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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: fated rivals
The following day they made it to Mistral, as Cinder parked the bullhead in one of the available landing pads. Jaune is both excited and nervous as this is the first time to sees modern Mistral civilization. The last time he came to Mistral was during the Faunus War, dropping off civilians and wounded soldiers as Mistral was the Faunus ally. With natural protection from the Grimm and the Human forces, Mistral became an ideal supply base for its location to travel to and from the majority of Remnant.
As soon as Cinder shuts off the engines, Jaune packs his armour and checks his gear. Fenrir turns back into her pup-size form and jumps into Jaune's hood. Raven changes into her bird form and perches onto Jaune's shoulder just as soon as he opens the door to see Mistral of today. As his eye widened in awe at seeing the significant change in Mistral. Back then, Mistral was small and crowded and difficult to travel up the mountain. It has sometimes been mistaken for a large village than a city. But now, he rushes out of the bullhead and heads to the viewing porch overlooking the entirety of Mistral. With his hands gripping the bar fence and gasping in awe, the city expanded to the higher peaks, and the architecture changed dramatically, the city bustling with people, stalls and stores open as far and wide as he could see.
While Jaune admired the Mistral Landscape, Cinder couldn't help but smile at the prince. It's like seeing a child admiring his new toy. She walks to the prince before calling out to him, snapping out of his daze.
"Come on, Jaune. We have a lot to do before I can leave you." She says as she walks away
"Yeah, I know…check in to my hotel and the Regional tournament next week…." He rushes to Cinder's side with a nonchalant response while he can't help but admire the change to Mistral.
"….it's just…this is the first time I left the castle...and seeing Mistral change so much. I couldn't help but feel…I don't know, out of place…."
"You were frozen for over a hundred years. And the last time you were here was during the Faunus war." Cinder states while Jaune of a wide eye of surprise.
"Heh, here I thought you were just a power hunger maiden. Reminds me of another certain maiden I know." Jaune smirked while eyeing the bird on his shoulder, and immediately it began pecking on Jaune's cheek, but thanks to his aura, he didn't feel it. While Cinder couldn't help but giggle at the bird's position and could already tell Jaune was just making fun at Raven's expense. And she's gotta admit, it feels…warm….
"Maybe being his girlfriend wouldn't be a terrible idea." Cinder smiles at the prince and loops her arm around his, surprising him and his animal companions.
"what's wrong? Is the Grimm Knight going all shy on me?" she jests seductively while Jaune blushes but quickly composes himself.
"Heh, Not at all. In fact…." He smiles and clasps his hand on Cinder's side, pulling her close to him without hesitation. If it was seen from a third person's perspective, they would look like a loving young couple. As Cinder's hand lands on his chest, feeling his tone muscles through his thin black shirt, she could almost be mistaken for Jaune to be shirtless. Looking into his soft cobalt blue eyes, she can feel her cheeks sting red and quickly avert her eyes away. But Jaune gently pinches her chin and guides her to stare back into his soft eyes without resistance. Surprisingly, his heart wasn't beating as fast as hers, realizing Jaune is more composed when hiding emotion.
"How do you feel about playing a game?" he says with a slightly sinister smile of power. Cinder couldn't help but feel her heart skip a beat. She coughs to her hand, trying to break his composure and calm her nerves.
"That depends…" as she pried herself off Jaune's grasp though she didn't mind it being Jaune's close proximity, she straightened her dress and fixed her hair, then walked to Jaune's side with her hand lightly lying against his chest and drags it along while Cinder circles around Jaune.
"What's the game, and what are the stakes?" Cinder playfully whispers seductively to his ear, trying to get him to break his composure, but he smiles with a glint of excitement in his eyes.
"The stakes, the loser owes a favour to the winner, no question ask. But the game, however…." Jaune pauses as he gently grabs holds on to Cinder's hand, leading her into the city. He turns with a smile that she has never seen before spread across his face. Usually, the smile he always pressed was either half-heartedly or a mask of his emotions, and it wasn't a smile she would see him use with his mother. No, that was different. The smiles he presented to his mother always showed a shine of a son's love towards his mother. This one before her is kind, shining with love and care for another that she thought would never happen or experience in this day and age as she never felt this love from the opposite sex. Most of them only lusted over her figure, which was their downfall.
"Is a date. The goal? We enjoy ourselves till the end of the day. To see who wears the pants in this relationship once and for all. And let's be honest." He pauses for a moment facing Cinder, reaches over to her other hand and gives her a sympathetic stare towards her, almost apologetic and genuine.
"We've been at each other's throats since day one. Acting like brats for superiority and mom's favour, we took things out of hand. Because of our stubborn pride, we hurt and almost killed one of our own." Remembering the incident with Emerald and Mercury, that was eating Jaune up, especially Emerald.
"I gave it some thought to mom's advice and think we should move past this for a stable relationship."
This surprised Cinder for a moment, then realized she could get to Jaune's side sooner than later, although she would have to give a child for Salem to approve. But maybe Jaune could offer something of use to her, and at the same time, if she wins the bet, Jaune would owe her a favour, no question asked, like she could ask him to unleash his whole strength and destroy Vale in a matter of seconds like the first display of his power with Raven's man.
Based on what she remembers from Salem's expression when she complements Jaune's power after her report from her "excursion" in Springvale. Salem laughs on her throne as if it was nothing, explaining that what both Cinder and all of Remnant just witnessed was a small fraction of Jaune's power. When Cinder ask what exactly is Jaune's power? Was it a semblance or magic? But Salem's expressive smile grew wider at the question that Cinder thought she must've offended Salem, but she didn't. She shook her head as an answer of no and replied so mundane it's hilarious how simply it is. If anything, if humanity could live longer than the norm, they could achieve Jaune's level of control. Even Salem couldn't reach that level. If anything, without her immortality…she knew Jaune would defeat her, and she couldn't help but smile.
