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Official Supporters:

SleeplessShippings

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Emperor King Perby

If you want your name on the lists of my stories and videos, head over to P a t. R e . o n and search for the Temple Walkers. Just let us know you're from Fanfiction, alright? There's a thousand of you, so a dollar a piece would really add up and help me a lot! Once I reach five hundred Supporters of any value over a dollar, I will make a concerted effort to put out a chapter of something once every three days at the very slowest.

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Ansel was a quaint little village to Vale's north and west, three rows of houses leading to the town hall at a high point on the steady hill the town was built on nestled against a tall mountain, which was connected to a small manor about two stories tall and a hundred feet long. The buildings, even the manor, were all rather plane. Small yards out front and back ringed by stone walls from the mountains nearby, the same flagstone style the houses, hall and manor were built of. Flat bottom windows with pointed tops and small, iron overhangs were fixed two on front and two on back for the houses. The town hall's walls lacked that, for security reasons, and instead had plain, dull grey stone walls leading up to the same brown tiling that all the buildings possessed here. Smoke puffed out of the chimneys of the buildings, signs of life within them that Jaune welcomed.

A thick stone wall, a half-dozen feet of solid, slabbed stone, served as a perimeter defence. With carved iron stairs affixed to the wall and a similar walkway atop it, battlements of stone protecting the guards walking the wall with their long spears and large, square wooden shields, the Arc sigil emblazoned on the fronts brightly against the stark white background small flat surfaces of flagstones the size of a man with cannons for avian defence and mortars dotted along the wall at regular intervals, added security at range. Only around a dozen or s of each, all the town could afford, but enough to be of help.

Outside the walls, terraced fields of wheat, corn, barley and rice were being harvested by people from the village. Enough to winter, mainly, as well as extra for export to Atlas to the north. A moderately large hall and tavern was nestled just inside the main gate, the flag of Vale flying high over it, and even from here as the ship curved while it passed Jaune could just barely make out the signs of traders and merchants, staying in the lodge or making deals and preparing transport for the exports. Behind them and to the north, Jaune could see the sea that sat between Vale's continent and Atlas, the mountains opening up on that view.

"Setting down a ways north, Jaune. Not far enough to matter, just don't want to roast half the village landing and that's the best spot in this terrain." Jaune nodded at the man, and he whistled. "Shit, kid, you didn't tell me your family was loaded." "If I wasn't retired, I swear…"

"There are precious stones, rubies mostly, in the mountain with some red Dust that we export. And we're closer to Atlas than Vale, and we don't have the same taxes, so some small merchant groups like to pick up things from here to trade. Some iron, too, but too low quality for most things." He wrapped an arm around Neo at his side, pointing at the mountains surrounding the small, lush valley nestled between the three peaks and then to the thick forests around the mountains, "Like Vale, see? The mountains protect us mostly, and the forest grows chokingly thick. So most of the bigger Grimm can't get near. Atlas helps, too, they patrol around here kinda often. And the ocean is that way too, just a mile past the base, so there's even less."

"So there's… a lot of soldiers here?" Neo asked worriedly, and Jaune shook his head.

"Nah, they have a fort around the curve of the mountain a few miles away. You can't even see them from anywhere near here, and it's mostly a skeleton crew anyways. Like-" He cut himself off, flinching at the memory and losing his good cheer. "Like… Castle Fort."

"Yeah…" He felt Neo stiffen, more at what could have happened to him than what happened to her, and he smiled warmly in spite of himself at the sign of affection. She spotted it and elbowed his hip gently, "Stop grinning like that! It was just…. A bad day, okay?"

