Pre-Note: Thank you for all the well wishes. I have read every comment and thank you. Right now our bachelor is doing good. The only thing we really are missing beside the finishing touches is for those we are writing for to test our application and give us feedback. Unfortunately, that is something they should have bene finished with this week, unfortunately they are cunts. And have delayed two weeks, so we may or may not get time to properly include it into the paper. Yay. But again, thanks for all the well wishes. It means a lot to me.
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"Why is there a catacomb in the sewers?" Nora's question echoed around. Neatly stacked femurs lined the right wall, only broken up by hands spread open holding skulls as if they were flowers. The left wall had skulls arranged in the shape of crosses and filled with other religious symbolia.
"Plague some centuries ago. Five I think but can just as easily be more." Jaune shrugged. "If you look around, a shitton of people died. All cemeteries were filled, so the people of that time had to get creative with how they buried their dead. They coulndt start throwing people to the grimm, as that was guaranteed to start a revolt. Not really an option when half the city was dead, and a quarter of the population was dying." Stopping his explanation, Jaune blinked. Hearing the telltale sign of an echo ringing out from the walls. Ignoring it, he continued. "Of course there were they who thought throwing themselves to the grimm would be preferable to dying from the plague."
"What happened next?" Violet asked innocently. Out of his team, she was the only one who seemed genuinely curious. Nora and Pyrrha looked uncomfortable. Shooting glances at the skulls, nervously biting their lips and picking up the pace slightly. Qrow looked apathetic, only kissing his hipflask as he took another swig. Aurora for her part put up a brave front, even if her eyes were tight, her lips a thin line, she didn't allow herself to be afraid. Ren looked a mix between tired, annoyed, and done.
'Catacombs equal dead people. Dead people equal ghosts and other restless spirits. Ren can see ghosts.' His mind whispered. Ren's spirituality might have settled, but his insight had still greatly increased. Jaune didn't doubt for a second that he saw far more now than he had in the beginning.
"What about a little thinking exercise." Jaune answered instead with a little smile. A smile that only grew more when Violet pouted at him. "What happens when a rich well-developed nation with strong enemies and weak allies suddenly loses large parts of their population?"
Seeing Violet scrunch her brows, Jaune patted her on the head with a smile. Picking up the pace slightly. Sinking into familiar instincts, his smile thinned out. Skipping onto another walkway and disappearing into another corridor. Frowning slightly, Jaune saw the corridor slinking downwards while he felt himself ascend upwards. This wasn't the first time this had happened. It was something he had experienced multiple times in the Tomb. The labyrinth seemingly fond of using illusion and misdirection.
On the other hand, his team eagerly picked up the pace with him. Everyone, sans maybe Violet, wanting to get out of the catacombs as quickly as possible. It wasn't a sentiment he exactly shared; however it was one he could get onboard with. Claustrophobia and paranoia the two worst tricks the Tomb used constantly. If one didn't have much experience spelunking, it was something that would inevitably set in. Thankfully they had a good while before it really began setting in.
"Are we there yet?" Nora chimed teasingly, breaking the serious atmosphere that had settled over them.
Jaune's right eyebrow twitched. Twitching again when a horrendous guttural bellow escaped the fleshy confines Violet called a stomach. "Maybe we should head up and get something to eat before continuing. How long is the assignment?" He sighed, knowing how reluctant Violet still was when it came to saying that she was hungry.
"Twelve hours total, or about ten kilometres." Qrow replied nonchalantly, a teasing smirk on his lips. "Of course… you aren't required to finish everything today. Instead, later today Mr Stepped-Out-Of-Another-Time over here will be required to attend a meeting with other teams who are also down in the sewers. Just to compare notes and to make sure the same areas aren't' patrolled five times in a row. There's being cautious, and then there's being stupid. You never want to be the later."
"Why? You certainly seem to fit the bill." Aurora drawled. A teethy smirk on her lips, as pettiness shone in her eyes. Her head held high as she walked pasted the spot where Qrow stood rooted in.
"Kid. Are you sure you haven't actually stuffed Glynda into a kid's body?" Qrow asked, throwing a smirk Aurora's way. His eyes twinkling with an amount of pettiness no fully functioning adult should have when talking with young children. Throwing her a scrutinising glance for extra measure. "Dress her up in a too tight blouse and pencil skirt, do her hair in a bun and give her some glasses and I'm about hundred percent certain that you can fool Oz into thinking Glynda was transformed into a child. Or that she had a child for that matter."
"Are you trying to imply that I'm a bastard?" Aurora glared, gritting her teeth while she reached for her throwing knives.
"No, for that would mean Glynda had sex. And the only relationship Glynda ever has had is with her job." Qrow replied nonchalantly. Throwing another look Aurora's way.
"Are you implying that she enjoys being dominated by her workload?" Ren quipped. A wry smile threatening to break out into more.