It was a smile of a proud mother to her son who not only achieved a level of control that no mortal could reach and a reserve of aura he inherited from her but also surpassed her. Seeing Cinder waiting in anticipation of Jaune's secret is somewhat laughable. She might as well humour the poor girl's question.
"It's neither. In a way, Jaune is somewhat like that Mercury boy. Except Jaune hasn't unlocked his semblance to this day." She states with a close smile that she already knows how Cinder would react, wide-eye in shock, disbelief and in denial in that order.
"Wh-wh-wh…Th-th-that…That's impossible!" Cinder stutters until she finally finds her voice and yells in complete denial, but quickly seals her mouth shut, realizing she just raised her voice to Salem right in front of her. Realizing what she did, she quickly bows to Salem for forgiveness. Still, Salem simply waves it off nonchalantly, telling her that she wasn't the first to react like that after hearing about Jaune's predicament and definitely won't be the last.
"Th-than what is it? If it's not semblance or magic?"
And that's when Salem opens her eyes with her smile still shown and replies.
"his aura…"
"his aura?"
"Jaune has reached mastery of aura that even I cannot reach. To people's eyes, they'll think it's a form of semblance. But, in reality, Jaune fully weaponizes it from a form of shield to his desires." Salem stood from her throne to leave the room for only Cinder to follow her. Salem didn't speak another word and continued to walk in silence, with Cinder following behind, which Salem didn't mind. They kept silent until Cinder realized they were walking into an area she didn't recognize and standing in front of an elevator with Salem inside, waiting for her.
"Are you coming, Cinder?" Salem calls, snapping Cinder's attention and enters with Salem as she pushes a button. The elevator descends with a hue of purple light dims out from the crystals embedded on the walls and ceilings of the elevator. Cinder is still in awe of an elevator she never knew and curious about where this elevator leads. Then finally, the elevator stops catching Cinder's attention as the elevator doors open, revealing a garden utopia that Cinder had never seen.
"wh-what is this place?"
"a personal project of Jaune's. Which I expect you to treat this garden with the utmost respect." Salem states sternly, ensuring that Cinder understands the consequences and nods. Suddenly a pulse of black aura pushes her off her feet, surprised, while Salem turns to the origin. And seeing the pulse originate pulse again at a steady pace, she heads in the direction with a smile.
As they arrive at the source, they see Jaune meditating in a lotus position in an open field close to a stone wall at the garden's edge. Focusing on his aura, levitating weighted balls of different materials from wood, metals and dust circling around him. His face scrunches in deep concentration that his expression could be mistaken for pain, keeping the weighted balls afloat, circling around him while releasing a pulse of his aura. But that wasn't the only thing Cinder was surprised about it. The stone wall in front of Jaune is filled with large craters indented on the wall. It didn't take long for her to fit two and two together, confirming her theory, when one of the weights launched towards the wall, making a large crater. Cinder dreaded such power and control. She is glad Jaune is on their side, already fearing at the receiving end of those weights.
During the day, for the first time in her life, Cinder genuinely enjoys Jaune's company. Even though it's a fake date, she hates to admit it. This is the best day of her life. Unlike her previous "dates" with her targets, there was nothing genuine about it. Most of them would shower her with lien, gifts and lying lips to just get into her in bed. Other times they would take her to places that would show off "dominate" power or their riches and position, which barely piqued her interest. The reason she goes to these targets is mainly used for a cause to the Queen and Prince of Grimm. At first, she expects Jaune to take the lead with his audacity making him look like a fool. But instead, she encountered something she didn't expect him to ask of her.
"Cinder…I'm sorry to ask of this, but…" he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed with a slight tint of pink on his cheeks.
"Is it alright if you take the lead?" his honest expression indicates to Cinder that he literally has no clue where he is going while scratching his cheek. Yet Fenrir and Raven stare at the prince with embarrassment, while Cinder's eye twitches in exasperation towards Jaune when he proposes this fake date and doesn't plan this through.
"hehe…sorry, it's just…Mistral changes over the years after the war. I could barely recognize it." As Jaune stared at the distance to the kingdom known as Mistral. Yet it felt foreign to him. He knows it's not the same Mistral. To him, it's just another kingdom with the same name. Yet seeing him in depression and his eyes yearning for closure or some form of familiarity.
A sigh of frustration at seeing the all-powerful Prince of Grimm in such depression, which in no bound annoy Cinder to the core. She fears this being of immense power, yet seeing him in such a pathetic state, she's beginning to reevaluate her opinion of Jaune. She wasn't sure if she was either gazing at the embodiment of death or a kicked Direwolf puppy. Which reminded her of something.
"I hope Ember is doing okay without me. Although I did ask Emerald to keep an eye on him while I'm away. I wonder how they're doing?" Cinder ponders and worries about her Direwolf pup.
"Um, Cinder? Are you okay?" Jaune calls out, snapping Cinder back into reality. She shakes her thoughts off and grabs hold of Jaune's hand, and drags him along to follow her.
"Come on. I'll show you around. I visited Mistral a couple times during missions and spent some R&R to relax." Even though Cinder didn't see Jaune smile at her in gratitude, she was too embarrassed to look Jaune in the face.
"Thank you, Cinder…."
"Sh-shut up! You know it's the man who usually escorts the date, not the other way around, you idiot."
"but still, thank you…." he continues to smile, knowing Cinder is doing this on his behalf.
"Just shut up…you do know I'm taking the lead at the moment. I expect you to hold on to the deal." She blushes redder than her dress.
"Of Course, but I'm not going to lose that easily."
Meanwhile, in Evernight castle…
"who's a good boy? You are. Yes, you are." Emerald coos while playing with the young pup on her lap. She carries the adorable puppy in her hands while admiring Ember while she lays on her bed. She pulls him closer to nuzzle him while Ember licks her face with affection.
