"Junior. Give me the strongest wine you've got."
"What, did Jack under-perform from the whiskey?"
"Far from it. I'm sure he's screwing my sister completely cross-eyed right about now."
"That's what that noise was?" Junior blinked. "And here I though he found a new erogenous zone."
"Oh if only…!" the red-clad Malachite twin groaned as she took a pull. "On the one hand, I'm glad she won't have anything to bitch at me about tonight. On the other… Clam-jammed by my sister… My own sister!"
"Hey, you're the one who wanted them to get along."
"Yes, but not that well. Part of me is worried she might become addicted to his-"
The next moment she clammed up, cheeks as red as her dress.
"Thanks for that. I did not need to hear what you called his hardware."
This only cause Miltia to blush harder.
"I know Jack and I aren't 'together-together'; I insisted on that much myself…" Miltia said after a little wine calmed her nerves. "But is it wrong of me to be a little miffed that they got right into it?"
"Hey, you're the one who locked them in the closet for 'seven minutes of heaven'. And wasn't she always secretly into him?"
"Wha- How do you know about that?!"
"Who do you think your sister bitches to in a drunken stupor whenever you decide to go to ground?" the barman questioned. "Anyway, at least you didn't peek on them doing it. That would've made it super awkward~"
" . . . "
"Oh my god you did-"
"I-I thought they were finished and I could finally get my turn!" she cried with a red face.
"Geez… What I'd do with even half his animal magnetism…" Junior groaned rubbing his face.
"You'd probably stick your dick somewhere you shouldn't have and die horribly."
"Yeah, you're probably right," the bartender conceded. "But still, I think I'd want it to end that way. Just the way god intended~"
"You are a baaad influence…" Miltia sighed as the barkeep looked wistfully into the middle distance.
*NEW WORLD*
Meanwhile in the back room, two sets of clothes scattered about the floor…
"Didn't realize how good it'd feel to break that dry spell…!" Jack grunted as he rolled off his most-recent partner, the bruise marks on his lower back oddly satisfying. An invisible tension having left his now-naked body, the muscular Faunus let out a contented sigh, lacing his fingers behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling, before turning to the side. "So, was it good for you too?"
"Uh-huh…~" Melanie sighed breathily as she stared up at the ceiling, her own sense of contentment found alongside the pleasant ache in her lower abdomen. "I can see why Miltia can't quit you. You're quite… addictive~" she purred rolling onto her side.
"You give me too much credit," Jack replied as the long-haired girl laid her head on his chest, a sticky leg draped across his waist. "Still, I feel a little bad, making Miltia listen to all your cute mewling~"
"Sh-She was here?!" Melanie squeaked cutely.
"You mean you didn't notice when she peeked through the door~?" the Faunus asked with a wry grin.
"Oh GOD!" Melanie cried, burying her face into his scarred chest.
"Don't worry. I'll draw the line at a three-way with you two. I have some class."
"C-Could've fooled me…" Melanie blushed, still inwardly mortified at the faces and noises he'd drawn out of her. "Devil. You're the Devil."
"I'm a demon on the streets, a devil under the sheets~" Jack said waggling his eyebrows.
"I fear for the chastity of all those naïve schoolgirls…" she returned with a flat expression.
"Ah, well… If you ever want another 'after-school study session', you know who to call~" Jack grinned, pressing his lips to the crown of Melanie's head before rolling out of bed and ambling over to the ensuite. "Any chance you're interested in… 'fluid dynamics'?" he asked gesturing to the shower stall.
"That one felt really forced," Melanie deadpanned as she got to her feet, legs shaky like a newborn deer.
"Don't worry, I won't rock your world too hard in there~" he said helping her along.
"You'd better not," she returned, though couldn't help the grin on her face.
*NEW WORLD*
A while later…
"So, how does it feel to have the complete set?"
"Up yours, that's how."
"Yeeesh. Sorry for asking," Junior said raising his hands. "Still, at least one of those girls will be going home happy tonight. Even if the other did wind up clam-jamming herself~"
"A mistake I'm sure Miltia won't make a second time~" Jack grinned before his expression turned serious. "Before I leave… You got any idea why exactly Raven Branwen ditched her kid?"
"That never came up. In fact, as far as the world at large knows, she never had a kid. Or at least not one she actually cares about. From what I know, she has a little 'helper' around Blondie's age, but I don't think she has a 'secret family' or anything."
" . . . I'll probably keep that to myself… Don't wanna 'double down', you know?"
"And you're sure you want to tell Blondie what you found?"
"I have to tell her something," the Faunus said cracking his neck. "Though I definitely won't let her go for it."
"And what're you going to do if she insists?"
"Then I'll need to… dissuade her of that notion."
" . . . Well that isn't ominous at all."
*NEW WORLD*
Jack returned to Team RWBBY's "headquarters" and divulged that while his fact-finding mission had borne fruit…
*CRASH!*
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON'T TELL ME?!" Yang demanded as she loomed 'over' the messenger, her fist through the drywall beside Jack's head.
"Like I said before. You. Aren't. Ready," Jack said flatly from his place against the wall as he brushed plaster off his shoulder, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake pressed into a corner with worried expressions.
"Like hell I'm not! I'm one of the strongest in my class!"
"Which means nothing out in the real world!" Jack raged pressing his forehead to hers. "In the real world, there aren't barriers around your dust-ups stopping friendly fire from ventilating your friend with a new nostril. There aren't proctors around to stop fights from getting out of your hand once your Aura reaches some arbitrary threshold. The bandits and raiders on those shows you used to watch on Saturday mornings with Ruby? In real life, they won't exercise restraint because you're a kid. They will kill you if they get the chance; and that's if you're lucky. Because contrary to popular belief, there are worse fates than death."