"Anyways, sounds like a nice village." Roman said, cutting in as the ship listed to the side and down, ducking over the mountains and into the valley and throwing the village into the ship's shadow. "So, just past the fields then? Gonna crush the trees a bit." "A lot…"

"Yeah, should be fine." Jaune said, turning and chewing on his lip. Looking down at himself, he sighed. A long cut scarred the front of his breastplate from the bottom left under his shield up across and to his right, a ragged end just under his shoulder joint. He ran a finger along that one, feeling the ragged metal and the dents around it from bullets, rocks, whatever else had struck him… "That Atlesian… His axe did a number on my armor. I wasn't even paying attention at the time, I remember."

"Just forget him, kid." Roman said as the ship shuddered, the sounds of snapping wood and timber creaking under them as the massive hulk shifted and groaned mutedly, forcing aside the timber as it landed just at the edge of the forest's edge, "You did what you had to, don't regret that. Never regret doing what you have to, Jaune, it's what made you into you." "And besides, where'd Neo be if you'd died?"

"Yeah… Maybe you're right, but. I can't shake him from my memory, you know?" Jaune sighed again, letting his off hand shift to Croce Mors on his hip. The poor shield was dented and marred too, he knew. Hazel had done a number on it. "Funny thing is, he wasn't even the first guy I killed, I don't think. But he just… sticks there."

Roman froze at the console halfway to turning with a cigar in his hand, and for a moment Jaune thought he'd just leave.

Instead, he sighed, looking at Jaune seriously, "That's normal, kid. Life ain't like the damn movies, you don't remember the first person you ever kill sometimes. Nah, sometimes it's the first one to put up a fight, or put something at risk. I remember…" He trailed off, swearing under his breath, the image of a woman with silvery hair and red highlights and angry, hard blue eyes on the end of a knife flashing into his mind's eyes, one hand wrapped around his throat.

"Roman?" He asked, exchanging a worried look with with Neo, "You okay? Your mind… It's a storm, I can't-"

The door slid open, Pyrrha stepping through with a thin smile on her face, and everyone turned to her so quickly she actually flinched. "What the hell.." "Uh, hi? How is everyone?"

"Just fine!" Roman cheered, a fake smile plastered on his face under dull eyes as he fast-walked to the door and through it, practically shoving Pyrrha aside before calling back, "Gonna go outside for a smoke, kid, best hurry the fuck up before someone shows up and just seems Roman Torchwick hanging around with a big ol' ship!"

"What's the matter with him?" Pyrrha asked quietly as the other two joined her at the door. "He seems… Off." "Disturbed, almost." "Did something happen?"

"Just some more questions popping up I have no right to ask…" Jaune murmured bitterly, forcing a smile at Pyrrha. "Thank you, again, for coming with us. I know you wanted to go with Ren and Nora back to Beacon."

"My place is by your side, Jaune." She said soberly, eyes hard and appraising. He absentmindedly turned to hide the worst of his armor's damage, and the hard look turned mildly angry, grabbing his off shoulder so suddenly even Neo flinched and tensed, "You're trying to hide the damage. Why? Are you ashamed?"

"No, I just… It's ugly, isn't it? My armor is all scarred and broken up." He explained, gesturing at the ragged one across his breastplate.

"In Mistral, the scars upon our armor and bodies show our experience. The sacrifice of Huntsmen and Hutresses. Warriors." She said, releasing his shoulder and turning, looking over her shoulder at him as she walked away, "Wear yours with pride. Not shame." "Not unless you are shamed by how you got them, or why."

"I agree." He looked at Neo, the small woman nodding curtly and threading her fingers between his, pulling the hand away from his sword's pommel, "If you're ashamed of them, then that means you regret them. Regret me, and everything else. I don't mind mine."

When they disembarked, Pyrrha staying in the cargo hold and out of sight for now so they didn't stir up any extra attention, they found Roman sitting on one of a few dozen fallen trees while the ships'- His, he reminded himself. They were his drones now, moving around under the ship and extracting the fallen trees to drag away so the ship wouldn't be damaged by them when it tried to move later. A half dozen fanned out with rifles in front of the ramp, and beyond them he could see a dozen soldiers approaching, their bright shields easily spotted even at this range.