"Cinder is so lucky to have you…." She smiles till her lips thin, realizing Ember was gifted to Cinder by Jaune. She slowly reminisces about her interaction with Jaune; honestly, those were the fondest memories she has of Jaune. Although, when she thinks about it and compares her interaction with Cinder's, Jaune seem to favour Cinder over her. After that incident at Springvale, they became somewhat close and spent more time with each other than during their first interaction. She still remembers that they were at each other throats to kill each other. And hates to admit it, even though this had never occurred to her before, but…she couldn't help but feel jealous of Cinder. Ever since she was by Cinder's side, she never felt these emotions of frustration, envy, and hate towards the person who saved her life from the slums. Yet seeing the image of Cinder with Jaune, she couldn't but wake up these emotions. Her grasp unintentionally tightens around Ember's small frame, and he begins yelping in pain. Snapping Emerald's train of thought and immediately losing her grip.
"Sorry, boy…" she sighs with regret, sitting up with Ember on her lap, while the pup stare confused and decides to nudge its head against Emerald's hand for more pets. While she couldn't but smile at the young Direwolf and complies with its request. Yet the frustration still lingers in her mind. Pinching the bridge of her nose with a sigh and staring down at Ember.
"do you wanna go for a walk, boy?" as soon as the pup heard the magic word, his eyes widened, his ear pointed up to attention, and his tail wagged rapidly with excitement. Without a second thought, Ember leaps off her lap, rushes to the door, and scratches for it to be open. Opening the door for the pup to run out and watching Ember running around excitedly in the quiet hallway, sniffing different sections of the area to pique Ember's curiosity, sometimes waiting for Emerald to follow him if he travels too far from her.
Emerald couldn't help but smile at the slight altercation of the small Grimm or wolf? She's still getting her head around the idea that it's a Grimm, but at the same time, it's not. With small bone spikes protruding out of its shoulders and back of its hind legs and a small bone white growing out of its forehead. From what she understands from Cinder, Direwolves slowly grow their plated bone armour out of their skin like sweat, then harden within minutes. While their spikes grow like horns. Even Watts was curious about Jaune's Direwolves and took it upon himself to "study" the specimen, which turned to be his greatest mistake and Cinder's amusement of seeing Ember ravaging Watts to be his chew toy that Watts grew a phobia towards Ember.
Still pondering on Ember's existence, she notices Ember's tail wag excitedly faster than usual and immediately rushes down the hallway and turns the corner. With a jolt of instant fear, Emerald quickly runs after him, fearing what happened last time she almost lost sight of him. Ember encountered Tyrian and almost got shishkabob if she didn't tell him it was one of Jaune's Direwolves.
She turns the corner and sees Ember, standing on his hind legs, looking up at the person's leg excitedly. The person Ember is with stunned Emerald to the core, Salem, Queen of Grimm, fearing what she would do to him. Emerald immediately rushes over to get Ember but only sees Ember being carried in Salem's arms while panting excitedly. Salem couldn't help but smile, pet the young pup, and turn to Emerald.
"Emerald, care to join me?" she turns and walks away as Emerlard is reluctant to follow behind her. They walk in silence for a moment, while Emerald is concerned for Ember of scenarios of what Salem doing to the young pup. Crushing the puppy with her bare hands or muzzling his jaw shut and suffocating him might explain why Ember hasn't made a lately. She picks up the pace yet still fears standing by the Queen of Grimm. But looking at her, she couldn't help but see Jaune in her place for a moment. She shakes her head of such thought, builds up the strength and approaches Salem till she's walking by her side and look over with a sigh of relief to see Ember breathing and sleeping in Salem's arms and calming down from the worst case. Although, now that she realizes it, she has never been in this close proximity to Salem before. Usually, she keeps her distance and stays close to Cinder at all times, admittedly to avoid Salem from occurring from her wrath. After learning about her time here, the only people who would stand close to the Queen of Grimm are insane like Tyrian, a schmeers like Arthur or have lost the will to live like Hazel.
"Emerald…" Salem calls out her name, jolting her in shock for her attention.
"Y-yes, ma'am!" Emerald stutters
"Is there something on your mind?" Salem asks with a knowing smile towards the girl like she's read Emerald's mind and wanted the shy, shuttering child before her to say it. This surprised Emerald to have a simple conversation with the Queen of Grimm herself. Initially, she thought she was just a background, to never be acknowledged by a woman of her calibre.
"Um… n-no, ma'am! E-everything is fine! Really!" she stutters with her face flush red as her eyes. Try to deny it and look away, yet it doesn't sway Salem away from the conversation, knowing the child is in denial. She internally sighs as she has seen this so many times from Jaune's past partners it's oblivious to her. She thought this generation would be forward regarding relationships compared to the old days. But instead, this generation became more cowardly than ever. Like they rather to be alone and loveless forever than confess their feelings. She sighs and misses the old days when relationships are raw and passionate. So she might as well break the ice and head straight to the child to set her as a woman.
"You sure it doesn't involve Jaune?" she states, freezing Emerald on the spot of fear of being too obvious and failing to hide it, her face flush even redder than before. She stares at the Queen in dread and embarrassment while she smiles at her like she sees an adorable, frightened kitten.
"You can't hide it from me, dear. No matter how hard you try to bury it or deny it. I can still see it in your eyes." As Salem bends down, gently hold on to Emerald's chin as she stares at the child's ruby eyes.
"The yearning of love," Salem replies as Emerald's eyes widen even more in shock.
"You're not the first to fall for my son and defiantly not his last." She lets go of Emerald's chin and walks away but stops at a certain distance and looks over her shoulder, seeing Salem's eye stare at her.
"A word of advice from his mother, dear. My son tends to be dense sometimes regarding the opposite sex. So my advice. Just tell him. He may not respond to you immediately. Give it some time, and knowing my son, he will return his feelings. Understand?" Emerald nods and watches the Queen and Mother of her Lover Jaune walk away, leaving the girl to her thoughts.
