章 785: 128
Chapter 128:
The workshops of Beacon Academy were, perhaps, the most-frequented area of the campus. After all, this was where students went to inspect, modify, upgrade, and maintain their weapons, which many students saw as equal in value to their own lives. After all, in the field, one's weapon was one's indispensable partner, and having said weapon fail in battle against the Grimm was considered as good as dying, in many situations.
The workshops were a series of individual rooms, joined to a single hallway, containing workbenches, along with shelves holding a variety of tools. They were even equipped with miniature furnaces, enabling forging to be carried out within them, the workbenches doubling as anvils. All a student needed to do was to sign into an open room, and make use of it.
Of course, providing equipment to cater to the needs of each and every kind of the almost endlessly varying types of weapons that student Huntsmen and Huntresses carried was virtually impossible. The workshop had tools to suit the basic needs for maintaining guns and blades. However, if a student required more specialized equipment, they would have to provide it themselves.
In Piper's case, that was no problem. At the moment, she was repairing a circuit board from one of her drones. The goggles over her eyes masked the glare of light flaring from the fingertips of the black gloves on her hands. Glowing yellow lines ran from the tips of her fingers, back down and over her knuckles, where they met a wire that ran out from the glove, and into a nearby plug.
All-Purpose Gloves was what Piper had named them. They were her own personal invention after all. Thanks to the manipulation of the Dust in their weave, they were capable of welding, cutting, and soldering, so long as they were connected to a power source. Furthermore, their flexibility, being extensions of her own hands, allowed her to work much more easily and precisely than she could with the usual versions of such tools.
Her eyes were covered by another of her inventions, Full-Range Goggles. Besides protecting her eyes from the flares of light from welding or cutting, they also allowed her to magnify images to microscopic-levels. They also coordinated with her gloves, ensuring that she could work with better-than-pinpoint precision. Technically, they could function as binoculars, and even as thermal scopes, which would have made them useful in the field, though Piper hadn't yet had time to solve the issue of their power consumption.
Between the two pieces of equipment she used, Piper had been able to perform feats of engineering that were borderline revolutionary. It had enabled her to design the tech that ran Ciel's Gram Vajra, and Rain's Pench Kaateh. Both of Piper's future teammates had brought the nascent versions of their weapons to her, back in Combat School, and Piper had used her skills to realize what each of them had envisioned. She'd actually done that for a fair few of her classmates in Hyperion Academy.
The only weapon on her team that Piper hadn't touched, or hadn't been allowed to rather, was Penny's Floating Array. Now that she knew the truth, Piper knew why. Of course, now that she knew the truth, she had also secured permission from Penny's father to examine, and possibly even modify it...with additional permission of course. Already, Piper was salivating at the potential possibilities, all the different directions she might be able to take Penny's weapon in.
But that would have to wait. For now, basic maintenance would take priority. It would be counterproductive to heavily modify one's weapon at a time where they wouldn't have enough time to get accustomed to its nuances before they had to put it to use. So, for now, Piper would have to restrain her eagerness.
Carefully, Piper finished her work, then slid the circuit board back into place in her drone's housing. Disconnecting her gloves, she took them off, then donned the wired gloves she used to control her weapon. Her goggles switched to diagnostic-mode, feeding her information from the drone itself, enabling her to check that it was functioning correctly, as she manipulated one finger to make the drone rise, then circle, then lower, then collapse into its storage-mode, then expand again. Her checks completed, Piper was satisfied that everything was working as it should. Collapsing the drone once more, she attached it to the magnetic holster that she typically wore at the small of her back, alongside its other seven brethren.
"Watching you work is always an enjoyable experience," observed a voice from behind her.
Piper smiled, sliding her goggles off the top of her head, and shaking her hair, sending a light scattering of sweat through the air around her, before turning to regard her partner, who'd entered quietly, then waited until she was completely done, before talking to her.
"Hey, Rain," said Piper. "Want me to check something?"
"No, thank you," said Rain.
Piper raised an eyebrow. "Then shouldn't you be showing Ciel around the festival, the way a proper gentleman should?"
"She is with Ms. Winter, right now," said Rain, chuckling. "You know how she gets."
Piper laughed. "She's probably one of the few people who looks forward to work more than the breaks between them."
"They say that, if you love your work, then you will never work a day in your life," said Rain. "Ciel is at her best, when she is doing what she loves."
"Then why aren't you watching her at her best?" teased Piper.
"Because that would be somewhat crass," said Rain. "Ciel would not appreciate me watching her all the time."
"I suppose there's a fine line between wanting to watch your significant other at work, and being a creepy stalker," mused Ciel. "Though, if that's the case, then why come to see me?"
"I cannot stop by to watch my partner at her best?" asked Rain teasingly.
"You could, but you usually don't," said Piper.
Rain had tried at first. It was part of being a good partner, he'd said back then, to take an interest in what his partner did, in order to better appreciate her qualities. It had been sweet, and Piper had appreciated the effort. But simply sitting and watching while she worked wasn't an easy thing, particularly since Piper was usually so focused on her actions that she couldn't explain what she was doing. She didn't want to subject Rain to hour-long lectures either. In the end, both she and Rain had decided it was best to leave her to her work, while he attended to his own hobbies.
Rain sighed in resignation, before reaching into his pocket, and producing an envelope. "A rather refined-looking gentleman delivered this directly to our dorm-room. It is for you."
Piper took the letter, then smiled brightly. "Oh! It's from Whitley!"
"Ah, Ms. Weiss' brother," said Rain, raising an eyebrow. "It has been a while, I suppose."
"It has," agreed Piper.
Just as it had happened with Weiss, it also happened that, on occasions where she was visiting her father at his job, Piper sometimes ran into the youngest of the Schnee siblings. On their first meeting, Piper and Whitley had found one another to be "interesting", and had taken an interest in each other's activities ever since. Outside of those rare meetings, they had occasionally exchanged letters and, more rarely, calls on their scrolls.
Whitley might not have been especially technically inclined, but he was studious, which allowed him to keep up better with Piper's descriptions of her work than most of her friends, requiring minimal effort on her part to simplify her explanations. In turn, Piper appreciated Whitley's interest in economics. Though they rarely saw one another in person, she considered him one of her truly good friends. Of course, that was a secret both she and he kept from Weiss, for the time being.
"I heard he was in Vale," said Rain. "Father told me that."
"He is," said Piper, going over the letter. "Well...this is interesting."
"Oh?"
"Apparently, he's hosting a little gala, tomorrow," said Piper. "Weiss and Ashley are going to be there."
"He mentioned that specifically?" asked Rain.
Piper nodded. "It's mostly going to be a bunch of blue bloods and upstarts with deep pockets. You know what they're like." Seeing Rain nod, she continued. "So he's extending an invitation to the whole team. He figures that Weiss might feel better if she had a few more friendly faces there."
"Considerate of him," noted Rain.
"Well, Whitley is nothing, if not considerate," said Piper. "Though what he's considerate of tends to vary according to his needs. He's up to something."
"Is he not always up to something?" asked Rain rhetorically.
Piper giggled at that. "True enough," she conceded. "Well, it's a polite enough request. There's no pressure, but he'd like it if we all came."
Rain's smile took on a crooked quality. "Well, I do not know if he is prepared for what having Penny at his gala would entail."
"Maybe not," agreed Piper, grinning. "But that's half the fun. I'll go. What about you?"
"I would be willing," said Rain, before sighing. "Father would probably nag me, if I did not."
"You think Ciel would come along?" asked Piper.
"If she is not working alongside Ms. Winter at the appointed time, I imagine she would be willing to," said Rain. "I will ask her, when she gets off duty."
"I know we don't need to ask Penny if she wants to come," said Piper wryly.
