I own nothing!
Mine!
Nestled under the great Mt. Glenn, there was a settlement. In two years, the village of Ansel was now a city comparable to the famous city of Argus, Mistral.
Snow fell upon the town's streets one winter evening as a pair of figures trudged through the snow and up towards the front door of a large manor covered in seasonal holiday lights and decorations.
The first was a large mountain of a man with black hair and beard. His golden eyes betrayed the excitement he felt. In his arms was an equally large sack full of gifts for the family he had befriended years ago.
The second was a beautiful woman, wife to the first. Her hair was just as dark, topped with catlike ears, and her yellow eyes shown with a bright light. In her arms was her two year old bundle of joy, a little girl with hair and eyes just like her parents as well as her own pair of feline ears.
This was the Royal Belladonna Family of the recently ratified Kingdom of Menagerie. And they have come to visit their oldest friends and allies.
The Arcs.
A powerful, ancient, and noble family.
And while their glory days have long since passed, their friendships and kindness had not.
The two families had a long history of friendship spanning back nearly two centuries since the first Faunus Revolution when their forefathers fought together against a great Grimm Firewyrm.
As the pair trudged through the knee deep snow, they heard the sounds of celebration, and the door opened to reveal the warm smiling face of a blonde man. The patriarch of the family hosting the event, Roland Arc.
"Ghira! Kali! Come on in, get the cold out!" He greeted the pair as they stepped inside and shrugged off the snow.
"We were starting to think you wouldn't make it!" The man continued as he took his guests' coats to hang on a rack by the door.
"We almost didn't. That blizzard hit us out of nowhere!" Ghira chuckled as he set the sack of toys down.
The two men clasped hands and pulled into a brotherly hug. That was when Roland saw the wriggling bundle of coats in Kali's arms.
"Ah, is that Little Blake I see?" He asked.
"Oncle Roly!" The child exclaimed.
As soon she was placed on the floor, the princess raced towards her "uncle's" open arms. Only to be picked up once more and brought to eye level.
"My, look how big you've grown!" Roland said with glee before setting the child back down.
"Aside from the storm, how was your trip coming here?" Roland asked, turning his attention back to Ghira and Kali.
"It was good," Kali answered.
"Glad to hear it. Well come on in, I'm sure the others are eager to see you two and meet Blake."
And so they were.
After exchanging pleasantries with Ciel, Roland's equally blonde wife with silver eyes, Blake was introduced to two young blonde girls both eight years of age.
"Awww... She's so cute!" Cooed the first girl with brown eyes, Brunhild.
"Those ears look so fluffy!" Gasped the second, Vert, who had green eyes.
Blake, for her part, shyly hid behind her father before squeaking out a small "Hi."
"I like your dress..." Tried Brunhild.
"It's very pretty!" Vert finished.
Blake stepped out from behind her father, showing her small lavender colored winter dress.
The adults all chuckled at the sight before Ciel spoke up.
"Give her some space girls..." She said before turning towards her husband and guests.
"I think she may like to meet someone closer to her age. Don't you think?" Ciel suggested.
"That's a good idea, and I don't think either of you have met Jaune either," Roland concurred.
"That's right! We were hoping to meet him," Kali admitted.
"Well, let's head upstairs. Saphron's watching him right now," Ciel said as she turned to lead the way.
Once the group had reached the next floor and went down the hall, they had arrived at a red door that a yellow 'J' on it.
Roland opened the door to reveal a bedroom with a twelve year old blonde girl sitting on the carpet floor with her back towards them. In front of her was a small multi-colored tower of building blocks.
"...So do you want to put this one here?"
In the background a children's holiday movie about a red nosed reindeer was playing.
Roland knocked on the door to alert the room's occupants of his presence.
The girl turned to see who was at the door.
"Hey, Dad! Is it time for dinner?" She asked before seeing who was with her father.
"Uncle Ghira! Aunt Kali!" She exclaimed in surprise before getting up to give the pair a hug.
"Hey Saphron! It's been a while! I heard you've started training under your father, how is it going?" Ghira greeted his honorary niece while hugging her back.
"It's going great! I've already discovered my Semblance!" Saphron proudly declared.
"Really? And what is it?" Kali asked curiously.
"I call it Appraisal! It allows me to sort of... 'Feel' whatever or whoever I'm looking at and get an idea of what I'm seeing and its potential!" She explained.
"That sounds very useful!" Ghira exclaimed.
"Saffy!" A small voice called the blonde girl's attention and she looked down to see Blake tugging at her sleeve.
"Hi Blake!" Saphron greeted while bending down to hug the toddler. "I didn't expect to see you this year!" She continued before turning to look back at the tower she had been building with her baby brother.
"Come on out, Jaune, come and say hi to some new friends..." She coaxed.