"Oh, I almost forgot. You are not the only girl who's after his heart. And I'm sure you know who it is?" Salem calls out with a sly smile across her face knowing that this would "encourage" dear Emerald to be more forward quicker.
"Better make your move Emerald. Cinder has the advantage." Salem teases, knowing the poor girl will be in a mental breakdown, while she walks away with Ember still in her arms, scratching the back of his ear while sleeping peacefully.
"I wonder how Cinder is doing?" she thought, and just on cue, her scroll vibrates, and she pulls it out to see a message from Jaune with a photo attached. She crooks her brow with curiosity and slight confusion when she reads the text.
"My first selfie. Cinder said people in my "supposed" age take selfies for fun. But I don't see the appeal of it?"
As Salem opens the photo, a smile spreads across her face of approval and pride in what she sees. Jaune gives a confused look of uncertainty while holding up his scroll to take a picture with Cinder's arms wrapped around his neck with her body pressed closely to Jaune, yet his oblivious and kisses him on the cheek with a smile while looking at the camera. While they stand on a beautiful porch overlooking the entirety of Mistral forest with the sun behind them.
"Oh, my. It seems I might be expecting a new grandchild sooner than expected." She joyously smiled with a hop and a skip as she couldn't contain her excitement.
Mistral, a few hours earlier. The dating game came out normal and odd for Cinder as she played as a tour guide for the prince and showed him around Mental for the first time. She expected it to be boring for him to listen to her. But to her surprise, his been constantly listening to her. He even wrote down notes. She wasn't sure if she was being insulted or flattered that someone was actually listening to her and enjoying it. If his wide smile of enjoying it wasn't noticeable or how wide-eye expression he was when he awed at Mistral's national moment. A large fountain with statues of Faunus warriors in various armour standing together, their weapons raised, ready for battle, while a lone figure in full plate armour stands on top of a ledge at the centre. Its right hand holds the sword and its left reach for the other statues. The water flows out of its hand, washing down to his comrades in a strong current like his granting power to his allies while they charge for battle.
"Cinder…what can you tell me about this fountain?" he asks without batting an eye away from the fountain as Cinder reluctant answers.
"It was erected after the Faunus wars as a memorial of the Fallen heroes."
"and the man in full plate armour? Who is he?"
"You should know who it is." The one in full plate armour was Jaune as the Fallen Avian, but without the wings.
"I know, but the last time I was here. This used to be a spring to drink. Why?" still eyeing the fountain as Cinder sighs and crosses her arms, trying to remember how the story she read during her studies with Selam when she was taken in.
"the story goes that not only the Fallen Avian was a hero of the war but also the saviour of Mistral. Back then, which I assume you've experienced, Mistral was never a clean city. However, even though it was an ideal location for supply transport to the front line and main base of operation, the water supply was scarce during the war, so they had to rely on rainwater. But that's also unreliable. It's not enough to house the civilians or the wounded. Morale drops and Questions arise about leaving. Then one day, during a hot summer, the frontline warriors return from their exhausting battle and travel from Vacuo. The wounded were minimal, and no casualties. However…." As she looked up and stared at Jaune and couldn't help but scrunch her brow in denial and grip her own arm, she couldn't help but be frustrated. She still remembered the text when she first read it. She thought it was nothing but war story propaganda, but now seeing the Fallen Avian himself. She couldn't help but question Jaune's insanity.
"However?" Jaune turns to Cinder to continue as she sighs and looks away from Jaune.
"Among the warriors returning, one stood out from the crowd, a warrior don in full black plate armour wholly stained in blood they weren't even sure whose blood it was. But that wasn't what frightened them. It's what he did next that scared them. He kept walking, ignoring their plea to stop and rest. Yet, they couldn't touch the hot armour due to the hot sun, so they let him be till finally, he fell to his knees. Took his shield and started digging. At first, they thought he had lost it. Being on the front lines broke him. He kept digging for three days and three nights straight, deep enough for a grave, and on the fourth day, a miracle happened. A spring of unlimited water ushered out of the hole. Bringing an eternal spring, Morale returns to Mistral and their warriors to continue fighting for the Faunus war, with the kingdom thriving. And to this day, the eternal spring continues to flow and is one of many water sources in Mistral still in use today." She couldn't help but smile at such a story. At first, she thought that's what it was. A story. But now, it's hard to deny being by his side and seeing him firsthand what he's capable of.
"It's like…." She pauses and turns her attention back to Jaune, expecting him to be in awe at the fountain left behind in his honour. But instead, she finds him shaking on the spot in a blushing mess, repeatedly saying, "ohmyoum, ohmyoum". The crowd slowly kept their distance and stared at him like a lunatic.
Cinder blushed, embarrassed that seeing someone break down is embarrassing, and immediately took him and walked him away from the crowd to a nearby Café to order food for him and his pets. Maybe some food would calm him down. Instead, he stares at his burger and fries with a milkshake on the side.
He sighs while his two animal companions can't help but feel awkward and sweatdrop in this situation. Seeing their master in a stuttering messing is new to them. While Fenrir eats a steak sandwich on the floor with Raven peaking a grilled salmon on the table while people stare at the odd couple, while the children stare excitedly at the animals eating. While Cinder continued watching Jaune staring at his burger and fries, he decided to break the silence and go straight to the point.
"Jaune, are you okay?" she asks, snapping Jaune's daze and scratching the back of his head. Silences fill the air, and Cinder sees that Jaune hesitates to respond for a few minutes.
"Um, Cinder…that story about the spring. Is it common in Mistral?" he blushes, which caught Cinder surprised and confused about why his asking that question.
"Uh, yeah. Why?" Cinder replies, and immediately Jaune slam his head on the table and groan in embarrassment, surprising everyone who's watching. Which embarrassed Cinder. She quickly leans forward and tries to calm him down.
