Last chapter of the year! Just barely made it to...

Enjoy the chapter.


Cover art by: Notgustiarp

Chapter 9


She'd done it again.

She'd lied. This time about Jaune's involvement, and in doing so guaranteed he could choose his own future. So why was she so exhausted after it was all said and done?

Stumbling her way out of the elevator, she immediately found the nearest bench outside Ozpin's tower.

She'd made her decision, and now there was no way to go back. Now it was just about living with her actions again, but when did consequences ever stop her?

Taking one last look around, she took in the same sight she'd once loved to laze back and admire. Long stretches of perfectly trimmed grass dotted with rows of perfectly manicured trees only broken up by pillars of marble stone. Even in the darkness, she could easily make out every square inch of the place. Beacon Academy…

She didn't remember it being this colorless.

She wondered if Oz had changed anything. Looking around at everything, it dawned on her that nothing had actually changed with the school itself.

What had changed was her. Even just sitting here in the dark, the air felt tense like she'd be attacked at any moment. Her hand, now always resting on her weapon, trembled with barely held back energy.

She'd hit up the training hall when Tsune was done with her.

Pushing herself up while keeping a grip on Crimson Blossom, it became a vice as she took to walking the long dark path to the medical wing of the school. The constant glances over her shoulders only increased as she barely held back from rushing forward lest she injure herself more. Why was she acting like this?

Because she hated it here.

No…I love Beacon. It's my home. I just…

No, she loved Beacon. It was once her home. Now it was nothing but a prison.

It's not a prison…I live here because—

Because she can't go home. Her real home.

Her pace was much too fast and yet showed no sign of slowing. Even as her body protested, her mind was lost elsewhere.

Patch isn't safe. We can't go back!

She was full blown sprinting past buildings and dorms that filled her with memories of a time long gone. They were so hard to make out now.

Patch isn't home.

She came to an abrupt halt. Gasping out, she clutched her head and squeezed her eyes so tight they felt like they would pop.

Home is out there!

Her squinted eyes trailed off into the distant skies over Vale—No past even that. To a place she didn't know of and could never reach.

Home is lost. Home was taken from her.

It was between labored gasps and muscle spasms that her mind finally began to clear as the chilly wind nipped at her exposed skin.

Her home is out there crying and begging to be rescued. Yet…

"Yet here I am…."

/-/

When she arrived at the only room still lit at this late time—Tsune's office, she was drenched with sweat and had to resort to using Crimson as a faux cane again.

"S-summer!?" Kitsune Rushed out from behind a medical curtain and rushed to catch her tired body. Even when she struggled to get out of the woman's grip, it didn't budge, probably used to unruly patients. Leading her to the closest chair available, she dropped into it like a newly forged weapon in water.

She zoned out as Kitsune ran around flailing while gathering medical supplies listing off possible reasons for why she was like this. Sweat trailed down her forehead, matting down her hair while the world slowly unblurred.

"Tsune." She spoke, knocking the fox woman out of her panic and causing dozens of cotton swabs and loose needles to drop to the floor. "…How is he?" She didn't know why she hesitated, but Tsune didn't seem to notice.

"O-oh! Right my bad, you must be worried sick." She squirmed a bit at the implication but didn't correct the woman. Letting her instead walk towards a set of curtains surrounding what must have been a lone cot.

Pulling them aside revealed just why he hadn't already come out to greet her.

She ignored the tension that left her body and the way her shoulders sagged at the sight of the boy laying peacefully on the soft looking bed. Taking extra note of how his chest rose and fell so softly despite being wrapped head to toe in fresh bandages.

"I gave him some sedatives, but he's been like this for hours now. Like he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a while, poor kid."

Poor kid indeed. Taking the opportunity now that her body was relaxed, she asked a few questions about his health while slowly succumbing to exhaustion.

"Well, after bringing him in, I ran some tests and listed out his injuries to plan his treatment. He's got a long road to recovery ahead of him…."

Pulling out her clipboard, she began listing off a few of his injuries. Her eyes became progressively harder and harder to keep open as the list stretched on over a minute or two.

"-and that was just some of the more critical injuries! I haven't mentioned the myriad of cuts and bruises. Don't even get me started on how many muscles he's torn!"

While nodding off to sleep, she was able to pick up on that last bit of odd news. Cuts and bruises? Torn muscles…huh?

"… Shouldn't his Aura have already healed those?" She mumbled out.

"Aura?" Tsune looked at her confusedly. "Summer, Jaune's Aura isn't unlocked—Nor am I authorized to unlock it unless in an emergency. Are you sure you're okay?"

What.

/-/

"No."

"Summer, be reasonable Beacon isn't fit to house children-"

"He is not going to an orphanage!" Her hands slammed down on Ozpin's desk, threatening to topple the stacks of paperwork into the nearest bin.

