender, I've got an excuse, what about you? It feels like you haven't played in a year."
"Haven't, not since you've left." Ah, ok. Wow. That made his heart stop and momentarily shatter. Of course Lavender was affected by him leaving, pretty much everyone in his family was. He really should've expected it, his teacher made it no secret how he was leaving his loving family behind for pretty selfish reasons. He still taught Jaune, said that "If I threw you at your mom and dad, you'd just screw off again and get yourself killed." Jaune wasn't sure if he was just being obtuse or if he actually thought that.
"Ah, sorry."
"Sorry?" She gripped onto her controller tightly and she actually chuckled a bit at the very poorly worded apology. "SORRY!? You disappear on me for a year and that's all you have to say!? SORRY!?" She was yelling now, in his face as well. She was always a bit of a temperamental one, and being unable to vent her worries over him for a year must've taken quite the effort. "I know everyone else has already gotten their turn to yell at you, but do you know what it felt like when you left?"
"..."
"It felt like I wasn't good enough." An oh so familiar woe slapped him in the face, challenging him and causing his heart to tear. He cursed his own name as she continued letting her pain flow out like a river. "I thought that maybe I was the problem, that I caused you to leave, that I could've done something. That any day now, you'd be pronounced dead, and it'd be my fault." Lavender was crying, her sorrows reaching a breaking point where she could hold it in no longer.
"Lavender, it's not your fault." It was all he could say, it was his fault, it really was. His family had been nothing but caring for him.
"Then why, Jaune? Why did you leave? I didn't even get a last letter! The last time we saw each other was when we were playing a game on your birthday! When you cried after I beat you in a game. And then, when I went to apologize, you were gone. I thought it was me, I did it, it was my fault."
Jaune didn't know if he could comfort his sister, but he did know he could provide answers. "Because I wanted to prove myself. At first, it was to mom and dad and all you guys, then it was to the world. But really? I just wanted to prove to myself that I was useful. That I could make a change. All my life, I had been the brother to Saphron Arc, or the brother to Sable, Coral, Jade, and Hazel. I didn't want to be Jaune Arc, the guy who runs his family's winery, I didn't want to be Jaune Arc, random nobody. I wanted to be Jaune Arc, a hero. I wanted to be something you could be proud of. I wanted to be someone you all could be proud of." Little did he know, Lavender's commotion attracted the attention of the rest of the Arc family, and they heard his convictions, his selfish dreams, they heard it all. Lavender was left in the dark as she closed her eyes, the streams of tears flowing from her eyes dwindling.
"I see." She sat down and took a few deep breaths to calm her whimpering. "I see.
"Lavender." She perked up, listening intently. "It's not your fault, it never was. It was none of your faults."
She sniffed and looked up to Jaune, before nodding. "Yea, got it."
"Good, now let's try to properly kick each others asses in this game." Jaune smiled and turned to the screen. Meanwhile, Lavender chuckled and wiped her tears.
"You're on."
"Hello Jaun- oh, this is new." Eventually, someone asked what was up with the deck of cards he kept on him at all times. And of course, he had no choice but to eventually open it to reveal the magical woman inside it. "Well, I suppose I should introduce myself. I come with many names, Ms. Fortune, Lord of Chance, Arbiter, but the one you'll find blessed and cursed in random ratio is Lady Luck. Though, I prefer to be called Darling. It has a nice edge to it." Darling, in a very busty form (Which Coral nodded in appreciation before getting to note taking) appeared before the Arc family. The sisters were amazed and were poking at the weird green skinned lady who just popped out of the deck of cards. Nicholas, after Juniper forced him to not draw his sword, simply watched in amazement at the blatant magic on display. Juniper was surprised that this was technically the first girl Jaune had ever brought home.
Though, she supposed this was more literal.
"Woah, Jaune's friends with a magic lady?" Amber poked at Darling's side, trying to see if she was an illusion. Alas for poor Jaune, she wasn't.
"Son, I know this isn't the type of thing I normally ask, but have you poisoned us all?" Nicholas seemed to be a bit surprised, to say the least. He was at least tangentially aware of the existence of magic, having found some things that couldn't just be explained by aura or semblances before, but this was on a whole other level. As in, 'sentient being hopping out of a deck of cards' other level.
"No, dad. I really won her in a game of rock paper scissors."