"Jaune, what's got into you?" she whispers while seeing the other customers whisper about them.
"Cinder, that story….is over exaggerated…." He moans, embarrassed.
"What?"
"I was wearing that armour in the first place in the hot sun because of a dare…."
"wait, what?" Cinder says while giving a deadpan stare.
"It was a game of truth or dare, and Catherine dared me to put on my armour for an entire week."
"wait, so you didn't go to the frontlines?" her deadpan stare deepens
"it was a temporary cease-fire at that time. Due to our water shortage problem, I went out with a small team to find a new water source and returned empty-handed. While still in the armour that day, they kept their distance from me." Jaune cries, remembering his team keeping their distance while covering their nose and taking breaths to avoid tasting it.
"so you didn't come back covered in blood?" her deadpan stare deepens even further.
"No…the reason they kept their distance is not my hot armour, although that might be another reason. But in reality, I suffered a severe case body odour, and due to Faunus having a sensitive nose, I stunk so much. They kept me outside and won't let me till I got a bath, even though we had a water shortage. But no matter how often I beg, they won't let me or even come close to them." Jaune cries as Cinder's deadpan stare deepens so much that her image of Jaune as a hero, a legend, immediately changes to an idiot that stands before her.
"Jaune, for both of our sakes, I implore you that we never speak of this again." She begs, unsure if she can hold in her insanity any longer from this.
"Deal…So what's the next agenda?" he asked while stroking Raven's nape, hoping that would help him stop sulking, which she didn't mind while she continued eating her grilled salmon. Cinder pulled out her scroll to check the time, nodded, and turned to Jaune, now seeing Fenrir have her fill resting on his lap while he pets her along her back, trying to comfort him.
"it's best we head for the hotel. Or else we'll risk your room being cancelled."
It didn't take long to arrive at the Mistral Shine Hotel. As they saw the two hundred and fifty story building, overlapping the mountain behind it, that roof is at the peak, like it's between two mountains and merge together only the front of the building exposed and the other half at the other side of the hill. In the traditional architecture of Mistral, the exposed wooden black supports contrast the white marble exterior walls. With stone stairs with lantern light up leading to its large doors. As the doors slid open, they found themselves in a large reception with a traditional Ryokan interior of paper sliding doors and bamboo straw mats. They were greeted by a cat Faunus maid in traditional Mistral kimono.
"Welcome to the Mistral Shine Hotel. How can I be of assistance?" she greets with a smile.
"Hi, I book a room under Jaune Arc." Jaune smiles as the maid shirk in shock.
"eh!? Your Lord Arc!?" as the staff and other guests stop and turn their attention directly to Jaune and Cinder.
"Wait, Lord Arc?" Jaune crooks his brow at the sudden title.
"A-apologies...may I see your ID and your confirmation form?" she asked as Jaune was to pull out the requested items, but Cinder beat him to it and took his scroll showing his ID and handing the form to the maid.
"Cinder, I have the form here." He says, confused.
"your mother made last-minute changes to your room and refused to let you stay in the economy room." She replies.
"then what did she give me?" he asks as the maid calls out to Jaune and bows in a Dogeza.
"Forgive me of my transgression, Lord Arc!" she apologizes, causing a scene and making Jaune uncomfortable with the situation.
"there's no need to apologize! This is the first time I'm hearing about this, and why did you call me Lord Arc? I'm not a politician." Calming the maid as she clears her throat.
"Apologies, we give the title "Lord" to our guests who book the penthouse suite on the top floor. Usually, that floor is only given to High profile clients and politicians." She explained, and Jaune couldn't help but scream internally with humiliation.
"Dammit, Mom! why do you always do this."
"Originally, the penthouse suite was meant for Pyrrha Nikos. But you managed to book it before it came official." She smiles, snapping Jaune out of his internal torment and staring confused.
"Who?" he asks, oblivious
"My daughter!" a voice growls from behind Jaune and Cinder.
They turn to see a tall, lean man in a brown suit with a long overcoat hanging on his shoulders, his face stern with a thick beard covering his jaw and around his lips, and his eyes crease directly towards Jaune. With two women by his side, to his left is his wife, with shoulder-length red hair, green eyes and thick frame glasses as she sighs to her husband. On his right, Jaune would assume to be his daughter. Tall and quite muscular, in Jaune's opinion, she wore her hair in a waist-length ponytail matching her mother's eyes and red hair as she gestured a forced smile with a slight wave of embarrassment from the public attention.
"Leonidas Nikos, it is best for you to remember it, boy, especially my daughter, Pyrrha." He leers toward Jaune, trying to intimidate the young man.
"Father, please…I told you it's fine." Pyrrha pleads as the stares of the public intensify.
"Who?" Jaune repeats, entirely oblivious of the situation, while Cinder can't help but smile and wonder if Jaune is acting or if he really is an idiot. Pyrrha stared at the boy in surprise. This boy before her and of the same age had never heard of her.
"Pyrrha! My daughter! Weren't you listening, boy!?" he shouts to the boy.
"Apologize, but I still don't understand what's going on. Or why are you referring to your daughter? Is she a celebrity or something?" he replies while scratching the back of his head, oblivious. Surprisingly, the Nikos family were known to be famous Huntsman and huntress couple back at Argus, especially their daughter Pyrrha. Everyone in Remnant should know her as the three-time champion of the Mistral Regional tournament, an outstanding achievement for someone as young as her. But to meet someone who hasn't heard of her is baffling. But Leonidas does not take it so well and sees it as an insult to his daughter as he grips Jaune's shirt causing a scene as both his wife and daughter call out to stop him.
"Leo!"
"Father!"
Cinder was about to jump in to stop but saw Jaune's hand signing her to hold and let him handle this, so she followed his orders.
