Enjoy the chapter.


Cover art by: Notgustiarp

Chapter 19


"Was cutting the meeting short really necessary?"

"Hmm?" Finishing up his last financial report for later filling, he didn't bother to glance at the only other two occupants in his office. "Well Summer, sadly I have yet to learn mind-control, lest no one would arrive early to scheduled meetings. But when I do, you'll be the first to know."

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He could do that, but what a most wasteful use of magical powers—even his father would balk at such a frivolous use. Or maybe it would've made him cackle at the possibilities. He couldn't really say anymore; eons would do that to one's memories. Still, he was also peeved at their new arrival's earliness, so he felt justified being a little uneasy.

"Ozpin? Come in Ozpin."

"Yes Glynda, I'm here. Am I to guess their bullhead will be arriving shortly?" he replied, answering her hurried call.

"Yes, they're coming into view as we speak. Are the documents ready? Or do I need to step in again…" his loyal secretary—deputy headmistress, sighed.

"No, no Glynda I've got that completely covered." His pen was a blur as he scribbled out a signature that would make even a doctor like Bartholomew blush in sloppiness. "As soon as they touch down, have them escorted to my office. I'll soon have it cleared out…" he said, side-eyeing the only two occupants still present, Summer and Qrow—an unlikely pair due to an apparent falling out had during their fateful reunion.

It seems I'll have to find a way to mend that bridge as well. Hmm…would young master Arc be able to help with that as well, I wonder?

"Of course, I'm aghast for having doubted your abilities. I'll message you when they are headed your way, but I'm sure you'll notice them long before that. You know how extravagant they can be, especially with regard to their upper elites."

Hmm yes, they do prefer to make an entrance, don't they? Thankfully, he requested some level of secrecy lest the council get wind of this little back-room deal and freak out.

"Thank you, Glynda. Do just that if you will, and I'll see you in time." Hanging up the office scroll, he attempted to readdress the goliath in the room.

"Mistrals no longer its own kingdom…"

Mumbling off to herself, she wielded an expression of calm contemplation smeared on her face—one he hadn't seen for quite some time. While they hadn't been able to expand on that too deeply due to unforeseen time constraints, what Qrow and himself had expanded on should suffice. At the very least, it can wait until after these negotiations.

"But Ozpin—"

"Could you quit the yappin already? It's pretty obvious that ol' Oz here ain't with us right now." Qrow droned out, half speaking and drinking, a remarkable feat if it wasn't so common an occurrence these days after they're kidnapping. "His heads already in the future, thinking on how he's gonna deal with the extra bunch of crazies he's invited over."

And it seemed his old jealousy streak had made a return as well. His surrogate son does have his oddities…

Summer's eyes refocused on Ozpin, narrowing to slits as her seemingly almost inherited level of paranoia kicked in.

"What does he mean by other crazies?"

"Well, I'm sure he didn't mean to imply you, yourself, are crazy—

"One, yes he did. And second, who else are you bringing here?"

He'd been hoping to avoid this, and by Fate, he would still try!

"…A delegation from Menagerie." Dammit.

"Oh," her interest instantly lost. "Why didn't you just say that? Gods, you're always so overly secretive with pointless stuff like this."

True, though humorously enough, that she also shows one of her bad habits here, what with her narrow perspective. While raising her, he'd attempted to right the mentality that if it didn't affect her directly, she'd lose interest in the subject. But here, it would serve him well to divert the topic.

"Yes, live a couple thousand years, and you'll see if you don't become a very private individual. Now, if that's all you require…"

A roll of her eyes and she gave the issue a rest. "Fine. But this meeting isn't over, just paused. We'll reschedule for later. I'll have to get with Tai when we're available, though..." mumbling off to herself.

"Ah, you're both gearing up for your next hunt, yes?" It was a typical hunt for living expenses, but the fact that the two of them were hunting again was an encouraging sign. "Will you require a sitter for young Jaune?"

He didn't refer to the boy as their son on account of a certain intoxicated bird in company but still offered his assistance never the less.

"Im sure I could spare some time if needed—"

"No, it's fine," she snapped back firmly. "There's a retired huntsman family next door that was understanding and agreed to watch him. But either way, he can look after himself just fine without much supervision." A hint of motherly pride seeping into her voice.