"True," agreed Rain. "I will let her know."
Piper nodded. "Thanks for dropping this off. I'll see you after dinner."
"Agreed," said Rain, taking his leave.
Piper turned back to the workbench and began to tidy up her workspace.
"Did Jaune really reserve a private room here?" asked Oriana, second-eldest of the Arc siblings, staring up at the restaurant with wide eyes.
"This is where he said we were meeting up," said Saphron, double-checking her scroll, just in case. "He said the reservation is under the name of 'Arc'."
"There's no way he could've afforded this," said Xanthe. "I mean, I know he gets a stipend from Beacon. But I feel like he couldn't have saved up enough to be able to book a private room, of all things, not at a place this upscale."
"Well...as fancy restaurants go, this is actually fairly mid-tier," said Sapphira, standing next to her eldest daughters. "It's pricy, but not so much as some restaurants he could have booked.
Aurea snorted. "I bet he put that rich teammate of his up to this," she said.
Little did Aurea know that her assessment was more accurate than she realized.
"Um...I know I asked for your help," said Jaune, looking around at the surprisingly posh room, and the table at the center of it, "but isn't this a little much?"
The Silver Steer was a fairly high-class establishment. It was the sort of speciality restaurant that someone like Jaune might have visited once a year, if that, with his family. It was certainly way more than he'd been expecting.
When he'd asked for Weiss' assistance, it had been to secure a nice restaurant that had a room that could be rented out for private parties. Between his family; including all seven sisters, his parents, and Terra and Adrian; and his friends, Team RASP, Team RYNB, and Sasame; they had a group of twenty people to accommodate after all. On top of that, if things got even a little bit messy, there would likely be some things said that Jaune figured were better said in private, rather than in front of a restaurant full of customers.
So Jaune had asked for Weiss' help. Between her money and her family name, she would have a far easier time securing a space for them to use. Of course, Jaune had only asked for a room at a "nice" restaurant.
This place was at least three levels above "nice".
Weiss folded her arms, huffing. "This is only natural," she said. "Seeing as your family has been a cause of so many issues for you, it's important that we make it clear where we stand. I wouldn't call it effective if I didn't do at least this much." She smirked. "Of course, if we went too high-class, it would just come off as pretentious."
Jaune gulped. Leave it to Weiss to use something as simple as deciding where we're eating as an intimidation tactic, he thought.
In a sense, she was using this as an opportunity to impress upon his family that, yes, Weiss Schnee was a friend of Jaune Arc, and was willing to go out on a limb for him, even though Jaune hadn't asked her to go all that far. It was a way for her to demonstrate her ironclad support of him.
"Jaune just doesn't want them to think he's relying on your means, Weiss," said Pyrrha.
"Except I totally am...this time," said Jaune.
"It's fine," said Weiss. "Considering the kind of things people looking to latch onto my family name would usually like to ask of me, this is hardly an issue."
"Just be grateful," said Yang, who was already sitting at the table. "We get to eat at a place like this. Is it really okay for us to order whatever we want?"
"Yes, it's fine," said Weiss. Thanks to the mission she and her team had done on her father's behalf, she had more leeway than before. An expense like this would be a drop in the bucket for her credit line. It was also probably one of the last such purchases she would be able to make.
"Oh yeah! I am so totally splurging!" declared Nora.
"Ren, see to it that she limits herself to one person's worth of food," said Weiss imperiously.
"Of course," said Ren, his response prompting Nora to pout.
Ruby came to stand next to Jaune, taking his hand. "Everything's going to be okay," she said softly.
"I hope so," said Jaune. "I'm a little scared though. If things break down..."
"Even if they do, I'm here," said Ruby, squeezing his hand a little tighter. "No matter what, I'll be with you."
Jaune turned to face her, and the two of them kissed, before drawing back. "Thank you," said Jaune.
The door to the room opened to admit the waiter, who had a fair-sized group of people waiting behind them. "The rest of your party is here," he said.
"Thank you," said Jaune, turning away from Ruby to face his family as they entered the room.
Immediately, he found himself wishing he hadn't taken his armor off for this, as a girl in a blue dress dashed across the space between them, throwing herself at Jaune, tackling him in a tight hug...and headbutting him right in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs.
"JAAAAAUUUNE!" wailed Marigold Arc, the thick, spiraling curls of her hair quavering in time with her wails as she stuck onto her brother like a limpet, clinging to him with a strength that belied her small size.
Jaune coughed and sputtered for a second, before finally managing to inhale. Then he lowered his arms over Marigold's shoulders, hugging her back. "Hey there, Mari."
"I missed you sooo much!" protested Marigold, burying her face into the fabric of the shirt Jaune wore beneath his overcoat.
"I missed you too," Jaune admitted.
A second later, he was rocked a second time, then a third, as two other girls latched onto him. They'd come at him from separate angles, so they didn't collide with Marigold, who continued to cling to his front. Instead, they attached themselves to his arms.
"Jaune!" exclaimed Daisy, the second-youngest sister, who'd latched onto his right arm. Her hair was combed back and then tied into a long braid that ran down to the small of her back, standing out against the green of her dress.
Jaune smiled, then glanced over at the third-youngest Arc-daughter, who was clinging to his left arm. Citrine wasn't all that much of a talker, merely sniffling as she hugged his appendage with all her strength. Her hair had been cut down to just above her shoulders, curling slightly inwards on itself. Her dress was a burnt-orange color.
However much his little sisters had taunted him back home, Jaune couldn't help but admit that it was easier to forgive them. They had only been imitating what their elders did. Jaune didn't even really resent those times they had forced him to sit, while they styled his hair. That had just been them having fun, after all. He would have patted their heads, had two of them not been holding his arms fast, doing their utmost to cut off circulation to his extremities.
"All right," said Saphron, coming over and carefully prying Daisy off Jaune's right, then Citrine of his left, before working...with help from Terra...to tug Marigold off his stomach. "Come on girls. If you keep that up, we're gonna need to amputate his limbs."
"Thanks, Saph," said Jaune.
Saphron gave him a grin, then glanced over her shoulder at the others.
While Saphron led the little ones away, the next one approached.
Oriana Arc smiled shyly, the lights in the room glinting off the circular frames of her glasses. She wore a white jacket over a plain, black dress. "H-hey, Jaune," she said nervously. "I like your new look."
Jaune smiled back, a slightly rueful quality to his expression. "Thanks," he said. "How's med-school treating you?"
"It's going all right," said Oriana, tucking an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. Her hair had been cut fairly short, to the level of her earlobes. From what Jaune had heard, that made it easier to tuck her hair underneath a cap.
The pair faced each other, standing in an awkward silence, before Jaune let out a soft sigh, then held out his arms. Oriana stepped forward and into his hug, returning it.
"I'm sorry," she whispered into his ear.
"I know," he said, not sure what else to say at the moment. He could feel her sincerity, but was unsure of how to respond to it.
After that, it was Xanthe's turn. Xanthe's hair ran down past her shoulders, tied into a set of twin-tails with thin, blue ribbons. They framed a face that seemed younger than one might have guessed for her age. She presently wore a simple, white button-down shirt, and a pair of brown slacks.
"Hey there, Bro," said Xanthe awkwardly, giving Jaune a bashful smile.
"Xanthe..." said Jaune, keeping his tone level.
Reaching up with one hand, Xanthe began to idly twirl one of her tails around her finger, averting her eyes. "Saw you out in the tournament," she said nervously. "Ya looked like a proper Huntsman out there."
"Thanks," said Jaune.
Xanthe's eyes darted to his face, then away, then back again. She shifted nervously, apparently thinking there was something else she should say, but having difficulty mustering up the courage to say it. Finally, she chose to lunge forward and seize him in a hug, which Jaune returned.