She doubted he'd mind.

Her heated gaze met cold indifference. Something was off the logical side of her brain told her. Too bad her emotional side was just that pissed off.

He broke away first, going back to looking over some random document on his desk. "Summer, I'm sorry, but I have no authority to just up and abduct an orphan child and raise them at my school. I believe they call that kidnapping."

Now he'd done it, that old hypocrite.

"So was I somehow different!?"

That got his attention, at least. For the briefest second, he paused in his work…only to immediately return to scribbling.

"Yes, actually, you were a different case. You never knew your parents." She stood stunned at that comment. "Never had to endure the pain of losing them and thus weren't as physiologically damaged as Jaune now is."

He finally looked up and met her gaze again as he spoke.

"And unlike you, Summer, I have no vested interest in specifically protecting his life. I wanted to keep you safe, so I chose adoption to keep you close to heart. To protect and train possibly one of the last Silver Eyed Warriors in existence."

He didn't say it, but they both knew that without Ozpin, she'd have been hunted down and killed as a defenseless child. Just like...

"You are legally my daughter, Summer, but I can't just go around adopting every single orphan I come across."

"But I—"

"Are a Silver Eyed Warrior." He interrupted. "And presumably the last bloodline to carry said gene. He is just a boy, nothing special."

Her lie came back to bite her in the end, it seemed. The idea that they could raise him to be a huntsman rose to mind. But she couldn't do it, couldn't even think of it as a solution as the whole point of the lie was to let him be free from the dangers of this life.

A chance she was never given due to blood and the same reason her children were targeted.

To give him a chance to choose peace. Her mind wandered back to those days in the orphanage. The constant loneliness that consumed her, the feelings of being unwanted and unloved that drowned her daily. That system was broken and wasn't any sort of home to grow up in.

Then Ozpin appeared and showed her what it meant to belong. He gave her purpose and a dream to strive for. A home.

Home…he needs—No, he deserves a home!

Her mind ran back those memories where he protected her, putting his own life at risk. At the words, he spoke to defend her even when she deserved Tai's anger.

He deserves better than to rot in an orphanage left forgotten, reminded every day of what he lost. He deserves a home…

Home...home...home-home—home!

Her hands slammed down on the table again, finally knocking the precariously placed stack of papers into the trash.

"Then I'll adopt him!"

Silence.

The only sounds she heard were her own heavy yet deliberate breathing. As her mind whirled at what she just said.

"Okay."

What?

"What?"

Ozpin didn't bother explaining himself, just taking the very same paper he'd been absentmindedly scribbling on and turning it to face her.

Adoption registration it read.

A pen was floated into her hand curtesy of one nosy witch in the corner. While Ozpin picked up another piece of paper out of the trash and continued working. She remained dumbfounded.

"I-I what's going on?"

He didn't bother looking up, seemingly already done with the argument. Moving on to layout an unusually prepared explanation of how the adoption process works

"—And unlike with what you were proposing, I have no qualms with you doing the same. Do keep in mind that courts rarely grant custody of children to hunters due to the dangers inherent to the role. Though I should be able to get the paperwork approved swiftly."

After finishing his explanation, he continued scribbling away. When she didn't move to sign, he quirked an eyebrow and moved his free hand back onto the registration.

"Unless you've grown cold feet? We can go with my original proposal…."

Her hand moved before her mind even fully processed otherwise.

/-/

His dreams were actually absent this time around as his eyes slowly took in the unfamiliar ceiling above.

Whatever Tsune stabbed me with definitely worked…maybe a little too we'll…

He couldn't stop the groan that escaped him as he stretched what minor parts of his body weren't bound up in rags. Writhing under the blankets, he continued to lie there with scrunched eyes as a yawn pushed out of him.

Wherever he was, honestly didn't worry him. The only thing on his mind and the only reason he chose to get up was to find and make sure Summer was okay.

She felt so sad back then...

"Gotta find her." He mumbled, still feeling half asleep. Looking around didn't help much, what with the room's lights turned off. Stumbling to his feet, he took a second to stabilizeless he topple over and get even more disorientated.

Limping, he felt around till he found the lights. Honestly, he wasn't expecting to be blinded so thoroughly, but he really should've in hindsight.

Once his eyes finished sweating, he could actually see his surroundings.

It's so…clean.

Try sterile. The white walls reminded him so much of Beacon's nurse's office he honestly assumed he never left them. Though the king sized bed and single wardrobe that furnished the room said otherwise.

We're the heck, am I!?

He wasn't in the mood to wait to find out either. There were three doors in total checking the two on the sides only revealed a barren walk in closet and an equally empty bathroom.

Wait, is that a good thing?

