A/N: Introducing: the Arc family!

X

-Jaune-

It took several minutes for Weiss to gain some level of control. Jaune was still holding the umbrella to avoid the rain as he consoled her, but the mud on his clothes gave him a not-so-subtle clue that working that day might not happen. As she began to settle down, he tried to speak over the rain. "We need to get out of the weather. Are you okay with me taking you to where I work?"

Still pressed against his chest, he felt her head nod twice; so, he carefully shifted to help support her weight and walked her to his truck. He didn't have anything to protect the seats from their mess, so he mentally apologized to them as they got their seat belts on and he took off down the road. Weiss didn't say anything for the duration of the trip, simply alternating between staring out of the window and glancing at him. Jaune let her sit in silence, afraid to say anything that would set off her tears again.

When they reached the Vermilion Garden, he parked around the back and helped Weiss from her seat onto the pavement, one of her arms placed over his shoulder to support her as he held the umbrella over their heads once more. Deciding that going through the main entrance would lead to being stared at by the customers, he led them to the rear entrance and kicked the door three times as hard as he could manage. Usually the rear entrance was reserved for retrieving shipments, but Jaune knew his sister wouldn't mind this time.

"Alright, who the hell is..." It was Cardin that answered the door as he peeked out of the head-height window, but he fell quiet as he got a good look at their pitiful state. "...Jaune? What in the world...?"

"It's complicated," he replied simply. "Will you let us in and tell my sis that I need to see her when she gets a chance?"

"Sure thing." The door popped open with an audible click, with Cardin giving them just enough space to slip in beside him before closing it behind them. "We're slow right now, so it shouldn't be too long."

"Thanks, man." Jaune walked Weiss to their break room, and as he did so he became acutely aware of the fact that he was cold; what water and mud he'd gotten on him from Weiss's hug was chilling his very bones, and it struck him that she was soaked from head to toe in November. Thankfully, he knew the building from the inside-out, and Weiss only had to stand on her own for a moment before he had her situated in a towel-covered chair, with a space heater nearby to keep her warm. He handed her an additional towel to dry off with, knowing that she'd have to change out of her soaked business wear.

It was as he was returning with one of the spare women's uniforms that Vermilion kept on hand that Weiss chose to speak. Her eyes were boring a hole into the table and her voice was a little cracked as she asked, "Jaune, why... are you helping me?"

The question stumped him. "Why? Because you needed help, that's why. I mean, I didn't know that it was you when I pulled over, but that doesn't even really matter."

She looked up at him, a combination of surprise and something he couldn't identify on her face. "But don't... don't you hate me? For what I did?"

"For what you- Oh!" A puzzle piece fell into place in his mind. "Well, your public rejection was a little harsh, but that's no reason to hate you; plus, in hindsight, I really shouldn't have been so persistent. All of that was a year ago now, so if you're willing to forget it happened, I am, too."

Weiss simply stared at him, almost blankly. He was about to ask what he'd said that was wrong, but she quickly shook her head as if she were getting rid of something that was sitting atop it. "Then... thank you. For everything."

"No problem." He flashed her his winning smile (according to his mom, at least) and held the clothes in his arms forward. "These will probably be a little too big for you, but it's the best I could find. I'll be outside the break room to stop anybody from coming in, so just tell me when you're done."

Her only response was to nod, so he took that as his cue to step out. Luckily, he was only at his post for a few moments before Vermilion herself appeared, looking him up and down with her nose wrinkled. "So that's what Cardin meant when he said you'd shown up with a, quote, 'dirty girl.'"

"Of course he phrased it like that." Jaune held his face in his hands for a moment before looking back at her. "It's a classmate of mine, I found her walking like a zombie in the storm on the way here. She's changing into one of the work uniforms now."

"Uh-huh. Did you think to grab yourself a set, as well?"

He blinked before examining his own appearance: he was still wet and covered in filth. "Whoops."

Vermilion gave a long-suffering sigh. "You know, Jaune, you could stand to be a little more self-centered instead of thinking about everybody else first. Having a hint of selfishness isn't a bad thing."

"Sorry." He really wasn't, and his grin betrayed that.

"Forget it." She sighed again. "How well do you know this girl?"

"She's a friend of a friend, and I kin~da kept asking her to go to the dance with me last year."