"Hail, and well- Jaune Arc?" "No way." The lead soldier started formally, shield locked firmly against the padded black gambeson he wore over the denim jeans. He nodded at the familiar young man, a new scar adorning the guard's face since he'd left on his chin, like an 'X' and messy black hair and matching eyes. The guard moved forward, and Jaune mirrored the action, the other man clapping his shoulder as he did so, "Jaune god damn Arc! I can't believe you're…"

He trailed off, and Jaune followed his eyes - and the other guards' - to Roman, and Jaune gave him a friendly shrug and pushed past him, "Don't worry, Alex, he's a friend of mine. Saved my life more times than I can count while I was at Beacon." He held up a hand when the guards started to ask him things, chuckling to himself, "I'll tell my dad everything, but no. Not a criminal."

Not technically, at least...

"But he is, Jaune." Alex said quietly, the man hopping off the log as a couple of droids moved to roll it away, the man puffing on a cigar and pretending to ignore them. Jaune knew better than that, even without his Semblance telling him for fact. "Regardless of your… personal affiliations with him, we have to at least disarm him and put him in a cell. Just until, you know, your dad okays him being here." "Which he probably will, but still."

"But-"

"It's fine, kid." Roman said as he approached them, cane twirling around on a finger idly. He shrugged when Jaune looked at him with a surprised expression, "Honestly, kinda expected it. Makes sense for the guards to at least put me somewhere and get me away from you so you can talk to your old man. Got a lotta reasons to do it." "In case I am threatening you or something, for example."

"Thank you for being so…" Alex trailed off, chewing on the words almost and working his jaw, "Understanding? Cooperating? Whatever." He turned to the other guards, armed and garbed similarly to him with padded shirts and denim jeans, "Disarm him, cuff him and take him to solitary under the Hall. I want four guards on him at all times until we decide what to do with him."

"Sir, signal sent from Atlesian base requesting information on the ship they detected on approach." The guard looked meaningfully at Jaune, before turning back to him, "Should I just say it was friendly?" "Kinda obvious…"

"Yeah." Alex answered easily, taking Roman's cane from another soldier as the man was led away. He turned and tossed it to Jaune, who caught it easily enough that the man actually seemed surprised. "Finally cured that clumsiness? Because you look like you've been through a meat grinder.""Or a metal one, given the state of your armor…" "And who is the girl?"

"Most of it is Grimm inflicted." Jaune answered, gesturing at the smaller scuffs and scratches before pointing at the ragged scar in the metal. "This is from an Ex-Huntsman I had to fight. His axe carved right through my armor, like friggin' butter. A few more dents from a berserker I ran into, slammed a rock into my shield so hard the damn rocks dented my breastplate when they broke off."

"You fought Huntsman?" Alex asked as they started making their way up the hill, the guards surrounding Roman and escorting them as well as they could. They hadn't bet on needing a prisoner escort, so they hadn't sent enough men and women for one. Jaune nodded and the guard laughed, a harsh barking laugh, "Holy shit, Jaune! Never knew you had it in you." You used to be so scrawny, and crying every time you got bruised..."

He almost argued, but caught himself before he could give away his Semblance, and forced a smile, "Y-Yeah. They were hard fights, too, but I won in the end. With neo's help, of course. I couldn't have gotten this far without her."

"You still haven't explained who she is." Alex observed sharply, Jaune chuckling.

"N-No, I didn't. She, well… She's…" He looked at Neo, trailing just behind him and watching Roman worriedly, and she turned to nod at him when she saw his look and the question in it. "She's my fiance, actually. We met after I left Beacon and-"

"A fiance!?" Alex shouted in surprise, looking the woman up and down appraisingly. Neo scowled at him when he leered at her chest, and Jaune stepped between them before he whistled lowly, "Gotta say, Jaune, I'm surprised you landed some a choice piece of-"

"I'm going to castrate him." Neo snarked at him, flicking her umbrella up.