"Hello, my name's Juniper Arc, I hope my son is treating you well." Juniper decided to forgo apprehension and just began to treat Darling as if she was just some friend Jaune brought over. And to be fair, beyond the eccentricities Darling essentially was just that. Well, a friend or the pain in his ass he couldn't let go of, both fit her.
"Oh, of course! He's quite the entertaining fellow. But he's been leaving me unsatisfied recently." Darling said it in about the tone one would expect. Sable, Jade, Hazel, and Lavender gagged, Amber tilted her head, confused, and Coral simply nodded, unfazed. Juniper, for her part, didn't react.
"Oh is he?" She turned to Jaune. "And why is that?"
"M-m-mom!" Jaune was flustered, blushing madly at the implications Darling just made in front of his entire family. "It's not like that!"
"Oh? Why, we don't even sleep in the same bed." Darling was just screwing with him now. More specifically, she was either trying to kill him with embarrassment, or through his mother.
While Jaune was being chewed out/explaining who she was to him to his mother, Darling turned to the Arc sisters with an opportunistic eye.
"Now, children, who wants to play a game?"
"Sure, why not?" Lavender decided to step up, either unknowing or uncaring of Darling's sinister tone and sadistic smile.
Darling would lose two hundred lien that day.
"Alright old man, let's see how good I've gotten!" Jaune smiled as he rose Crocea Mors to Nicholas Arc, who sighed and pulled out his new blade, Ferro Mors. It was a simple blade, much like Crocea was. Grey blade, dull shine, and sharp to a fault. He wielded his swords with both hands, casting aside the shield-sheath of Crocea Mors in favor of putting more strength into his blade. Really, only Arthur Arc used the shield. Prometheus once joked about using it as a surfboard and Nicholas found shields to be useless against Grimm, though practical when against projectile weaponry, in which case it'd be better to not advertise the fact you had a shield.
"Well, I haven't gotten a good spar in some time." Nicholas Arc stretched his still vigorous muscles before assuming a stance. Jaune did the same, a bit looser, but still disciplined. While Nicholas kept both hands on his blade, Jaune had his shield up and facing his father and his blade in his other hand. No use hiding the shield from the man who knew it all too well.
The fight between the two was, to say the least, pretty dull. At least that's what Jaune's sisters thought. Both of them were, at heart, cautious fighters. They circled and probed and waited, though Jaune could afford to hide behind his shield. Though, like always, Jaune had a trick or two up his sleeve.
When he bashed away Ferro Mors with his shield, what Nicholas Arc barely had the time to catch was that in his shield hand was a gun, a flare gun. A flare gun that, due to the trajectory of Jaune's hand, was pointing straight at Nicholas Arc's chest.
A short whistle went off as the flare buried itself in his core, aura coming to the front to fend off the hot projectile. Jaune took the opportunity to get a few stabs in before Nicholas could grab the flare and throw it to the side, but by then Jaune had taken the offensive. Still cautious and using his shield, Jaune stabbed and slashed and kicked and punched, Nicholas slowly losing less and less ground.
In the end, Nicholas won. Really, the flare trick only worked once and after that, Jaune had nothing left to use. Sure, he had fairly solid sword and shieldplay, but he was fighting Nicholas Arc, someone who outclassed him in age, experience, and strength. It really wasn't that fair of a fight, Nicholas was simply testing him. In the end, his father was looking at him with distant, yet warm eyes.
Nicholas Arc was a stoic man, a living boulder as some would describe. Yet he was a loving father, someone who would take a job so deadly in order to provide for his family. He wasn't a hero, he never fashioned himself one, but he always felt like one to Jaune.
"You did good, son. Your footwork was impressive, as was the way you tried mixing up your aura projection as a mindgame." Nicholas let a smile slip onto his face. "I suppose I can't stop you from leaving?"
"Well, you tried. A lot." Jaune sheepishly chuckled and scratched the back of his head. Nicholas merely sighed.
"I suppose the better course of action would be to let you leave, but with enough knowledge as possible. So, let's get to work then." Nicholas Arc put Ferro Mors up once more, as did Jaune with Crocea Mors, and from there, they'd engage in some good old father-son bonding.