His sister's facepalm was the reaction he'd expected, especially since it at least partially mirrored his own thoughts: this whole situation was awkward. "I'm too young to be saying that I'm too old to be dealing with this, Jaune. Do you at least know why she was out in the rain?"

"No, I only just found her before I got here. When she's ready to talk-"

"I'm done changing, Jaune." Weiss's announcement cut him off. He opened his mouth to finish the sentence, but Vermilion stopped it with a raised hand and let herself into the break room before him. As he'd suspected the shirt dwarfed her by at least a full size, but she didn't seem to mind as she continuing drying her hair with the towel. Her soiled clothes were in a plastic bag, hanging off the back of her chair.

When Vermilion and Jaune walked in, the latter introduced the former with, "Weiss, this is my oldest sister Vermilion, and the owner of this restraurant. Sis, this is Weiss Schnee."

Weiss stood rigid at the sight of sister, but gathered herself and gave a small bow. "I'm sorry for intruding on you and your brother, ma'am."

Vermilion rolled her eyes. "Don't call me ma'am; I'm not that old. Call me Vermilion or 'Boss' like everyone here. Please, have a seat."

Weiss complied and sat down, removing the now-soaked towel that was laying on it else she ruin the new clothes, too. Vermilion sat opposite of her, leaving Jaune to stand awkwardly to the side. The room was stiff until Vermilion spoke again. "So, Weiss, why did my brother have to pull you in from the storm?"

Jaune shifted forward to argue. "Sis-"

"Jaune." Weiss's voice was quiet yet strangely firm as she interrupted him. "It's okay. I've taken time out of your day; time that should've been spent working for your sister. Her asking questions... isn't in the wrong."

He locked eyes with her for a moment before silently conceding, resuming his stance by the wall. Weiss turned back to Vermilion and said, "I was with my family when I learned something... extremely upsetting to me. Unfortunately, I ran from the estate without making any kind of preparations. I'll admit that it was beyond foolish of me to have done so, but it's too late to change that now."

Vermilion played with a strand of her red hair, a gesture that usually indicated she was deep in thought. "If Jaune were to take you back to your home, what would happen?"

Weiss twisted uncomfortably in her chair. Her exhaustion was clear to see, but equally clear was the fact that Vermilion would not be denied an answer. "Then I'd most likely get into another argument with my family. Quite frankly I... don't think I can look at them tonight. Not after what happened."

"Then, what do you intend to do?"

Weiss put her hand on her chin as she thought about it. She glanced at her clothes bag before seeming to recall something. "I left my phone at home; but if one of you will allow me to make a call, I can contact my butler Klein and have him drop off some of my belongings. I'm sure I can find a hotel nearby with a room open."

Vermilion's expression softened as her mouth lifted up with a slight smirk. "What, and have Jaune here worried about you all night? Not likely."

The odd statement caught the younger girl off-guard, especially when Jaune himself chuckled a bit. "I'm sorry?"

"Look, let me level with you." Vermilion leaned forward as if she were sharing a secret, but her voice stayed at the same volume as before. "The Arc kids were all raised with a special brand of hospitality; if we can help someone, we do, although we sometimes disagree on how to do that. Little bro here has a particularly bad bleeding heart and would spend the next however many hours freaking out about your well-being until you two meet again."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," grumbled Jaune. He wasn't actually upset, of course, but he was rewarded with Weiss stifling a laugh behind her right hand. As small a gesture as it was, he was grateful to see any emotion on her face besides 'tired'. He followed up with, "My sis isn't wrong about the hospitality thing. If you're okay with it, my house has a guest bedroom you can use. What do you think?"

Weiss seemed like she was about to decline, but as she paused before answering she seemed to reconsider it. "I think that I would be extremely grateful."

He smiled. "Good. You can call that butler of yours to drop your stuff off here, and after my shift ends I'll drive you-"

"Hup-up-up," interjected Vermillion. "You won't be working any kind of shift today. You're still covered in water and mud, and I wouldn't be surprised if both of you get sick even after you change."

"But sis!"

"No buts, I know you've been doing well for tips this month. You can afford to miss a Wednesday." She crossed her arms in the stern way that only happens from an older sibling to a younger. "Grab a spare pair of clothes from the lockers and go home. The restaurant will be fine today."