"Jack…! This… This is my mother you're hiding from me," Yang pleaded, voice quivering.
"Your mom ain't going anywhere, and you definitely won't be if you get yourself killed like a city kid on a nature hike!"
"Weiss. I'm scared," Ruby quibbled.
"Me too, Ruby. Me too," Weiss nodded, she and Blake holding onto Ruby for emotional support.
"Watch it Jack, unless you want to go right now! And I think we both know how our last fight went!"
"And I think we don't, 'cause we've never fought."
"I! W-wait, really…?" the blond blinked as her anger evaporated. "But what about-"
"Glynda typecast the two of us as thuggish brawlers, so we never threw hands with a grade on the line, and you and I got on well-enough that we didn't throw hands outside of class like milady and I," Jack said jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.
" . . . Oh," Yang blinked before shaking her head and getting angry again. "Well then, we're just going to have to change that! I don't care how good you look without clothes on, I'll still beat your ass like a rented mule if you try to keep me away from my mother!"
"And isn't that a sentence," Blake hummed off to the side.
"Somehow, I imagine this will just end very badly for her…" Weiss hummed also.
"Huuuuuugh…" Ruby whimpered like a kicked puppy as the two soon-to-be-fighters refused to look the other in the eye.
*NEW WORLD*
Once Jack and Yang finished posturing at one another, the older of the two looking markedly calmer, the two departed for one of the vacant training grounds outside Beacon's walls. The lot of them departed at staggered times and through varying routes, so that this wouldn't become yet another spectacle.
That they hade the place completely to themselves, meant the ruse had worked.
"Alright, you two. I want a nice, clean fight," Ruby insisted.
"Screw that!"
"Not going to happen," Yang and Jack said in succession.
"Uuuuuugh…" Ruby groaned, the little rose wilting under the pressure.
She'd tried to keep things civil, she really did, but no matter the WMD-grade Puppy Dog Eyes she used on them, her sister absolutely insisted on fighting her adoptive brother for the information he got regarding her mother, and her adoptive brother absolutely refused to divulge what information he got regarding the aforementioned.
Taiyang was always tight-lipped on the issue, but that had never stopped Yang from kicking down every seedy bar door in Vale (after almost burning half the ones in Patch to the ground) and asking-
*Past*
*BAM!*
"What smells like brahmin shit around here!?"
"Get her!"
*Bang*Bang-Bang-Bang*Bang*Bang-Bang-Bang*Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang*Bang-Bang*Bang-Bang-Bang*Bang-Bang-Bang*Bang!*
"Ugh!"
*Thud*
"So, you seen this lady, Mr. Last Man Standing?"
*Past*
. . . Okay maybe she didn't use those exacting words. But the sentiment was still there!
"Yang… maybe Jack has a point about-"
"You finish that sentence and I tell Arthur about your 'Scarlet Rose-Asimov' doodles."
"Gurk…!"
"I'm sorry, your what doodles~?" Weiss giggled.
"That's so sweet and sappy I feel like flossing~" Blake tittered.
"Guyyyys!" Ruby whined with reddened cheeks, momentarily forgetting the tension around her.
"You remember the terms of our agreement?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. No timer, no HP Bar, last woman standing."
"Call me whatever you want, but when you lose, you're going to shelve all this until myself, and your family, say you're ready to make the trip. That means, me, your dad, and this uncle Ruby keeps gushing about."
"And when you lose, you and I are going on a little 'nature hike' to find my mother," Yang countered.
"We still have school," Blake chimed in.
"Alright, fine, we'll go on that nature hike after the Vytal Festival. Happy?" Yang huffed.
"That seems satisfactory," Weiss shrugged.
Cue Toriko OST – Zebra's Anger
"Don't make any plans for winter break," Jack shrugged as he rolled his neck and did some stretches, Yang unfurling her Ember Celica and getting into a stance as her eyes bled to crimson, once-kind eyes narrowing spitefully at her opponent.
" . . . Well? Are we going to stand around here all day, or are we gonna fight!?" Yang asked impatiently.
"I was giving you a chance to reconsider…" Jack said palming his face, "but you obviously… don't know anything about the way I fight…"
His eyes snapping open, the next moment an ill wave of malice washed through the clearing, the air seeming to grow heavy as Jack's crimson-colored eyer looked, no, leered at his opponent through splayed fingers.
Ruby, Weiss, and Blake had felt such malice once before to some extent. Not in such quantities, but they'd felt it before.
Yang on the other hand, this was the first time Jack's ire had been directed solely her way. And hard-headed as she was, in a battle of wills, she blinked first. One, single… blink…
It lasted a mere 0.1 seconds.
That was how long her eyes were shut.
But in the wild world of nature…
…that's enough time for a fatal mistake to occur.
That was all the time it took…
…for Yang to lose.
And it was that exact moment, when the curtain of Yang's eyelids fell, that Jack made his move.
*NEW WORLD*
Cue Red vs Blue: Revelation OST – Boss Battle
Feet kicking against the ground, Jack used Soru to bridge the gap between the two of them in an instant.
Locking his hand around the blond's neck and lifting her from her feet, the Faunus' explosive rush across the training field remained uninterrupted as he blitzed through the undergrowth. The blond's body smashing through every tree in her wake, scarcely a moment after clearing the underbrush Yang's face was planted into the wall surrounding Beacon.
Her head ringing like a gong as her eyes shot open, the next moment she felt like she'd faceplanted into a belt sander as Jack dragged her along the perimeter wall. Her Aura shooting up sparks as she and Jack left her team behind, every attempt to find purchase failed as she floundered about in his hold. After several long seconds of this, Jack let her go, the momentum of his charge sending her tumbling wildly across the cleared grounds. It was only after she got a grip on what direction was up again that she fired off her Ember Celica behind her, stopping her on a dime.
