Hello again! Short chapter today, I'm currently in the process of getting furniture and hashing out the electrical bill situation. Sorry about Friday, the carpet installers had to make it a two day ordeal due to the company double booking them. Hope you all enjoy and I hope to see reviews! I love reading them. To the story!
…..
Jaune stared at the grounds of Haven Academy with a sense of gravity. Like the entire place was larger than life, similar to how Beacon had been. The personality of the buildings spoke in tongues to his eyes. Every swell and recess in the walls and architecture had something to say, but he knew so little about Mistralian history that he didn't know what to make of most of it. Qrow had told him to stay put outside in the main courtyard while the older man went in to have a chat with the headmaster. Evidently every headmaster was involved in the shadow war Jaune had volunteered for under Ozpin. Maybe that would make a lot of things go smoother in the future, if Jaune ever needed Huntsman support or connections.
Many students of Haven walked the grounds between classes, and occasionally Jaune would spot an entire class stretched out in the grass, their lesson taking place outside to soak up some sun. The occasional staff or student would nod to him or greet him as they passed by. The reverence in their tones was odd, at least to Jaune, like they all knew him and were saying hello to a trusted friend. Perhaps Mistral simply bore people with more courteous manners than Vale. Whatever it was, Jaune was confident that it was pleasant. Hard to believe that there were agents of Salem working in the city. But he supposes that if it were obvious they were around they wouldn't be very good at their jobs. Eventually a pair of what Jaune guessed were students approached him with a wave.
"Hey man!" The man spoke with a smile as he approached. "Haven't seen you around here before, new student?"
Jaune looked him up and down, taking in his appearance. The man, well more of a teen like himself, had long black hair that swept out around his head and extended down past his nose in length. He wore a decorative necklace and flowing wraps of cloth tied tight around his torso. The form fitting shoes that connected to leggings that disappeared into wider half-pants gave the man a very 'ninja' like look. The girl beside him wore baggy pants that went down to mid-calf. They met a yellow flowing blouse at her waist. A red banner-like strip of cloth was tied around her waist and had some kind of Mistralian symbols embroidered on it. The blouse exposed her left arm completely, while keeping an extra-wide sleeve over her right . The wrappings on her arms and lower legs told Jaune she was some form of close combatant. She had dark skin with hazel-green eyes, and bleach blonde hair that was mostly tied back at the moment but looked very thick and most likely was a hassle to deal with.
"I'm actually here with my Mentor. He's talking with the Headmaster right now, so I thought I'd check out the scenery. Name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." Jaune said, more as a joke than anything.
"Do they?" The girl said, one eyebrow raised, a hint of entertainment in her tone, like he was a dog that ran into a glass door.
"Well I'll have you know my grandma says I'm a total catch!" Jaune laughed out, extending his hand.
"Bolin Hori, first year. Nice to meet you Jaune." The boy said, taking Jaune's hand.
"Arslan Altan." The girl said in turn, following suit to her friend.
"Anyway, we just wanted to check in and make sure you weren't lost. Find us if you need anything around campus, we pretty much know everything there is to know about the grounds." Bolin said, gesturing to the surroundings.
"You can find me at the sparring rings after class hours. Only if you don't find Bolin." Arslan said, implying she didn't like being bothered.
"Ok, sure! I'll make sure to come find one of you if I end up needing anything." Jaune replied as he waved them off.
Jaune watched them go with a sigh. A big part of him still yearned to be in a Huntsman academy. To have the experiences and teams they all got every day. To have friends he could talk to every day and teachers with vast overlapping knowledge to learn from. Not to say Qrow and Tai weren't very intelligent and impressive in their fields of expertise. But studying books and dodging punches wasn't a very fun way to learn, even if it was proving very efficient. Jaune supposes he just envied the way all of them got to be so carefree. But he also understands he was the only one to blame, he volunteered for this.
Sharp footsteps drew Jaune from his thoughts. Turning around he spotted his mentor. Qrow had his hands in his pockets and was slightly slouched as if in a bad mood. The expression on his face confirmed that.
"Making friends with the local school children, Jaune?" Qrow said.
"You saw that huh?" Jaune shrugged. "I guess I look like a lost puppy or something."
"The wide-eye look ya got probably isn't helping." Qrow chuckled, glancing around. "Well, let's get lost. Lionheart gave me a tip on where we can start our investigation. Evidently a mysterious pair of criminals have been tagged talking with the local crime bosses. I happen to know one of them loosely. It's time you learn how to infiltrate."