"No stabbing anyone." Jaune grunted, catching the umbrella with his off hand easily and turning a hard look on the other man before turning to resume their walk, "Please, don't talk about her like that. She's more dangerous than I am, and will hurt you."

He smirked, thinking it a joke until he looked at Neo, and saw the barest bit of the blade she'd been unsheathing, and grew more serious.

"G-Got it, Jaune." Running ahead of them, he raised his spear and pointed at the gates, "Onward then! I get to deliver our wayward heir home, after all."

The rest of their walk was completed mostly in silence, until they finally reached the massive wooden gate, made of a dark colored oak wood from the forest. Jaune waved at the guards atop the wall when they recognized him, and they continued up to the town hall. The smells from the chimneys, the smell of the flowers growing in beds in back yards, the cool stone of the walls and walkways…

He'd missed home so much.

Closer up, the town hall became the more foreboding, intimidating thing it was meant to be by design. Dark stone walls rising up at the highest point in the settlement, dark metal reinforcements crawling up the walls and snared by vines, both crawling up to the roof of the building. The stone walls surrounding the entryway's perimeter furthered it, steel spikes jammed into the stone to defend against Grimm clambering over it, the vines crawling up but cleared away from the spikes themselves to keep them operating.

"Jaune's back, we're going inside to meet his parents." Alex informed the guards, who looked over Jaune for a minute before they nodded and pushed open the heavy door. Inside, two more guards looked at them and nodded, the soldiers escorting Roman leaving them alone. "I'll take you two inside, then I can radio them on what to do with Roman."

The Town Hall, or the Great Hall or just The Hall depending on who you asked, was empty when they entered of everyone except the two sets of guards at each of the doors, one to each side. Neither of them bothered to question them as they pushed past, and into the entry hall of the manor.

"Welcome to Arc Manor," He whispered to Neo, the small woman looking around. "You're home here as long as you, you know… Want to be."

Thick carpeting covered the floor, muted and warm browns highlighted by bronze along the trim, and numerous paintings of Arc family members broken up by small pedestals for weapons and armor, on most of which hung spears, axes, rifles, shields, a scimitar missing its end. Plated armor, leather curaisses, gambesons and brigandines were equally as numerous, accounting for generations of Huntsmen and Huntresses. They were placed close together, and Jaune watched Neo look at each one, before she reached the end of the showy entryway, a small sitting area with a large hearth against the furthest back wall of the manor, with two halls heading out to either side.

"Where's this one?" She asked, gesturing to an empty pedestal where a sword and shield should have rested. He gave her a look, raising his eyebrows and inclining his head, and she made an 'O' with her mouth and looked at his waist, where Crocea Mors hung, "You're a bad little boy, huh? Stealing from your family~!"

"I borrowed it." He corrected halfheartedly, the girl raising an eyebrow at him and pursing her lips disbelievingly. "What? It's true. I intend to put it back when I don't need it anymore, and I like it. It even came with a shield, and you can't deny the whole knight motif doesn't suit me."

"You can understand her?" Alex asked, gesturing at the woman from behind him, and he almost jumped. He'd forgotten Alex had even stood there, and almost given himself away.

"Y-Yeah, we've been together for a while. I had to get good at understanding her, you know?" He gestured at her weakly, and she cocked her hip and crossed her arms. "Cuz, she's…. You know, mute?"

"She's mute?" "And you still understand her?" "Sheesh, man, you must be psychic or something." He laughed and Jaune joined him, chuckling awkwardly while Neo enjoyed his predicament until the man calmed down and shook his head. "Anyways, I'll call in that you're here. But I have to get back to the wall for my patrols."