Once-lilac eyes glowing a baleful red, Yang's Semblance made itself known with a vengeance, her mane of blond hair transforming into a mantle of flames. Bringing a fingertip up to her right cheek, the blond hissed at the road rash that'd been able to creep in through her Aura, Yang flaming a fist into her palm as she eyed her opponent.
Her opponent, who simply loitered by the Beacon Academy wall, examining his nails before looking up as though he'd forgotten all about her, a "come here" of his hand taunting her.
"HRAAAAAAGH!"
Yang blitzing Jack with a furious howl as he lazily strode away from the scuff-marked wall, as she came in with a bunker buster of a right hook, the Faunus took hold of her extended wrist with his left hand and hooked his right arm under her extended pit. His butt slamming into her pelvis and acting as a fulcrum, the next moment he used her strength against her, throwing her overhead and slamming her back-first into the ground with a deafening *BOOM!*, kicking up a mushroom cloud of dirt, grass, and fire.
"Why… did I just explode…?" Yang gasped after the wind was knocked out of her.
The next moment Jack straddled her, not a hint of tenderness in sight as he rained down a barrage of deceptively-powerful blows. The blond shielding her face as her opponent hammered away aiming for a KO, her Ember Celica took the brunt of the sustained attack for several long moments. Metal groaning and T-Cogs failing, Team RWBBY broke through the foliage in time to see the armor of Yang's gauntlets finally fail her, the breaching of the ammo belt causing a cascading explosion that hit the blond like a concentrated mortar shelling.
"CELI, NO!" Ruby cried as Yang's weapons tore themselves apart, Jack having already leapt away. After several gut-wrenching seconds hit the red-hooded girl, Yang rolled out of the settling fireball, snuffing out the tongues of flame licking at her clothes, her forearms sporting freshly burned cuffs, her Ember Celica in shattered ruins behind her like the remnants of a fallen plate.
Without her Aura, her hands would've been blown clean off.
"So, you've lost your primary weapon and you're injured," Jack summarized like a teacher giving a lecture as he dusted himself off. "You got a plan of attack?"
"I have a plan…" Yang growled, the flames around her hair intensifying as she lunged at Jack with murderous intent, Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets or no Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets. "Attack."
The blond running towards her opponent before she began to bob and weave, when she got in arm's reach she threw a volley of punches, her opponent deflecting them with the ease of a seasoned fighter before clocking her with an Aura-powered elbow, her cheek sporting a cut as her head was whipped to the side before Yang dove back at him, only for her opponent to judo throw her into the ground once more, the blond bouncing off the ground and the wind leaving her lungs.
*NEW WORLD*
"Holy crap! Yang's getting her shit pushed in!"
"Nora, when the heck did you get here?!" Ruby gasped.
"Is that… Did you bring popcorn?!" Weiss asked incredulously.
"Ya-huh," the hammer-wielder replied. "I'm not sharing," she added defensively.
"How on Remnant did this come about?" Pyrrha asked worriedly as Yang and Jack fought.
Of course, calling it a "fight" at this point would be generous. As it stood, all the blond was really doing was "flailing angrily" in his general direction, the flying of her fists growing sloppy with her heightening ire as the Faunus either dodged with minimum effort, slapped them aside with contemptuous ease, or outright clocked her in the face when an opening presented itself; which was frequently. Every attempt at fancy footwork to trip him up was completely and utterly foiled as well, her opponent countering her kicks without even having to look, a brutal snap-kick to her ankle causing her to fall to a knee, only for a rising knee strike of the Faunus' own to send her rolling across the ground.
And even as Yang's Semblance continued to burn brighter, none of her stockpiled power did her a bit of good as her opponent continued to evade her.
"Jack has info on where Yang's absentee mom went, and when he refused to share it with her…" Blake said before gesturing to their quote/unquote "fight" as if in conclusion to the tale.
"I… I don't think I've ever seen Jack fight like this," Jaune said drinking it all in.
"Indeed. There's a grace and fluidity in his movements I haven't seen before," Weiss hummed contemplatively, a hand on her chin. "It's almost as though there's no more tension in his body."
'Well, his sister did leave the ICU, so there's that,' Blake thought to herself, Ruby and Weiss coming to similar conclusions.
"Oh, you mean cause he ain't pent-up and horny anymore?" Nora questioned boldly, Weiss spit-taking off to the side.
"W-W-What?! But he was only out a couple hours!" Weiss sputtered.
"Well, Jack does have numerous lady-admirers…" Pyrrha admitted awkwardly as she scratched her cheek.
"That or he rented a room and choked the chicken once he had some free time," Nora shrugged.
"I…! I…! I can't even!" the heiress said throwing up her hands.
" . . . I don't think Yang's going to be finding out where her mom is," Jaune hummed idly as the blond brawler finally ran out of steam.
Meanwhile back with the fight…
"Yang, come on, this is just pathetic…" Jack sighed morosely as Yang panted with her hands on her knees, her Semblance blazing like a miniature sun for all the good it did her.
"I'm… not… done… yet…!" Yang panted as her vision swam, her Aura taking its worst beating since coming to Beacon. "I… I can… I can do this all day…!"
"Everybody says that. Doesn't mean they can follow through," Jack sighed as he palmed his face.
"Just… Just you wait…!" Jack said filling her lungs with air before sending half her stockpiled power down into her feet, the ground exploding beneath her as she shot at him like an ICBM. Her hands going for his throat, the blond flew through him causing her eyes to widen. 'A-An afterimage?'
The next moment she felt hands on her collar and belt before her feet left the ground, her arms and legs flailing impotently as Jack held her over his head, completely immune to reprisal.
"Hey Yang… Did I make you… fall for me?"