Curious.

He wouldn't begrudge her thinking that his busy schedule wouldn't be conducive to helping watch over a child—her upbringing in Beacon being first-hand experience. But this wasn't the first time he'd been all but barred from spending time with his legal grandchild. It'd been months in fact, with multiple offerings of get-togethers with even just simple dinners being shot down. But he would concede that any sitter would suffice.

Yet still he couldn't shake the ingrained paranoid feeling that they were hiding something or even outright avoiding him.

An issue for another time. For now, a more prescient matter needs attending to.

"Ozpin? They've arrived with an ETA of fifteen minutes."

"Thank you, Glynda." At that point the elevator had also arrived, and Summer had taken the opportunity to excuse herself, pulling her scroll out to no doubt contact Tai, who had left earlier into the meeting to check on Jaune. Something about not coming to breakfast that morning—typical angst form a budding pre-teen.

"So, a what from Menagerie is coming?"

"A delegation Qrow. Meaning, a representative is journeying down for our meeting on behalf of the kingdom." While not too common, he'd met with representatives from each kingdom from time to time whether to reaffirm agreements or old bonds with governmental bodies regarding his international students.

It was closer to the latter which was occurring today, though a bit of a special case. "Sadly, this meeting has to be kept on the down low as the students say." Heh, he took pride in the cringe. He wielded it almost like a weapon. "Lingo or not, would you—"

"Yea, yea, consider it forgotten. Not like I'll remember this when I sober up…"

If might be a more fitting word. Either way, he had trust that his cabal at least understood the importance of building alliances like this.

"If only the council would take such a lackadaisical approach to matters like this. Things would go much smoother if they did," he mused, sipping his morning brew.

"Why don't they?"

"Hm? Well, it's understandable from their perspective. All they see is the headmaster of Beacon—a near-separate entity from Vale as a whole, making backroom deals with a foreign power. It's understandable that they would feel nervous, what with a certain other world power they must placate in this delicate time."

"Then why bother?"

"Bother with what, Qrow?" he asked, locking eyes with his old friend.

"Why bother with this whole council thing? Your you. Why bother with hiding or secrecy when you could just come out with it all? I'm sure the world would listen if they knew…"

This was a concerning path the conversation took. More importantly, it led to some frightening questions of his own.

"And pray tell, what would you prefer I do?" he drawled, mindlessly fixing a few documents needed for the upcoming meeting. "I am but one man, after all."

"Pah." He spat, "the hell? Your Ozpin or whatever you wanna call yourself this life. All it would take is a wave of your hand or just a few years, and the world would do what you say. You've got the time, smarts, and the—"

"Power?" he finished. "or would the word strength fit better?"

Qrow looked surprised and stuttered out, "Well, yeah…"

"Oh, Qrow…" He should have probed deeper when Qrow mentioned his sister in his intelligence debriefing. "How long did you spend back in that tribe, Qrow?" Weeks? Months? Don't tell him…

"Meh." He dodged, "just a bit."

A raised eyebrow told him how convinced Ozpin was, with Qrow punctuating that enlightening answer with a strong sip of a long-emptied flask. "It appears my ability to lie convincingly has still yet to rub off on you after all these years. The same apparently can't be said for Raven's bizarre ideas of strength and hierarchy."

He should have paid him more attention. All this certainly had to do with his nieces. Qrow had all but shut him out, almost pouting like a child at being called out.

"Let's get one thing clear here, Oz. I'm nothing like that bitch or her motley crew of rapists and murders..."

"Yet here you are wondering why I don't just subjugate the world under my heel less I deal with the inconvenience of other perspectives. You already know my answer."

He was many things, but he'd done his best to move away from tyranny in the last dozen centuries, thank you very much. He wanted to put distance between himself and his past self for his own sanity if nothing else.

"Yeah well, whatever. I'll get outta your greying hair, I guess, if I'm that much of a bother."

"Qrow, you know that's not the issue here."

"Ozpin, we have an issue!"

"…See? It appears there are many issues other than your attitude. Must be the weather or some other..."