"No. Glynda could never be the one on the receiving end of a whip." Qrow grinned, shooting finger guns at Ren. "But with her semblance, I don't think she actually need a whip."
"You do know I'm going to write this into the report, right?" Jaune asked, throwing the question out there as he shot a tired look at them. Nora's shaking shoulders abruptly coming to a halt, her glee turning to outright horror in a split second. "And Qrow. The next time you imply something like that again, I will kill you." He promised flatly. Speaking about committing murder in the same bored drawl he used to talk about the weather.
"You know what. That's fair." Qrow replied with a nod. "It was a bad joke made in bad faith. I overstepped. And for that, I will apologise."
"Good." Was all that Jaune said, turning away from the old drunk and picking up the pace further. Wanting to get above ground quickly. Remembering that there was a manhole cover not far away. They just had to cross over the old Mt Glenn tracks, and they would be out.
"But… on the other hand." A roughish grin split Qrow's lips. "I can say with full clarity that you don't have the balls to write the little titbit about Glynda into the report. Fifty lien on that you won't."
"Hundred lien that I will, and on that Miss Goodwitch will tear you a new one when she finds out." Jaune replied flatly, meeting Qrow's roguish grin with flat apathy and disappointment. Qrow's grin growing more teethy after they shock on it.
Part of him had always known that huntsmen and huntresses were simply people in the end. They all had their flaws. But Jaune had also grown up with his nose deep in his ancestors journals. Hogging his grandfather's lap as he was regaled with fantastical tales of brave, proud and noble huntsmen and huntresses that kept them safe from the nightmares made flesh that was the grimm.
Enrolling in Beacon, fake transcripts or no, had been the first time his expectations were really put against the test. Cracks forming in the rosy glasses as he got to know his friends and teammates more. Pyrrha had enrolled in Beacon to escape her fame. Ren and Nora were street rats who had to dirty their fingers to get by, but still sought to be better. Yang was a combat junkie trough and trough. And Weiss wanted to prove herself as more than her name. They were human, faunus in Blake's case, and they were filled with human flaws and problems. Out of all their classmates, only he and Ruby wanted to become 'heroes'. Even if the why differed slightly. Where he wanted to live up to his name and make his ancestors proud. Ruby wanted to follow in the footsteps of a mother that left far too early.
It hurt in ways he coulndt describe to see the last pieces of Jaune the Dreaming Boy be crushed under the uncaring nature of the world. The huntsmen of the world weren't the brave and noble men and women he had grown up reading about. Some were racists, others were bigoted. There were those who only was in it for the money, while there were those who saw being a huntsman the first step in their career.
'But… it was nice dreaming about great noble heroes while I could.' Jaune hummed to himself. A jaunty little tune escaping him. 'I guess there really isn't any different between Remnant's Huntsmen's and Yharnam's Hunters. Just men and women doing the best they could in a bad situation. The only real difference was that the grimm was outside the walls, while the beasts came from within. And that Yharnam's hunters had a tendency to go mad with bloodlust, being no worse than the beasts they hunted.'
Hero's didn't exist. It was a known fact in Yharnam, where every person who tried to do good suffered more than the next. It was the same in Remnant. Good men and women taking up arms and marching out of the walls to kill grimm. Fighting a never-ending war they were stalemating. After all, a huntsman could kill over a hundred, maybe a thousand, grimm over their careers. But every dead huntsman was a net victory for the grimm. For even if there were only two people left on the world, there would be negative emotions to feed them.
It hadn't really hero's he clung to; it was the innocence of youth he associated with the time he could drown in old journals. Carefreely scouring trough old journals and comics both. Not a single worry in his mind but what would happen next, or that that hadn't really happened. An innocent both Ruby and Violet had in excess. An innocent he would do his best to allow them to treasure. The world didn't need more jaded huntsmen.
"No, Aurora. You can't poison him." Jaune replied tiredly. Stepping into the conversation with a thin smile. Ruffling her hair and doing his best to ignore the shock in her eyes. However, no matter how bad a little hellion Aurora proved herself to be while tired and grumpy. He was thankful for something mundane to drag him back down into the world of the living. Even if he could do without her trying to stab Qrow each time the drunk in question made a little comment.
"How-" Aurora started indignantly. Acting as if her fingers weren't wrapped around throwing knives who glinted with a purple hue.
"I know you don't like him. But you can't poison him." Jaune sighed, resting a hand on her shoulder. "There is a time and place for petty revenge. An assignment, or a hunt for that matter, is not a place to let your emotions get the better of you. If you want, when we get back, I would love to help you concoct some harmless poisons for revenge. Or I could ask if it's possible to get another hunter as our chaperone if that would be more down your alley."
"I'll hold you to that." Aurora replied plainly, the softest of smiles on her face. Her shoulders easing.