"No need, Alex, I'll tell mother and father he's here." Jaune sighed and turned, smiling at his sister as soon as she rounded the corner. He'd known she was there for a while, reading a book that was attached to a belt on her waist, but couldn't do much about it without giving himself away. "You can go back to your patrols." "Preferably before you get more mud on the floor…"

Alice Arc was a short woman, in a loose and short dress that ended at her thighs, with pale stockings hugging her legs up to the hips he knew. The dress was purple to match her name, and embroidered in bronze to match the last of it, Long, curly brown hair flowing down her back just past her waist and dark purple heels on her feet. A white sash wrapped around her stomach below her naval, and a string attached to a small flat piece of metal attached to the back of her hips led up to the book in her hand. One of only two 'civilians' in their entire family, and judging by her dress and demeanor, that hadn't changed. Nor had she, still he petite woman he remembered, with a small chest and rear.

"Yes, lady Alice." "It would be the only bitchy Arc…" Alex said respectfully, he knew better than to act friendly towards the woman after all, even if his thoughts disagreed with the respect he showed. Turning on his heel, he offered Jaune a friendly nod before departing crisply.

"Alice." He said, the slightly smaller woman's brown eyes watching the soldier leave before stepping forward, turning to lean a shoulder against his chest so he could give her a hug. He gave her forehead a kiss and she smiled slightly, looking Neo up and down, "She's a friend of mine, Alice. Don't glare at her, please."

"I'm not glaring." Yes she was, but he didn't argue when she pulled away, and she was smiling warmly enough - for her at least - now anyways so he let it go, "And you brought a woman home." "Which is odd. None of us even have men, but you brought a woman." "Odd."

"Tell her." Neo pouted at him, hopping to his other side and hugging his arm against her chest and between her breasts.

"Well, uh, actually, this is Neo. My fiance."

He flinched when Alice smiled stiffly, turning her head to look at him and then Neo. "Your… fiance, you say? As in... the woman you wish to wed?" He nodded, and she very slowly pulled her book up, and thumped him on the head in time with each of her words, weakly due to her being a civilian but still, "You. Brought. Your. Fiance. And. Didn't. Warn. Us?" "Mother is going to have a heart attack… Again… Great."

"No?" He half asked weakly, the girl thumping him again. He sighed, shoulders slumping, and the girl raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. "Fine, fine, yes. I… I can't get into it now, but I didn't have time to call. I've… been through a lot."

"I can tell." She mumbled, looking over his armor with a spark of worry in her mind. "You're… okay, right?" She looked to Neo, "He's okay, right?"

"Eh." She thought, raising a hand and wobbling it with the palm facing down in a 'so so' motion before looking at Jaune, "I like her."

"I'm fine." Jaune sighed, shaking his head and pulling away from Neo, stepping into the sitting area and looking around. Bookshelves, cabinets and tables were arrayed around the room comfortably, with large brown couches and oaken end tables arrayed in a 'U' out from the fireplace, "Where are mom and dad, and the girls?"

"Opal and Olive are the only ones here, the rest are… Out." "In the forest killing things, probably." She shrugged, stepping past him and easing onto one of the couches, pulling out her book and opening it to read. "Mother and Father are with them, in the study. I believe they are planning out trade finances and the like."

"And you'll be fine with Neo while I go see them?" Neo pouted at him and he raised a hand, pal towards her placatingly, "I just want to go see them, and bring them out here. It'll be more comfortable out here, and my mother might… Calm down a bit, if she knows who you are before she see you."

Neo, the traitor that she was, looked to Alice and the woman shrugged, "He means she won't break your spine with a hug or suffocate you with her breasts, mostly. She's very… touchy." "And perverted, too. You'd think she would have grown out of it."

"And given the state of your back, she needs that preparation." He swallowed nervously, touching a hand to his side absentmindedly. "And I… need to speak with them myself, first. We didn't leave on very good terms, you know?"

Down the hall, at the far end of the right wing of the manor, a door slammed against a wall and Jaune flinched at the deep, bass voice that echoed down the hall towards him, "Jaaaaaaaune!"