He received the bird for his troubles. With that, he stood and attempted to call out to Glynda, yet received no response. Moving to the window, he looked out over the expanse of Beacon, a veritable fortress surrounded by a wall of monster-infested forest, to locate his wayward assistant.

Looking to the landing strip, he noticed the issue immediately, but was interrupted by the sound of the arriving elevator.

"One last question," his old student said as the elevator doors noisily slid open. "If you're so against doing more than just running things in the shadows…" He could feel a clear gaze on him as he faced the precession of Faunus, slinking closer and closer.

"Why'd you make a religion out of yourself?"

In the distance, bells hoisted on polls rang, and ceremonial banners waved from the affluently dressed men and women. Their pure white flowing garb, accented with bits of ceremonial armor, denoted them as members of the church. Already, crowds of his students had formed, pointing and filming their theatrical entrance for all to see. Glynda yelled, and Bart darted around, each attempting to shoo them away, but the damage had already been done.

The Beckoned Faun have arrived.

"I've no idea what you mean, old friend."

The elevator doors closed, and he was left in silence, with only the shifting gears keeping him company. Yet he didn't hear that, not really. Instead, his mind was filled with the sound of clashing steel and magic—of an age of knights and wizards, each battling in a torrent of love and betrayal.

"No idea, old friend…"

/-/

Jaune was wet, miserable, and worst of all, mortified.

"Again man, I said don't worry about it. It's not that big a deal—Achoo!"

His head sunk lower as they continued to trudge through the labyrinthine maze of shipping containers lining every square inch of this new area of the docks. They'd definitely made it to the harbor like they wanted, even if it hadn't gone exactly as planned…

/-/

"Sardines! Come get your sardines while they're still kickin', people!"

The docks were a surprisingly bustling district of the city. He'd thought it'd be entirely comprised of shipping docks for receiving and storing goods. And while that was almost true, a good part was like this strip of commerce with stands of food and weird knickknacks from other kingdoms.

"A ton of these ships come from nearby cities like Patch or smaller villages outside the walls. Heck, tons of stuff are imported from all over with these ships, so the food here's super yummy!" It was impressive the way Sun explained all that, but he probably knew so much cause he'd came on those same ships, as well.

"Easy to steal, too!"

"And there it is...mind not yelling that out so loud next time? Or you know, doing it?"

The actual district was oddly shaped, stretching a good chunk of the kingdom's coast before leading up to the walls corralling it. Even then, it stretched a long way deeper into the mainland to store stuff close to the sea.

"It's so pretty…"

"You've rarely seen the ocean, huh?" Sun replied a little too smugly for someone apparently from a desert kingdom.

He kept his gaze out to the sea, tracking ships that came and went. "I don't remember. But my old village was landlocked, so I only really saw it recently…I think it had a lake, maybe?" He didn't remember much of his village, actually. Even as he thought back, he blanked on its name, having to really try to scrounge up bits and pieces.

What did he remember clearly, though?

"But I've been fishing here. A few minutes away is a nice pier where a bunch of old people like going."

"Huh, lemme guess you went for some father-son bonding time~" Sun teased.

He didn't answer—mainly because he was right, and it was a little embarrassing to admit. Just stayed silent as he kept scanning the horizon and the distant boats chugging along. It looked just like the time they came here.

"Heh, guess that answers that. Ooh, ice cream!" The Faunus all but yelled.

The old man, who worryingly seemed familiar, laid the last scoop onto a triple-stacked cone he was making. Then proceeded to hand it over to a random kid and their dad—

"Don't you dare!"

Grabbing Sun, he yanked him back, pulling the yellow monkey tail from swiping the cone from the distracted kid. Sun whined and flailed, but once the younger boy was gone, he settled down—enough to get lectured, at least.

"I mean, seriously, what were you gonna do? Just snatch and run—we just got done running from the cops!" He probably shouldn't have shouted that last part, but c'mon, this was pretty dumb.

"You worry too much. I was gonna tap his shoulder and then give him the ol' reach around and swipe it. Works like a charm, I promise!"

"Ugh." What did he expect, honestly? He'd literally met the guy mid-robbery, and hadn't he technically become an accomplice to that crime?

I'll just have to keep an eye on him. When did I become a babysitter to someone my own age?