"I was wrong," said Xanthe, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I was so wrong. I'm sorry!"
"It's okay," said Jaune patting her back gently.
Xanthe had been second after Aurea, when it came to teasing and bullying him. Xanthe's taunts had always tended towards speculating on his romantic prospects, suggesting that hardly any girl would have much of an interest in a dork like him. If not that, she would playfully admonish him for his "silly Huntsman fantasies," saying that no girl would ever like a boy who had his head in the clouds, and that he'd best learn some "marketable skills", or he would die alone.
Those remarks had cut deep, being the main reason for his hesitance to ask Ruby to the dance, those months ago. Even now, Jaune still felt the sting of them, even as Xanthe apologized for them. Still, as Sasame had told him, he needed to let go of that pain and try to move forward.
Xanthe let go and pulled away. Now Jaune found himself facing his last older sister, Aurea, who was less than a year older than him. They looked quite a bit alike too, something that had had people speculating that the pair of them were twins at first glance.
Aurea wore her hair a little bit longer than him, but it had that same unkempt, slightly spiky look to it. Her features were a bit more rounded than his own, and the white shirt, brown jacket combo she wore did nothing to hide the figure she'd developed. She stood, her legs, clad in black pants, planted slightly apart, arms folded across her chest. Jaune met her eyes and he saw the barest beginnings of a scowl form on her face. This isn't gonna end well, he thought, already bracing for an impending explosion.
"Aurea," he said simply.
"Jaune," Aurea replied cooly.
He wasn't sure where to go from there. However, that particular brewing conflict was delayed when his mother stepped into view. Out of everyone in the family, it was his mother who broke the mold, having grayish-black hair, cut short, and curling out at the tips, over the tops of her ears, sea-green eyes locking with his own. Of course, it made sense that the color didn't match up, as Sapphira had been the one who'd married into the Arc family. Sometimes, Jaune wondered what it meant about the Arc Family Genes that nearly all of them (including every member of his generation) sported the same blonde haired, blue eyed combination of features.
Sapphira Arc had elected to wear a dress of dark-purple, possibly out of consideration for their current venue, much like how his father had traded in his usual armor for a simple shirt and jacket combination. Some Huntsmen outfits weren't all that compatible with upscale dining settings after all.
Tears streamed from Sapphira's eyes as she swept her only son up in a hug that put his younger sisters' to shame. "My baby!" she called, holding him tightly, swaying back and forth. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
Jaune grunted, wrapping his arms back around her, while shooting a pleading look at his father over her shoulder. Blaine merely held up his hands, indicating there wasn't much he could do at this point. Jaune would just have to wait until his mother got it out of her system.
Finally, after a few minutes of sobbing, Sapphira's grip loosened, and Jaune was able to pull back, finding himself staring into her still-watering eyes. "Hey, Mom," he said softly.
"Jaune..." said Sapphira, before sniffling. "Please..."
"No," said Jaune firmly, knowing what she was about to ask.
"But-!"
"No," repeated Jaune.
Blaine came up behind Sapphira resting his hands on her shoulders. "Jaune's made his choice," he said softly. "We can't stop him."
"But-!" Now Sapphira turned her pleading gaze on Blaine...who held firm.
"That's enough," he said. "Let's sit down and catch up. Our son has some friends to introduce us to, after all."
They took their places at the table. Jaune and his friends occupied one side of the table, Jaune in the center of them. His family took the other side, Terra and Adrian occupying one end, with Saphron sitting around the corner from them, while his father occupied the other end, Sapphira sitting around the corner from him.
"Who are all these people, Jaune?" asked Oriana, her gaze running across the people sitting with him.
"Well, you probably already know a bunch of them from the tournament," said Jaune. "These are my teammates and friends. Team Rainbow is our sister-team. Their leader is Ren..."
Ren bowed his head silently to them.
"...Yang..."
"Yo," said Yang casually, raising a hand in greeting.
"...Nora..."
"Hey there!" chirped Nora, as perky and energetic as ever.
"...And Blake..."
"Charmed," said Blake in a flat voice, her wary gaze fixing on Aurea and particular.
"Then there's my team, Team Raspberry," continued Jaune. "There's the founder of the feast, Weiss..."
"Very funny, Jaune," retorted Weiss, though she was smirking as she said it.
"...and her partner, Pyrrha."
"Hello there," said Pyrrha, waving a hand, while smiling politely. Jaune recognized the smile of Pyrrha's champion persona, the smile she put on as a polite front to hide her real feelings.
"And then there's Sasame," said Jaune, gesturing to the diminutive fox-faunus. "You could say she's a sort of...special instructor...for me, right now."
"Special lessons..." muttered Aurea. "...I bet you need those."
Jaune chose to ignore her remark, even as his friends bristled silently, holding their tongues for now.
"But...aren't you leaving someone out?" asked Xanthe, his gaze going to the one person Jaune had yet to introduce.
"Just saving the best for last," said Jaune, before gesturing to the girl sitting to the right of him. "This is Ruby Rose; my team's leader, my partner, my best friend, and..." He raised his arm to wrap it around her shoulders, with Ruby leaning in against him. "...my girlfriend."
For a few seconds, Jaune was sure he could hear crickets. And then...
"WHAT!?" exclaimed six voices in unison, his sisters (with the exception of Saphron) shooting to their feet to stare at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Their expressions were mostly amazed, save for Aurea's, which was written over with angry disbelief. His mother was also staring at him in shock, a variety of emotions at play on her face. Blaine, Saphron, and Terra knew about this already, of course. And Adrian was...still a baby...so this whole thing was obviously going over his head, though he clapped and giggled at the silly expressions all his aunts were making.
"For real?!" exclaimed Oriana.
"Yep," said Jaune, while Ruby giggled next to him.
"Dang, you sure know how to pick 'em, Bro," said Xanthe, flopping back into her seat.
"That's so cool!" shouted Daisy.
"Can I call her Big Sister?" asked Marigold eagerly.
Jaune glanced at Ruby, who nodded, before looking back at Marigold. "Sure."
Marigold turned her eyes, which quivered adorably, on Ruby. "Big Sister, Ruby?"
"Yes," said Ruby, unable to keep from beaming at Jaune's youngest sister.
Marigold squealed in excitement, kicking her feet beneath the table.
The older girls (save for Aurea), laughed at Marigold's excitement, while Citrine and Daisy looked on eagerly, clearly looking forward to calling Ruby "Big Sister" as well.
For her part, Aurea's eyes immediately fixated on Ruby, and narrowed in a glare.
Blaine coughed, doing his best to hide his own chuckles at his daughters' antics. This was awkward for him, considering how things had gone the last time he'd come to Vale. Even now, he could still feel Yang's eyes darting towards him, accompanied by a sharp spike of hostility, suggesting that she expected him to lunge over the table at Ruby at any moment. Blaine couldn't fault her for that.
"In any case, we should probably go ahead and pick out our dinners," said Blaine, picking up his menu.
Everyone did as he suggested, picking up their own menus, though Aurea continued to shoot angry glances at Jaune over the top of hers, which Jaune chose to ignore for the time being.
A few minutes later, the waiter had entered, taken their orders, then left. An awkward silence fell over the room, everybody struggling to figure out where to go from there.
It was Blaine who made the first game attempt at conversation. "So...Jaune...how are you liking your first run in the tournament?"
"It was a pretty wild ride," said Jaune. "Those biomes are crazy."
"It looked like there weren't any hard feelings between you and the other team," noted Saphron, picking up that this was about as safe a topic as they were going to find right now. It also served to reinforce the fact that, yes, Jaune was at Beacon and, yes, he was fighting in the Vytal Festival Tournament.
