The Sins of the Father

Act the First: A Beacon of Hope

Chapter One: The Light in the Distance

As soon as the airship touched down, I got up out of my seat and headed for the disembarking platform. The other passengers crowded around me as we passed through the terminal doors before spreading out as we headed either for connecting flights or, as in my case, towards the baggage claim.

I spotted Cinder there and waved at her, and she waved back. I walked over and we waited for the baggage carousel together.

"So Jaune," she continued the conversation.

"Yes?"

"What kind of Huntsman are you aspiring to be? A teacher? Diplomat, law enforcement specialist?"

"Something in Intelligence probably."

"Oh? You're going to graduate from Beacon, but end up working for Atlas anyways?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she began, "it's not like Vale is in the market for spies. Of the four Republics, they are the least militaristic. The only role you might serve as a logistical tactician might be one in national law enforcement."

"I mean, I'm not really sure what I want to do with my life at the moment, besides being a Guardian. That's just the field of study I want to focus on."

Cinder nodded, but I couldn't really get a sense of whether she approved of my reasoning or not - and even the tone of voice behind her next sentence left me feeling ambiguous. "There's nothing wrong with that. To be honest, my parents actually didn't want me to go into business."
"Really?"

"Yes, they wanted me to go into healthcare, as a nurse. Now, don't get me wrong, I admire nurses and what they do, it's just that there's… something about it that… oh, how do I say-"

"It's just not 'you'?"

She turned and smiled at me, and this time I felt as though she genuinely approved.

"Yes, that's it exactly."

The baggage carousel started, and we made small talk as we got our luggage - according to her, there was a club in town that she thought I should visit, if it was my kind of scene.

As we headed for the exit, she offered to share the cost of a cab.

"What, no chauffer?" I joked.

She chuckled. "Despite my pleas, it wasn't accepted as a business expense. Look, I know you're on your own, so we'll split seventy-thirty."

"I assume you're the seventy?"

"Of course. Even if I'm not that much older than you, it's an adult's responsibility to look out for those younger than myself. Besides, I'm funded and you're not."

"Well, I guess it's better than going alone. Sure."

We reached the exit and hailed a cab. It didn't take long - one look at her and the driver cut through a lane just to pick us up.

As we rode, we talked further.

"So Jaune, are you the first in your family to attend a Guardian school?"

"Technically, yes. My family has a long legacy of Guardian-style heroism, but I'll be the first to actually go to a Guardian academy."

"What did your ancestors do?"

"My father apprenticed himself to numerous powerful people after he finished his training with my grandmother. He figured that getting first-hand experience alongside a professional was more beneficial than spending four years at the academies."

"And your grandmother?"

"She learned everything she needed from her father. Not just fighting, at that - combat tactics and military strategy. Served her well during the battle of Cydonia."

"She fought in the Second Faunus Revolution?"

Jaune couldn't help but puff out his chest with some pride. "More than that - she helped Vale earn its decisive victory. My grandmother was the General of the Valean defensive militia, and founder of the Knights of Cydonia."

"Your grandmother was Carla Magna!? But that must mean... You're descended from Gaius Caesar?"

"Yep. He and my grandmother are my main inspirations for becoming a Guardian."

"Not your dad?"

"Well, my dad opted for a - different lifestyle."

"Do you have any other Guardian relatives? No siblings to look up to?"

"I'm actually the second eldest. My sister's an accountant."

"Second eldest? So you mostly have younger siblings?"

"Yeah, six younger sisters."

"Seven sisters? I can't imagine how you keep track of them all."

"Oh it's not that hard. They're all pretty unique in their own ways."

"Do you love them?"

"With all I've got. Part of the reason I'm going into Guardian training is so that I can support them. What about you? Any siblings?"

At that, Cinder looked down, and I got the feeling that I had made a misstep. "I never got along with my sisters. We were just too… different."

I shook my head and smiled, attempting to rescue her falling mood. "Well, sometimes that happens. You can't choose your relatives, after all."

She looked up. "Yes, indeed you can't."

The cab dropped her off in front of a hotel - Elysium, one of the hotels under the Xenios line, definitely upper class. Must be nice to work in business, I thought.