Before the blond could comment on what she thought was an epic quip, the Faunus suddenly brought her down atop his knee back-first. The bulk of Team RWBBY and JNPR letting out cries of shock as the blond's Aura shattered away from her body entirely, the flames of her [Burn] guttering out with a whimper as she tumbled away. A moment later, an agonized wail fled Yang's lips as pain exploded through the crown of her head to the tips of her toes, her Aura the only thing that'd kept her spine as-intact as it was now.
"AAAAUUUUUUUUUGH!"
"Well now, I don't see any fat ladies around here, but maybe Weiss will give us a pretty number?" Jack inquired aloud with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I… I can't…" Yang choked out as she got her limbs under her, pain rolling across her spine like acid as she forced herself back up. "I can't… lose here… Not when I'm… so close…!"
"So close, yet so far," Jack hummed as he circled the blond, giving her all the time in the world.
A luxury she would not be afforded in the real world, but he felt the need to drive the nail down.
"I might not have any Aura… or any ammo…" she said shakily getting to her feet, "but I've still got two fists… and two feet… to make you eat your teeth with…!"
"Well then by all means~" Jack hummed as he came to a stop, that same ire-raising 'come here' wave of his hand sent her way.
Yang filling her lungs with air, after several long moments she ran at him with all the speed and strength her Aura-free body could provide. The blond squaring her feet and twisting at the hips, her corkscrew was cut off at the halfway point by a brutal headbutt from her opponent. Her de-powered fist hitting her opponent's Aura felt like striking a steel block, the blond recoiled as pain burned through her fingers and then positively exploded through her burnt wrist.
"D-Dammit…!" Yang swore as she recoiled. "Is this what the 'peasant folk' felt when they tried fighting the monarchy?"
"Oh? You were actually awake for that lecture?" Jack asked raising a monochrome brow.
"Don't patronize me!" Yang said as she bolted forward, wrapping her arms around his waist in an attempt to knock him over. The blond's feet digging furrows in the ground as she tried and failed, the next moment he wrapped his arms around her midsection from over her back, lifted her feet from the ground, and began spinning her in place until she was thrown away and into a tree.
"YANG!" Ruby cried as the blond slumped to the ground, coughing blood. Her eyelids drooping, before she could go down the stubborn blond grabbed a wrist and twisted, a pained hiss forcing the darkness from the edges of her vision and grounding her back in reality.
"You don't give up without a fight, I'll give you that much," Jack shrugged as he drew a ring from his pocket before slipping it onto his finger. "Guardian ÄRM: Ring Armor."
The invocation causing the pewter-colored ring to explode in gray smoke, Jack's magical guardian strode towards the downed blond, the Faunus himself dropping to the ground and adopting a relaxed meditative pose.
"Hey, don't go to sleep on me!" Yang growled as she tried to run past the Guardian, only for its silver arm to come up in a lariat at her midsection inhumanly fast, knocking the wind from her. The blond gasping as she stumbled back, holding her midsection, the next moment a rabbit punch knocked her head back and she went noodle-legged before falling to the ground, her lip busted. "Alright… You wanna play, tough guy? Let's play!"
Throwing out a punch at its spherical torso with a *KLANG!*, the blond almost immediately regretted it as she recoiled in pain, holding her bleeding knuckles before the Guardian popped her in the face once. The blond stumbling back before falling on her ass, by the time she shakily got back to her feet minutes later, her eye was beginning to swell shut, Jack looking completely serene in his meditative form while his remote-controlled Guardian played the role of gatekeeper.
"Magic… It's fucking bullshit…!" Yang hissed.
The Guardian suddenly rushing at her, the blond raised her arms to block the coming attack only for the Ring Armor to stop short, its pewter foot digging a trench in the dirt as it suddenly came to a halt. The knightly visor slowly shifting to the side, the eyes of Yang and those in attendance also followed only to find nothing of note in the direction of its gaze.
"Fuck! Shit! Where'd he go?!" the blond swore as she snapped her eyes back to front and center, only to find nothing there. Snapping her lilac eyes down, she found the Ring Armor squatting comically in front of her, compressed into a space far smaller than a humanoid had any right to occupy.
*POW!*
"Huh. So this is what it looks like from the outside…" Pyrrha said with a sympathetic wince as Yang was sent flying by the pewter-colored uppercut.
"YANG!" Ruby cried again as she shot off in a torrent of rose petals, swirling around her sister and catching her before she could hit the ground once again.
"Ru… Ruby…?" Yang blinked as her focus went in and out.
"There. You lose. Which means you, aren't going anywhere."
"D… Damn… it…!" the blond swore, Jack's condescending tone the last thing she heard before sweet unconsciousness took her.
In the end, Yang's heart was blanketed in fear and despair, and sunken in darkness.
Even now she was striving to unearth the tiniest little "seed of courage".
Would it have been better to have died?
Such a thought flitted through her mind because the battle had pulverized her pride, confidence, and self-respect.
She would have to work hard to restore everything she had built up.
*NEW WORLD*
Later that evening at the Beacon Academy infirmary…
*BAM!*
"Ruby, I came as soon as I heard!" Taiyang cried as he kicked the door open, his eldest daughter reclining in a hospital bed while his youngest sat by her side.
"Hey dad…" Yang wheezed, her wrists and hands wrapped in thick gauze, as was the majority of her face.
"Yang, what happened to you? Who did this to you!?" he growled, his ire rising.
"This was all me, dad… I thought I was ready to find my mom, but I wasn't."
"Y-Your mom?!" Taiyang winced. "What did you-"
"Jack dug it up. I don't know where, or from whom, but he found out where she is. When I asked him to tell me… he told me 'no', and then we came to blows…" she said looking down at her gauze-clad hands.