"Too late…" Alice said with a smirked, "I guess Alex sent them a message."

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"How does it work?" Adam asked quietly, standing in the abandoned warehouse they'd moved into after Mountain Glenn fell to Atlas, deep in the seedy underbelly of Vale's industrial area. People here didn't give a damn who rented their buildings, and they'd set it up as best they could. Thick layers of plywood separating the warehouse into a living area at the front, the entrance from outside opening into the cantina - as the grunts called it - and behind that were the bunks, six men and women to a room. Behind that was his quarters and the strategy room, and beyond even that was where they stood. A laboratory at the back, where part of the factory rested under ground, where they'd layered metal onto the plywood for safety's sake.

"Well, sir…" The reptilian faunus murmured quietly, shoulders hunched on the other side of the small table, pointing at the dark red powder in the clear glass case, "You know that red Dust in powdered form tends to cause us Faunus' health problems in the Schnee mines, yes?"

"Of course." Adam answered, growling it out.

How could he not? Dust, while being mined out, tended to toss a small - relatively - amount of the Dust into the air as, well, Dust dust. Some was mostly harmless, white Dust only really caused a cough and green a fever, but Red and Yellow both ate away at the throat and lungs. It corroded them and while the Schnees did hand out gas masks and air filters, that would never be enough. The Dust ate through that too, quickly enough that it almost didn't matter.

"Well, this compound is a mixture of the two and a basic aerosol mechanism, to spray it in the air." He shrugged under his heavy jacket and smiled under the worn White Fang mask, chipped and pockmarked from the man's older experiments, "It doesn't last long, I fear, but it does the job very well. Blast a place with this, or get it in a ventilation system, and you'll wreak a large amount of damage over a small area."

"How large an area?" Adam asked, resting a hand on the glass top. It felt warm, probably from the Dust, and Adam hummed at that.

"Only about twenty feet out from the initial dispersal, unfortunately." The other Faunus sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I tried adding more Dust and aerosol, and the first didn't go very far while the second spread it too thin to be any use."

"So we'd need multiple stages of detonation, and secondary detonations on other packages to keep the area saturated enough for an effective strike." Adam rattled off, years of experience doing these things coming to the fore. Turning to the other, small Faunus, "Do we have enough Dust and aerosol for that?"

"Not right now, no. Not unless you only want to attack a single home." The Faunus chuckled, shaking his head and gesturing at the case, only about as large as the former dinner table resting under it. "That is enough for a single two stage bomb system. It'll hospitalize everyone there, sure, but after that? Nada."

"I'll get us more, then. Of both." Adam assured easily, the other Faunus nodding gratefully as he turned to leave. "Get me a list of items you can extract the aerosol compound from, I'll get my soldiers to start looking for places to secure Dust from."

"I need to know your target." The Faunus said to his back, the swordsman pausing in the door and looking over his shoulder.

"No, you don't. You just need to know it is big, and has a lot of people." The other Faunus quirked his head, and shrugged, and Adam left with a thin smile on his face. "The irony… killing the Humans with what Faunus suffer in their mines."

Irony was sweeter than any sugar, sometimes.

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"I don't understand why I had to stay on the ship, with you." Pyrrha grunted, sighing sadly in the cargo hold and leveling a glare at Cinder, leaning on the same crate with her head bowed and eyes closed.

"Because, Nikos, you are famous. If you go out there, you will stir up a hornet's nest. And the media will find out. And when they find out, they will come here to see you." she let that hang for a moment, smirking when the Mistralian Champion sighed defeatedly. "Just be still, and calm. Master will deal with what he needs to and return for us when he has use for us."

"You're the slave, not me." Pyrrha growled quietly, resting her foot on her knee and lying back on the crate she was lying on. "I am his friend. Loyal to him by choice alone. You are his puppet."

"Yes, and I am happy where and what I am." She mused quietly, listening to the forest around them and the machines doing their work outside the open. "Are you happy with what you are, though?"