I had the cab bring me to the shopping district - it was only around 10 in the morning, and finding work was a better thing to prioritize than finding shelter. All told, thanks to Cinder covering most of the cost, it only cost me 20 Lien.

None of the shops on the main roads were hiring. Or, at least, none were going to bother wasting time interviewing some suspicious kid with luggage and no place to go. No one I talked to knew of any 'good but cheap' apartments, either.

Damn. Time to check the side streets. I had to start looking for underground connections anyway. With my record, getting into Beacon through the traditional route was going to be impossible - I'd have to find a forger.

I took a right into a side street and stood at the corner for a moment, gazing at the shops. I would hit all of them if necessary, of course, but there was no sense in getting hired somewhere terrible just because I was too lazy to prioritize and they offered me a position first.

There were a few shops here, mostly small cafes and merchandise shops, but one near the end of the street caught my eye. It appeared to be a bookstore - but I'd have to get closer to make sure. In any case, passing by all the other shops would help me finalize the order I'd prioritize them in.

I walked down the street - 27th Street, turning from Main Street - and approached the store. As I did, a strong smell of coffee wafted over from the cafes, and I caught a few slivers of conversations as I passed by. Most of them seemed pretty mundane, and one almost made me stop and listen-

"-o remember Neo, we're meeting Cinder toni-"

-so I got a good look at the duo as I passed. The man speaking had on a white hoodie - in the summer? definitely suspicious - and bright orange hair peeked out from under the hood. The girl - child? - in front of him had brown hair with pink and white highlights. She wore a simple t-shirt and jeans.

A guy in a hoodie and a child? Probably not involved with the Cinder I knew. It's not like there was only one person in the world with that name. I decided to let it go and kept walking towards the bookstore.

I stopped in front of the bookstore and made note of the name.

"Tukson's Book Trade, huh?"

According to the advertisement board placed outside, it was home to every book under the sun.

God I hoped so, I had to leave most of my library behind when I came here.

I walked in, and immediately took in the structure. Several chest-high bookshelves were arrayed on the left and right sides of the store to diagonally point at the entrance. There were also a few smaller bookshelves in front of the store windows. The walls themselves were lined with more bookshelves that reached the ceiling.

The next thing I saw was the owner. He was human, or at least could hide his Faunus traits well - never could tell with some people. He had on a t-shirt and dark khakis. Brown eyes and black hair - and sideburns. Not gonna lie, they looked so good on him that I wished I had sideburns before remembering that I was blonde.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade," he spoke as I entered, "home to every book under the sun."

"That's quite a claim," I joked. "You got 'Codex Atlantis'?"

Tukson chuckled. "Funny. No, unfortunately that book is still held within the private collection of the Schnee. But if you know about that, I guess you know what you're looking for?"

"Well, I'm looking for a few things actually."

"Shoot."

"First of all, a job-"

"We're not hiring."

"Damn. Alright, do you know anywhere I can rent a room for cheap?"

"Actually, if you don't mind not having AC-"

The phone in the back rang. Tukson jumped, and his expression read that he expected the call, but perhaps not so soon.

"Do you mind waiting?"

"No problem," I replied.

He walked back into what I presumed was the storage area, and I started to peruse the shelves for something I might want. Yeah, I didn't have much money to waste, but a good book isn't really a waste of money.

After a few minutes, he came out from the back, looking stressed.

"Hey kid- uh-"
"Jaune."

"Jaune. You said you were looking for a job? Have you worked in retail before?"

I turned away from the shelf I had been searching through and faced him fully. "Yes, and yes. Why?"

"Well, I've got an emergency situation, but I can't close the shop because I've got an important customer coming in with a reservation. So, if you agree to watch the shop until I get back, I'll pay you for your trouble and we can talk from there."

"Okay, sure. Who should I look out for?"

"A Faunus, he's got red hair and bull horns. He likes to wear a black suit, too. When he comes in, just tell him that I'm dealing with a family emergency, and when he asks for his reservation-" Tukson then paused and used a key to unlock a cabinet before withdrawing a package in a cardboard box.

"-give him this. It's prepaid for, so don't worry when he doesn't give you any Lien for it."

"Understood."

"You know how to work a register, scanner, all that?"