From behind the tower, a mop of blonde hair peeked out with a single blue eye being visible as half his face was still hidden by the tower of building blocks.
"Hi..." The child squeaked in a tiny voice barely above a whisper before ducking back to hide behind his toys.
"I'm so sorry about this. We forgot to tell you Jaune doesn't exactly like strangers," Ciel explained sadly from behind the group. "Other children and their parents tend to avoid him."
"Why in the world-? Blake!" Kali cut herself off when her daughter dashed out from between her parents.
Blake, who had only managed to catch a glimpse of Jaune, darted into the room and rounded by the blocks.
Jaune jumped from his hiding spot and was about to flee towards the hallway outside his room only to freeze in silent terror at the sight of Ghira and Kali standing just inside his room.
That was when they realized Jaune's apprehensiveness towards newcomers.
"Oh you poor thing..." Kali sympathetically whispered to herself.
Staring right back at her and Ghira was a pair of eyes.
One sapphire blue.
One shining silver.
Ghira felt his chest tighten as he thought of the difficulty the small boy must surely have faced with the other members of his kind.
To a faunus, there were no stigmas around heterochromia. But to many narrow minded humans on the other hand... It could be seen as an unfortunate (and unsightly) genetic deformity at best, or a sign of being cursed at worst.
Jaune clearly must have heard Blake behind him because he turned around to see the young faunus girl now standing stock still save for the odd twitch of her cat ears with her full, undivided attention focused solely on the blonde boy before her.
The air was thick with tension as the adults, plus Saphron, waited and watched the two toddlers for what felt like ages but in reality was scarcely three seconds before Blake made the first move.
Her pupils expanded, and she all but pounced upon the terrified boy in a tight embrace before Jaune even had a chance to call for his family to rescue him.
With his back towards the adults, they couldn't see the look on his face. But they could see Blake wearing the happiest smile either of her parents had ever seen as she began to loudly purr.
Then, it was Jaune's parents' turn to be surprised with the sight of Jaune slowly, but surely, relax and return the hug. Followed by raising a tentative hand up to gently stroke Blake's long black hair and cat ears. Which, in turn, resulted in even louder purrs coming from the Belladonna kitten.
A sigh of relief swept through all the onlookers as they watched the adorable scene unfold.
/-Line Break-\\\\\
"No! Mine!"
"Ouch! Fine! Keep him!"
It had been two hours since that fateful meeting between the two children.
Dinner had come and gone, and it was now time to put the children to bed. The twins had gone to their room without complaint. The sooner they went to sleep, the sooner they could get their presents.
The problem was with one spicy little princess, who had decided that absolutely nothing and no-one was going to take her Jaune away.
Even if it was bedtime.
Jaune, for his part, felt like he had had enough excitement for the night and seeing as naptime was his favorite part of the day, Jaune was more than happy to go to sleep.
So he did.
On the couch in the living room.
With a feisty Blake clinging to him possessively with flattened ears and slitted pupils all the while aggressively growling (not unlike a very defensive kitten) the word "Mine".
It would have been adorable had she not just bitten Saphron's hand for trying to pick her little brother up to carry him off to bed while her mother saw to the twins.
The two fathers were downstairs in Roland's 'mancave' discussing some sort of 'adult business'. Whatever that meant.
"Are you okay Saphron?" Kali asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My aura stopped it. Just surprised me more than anything," Saphron assured.
"I'm so sorry about this," the faunus queen apologized. "I've never seen Blake act like this before..."
Being at a loss, Kali looked at her daughter and the way she clung to the sleeping Jaune while quietly considering her options. There was only one solution she could come up with that always worked in the past when Blake was being stubborn.
"Saphron, dear?" She began.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"You wouldn't happen to know if your family has any tuna in the pantry, would you?"
/-Line Break-\\\\\
"So, how are things going in Menagerie these days?" Roland asked as he poured out some scotch for himself and brother-in-arms.
"Well, aside from that Jacqass in Atlas who took over the SDC and started disgracing his father-in-law's good name while trying to sneak his shady hands into Menagerie's newly discovered dust reserves, I'd say things are beginning to look up for us. We finally got our own CCT up and running in Kuo Kuana," Ghira answered.
"That's good," Roland said as he handed Ghira his glass before continuing. "It's hard to believe, Menagerie is finally a proper kingdom. And now with YOU as its king... Incredible..." He chuckled.
"I couldn't have done it without your support. I'm in your debt," admitted the faunus king.
"What is a debt between friends? Besides, I owed you one for saving my life that one time near Argus in Mistral," Roland replied with a grin as he sipped his drink.
"Those were the days..." Ghira reminisced before noticing an absence on the wall.
"What happened to Crocea Mors?" He asked.
