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Polemoduke

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He could feel the three dozen or so people watching him staring into his back as he stepped up to his door and waited for the soldier guarding it to confirm his identity. Which was almost as weird as seeing the barricades put up a few feet from his windows, or Ansel's streets so full in spite of them purposefully coming during what were normally peak working hours. And them not telling anyone he was coming - which meant that these people had been coming to watch his house, and his family, without needing him there. Which was something that left him…

Unsettled.

"We'll be waiting out here, Sir." His escort grunted quietly when Jaune reached for the door. Turning, he watched them join the others at the military barricades and sighed.

As soon as he stepped through, three small forms slammed into him like little blonde interception missiles.

"Hey, guys, missed you too." He laughed, kneeling to wrap his arms around Sapphire and the twins and laughing when they pulled away enough to start barraging him with questions. He peeled them off him as his mother and father came around the corner with Saphron in tow, keeping the other girls at bay while he smiled to reassure them and fished a little bag out of a big pocket on the thigh of his Atlas jumpsuit. Holding it out, he said, "Now, I promised Sapphire some candy if she was really good, so I picked this up on the Heracles."

"Hah!" She smiled, "That's so much candly!"

"But," he held up a finger, "you have to share."

"Otay!" She smiled, turning around and already forgetting about him as she and teh twins started to squabble over the bag of candy.

"What did you tell 'em?" Jaune asked his mom, flicking Saphron a look as they came towards him. "And when did you get in, Sis?"

"Yesterday evening, after I heard about what happened." His older sister frowned, pursing her lips and crossing her arms. She looked like she'd just flown in, with the bags under her eyes and her clothes all crinkled, but she still smiled and turned to lean into his hug when Jaune offered it. Quietly, she said, "I had to come, when Opal called and told me you'd run off into the woods like an idiot."

"Hey…" He chuckled, "I had a job to do."

"The Militia-"

"Couldn't do it." His barrel of a father cut in, crossing his muscled arms and huffing. He was heavy-set, but most of that was muscle, with a heavy beard tied in a thick work-braid and long hair hanging around his shoulders. When she smiled at Jaune, his eyes crinkled a bit while he rumbled, "Jaune did well, and probably saved just about everyone in Ansel doing it."

"It still wasn't his job…" Saphron sighed, shaking her head and waving it off when his mother frowned. "Forget it. We should get food going, right mom? We can talk in the living room while the kids eat."

"Food sounds great." Jaune smiled, more than worn out on hospital and military food. "What are we having?"

"Tacos." His dad smiled, clapping him on the shoulder and leading him aside while his mother and Saphron went to the kitchen.

The living room was just as chaotic as ever, with a rounded fireplace in the corner whose chimney was covered in family pictures. And drawings he and his sisters had made, growing up. Beside it was a long bookshelf that covered all but the top of the window - to better keep the heat in, according to his father - that reached all the way to the short wall that protruded beside the door. His father had a special chair he liked right by the fireplace, with the wood-pile between his seat and the fire itself so he could tend it, and Jaune plopped on the long couch that sat at an angle across from the firepit. Turning, he stretched out on it, enjoying the space while he had it and sighing.

"So where is everybody else…?" He asked after a few minutes of quiet, listening to the fire and watching the ceiling fan spin lazily.

"Coral and Jade are out picking up some medicine and some of that nice local tea for your step-sister, Terra." His father grunted, "You know where everybody else is."

"Terra isn't doing well…?"

"The pregnancy is going hard on her." He turned to smile and shrugged, "It happens. She's fine, though."

"I hope so…"

"Lad, you know how many kids I've had. Believe me, I know when a pregnancy goes hard but someone is fine." His father chuckled, shaking his head tiredly and leaning forward to shove a log into the smoldering fire. It was mostly for the sound, Jaune suspected - it was still warm out - but he could hardly complain. As much as his father loved the sound, Jaune loved the smell of wood-fire. "Terra is fine enough that Saphron is making tacos rather than rushing her off to bloody Vale, so…"

"Yeah." He chuckled, "I just get anxious, I guess. My nephew and all."