Jaune felt the smile creep onto his face. Any chance to learn more about spy stuff was a welcome one. He would admit if asked, but the idea of him being like the spies in the films brought some guilty glee to his heart.
"Then let's go!" Jaune said with pep to his step.
…..
Tai turned the T.V on as he arrived home from Signal. He had been preparing for the new year of students and education all day long. They would all be arriving at the start of next week and he didn't want to be unprepared. He had gone over his lesson plans and curriculum with heavy eyes today. After his daughters left, followed by his best friend and student, he hadn't slept well last night. The quiet of the house is only broken up by the fridge turning on and off repeatedly, and the wind whistling through the window sills. Tai admits he was suddenly very lonely. Constantly glancing up to say something on his mind or ask Qrow to help with something. And the newest habit was craning his neck to see if Jaune was studying in the kitchen like he was supposed to.
Tai sat and watched the news for a bit, taking in senseless coverage of the weather and tide conditions around Vale and Patch. Eventually he sighed and switched channels repeatedly until he found a black and white film from the revolution era. It was a tale about rival swordsmen from Mistral and Vacuo fighting over one of their noble master's assassination. It was as classic and straightforward as he was gonna get, so Tai settled in for the show. His feet balanced on the coffee table, and his arms were spread out over the backrest of one of his couches. He tried his best to focus entirely on the film, but his thoughts wanted to wander this evening. He thought over what Jaune, Ruby, and Yang might be up to. But eventually Tai simply sighed, and made to stand up as the film hit credits.
Zwei barking and growling at the front door snapped Tai from his mental wandering and made him whip his head towards the doorway. He slowly approached the window with silent steps, knowing that Zwei wouldn't alert to anything that wasn't a threat. He had trained him very well, and even unlocked his Aura to help protect the loyal dog. His fingers gripped the curtain and drew it to the side an inch. Tai leaned and peered through the gap. Approaching his house from the trail was a hooded figure, with a travel pack and a fitted trench coat. At this distance, Tai couldn't make out any finer details, but the height and shoulder width told him it was a woman. Tai edged away from the window and used the T.V remote to raise the volume to nearly max. Then with hurried steps he slipped into the kitchen, and out the back door with silent movements.
Dropping into a low crouch, and using the shadows of his house as potential concealment, Tai shuffled around the back and then to the side of the house opposite the shed. With a second taken to locate the dip in the dirt, Tai reached under the edge of the exposed foundation and gripped a metal box by its lid. He dragged it out quickly and punched in the access code before silently and slowly opening the lid. Inside was his newest gauntlet, put away for safekeeping. With practiced and experienced hands, Tai donned the weapon and clicked a magazine of charges into the side before standing and creeping towards the front of the house. Around that time, he heard the knocking at the door begin, and Zwei's rapid and annoyed barking from within. Gently peering around the edge of the deck, Tai took in the hooded figure. Definitely a woman, judging by the side profile. Armed too, he could tell by how they held themselves and how one foot slid back slightly as if they were always prepared to dodge an attack.
Tai picked up a pebble and tossed it directly into the clearing behind the figure, bouncing the small rock off the dummy Jaune trained with. The sound made the figure jerk their head to the side, one hand swept the trenchcoat backwards and gripped something at their waist. Tai took the chance to hop over the railing of the deck and land with his gauntlet raised and pointed at the figure's midriff. The sound of his shoes hitting the planks had the figure snap their head towards him, turning their body to create a standoff.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" Tai interrogated as he prepped for a potential fight.
"Paranoid much?" The woman stated as she drew her hand away from her weapon and let her coat fall back over it. "I'm just here to talk, Taiyang."
"Hood. Lose it." Tai ordered.
Tai watched as the woman raised her hands slowly and drew the hood back. And as her face was revealed Taiyang nearly choked.
"June…" Tai whispered.
The matriarch of the Arc family stood before him, her fading golden hair tied back into a tight bun, her semi-cloudy blue eyes set deep in tired sockets. Her half-lidded stare was lazy, and eternally spoke of annoyance. The grisly scarring that spanned from her left temple, down over her cheek, lips, and chin were much more faded than he last remembered them. But it was her.
"Been a while Xiao Long. How have you been holding up?" June asked, half-heartedly at best.
"Cut the platitudes and greetings June." Tai said, lowering his gauntlet. "What do you want?"