"You mean you came to blows. Jack barely had a scratch on him," Weiss hummed from off to the side.
"Where is he now?" Taiyang asked angrily, looking around.
"I'm not telling you," Yang answered. "I gave my word that if I lost, I'd drop the matter until he, and you, and uncle Qrow all said I was ready. I don't like it, but I made this bed, and now I've gotta lie in it."
"Yang…" Taiyang muttered, not knowing what to say until the door opened behind you. "You…!"
"Don't even think about it. I'm in a foul-enough mood as it is," Jack said leveling the man with a glare before he turned to Yang, his eyes softening, but not all the way. "Here. You'll need it more than me."
An emblematic hip flask sent flying through the air, Yang clumsily caught it with her bandaged hands before she gave the Faunus a flat stare, only for him to have already departed, Taiyang debating whether to go after him or comfort his daughter.
"Here. Let me get that for you," Blake said unscrewing the cap before handing it back to Yang, the blond giving it an experimental sip.
"Strawberry Sunrise… I honestly can't tell if he's mocking me or not."
Before Taiyang could stop her, the blond had downed a swig, the crème de fraises and grenadine taking the edge off after she was denied morphine.
"So…" Taiyang sighed realizing Yang probably needed a drink right about now. "Jack really found out about your mom, huh?"
"He wouldn't have any reason to lie about it, and he probably coughed up a fair bit of dough for the info," Yang admitted. "I'll have to pay him back, probably."
"Only if he asks. Otherwise, friends don't keep tabs," Taiyang said sagely.
"I guess…" Yang sighed. "Ruby, Weiss, Blake, could you… give us the room for a minute?"
"Huh? Oh, sure," the little red-head said swiftly excusing herself, Weiss and Blake following leaving Yang be for some one-on-one time with her dad.
" . . . "
" . . . "
" . . . "
" . . . I didn't mean to hide it from you. I just… I didn't want to tell you until you were ready."
"Yeah, well, as far as the bruises, black eye, and busted lip have to say… I am not," Yang chuckled laconically, nursing another sip of Strawberry Sunrise.
"I mean… I don't like that he beat up my baby girl like this… but it's better you learn this lesson here, than out there."
If you were a man, they'd just kill you, end of story. However, if you were a woman…
" . . . I'm not an idiot, you know. Jack's friend laid out all-too-clearly what 'worse than death' means for a girl like… well, me," she said tracing the curves of her bust.
" . . . Summer never wanted this life for you. Either of you, you know?"
"Yeah, well, she's dead, so… there."
"Urgh…" Taiyang choked at her bitter tone. "Well… here's hoping you and Ruby care about Jack and Arthur enough to 'stay', you know?"
"Heh… Who knew the future most-kickass Huntresses of the generation would fall so hard for our boys?" Yang chuckled.
"Maybe, but I worry for Ruby's waistline."
"Oh please, you scarfed up those sweets just-as-quickly as she did when he came over with treats."
"O-Only so Ruby wouldn't make herself sick," he defended.
"Yeah, because that makes sense," Yang chuckled with an eyeroll. "Is… Is my mom a terrible person? Is that why Jack won't tell me where she is?"
"Well… I mean… She wasn't always."
"But she is now," she said crossing her arms, not as a question.
" . . . Yes," Taiyang admitted, realizing he couldn't run from this any longer.
" . . . Well, you don't have to worry about me," Yang sighed. "Jack made it abundantly clear I wasn't 'strong enough' for the journey, so I'll keep my word. I won't go after my mom, even if I find out about her on my own."
"If? Not 'when'?"
"Part of me wants to know… but another part really doesn't," Yang huffed, remembering the shock she received the first time she saw Jack without clothes on. "I know… all too well how-cruel Humans can be. Some might think Jack is cruel, doing the things he does, saying what he does… but he's just looking out for us. All of us."
"Yeah… Part of me thinks I could've done a better job on that front too."
"You were a single dad and a widow. You had enough on your plate as it was."
"Maybe… but I should've stepped in and said something once you started turning bars upside-down."
"Well, you don't have to worry about that any more. Raven and Summer… they're nothing alike. Part of me wanted to think they were, but I have to face facts. I'm a bad seed from a rotten tree."
"Yang, you are not a 'bad seed'," Taiyang said reaching over and taking her hand. "And even if Raven gave birth to you, Summer is your mom."
"She was my mom. Can't be a mom if you're dead."
" . . . Sometimes I wish it were me that'd gone on that last mission," Taiyang confessed. "Maybe if I had… maybe Summer would still be around."
"But then you wouldn't be."
"Maybe. But if she were and I weren't, maybe the two of you would be better off. Maybe the two of you would be happier."
"Summer wouldn't want you to think like that," Yang countered. "Facts are facts; you're here, she isn't, so we all have to live with that."
" . . . I think Summer would've liked him," he found himself admitting. "She'd call him her son, pester the two of you about grandbabies, and I'd try to ship you off to a nunnery."
"Well, Ruby likes him, and she's basically a mini-Summer," Yang chuckled, feeling like a weight had been lifted. "Dad?"
"Yes, Yang?"
"Can you tell me a story about mom?" she asked. "My real mom."
"Of course," Taiyang nodded. "Summer… Summer was an amazing person…"
*NEW WORLD*
"Jack, I know this is going to sound really, really weird, but… Thanks for beating up my sister…?" Ruby said rolling the words confusedly off her tongue.
"I'd rather not make a habit of it, but you're welcome," Jack returned as he and Ruby walked away from Yang's room, Weiss and Blake keeping a respectable distance.
"So… When will Yang be strong-enough to look for her mom?"
"By herself, a long, long time," Jack hummed. "Thankfully, she's not alone, now is she?"
"No, I guess not," Ruby nodded. "Still though… Is what you learned about her really that bad?"