"Are you an idiot boy!? You are practically the same age, and you never heard of her!? Were you raised in the cave?"
"Actually… I was born and raised in a frontier village with few connections to the other kingdoms. We never concern ourselves with tabloids, only the Grimm." Jaune smiles genuinely, surprising the Nikos family that this boy lives on the frontier.
"You haven't explained what your daughter did to earn her status."
"she's Mistral, three-time champion of the Mistral regional tournament!"
"oooh," Jaune replies as Leonidas smirks with recognition from the boy, while Pyrrha sighs in the disappointment of someone knowing her. If she was honest, she would gladly love to spend time with someone normal who doesn't know her.
"You're competing for the Mistral regional tournament as well?! That is so cool, me too." Jaune smiles excitedly, looking over Leonidas's shoulder to Pyrrha with excitement. Surprising, both Pyrrha and her father but on different views.
"Are you that oblivious, Boy?" he asks
"With respect, sir, and to your daughter as well. To me, fame and fortune are nothing compared to the Grimm. Tournaments are controlled environments to prevent casualties. Outside of the walls, however, they will never show mercy." Jaune says sternly and nonchalant. Cinder couldn't help but smile at the Nikos family's expression to Jaune of shock, along with other guests who stayed and watched the scene.
"So forgive me for my bluntness, but I don't care who your daughter is. To me, she's just like every other girl. And if she is that you claim her to be." Jaune pauses, then points at her with a competitive stare at Pyrrha with a brilliant smile and a wink.
"Then I'll be waiting for you in the regional tournament."
Pyrrha wasn't sure what was happening to her, her chest beating harder, her breath rasping, cheeks stinging, and for the first time in her life, she finally met someone who hadn't heard of her or cared about her fame. And never openly challenged her like that. Unlike her previous challengers, they only cared about winning her title. But this Jaune person didn't question her for her title like the others. No, he challenges her like she's just a regular competitor. She couldn't help but tighten her hands with excitement to finally meet someone who would treat her the normalcy she always wanted, not pram and pampered on a pedestal.
While Pyrrha was in a trance of awe, her mother noticed her daughter's flushed face and happy expression towards the young ma. She had never seen her daughter look like that before and couldn't help but smile at her daughter. But this continues to infuriate Leonidas with callous disrespect towards the Career of his Daughter. She worked so hard to be Mistral's champion and the title of the Goddess of Victory, which any parent would be proud of. Yet this boy before him is callously ignorant towards his daughter and has the nerve to challenge her like she's his equal!?
"why you, Brat!?" Leonidas roars, raising his fist, preparing to strike Jaune across the face. Before he could follow through with his train of thought, with wide-eyed shock from not only his daughter but also the public watching the scene from the sidelines. A voice calls out to him in dread, a voice that he fears, who he fears more than the Grimm…his wife.
"Leonidas…" her voice carries with venom and dread that people from the audience slowly back away and leave, while her Husband freezes in fear for seeing his beloved wife in such a terrifying state and knowing his in court. They never call out their names, mainly pet names, like honey, baby, sweetie, and love. And he isn't the only one. Jaune literally shakes, reminding him too much of his mother when she's mad.
"You put that young man down this insistent. Or so help me, you'll be sleeping on the cough for the rest of your stay." She threatens as Leonidas cries and complies, dropping Jaune and heading straight for the reception with intent in him from his wife. As his wife turns to the crowd staring at them and leers intently, they immediately return to their business, leaving the remaining members of the Nikos family and Jaune and his company.
"I apologize on my husband's behalf. He tends to be a bit too prideful. Hera Nikos, it is a pleasure to meet you." As Hera reaches down to Jaune. He smiles and accepts Hera's hand as she pulls him up.
"It's alright. Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." He smiles with confidence as Hera chuckles at Jaune's statement, while Cinder can't help but sweatdrop uncomfortably by that quote.
"where the hell did Jaune learn that?" Cinder questions.
"Do they?" Hera laugh as Jaune isn't one bit offended but laughs at the joke.
"Depends. But my mother always told me. Be sure to leave a woman smiling after introductions."
"Oh my, your mother must be a wise woman. To teach her handsome son with such manners."
"Haha, thank you." He laughs while scratching his head's back, surprising Cinder and Pyrrha.
"I-is she/mother hitting on him!?" they thought.
"Is your Mother with you? I would love to meet her?" Hera ask
"Sadly, no. My mother has responsibilities back home."
"oh, I see…that's a shame. I would love to meet your mother." Hera sighs in disappointment as Pyhrra coughs for attention. Hera turns and can't help but smile at her little girl's falling in love. Though she did notice the beautiful young lady waiting for Jaune, she couldn't help but worry about the situation for her daughter's chance at a loving relationship.
"Oh, my… Sorry, dear. This is my daughter, Pyrrha Nikos." Hera steps aside and introduces Pyrrha as she steps forwards and raises her hand towards Jaune.
"H-Hello", she stutters while smiling.
"It's nice to meet you too, Pyrrha. Jaune Arc." He accepted the gesture with a close smile, as Pyrrha couldn't help how cute and innocent he was, but that changed when she saw the women behind Jaune glaring daggers at her, which froze Pyhrra on the spot to which Jaune noticed and looked over his shoulder. But instead of seeing an intimidating stare, he sees a sweet, caring smile towards him like his essential to her.
"Oh, how rude of me." he lets go of Pyhrra's hand as she moaned a little in disappointment, hoping to hold his hand a little longer and approach the Raven head woman and hold her hand to join the conversation.
"This is Cinder Fall. She's m-" but by the time Jaune could finish, Cinder wrapped her arms around Jaune's arm, pressing her chest against his biceps.
"His fiancé", she smiles smugly towards the woman with their shocked reaction along with Jaune, till Cinder breaks character and laughs.
"Just kidding." She smiles, lets go of Jaune, approaches Hera, and introduces herself.