"Yep."
"Great, the code to access the register is five-three-nine-nine-eight. Don't forget it. Comics are at the front, novels on the left, and nonfiction on the right. Oh, and make sure to greet customers with the slogan."

"You got it, boss."

Tukson nodded as he headed towards the door, grabbing his keys from behind the counter. He looked back at me before he left and said, "Look Jaune, I'm taking a big risk by trusting you here. I do have security cameras, so no funny business."

"You have nothing to worry about. I came here to seriously look for a job, and I intend to take my work seriously."

He nodded, and then left.

…

"Alright," I muttered to myself as I moved my luggage into the back room, "time to figure out how this register works."

After a few minutes, I had fiddled with the register enough to get the basic gist of how it worked. Just in time, too - a customer had come in.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun!" I greeted automatically, not yet looking up from the register.

"You're not Tukson," the man replied evenly. As I glanced up at him, I recognized him as fitting the description Tukson had told me. Red hair, bull horns, black suit. I wasn't prepared to look into his eyes though - there was some sort of smoldering intensity there that I usually only saw in my dad, or the people that hired him. At the same time, he wasn't setting off any alarm bells in my head, so I figured he was just a really driven businessman.

"I'm a new hire," I replied. "Tukson had a family emergency, and I was in the market for a job, so we made a deal. Here's your package," I finished, holding the box out to the man.

He took it and smiled his thanks before turning to leave. Before he reached the door, he turned back, stared right into my eyes and asked, "You don't mind working under a Faunus?"

Well, I say 'stared' but it was more like he was glaring at me - like I was some sort of enemy, intruding somewhere I didn't belong. It frightened me. It took me a second to think about what he said - oh, so Tukson was a Faunus - and another to formulate a coherent response.

I swallowed, shrugged at him and said, "Well, work is work, a boss is a boss. Besides, it's not like he's a criminal or something."

The man narrowed his eyes. "Pretty simple, aren't you? Most humans wouldn't willingly work for a Faunus."

"Yeah, well, I'm not most humans. And like I said - work is work, and a boss is a boss. My father always told me that the most important thing with working for someone is whether you can trust them to pay you."

The man seemed somewhat taken aback by my answer before shaking his head and relaxing his expression. "Fair enough," the man chuckled. "Good luck with your new work, kid."

"Thank you, sir."

With that, the man left the store.

After he left, I muttered, "Shit, I haven't been that scared since the last time I talked to dad. I'd hate to be one of his employees."

It was around five when Tukson came back. Expecting another customer, I started to greet him with the slogan, only to stop when I recognized him.

"Welcome to Tukson's- oh, hey boss. The guy you talked about came and got his book a bit after you left."

He paused for a moment as if he was shocked, before shaking his head. "Right, I forgot I hired you… John, was it?"

"Jaune."

"Jaune. I- I appreciate the help. You got here around 11, right?"

"Yes."
"And it's about five now… minimum wage in Vale is 10 Lien, but I'll give you a bonus since you did this on short notice." He walked over and opened up the register before pulling some Lien out and counting them. "Here's… Seventy-two Lien."

As I reached out and took the money from him, he continued to speak.

"Look, the issue with my family is gonna demand some more time from me. And seeing as you seem to have come here with no plan, I don't think I'm wrong in assuming that you're desperate for a job and a place to stay?"

"I wouldn't say desperate, but yes."

"All right, in that case, I have a proposition for you."
"I'm all ears."
Tukson breathed for a moment as he decided the exact terms of his proposition.

"Okay, listen. I'll hire you for the time being, at eleven Lien per hour, paid in cash at the end of each day. You'll work from eight A.M. to seven P.M., and you'll get two hour-long unpaid breaks per day - one for lunch, and one for dinner, unless I have to deal with my business, in which case you'll watch the store for the whole day without breaks. In exchange for taking unpaid breaks, I'll set you up with a friend of mine who runs a small apartment complex. You'd be getting a small, cheap room with no AC, but it comes fully furnished and with free utilities for the first month. Also, I guarantee you'll still be getting it for much cheaper than what a normal resident would actually pay. How does that sound to you?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Well, I thought to myself. That's quite a hard bargain. It's practically everything I could ask for right now. A steady job, and a place to live, fully furnished? Just how desperate was Tukson's family crisis? Still, I'd be a fool to just take the first offer presented to me, so-

"If I'm gonna be forced to take unpaid breaks, then I won't accept unless you pay me fifteen Lien per hour."