"They're friends of ours, actually," said Jaune, "though we only met them recently."
"I'll bet they were," muttered Aurea, under her breath.
"Are you friends with all the competitors?" wondered Xanthe.
"There are too many of them for that," said Jaune, chuckling. "Though we did wind up meeting and getting to know quite a few of them. Besides Auburn; there's Team Sun, from Haven; Team Copper, from Atlas; and Coffee and Cardinal, from Beacon."
"Wow! That's a lot of friends!" declared Daisy, in all her innocence.
"Well, most of them are more like friendly acquaintances," said Pyrrha, stepping into the conversation. "We're closer to some than others."
"Especially in the case of Sun...right, Blake?" asked Yang, sending her partner a teasing, sidelong glance.
"Shut up," muttered Blake, blushing.
"Ooh!" cooed Xanthe, grinning. "I bet you dig those abs too. Mind if I take a crack at him."
"Sorry, but he's mine," said Blake, only a small trace of humor in her voice.
Oriana's gaze moved across the other three members of Jaune's team. "I'm not Huntress," she said. "But you four moved well out there. I'm impressed that you've managed to bond this well."
"Well, in a sense, you could say that it's thanks to Jaune," said Pyrrha cheerfully.
"Huh?" grunted Aurea, drawn into the conversation, in spite of herself. "Really?"
"That's right," said Pyrrha, continuing. "There's no denying that Jaune was, and still is...behind...the rest of us, in overall skill and ability. When we first arrived, he had no training whatsoever. However, with us all pitching in to help him get stronger, we wound up bonding quite well."
"And you're okay with having a dead weight on your team?" Aura wanted to know.
"Jaune is not dead weight," said Weiss, shooting Aurea an icy glare. "Certainly, he is lacking in overall strength and training, thanks to certain someones..." Her eyes narrowed, her glare prompting six of the seven Arc sisters to avert their eyes in shame, along with Blaine, while Aurea glared off to the side. "...he quickly worked to make himself into a dependable asset, especially since he has developed his skill at healing."
"What?!" gasped Oriana, gaping at Jaune.
"Y-yeah..." said Jaune nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I've been learning to heal."
"Is that your Semblance?" asked Oriana.
"You could say that," said Jaune. "There's a bit more to it. Thanks to Ruby, and her siblings, I've been learning a few tricks that they don't teach in Combat School. Right now, Sasame is teaching me the really detailed stuff-she's Ruby's adopted big sister, by the way."
"I don't understand..." said Oriana, transferring her befuddled gaze to Sasame, whose tail danced in the air behind her.
"A more detailed explanation will probably need to wait until later," said Sasame. "Suffice to say, the way we handle Aura is a good bit different from how people in the Kingdoms handle it."
"And who is 'we'?" asked Oriana. "I get the feeling you're referencing more than just a couple of people.
"We, the Mibu," clarified Sasame.
Surprised gasps escaped the mouths of Oriana, Xanthe, and Sapphira. Aurea looked on with both confusion and angry skepticism. Blaine blinked furiously, staring at Sasame for a moment. Beneath the level of the table, his hands clenched into fists. Sasame's eyes found his own, her expression becoming neutral, while her tail came to a dead stop.
Blaine took a deep breath, then forced himself to relax. Sasame's smile returned, and she regarded Jaune's eldest sisters. "I see you've heard about us."
"I've heard rumors," said Oriana. "I had always wondered about the idea of the Forbidden Continent being occupied."
"I've heard the Mibu are all a bunch of sorcerers," added Xanthe.
"That's an exaggeration," said Sasame. "Though apparently people do see the things that we can do as magical, to some extent."
"Wh-Why is a Mibu at Beacon?" stammered Sapphira, her gaze going to Ruby, who flinched away, uncertain of what the woman's feelings towards her were.
Jaune looked to Blaine, who met his eyes, and gave the tiniest shake of his head. Back during his last visit, Blaine had said that Sapphira and their daughters didn't know about the family oath of hatred towards the Mibu. That made Jaune wonder how his mother felt about the Mibu.
"I'm not Mibu," clarified Ruby, "not by birth."
"Her brother and I found her and adopted her," explained Sasame. "She originally hails from Patch."
This was apparently new information to the Arc Family (except for Saphron and Blaine). Not all that interested in Huntsman related news, they had largely overlooked the whole commotion that had arisen over Ruby and Pyrrha's sparring match, including their interview with Lisa Lavender.
"We brought her back home and trained her in our ways," said Sasame. "Originally, she wasn't slated to come to Beacon for another two years, but it appears that her growth, which was quite substantial amongst our people, proved be even more impressive in the Kingdom, hence Ozpin-dono's decision to invite her in early."
Ruby looked down at the table, blushing furiously, as she often did when people brought up that particular aspect of her. Jaune reached over, resting his hand over hers, and squeezing it gently.
And if she hadn't been invited, I probably would've been dead, Jaune added silently, reminding himself that it had been Ruby who had saved him from what would have been a painful and messy death in the beginning stages of the Initiation. He was tempted to bring that up now. However, he held his tongue, figuring that it would do no good to beat his family down with the reminder of how he'd nearly lost his life, thanks to them refusing to allow him to train properly…well…that and his own reckless determination to be a Huntsman, even if he had to break the rules to do so.
"That is...really cool!" declared Xanthe.
"I'm more than a little impressed," said Oriana, before turning her attention back to Sasame. "But what really interests me is this healing ability you describe. It sounds as though it is something you can teach to others."
"That is exactly the truth," said Sasame.
"I would like to know more about it," said Oriana.
"I would be perfectly happy to allow you to sit in on Jaune-kun's training sessions," said Sasame, her tail waving happily behind her. "I get the feeling you will find it most instructive, though those skills are built on the foundation of more basic skills you would have to master first."
"Anything in life is like that, I suppose," mused Oriana, adjusting her glasses.
"Wow, you caught yourself a real winner, Jaune," declared Xanthe, grinning across the table at Jaune and Ruby, both of whom blushed.
The three youngest Arc sisters talked quietly among themselves. The discussion was largely going over Marigold's head. But Citrine and Daisy had a better idea of what had been said.
"But when is Jaune coming home?" asked Marigold, looking plaintively across the table at Jaune.
The good atmosphere that had been building up sank a little. Jaune's smile faltered, then softened into something apologetic. "Not for a while," he admitted sadly.
"Huh...but..." Marigold's eyes began to tear up.
Jaune sighed, then got up, moving around the table. Pulling back Marigold's chair, he pulled her up, then sat down in it, now holding his youngest sister on his lap. "Sorry, Mari," he said softly. "But I'm still in school. I won't be able to come back home for another couple months, at least."
Marigold looked up, confused. "But Mom said that you'd be home after the festival."
Jaune frowned, then turned his head, first looking at Blaine, then to his mother, who was watching him with a plaintive look that was uncomfortably similar to Marigold's.
Jaune decided to let it slide for now, not wanting to bring up too much discord. "Mom just didn't know any better," he said, smiling back down at Marigold again. "I need to finish my first year. Then I can come back to visit for the winter break. We'll be together for Yule. Won't that be great?"
Marigold sniffed, rubbing her eyes, before looking up at him again. "Promise?"
"I promise," said Jaune.
"'Kay," said Marigold. "I want the biggest, bestest Yule gift ever."
Jaune chuckled, gently pulling his fingers through Marigold's curls. "Spoiled brat," he muttered, though he was smiling as he said it. "I'll see what I can do."
"Yay!" cheered Marigold, hugging him tightly.
Ruby and Jaune's other friends couldn't help but smile at the interplay between Jaune and his youngest, adoring sister. Yang was already softly gushing over how cute she was, and even Weiss was staring at the girl with a starstruck expression. It seemed that things were going well, and Jaune had made headway with his family. The majority of them had clearly accepted that he was staying at Beacon.
