"Huff... Huff..."
A steady rhythm of heavy breathing echoed through an empty street of Vale city. The source of it stopped his jog and hunched down in exhaustion. Lifting one of his hand away from his knee, he glanced at the watch attached to his sweaty wrist. Somewhere around quarter to six. Smile bloom on his tired face. He has been at this for an hour or two. A massive improvement from where he was months ago.
"huff... Uncle did say... Huff... I'm a stamina freak though..." Maybe that's the actual case. But he still happy with the result. Anything that give him an edge is always a good thing.
As the dark sky becomes brighter with each passing minute, the boy stopd up and took off the hood that covered his head. Unruly mop of blonde hair fall freely from the crown of his head until it reaches his ears. His face was slightly dimmed from the tiredness he felt, but the satisfaction and general brigtness in his heart were still fully visible behind it.
Pair of blue eyes scanned the street, searching for any sign of where he had ended up this time. He then continued his journey in a more calmer and slower pace.
The cold air of the night still lingered around him as his breath misted over his face. But the heat from inside his body and the blood pumping in his veins kept him away from letting the cold to bite into his skin and bone. He still need to find drinkable water though, his throat is as dry as Vacuoan desert right now.
A couple hundreds meters and away from the city blocks, he had finally reaached his destination. His uncle house was two-story building that looked as plain as any other house in this area. Probably looked a little bit shabby than any other but it was far better than the disaster he was greeted with when he first arrived. It looked practically abandoned back then.
The front door of the house was an old thing with its white paint peeling off its wood, and it's creaking noise is just as terrible as how it looked like.
"Gods fucking damnit, Jaune. It's six in the morning..."
"Sorry, Uncle. You know how loud the door is." The man simply grunted at his response.
Richard Arc was a sad man and Jaune Arc's uncle. There on his raggedy couch, the man was drowning in beer and misery, literally. Can of beers littered the dark living room while a few pizza boxes were stacked up beside him. Even now, when he was still barely awake, he grabbed an unopened can of beer while changing the channel on his television in boredom.
Without saying anything, Jaune went to pick the garbage bag from the corner of the room and began picking up the trash piling in the living room. His legs were sore and aching for rest, but it was too easy for Jaune to ignore it when he was too used to it. The first time might be a terrible, but once you get used to it, it has become something closer to mild annoyance.
"What do you want for breakfast, Uncle?" Small chatter left him as he shoved the cans and boxes into the plastic bag, careful not to spill any content left in it.
"Anything good you can throw into the pan." His raspy and gruff voice was louder now that he was fully awake. "Go wash yourself first, Jaune."
Jaune simply hummed in response as he tied the bag up and left it at one corner of the room. Making his way towards the bathroom, he closed the door behind him and began to strip himaelf off the drenched clothes. A fit body of a young man greeted him as he stepped in front of the mirror over the washtub. Still far from the prime form of what a young man his age could achieve, but it also was far better than he was before. Being stronger than you look from farming is good an all, but damn does he wanna look as good as the rest of his family.
A quick wash and scrubs of soap later, he was back to being a civilized person again. With his blond hair still wet, he set off to set up a breakfast of bacon, egg and some toast to fill his starving stomach. The light of sunray began to slip through the shade of the windows as he continued to work on his humble meal, but luckily, he didn't get his Uncle to yell for his food today.
The man was still on his couch when Jaune returned with two plates of breakfast in hand. Giving the other plate to his Uncle, Jaune then sat down on the wooden chair besides him. The buzz of the television was soon accompanied by the cluttering of their eating utensils. It was showing a morning news by now, something about a club being attacked and destroyed. Probably gangs' feud...
"So..." His Uncle started suddenly, peeling Jaune's attention off the television as the young man looked expectantly, "You really gonna go there tomorrow aren't you?"
"Yeah... I mean, I'm already here. Might as well take a take a shot and pray that luck give me a divine blessing." Jaune forked a piece of bacon.
"..." The man was silent for a second, deep in thought as a sense of clarity returned to his eyes that had always been clouded in depression. Then, the madness was back in a blink of eyes. "Good for you, I guess. We fucked around when we were your age too, boy. Your father and me. It's great to build up characters and left you fucked up in the head. Every man need that here or there."