Jaune pursed his lips into a thin line, but he knew better than to argue any further. "Fine, then I'm gonna need to borrow some more towels. The seats on the truck still have our mess from the ride here."

"Just get them washed and bring them back. Go."

He complied, retrieving some clothes from the lockers and changing in the men's bathroom. He also grabbed some towels and went outside to cover the truck's seats with them, casually noting that the rain was letting up. Once the preparations were done, he returned to the break room and handed his cellphone over to Weiss. She pressed a few keys and held it up to her ear. After it rang twice...

"Klein? Yes, it's me. I'm okay, I promise." A beat passed. "No, I won't be returning to the estate tonight; but, are you available to bring me some of my belongings? Yes? Thank you, Klein. Here's what I need..."

Weiss then reeled off a list of everything she needed, which included clothes, her phone, school supplies, and her wallet. Once she gave Klein Jaune's address, she thanked him again before hanging up and returning his phone to him. She still looked exhausted, but at least she didn't look as lost as she had before. "Thank you, Jaune. Are we ready to go?"

"Yep yep, let's roll out."

-Weiss-

Calling the day a rollercoaster didn't do it justice. First, she was torn apart everything that had happened between Jaune, Yang, and herself; then, she had her title and sense of self-worth not-so-subtly ripped out from beneath her; then, she was found by Jaune himself as she walked aimlessly through the storm...

Now she was riding in his truck as he drove, wearing an oversized black button-down shirt with slacks that matched Jaune's outfit; there was a joke in there somewhere, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. There wasn't much being done in the way of talking, but that suited Weiss just fine for the moment; her mind was otherwise occupied with processing a revelation.

Jaune didn't know she was Crystal.

After her... encounter with Yang, Weiss had been positive that the blonde girl had told Jaune everything that she knew, whether it be to spite her further or to simply enlighten him. However, clearly, that hadn't happened, leaving her in the awkward position of needing to tell Jaune the truth. The truth that she was grateful for everything he'd done for her as Crescent, and that she was a coward who'd avoided him on Saturday for what she knew now to be the most foolish of reasons.

What was stressful now was balancing her admittedly battered mental state from her family affairs with the need to show him that she was sorry. If she told him everything now, he very well might just kick her out of the truck, and then she'd be truly alone; however, if she waited too long to break the news to him she'd be more or less manipulating him by withholding crucial information, making her no better than her father.

At the very least, tonight was not the night for any revelations to come to light. Better that she come to terms with what she could regarding her family, not the very least being what she should do moving forward as she no longer had a goal to work towards. Jacques had seen to that quite efficiently.

Still, what were the odds of Jaune coming across her in the storm and stopping to help her? Whether he was acting as Jaune or Crescent, he truly did have phenomenal timing.

"-em happy."

"Hmm?" Jaune's words brought her out own mind. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"I said 'you seem happy.' You've got a smile on your face."

"...I do?" To her surprise, she discovered that he was right. Her own lips were betraying her inner thoughts, and she found that she missed the sensation after a long of stress and tears. She allowed the smile to linger as she replied, "I was just thinking about a friend of mine."

"Ah." The word hung in the air for a moment, Jaune clearly more focused on driving as he made a left turn. Once he'd completed the move he said, rather hesitantly, "Weiss, I... know this is gonna sound cliche, and that you and I have an awkward history to say the least; but if you ever need to talk to somebody, I'm here for you. And if you have to confide in a girl instead of a guy, you're about to meet a whole bunch of girls with my last name so you'll have your pick of the litter. I only recommend not telling Lavender, because she has a sliiight problem with keeping secrets, you know, secret."

She gave a nod, a gesture she knew was received when he returned it. His phrasing, however, quickly caught her attention, "A whole bunch? How many people are we talking about?"

"I have seven sisters total, and you're about to meet five more of them."

Goodness,' she thought. 'Either his parents adopted a number of children, or his mother is a very strong woman.'

The light of the sun could still be seen through the weakened storm by the time they made it to the Arc home. As he shut off the truck and came around with the umbrella to walk her to the door, she could admit to feeling some trepidation about meeting his family. An ever-so-slight feeling of dread that simmered as Jaune fiddled with his keys to unlock the front door. What were the his sisters like? His parents?