"You know, if you want to be extra petty. I think… between the two off us, that figuring out a poison that makes him allergic to alcohol wouldn't be impossible." Jaune smiled absentmindedly, hiding his relief at how she lit up.
"He can't actually do that, right?" He heard Qrow whisper behind him. However he went ignored for giving Aurora something else to focus on. That Aurora wasn't her sister something that completely had slipped his mind. In many ways, Aurora was stronger than her sister. But in many she was weaker, far weaker. The face of strength she always put up was one borne of fear and desperation.
The fact that she had just gotten grievously wounded, woke up in Remnant instead of in the afterlife being just one thing she hadn't gotten over yet. One thing she most likely never never would. That was without mentioning how she had been healed from certain death, healed again, before weapons were pushed into her hands, and she was told 'we are going hunting'.
There had been no time for her to properly process anything. The problem wasn't Qrow's light-hearted teasing. The problem was that his quips, meant to get her to lighten up or take her mind of things were poking against her extremely frail mental state. She wasn't one bad day from snapping, her psyche was already cracking at the seams. If her mental state was a mirror, cracks already lined it. All Qrow's teasing did, good intentioned or not, was widening the cracks.
Jaune knew how to help her, but he didn't know how to 'fix' her. There was no magical solution to help her mental state, as her mind wasn't broken, yet. Neither was that an option he was even considering. The mind could only be magically mended so many times. Each time leaving the mind just a tad bit more vulnerable than last time. Some emotions would be felt just a tad bit stronger, while others would be dampened slightly. Like with his rituals, he wasn't about to try and concoct a potion to mend her mind either. Leaving him with only what he has learnt from the scant few psychology classes he had been sitting. Unfortunately, there was no books about how to help young people's mind from shattering. As psychology mostly went into how to prevent such things to happen in the first place.
Which left him unprepared to properly help her.
Knowing what book she had read in the dream; he began spit balling her some ideas. Aurora losing the hesitancy in her voice when he didn't tear down her argument for using the common ragwort as base instead of rhododendron which he had suggested. Her shoulders easing as they racked their brains together. Growing more exited and animated than he had ever seen.
Violet tried chiming in every once in a while. However his youngest made it clear as day that she had skipped over reading the tomes on botany in favour for working on her ritual circles. Not that he would fault her for that. With how young she was, expecting Violet to work her way through a dry as dirt tome on plants, when she could instead work on something as exciting as magic, was an exercise in futility.
Yet they both did their best to include her in the conversation as well. Even if her contract sometimes forced her to break out in her mother tongue every now and then. Skipping around and vibrating with excitement.
Qrow could glare nervous holes in the back of his head all he wanted. Jaune hadn't missed the almost invisible nod the drunk had given him. For as much of a bastard Qrow was, he was a good man. His attempts to get Aurora to lighten up might not have been that successful, but he had still gone out of the way to try and get her to lighten up. Even if that meant making an ass off himself in the process.
'At least he knew when he overstepped.' Jaune thought to himself. 'And it looks like my kitchen privileges are revoked.' Especially if the look of soft disappointment in his partners eyes were anything to go by.
While he loved Pyrrha, he felt guilty that she had been forced into the role of the teams moral guide. Ren and Nora were street rats, they were good people, but they were also playing by their rules more often than not. The cabinet with alcohol, ranging from cheap bears too wine and spirits, only filled because Nora saw no wrong in 'liberating' alcohol the teachers had confiscated. When Ren had found out, he had only shrugged his shoulders before closing the cabinet. Neither seeing fault or problem with her behaviour. The less said about what he had done in Yharnam the better. There were some lines he thought he would never cross that he had vaulted right over, while some he would never cross.
'Even if the Dream will probably try and force my hand multiple times.' He knew. The sun rose and sat, grimm ate people, beasts were human once, and the dream relished in tearing apart everything he stood for piece by piece. It was just a cruel fact of life. One he didn't want to be true, but unfortunately was.
A soft tsk escaped him when he felt his spirituality 'clear', Violet's spirit becoming tad bit clearer and easier to separate. The different coloured auras representing the health and status of her body separating slightly, making it clearer to see her overall health. At the same time, the invisible, yet differently coloured, silken threads that he had caught sight of once or twice stretched out from her. Showing themselves for him in all their glory.
From Violet, a rainbow of soft threads connected them together. Just as rainbow of threads escaped from him, connection with his team, while some others escaped far away, and some were moving closer to him rapidly.
Some threads were smooth and unbroken, glowing a soft turquoise, representing the trust she had in him. Another was of firm and dignified lines of vibrant amber, shimmering with a feeling of respect. One thread was bright and uplifting, shining goldenrod as they danced in awe. While another thread was made up of shimmering strands of pale pink and carrying with them all the gratitude Violet felt for him.