"Twelve Lien."
"Fourteen."

"Twelve-fifty."

"Thirteen-fifty."

"Thirteen?"
"Can I get an employee discount?"

"Uh, sure, I guess."

"Then I accept. Thirteen Lien per hour with an employee discount of twenty-five-"

"Fifteen."

"-tch. Fifteen percent off." With that, I shook his hand.
Tukson blinked in surprise at my sudden acceptance of his proposal, apparently expecting me to bargain further. He recovered quickly though, and shook my hand back before beginning to explain some of the things I would have to do for my work at the bookstore.

We closed up the shop at six - an hour earlier than he usually would, Tukson told me - and he drove me and my luggage about a mile or two away, towards what even the most kind, patient, and understanding citizen would dub the 'rough' part of town.

Red bricks painted over with gang signs or the occasional tagger's work of art formed the exterior for most of the buildings that I could see, and the few exceptions were covered in enough graffiti that whatever they were made of, they still looked the same on the outside. Bums sat on the streets or hung around the entrances of convenience stores, and I would swear that I saw at least three drug exchanges, maybe four. Tukson had rolled down the window for a cigarette, and I could detect a faint smell of urine mixed in with the smoke.

We stopped at a red light, and I saw a group of Faunus congregated around a burning trash can greet each other before a few of them pulled out some pistols and moved down the street towards some unknown destination.

"Yeah, the neighborhood isn't great," Tukson said, glancing briefly at the sight before facing the road as the light turned green again. "But trust me, unless you've got a few thousand Lien hidden away somewhere, my friend runs the best apartment you could afford on your salary. Luckily, the apartment itself isn't in quite as bad an area as we're passing through. This is just the shortcut."

True to his words, the streets began to clean up a bit as we went along. Eventually, we approached a small dormitory-like apartment building - red brick like the others I had seen, but cleaner, with fresh grass and no scent of cigarettes or any drugs I could smell.

We got out of the car and stepped into the entrance, and I was taken aback by how excessively clean the interior was. The wooden floor was polished and waxed to a shine, the assortment of furniture had been dusted fairly recently, and there was a scent of lemon in the air, as though someone had just sprayed some aerosol right before we entered.

Scratch that - someone had just sprayed some aerosol, and it was us. I turned around and noted that above the doors was a motion detector, like the ones usually connected to automatic doors. However, instead of opening doors, it was connected to a mechanism that activated a Schnee brand spray.

"Welcome! Oh, hey Tukson! How've you been? Who's the kid?" a female voice called out to us. I turned away from the door and towards the voice. It was a Faunus - but I wasn't too surprised about that, given that Tukson had told me a little bit about her. She was a racoon-based Faunus, and she had some darkened skin around her hazel eyes to show for it. Also around her eyes were a pair of thinly framed glasses, with a rather strong prescription if the lenses' thickness was anything to go by. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties, and I will freely admit that she did look nice, with a business-casual shirt that seemed to barely fit her figure and and some seemingly sterling silver jewelry that complemented the look.

The look in her eyes told my instincts that she was reliable and honest, but after dealing with the bull Faunus earlier, I wasn't going to take any chances. I put my best smile on and walked up to her, holding my hand out.

"Hi, I'm Jaune Arc."

She smiled back but didn't take my hand. "Hi Jaune, I hope you don't mind if I don't shake your hand - if you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a germaphobe. Oh, and I'm Aurie by the way. How do you know Tukson?"

I let my hand drop as Tukson stepped up to the counter. "He's a new hire. I told you about the thing with my family, right?"

Aurie nodded. "Yeah, you did tell me about that. So I guess he's gonna cover for you at the shop? But what'd you bring him to me for?"

"Well, he's actually new in town. It's why he was looking for a job to begin with. And while he's set on that front," Tukson began.