"Amongst other things…" Jack said scratching at his hair.
*BAM!*
"Ruby! I came over as soon as I heard!"
"Uncle Qrowwwww!" Ruby squealed happily as a roguishly-handsome man with stubble, a red tattered cloak, gray dress shirt with a long tail and black dress pants came into the hallway. "Hi," she smiled hugging his arm, the man lifting her feet from the ground. "It's so good to seeee you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me?"
" . . . Nope."
The man then ruffling her hair affectionately, a moment later he looked at Jack, down to Ruby, and then double-took back to Jack, the little scythe-wielder slipping from his arm before the two pointed fingers at one another and cried- "OH, NOT YOU AGAIN!" -in stereo.
"Wait, you two know each other?!" Ruby gasped excitedly.
"Unfortunately…!" the two said in stereo once again, their expressions souring.
"Okay, but how?"
"You wanna tell her, or should I?" Jack offered.
"You tell her. Either way I'm going to look pret-ty damn stupid…" the graying-haired man groaned as he drank from a hip flask, only to find it empty.
"Long story short, back before I left Skyrim to 'find my fortune'," Jack said making air quotes, 'this guy, in a drunken stupor, touched the daughter of a very large town mayor who strangles Ursa for breakfast," he began. "I only knew of him by reputation, but I figured having a guy like him owe me a favor could be very useful down the line. So, I made whiskey-drinkers everywhere cry by emptying a barrel of Skyrim Jack I was gonna sell on the mainland into the harbor, and smuggled Qrow out of the country."
"And now I owe the guy big time…" Qrow groaned scratching at his stubble.
"Wait, you knew my uncle all this time and you never told me?" Ruby blinked accusingly.
"Phonetically, Qrow is a fairly common name. 'Crow' with-a-C, 'Crow' with-a-K, 'Crow' with-a-C-or-a-K and-an-E-on-the-end… Also, you never gave me a surname to work off of."
"Oh… Right…" Ruby blushed cutely, realizing by sound alone Jack couldn't have known the exact spelling.
"So, care to explain why her own teammate almost blew her hands off?" Qrow asked as he adjusted his cape, the collapsed form of his weapon coming into view.
"I found out who her mom is, and when I refused to tell her where she was…" Jack said causing Qrow to shift uncomfortably. "Yang's probably coming to her own conclusions right now, but either way, she's staying put until you, me, and him say she's ready for a little nature hike," he said pointing to Qrow, himself, and then the hospital room.
"I'm gonna assume she didn't give you a lot of options…" Qrow sighed tiredly, wishing he'd invested in a larger flask.
"No she did not," Jack sighed equally-tiredly. "As a matter of fact, I hated every second of it, but it still needed to be done."
"*Siiiiigh* Life's filled with hard choices," Qrow sighed tiredly for a long moment. "So, you finally decide what you want to spend my Marker on?"
"Marker?" Ruby blinked.
"Basically a fancy trinket that someone swears a blood oath on," Jack shrugged like it were no big deal. "As for you, Mr. Branwen…" he hummed interlacing his fingers and thoughtfully tapping his index fingers together, something mischievous glinting in his jade-colored eyes. "I might have something in mind. Wanna share digits so I can get in touch with you later~?"
"Not like I have a whole lotta choice," Qrow sighed as he pulled out his Scroll, Jack doing the same and the two pressing the backs together before they chimed. "Rubes, I'll hang out with you for a bit before I head out again. Right now, Tai probably needs me to tag him out."
"Okey-dokey!" Ruby beamed happily, giving Jack a gooey center as the man drunkenly sauntered off toward Yang's room.
"Well, your uncle is certainly… interesting," Weiss said grousing for a word.
"Kinda smells though," Blake hummed crinkling her nose. "Did you really smuggle him out of the country in a whiskey barrel?"
"An empty whiskey barrel," Jack corrected. "And given most of the heavy drinkers in Skyrim are built like brick shithouses, I could've made a mint off that Skyrim Jack."
"They named a whiskey after you?" Weiss blinked.
"Nope, purely coincidence," Jack shrugged. "Makes for a fun story, though~"
"What was my uncle doing in Skyrim?" Ruby blinked as that little detail fell into place.
"Don't know, didn't ask. I only caught him on the tail-end of his little adventure after he did something monumentally stupid."
"Was the Ursa-strangling thing literal, or hyperbole?" Blake inquired.
" . . . also yes," Jack nodded after a moment.
"Ruby, you aren't allowed to drink alcohol ever," Weiss asserted.
"That smelly apple juice? Why would I ever wanna drink that?"
"Good girl," Weiss said patting her head. "Jack, can I have a word with you? In private?"
"Of course," Jack nodded. "Ruby, Blake, I'll see you back at the room."
"Okay guys, see you later!"
*NEW WORLD*
A while later at "Weiss' Secret Spot", which amazingly-enough had remained undiscovered and undisturbed…
" . . . I heard something rather interesting from Nora of all people while you were fighting."
"Oh?"
"She implied that the reason you fought so-well was because you weren't 'pent-up and horny anymore'."
"I see."
"Is there any truth to that?"
"There is," Jack nodded. "Are you disappointed in me?"
" . . . Was it with Rushia? Or Marin?"
"No, neither of them."
"I see… Anyone I know?"
"Do you want to know?"
"I feel so-so on the matter," Weiss hummed, the two looking out at the Emerald Forest for a long moment before she turned back to him. "Jack. Has the whole… 'Slave Gladiator' thing ever given any of your… female admirers… a complex?"
"There was some sympathy… A little pity… My work always took me away from them before I could really find out if it had."
"I see…" Weiss hummed, getting her thoughts together. "Is it… normal to be intimidated by a sexually-active partner?"
