Cuts of RWBY
A RWBY Fic Collection by AndrewJTalon
DISCLAIMER: This is a fan based work of prose. RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and WB Animation. Please support the official release.
A potential AU idea: What if Isabel Arc died giving birth to Jaune, and his father Nick was left to pick up the pieces?
There were a lot of things Nicholas "Nick" Arc would never understand. Most of his wife's medicine and science lectures were at the top of that list. Along with why girls went to the bathroom in groups, UFOs, and the metric system.
This... This was something he truly could not understand.
He stood in an Arc-En-Ciel Hospital room, the medical devices all silent and showing nothing on their screens. The respirator had failed. The lights were dim.
All he could hear was the beating of his own heart in his ears. The seven foot two tall man took a step forward, and another... Before he fell to his knees at the side of his wife's bed.
His head was bowed. His fists were clenched. Out of instinct, he fought the tears that threatened to run out of his eyes.
Shakily, he reached up and took the too cold hand of his wife in his own.
"... Izzy... I..."
He feel silent, trying to fight the sob in his throat. He forced it down with whatever will he had left.
"... You made me... A man. You made me a hero. You made me a husband. You... You made me a father... And I... I don't know... I don't know what I'm going to be without you."
He fell into silence. He sucked in a slow breath, fighting another sob.
"I've been praying to the Table Breaker and the Emperor Above... That you would heal. You always healed before... Always got better. This time... This time you didn't..."
He pressed her hand to his forehead. He shuddered, and a small sob escaped despite his best efforts.
"... Most of the time... You knew... You knew I was scared too. I'm scared now, Izzy. I'm so scared... I-I don't know if I can..."
He sniffled again. Hot tears ran down his chiseled face into his beard. His sobs were soft, even now he kept them under control.
A soft wail broke the deadly silence. Nick looked up at his son, lying in a crib. He wailed his little lungs out, a perfectly healthy baby boy.
He looked back at Isabel's body, and squeezed her hand tightly.
"... I just know... I must. And... And I will..."
He slowly got up. He walked over to his son, crying loudly in the dark room. He reached out, picked his son up... And held him gently in his arms.
"Shhh... Shhh, it's all right son, it's all right," Nick soothed, "It's all right... Your mom... She's..."
He paused, struggling to hold himself together.
"... She's gone... But I'm here. Your daddy's here. So is the rest of your family. And... And we'll always be there for you..."
His infant son calmed and curled up against his broad chest. Nick sniffled again, and held the tiny bundle of life against his beating heart.
"Always... My son..."
The old farmhouse still had a picturesque quality. Like something out of a fairy tale or a travelogue.
Glynda Goodwitch could only hope the owner was in as picturesque a mood. She steeled herself as she walked up onto the porch. She took a moment to appreciate the many wind chimes on the porch, most clearly made by children, before she knocked on the door.
A few moments passed, before a large figure approached the door. Said figure slowly opened it. Glynda blinked in shock, an emotion shared by the giant man staring back in a messy apron.
"Gynda?"
"Nick?" She gasped.
Nick held up a finger to his lips and shushed.
"He just got to sleep, please... Come in."
He led her inside. Glynda had to step carefully over several discarded toys and children's clothes in the messy living room. On the coffee table sat a baby carrier, where a tiny infant lay sleeping. Nick bent over and, despite the sheer size of the man, he gently checked on his sleeping son. He smiled in relief, despite the bags under his eyes.
"Just stay quiet, please," Nick murmured, slowly sitting down on the couch. Glynda cleared off a few sweaters before she sat in the opposing chair.
"It's good to see you, Glynda," Nick said, smiling warmly. Glynda sighed.
"And you. I'm sorry I missed the funeral." She shut her eyes tightly. "I didn't even hear about it until I got back from the semester end training mission... I'm so sorry-"
"No, no, it's okay," Nick sighed, gently rocking his sleeping baby, "It's okay. Arjun and Saia couldn't make it due to a terrorist attack. Can't blame them for not getting away."
Glynda frowned in deep concern.
"Nick... Are..."
She was so terrible at this...
"Where are the other children?" She settled on.
Nick shrugged.
"I asked Nana to look after them. She and Papa took them out to the swimming hole. Not many of them were enthusiastic. Jaune here has been crying all the time he's awake. We don't get a lot of sleep."
He smiled despite this at the tiny baby. Glynda felt her own heart melt as she looked upon his squishy, innocent features.
"You're not taking care of them all by yourself, then?" Glynda asked carefully.
Nick shook his head, though it looked like it took him a lot of effort. His eyebags had bags under them, yet he still stayed erect and mostly alert.
"No... No. Everyone's been pitching in. Tex, the Sarge, Caboose, Church, they all stop by. The Siths too..." He yawned. "Saphron's been trying to help too... Sweetie's only seven but she's so mature."
He sighed.
"She's hurting though. They all are. Even Tanya knows what's wrong..."
"... And you?" Glynda asked gently. Nick looked up at her, and shrugged.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to say," he mumbled, "What do you say when... When your wife dies?"