June rolled her eyes and leaned against the railing with her arms crossed, leaving the space between them constant.
"Come on. Let's not play stupid. CCTV tagged Jaune at a bagel shop on Patch not long ago. I came as soon as my last mission ended. Where is my son Tai?" June asked as she leveled a pointed glare at him.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? I'm not your babysitter."
Tai shifted his feet and let himself lean against the house, gauntlet still at a low-ready. His muscles tensed every time Jaune made a small movement. He hadn't been in a real fight in a long time, nerves were high, and she wasn't rusty in the slightest. If Jaune's stories were accurate. But he knew the boy wouldn't lie to him. If June gets forceful, he probably wouldn't be able to hold her off for too long. Best he convinces her to leave peacefully.
"I searched and asked around for months. No one has seen him, heard about him, or anyone matching his description. But I flashed our house symbol at every information hub in Vale, and a bartender said he saw my Husband's sword right after Jaune ran off." June began, her eyes never leaving Tai's. "Then recently I got my boys to dig into the bullhead manifests, and CCTV. And wouldn't you know it, two flights, one from Patch to Vale, and back. Both having Branwen and my Son on them. Then much later footage showed Jaune, Qrow, and a girl that I can only guess is your daughter, pop up in the bagel shop in town here."
Tai kept silent, holding her stare. He knew they were screwed. Everything just went sideways. Jaune couldn't come back here, June would know to keep eyes around Patch from now on. Even worse, Qrow would have to go underground for a while. If June got to him it would be chaos. The top rated Huntsman and Huntress in Vale going at it in a populated area would get them both arrested. If they didn't put each other in the I.C.U first.
"I know he was here. I can only guess why, but I know he was here Tai." June said as she stepped away from the railing and stood with her feet planted shoulder-width apart. "If he's going around with Qrow I can only guess that's who picked him up at a bar and brought him here. Judging by the torn up grass and busted dummy I see you've been training him. I guess he didn't tell you he isn't allowed to be a Huntsman."
"Not allowed?" Tai scoffed, his anger bubbling up. "Last I checked he is seventeen! More than old enough to decide for himself what he wants to be. You can pretend you have control over him all you want June, but he isn't a thing you own. He's a person, he's your son, and you could show some damned compassion for that."
June dropped the entitled smirk and let her features rest in a pissed off scowl.
"Touch a nerve did I? Sounds like projecting to me." Jaune spat.
"Miss me with the second-year psych student bullshit June. Peddle your lies somewhere else. And shove your excuses and twisted justifications up your ass while you are at it. You neglected him, abused him with your semblance, and forced his hand to run as far from you as he could. It's no wonder he and Qrow get along so well. With him being last year's model…" Tai seethed, shouldering past June and opening the door.
He could hear the way that June flinched. He knew his words hit solid that time.
"What went down between me and Qrow is all in the past." June said angrily.
"Oh yeah?" Tai said, turning his head to glare at her over his shoulder. "Like how Raven gave you that?"
June visibly shifted when Tai pointed to the scars on June's face. Her hand reached for her weapon, but stopped halfway. The air between them hung still and heated.
"Some wounds don't heal June. Jaune knows that now. Because of you, he will always look over his shoulder at the mention of your name. He will dread being around his family, forever. Because. Of. You. When you see him in Vacuo you will see exactly what you've forced him to be, and how he has risen above needing you." Tai said first. "Now get off my property and don't come back."
"So he's in Vacuo then. Thanks." June said, returning her smirk to the forefront. "Always a pleasure Tai, leave a flower for me at Summer's grave would you?"
It took everything in him to stop himself from turning and launching at the woman. He wanted to hurt her the way she had hurt Qrow, Jaune, and so many others. He wanted to break her hands so badly she wouldn't be able to grab ahold of anyone ever again. But he simply let her walk away. His breath came out evenly. He hadn't realized he'd been holding it while she left the clearing.
Here's hoping she stayed so busy in Vacuo chasing her tail that Qrow and Jaune had plenty of time to do their business and complete the H.Q.E. Then once the Vytal festival started, Jaune could catch any flight or ship he wanted and go anywhere he needed for his missions. The massive crowds and busy tourism of the festival would give him enough cover to disappear from June's radar.
He needed to let Qrow and Jaune know what just went down. Hopefully they can keep their heads down long enough to avoid June entirely… Hopefully.