So why then...did the tension in the air seem to be rising?
Ruby could detect two sources for that tension. The first was Sapphira, sitting behind Jaune, looking at him with an expression that was...frightened. The other source was Aurea, who was now glaring furiously at the table, shoulders and arms trembling. Ruby got the sense that the girl was holding in an impending explosion, and her control was faltering a little more with each passing moment.
Jaune leaned down and kissed the top of Marigold's head. "Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Marigold, looking up at him hopefully. "Can we go to the festival together?"
"Sure," said Jaune.
"What about the tournament?" asked Xanthe.
"Well, I was only gonna be in the first round," said Jaune. "The next round is doubles, so it makes sense to send Ruby and Pyrrha together."
"Hmm...Are you sure about that?" asked Blaine. "I can understand, them being the two strongest members of your team. But that doesn't necessarily equate to better teamwork. They aren't partners either."
"Maybe not," agreed Jaune, moving back towards his seat. "But Ruby and Pyrrha spar a lot, you know. So they have the best idea of each other's abilities, so they'll be able to work together the best, out of all the possible pairs our team could put up."
"Very true," said Weiss, before sighing. "I would have liked the opportunity to showcase my skills for another round, before we sent Ruby on to the finals. However, pragmatism demands that we shelve our pride, and go with the pair that has the best possible chance of making it through the next round."
"You say 'best possible chance,'" Xanthe pointed out, "but, considering how they were in the first round, I'm gonna say that it's more like complete overkill."
"Exactly," said Jaune with a grin.
"Boy, do I feel sorry for your opponents," said Saphron, laughing.
"Me too," admitted Jaune. Ruby and Pyrrha, meanwhile, were blushing furiously under the praise being poured over them.
And then...Ruby sensed the mental sound of the last thread of someone's restraint snapping.
"I've had ENOUGH!" Aurea slammed her fists on the table, shooting to her feet. To either side of her, Xanthe and Citrine both leaned away from her, staring up with frightened gazes, gazes that were mirrored by the other younger girls, though Oriana and Saphron both narrowed their eyes angrily at Aurea. For his part, Blaine appeared to be mortified, stifling a groan as he planted his face in his hands, while Sapphira watched Jaune with a strangely worried expression, not even seeming to hear her daughter's outburst.
"When are you gonna stop acting like some kind of big shot?" demanded Aurea, pointing fiercely at Jaune, who leaned back away from her finger, like it was a loaded weapon. It was a sentiment that Ruby could understand well enough. "I am sick and tired of you pretending to be some kind of big deal, like you could actually make it here. There's no freaking way a clumsy loser could ever to hope to make it through Beacon!"
"And what do you know?" demanded Yang, shooting to her feet, eyes turning red as she glared across the table at Aurea.
"Shut it, Bimbo!" snapped Aurea, glaring back at Yang, seemingly unperturbed by her rage.
"What did you call me?" snarled Yang, her body beginning to glow, the air in the room becoming uncomfortably hot.
Ren reached over and rested his fingers against Yang's forearm. A second later, the light faded from Yang's body, and her eyes returned to their normal color.
Aurea had already moved on, returning her angry gaze to Jaune, who'd recovered and was now looking back with a determined expression. "What do I know?" she asked rhetorically. "As if...I'm the only one who knows! I know what a loser you are, Jaune! You can't do anything without someone holding your hand! That's why you're gonna come back home, like you should."
"I'm not leaving Beacon," said Jaune firmly. "And we're long past the point where you can make me, Sis."
"We'll see about that," growled Aurea. "I know better than anyone what a weakling you are. It has nothing to do with training. You're just pathetic. That's all. That's why you've hid behind me all your life. That's why you should know better than to stick your neck out like this.
"You're doing it now too. This should be just between us, just between family. But here you are, hiding behind a bunch of other people you've dragged into this for no other reason than that you know you can't face us by yourself."
"Because having seven people ganging up on him is fair at all," scoffed Weiss.
"Stay out of this, Schnee," snarled Aurea, transferring her glare to Weiss. "I know that you're the reason we're in this fancy restaurant. Just look at the way he's leeching off your money! That's exactly what a pathetic loser like him would do."
To Aurea's surprise, Weiss threw back her head and laughed. It was bordering on the classic noblewoman's laugh that they'd seen in some cartoons, a haughty sound, laden with disdain. "As if, you brat," replied Weiss, smirking across the table at Aurea. "Believe me, I've had people trying to leech off my family name my whole life. If your brother was no different, we wouldn't even be here. I have much better things to do with my time and money than waste it on some shallow idiot who's hoping to use his connections to impress a bumpkin like yourself."
Aurea reeled back, shocked by Weiss' rejoinder, clearly not expecting that kind of response from her.
Now it was Weiss' turn to rise to her feet, leaning forward to slap her hands down on the table. With her height, it wasn't as intimidating as the gesture could be, particularly since she'd lost the added inches that she'd previously had with her heels. But the force of her glare was more than enough to make up for her lack of stature.
"So, if I'm wiling to do this for Jaune, it's because I care for him enough to put some extra effort into making sure that his attempt to reconcile with his family goes well, even if that means putting up with the vapid accusations of a brat like you."
Jaune reached over, resting his fingers on top of Weiss' knuckles. The light touch was enough to make her look over at him, her expression cooling as she locked eyes with him. Then, after a moment, Weiss let out a breath, and settled back into her seat.
Jaune returned his gaze to Aurea, who was still taken aback by Weiss' response. "You said this was between family, right? Well, these people here, these are my family now. They may not be related to me by blood, but we've been through so much together that I would do anything for them, and I know they would do anything for me."
"That's...that's not right," protested Aurea.
"I'm not the same brother you used to kick around, Sis," said Jaune, staring at her levelly. "If you can't accept that, then that's your problem. I'm not going anywhere, and the days where you could shout and hit me to get me to do what you wanted are long gone."
"She did what to you?" gasped Yang, her eyes flashing red.
"I'll break her legs!" snarled Nora, getting out of her seat.
Aurea reeled back, frightened by the anger of the two powerful girls rising up with the intent to give her a taste of her own medicine. However, Yang and Nora both froze as Ren rested a hand on each of their arms, his Semblance sweeping away their anger once more.
"Don't resort to violence," he said simply.
Jaune got up again, making his way around the table, and coming to a stop right in front of Aurea. "If you don't believe me," he said, "then take your best shot. If you won't listen to what I have to say, then I'll just have to show you."
Aurea growled, glaring furiously at him.
"Jaune!" protested Oriana, getting up.
"Hold on-!" added Xanthe, doing the same.
Both stopped when Jaune raised a hand towards them, not looking away from Aurea as he did so.
All the while, Ruby looked on with a dispassionate expression. She hadn't been happy to learn that Aurea had been abusing Jaune physically, on top of the emotional abuse he'd been suffering at the hands of the rest of his family before. But she was able to sense what lurked beneath the anger that Aurea had pulled around herself like armor...the fear that festered deep down in her soul.
Sasame also looked on, her tail completely still behind her, while she rested her elbows on the table, hands clasped together. There was a serious look on her face. However, she too took no action, instead waiting to see how Jaune settled this affair by himself.
"Well?" prodded Jaune. "Are you gonna stand there, Sis? Or are you gonna show everyone what a wuss I am?"
Aurea glared, taking a step back, then a step forward...then back again. There was nothing that she would have liked to do more than clock her brother across the jaw. But, for some reason...there was something about him right now...something that intimidated her.
Me...scared of Jaune...that wussy, whiny noodle? No way!