"Heh," Jaune chuckled lightly, slightly disappointed that he failed to get his Uncle to open up again. "Guess yeah. Granny did say you and pops gave her a heart attack when you went to a recruitment centre and dad went to a hunstman academy."
"Oh, fuck you, boy. No need to dig up the fucking past." Despite the choice of words, there was a light jess to his unimpressed tone.
They fall back into another silence again, this one no less awkward than the last. But Jaune was used to it. Living with his Uncle might be very suck at the beginning, but it helped him and his inept social skill massively. Who knows that jerk sometimes can brings good.
"I'm leaving a dog behind, Uncle." He abruptly started.
The man frowned, "That stray you picked up? Fuck that. Ain't got no time for that shit. It's your responsibility, and you better man up to take care of your own fuck up, boy." His word ended with a sense of dismissive finality that just demanded Jaune to shut up while the man sipped from his can of beer.
"He's not a picky one, Uncle." Ignoring the lecture, Jaune stubbornly continued to describe the dog, "And also doesn't really need that much of attention. He's a smart boy. I heard that he was owned by that old lady who lives up a couple house away from here. RIP for her."
"Boy, are you listening to what I'm saying? I said take care of it yourself. I don't give a fuck about some dead woman's therapy dog. It could die somewhere in the street for all I care." His tone still sounded dismissive, but there's also a telltale sign of heat bubbling underneath.
But Jaune continued to press on, "You doesn't even need to feed him, y'know. I already bought him food for at least a month, so you don't to do anything except for giving him the food. No need to house him and take care of his crap either. He got that set up already."
"Boy, I said shut th-"
"AND...! Maybe...! Maybe he can help yo-"
Jaune failed to finish his sentence as a hairy hand grasped on his collar and roughly yanked him from his seat. The plate and fork and knife made a terrible noise as they collided on to the floor.
"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
His Uncle looked beyond ugly as they stared face to face against each other. Marred with scowl and fully red as if ready to explode. The unruly and unkempt blond hair and beard of his reminded him to the mane of a lion, a disgraced lion who had been beaten and scarred. Who has lost everything and could do nothing other than wait for its time to come. Or simply waiting for the time he decided to end it himself.
"Oh, I get it now. You ungrateful little shit." The man suddenly growled, his tone mocking and derisive. Jaune remained silent. "Your pretentious little ass is just exactly like your fucking father. So fucking high up in your white horse. So fucking pretentious and self-righteous, thinking you know better than anyone else. I hate it, I hate you, I fucking hate him! Is this how you gonna repay me after I house you in here!? Is this it!? BY PITYING ME!"
"... That's not it..." Jaune himself was getting warmer with his own anger. The stress was getting on him.
"Then what's it!? Next thing I know, you gonna act like my fucking son or some bullshit and decided to send me to a retirement home because you think I am a senile ol-"
"That's not fucking it!" That paused his Uncle off, but Jaune continued on, with blood pumping hotly in his vein, "I am not pitying you! I am not ungrateful to you! I'm not looking down on you either!"
The man scoffed, "Well, ain't you got spine now huh? So what? Big fat bull is all you got!"
"Would you let me fucking finish and explain myself, old man?" Jaune yelled back, anger freely pouring out of his mouth now from the pressure he was barraged with. And that was when his Uncle threw him unto the floor.
"Explain yourself then! Explain it to me just how much you know more than I do! No need to circle around in a fucking roundabout about it! Ain't you a man, bitch!? No man I know mumble their shit like that! That's a bitch's job! So are you a bitch now, huh!?"
"That's... Not... It..." It was getting harder to concentrate. His head was ringing from the yelling and his face was wet from all the spit he got drenched with.
His Uncle yanked him up again by his collar while his other hand was cocked, ready to let loose, "Then what's it, huh!? THEN WHAT!?"
"I just don't want you to fucking DIE!" And at last, Jaune failed to hold back his anger.
"W-what?"