Curiously, not every thread stretched out. A thread of midnight blue wrapped around Violet, digging hurtfully into her as it pulsed when she threw an eye over at the idle small talk that had come to life behind them. Longing flashing briefly in her eyes. Another drearier thread wrapped around her like a heavy chain, a sombre charcoal sucking all life out of the air with its weight. Almost crushing a fragile, quivering, thread of pale blue that threatened to choke the light out of her eyes.
In the blink of an eye the threads and all the colour they brought with them disappeared. Turning a muted grey, hidden away by the mundanity of the red bricks around them. They were still there, simply hidden away from his sight. Glimpses of colours and threads flashing in the corner of his vision only to disappear when he turned to look.
'Why is my 'vision' so intimately connected too people?' He mussed to himself, falling a bit out of the conversation. Only stepping in to correct some of the things Aurora was trying to teach her sister. Mind completely occupied and befuddled by why he saw emotions and connections between people. Earlier line of thought completely lost.
That Ren could see dead people, that he could kind of get. Ren just had a silence, a type of zen to him. The rest of his team hadn't developed their vision, or sixth sense yet. Even if he had caught Nora staring into empty space every now and then. The same was true with Pyrrha. But he was certain that they would develop a vision that suited them.
"But why people?" He mussed to himself. A question that was left unanswered when he stopped abruptly. The conversation dying behind him, everyone turning to him in confusion.
"Why is there a train coming?" He asked no one in particular. The rails were vibrating, the growing sound of a train racing towards them. Both of his girls hiding behind him, staring wide eyed at the beast of steel that was hurling towards them.
"Well, fuck." Qrow muttered all so eloquently. "I'm taking charge." Qrow ordered. Giving Nora a serious glare before she could speak up in his defence.
"Pyrrha. Can you slow down the train with your semblance?" Jaune barked. Spirituality churning as his mid kicked into high gear. Heart sinking further and further with what his spirituality enhanced ability to deduce revealed to him.
"I don't know. I have never tried moving so much metal, or something moving so fast before." Pyrrha replied hesitantly, anxiety seeping into her voice.
"Plan B it is then." Jaune replied, crouching down. Violet thankfully instantly catching his drift. Piggybacking up on his back. Shivering as she stared at the rapidly approaching train.
"What's Plan B?" Ren asked, calmly and methodically going over his gear again.
"Catching the train." Jaune replied matter-of-factly. "Aurora, you are with Pyrrha. This isn't up for debate. She will protect you with her life, won't you Pyrrha?"
"I will." Pyrrha declared. Voice harsh, her eyes filled with steel.
"But-"
"This isn't up for debate." He declared firmly, giving her a hard stare. Aurora faltering under his glare. Shivering as the train was rapidly approaching. "There is only another stope for this line. Vale's central square. I don't know what the train is carrying neither do I care. Lives are on the line, and I can't protect both you and your sister at the same time."
Aurora gave him a long look. The hurt in her eyes dwarfed by realisation, the weight of the situation dawning on her. Nodding hesitantly, before walking over to his partners side with nervous strides. Stopping her, he reached into his coat and pulled out another saw badge necklace. Gently clasping the necklace around her neck. Smiling softly as how she lit up with realisation.
"NO! Don't!" Qrow shouted, voice drowned out by the train that was almost upon them. Staring bloody death at them. Looking up from his scroll, voices sparking out from the scroll also drowned out by the sound of the approaching train.
Unfortunately, Jaune didn't have it in him to listen to reason right now. Especially with how many lives that were on the line. Calling Vale packed was an understatement. The city square was absolutely crowded. Packed full of merchants from all corners of the world selling items, tourists, and more. The death toll would be in the hundreds if the train crashed. With wounded numbering in thousands. Guaranteed more.
"Aurora, Violet. I need the two of you to always have your aura up. No matter what happens. No matter if you get scared, or if you panic, or anything. Never drop it." Jaune ordered harshly. Feeling his apprentice's small form shivering against his back. There wasn't time for pleasantries. Not when the train was right upon them. Blinding them with its front lights while deafening them with the sound it made.
Choosing to lead by example, Jaune did a little hop. Clamping his hand around the metal train cart. The last thing he saw was his team doing the same, Aurora piggybacking on Pyrrha's back. And the self-loathing, anger, and fear that was found in Qrow's eyes. The voices shouting out from the scroll ignored as he cursed under his breath before throwing himself at the churning train.
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"Mom! Mom! It's starting soon." Dawn cried excitedly. Hanging of her arm, her daughters clear blue eyes shining with impatience as she jumped and dragged her towards the television.
Amusement danced in her eyes as Clair allowed herself to be dragged. All her other daughters already crowding around the television. Lily sticking out as a sore thumb in the sea of golden hair with her black coloured hair. Why her daughter had decided to dye her hair something she could never understand. Her golden locks always reminding her of the sun.