"Yes."

"Don't lie to me, Nikos." Cinder snapped hotly, turning to look at her. "You want far more than you have. You're greedy, possessive, and want to take what you can to get what you want. Believe me, I know greed when I see it. And I see it in your eyes whenever you look at Master and Lady Neo."

"I don't-"

"I see the jealousy." Cinder cut her off, pushing off the crate and turning to look at Pyrrha more fully. "Master is an empath, you must know he feels it rolling off you whenever you pass. But he's too good a man to probably recognize your envy."

"And you're better than me?" Pyrrha demanded, hopping down from her spot on the crate and stepping up to the woman, close enough their chests touched and Pyrrha's breath blew across Cinder's face. "You don't feel the same? You don't want more from this entire situation than just being some… tool to fight for him?"

"No. I do not." Cinder said simply, Pyrrha blinking at the frank honesty in her voice and stepping back when Cinder pushed her chest forward and the Champion was forced to either move or make an image from a teenager's online browsing habits come close to true. "I want Master happy, safe and to serve his needs. If he wanted me on my back or my knees, bare as I was born, I would do it. Whether for him or someone else, and I would enjoy serving him. And if he wants me putting other people on their backs and in the ground? I will do that as well. And I am happy regardless, simply to serve him."

Pyrrha was quiet for a long moment, eyes searching CInder's face for… something, before she sighed, "Fine. Just…"

"There is no shame in jealousy, Pyrrha." Cinder said quietly, laying a hand on her cheek before turning and heading into the ship's interior, calling over he shoulder, "If you wish to talk, and… work thought this, I will help you. Simply follow me."

"Wait." Pyrrha called, the woman pausing and looking over her shoulder, "Why would you help me?"

"Helping you serves Master's safety and happiness." She said simply, shrugging and continuing on her way. After a seconds' further hesitation, and a look over her own shoulder at Ansel, Pyrrha followed.

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"It is as I said, Oscar." The voice in his head said simply, the boy resting his head on his knees where he sat on his small, lumpy mattress. Trying his damndest to ignore the voice entirely. "I am important to the fate of the world, and without your help, it may-"

"You're not real." He growled at the voice, Ozpin sighing where he was nestled in his mind. "P-People don't hear voices, people don't jump around to other bodies, s-so you're not real. And magic doesn't exist either!"

"Yes, it does, Oscar." He said patiently, even in the urgent situation that existed in the world. He'd done this a hundred thousand times and more, and this was but a stepping stone as all of them had been in the end. "The lack of knowledge on it is entirely a product of my creation as well, and I apologize for the needed deception."

"Why?" He demanded, Ozpin fully expecting the question. "Why lie, why hide it? People deserve to know!"

"Yes, they do." Ozpin agreed, sighing weakly, "But they deserve to live far, far more. Now if you will just-"

"No!" Oscar moaned weakly, squinting his eyes closed, "Y-You're not real."

Even if it was normal, it was still an unfortunate pain to go through.

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Jaune's father stood easily a foot taller than Jaune himself, with thick, corded muscles on his arms and legs and hard muscles on his chest. Shirtless in his own home, his body was covered in small scars of a wide variety, all across his entire body. Loose, black cloth pants and sandals covered his lower half, a thick, golden beard stretching down his chest and stomach in a myriad of braids to touch the top of his pants' waist, his golden mane braided into three thick ropes laying down his back and beyond his pants slightly. Bright blue eyes, set into a tanned face wrinkled from years of smiling, gave him a jolly look.

Which didn't dissuade Jaune from trying to evade the tree trunk arms wrapping around him, even if the hug was surprisingly gentle, and crushing him against his bearded chest as the great man kissed his forehead and fell to his knees, holding the young man close, a wave of emotions Jaune couldn't fully understand slamming into him. "My boy is home… Safe and sound."