"I don't want you to fucking hang yourself! I don't want to find out that my Uncle decided to finally kill himself in this pile of shit you called a house! I don't want to hear that my Uncle die a worthless death in sea of fucking trashes! You deserve better! You taught me how to become a man more than my father ever did! You taught me everything I need to know about how to survive! And you! You're the only one who gave me a motherfucking chance!"
"..." In his silent, the grip on Jaune's collar loosened and let him drop on his ass.
Silence reigned as the tide of anger finally calmed down. Jaune can only hear his heart pounding loudly in his chest as they both gasped for breath. The point was finally across, and Jaune have no idea whether it was good or bad. With the weight... The weight jn his chest was finally lifted away, leaving behind the anxiousness that he had for the consequences of his action.
"I'm getting late for my work..." He idly mumbled, walking past the man who had stood still and remained silent after Jaune's outburst. "I'm just... Please, Uncle. I beg of you. Give it one last try and see-"
"Jaune, shut up." But his Uncle cut him off.
"I... Yes, Uncle. Sorry..." He took a single step again, then he paused, "See you, Uncle."
The silence in that house that day was the loudest thing Richard had ever heard in his entire life.
-oOo-
Six months ago, Jaune would never expected that he would ends up working in a library. He had no complain about it though.
One day he was just searching for a place offering to hire completely clueless young man and the next thing he knew, he somehow ended up being the new guy at Vale Public Library. The job is nothing grand but the pay is pretty decent for such undemanding job. He's just there to sort books, be an errand boy and sometimes stay in front welcoming any visitor that came there. Coupled with the fact that apparently not much people even bothered to read physical book these days and age, he didn't really need to do that much to begin with.
But the first few weeks has been a hell for him, Jaune had to admit. The library have a very strict rule on working hour scroll usage and the only comic books this place have in store were gone in a matter of days. Things got more productive from there.
Doesn't really mean that Jaune has become a well of wisdom and knowledge but he at least something a little bit more than his old self. And a lot more edge to work with when he got accept in Beacon. Gods know he need that badly.
"Mrs. Wilhelm, may I come in?" Jaune spoke to the other side of door in front of him, knockingnhis knuckle lightly against its wooden surface.
"Come in, Jaune." An old but stern voice of a woman answered him.
Turning on the brass knob, Jaune opened the door and walked through the doorway into the humble office. There's not much of decoration to its, and if it did, they're mostly something that came from a century or so ago. The woman in front of him was old but doesn't nearly looks old enough for someone in her sixty. Mrs. Mary Wilhelm is exactly just like what Jaune visioned a stereotypical old and stern librarian from one of those kid cartoon he had liked back then. Always with a frown and judging eyes. This time however, as he entered into the room, those judgemental eyes were not directed at him like how it usually did.
"I presume that you have something to tell me, Mr. Arc."
"I... Yes, I did." He pulled something out of his uniformcs pocket and handed it to her.
"What's this?"
"My resignation form." He paused and those eyes finally looked at her. Jaune still can't see anything through it. "I was applying to Beacon and tomorrow's going to be the day. I..." He trailed off.
"You do understand that you have a few unused days of paid leave right, Mr. Arc?"
"I did, yes. But..." He paused again, searching for the right words to explain his reasoning, "I don't want it. Half-assing my effort I meant. It gave off the feeling that I know I will fail, that my folks were right about me failing at this."
"And you believe that there's no chance you would fail, Mr. Arc?"
"No, not like that. I'm not arrogant enough to think like that. I'm afraid of it actually. But I'm tired of being questioned about it, and I don't really want ro start to question my own conviction like they all did."
The room fell into a tense silence after Jaune had spoken his piece. The heavy weight of her stare was drilling into the deepest and darkest crevices of his soul, searching for weakness and hesitation. But Jaune, he remained unflinching against it. He stand ready knowing and facing the foolishness that he had fully committed into. Whether it's for good or bad, none of the two can tell and only time will tell.
And finally, the old widow relented.
"Very well then. I hope that you won't regret your decision, Mr. Arc. Good luck."
"Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. I really appreciate it." Jaune then turned and walked away, feeling another weight being lifted from his soul.