Vermilion's words flashed through her mind. "The Arc kids were all raised with a special brand of hospitality..."

She glanced at Jaune as he finally managed to get the door open and felt that fear dissipate a bit; if they were anything like him, she suspected that they'd be just the type of people that she needed more of in her life.

Jaune loudly announced their presence as they crossed over the threshold. "I'm home early, everybody! We have a guest; execute cleaning order Gamma!"

Although no people could be spotted from the entryway, the immediate effect could still be heard: a flurry of feet began stomping throughout the first floor of the house, punctuated by the distinct sound of somebody's leg slamming into a table and muffling a curse or two. Jaune openly laughed as he shook the rainwater off of the umbrella and set it into the appropriate holder. When Weiss looked at him with a raised brow, he answered the silent question with, "Arc rule number four: when a guest is over, tidy up. I could've given them a heads up earlier, but it's way more fun this way."

"I see. A way to keep them on their toes, so to speak?"

"Pretty much. I'm willing to bet that the one with the hurt shin is Olive since she tends to slouch on the sofa." He pointed to a short piece of furniture nearby, with multiple spaces in it that were filled with shoes. "There's a spot in this cubby for your shoes. Go ahead and take them off."

"Thank you," she said as she complied. Her feet now covered only with her stockings, she allowed her toes to stretch on the hardwood floor. It felt good to be out of her broken heel.

A moment later a blonde figure came around the corner, massaging her leg as she walked. "Living room's good to go, now who's important enough to get the Gamma order?"

As Weiss examined the new arrival, she could've sworn that she was looking at a female Jaune. The girl had features almost identical to his, although she couldn't have been much taller than herself. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail that went just past the nape of her neck, which was hidden by the red Star Trek T-shirt she wore. The girl, who she deduced from Jaune's words to be Olive, was similarly looking her up and down. "Huh, I'm impressed Jaune. I was gonna ask if you brought a co-worker home, but the oversized shirt tells me that you're sharing your wardrobe now."

She felt blood creep up her neck in embarrassment as Jaune gave an awkward flush and cough, but she recovered before he did and introduced herself. "We don't have that kind of relationship, but I did get this uniform from his job. I'm Weiss Schnee, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

She stuck her hand out in greeting, which the other girl took without a single pause. "Olive Arc, likewise. So what brings you to our humble abode?"

"I was lost in the rain and Jaune helped me out of it."

"Sounds like him. Anyways, come in and make yourself at home." Olive stepped back and gestured to a room around the corner, with Weiss obeying as she took in the house. It was two-story and painted with the walls painted an earthy brown, and she felt strangely impressed as she walked into the living room. It was spacious, two large sofas facing each other in the middle with a table between them, and a wall-mounted Tv to the left that could be seen by anyone sitting on them.

There were many picture frames around the room, but she only just began to examine them properly when another girl appeared, this one appearing to be several years younger than Olive. Her hair was equally blond, if cut a bit short, but her eyes were a light-brown. She was wearing a yellow tank top with shorts and sandals on. "Kitchen's all ready to go. Nice to meet you, miss...?"

"Weiss Schnee, and likewise." She wondered how many times she'd be saying her own name that day.

The girl nodded. "Lavender Arc at your service. Tonight for dinner, we have my personally made macaroni and cheese with ham."

Jaune crossed his arms. "And the vegetable is?"

She didn't quite meet his eyes."...Macaroni and cheese with ham."

"Lav-"

The girl threw her hands into the air. "You weren't going to know since you shouldn't have been home tonight! Is it wrong that I only make the stuff I actually eat?"

"Yes, yes it is." Jaune sighed and gave Weiss an apologetic look. "If you aren't too hungry at the moment, I can take a minute to whip up some other food to balance my little sister's unhealthy mess."

"I'd hate to add anything else to your plate-" Her stomach chose that moment to make her aware of the fact that she hadn't even eaten before the meeting with the White Fang, growling loud enough to be heard by all of the Arcs. She fought to her blush down as she added, "-and I think my body is asking for food as soon as possible. If you don't mind."

Lavender grinned, no doubt pleased to have won the argument. "I'll set the table."

Yet another face popped up, leaning out from what appeared to be the kitchen. This girl had short sandy-blond hair, and appeared to be between Olive and Lavender in age. Her eyes were blue, though a few shades lighter than Jaune's. "It was order Gamma, remember? I already got the dining room set for eight people."