"You're a good lad." His dad nodded and sighed, "Good enough to rush off when you ought to know better…"

"You just said-"

"I said that to make your sister back down, and keep the rest off of ya." His dad cut him off, pointing a fire poker his way and raising both bushy brows. "And I wasn't lying, really. You were damn brave. Just damn foolish, too."

"I-I guess…"

"Brave enough for the apparent Headmistress of the Beacon Institute to pop by with gifts, like the beef being fried right now." Jaune winced and his father sighed and chuckled, "And candy… Your sisters are entirely too high on sugar just now."

"I… Am not taking responsibility for that."

"You shouldn't, your mother already blames me, believe me when I say I could tell that much." He chuckled, "What you are responsible for is telling what in the Old Gods' name you did out there that killed an enemy Mobile Suit and brought Glynda fucking Goodwitch to my home."

"Nicky!" His mother called from the other room, "Language!"

"Valean!"

"I will hide your hot sauce!"

"I love that woman…" His father chuckled warmly, rolling his eyes at Jaune's unamused, deadpan stare. Shrugging, he said, "One day, you'll find someone. Man, woman, whatever- Then you'll get it."

"Uh huh…"

"But don't change the subject, now." His father smiled, winking when Jaune groaned and rolled his eyes at the old, beaten to dust joke. Shaking his head, and losing some of his humor, his father sighed and went on, "She wouldn't tell us what happened… Only that you destroyed an enemy Mobile Suit on your own, and that she wasn't permitted to say how. Only that she was hopeful to see you in Beacon soon enough, to hone your skills."

"I see…" For all she'd harangued General Ironwood, Goodwitch was no less willing to be underhanded, it seemed. Not that Jaune had expected either to relent in trying to bait him, even if he'd already heard them out and told them to let him think. He wasn't that naive. Nor naive enough not to guess why, exactly, Ironwood had been so willing to protect his family.

Everyone was willing to put in work for what they wanted, it seemed…

"It's a crazy story…" Jaune sighed finally, turning to watch the little fire. "Not one I'd believe."

"This is serious business, Jaune." His father answered quietly, "If you say it, I will believe you. That should never be in doubt."

"Alright…" He nodded, "So, I noticed something strange at the sensor-controller computer…"

The story took around half an hour to tell, but that was mostly because his father never interrupted. He only listened, nodding occasionally while he fed the fire. Sometimes, his mom would come with drinks for them, or Sapphire would come running down on a sugar high to ask him something or show him one of her dolls, and he'd hush Jaune up for the moment. But otherwise, he seemed content to simply sit, sip his tea, and listen to Jaune's story.

"And… And now, I'm trying to figure out what to do." Jaune sighed, "Because I do not think staying in Ansel is in the cards."

"No." His father rumbled, "It isn't."

"Yeah…"

"You always did want to head out there, study at one of the Institutes and become a proper engineer." His father chuckled, adding another thin log to the fire and giving him a look. "Now? Well, now it seems you have a chance at something like that. The amount of good you'll be able to do… It's beyond anything I think either of us expected this world to offer you."

"Yeha, but…" He leaned forward, pressing his palms together and frowning. "I don't know. Atlas' offer is big for Ansel, but…"

"Vale will be easier to explain to your mother?" His father chuckled, "When you tell her you're moving away?"

"That," Jaune laughed, "and… Well, it's home. When I joined the Militia, even just working the systems support like I am, I took an oath to serve my people. And yeah, Vale won't push it- I-It's just ceremony, and stuff. But I still…"

"Having pride in one's nation, and one's word, is not something to feel ashamed over, my boy." His father chuckled, "Our family has served this Kingdom, in one way or another, for generations. I may never have really pushed the idea, but…"

"I get the idea." He'd grown up on stories of the heroes of Vale. It's soldiers, its inventors, its protectors… And now, he had the chance to join them. And it was…He ducked his head as the thought occurred and shame washed over him but, even so, he forced himself to say, quietly, "I think I'm… Scared, dad."

"Scared…?"

"To-To move away, to pilot a Gundam, to fight Grimm…"

"It's not the Grimm you're afraid to fight." His dad murmured, "Is it?"