He dug into his pocket, pulled out a few lien, and tossed it over. Fumbling a bit Sun stared at the cards in his hands like a drowning man to dry land, then back.

"Um, are you sure man?"

He put on the most serious face he could muster and channeled every action movie Tai didn't know he and Summer had snuck home. "When you're with me, stealing's off the menu, alright? Let me handle that."

He still had a bit of chore money to spare, after all.

Sun's smile was as bright as his namesake, all but tackling Jaune in a hug and running off to place their order.

"Wait, I'll take vanilla—and he's not listening…" he sighed. "Oh well. Least that'll keep us outta trouble and more importantly, my conscious clean."

His eyes drifted back to the beauty of the ocean as he started reminiscing about that fishing trip again. He and Tai had been here for hours, catching and releasing dozens of small fish. He'd been a little iffy about how much fun staring at a reel could be, but Tai had made it a blast.

"Hey Jaune, I got you chocolate!"

Now if only they'd managed to catch that darn trout…

"Oo! Is that a rainbow trout?!" Were his last words as he felt his foot slip off the edge of the pier he'd gotten too close to.

Well, that was a bit off, but the last words were more caveman-like grunts, with him flailing around for something to grab—till he felt a fuzzy appendage to latch onto…

"Aww, I knew you wanted a touch—No, wait I can't swim!" Yanked from their feet and with the cones flung from Sun's hands, the ice cream tumbled to the ground with a splat, just like the splash accompanying the duo's tumble into the Valean sea.

/-/

"…I knew I should've just swiped those cones."

"N-No, wait. Me teaching you the error of your ways was the only good thing that happened!"

"And now we're both soaked and broke. Where's my ice cream, Jaune? Where?!" Shaking him with manic energy only a sugar-deprived pre-teen could.

"L-Look, we're here now, so how about we focus on finding those kidnappers…?" he said, gently prying the Faunus's vice-like grip.

"Huh? Oh, right!" Dashing off suddenly like he'd forgotten their goal in the first place, he watched Sun bound deeper into the docks from the edge they'd washed up at. Sun leaped onto pallets and crates to get a perch. Where had they washed up, anyway?

"Wow, we got really far from….actually, I've no idea where we were or are." Sun didn't seem as bothered by that as he did. But their goal was the docks, and they'd made it, so who was he to complain?

"We're never gonna find them…"

"Buddy, you can't give up that easy—w-wait, are you crying?"

"N-No!" his knuckles dug into his eyes, knocking aside dollops of sweat as he turned away. "I'm just frustrated at how I messed everything up…like I always do…"

"Aw, c'mon bro. Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"

"Dude! We didn't even make it a minute on the pier before I got us lost! Face it man, I fricked up…"

"Whoa! Language man…" He mumbled an apology, but even that felt half-hearted.

"Look man, it's not that deep alright? I mean heck, we were already lost in the first place, so you getting us more lost didn't really even do all that much in the grand scheme of things!" Displaying what Jaune was rapidly realizing was near infinite levels of cheer yet obliviousness.

That probably sounded a lot better in his head, huh?

Sun was trying to help. He knew that, but it did little for his attitude. You didn't need emotion sensing to figure out that Jaune was already in a sour mood. He usually felt this in other people, with their feelings usually overwhelming them and spilling out, just like the regret he felt now. It all just came pouring out when he thought about trying to live up to what he said about not letting bad things happen to people if he could stop it.

He couldn't stop anything. All he could do was feel…

Feel, huh? Feel—feel!

"Wait, I've got it! Sun, I know how we're gonna find 'em!" New determination shining through his illuminated irises. Their light glinted off Sun's annoyingly perfect teeth when he met his resolve with an equally dazzling smile.

"You had me at—like, whatever you were thinking bro!"


Author's Note's:

My emails are messed up again...

Moving on from that teeth-grinding info, hopefully you guys are interested in the hints about the new twist I've introduced to Remnant in the form of Ozpin's new Faunus-related guests. We'll only get mentions here and there for a bit, but trust me when I say it's a big change to the world.

Also, I just wanna make it clear in case the timeline of events got confusing that this entire meeting is taking place in the past. Specifically, the morning after Jaune ran away, with him leaving in the middle of the night and running into Sun, all while this meeting was taking place. His sleeping and then looking for those kids is tomorrow for old Oz and Co. Essentially, this meeting took place the day prior to them on the pier, so we haven't seen the family's reaction to having another missing child. We'll see a bit of that later...