Then Mrs. Wilhelm called him, "Oh, before I forget, Mr. Arc."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"We will not be hiring for the time being." Jaune stilled, "Good luck."
The soft smile on her old face was the last thing he managed to see before the door was closed.
-oOo-
"Welco- oh! Jaune!"
"Hey, Mrs. Park." Jaune greeted back, the middle-aged woman was another person he had the pleasure to get acquainted with, "Is Mr. Park here?"
"Funny that he's waiting for you in the range. Feel free to come in."
The Parks were a friend of Jaune's Uncle. A family of a weasel faunus couple from Mistral who decided to open up an indoor shooting range as well as a gun shop in Vale Capital city. He doesn't know that much about them, what with said Mr. Park being like a more passive and also admittedly more warmer version of his Uncle. Apparently being stoic was a running trend for veterans of the army.
"Jaune! Come here!"
The indoor shooting range was a dark place with dominantly gray paint and enough light to not make someone accidentally walk into a wall. There, in front of a metal table, with a gun in his hands, Mr. Park looked over at him.
"Is it done?" The grunt was enough answer for him.
While his Uncle looked like he could care less with everything around him, Mr. Park was the erfect picture of Mistralian disappointed father stereotype. His judgemental stare were unlike Mrs. Wilhelm's, but there's still an undercurrent of warmth Jaune could see inside of it.
The man handed him the gun and Jaune received it carefully as if it was a newborn babe. It was a beautiful sight to behold even for a beginner like him. Compact, small, light, and also packing a large amount of heat.
"PP-19 Bizon. Small but big. It might not have the best stopping power or rate of fire, but quite frankly, I think that a pistol loaded with half a hundred round magazine is still beyond ridiculous. I have modified it to reduce the risk of jamming and also retractable stock when you needed one.."
"Can I shoot it?"
"Sure. But the bullet's on your tab, Jaune."
Jaune simply grinned and pulled the trigger.
The gun, as Mr. Park had explained, doesn't really have a high rate of fire as Jaune let it loose full-auto. And Jaune wasn't really sure just how strong it was compared to the other superior gun. But it still is a murder machine in a pocket size. Obviously, it was fucking awesome.
"Goodness, calm down, boy. No one's going to take that from you."
"They won't" Jaune stopped, his grin couldn't get any bigger at this point. "This thing will spit out so much lead that no one could ever take a single step before they are turned into mince meat. I mean look at that target practice, he's gooner. RIP Bob."
"Heh, careful there." The man behind him snorted, "I gave that a muzzle booster to help you with the recoil. And give you a burst action mode to conserve the ammo."
"W-wait..." Jaune frowned, "I didn't ask for that... Did I?"
That day, Jaune watched as another person that he thought to be incapable of smiling smiled at him. "It's on the house, son."
-oOo-
It was well over the evening when Jaune came back home. With a suitcase in one hand, no doubt filled with deadly weapon, and a paper bag full of grocery for the dinner tonight. A little bit more than what he usually had, but he wanted something special tonight. Hopefully, his Uncle has calmed enough for a civil supper.
"I'm home." He announced, the old door was almost louder than his own voice. Then he stopped on his track.
"Bark!"
It was a dog, with light golden fur and what almost seems like a smile on its cute face, wagging its tail at him.
"What's his name?" Jaune nearly jumped when his Uncle spoke, snapping him out of his surprise.
The man came out of his room, cleaner and looked so much better than he had ever been these past six months with the changed clothes and tied-up still slightly wet hair. There was a strange thick grey clothes in his hand.
"It's... It's Renny."
"You wanna keep 'em, boy?" This time, the question wasn't being directed at him, but rather at the dog.
And even more surprisingly, the dog sat down and looked expectantly at his Uncle as if waiting something from him. A small barely noticable quirk appeared on his lips.
"Imma call you Johnny then."
That struck a weird chord in Jaune's mind, but the dog simply barked with satisfaction.
"I don't know what to feel about this."
"The fuck, boy? Ain't you the one who want to drop him on me?" Now he felt like he was being made fun of. At least seeing his Uncle crouch down and pet the dog made the experience fully worth it.