The big man slowly looked back at the door, and let out a shaky sigh.
"I keep expecting her to walk back in here. Yell at me for not cleaning up. Letting the girls stay up too late..."
He shut his eyes.
"Then I remember... She's dead. And she won't come back. And..."
He shrugged.
"She did most of the thinking, you know? She was the smart one. Me? I..."
His shoulders sunk.
"I love my kids, Glynda. I really do... And a month without her I just..." He shrugged helplessly and held his hands out. "I feel like I'm mowing in circles, you know? Between the farm, and-and everything, I just..."
He shut his eyes tightly.
"... Is it normal to feel like you have no idea what you're doing? Like you're completely lost?" He whispered. "I grew up never knowing my family. My master, Grandpa George-He died too, but... But I could handle that. Losing Izzy... I..."
He shook his head slowly.
"I know what to do but... This isn't something I can just swing a sword at. Punch through. Or... Or anything. So..."
He sagged back on the couch.
"I don't know if I'm doing well... I don't even know if I can do 'well' at this. Because she's not coming back, but my heart doesn't know that yet."
Glynda frowned deeply. Nick had always been honest and forthright. Almost hopelessly so. For him to not have any of his usual confidence...
It was wrong to her. Deeply wrong.
She lifted her riding crop, and waved it around. With a surge of purple Aura energy, everything was cleaned up, all the clothes were neatly folded into piles. Nick opened his eyes and blinked rapidly.
"No... She isn't," Glynda said quietly, "But, if you're open to more help? I... I would be willing to pitch in."
Nick slowly shook his head.
"You live all the way in Vale, Glynda. It's a heck of a commute-"
"I'm two years into teaching at Beacon, and... And I've realized that that's all I have," Glynda confessed. "My apartment outside the school barely gets used. It's just a pretense that I have a life outside of it."
She looked down at the still sleeping Jaune. The idea was... Was wild. Impulsive. But seeing one of her oldest friends like this, so lost...
"I can come during the semester breaks at least, and maybe the weekends," Glynda went on, "I can at least help you, Nick. You two were some of my oldest friends... It's the least I should do."
Nick opened his mouth to answer. What it would have been, Glynda didn't know-Jaune perked up and began to cry. Nick sighed, rocking his baby carrier.
"Sorry... Hang on."
He gently pulled Jaune out of the carrier, and held him out to Glynda. Her eyes widened.
"I-what-?"
"Just hold him for a bit, I'll get his bottle," Nick explained, setting his son carefully in her arms, "I'll be right back!"
He turned and headed into the kitchen, as always, quite quick despite his large size. Glynda carefully tucked Jaune's head under her bicep and rocked him, as she distantly remembered how to hold a baby. It had been so long.
He's so warm, Glynda thought faintly, Did Isabel unlock his Aura...?
If she was in so much distress during the birth that she'd had to do that... It must have been with the last of her energy. Even in her final moments, she was trying to save someone's life.
"There there, little one," Glynda murmured, as Jaune whined, "It's all right. I'm here... I'm here..."
She flared her Aura gently. Thrumming it in time with her heartbeat. If his Aura was activated, he would feel it, and hopefully it would soothe him...
His cries lessened, until he was simply cooing up at her with those big blue eyes. She smiled down at him, and felt her heart melt even more.
"Hello... Hello, I'm Glynda. It's nice to meet you, Jaune," she murmured.
She heard a creak in the floorboards. She looked up. Nick was staring at her in amazement, eyes wide, jaw dropped.
"He... He stopped crying!" He gasped.
"I... I um, I think his Aura is active, so he can sense it," Glynda said, "So I thrummed my Aura... It seems to calm him down and..."
Nick laughed. It was exhausted and hoarse, but it was a real laugh. He staggered over to her, and handed her the bottle.
"Here. You'll need this."
"Nick?" Glynda asked, as Nick staggered to his large armchair. He collapsed into it, his head bowing deeply. Glynda allowed herself a small smile.
Poor man's exhausted, Glynda thought. She looked back down at Jaune, who was reaching up to grasp for her.
"Your father is working very hard," Glynda told him, "When's the last time you had a break, Nick? ... Nick?"
A soft snore greeted her. She sighed, and summoned up her Aura. She wrapped a blanket around the sleeping giant. She smiled warmly at him.
"Rest," she said quietly, "I'll take care of things... As much as I can."
She turned and continued to rock Jaune. She sighed as she spotted one out of the hundreds of photos on the wall. It was a class picture: Isabel's team had been out on the grounds, and had found her. Nick had dragged her into the photo in front of the fountain.
Arjun had scowled. Saia had smiled nervously. Isabel smiled in a perfunctory manner, but Nick had just outright grinned. And despite herself, her smile had been genuine. Team SANI had been a complete menace... But Glynda would admit? That knowing them had made her life a lot more fun.
"I'll take care of them, Izzy," Glynda murmured quietly to the smiling Isabel, "I promise."
It was the least she could do for them.
Notes:
So, what would the story look like from here? How would things change?