"I've never been a teenage girl, so I wouldn't know," Jack hummed, Weiss lightly ribbing him in the side.
"I'm not upset."
" . . . "
"Not really."
" . . . "
"Okay maybe a little bit," the heiress blushed. "It's just… Basic freedoms I take for granted were denied to you for so long that…"
" . . . Love is a messy thing, just like life. I never in a hundred years would've imagined a Schnee heiress would fall for me. Or that I'd fall for her."
" . . . Yang's been putting ideas into my head," the heiress hummed after a long moment, a luminous blush creeping up her cheeks. "I… might be opening up to them… Just a little bit."
"Oh?"
"Before I really decide anything, I have to know…" she said before looking up at him. "Who do you like more?"
"Weiss, you and Yang aren't 'interchangeable' with one another. What I feel for you, the both of you, it can't be converted like currency between Kingdoms. It's like…" Jack tried to explain, scratching at his hair. "Mmmm… Dammit brain, c'mon, think."
"By all means, take your time," Weiss chuckled amusedly, aware of just how-weird this whole thing really was.
"It's like boobs."
"Boobs?" Weiss blinked incredulously.
"Yes, boobs," Jack asserted. "It isn't the size of the boobs that you or Yang have that's important. It's the heart behind the boobs and ETRO that sounded way better in my head!"
"That's… certainly an interesting way of looking at things…" Weiss admitted. "Is… Is polygamy common among Faunus."
"To be fair, the idea that polygamy is 'wrong', that it's begun to fall out of fashion is a very recent line of thought in the grand scheme of things," Jack shrugged. "Even now, it isn't unheard of for strong Huntsmen to have a sisterhood of two or more wives waiting for them back at home, or to sow some wild oats so in a couple decades a far-off village will have a strong protector. Humans are in on it too, not just Faunus."
"Right… Like in Port's damn lecture…" the heiress sighed, wishing she hadn't transcribed that lesson verbatim. "But that doesn't answer my question though."
"Well, from a cultural standpoint, Faunus don't have the same hangups about 'chastity' and 'virginity' that Humans do," Jack hummed crossing his arms and bowing his head. "A hymen isn't a 'Do Not Consume if Broken' freshness seal; that's just an idea Humans came up with to insult one another. And admittedly, after the last war, it isn't uncommon for Faunus to sire progeny with more than one woman. The over/under is basically 50/50 of a Human & Faunus pairing siring either a Faunus or a 'Branded', you can't get a 'pure Human' out of that union," he said trying to articulate his thoughts. "We aren't to the point that we're using 'breeding camps' to stop ourselves from dying out, but admittedly there were a lot of widows after the last war, and the ones that made it back from the battlefield were the strongest, the smartest, or both. So the idea that the ones with the best genes got to pass them down far and wide isn't something we actively deny. The only Faunus that really care for 'Human values' are the ones that've lived with Humans for so-long they've become 'domesticated'; the ones that've become 'homogenized' into Human culture."
" . . . I don't think I actually learned anything about the Faunus that wasn't just regurgitated pro-Human propaganda until I met you," Weiss hummed after a moment. "I'm happy I did. It hasn't been easy, and it hasn't always been pretty, but it's been… enlightening."
"The world's a big place. There's always another secret," Jack hummed somberly. "So, is there still an 'us', orrr…?"
"Like you said, life is messy. Back in Atlas, there's structure, and discipline, and order… and that's probably why I came to Beacon instead of Watchtower," Weiss said sidling closer to him, draping his arm over her shoulder. "You know… back home, everyone always droned on and on about 'the sanctity of marriage' and how polygamy is wrong, how the Faunus are 'carnal beasts', blah, blah-blah blah, blah… But it's basically an open secret that everyone above a certain tax bracket has a mistress or a boy toy or both, so I can understand where you're coming from, just a bit. At least Faunus own up to it, in their own way."
"If your sperm donor found out you were part of a Faunus' harem, he'd probably have an aneurysm."
"Oh if only…" Weiss chuckled, basking in his warmth, a small thrill going through her as he brought an arm around the small of her back. "So… You're really going on tour with Team Juniper?"
"Having an experienced merc guiding their first sortie will really help them out," Jack hummed. "That's probably part of why Ozpin let me join Team Ruby after dusting off that old rule. First-hand knowledge is more-valuable than anything else, and it'd have gone to waste with my old team."
"A team you'd have probably buried in a sea of Grimm with the way they treated you," Weiss hummed as she took out her Beretta, a somber mood washing over her as she thought about how-cruel Humans could be to one another before she holstered it with confidence. "You know, I'm kind of eager to make connections like you have. The world's just filled with amazing people, isn't it?"
"It really is. It's just a matter of cutting through the random bullshit and the unremarkable masses," Jack hummed. "So… you wanna head back to the room, or stay here a little longer?"
"I'll stay here a little longer," Weiss hummed, leaning her head into his chest.
*NEW WORLD*
Elsewhile…
"Hold up… Jack smuggled you out of where… with what…?" Yang tittered trying to contain her laughter.
"He smuggled me out of Skyrim in an emptied whiskey barrel," Qrow summarized with a sigh. "And let me tell ya, those Nords make some strooong shit. I got hung over on the fumes alone, and I had to spend days in that thing."
"Sounds like a hell of an adventure," Yang chuckled. " . . . Qrow, can you level with me on something?"
"Shoot, kiddo."
"If I shared a boy I liked with another woman, would you be disappointed in me?"
"I'd have to be pret-ty hypocritical to say 'yes'," Qrow said without a moment's hesitation.
"Okay good, that takes some of the edge off."
"Does Tai know about this 'hypothetical scenario'?" Qrow asked making air quotes.