Her fist clenched, and Aurea brought it up, a gesture that, not so long ago, would have had Jaune cowering away from her, hands over his head, begging her to not do it. But now...Jaune didn't even flinch.
"All right...you asked for it!" With that, Aurea punched out, her fist striking Jaune right in the jaw.
"Ah!" Aurea yelped as her knuckles practically bounced off her brother's face, feeling as though she'd hit a solid steel plate. What the hell?
"You sure you put anything into that, Sis?" asked Jaune, his tone level, even as he taunted her. "I didn't even feel that."
"You asshole!" snapped Aurea, putting everything into her next swing. This time she'd put Jaune in his place-
"Crack!"
Aurea shrieked, reeling back, cradling her right hand in her left.
Jaune sighed, reaching out to take Aurea's hand in his, ignoring her pained cries as he straightened her fingers, making sure her bones were properly aligned, then sending his Aura into them, gently mending them back together. Aurea's cries disappeared along with the pain, prompting her to stare uncomprehendingly at the light of his Aura entering into her hand, and fixing what she'd broken.
As Jaune had begun his treatment, Sasame had leaned forward incrementally, her eyes narrowing as she watched him work. However, as the healing progressed, she relaxed again. What wonderful composure, not even the slightest hint of negativity contaminating his Aura. His training is going well indeed.
"You know, after sparring with Yang so much, it's made me realize just how bad at punching you actually are, Sis," scolded Jaune, still using that same level tone. "You keep doing it like that, and you're only gonna hurt your hand even worse." He let go of her hand. "There...Ready to try again?"
Aurea pulled her hand back, holding her right wrist with her left hand, wiggling her previously-broken fingers experimentally, unable to believe what had just happened. She'd just hit Jaune with everything she'd had...and he'd been the one who'd hurt her.
Jaune loomed over her. "Well, Sis...What's next? I've fixed your hand again, so you should be good to go. Aren't you gonna show me how pathetic I am?"
Aurea found herself unconsciously retreating. Still cradling her hand, even though there was no more pain coming from it, Aurea stared up at Jaune with shock and fear. This...this isn't right. This isn't how it's supposed to go. Why...?
"Why...?" she asked aloud.
"Why what?" Jaune asked back.
"Why can't you just...stay?" demanded Aurea, glaring up at him with tearful eyes. "You're so. Goddamned. Weak! You're only gonna go get yourself killed! You've gotta come home! You're...you're supposed to be with me...because...because..."
"Because what?" prodded Jaune.
"Because I'm supposed to be the one protecting you, you dummy!" she shouted, abruptly surging forward, pounding her hands fiercely against his chest. "That's how it always was! That's how it was supposed to be! But you kept talking about being a Huntsman, about putting yourself in danger! I had to make you understand!"
So that's how it is, thought Ruby, her face falling at the realization.
Once again, she was struck by how similar Jaune's experience had been to her own, constantly being told he was incapable, surrounded by a family that would have liked nothing more than to keep him at home, where he could be "safe". She was reminded all too much of how her own father had treated her.
In some ways, this was even worse than what her father had put her through. Taiyang had been fiercely authoritarian with her, horrifically controlling, and constantly belittling her. But he'd never tried to hurt her. Even during their last altercation, he had been fixated on disarming her without striking her. But Jaune's own sister had apparently hit him, on multiple occasions. Even if she was doing it because she was actually worried about him, it was the kind of thing that bordered on unforgivable.
It was a sentiment her friends shared, all of them glaring unsympathetically at Aurea. None of them would have objected to Jaune telling Aurea to get lost, considering that he was too good a person to give her a taste of her own medicine, however cathartic that would have been. By all rights, Jaune shouldn't have wanted anything to do with Aurea, considering the way she'd treated him.
Which made it all the more shocking when Jaune lifted his arms and wrapped them around Aurea's shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug that had her pressing her cheek up against the base of his neck. From the shocked widening of her eyes, it was clear that Aurea was surprised too. This was the last kind of response she'd been expecting.
There was something else she noticed too. Before, she'd wondered why she was unconsciously intimidated by Jaune, when he confronted her. But now...When did Jaune get so...big?
Jaune had been a little taller than her for some time now. But his meek, dorky nature had always made him seem smaller than her in many ways. It had incited her protective instincts, which, combined with her parents' and older siblings' attitude towards him, had made her want to work to ensure he couldn't go off somewhere on his own, where he might get himself killed with his stupid fixation on heroics.
But now...after standing up to her, and enfolding her in this encompassing hug, Aurea had come to realize that Jaune seemed...bigger...than before. It was more than just a matter of stature and physique. There was a confidence there, something that Jaune had lacked before, an ease that came from a strong belief on his own abilities, not the shallow kind that came from arrogance, but a deep affirmation of the strength he'd gained through his own hard work.
Jaune's arms tightened around her, to the point where the hug was almost painful. However, that tightness was warm and comforting to Aurea, for some reason. She couldn't understand...didn't want to understand.
"It hurt, you know," said Jaune softly. "It wasn't just hitting me that hurt, the way you talked down to me, tried to keep me from doing what I wanted with my life, always intimidating me into doing what you wanted...that was why I left. That was why I resented you...even hated you."
Aurea unconsciously gasped, more tears spilling from her eyes. Jaune...hates me...
She wasn't the only one. Oriana and Xanthe had covered their mouths, tears spilling from their eyes. Even his younger sisters were on the verge of crying, able to sense that they too were the objects of some of those bitter feelings. In their desire to protect Jaune, they had stifled him, confined him, even infantilized him to some extent. The weight of all those things had pressed down upon him, and Jaune had come to resent and hate them for what they'd put him through.
None of them had wanted it to be that way. They all adored their only brother, and that dopey smile of his. They loved his friendly personality, his kindness, even that noble spirit that drove him to help others, even though that was also what had driven him towards the dangerous career of a Huntsman.
And now the questions were emerging in their heads. When had been the last time that Jaune had actually smiled around his family? When had he last been willing to talk and tease his older sisters? When had he stopped approaching and initiating fun playtimes with his younger sisters? When had he started doing things that had kept him from eating at the same table as the rest of them? When had he started avoiding Aurea at school?
All of those questions and realizations rattled around in their heads, and they began to understand that, on some level, Jaune had stopped looking at them like family. He had started to consider them jailers; not people he wanted to be around, but people he wanted to escape from. To that end, he had taken the desperate measure of obtaining forged transcripts and running away to Beacon, on the slim hope that he could be accepted and would be able to follow the path to his dream.
Jaune continued. "Even now, there's a part of me that still hates you, that doesn't want to forgive you. At least part of me wants to get up, right here and now, and leave with the family I've made for myself at Beacon, the family who supported, helped, and encouraged me more than any of you ever did."
Oriana and Xanthe choked back sobs, while the younger girls weren't near so restrained. Poor Marigold was openly shedding tears, gritting her teeth and trying her absolute hardest to keep from breaking into despondent wails. Even Saphron was shedding silent tears, emotionally affected, despite being the only one of Jaune's sisters who'd supported him, however distantly. Blaine was staring at the table, shamefaced. Sapphira, meanwhile, was staring at her son with a look of disbelief.
Jaune took a a deep breath. "But the bigger part of me...is the part that still loves you...all of you. I still remember the times where we were all happy together, where we could laugh and talk and play. And I want to have those times again."
The girls all gasped, even Aurea, their eyes going wide with hope.
"And so...even though thinking about what you did still hurts...I'm going to forgive you," said Jaune. "But...the other side of that is that I'm done compromising. I'm going to follow the path I've chosen. I'm not going to give that up for anything. I'm going to become a Huntsman. You've all protected me until now...but now I'm going to become someone strong enough to protect all of you. If you can accept that, then that's great. But...if not...then this is the last time we'll ever talk as a family ever again."