Time to find out. He opened the only remaining door and came upon an equally pristine yet lifeless hallway. Three doors lined the hallway that most likely led to the rest of the house. Taking a step out had him jump as the floor transitioned from carpet to hardwood.

Taking the time to admire just how clean everything was, he pressed on and came upon the first door on the left. Gingerly taking the knob, he twisted and pushed but decided to move on when it didn't open. The next door opened just fine, but all he was greeted with was another bathroom, only much smaller.

At least there's a toothbrush this time.

Two actually, along with other hygiene products on display, he felt a little better knowing that he wasn't alone wherever he was.

Memories of his own home made this near empty one feel all the more uncomfortable.

Stepping back out, he turned to the last door before what should be the living room. He was about to just ignore the room entirely and just head down. Until he realized the door was already left open.

Cracked slightly, he tried his best to be silent as he pushed in. He froze as It creaked loudly, ruining any hope of being sneaky. But when no response came from inside, he relaxed. Taking the silence as a go ahead, he cautiously stepped through.

The smell hit him first. Immediately he noticed the difference between this room to the rest of the home. It wasn't even that the room itself stunk more so that the scent was so different from the sterilized hallway that it became noticeable right off the bat. Looking around revealed why as he spotted plate after plate of unwashed dishes stacked high on a lone table.

The room itself was about the same size as the one he woke up in, just much more lived in. Except there wasn't a bed or wardrobe, just a lone chair tucked against the previously stated table.

Forgetting about that for a second as a much weirder and more unsettling aspect made itself known.

"Man, this place is all kinds of creepy." He mumbled while staring at the oddity around him.

In front of the table was a complex map of Remnant itself. With all five kingdoms, he'd been taught at home displayed. That wouldn't have been weird on its own, but the map itself was absolutely littered with an assortment of multicolored pins.

Each kingdom had dozens of pins sticking out, each seemingly color coordinated. Only one seemed to have escaped entirely unmarked. The kingdom of Menageriewith the only one close being the adjacent kingdom of Mistral with only a handful of pins.

The wall adjacent showed an equally weird board, but this time it was taken up instead with printed out articles and newspaper clippings. Reports and headlines all stood out as pins stuck multi color threads connecting specific clippings to each other.

Casting his gaze to the sole table he spied stacks on stacks of printed out news articles and local newspapers haphazardly thrown around. He assumed that a legend of sorts for the board and map were mixed into the mess itself.

Looking back to the board, he read out a few. Each article read about the same only in different kingdoms and villages.

"Kidnappings, human trafficking and sightings of alleged rogue huntsman?" These seemed to be the common threads connecting them.

Looking back to the map, he wondered if each colored pin corresponded with the board's colors.

"Man, that's a lot of red—" A sudden crash caused him to jump as the silence was suddenly destroyed. Turning to the door, he expected someone to be standing there waiting to rip him out of the room.

Yet no one appeared to reprimand him, and no sounds followed the sudden crash either.

Closing his eyes, he felt a pang of emotions elsewhere in the house. While it wasn't distinctly negative, he felt it certainly wasn't good either. Because how could this level of apathy ever be good?

Stepping out of the room while remembering to leave it propped open, he followed his sixth sense down the hallway. While it was a little dark, the fact the home only had one floor definitely helped.

In the living room, the apathy levels spiked so heavily he had to do his best to ignore his senses. His eyes scanned the room, looking for the source, but the only notable thing was a broken plate and a mass of what had to be dirty laundry wrapped in a blanket.

"Who's there?"

Okay, he'd be the first to admit he wasn't the most fearless kid around but who wouldn't yelp when a blanket monster that smelled like despair suddenly talked? Especially with how rumbly and agitated it was, at least he calmed down quickly enough to reply.

"Uh, hello, sir? M-my name is Jaune." He cautiously spoke.

The blankets took a second to shuffle around before a lone bloodshot eye became visible through the mess.

To be honest, I didn't think this could get any scarier. Gods was I wrong.

It blinked rapidly, obviously not adjusted to the light of the morning sun peeking through the blinds.

In the meantime, he took in just how lifeless the home was. No pictures were displayed, nor were any walls or furniture adorned with decorations. As a matter of fact, there wasn't much furniture, to begin with, only a couch, coffee table, and a no doubt underused tv.

Looking behind him showed the conjoined kitchen was fully stocked with appliances. He also hoped that there was food in those cabinets for his stomach's sake, at least.

"You hungry?" Mumbled the mess of clothes.

He was cautious, but hunger inevitably beat out common sense. "Um, a little, sir."

Another shuffle and a tangle of blond hair popped out from beneath the mess. He immediately recognized it as belonging to the man they met when arriving at Beacon. He wondered how he ended up in this guy's home, but honestly, his growling stomach took priority.