"Look at you, all grown up." Juniper Arc pinched Jaune's cheek, smiling bitter-sweetly as he struggled against the somehow iron grip on his face. She could see small nicks on his chin, on his cheeks, and even one or two on his neck. The bitterness overtook those sweet feelings for a moment, but only for a moment. "My baby, already leaving the nest. Who would've known you'd grow up this fast?"
"Mom, I'll visit regularly."
"Really?" She could only hope. Even with Nicholas only taking nearby and safe jobs, she couldn't help but fear he'd never come back. He'd regularly run into complications that would cause a day's delay, most of the time he'd call her to let her know, but in those times he couldn't, she could only hope he was safe.
"I promise, alright? Giving day, I'll try and return, alright? I'll call every week. Arc's word." And Juniper knew how seriously Jaune took his promises. Juniper chuckled, once more seeing a glimpse of the little boy who barely reached her thigh and tugged at her dress to ask the silliest of questions. But the reality was that Jaune wasn't a little kid anymore.
"You'll worry me, you know." Juniper sat down, her age and eight kids having taken quite the tole on her body. But in the end, when faced with the fruits of her labor, she could only smile.
"I do." Jaune sat down in front of her and sighed. Juniper Arc was nothing if not a caring mother. The best, if he did say so himself.
"And, Jaune?"
"Yes?"
"I'm so proud of you. And I believe you can be the hero you want to be." Juniper looked at Jaune with a smile that said she meant it, with eyes glistening with tears. "Never forget it, alright?"
Jaune didn't know what to feel. He felt good, at that statement. His heart had stopped. His eyes didn't blink. His leg stopped jittering. His fingers grew loose. Everything was put on pause when he heard those words. And then, his body worked overtime. When was the last time he heard those words? When had he last heard those words of unconditional support? Of actual faith in him?
"Hey, kid?" Raiden looked at Jaune from across the campfire, his old and raggedy features obscured by the shaking air. "You asked, so I'll tell you why I'm training you, some random bumpkin who couldn't tell left from right, it's cause I believe in you. Alright? I believe you'll live to my age and be better than me. You'll probably be some hero that's still somehow kicking. But me? I've lost my name, my career, my family. It's all gone." Raiden sighed. "So all I have left now, is you. And I believe in you, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how bloodied you are, I'll believe in you. So don't beat yourself up too much, alright?"
Oh yea, Jaune was having a really bad day that time. And Raiden had gotten sick of his whining and self-loathing that he actually answered the question 'why did you bother with me?' That was also quite the moment.
The warm feeling in his chest never went away.
"I won't." Jaune spoke, honoring the trust that was placed in him.
"Are you sure you have to leave?" Amber was really pulling out the puppy dog eyes, though Jaune had long since been inoculated to them. They'd stopped being effective when she tried using them when he was doing homework.
"Yea, I do." The family was seeing him off as he left the walls of Ansel once more. Mom, Dad, Coral, Sable, Jade, Hazel, Lavender, and Amber were all there to watch him go. He smiled as Amber pouted and sighed before going to join the rest of the family. To his back was the road that he kept on coming back to, and in front of him was the family he had left behind. It wasn't an easy choice, a part of him really did want to stay, but he knew that his place was in the eternal frontier. "Well, I guess I'll be going."
But as he left, he felt warmth behind him. A sudden crushing warmth crashed into him, his family embraced him for one last hug, practically suffocating him in their arms. In the center, Jaune simply smiled and hugged back.
"Be safe." Coral was the first to detach herself.
"Eat healthy, god knows you need the reminder." Sable was next.
"Come back one day, we'll get you then." Jade and Hazel unwrapped their arms.
"Bring back some games from Mistral when you go to visit Saphron, alright?" Then it was Lavender.
"Call us, please." Amber let go of her brother.
"Please, son, don't bite off more than you can chew." Nicholas left, leaving only Juniper hugging Jaune.
"Thank you for coming back." Juniper backed off, leaving the entire Arc family (sans Saphron) to watch as Jaune, teary eyed, bid them farewell as he set off on the road, promising to do everything they asked.
And once more, the Prodigal Son departed.
Welp, another chapter. So uh, yea I might not be the best when it comes to writing family scenes. Anyways, this chapter is mostly character drama and all. No fights. I think I've done enough fights in the past 5 chapters alone, honestly. Also Jaune's family owning a winery is something I stole from a few other fics. In particular, Arc for Every Season by vendetta.