Jaune gripped Aurea's shoulders, pushing her back so that he could look her in the eye. "Do you understand?"
Aurea offered no acknowledgement to his question, neither nodding nor shaking her head. Instead, her eyes boiled over with fresh tears. "Jaune!" she wailed, throwing herself at him.
A second later, she wasn't the only one. It was the younger girls first, all jumping up and tackling Jaune and Aurea in hugs of their own. Then Oriana and Xanthe jumped in as well, all of them piling on Jaune in a massive group-hug, centered on him. Finally, Saphron too got to her feet, coming over and gently draping her arms around them in as much of an all-encompassing hug that she was able to give. All of them were crying, some loudly, others softly, most of them simply sobbing Jaune's name over and over again.
Jaune's friends looked on, many of them smiling fondly. Yang was frowning down at the table, unsure of how she felt herself, knowing that Jaune's family had physically and emotionally abused him (however well-intentioned that might have been). It felt like simply letting them off the hook for everything they had pulled.
Then again...it's not as though I was much better, she thought to herself, remembering, and feeling guilty over, those early days where she'd allowed her jealousy over Jaune's closeness to Ruby to get the better of her, leading to her attacking and threatening him. I guess I'm not one to talk about who he can and can't forgive.
Weiss, on the other hand, was fidgeting nervously. She'd understood quite well the reason why Jaune had wanted to hold this reunion in a private room. Anticipating the possibility of raised voices, she'd even made sure to check her restaurant selection's soundproofing, the final criteria that had led her to choosing this particular establishment. However, they'd already made their orders, and it was only a matter of time until the waitstaff would arrive with their meals. She didn't like the idea of what impression they would get, if they entered to find a mess like this.
Fortunately, more gourmet establishments, like this one, often took longer to prepare their orders, particularly when it was for a larger party, like this one. Weiss had even taken the trouble to give the maitre di a general overview of what would be going on in the room to get them a little breathing room, suggesting that they take their time, when it came to processing the group's orders. Despite that, Weiss couldn't help but be anxious at the idea of waiters bumbling in on this scene, even if she also knew there was no real way to hurry it along.
Ruby found herself smiling fondly at the scene in front of her, glad to see that Jaune and his sisters could come to an understanding. It made her a little jealous, considering what had happened with her father. Likewise, Sasame looked on proudly, glad that Jaune had been able to follow her advice.
However, both Ruby and Sasame found themselves glancing at the last member of Jaune's family, the only one who hadn't yet seemed to have accepted the situation. Sapphira Arc stared down at the table, silent, tears falling from her eyes. Even though Blaine was mainly happy to watch as his daughters reconciled with their brother, he couldn't help but glance nervously at his wife, from time to time.
Finally, Jaune's sisters pulled away from him. "Thanks," he said softly, reaching out to ruffle the hair of his youngest siblings. "I love you girls."
"We love you too," said his sisters in unison.
"And I definitely know I'll feel better about being at Beacon, knowing I have your support," continued Jaune.
The girls nodded. But then a soft voice spoke up from the end of the table where his parents were seated.
"I won't accept it..."
"Mom...?" Jaune tilted his head, regarding Sapphira with confusion...and a little trepidation. His sisters parted to clear the space between them.
Sapphira was still staring stubbornly at the table, tears running more freely down her face. "I won't accept it," she repeated, before throwing her head up to glare furiously at her son. "I refuse to accept it!"
"Mom, what-?" Jaune began to ask.
He was shocked when Sapphira rocketed to her feet and abruptly lunged at him, grabbing his upper arms with surprising strength, a subtle reminder that this woman had once been a Huntress herself. "I won't allow it!" she declared. "You need to come home! You have to come home, Jaune! You can't do this to me! You have no idea...no idea..."
"No idea, what, Mom?" asked Jaune, his expression hardening.
"You don't know what it was like!" shouted Sapphira. "When...when you were born..." She sobbed, dipping her head down, her eyes briefly hidden behind her bangs, before she abruptly lifted them up again. "You were so small, so...so weak...When you were born...they wouldn't even let me hold you! They just took you right away, and hooked you up to life support. They told me you'd probably be dead by tomorrow, and I just..."
Sapphira collapsed against him, sobbing, unable to form words for another minute. Jaune's sisters looked on, aghast; the older ones shocked to hear their mother speaking so openly about a topic they'd been sworn to secrecy on, the younger ones shocked to hear the reason for their parents and older siblings' overprotective attitudes towards Jaune.
Finally, she found her voice again. "And...and when you pulled through...they were all still so pessimistic. It was a miracle you survived a week...a month...a year...you kept getting sick, over and over again...and they'd just tell me not to get my hopes up...and then...it was all over! You were better, and it was like it never happened...and nobody knows why?"
I understand a little better now, thought Sasame. Jaune's situation at birth certainly carried the strong scent of the inexplicable. For almost a full year, he'd been hit with one depressing prognosis after another. And then...out of nowhere...it was over. He was better, perfectly healthy, and the previous year of fear and impending loss had abruptly seemed like nothing more than a passing nightmare. And yet, the inexplicable nature of Jaune's recovery had only made it all the more frightening to his mother. If they had no means of explaining how he'd made such a miraculous recovery, then it seemed just as likely that his condition was capable of, just as inexplicably, taking a turn for the worst. That uncertainty had clearly been eating at Jaune's mother for the entirety of her son's life. It didn't help that, as a former-Huntress herself, Sapphira had a very good idea of just how dangerous the profession was, which only made her more-inclined to oppose her only son's choice.
Explaining why Jaune had somehow been able to mysteriously overcome the issues he'd had at birth wouldn't really help. His mother was in no state to hear explanations about Shamans and special abilities. And the fact that they didn't yet understand the true nature of the mechanism behind Jaune's ability wouldn't help either. Clinical, purely rational, arguments like that wouldn't be much help in swaying her.
"Mom, I'm fine," said Jaune firmly. "I'm healthier and stronger than I've ever been."
"But for how long?" Sapphira protested. "Don't you understand? If you could get better suddenly, just like that...then you could get sick again, just as easily. It could happen anytime, and then...then...where would you be?
"I can't accept it! I won't accept it! I can't stand the thought of you putting your life in danger, when you could already collapse from illness at anytime. That's why you need to come home. You have to come home! Don't you have any idea what this is doing to me?"
Sapphira stared up into Jaune's face with pleading eyes, laden with all her pained desperation. It was the look of a woman terrified out of her wits, someone who was already seeing the worst possible scenario playing out before her eyes, even though there wasn't the slightest hint of it happening in reality.
Jaune sighed. "No," he said simply. "I don't have any idea what this is doing to you, Mom. And I likely never will."
Sapphira gasped in shock and disbelief. Her daughters were similarly stunned by that seemingly callous statement on Jaune's part.
Jaune looked at her, forcing down his anger. "I have no idea what it was like for you. I was too young, so I don't remember any of that. So even when you tell me straight to my face, I still don't really understand how scary it was for you, Mom. It's even worse, since I spent my whole life being treated like I might break underneath the slightest strain, without having any idea why."
Though that didn't seem to stop her from looking the other way when his sister was hitting him, Yang noted with silent fury.
Jaune continued. "That fear...it's yours, Mom. I can't empathize with it, and I hope I never do." The last thing I'd ever want is to go through that kind of fear with any child of my own. "I can't spend the rest of my life having things decided by your fear, Mom. I'm growing up, and I'm making my own way. You have to accept that. If you can't..."
Sapphira trembled. "No...please, no...please don't...I can't..."
"You have to."