"Cinder Fall. Jaune's older sister." She smiles with her hand raised to her, surprising yet again for both Nikos and Jaune himself and immediately understands where she's going and follows along.
"S-sister? Apologies, but you don't look related," Pyrrha stutters in shock.
"She's adopted before I was born," Jaune replies as the woman all turned to Jaune as he averts his eyes away with a noticeable light blush across his face.
"oh, I see. Sorry about the accusation." Hera bows apologetically.
"Don't worry, it's fine." She waves it off and continues to mingle with both Hera and Pyrrha while Jaune watches from the side till his scroll vibrates and pulls it out, and to his surprise, it's his mother.
"wait, you're not staying?" Hera ask
"Sadly, no. I have other business to attend to help mom out back home." She smiles and then realizes what she said out loud, referring to Salem, the Queen of Grimm, to her mother. It didn't take long for her to hear a snort from Jaune. Trying to hold in his laughter with a scroll on his ear.
"Um, sis… mum wants to talk to you." Jaune smiles while Cinder's face pales in horror, and she stares at the prince's scroll with the name "Mum" on the screen and lit up green indicating Salem is on the other side of the line. She hesitantly reaches for the scroll begging this isn't happening. While Seeing Jaune's annoying smile, with full intent knowing his enjoying this.
"Yes, la-I mean…mu-mum…."
"…" a pause silences in the other line, waiting and anticipating Salem's verdict of how she would react or worse, what she would say. Not even the sound of her breathing could be heard on the line until a response would finally determine Cinder's life.
"Cinder…" she jolted in fright when her name was called out from Salem's lips, unsure if it was direct or solemn.
"Put me on speaker now…." Salem orders stern. Cinder wants to protest against the idea and turns to Jaune for help to oppose the argument. But only to see him smirk across his face towards Cinder, telling her, 'You're on your own.' She raised the scroll with her thumb hesitantly over the speaker button. But knowing Salem, she's not the type to wait. As Cinder braces herself for the scolding, she will get Salem's wrath from that mom's comment. And pushes the button and calls out to Salem.
"Y-you're on speaker now…mum."
"It took you seven years to finally call me mum. All thanks to Jaune for breaking your walls. Maybe I should let you continue babysitting Jaune from now on." Salem states which Cinder could tell from the tone of her voice. After many years of serving her, she can tell Salem is flippantly smiling at her. Cinder couldn't help feeling more humiliated, but it then dons on her when she turns to Jaune. Seeing Jaune's eyes wide in shock, then she realizes a smirk towards the prince.
'If I'm going to suffer. I'm taking you with me.'
When she was about to respond, Jaune immediately snatched his scroll back and called out to the scroll with the speaker turned off.
"Mum! That is not necessary!" he shouts in panic.
"Jaune…" her voice stern and authoritative to Jaune like the mother she is would do to scold him.
"put me back on the speaker…." She instructed, and Jaune groaned, which Salem heard crocking her brow.
"I could do without the attitude, young man." Jaune presses the speaker and hands the scroll back to Cinder while Hera and Pyhrra stare, baffled by the young man.
The two women couldn't help but be surprised by the women's voice and tone in the scroll to sound confident of her position, authoritative in her right, strong to never give in and yet still have a heart of a caring Mother.
A true woman of authority, both Hera and Pyrrha couldn't help but be in awe, and both wished to meet Jaune's Mother. Hera, couldn't contain her excitement wanting to talk to Jaune's Mother and called out to them.
"Jaune is this your mother!?" Hera says in excitement, which froze the people in question in surprise, including Salem, to hear another woman's voice and guess from Hera's tone, 'she sounds old'. While both Cinder and Jaune gasp as they completely forget they're still in the middle of the hotel's foyer.
"Jaune? are you with a woman? Cinder, who is she?" she says, alert and defensive, but Hera immediately defuses the misunderstanding.
"oh no, it's not what it sounds like. I'm with my husband and our daughter. She's competing in the regional tournament."
"Oh, my apologies. For being very defensive." Salem apologized, which surprised Cinder to hear Salem apologize to a human, a lesser being to her. Never in her life would Cinder have thought that Salem, Queen of Grimm, the immortal witch of Darkness that reigns over the brother of Darkness's Domain, was hers. To Create, lead, control and destroy those who stand in her way, apologizes to a human. She turns to Jaune for clarity, but Jaune is oblivious of Salem's apology but crocks her brow to Cinder's expression, confused, as she's still in denial of what she just heard.
"Oh, don't be. It's understandable. As a fellow mother, I would also be concerned for my daughter's safety when being approached by other men. But your son here is nothing but a true gentleman. You taught him very well to talk to a lady, like a true knight in shining armour. I wouldn't mind letting him date my daughter." Hera praises while shocking both Jaune and Pyrrha by surprise with their faces flush red, while Salem, on the other line, couldn't help but smile at the woman who offers her daughter to her son. Curiosity got the best of Salem in wanting to meet this woman as she believed they would get along well.
"Jaune, aren't you going to introduce us?" this surprised Jaune as he knew his mother is rarely fond of any interest in socializing with other people unless it is for her own benefit.
"Uh, right. Mom, this is Hera Nikos, along with her daughter Pyrrha Nikos…."
"Pleasure to meet you or speak to you in this case." Hera jest, and for a brief moment, both Cinder and Jaune heard a light chuckle from Salem. But Jaune continues on with the introduction.
"Hera, Pyrrha, this is my Mother and current head of the Frontier Village and Queen of the Castle, Salem Arc." Salem pulls the scroll away from her ear and stares with a brow twitch at Frontier Village that Jaune mentioned, then realizes it's part of Jaune's cover story. But the reason her brow twitched was that Queen of the castle line, she knew that Jaune was joking but couldn't help but to think that his being mischievous but smirk at the end.