"Where is dad?" Mari, the sixth daughter, asked. Inquisitive emerald eyes pointed at her; head tilted cutely to the side.
"Coming!" Titus boomed jovially from the kitchen. A plate with multiple bowls of different snack neatly arranged on it. Dressed in comfortable sweatpants and in the sea blue sweater she had crocheted for him. Familiar warm affection surged inside her beside pride as her husband genuinely enjoyed what she had crocheted.
Placing the tray of snacks at the coffee table, Titus fell back into the couch with her. Wrapping an arm over her shoulders all the while little Dawn scurried into her father's lap with a victorious smile. Clair not missing the look of longing Bloom sent her sister. Her big blue eyes looking around the living room for a kind smile that wasn't there. Having taken Jaune leaving the worst out of all the children.
'She always followed after him like a lost puppy.' Clair thought, fondly recalling how Bloom always seem to hog all of her brothers attention. And the fond yet exasperated smile Jaune always wore as she constantly pestered him. They all missed him, him leaving had left a gaping hole in their family. Yet she didn't fault him, he had turned seventeen, legally an adult. If he wanted to finally spread his wings, Clair had no problem with that. He also deserved living for himself and not sacrificing everything for his sisters. 'But would it hurt him to call and say how he was doing?'
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lisa Lavander. I am here together with my cohost Angelo Angel." The tv blared, the smiling faces of Lisa Lavenders amber eyes shining at the camera as she stood behind a boot in the middle of the busy central square.
"It's a lovely day today, Lisa. We are at our booth reporting live from Vale Central Square. Where you can see the life behind us." Angelo grinned, a young lad with golden hair that shone in the sun, kind golden eyes, and dressed in a form fitted suit.
"You would be correct Angelo. Vale Central Square is packed. Stalls from all over the world selling their national delicacies, merchandise in support of their favourite fighter's for the upcoming tournament, and even more. If you can imagine it, it's probably sold here."
"Talking about tournament, it would seem the fans already have picked their favourites. We have reports of multiple small brawls having broken out multiple times in Vale today. Where fans have taken to protect their favourites honour." Angelo's smooth and baroque voice explained.
"Talking about favourites. The fan favourite has already been decided. Vale's very own Team Juniper, Team JNPR for short. While only a first-year team, it is led by our very own Jaune Arc. Scion of the noble Arc family."
On the television, a picture of her runaway son grinned back at her. Guilt gnawing at her, not remembering the last time she had seen her son smile so happily and carefreely. Dressed in his pumpkin-pete hoodie he looked more dorky and boyishly handsome than threatening.
Placing a soft hand on her husband's thigh, Clair knew the troubled expression that fell over him. Titus' relations ship with Jaune something that had strained more and more as Jaune, just as opiniated and headstrong as his father, wanted nothing but to follow in his footsteps. While Titus wanted noting of it.
"Of course, he isn't alone. Fighting by his side is Lie Ren, son of the once lustrous Kuroyuri Village's Mayor. One of the only two survivors of the tragedy that left only ruins."
Under the grinning picture of Jaune, a handsome black-haired young man with pink eyes appeared. His eyes unsettlingly apathetic. Making Clair only want to scop him up in a hug and tell him everything would be all right.
"While they themselves would make a formidable duo. They only make up half of the powerhouses that is Team Juniper."
"You are correct again Angelo. Nora Valkyrie have quickly made herself into someone to be feared if Beacon's rumour mill is to be believed. However as the only other survivor from Kuroyuri, that shouldn't be up for debate."
A picture of an exited young girl appeared next. Her grin split ear to ear. Her turquoise eyes shone with more excitement than her five youngest combined. Arm stretching up, frozen mid wave.
"However, I think it's time the fan favourite is introduced. She needs no introduction. Her reputation speaking for itself. A woman with power and beauty in spades. I am of course talking about the four-time untouchable champion, Pyrrha Nikos!"
Compared to the excitement that had taken hold of her daughters when Jaune appeared on the Tv. Nothing could have prepared Clair for that bomb that was Pyrrha Nikkos.
"WHAT!" Jade scrammed. Turning to Lily with a scandalised look. Not able to believe that her sister hadn't shared that with her.
"How could you!" Dawn pouted, crossing her arms and huffing.
Lily for her part didn't say anything as her sisters raved around her. Only crossing her arms and ignoring them. Which only served to further trigger her sisters. It was only when Bloom, silent Bloom who only spoke when spoken too, scooted over to her sister and placed a hand on her tight that she broke. Not able to stand up for the lost look in her sisters eyes.