"-he still needs a place to stay that's relatively close to the shop," Aurie finished with a sigh, shaking her head. She then looked past me and glared at Tukson. "And I'm guessing that Tukson told you about some room you could get for cheap, with no AC but free utilities for the first month or so?"

I turned back to Tukson, who was trying to act as though he wasn't paying attention to what Aurie was saying. Aurie then continued, which brought my attention back to her.

"Well, he's not wrong, but you still have to go through the regular room applicant interview and process. I presume you'll want to start now?"

I nodded. "Yes. The sooner this is done with, the sooner we can all go on with our lives."

Aurie guffawed at that. "Kid, you should save that kind of talk for when you have to do something you hate! This is an interview, not an interrogation! Lighten up a little!"

With that, she turned and motioned for me to follow her into an office. Tukson, seemingly familiar with this sequence of events, took a seat in one of the lobby couches.

I took a second to mentally calm myself before gathering my bags and following Aurie into the office.

Cinder had been waiting in the private room for fifteen minutes, and her contacts were late. Loud techno music blared outside as she sat in a rather comfortable chair, slowly sipping on a mixed drink with a little umbrella in it. On the table to her left was her purse, and she pulled her scroll out to check the time once more before putting it back in and contemplating her surroundings.

The club was honestly nice, and if she was a typical girl, she could see herself coming here for fun on a Friday after work, which said a lot for how well Junior ran the place as a cover. After another sip, she checked the time again and her ire grew, only to deflate a bit as the door was knocked on.

Cinder took a moment to breathe and calm herself. It would not do to go into a negotiation with heightened emotions. Once she was ready, she called, "Come in."

As the door opened, Roman Torchwick stepped into the room, looking exactly like his file indicated, though his clothes appeared a bit shabbier than he was known to dress - though, she thought, it made sense since he wasn't exactly trying to be seen. He wore a simple white hoodie and some blue jeans that looked as though they had been pulled from a thrift store.

He seemed calm. It made sense, Cinder thought - it's not like this would be his first time negotiating for business.

What Cinder didn't expect was for a small girl to step into the room after Roman and close the door behind him. She had brown hair with pink and white highlights on the right side of her head, and wore a simple shirt and jeans. A henchman? An apprentice? Apprentice seemed more likely, seeing as she carried an umbrella, similar to Roman's iconic cane.

In any case, her purpose for the meeting was immediately clear to Cinder given that the girl obviously thought that the illusion in front of Cinder was working. It was probably a scare tactic, Cinder assumed - something they did when they met new contacts to gauge their intelligence, or to gain a psychological advantage by revealing that they had been standing behind the contact the whole time - not to mention the psychological impact of revealing that at least one of the two contacts had such a powerful Semblance.

Unfortunately for them, Cinder was much more capable than they assumed.

As Roman visually appeared to take a seat and the girl walked to stand behind him, Cinder waited patiently before beginning.

"I'd appreciate it if you could drop the formality, Roman Torchwick. This trick might seem impressive to lesser criminals, but I'm not someone you can fool."

There was a shimmer in front of her as the girl she sensed got surprised by Cinder's immediate dismissal of her illusion. As Roman began to laugh, the illusion dropped, revealing that Roman and the girl had moved behind Cinder while the illusion was in place. Without further ado, the pair walked in front of Cinder and Roman made a point of taking a seat in the chair next to the one his illusory self had appeared to sit in.

"Well, I'll admit I'm impressed. Until you, only five other people have been able to notice one of Neo's illusions at first glance - and one of them was Ozpin himself! Now then, Cinder Fall, if we're dropping the formalities, then give me a reason to believe that working with you won't be a waste of my time."

Cinder gave him a moment to bask in his perceived superiority before simply replying, "Bohemia, Atlas. The orphanage on the edge of town."

Though Roman gave no indication of what the words meant, the 'Neo' girl clearly wasn't as experienced, as she raised her eyebrows in shock.

"And what does that little city have to do with me?" Roman asked with a thin smile.

"Don't try to play games with me, Roman. I told you to drop the formalities. Let me put things as simply as possible for you - working for me isn't a question of whether what you might gain is worth your time, it's a question of whether you're willing to lose what you value most."