"Cinder, please slap your brother at the back of the head," she ordered and waited till she heard a loud cry of his son's pain.
"Ooooowwww!" Jaune bellows in pain through the speaker of her scroll.
"I may be on the other side of Remnant. But that doesn't mean you get cheeky with me, young man." As she couldn't help but smile, she knew that Jaune received the message very well and behaved.
"Sorry, mum…" Jaune groans in pain while rubbing the back of his head. While both Pyrrha and Hera try to hold in their laughter.
Omake: Fetch
Evernight castle, the forever night lands, the Domain of the previous lord of Darkness, the heart of the Grimmlands and home of the current Queen and Prince of Grimm. The land is barren, devoid of life as far as the eye can see like life is not welcome or permitted to stay. The only thing that resembles the slight slimmer of life are the void pools of tar, deadly to all life that corrupts the creations of life. The question left unanswered in Emerald's mind when she joins Cinder and Salem's cause is how can you tell the time of day? There were never clear skies to know if it was either day or night. It always shone purple on the GrimmLands, which they have to rely on their internal clock and scrolls when spending the night in Evernight castle.
As the sound of scratches sounds on Emeralrd's door, she reaches out for her scroll to see what time it is, showing it is two O'clock in the morning. Knowing the time, she ignored the scratches and went back to sleep. But the scratching continues, and she has to put a pillow over her head to dampen the noise. It worked till she heard another sound that Emerald immediately recognized. Forcing herself off her bed and head to Ember's cries. She rushes to the door, looks down, and sees Ember directly running into her room, noticing that Ember is carrying something in his mouth, but Emerald is too tired to care and plops herself back on her bed. She finally relaxed, peeked out of her bed of curiosity about what Ember had brought with him, and noticed his chewing on something in his dog bed. It was too dark to determine what it was, and she assumed it was probably a bone he found in the kitchen.
As she finally relaxed and her eyes drifted to darkness, she heard a loud banging sound on her door, yet it didn't take a genius to know who it was, Merc the Moron. This was his "go-to" when he was looking for her or wanted to ask her a dumb question. Though it did receive a snarl from Ember, which piqued her curiosity about Ember's hostility towards Merc. But didn't care as she placed the pillow over her head again to deepen the noise as Merc continuously banged the door, while her frustration slowly built up as its too early to deal with Merc's crap. But Merc didn't take long to start shouting to get Emerald's attention.
"Open the door, Em! I know you're awake with that dumb mutt!" he shouts through the door as Emerald grits her teeth in frustration and bellows back to Merc.
"Merc! It's two in the fucking morning! Go away! Or you'll be filled up with lead!" she bellows back, but Merc doesn't stop and furiously bangs the door even louder. Thank dust, she locked her room but didn't stop the banging. Gritting her teeth, she placed the pillow over her head, wishing for the sweet silence to sleep, but the knocking refused to cease. She had it! She couldn't take any longer and pulled out her weapon, thief's respite, from her nightstand and opened fire at the door. She Hoped Merc would get the message and piss off, although she may receive a scolding from the old fart (Watts) or the Silent meathead (Hazel). It was quiet for a moment that Emerald lowered her jungle green pistol, believing Merc got the message and left. She sighs to finally relax. The craziness is finally over…
"KROOOMM!'" the sound of her door smashed open suddenly, and her reflexes kicked in. She drew both her weapons and immediately opened fire on the door, she did warn him, so this is on him. she kept firing her pistols till she was out.
"Damn it, Em! Are you trying to kill me!?" Mercury shouts while peeking out from the door frame.
"I did warn you! And it's two in the morning! What do you want!?"
"that mutt!"
"Mutt?" giving Merc a questionable look.
"You realize if you hurt him, Cinder will kill you!"
"I won't hurt him! I just want my leg back!"
"Wait, What?" she quickly turned back the Ember, looked very closely, and saw the prosthetic leg being chewed on by Ember.
"I'm coming out! Don't shoot, okay!" Emerald complied, but that didn't mean she'll lower her weapon till she saw Merc hopping to view. When she looks down, she sees Merc missing one of his prosthetics with the pants on the missing prosthetics torn and can tell her bullet is torn through. At least she hit something, although she couldn't help but snort and laugh at how ridiculous Merc looked. Besides his torn pants, he seems exhausted, like he ran a marathon.
"It's not funny, Em!"
"Your right! It's hilarious!" she laughs.
"Shut up! Just help me get my leg back!" he retorts.
"Sure, go for it."
"huh?"
"If you think I'm going to help you against a Direwolf pup, you got another thing coming." As Emerald pulled a key out of her drawer, she left the room and patted Merc's shoulder on the way.
"good luck, Merc. You're going to need it." She tirelessly walks away.
"Hey! Where are you going?" he turns
"Away from you! Anyway, good luck. Aim for the blind spot on his left side." Emerald advise.
"Thanks, Em." Merc Smiles
"I was talking to Ember." As she disappears to the corner.
"Wha-" Merc asks, confused till he finds himself falling to the floor, looking down and seeing both his legs are gone and Ember in his dog chewing boy his prosthetic legs like a chew toy.
"GODDAMMIT!" Mercury yells while Emerald hears the sounds rustling in her room in the distance while she heads for her destination.
She arrived at her destination, tiredly inserting the key into the and turning the key, unlocking the lock and opening the door. Revealing Jaune's room, she immediately plops into his soft bed and covers herself with the silk sheets while hugging a pillow like a person. With a sigh of bliss and her heavy eye closing, she couldn't help but be immersed in a familiar scent on the pillow.
"Jaune…"
Hey guys sorry for the dealy as i'm juggling between life and hobby as i'm working on another fanfic that could help for inspiration. that there will be a delay instead of monthly upload to every 2 months. i'm sorry and hope you understand. as always give it a like, review and follow your supprot if very appreciated and my drive to write more fanfic. Izzy out.