"I... Nevermind. How did ended up in here anyway?"
"The dog's been barking in my yard the entire noon. No clue what the actual fuck he want, probably a bowl of food or some shit. So I did fetch him one. The little shit barely touched it and keep barking until I let him in."
Jaune chuckles, he could already imagine the chaos and the headache from that.
"What yer grinning at, boy?" The glare on his face looked less intimidating than it usually did. "And drop that shit down. I have something to give you."
His grin dropped in confusion, "Huh?"
"Don't stand there dumbly, come'ere."
They both made their way to the living room with the dog tagging along behind them. The room feels different now, he noticed. Cleaner, brighter and considerably less depressing. A huge sense of relief washed over Jaune's heart as his blue eyes shone. There is hope.
"When we started to live on our own, your grandpa gave us his heirlooms for the both of us." His Uncle started, snapping Jaune out of his thoughts. He looked up at the man and the thing he was holding. "Your father get the sword and the shield. I got the armor and the helmet."
It was a beautiful thing. A cuirass of silver colouring, probably made with the same silver steel that his sword was made from, and a few golden ornament of exquisite quality even if the paint was slightly faded by time. The helmet propped atop it was of sallet type of design with half visor and round-shaped skull. Picking it up, he inspected the inside of the helmet and find himself surprised at the state of the cloth and leather padding of the helmet.
"The thing is made with the best material they got on hand centuries ago, or at least that's what your great grandpa told me. Same with the chest piece. Can't say the same about the padded coat though. The thing's nothing more than above average gambeson back then, now, it's just a rat's nest I need to burn. That's why I got this thing for you."
"Is that a rag?" The grin on his face gave away the obliviousness he poorly tried to display.
"...ungrateful little shit." His Uncle grumbled, "This is a fucking Heavy Assault Battlesuit System of Valean Shock-Marine Corps. This thing kept me alive at my most invulnerable moment and you will wear it with respect, Jaune."
Sensing the seriousness in his voice, Jaune dropped his grin and gave the man his own serious look. "You got it, sir."
"Good." The man nodded, satisfied with the answer before handing the clothing to him. It was a well-worn thing, but still looked quite distinctly good in quality even after years of usage. The black kevlar or whatever balistic fabric it was made from felt grainy in his palms as he inspected it. The thing is pretty similar to those Heavy Vest from milsim game except for the fact that the vest itself was sewn into the jacket, that also probably was just as strong as the vest itself.
"The front chest was fucked up beyond repair, but you still can put a plate in it, a lighter one that is. But that won't be a problem for you anyway since you got this thing anyway." His Uncle thumped the steel cuirass with his knuckles.
"Yeah..." Jaune nodded absentmindedly, then his eyes dimmed, "Still... ain't this your inheritance from Grandpa, Uncle?"
"So? Haven't use the shit in my entire life anyway." The man stopped, and the lost in his eyes nearly resurfaced back from the abyss in his heart, "And I don't have anyone I could give this to other than you. Not like I'm planning to made a new family either."
Oh... Right... "But, I'm still glad, Uncle. Or is it a thank you I should have said? "
The old lines and wrinkles that appeared too fast in his Uncle's face crinkled ever so slightly. For a moment, it's almost feels like he was seeing a glass painting. Beautiful, yet fragile at the same time. Even as his hard features softened, Jaune could still perfectly see the weight chained unto both of his legs, threatening to pull him into the depth of hell. But... That was fine. He was fine with that, he's not sure what his past self would think about that, but the current him was content enough with that. Especially when he saw that little smile on his face, he was satisfied with things.
"Oh, shut up, you little shit." The tone of his voice wasn't as cold as it usually was, "You shouldn't thank me yet anyway, I still got so much crap I need to drop on ya."
Jaune blinked and looked at the armour and set of military equipment on the table, "er...I'm really grateful for everything you gave to me, Uncle. But honestly, I can't see nothing other than these." 'cept for these two beers.' Jaune omitted the last part.
"My last beer, lad. I want to drink it with you."
-oOo-
Ngl, I need to confess that this is going to be a power fantasy story to ya. Hopefully, I won't make it a terrible one.