Cinder had leaned forward in her chair as she said this, and she could sense that Neo was growing tense - it was obvious that the only reason the girl hadn't already attacked was that Roman hadn't ordered it.

After a moment, Roman sighed in defeat and dismissively waved at Neo. "Well. You've clearly got me at a disadvantage. Not bad, for a bastard daughter."

Cinder flinched at that. "You've done your homework," she replied evenly.

"It was the least I could do - and obviously not enough. I guess it's a lot easier to cover up your history when you have no identity to begin with." He stared at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Cinder. "What do you want from me?"

"I need your expertise. I have good sources, but when it comes to Vale, the best person to go to is you."

"Don't give me that. If you were able to find out about Bohemia, you clearly know a thing or two about intelligence gathering. What do you really want from me?"

"I told you. Your expertise. I have a- series of jobs I'd like to perform in Vale. You were once regarded as one of the Three Monarchs of Vale's criminal underworld, and the absolute best at strategically manipulating people into your plans, to the point that your epithet was literally 'the Chessmaster.' You have access to connections and resources I could make great use of in the jobs I have planned - and obviously, aside from leaving your hometown alone, you'd get a split of the profits of these jobs."

Roman shook his head and sighed angrily, annoyed by something Cinder had said. "I always did hate that nickname. It made it sound like what I did was easy for me, but beating a Grandmaster at chess would be ten times simpler than some of the things I pulled off." He breathed for a moment before asking, "How much of a split?"

"Twenty-five percent of the main goal, and whatever you find on anyone we have to deal with or any non-mission specific objects you want to take for yourself."

"...I know you've got me at a disadvantage, but you're really bad at this if you think that offering twenty-five percent is enough to get someone of my caliber to work for you - especially seeing as I'm gonna need some funds to begin with to start rebuilding my connections."

"I'm not taking seventy-five percent. I'm taking fifty."

"And who's taking the other twenty-five?"

"The White Fang."

"The White-" With that, Roman guffawed loudly, and continued laughing for a full minute at the sheer incredulousness of what Cinder had said. "You're crazy! The White Fang would never work with Humans like us!"

"They will, Roman. Whether they like it or not. Whether any of you like it or not, you will all work for me. The only real question, from where I'm sitting, is whether or not you'll get paid for your work."
With that, Cinder stood up and held out her hand. Roman stared at her for a moment and looked into her eyes.

Roman Torchwick was a very experienced criminal and conman. He had spent over twenty years amassing power in Vale's underworld, building connections with corrupt politicians and Huntsmen alike, and fooling them all with his schemes for wealth and power. In those twenty years, the skill he had best developed with all his socializing and manipulating had been the ability to read people. And it wasn't just body language - it was something more, an ability to sense deeper into a person's true nature, something that bordered on pure instinct, brought about by his years of observing people to discover their strengths, weaknesses, desires, ideologies, and more, and for him, his ability to sense these things began with looking into a person's eyes.

When Roman looked into Cinder's eyes, he was frightened by what he could feel.

With no hesitation whatsoever, Roman stood up and shook her hand.

"All right," he began, "but if you want me working with you on this, I'm gonna have to establish some basic rules of engagement and operation. If you can't abide by these, my intelligence won't be half as comprehensive as it could be."

Cinder smiled at him. "I'm sure that won't be a problem." She pulled her scroll out of her purse and checked the time before reaching in and pulling out another scroll, which she handed to Roman. "Here," she said, "it's been reprogrammed. It will only receive calls from me. Expect one between eleven and two tomorrow. Be prepared for it."

Roman nodded. "Understood. I'll have some basic questions about these jobs of yours prepared by then."

With that, Roman left the room, followed closely by Neo. Cinder remained for a while, slowly finishing her drink and contemplating the meeting that had just happened. As far as she could tell, it was a success - she knew that relying on fear to keep someone of Roman's caliber loyal to her wouldn't last for long, but it was a worthwhile foundation on which to inspire genuine loyalty to her cause.

As she kept drinking, her thoughts turned to Jaune Arc. The boy didn't seem like much to her - he couldn't sense any of the (admittedly, very slight) killing intent she had given off during their conversations or on the plane - or if he had, he hadn't shown it. However, he might be a descendant of one of the Great War's most infamous warriors, and if true, he likely had connections to Atlas Academy faculty or Atlas Council members. Even if he turned out useless in a fight, he could be a useful pawn to control.