"Just wait over by the island." The man said before disappearing back into the mass. "I'll be over in a minute."

Making his way over to the single chair by the island, he sat and waited. After about a minute of intense stretching, he watched the blankets be thrown off. He didn't expect to then watch the man seemingly struggle to sit upright, let alone stand.

Five minutes. It took five minutes to sit up and stand for the guy. Apparently, even that much was a miracle because he felt a bit of surprise pierce through the usual apathy. A few shaky steps to get adjusted, the man—Tai, if he remembered correctly made it to the pantry and went about making scrambled eggs. The guy was sluggish but worked surprisingly efficient, and before he knew it, he was chowing down while Tai washed dishes.

Hmm, haven't had these in a while. Wonder if he's got ketchup?

He'd gotten a good look at the fridge from Tai's cooking and, uh, ya probably not worth asking. What was worth asking could wait till he finished eating, though.

"You're probably wondering why you're here, right?"

Or not.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so-" Swallowing, he continued. "All I kinda remember is miss Kitsune sticking me with a needle and then waking up here."

The older man sighed, and his emotions showed his disappointment. "Was kinda hoping you'd know a little more. But I guess that's too much to ask from her..." That resentment gave a pretty clear picture of who he was referring to.

"Summer brought me here…?" He mumbled out loud.

"Sorry about this kid, but that's just how Summer roles." The man looked and felt apologetic, at least until it was smothered by bitterness. "All on her own."

Tai told him that Summer just barged in yesterday morning with him in hand and just dumped him into the master bedroom. Afterward, they evidently went about business as usual and just continued to ignore each other. He'd apparently been asleep for a full day.

"If she's not in her office, then she's probably out training right now—despite Tsune's recommendations. She'll probably be back later tonight, so if you want answers wait till then." Tai stood and made his way back to the couch, showing he had no intention to break the standoff himself.

He stayed there for a second and hoped the man would offer some more advice or assistance with dealing with an apparent moody Summer—He shivered at the memory. Too bad the man offered no further help.

He was on his own.

/-/

A deep sense of grief blasted him awake.

Rising from bed, he tried to spy the source before realizing it was right outside the bedroom. Having chosen to pass the time with a nap, he glanced at the bedside clock and saw that over twelve hours had gone by!

Wow, I know I'm probably still processing through whatever Tsune stuck me with, but man...

Pulling off the blankets, he stood and made his way out the bedroom door. On the other side, the negativity seemed to swell, all coming from one source—that previously locked door. It still seemed firmly shut, but boy did he not want to check if it was still locked or not.

Is that…crying?

He could make out the distinct sounds of soft hiccups and heaving's that would typically accompany it, so yes, someone definitely was. Getting closer, he pressed his ear against the wood and focused on the sounds inside, identifying it as definitely male. Meaning…

"Tai…?" He mumbled.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as the sound of a door opening caught his ear. Thankfully it wasn't the one he was snooping on, and instead, the sound came from the living room. Summer was back.

Gingerly stepping away from the door, he made his way down the long hallway to get answers. Hearing brief rustlings in the kitchen, he only made it halfway when he met exactly who he needed. Covered in sweat and carrying an unfrozen ready meal, she made her way towards him—and immediately passed by without a second glance.

"S-Summer, wait!" He didn't really expect her to listen, so he was caught a little off guard when she actually did. So much so it apparently got on her nerves.

"What?" Clipped and full of uniquely Summer levels of irritation, he'd come to miss these little talks they had.

"Uh, well, you see, uh, I was wondering, um-" He mumbled and stuttered his way into what could charitably be considered a sentence—all while being extremely fidgety. Really, he missed these talks.

Summer didn't seem to share that same feeling, though. Turning and making her way to her office once again, he knew he had one last shot at getting a straight answer from the recluse of a woman.

"Why am I here!?" He at least succeeded in getting out the words even if they were a little on the loud side. It also seemed to work, halting the woman mid step.

Silence.

"You'll be living with us for the foreseeable future. We'll figure out the rest later, so just focus on healing up."

And with that short but enlightening response, he lost a few questions.

But gained so few answers.


Author's Notes:

Welp, this should be the last transition chapter before we learn of Jaunes main quest and subsequently begin his journey. Hopefully, the waits been worth it, and man, do I hope these last few chapters haven't dragged on too much. If it has, be sure to let me know!

Onto the chapter, we have Ozpin being underhanded and Summer still being her unstable self. Now Jaune has a million more questions than what he started with, yet one in particular, stands out...

Does this mean he has to go to school?

Well, you'll find out next time, I guess. See ya, next year boys!...and a happy late Christmas to I guess...

Also hope you guys like the new cover art, as it was drawn by the great Notgustiarp. Check 'em out on Twitter!

See ya next chapter.


Date Published: 2021/12/31