But hey, I absolutely love writing more shenanigans with the new duo, and I hope you guys are enjoying reading it, too. I'm working on establishing their dynamic a bit before much happens so it's easier for you to get invested. Eager to hear what you guys think about it so far!

Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed it.

See ya next chapter.


Short Story


"…Repression?"

It was with her head in her hands that she asked that again, just to be sure. And she had to be sure that she'd heard right. The silent nod from Tsune being the nail in the coffin.

"How likely is that to happen?"

"Hard to say, and again, I only bring it up as a possibility. Sometimes, it's the reverse with events getting imprinted in children's minds so hard they may never be able to move on. Like they're stuck in a loop replaying that trauma over and over—that's probably worse in some ways than just forgetting it entirely."

But he'd forget his family—no, Jaune wouldn't just be forgetting them.

"They'd be stolen…" she growled out, having to get up and pace the room lest the hate she felt for Hazel drive her as mad as he was. Again, at least.

"But like I said, it's just a possibility, but it's one we need to be wary of."

And that can only be prevented if they put in measures to watch over his mental health, wouldn't it? And if it did, how much of his life would he have to spend to get them back? He'll already need that time to move on, and now this?

"This isn't right. It's not fair!" she shouted more at the injustice than at Tsune, yet the meek Faunus flinched all the same.

"A-Agreed. But for now, all we can do is monitor and try our best to prevent any lasting effects. He might be able to both retain and move beyond his trauma if we start early enough."

They'd have to. For his sake, she wouldn't stop until he was better…

"But not yet. He's still recovering physically to be worrying about therapy meetings and the like. Undue stress may prolong his injuries—especially seeing as he's gone and aggravated his injuries as early as yesterday—meep!"

What did she say?

"What?" she growled, whirling on the meek woman.

"Y-Yeah uh," she spluttered out, not daring to meet her glare. "Apparently, he came in early yesterday due to a small fall he had. N-Nothing to worry about though, promise!"

"That idiot."

Not Jaune per se, as he was a clumsy child by nature, but the other blonde idiot who should've been there to prevent this from happening.

What are you doing letting this happen? You were supposed to be the good parent here…

"What's done is done, then. Anything to do in the meantime?" She'd have to give Ozpin or Tai whatever advice she got here when she got the chance.

"About that…"

Oh, she had a terrible feeling again.

"I-I thought that—I was kinda thinking—um, maybe it would be better if someone he already trusted spent time and took notes of his current mental state. For when the therapy starts, they'd already have notes prepared beforehand."

"I'm busy."

"...With what?" A flutter of innocent eyes.

Damn, she got her.

"Training." Ugh, she was supposed to be taking it easy. They didn't tell her to stop investigating leads mind you, just that whatever she found was supposed to be sent up for others to investigate until she recovered.

"You weren't supposed to be training either," now it was her turn not to make eye contact. "Summer, you're supposed to be resting! How can you recover if you're constantly spending all day, every day training—wait."

Uh oh, bad feeling again!

/-/

There Jaune lay once again praying for nightmare-free sleep like he did every night. It seemed like he was even getting that wish, as his body was just tired enough to let it take him. He'd have to thank Tai—it might have been his intention to tire him out by chatting, too. In that stillness that he lay in, his mind flittered away, and his subconscious took over. His fledgling emotional sense poked out, yet its range had been nerfed to almost right next to him.

...So why was he sensing annoyance?

Eyes snapping open with a silent yelp after realizing the presence was right above him, he caught a glinting set of silver eyes glaring down into him from the pitch darkness. He was ashamed to say that his first instinct was to scream and throw the blanket up like a shield.

"...Tomorrow."

"Huh!?"

"Five-thirty. Be changed and ready 'cause I'll start early, and I won't wait."

And with that ominous sentence, the silver eyes closed, and the presence vanished, leaving him to lay there in a cold sweat, not daring to move yet too scared to fall asleep. On the bright side, staying awake all night meant no nightmares. But it did mean he needed a change in underwear…


Date Published: 2024/04/29