"And he brought his fiance as well, father." Alice cooed, though Jaune could more than tell that it was meant for his mother rather than his father as the older woman joined them, and Jaune flinched at that and tried to pull away, sensing his mother's attention suddenly shift to the small woman.

His mother was Mistralian born and originally named Ten Shiro, with naturally darker skin tones than anyone in Vale naturally tended to have and dark, warm eyes set in an eastern face with long, straight dark hair. Wearing a simple and plain white gown, with only a slight swell to her bust and the wide hips of a mother, she was a civilian through and through.

Previously, she'd lived as a clerk in a hospital in a small border town in Mistral, where she'd met his father after he was gored by a Boarbatusk. Two dates and one evening that had left Shiro unable to walk, and she'd agreed to come with him to Ansel.

"A fiance you say?" "That's certainly shocking… And definitely going to be a good show." His father rumbled, turning to smirk knowingly at his wife after giving Neo a once over. "What do you think, dear?"

The older woman hummed, and Jaune sighed, "Just... be gentle with her, mom. She got hurt bad in a fight a while back, she can't even sleep on her back for a while yet."

"Your mom is looking at me weird, Jaune." Neo sent to him, making a show of moving her hands in a way that she and he hope would be seen as some form of Signing. His mother stepped behind her, grabbing her hips and squeezing, and Neo jumped away in surprise, "What is she doing?"

"She wants to know what you're doing, mom." Jaune sighed as he passed the message.

"Why, I'm making sure she's fit enough for the usual Arc treatment that she should expect." She explained, eying the petite woman up for a moment. "Her hips aren't all that wide. Not very good for childbearing." "Especially given how like your father you are…"

"Child bearing?!"

"We haven't really… Thought about kids." Jaune argued, grunting as he pulled free of his father and moved to Neo's side protectively, just as his mother had stepped forward with her hands raised at Neo's chest. "Be nice."

"I was." She argued, backing up a step and smiling when Jaune put an arm around her shoulder, "And no Arc thinks about having kids. But a woman can only spend so long on her knees with him in her before-"

"Mom!" Alice and Jaune both shouted weakly, Neo actually chuckling and pulling him towards a couch seat.

"Now, now," his father started with a loud laugh, "Everyone, relax, take a seat. Alicia, go and get your sisters from the study. I made them finish their worksheets." She nodded respectfully and rose, heading there to retrieve the twins, and he looked Jaune over more carefully, eyes sharp and concerned even when Neo slid into Jaune's lap, though he noted that the young man simply held her hips rather than get flustered. "Now, care to tell me why the armor you stole is torn and dented?"

A story indeed.

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Beta Notes:

Ha, I knew you guys were gonna pull through, now I'm gonna try to make it happen,wish me luck.

Adios,

Volte

Feckin' hell.

Mika- Meeeeehhhhh….

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Hikari Niwa :

Yeah, she is kinda adorable.

Bukkake No Jutsu :

Yus~!

Night Raider :

Yus, more indeed~!

Arukon :

I work as quick as I can, friend.

The Impossible Muffin :

Oh hell no, she doesn't have any idea.

KillKill123100 :

Shhhh, it's fine~!

Blazin Hot Head :

They weren't doing much worth their own section.

Zenith Tempest :

See the above~!

Scott USA :

Welcome~! Thanks for reading~!

Wyatt More :

S'why there's a sequel~

Agent Draakis :

Kinda share that theory, but thank you. I will accept an offered compliment.

Chee Puff X :

It is a surprisingly large bandwagon, I am finding.

Cat Poster :

No, sadly. That lack is why I wrote this, and Couer's omak like… two years ago?

Jazz Rapper :

Thanks~! And all I shall say is all shall be revealed in time~

Vail Ryuketsu :

Yeah, I liked the twist when I thought it up a year ago. Seemed neat so I fleshed it out.

Mo Eazy :

Take it as eons of not communicating her emotions properly.