"He asked me to bring him some spare clothes, so I did. I didn't know Pyrrha fucking Nikos was his partner until his team stumbled into us. And… well… I might accidentally have let some things slip that made Jaune blow up big time." Lily cringed. Nervously pulling back a black lock of hair. "And… well. He looked happy. More laid back and carefree than I could remember him being in a long time."
Humming nonchalantly, Clair was glad that her children got along. Even if she was a bit miffed that they kept important secrets from them. She understood why, while also happy and relieved that her darling boy was happy and healthy. Part of her had always known where he had gone. But it was nice to have confirmation.
"I guess it wouldn't be impossible to get some tickets to the tournament. We can visit Jaune at the same time." Clair hummed gently. "And if Ms Nikkos would be kind enough to write some autographs for you, then that wouldn't be so bad, would it. Just promise to be nice and don't try to overwhelm her."
"Yes!"
"You are the best mom!"
Her daughters shouted in excitement, Dawn even going as far as to jump out of her father's lap and gleefully bounce around.
"Are you sure you can meet Jaune without the conversation breaking down into a shouting match?" Claire whispered softly to her husband. Glad that her girls weren't paying them any attention. Not that it mattered with how loud they were.
"Everything I have done; I have done for our family." Titus whispered back, hurt shining in his sky-blue eyes. Her heart falling slightly when her darling didn't give a clean answer. "I have seen things, ugly things. I don't understand why he can't understand that I just want him safe. Why can't he see that I don't want him to end up like me."
"Does this have anything to do with why you wake up in cold sweat from nightmares. Why you sometime take on month long assignments that you won't talk about?" 'Why you can't smile when your daughters show you the things they have made for you.' She hadn't asked the last question, but the way Titus shied away from her gaze told her everything and more she needed to know.
"Please don't tell me it's why you have started teaching Bloom." Clair pleaded. Titus not daring to meet her gaze. "You know she is on the spectrum." She hissed, almost choking out the words. A clump in her throat that wouldn't go away. "She won't understand."
"It will be good for her. It will be something that she can engage with for a long time. She won't be getting nightmares because she won't understand the things she will undoubtedly see, not to mention what she will be forced to do. It will help her socialise outside the family. She will get to make friends that won't be as quick to judge her just because she isn't like them." Titus whispered back. His eyes never leaving the television.
"Titus Arc. We will be having words." Clair whisper-hissed to her husband. Not understanding how such callous words could ever leave his mouth.
Claire knew that she didn't know a lot. She was a housewife first and foremost. While she had a law degree, she had never properly practiced. It wasn't possible for her to find a job without having someone look over their children. They had promised each other on their wedding day that family always came first. A vow they had always upheld.
Jaune had done much, too much if she was honest. Unfortunately with seven kids to care for, she had been stretched thin. Not able to be in multiple places at the same time. It grated her that she had been unable to be there for him when he laid his dreams to rest, instead of nurturing that wonderful spark of goodness Jaune carried within him. With Bloom just out of diapers and Dawn still in them, she coulndt spend the time she wanted with him after he had another argument with Titus. It just wasn't possible. No matter how much she had wanted to be there for him.
She coulndt understand what nightmares jolted Titus awake at night. Neither could she completely understand why he would sometime spend fifteen minutes washing his hands in the mornings sometimes. What she did know what that he needed her. She didn't want to needle him over what he had done, knowing she would never get a straight answer out of him. Neither did she want her poking to somehow make it worse. She could never forgive herself if she made what he struggles with worse.
Now she was starting to regret her passivity. Wondering if maybe she should have pushed more.
Turning her eyes back to the tv, Claire didn't know what she would find in her husband's eyes. Nor was it something she wanted to find out. Lisa and Angelo professionally introduce the other teams which would participate, lacking the pride and excitement they spoke of her baby boys' team with. Making it clear that they weren't completely impartial, no matter how much they acted as if they were.
Leaning back into the comfortable couch, she did her best to put her feelings to the back of her mind. Not wanting to let her feelings get in the way of having a moment to spend some quality time with her family. Her girls were growing up, spending more time at the culture house or with their sports clubs too stay home.
Opening her arms, Claire planted a soft kiss on Bloom's forehead as her girl scrambled into her arms. Smiling and wrapping her arms around herself like a comfortable blanket.
*BOOM!*
Thunder boomed, following by wailing screams. A giant dust cloud covering the entire tv screen. A hushed silence settled over the living room.
"What happened?" Lisa Lavender asked, coughing loudly and looking around. A shrill scream rang out from the tv. Angelo Angel's forehead nailed into the stand, a piece of rebar piercing trough their skull. Dripping sickly red, with a squirming mess of grey jutting out around it.
Pandemonium erupted in their living room. Dawn sitting rotted to the spot, a piercing scream escaping her. Mari fainted against the couch. Jade threw herself over the armrest and emptied her stomach. Lily sat frozen in fear, while Saphire looked both sick and ready to faint. Titus tensed, sitting frozen as his eyes briefly glossed over before he got up. Claire herself felt fit to faint, only a staunch will to not show the cacks before her children holding her together.