Crocea Mors was the name of one of the three Arc family swords. The other two being Roland's Durandal, and Ciel's Joyeuse. Forged nearly four centuries ago from the lost art of Valean Gigasteel, these legendary blades were said to be nearly indestructible and were the bane of many Grimm and tyrants.
"I gave it to Saphron. It's hers now." Roland shrugged.
"I see. Well, if she's anything like you or her mother, that sword will take her far."
The two men sat down on a pair of leather recliners and carried their conversation as they caught up with each other. Eventually, their talk steered back to their children.
Jaune specifically.
"So, what's it like? Having a son I mean," Ghira asked.
"He's a lot easier than his sisters ever were. That's for certain. Really quiet. Never screams, never throws tantrums, as you've seen he's extremely shy... He's a rather sweet boy if I'm being honest. Very smart too. Figured out Ciel is pregnant again before anyone else..." Roland answered.
"Again? Don't you guys have any hobbies?" Ghira laughed.
"Making babies, apparently..." Roland joined.
As their laughter died down, Ghira adopted a more serious expression.
"Do you think Jaune'll be like..." He gestured towards his eyes. "... His mother?"
"I don't know..." Roland sighed. "But what I do know, is that he's much stronger than he appears. Easily as strong as a grown man, but as gentle as a lamb. Even if he doesn't end up like Ciel, he'll be a force to be reckoned with when push comes to shove."
"Really?" Ghira curiously asked.
"He was born with his aura already unlocked. I had to seal it for everyone's safety," the boy's father nodded while staring into his glass.
Ghira's eyes widened at that. Being born with one's aura already unlocked was the stuff of fairy tales. If word got out, if she found out...
Ghira shuddered.
"That's... I..."
"I have to regularly reapply the seal," the Arc patriarch continued tiredly. "And it's slowly growing harder and harder to do it. One day, I won't be able to do it. And I can't use an Aura suppressor. It'll draw too much attention. I just hope he'll be old enough to learn how to control it. That's part of the reason why I'm training Saphron as a Huntress, so that in the event either Ciel or I aren't nearby she can keep watch over him. Jaune adores her, and is already beginning to replicate the sword techniques I'm teaching her."
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"Ciel does, obviously. Ozpin too."
Ozpin. Somehow, Ghira wasn't surprised that the old wizard knew. It would have been damn near impossible to keep him out of the loop on this.
Placing a hand on Roland's shoulder, Ghira spoke again. "Whatever happens, you have my full support."
"Thank you, Ghira." Roland thanked.
After a moment Ghira considered how to bring up the reason of why he brought up this subject.
"Now is probably not the best time for this, but, Kali and I have been talking. And after seeing how Blake has taken to Jaune... We wanted to know if you and Ciel would be interested in giving us the honor of joining our families through Jaune and Blake..."
Roland's eyes snapped up to meet Ghira's with a soft smile.
"I'd be honored, but what if-?"
"If they don't wish to marry each other, that will be fine. They'll be able to opt out with no hard feelings," Ghira assured his old friend and mentor.
"I'll have to speak with Ciel about it, but I think she'll agree."
That was when they heard a knock on the door followed by Saphron's voice.
"Dad? Uncle Ghira? We have a... Situation..."
/-Line Break-\\\\\
"Did you try the tuna-trade?" Ghira asked his wife.
"Yes! But she refused! I don't know what to do!" Kali exclaimed.
"The... 'Tuna-trade'?" Roland asked, puzzled.
"Blake loves tuna. So whenever she decides to be a bit... Difficult... We offer her a can of tuna in exchange for good behavior," Ghira explained.
"She's never turned down tuna before!" Kali added.
"So what exactly is the problem here?" Ciel asked as she had just gotten back from putting the twins to sleep with a bedtime story.
"Blake won't let me put Jaune to bed." Saphron answered her mother.
"Why don't we just let Blake sleep in Jaune's room tonight?" Ciel deadpanned.
"Why hadn't we thought of that?"
And Chapter!!!!
While not as long as I intended, here is the first chapter (more of a prologue to be honest) to the story I've been wanting to do for years. And obviously, I've changed a few things from canon. (It's fanfiction! Duh!)
Like Jaune being heterochromatic with a silver eye plus being from Mt. Glenn before everything goes to shit.
And Menagerie is now a fully-fledged kingdom with the Belladonnas as the Royal family. The White Fang more or less exists as the Royal Guard.
As far as Durandal and Joyeuse are concerned, Durandal looks like the Drangleic Sword from Dark Souls 2 and Joyeuse looks like how it is usually depicted.
Joyeuse was given to Ciel when she married Roland after the loss of her old weapon.
Crocea Mors is the upgraded version we see in Volume 4.
Ciao!