But… yes, it would be a worthwhile thing to test.

Cinder got up from her seat and left the room. She took a moment to observe the club - was a bit surprised to note that Roman and Neo had apparently decided to sit at the bar and eat dinner here - and finally saw the man she was looking for, managing the proceedings from the edge of the dance floor.

She approached him, avoiding the various men who she noticed trying to approach her, and addressed him.

"Junior."

"Miss Fall. What else can I do for you this evening?"

"I'd like to hire some of your men for a job."

"What kind?"

"Nothing too elaborate. I just need them to mug someone for me."

"So what you really want is for them to test this guy, is that it? How many do you need?"

"Oh, four or five should work."

"Works for me. Who should they be looking for?"

Cinder turned away from Junior. "I'll send you the details tomorrow morning. Just pick a handful of men for the job."

She walked out of the club, confident that this would be a profitable use of her funds. As she exited, she gazed up at the night sky for a moment.

"Now… what kind of skill will you show me, Jaune Arc?"

I walked outside and breathed in the night air. The meeting was relatively short, but Aurie, for all her awkward germophobia and friendly behavior, was a true professional when it came down to business. She'd investigated the personal documents I'd brought from home, and asked very precise and piercing questions about my personal history.

I was able to avoid actually discussing what my dad did by explaining my stints in juvie as the result of an abusive household. Which was technically true. I also explained that I didn't want to end up like him, so I left in order to try and make my own life in Vale. Also technically true.
In the end, Aurie accepted my application for a room. She set me up in a cheap back room near a corner of the apartment complex. Normally it would have been outside my price range for a first floor room, but apparently there had been a significant mistake made in the construction of the apartment and the first floor rooms didn't get AC through the same ventilation system as the rest of the building. This made them cheaper, but harder to live in in the summer months, so rent was reduced for them in the summer.

Which was just beginning. Lucky me.

Tukson waved at me and stepped into his car as I waved back before turning down the sidewalk towards a nearby fast food chain. It wasn't healthy to be sure, but it was better than starving myself, and I'd be able to get proper groceries tomorrow. According to Aurie, there was a pretty good grocery store a block or two in the opposite direction from where I was walking.

As I walked the block or so to the Papa Pete's Pizza Place (a subsidiary of the Pumpkin Pete's brand), a bright light to my right caught my attention, and I stopped to look at it.

The bright light seemed to come and go at a set interval, rotating around from the top of a tall building that was situated on top of a cliff face.

Beacon Academy. Specifically, the Beacon Academy lighthouse. I thought they had discontinued its use with the development of the city, since it was, indeed, very bright. Though I guess they still use it from time to time, maybe just to let passing airships know to watch out for it. Or maybe it was a signal for airships on patrol around the city.

Or- it could be anything.
To me, it was a literal goalpost, shining bright in the distance. A sign of what I had to work towards.

"...soon. Soon, I'll be studying there. One way or another."

With that, I got a quick meal and then returned, showered, and slept on an empty bed.

Author's Note: Edited the Chapter

I edited a bit of the conversation between Jaune and Cinder, specifically the bit about Jaune's lineage. As a result of further planning and lore-building, I decided to alter Gaius from being Jaune's Great-Great-Grandfather to just his Great-Grandfather.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: REVIEW RESPONSES

Majin Othinus, JustunG, and Fingolf:

Thank you for reading! I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it progresses.

Dumbass0:

Thank you for reading! And perhaps more importantly, thank you for asking questions! I appreciate that- it show's you're paying attention!

Unfortunately I cannot answer most of your questions without revealing major character arcs or important events. However, I can tell you:

-This story will probably deviate quite a bit from the canon.

-Jaune's physical strength and combat prowess is nearly on par with the Special Forces soldiers of our world. However, in a world where common people can have superpowers, that doesn't amount to much. To draw a comparison, think of him like Kiritsugu Emiya in a world where almost every other capable combatant is a Servant.

-Whether or not there will be character relationships is as yet unplanned. I'll probably see how characters develop as I write them and see if a relationship forms from there.