It wasn't Jaune that spoke this time...but Ruby. She spoke in a quiet voice, one that was almost a whisper. And yet, somehow, it was heard clearly by everyone in the room, even the sobbing mother, clinging desperately to her only son.
Getting up, Ruby moved around the table, coming to stand at Jaune's side. Her expression was calm, yet unhappy, a slight frown on her face as she locked eyes with Jaune's mother, who looked at Ruby as though she were something completely incomprehensible.
"If you want Jaune to still see you as his mother, if you want him to still be your family, then you have to accept this," said Ruby. "Everything I've heard from you...it's all about you. Your fear, your pain, what you've been through...Everything you've been saying, all your reasons for not letting Jaune go, they're all about yourself!"
"Tha-that's..." Sapphira tried to protest. "But Jaune could..."
"Yeah, he could die," agreed Ruby. "And it could happen at anytime, whether he stays at home or not. People die too easily. That's the way the world works. That's true of everyone; Jaune, me, anyone at this table. Your daughters too..."
Everyone shifted uneasily. Being reminded of one's own mortality was always an unsettling topic of conversation.
"In the end, all the fretting and worrying, and rolling Jaune up in twenty miles of bubblewrap won't change that," continued Ruby. "If you can't get over that fear, can't let it go, then you're going to lose Jaune in an even worse way."
"What do you know?" demanded Sapphira, now glaring furiously at Ruby.
"I know, because you're just like him," said Ruby.
"Who?" asked Sapphira.
"My dad," said Ruby, causing a soft intake of breath to echo from around the table. "You're just like him, so afraid of what could happen that you refuse to accept what is happening, right in front of you. And the worst thing is that you're so focused on your feelings that you've stopped caring about Jaune as a person. He's nothing more than a thing to you now."
"That's...that's not true," protested Sapphira.
Ruby glared at her. "Do you know where my dad is now?" she asked.
"Of course not," replied Sapphira.
"He's in a mental institution," said Ruby, prompting another gasp from the Arc family, though her own friends were already aware of the situation. "He was so obsessed with bringing me home that he didn't care what lines he crossed. So, in the end, they had to lock him up in a place where, maybe, he might be able to get the help he needs.
"The problem is, even if he does get that help, even if he does change for the better...it's too late for him, as far as I'm concerned."
Yang clapped her hands over her mouth, a strangled sob choking itself in her throat. Beside her, Ren and Blake reached over, resting comforting hands on her shoulders.
"I stopped seeing Taiyang Xiao Long as my father years ago," said Ruby. "When he suddenly reappeared in my life, I tried to accept him, tried to give him a chance to rebuild what we had...but that all ended when he still refused to accept it. He never gave up on trying to drag me back home. So I gave up on him. Even if he changes, even if he's able to accept the choices I've made in my life, it's still over between us, because I don't have it in me to trust him ever again, to ever see him as my father again.
"Is that what you want for you and Jaune? Do you want him to stop seeing you as his mother? That's what's going to happen if you don't stop letting your fear rule you.
"Don't you understand!? This could be your last chance! If you don't stop this, then, one day, you might come to your senses, wake up and realize how much you've been hurting Jaune, only to find that it won't matter. You won't be a mother to him, just the woman who happened to give birth to him...and it'll be too late to change that...just like it is for him, with me. Is that what you want?"
Sapphira gaped at Ruby, her eyes wide. Ruby hadn't spoken to assuage her fears, so it made all the more sense that Sapphira looked even more afraid now. It was clear that, however much she feared Jaune relapsing back into a period of life-threatening illness, the thought of losing his love, of no longer being seen as his mother, frightened her even more.
"It is the prerogative of any parent to want to see their child be healthy," said Sasame, her voice soft. "It is not wrong to wish to protect them, and shelter them from harm. However, such efforts must be sustained by hope for their future, not fear of it. If you allow your fear to rule how you protect your child, you will find that you've left him too weak to bear the misfortune that will inevitably be visited upon him someday."
Sapphira glanced back and forth between Ruby and Sasame. It was clear that their words had struck a chord in her. However, it wouldn't be so easy to let go of the fear that she'd carried throughout her whole life, the worry she'd been saddled with, that had affected her, even after giving birth to three more children after Jaune. The fact that his younger siblings had all been born healthy and strong had only amplified her fear of what might happen to him in the future.
"Mom..."
Jaune's voice drew Sapphira's attention back to him, the boy she was still clinging to, the boy...who wasn't much of a boy anymore. He was looking down at her. At the moment, there was no affection in his gaze. Nor was there any anger or rejection. Instead, there was just a steadfast conviction, the look of someone who'd grown up.
Abruptly, it struck Sapphira, like a powerful punch to the gut. She'd missed it, Jaune growing from the weak, sickly infant he'd been, into a strong, confident, capable man. She'd been so obsessed, looking back and dwelling on those frightful first months of his life, that she'd missed how he'd grown up and changed in the present. Now she felt almost as though she were staring up into a stranger's face, a stranger who resembled her son. There was a distance there now, one that frightened her more than the thought of any return of his previous sickness ever could.
"Mom...please," said Jaune. "I'm going to become a Huntsman. I'm going to fight and protect people. And I really want you to accept that.
"Ruby's right. It was getting to the point were I was about to give up on seeing you as my mom. But I don't want that. I don't want to stop loving you. I don't want to give up on you. So, please..."
Sapphira tried to speak, to say anything. But she had no idea what she wanted to say anymore. Her heart felt as though it was being torn by pieces. Where there had just been one fear, now there were two fears, both revolving around the possibility of losing her only son, but losing him in different ways. A whine forced its way out of her mouth.
Then the next second, she collapsed against him, sobbing wordlessly. Now Jaune's arms came up, wrapping her in a tight hug, just as they had with Aurea. Lowering his head, Jaune kissed the top of his mother's, prompting her cries to cease, as she too suddenly realized just how much her son had grown.
She glanced over at Ruby, a girl she'd never met, before tonight. And now this girl was desperately entreating him to accept her son's decisions. "Why?" she asked. "Because he's your partner, your teammate...your...?"
"Because I love him," said Ruby simply, making Sapphira gasp. "Jaune is the most important person in the world to me. He's supported me so much, and I wouldn't be here without him. And, because I love him, I want Jaune to be happy. I don't want him to have to give up on you, the way I gave up on my father, because I can see how much he still loves and cares for you. I know that one of the things that would hurt him the most is if he was forced to choose between us. So...please don't make him."
Sapphira was stunned. After a moment, she transferred her gaze back to Jaune, who was watching her with a plaintive expression. "Please...Mom..."
"I...I don't know if I can," said Sapphira.
"I understand that it's hard, Mom," said Jaune. "You've had these feelings for a long time. But...please...try." He understood himself, just how hard it was to let go of the feelings that had festered inside of him so long, those feelings of anger and resentment towards his family. "I know it's unrealistic for me to expect you to pull a complete one-eighty. But...if you can at least try...then I can still be your son...so long as you keep trying, I'll still be there."
Sapphira sniffled, hesitating for the longest moment. Then, slowly, she gave the smallest of nods. "I...I'll try," she said.
"That's all I can ask," said Jaune, dipping down to kiss her crown once more. "Whatever else, I still love you, Mom."
Sapphira leaned back against him, and the two of them held each other for another couple of moments. Finally, Blaine got to his feet, and gently pulled Sapphira away from him.
"I think that's enough for now," he said, giving the entire group an apologetic smile. "The important thing is that we're all together. And, if you think about it, this means that our family has just gotten even bigger. Now...let's try to have a nice meal together, just like a family should."
"I couldn't agree more," said Weiss, almost sagging with relief.
Her relief was understandable, as mere minutes after everyone had gotten themselves settled and composed, the waiters arrived with their food.
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