"Mom. What is that?" Bloom asked innocently, breaking the spell that had fallen over her. Being the only one who wasn't having any substantial reaction. Looking blankly on the tv in confusion.
Claire's answer dying in her mouth. An all to familiar voice rang from the tv.
"And here I thought Red was bad. Is it take your kid to work day, or did I miss something?"
"Har, har. Go fuck yourself Roman."
Tense silence fell over the living room as the dust settled. The camera man panning over too the two figures that stood in the middle of what had once been the sprawling square. Now blood littered the street, rubble scattered everywhere. Some old statues had collapsed. The wreckage of a train lodged into an office building that was teetering on collapse.
In the middle of the wreckage, the dust settled around one Roman Torchwick who had seen better days. His bowler was nowhere to be seen; his cigar blown to pieces in his face. Coating his face in soot. There were rips and tears in his coat. He had a little girl no older than Bloom in a chokehold before him. Her blue eyes wide open as the cold barrel of a pistol pressed against her skull.
Opposite of him, Jaune stood with a grimace. A hellion with heterochromia held in a choke hold. Without a word, Jaune tightened his chokehold on her. Holding a dangerous looking revolver out in the open space. The sound of shattering glass rang out trough the canopy of noises. The image of Roman Torchwick disappearing as if never there in the first place. Instead the real Roman Torchwick appeared further down where her son aimed his revolver. Cigar soot still coating his face, the pistol still pressed against the little girl. The smug grin the criminal wore quickly falling as steel settled into his eyes.
"Oh fuck you too kid." Roman spat. "It wasn't enough that you and your friends had to crash the operation. You just have to see trough illusions. Fan-fucking-tastic."
"Like you have room to talk, Torchwick." Jaune spat. Tightening his hold around the girl in his arms. Who for her part bit into his arm, stamped her stilettos into his boots, and used her backhand to smash her fist into his crotch. All done in a desperate attempt to get out of his hold. "Whose idea was it to ram a train loaded with dust and grimm into the central square, huh? And who had the great idea to shot fire dust into the locomotive's boiling room."
"Honestly, using a dust powered steam locomotive in an enclosed tunnel system. Sounds like bit of an oversight, doesn't it?" Roman teased smugly before his expression was clouded by dark clouds. "But wouldn't have had to do that if you idiots hadn't raided the train."
"Yes, because the only reasons we weren't blowed to kingdom come by the crash was the waggons of dust and grimm that would have sent the entire square sky high." Her son snarked, before whispering softly under his breath. The ice-cream haired girls eyes shooting wide open. Before she began struggling even fiercer. Jaune disappearing as if he was nothing but a mirage. Only to appear three steps to the side. Smugness radiating of the girl in his arms together with shock.
Cursing under his breath, the revolver was thrown sky high. An old and rusty flare gun shooting a red flare up in the sky. Spinning the flare gun in his hand, Jaune reloaded and fired twice. Another red and yellow flare joining the first one in the sky.
Causing Roman to pull the trigger in panic. Claire felt her heart shatter for the little girls life who was sniffed out on the screen. The dust bullet tearing through scattering motes of silvery light. Silverlight materialised on Jaune's back. Two small arms wrapping around his neck with familiarity as she rested her head on his shoulder. Making Claire collapse back into her couch with a sigh of relief.
Acting on pure instinct, Roman threw himself to the side. Firing shot after shot towards Jaune who also dashed to the side. Holstering the flare gun and catching his revolver out of the air. Thunder echoed in the square. Concrete exploded sending rubble flying everywhere as Roman dodged.
"Are we filming? You are filming this right?" Lisa Lavender asked, almost outright demanded. Flinching and pressing a hand against where her purple suit darkened. However the reporter, to high on adrenaline and shock, didn't care in the slightest. Instead she looked into the camera with barely restrained zeal. Grabbing Angelo's blood-stained microphone, tapping it and checking it slightly.
"We are in the middle of Vale Central Square, who only some scant minutes ago was crowded with people, but now looks like straight out of a movie. Roman Torchwick, formerly Valean master thief have allied himself with the White Fang. Ramming a train carrying dust and grimm into the filled square. Why? We can only wonder." Lisa Lavender started. "Cut the broadcast? NO! Are you mad? The people deserve to know. The world deserves to know. It is our right as reporters to keep the broadcast-"
The screen went black. Before the words 'Broadcast ended under Valean Broadcasting Regulations No 173 section C' appeared on the screen. Accompanied by the green on black that was Vale's national colours together with the two crossing axes cradle by the first emperors laurel crown.
Silence returned to the living room. Clair snapping back to reality, remembering that she could move, and her kids needed her. Grabbing the remote she turned of the tv. Snapping the girls out of their stupor.