"I…" His eyes burned and he dabbed at tears, shaking his head. He'd worked hard to avoid thinking about it, but… Well, now it was in front of him, and he sighed. "I didn't mean to ki- To kill him. I just wanted to protect her, a-and he just killed her, just like that, and- And I saw red, and then woke up on the Heracles. But I didn't- I wanted to, but I didn't mean to, not- Not really, dad, I swear, I-"

"Breathe, son, breathe." Heavy hands on his shoulders brought him back, and he realised he'd bowled over in his seat, pressing his knees to his forehead. Shaking his head, he looked up at his father who smiled sadly and pulled him into a hug, running his fingers through his hair. "My boy… That was a battle, short lived as it may have been. And while you can never undo what you did, what you did wasn't wrong. You just wanted to save someone you cared about."

"But I-"

"Killed an opponent that attacked your home, your people, in a straight fight." His father hugged him tighter, kissing the crown of his head like he was a child. Normally, Jaune would have hated that. Even now, part of him did. But… He leaned into it anyways, hugging his father and taking a deep, shuddering breath while the man went on. "That bastard killed someone you cared for right in front of you. And not even in a fight. You said she was already beaten… But he did her anyway."

"Y-Yeah…"

"And you did him in turn, for your people." His father pulled away, running his hand around the side of his face and holding it, smiling warmly. "You did right… But that kind of guilt doesn't just go away. I know."

"You do…?"

"...It was a thief, in Vale." He murmured, flicking his gaze away from Jaune and sighing. "He tried to mug us. Went for your mother with a knife… I stopped him, even though I knew it was right, and I hated myself for it for a long time. His name was Anton Bronzeeye. He'd killed ten people that year, mugging them and stabbing them… A psychopath, they said. I still remember his face, what he said to me, how it felt."

"I do, too…"

"I decided, a few months after, to enlist with the Militia to… To try and make sense of it all." His father smiled, easing back and straightening his old, aching back as he did. "It helped me, the… Direction in it. And now, I don't know what else to do but suggest you do the same."

"But… As a Meister."

"The Gods, or the Stars, I guess… They clearly have something written for you." His father smiled, "I suggest you follow them, until you find a direction that you feel is the best for you. Until then? One step at a time, my boy."

"One step at a time…" He nodded, sighing and sitting up. He heard footsteps behind him and wiped at his eyes before he heard his sister hiss.

"Dad, what the hell?!" He heard before he felt her tug him into another hug. "What did you do to make Jaune cry?"

"Why do you assume I did something?"

"He's crying and you're in the vicinity!"

"That's not fair at all…"

"Saphron." Jaune chuckled, pulling away from her and smiling when she scowled at him like he'd insulted her by breaking away from her hug. "I'm fine. Dad was just… Giving me some advice, to help me figure something out. No big deal, okay?"

"If you're sure…"

"Yeah." He smiled, "I am."

"Alright." She sighed and stood, straightening her shirt and flicking a wary look between them. Finally, she sighed and said, "Tacos are done. Dad is supposed to come help set up the kids' plates before we call them down."

"I can-"

"Just sit and…" His older sister sighed and shrugged, "Just catch your breath, little bro. Okay?"

"Sure…" He smiled, "Sure."

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Ironwood turned from the window he was watching the forest below through when his personal Scroll hummed quietly. He opened it, flicked through the messages, then frowned while he read Soleil's. Scowling, he closed it back, shook his head and rumbled, "Damn…"

It was going to Beacon, then…

No matter, he supposed. The Heracles was in Vale to support the Kingdom, and what better place to operate out of than the Beacon Institute? Surely, Vale would be more than grateful if he had some of his engineers on hand to help them research the Crocea Mors, too. It could only result in closer ties between the Kingdoms, after all… And who was he to refuse if the Council of Atlas would ordered him to keep trying to recruit Arc and his Gundam?

"All for Atlas." He murmured, "And through them, all mankind…"

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Steelrain :

Blake is going to be interesting going forward, yeah.

Essiter :

I'm glad you're enjoying it, friendo. And yeah, Kaiju 8 has some neat monster designs. I'm unsure of what I can take away PERSONALLY for this, but… We'll see, lol.

Noz7 :

Crocea Mors will get upgrades yeah, and the comparisons you make to canon items isn't far off.