"Well, to be frank, it's still 'hypothetical' until the other girl agrees to it," Yang hummed. "Still… how to divide the tiiime…" she said more to herself than to him.
"You get Mondays through Wednesdays, the other girls gets Thursdays through Saturdays, and then you alternate Sundays."
"That… sounded very practiced…"
"Hey, trust me, I was quite the ladies' man back when I went to school here," Qrow chuckled. "Sorry we didn't tell you more about Raven, it's just…"
"It's complicated, I know," she cut in. "If my mom were 'respectable' there'd be no reason to hide it."
"Yeah, well, life gets messy sometimes," the slightly-inebriated Huntsman hummed. "I'm just glad you've got someone like Jack watching your back. Even if he's a bit of a dick."
"Don't forget, you might not've kept yours if he hadn't smuggled you out of the country~"
"Don't I know it…" the man sighed. "So, how're you holding up?"
"Well, Team Ruby wasn't planning to go on any missions next week, so once my Aura recharges, I can take my time recuperating the worst of it. Of course, I'll also have to swing by the house and get some replacements for the bracelets I lost."
"Glad I talked you into making those spares, huh?"
"Yeah, but now I'll have to make a set of spares to replace the spares," Yang hummed. "Still, glad I picked up that AT-12 Raider. Might have to get some more practice in."
"I'm surprised Roland didn't let you use some of his time on the range for it."
"He wants us to get used to all the 'industry standard' stuff. The whole 'be able to pick up any gun and use it' mentality."
"A valid point, even if the guy is a little straight-laced for my liking. Mordecai and Brick on the other hand, now those guys know how to party!"
"So, do all you old guys know each other or what?"
"Just the ones that last long-enough for our hair to turn gray," Qrow chuckled.
[
*NEW WORLD*
Later that evening after the sun had set…
"Yang, are you sure you should be out of bed?" Ruby asked worriedly as the blond came back to their room, dinner long forgotten.
"I'm about to climb into another, so does it really matter?"
"No, I guess not," Ruby admitted as Yang kicked off her boots and walked over to her bunkbed.
"Yang…?" Jack blinked as she crawled under his sheets instead of her own.
"I'm too beat up to climb into my bunk. Take responsibility," she muttered, nuzzling her head under his chin.
" . . . I'm sorry about what I did."
"Don't be. I was kinda asking for it," Yang sighed as she shifted to get more comfortable.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you're getting all cozy like this."
"What, you thought I'd get sick of you just because of a light spanking?"
"Maybe a little," Jack admitted, shifting to make Yang more-comfortable.
"Yeah, well, this girl's here to stay, so you'd better get used to it."
"Goodnight, Yang."
"Goodnight, Jack."
" . . . "
"Jack?"
"Yes?"
"Can you kiss my boo-boos better?" she asked batting her eyes up at him.
"Oh, barf," Weiss groaned at how-cheesy that sounded.
"You're just salty you didn't think of it first," Blake huffed.
"You're free to get in on this action yourself~" Yang waggled a brow over her shoulder.
"Yang, are you and Jack about to do 'adult wrestling'?" Ruby asked innocently.
"Not right now, Rubes. I'm still a little salty from my beat-down."
*Chu*
"Okay maybe a little less salty."
*Chu*
"A little more."
*Chu*
"Awwww, I can't stay mad at you~"
"Well, at least this little dust-up didn't mess up our team cohesion," Weiss sighed.
"Hey, didn't you and Jack only start to get along after he beat you up?" Ruby asked hanging over the edge of her bed.
"Maybe, but that's beside the point," Weiss sighed as she tried to tune out the blond and monochrome-haired teens trying to discretely make out less than a room away.
That and whoever the hell was scribbling.
'I'm not jealous,' the heiress told herself with a luminous blush. 'It's just that Yang is so… so… shameless. Yes, that's it.'
*NEW WORLD*
AN:
There's a subtle/not-so-subtle reference to a much-beloved series of mine. Internet Cookie for anyone who can guess what it is.
As for that line from DBZA, I've been just itching to use that one, and it seemed entirely fitting since they did not in fact, ever fight one another with a grade on the line, and they did get along well-enough they never had to throw hands extracurricularly either.
ORIGINALLY I was going to have their fight go more in-line of Genos' sparring match with Saitama from One-Punch Man, sans Jack putting a mile long hole through a mountain range at the end, but when I was re-reading a certain aforementioned series I have in 40+ volume paperback, it just felt right to have him "body" Yang a little more thoroughly since, this-early in the Fanon, she isn't ready to "face" her mother. I've made no effort to conceal the fact that the Power Scaling here is far steeper than in RWBY Canon (assuming that "Qrow v Winter" is considered "peak human"), meaning at-present, the terrain (let alone the bandits) would be far more unforgiving.
As for Qrow coming in so-early (comparatively), that snippet from John Wick might make it seem like a recent idea, but in actuality, the whole story about Jackk sneaking Qrow out of Skyrim in a whiskey barrel was something Spaceman and I plotted out together back in 2017; WOW that's forever ago… May 19th to be exact because the PM that I archived is Timestamped. And considering I have 20+ PM Strings at around 10010 PMs apiece dedicated purely to Giant-Slayer… Obviously I've been planning out this story for a long time, and as I've said before both publicly and privately, I intend to go way off the rails after the Vytal Festival Tournament in Volume 3.
But I digress.
Anywho, tell me what you think, and I'll see you next time on Vigorous Vitality!
Because no, this isn't a triple-release. The double was just because "How I Met Her Mother" & "Fisticuffs" were so-intimately related that I felt it better to put them out side-by side. Which of course means next-chapter I'll be replying to Reviews for both Chapter 55 and 56.
P.S.
I've still got a Giant-Slayer Discord if anyone wants to exchange… discourse. Just gonna throw that out there…~