"Was that Jaune?" Jade asked, wrapping her arms around Mari and cradling her still fainted sister in her arms.
"Did brother replace me?" Bloom asked from her lap. Speaking out for the second time today.
"No he didn't dear." Clair whispered back, still feeling surreal now that the panic was beginning to mellow out. Not knowing if she should be glad or worried that her daughters looked shellshocked instead of having multiple impending breakdowns to deal with. "Why don't you ask him about her when we visit him and his team?"
"Grounded is what he is." Titus growled. "I don't care what he thinks, but I will drag him back kicking and screaming if I must. He shouldn't have been involved. He shouldn't have been there."
"Not now." Claire hissed at her husband. Didn't he know that they had more important things to worry about. Like making sure none of their daughters had breakdowns, while also helping them trough the trauma that was seeing a live terrorist attack on the tv. She didn't even want to imagine what it could do to them.
"Come, Dawn, Bloom, Saphire, why don't you help me in the kitchen." Claire started. Sending a nod and smile to Jade, her daughter returning it and gently running her hands trough her sisters hair. "Lily, would you help your father with cleaning up your sisters puke, are you so kind."
Setting her daughters to work, giving them something else to focus on the first thing that came to mind. Giving the pair of Bloom and Dawn kid friendly blunt knives, she handed them some vegetables to cut. Dawn still looking a bit queasy, the energetic girl from just earlier today completely withdrawn into a shell.
They worked in silence, with Clair going around and helping her girls here and there. But else she was glad that they had something to occupy themselves with. However she should have known that wouldn't last. Saphire, her second child, soon going to celebrate her nineteenth birthday being the first to break the silence in the kitchen. Some hushed whispered already coming out from the living room.
"Sooo… I wasn't the only one who saw the size of Jaune's arms? What are they feeding people in Beacon?" Saphire, ever the gossip, asked. Taking Dawn's half-heartedly cut vegetables and pouring them into a stew.
"He had filled out when I met him." Lily answered. Stepping into the kitchen with a grimace. Throwing the paper towels into the trashcan before opening the cabinet and taking out some cleaning supplies. "But I can't remember seeing the little girl with him then."
"We aren't missing someone, right?" Saphire asked curiously. Doing a quick headcount of everyone in the kitchen and who were in the living room.
"Saphire, trust me, you would have known if Bloom or Dawn had had other twins. And Jaune, no matter how impulsive and headstrong he can be sometimes, he would never voluntary put anyone of you in danger. You should know that better than everyone Saphire." Claire chided, not missing how her daughter's hand unconsciously brushed over an old scar in her side.
"Wait. Be right back. I remember something." Saphire mumbled before darting out of the kitchen. Returning a scant two minutes later with a letter envelope in her hand. Washing her hands, she grabbed a letter knife and opened it. Blue eyes curiously daring over the content until her eyes boggled out of her skull. Caught between snorting and laughing at the same time, she broke out coughing. Handing Claire the letter while she tried getting her coughing under control.
Claire's eyebrows instantly disappearing into her hairline as she read the first words.
"Notice of adoption." She read aloud for the other curious in the kitchen. Eyes landing on the pictures of the little girl she had just seen on tv. Golden hair, a cute little button nose, and baby blue eyes radiating curiosity, joy, and some smote traces of fear. Her cheeks looked gaunt in the first picture, something that she was thankful didn't appear in the second picture. Which was almost identical to the first. The only difference being the gold in her hair was replaced by snow white. Even her eyebrows end eyelashes were snowy white. Thankfully the fear from the first picture was nowhere to be found in the second one.
"Violet Augustine Gascoigne(9) is formally taken under one Jaune Cerulean Arc(17) as an apprentice under Valean Law. Following her apprenticeship, she is formally adopted as the daughter of Jaune Cerulean Arc, given that he is her legal, financial, and testamentary guardian. This ruling can be objected by a family member within one week of the apprenticeship being legalised." Claire felt faint, eyes reading trough mountains of legal jargon.
"Wait what?" Lily mumbled. Encapsulating her thoughts entirely.
####
Note: I like Qrow. And it's fun to write him as a bit of a bastard. Because he still is season 2/3 smug/bastardly himself. But he is also an experienced man, and while he might not exactly know what to do with children. He will still go out of his way to try and cheer someone on. Even if that meant making an ass of himself.
Note: From a creative standpoint I understand why they chose not to have people killed during the breach. However we are not doing that here. I have also decided to treat it like the Olympics, because it kind of is. So that means lots of tourists, lot of excitement around the festival and tournament in of itself.
Note: If I wasn't clear about it, Bloom is heavily autistic. I haven't completely plotter out what she struggles with beside morality, good and bad, and death and violence. But she is heavily on the spectrum.