Jaune raised a thumb up in approval. "Good job, Jade. Weiss, this is Jade; Jade, Weiss Schnee."

Jade simply nodded, said "Charmed," and retracted her head from view. Jaune looked at Weiss and shrugged apologetically. "Please don't take that personally; she isn't trying to be rude, that's just normal her."

Weiss shook her head. "It's perfectly okay, but I have to ask: just what is order Gamma?"

"I can answer that one!" The next Arc child rounded the corner of the opposite end of the living room, and to Weiss's minor shock she looked almost identical to Jade, barring the fact that her eyes were brown. "Order Gamma means that we have a guest staying the night, and we need to get the house looking decent and not looking like a bomb went off. Sapphire, nice to meet you."

Weiss returned the greeting with her name and a handshake. "Why 'Gamma?'"

"Because it starts with 'G', as in 'guest.' There's also Terrier, meaning 'temporary pet,' and Alpha. The last one technically isn't a cleaning plan, but it is at the same time."

Weiss scrunched her face up in confusion as the Arc children all began to file to the dining room. "How does that work?"

A strangely stiff voice answered from behind her. "We all conspire to drive the intruder out of the house, so I explain."

The source turned out to be the last-to-be-introduced Arc child, a girl that was identical to Lavender, without a single difference in their appearance outside of the purple tank top. "My name is Plum, honored guest, and it is an honor to meet you."

Jaune spoke up as he examined the table set-up. "Plum, talk normally."

"But this is normal, I insist urgently." Her voice neither fell nor rose in pitch, coming off as almost robotic in nature.

"No ice cream later."

It was like the flip of a switch as Plum brought both hands up defensively. "Okay, okay! Geez, let me have some fun."

"Not at Weiss's expense." He chuckled regardless. "How's Mom?"

"Tired; she's gonna eat later."

"Roger. Weiss, sit wherever you like."

The dining room table was long and rectangular, easily capable of fitting twelve people. Jaune took a seat at one end of the table, there were three chairs along each long side, and another chair at far end. Additional chairs were sitting along the wall in a neat row, ready to be used at a moment's notice. Weiss took one of the seats closest to Jaune as the others grabbed the other long side seats, leaving the opposite end chair emptry; probably for their mother, Weiss deduced.

Sapphire left and re-entered the room with a comically large pot. She placed the pot dead-center on the table and whipped out a ladle dramatically. "Order up, ladies and gent!"

Jaune slid his plate over. "I'll have the large, please."

Sapphire scooped out enough macaroni and cheese to fill his plate. "Next! Come on, we have a guest waiting on us."

And so the "orders" went around the table, with Sapphire dishing out the appropriate amount of food based on a call of small, medium, or large. Weiss was initially going to get a small, but she felt her stomach grumble again as she opened her mouth and quickly corrected it to a medium. The simple concoction didn't appear to be special, but as she dug in with her fork and took a bite she admitted to herself that it was quite delicious. It wasn't because of any special tricks or ingredients in it, but because the table around her felt so warm and inviting as the Arcs indulged in conversation while they ate; an act that was nearly sacrilege in the Schnee estate, but felt so very right in this odd ensemble of characters.

As she got her fill of food, she allowed herself a small sigh of contentment. Addressing Lavender, she said, "Thank you very much, it was delicious. Is that your favorite dish to make?"

"Nah, my favorite is making sandwiches; but thank you for the praise!"

Olive cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. She remained in her seat, but it was clear that she wanted to talk about something. "This has been great, but I think it's time to proceed with the time-honored tradition that the Arc children started when Vermilion first brought somebody of the opposite sex home."

To her right, Jaune buried his head in his hands. "Oh no... Weiss, I am so sorry to put you through this."

Her head whipped back and forth between Olive and Jaune. "What's going on?"

Olive leaned over from across the table with a gleam in her eye. "Oh, nothing much; we're just asking you few simple questions... questions like 'so, Weiss, how do you know my brother?'"

X

Dun-dun-duuuuuun! I wanted to end this chapter on a lighter note after the drama bomb of chapter seven. The proper ages of the Arc children shall be revealed next time.

I hope you enjoyed it. Please consider leaving a review, and have a nice day/night!