AN: Next story arc is less experimentally depressing, more Jaune-centric and overall less emotionally dense and tense (probably). Also timeskip incoming soon. Also Pyrrha coming really soon. Either end of current arc or start of the one after that depending on how things play out.
Additionally, in regards to Tyrian+Osprey v STRQ:
I feel like I shouldn't have to point out that Tyrian got his ass whooped, but here's my insight into the fight anyways.
Firstly, with the speed that high level Hunters and Huntresses fight, the whole fight scene as written vs STRQ was easily about a minute and a half TOPS. And he only even lasted so long and got away because their battlestage was directly controlled by a teammate. Alone even with Summer at quarter firepower due to the lack of her weapon he'd lose hands down.
Secondly, the way I believe I wrote it, the fight wasn't a 1v4, this was a 2v4 with Watts acting from an unreachable location, even after he lost his internal turrets in the earlier skirmish.
I was hoping that the ship pitching up and down and fucking with the team's sense of gravity while Tyrian has a built in grapple (enhanced by Grimm bs as it even in the show can EXTEND in ways that it SHOULDN'T even if it was never too extreme) was a good indicator of that bit of improvised teamplay.
He was outnumbered, but he effectively had home field, especially when his style is a lot more acrobatic and his sense of balance is infinitely better with a tail. Watts only hit the 'Fuck you get out' button when he realized that Tyrian couldn't kill anyone this time. He got close though as Taiyang got too greedy for revenge and got CUT up. Would have gotten stabbed and poisoned if not for Qrow's Semblance giving an effective free save once per combat.
THUS: I believe the fight results weren't 'oh no, he got away' or even 'ah he managed to 1v4, how?' its 'oh fuck, he lived by the skin of his teeth and got lucky' imho. He even almost got a cheeky poison against Taiyang who went full bloodlust mode.
Dude lost an eye and got impaled by a Burn Dust Omen. He might be lucky to keep an arm that got cooked from the inside of the shoulder.
Plus I legitimately think Tyrian, the squirrelly fuck, can (barely) win a 1v2 with a little luck (aka its not guaranteed, just a he can situationaly win) vs member of STRQ as long as one of the two aren't a fully kitted Summer.
She's Anti-Army built (and immune to poison) and even as an SR version of herself, overkill for 90% of situations. Yeah I didn't roll the 21% chance at SSR. That's not surprising somehow. She just happened to roll HMG and I made it interesting.
Qrow would give a nearly impossible hard time atm (but is still fightable) with his Semblance being reversed and all, but the poison and Aura bypassing makes the rest of STRQ more than fightable for Tyrian.
I'd argue he could cheese in a borderline lethal poison wound like 75% 1v1, 35% 1v2, 5-10% 1v3+
Cinder lay on the cot in her cell.
It was comfier than she'd thought it'd be. Originally she was just handcuffed and brought out of the ballroom under a sheet to hide her form, going even as far as dragging on the ground to cover her shoes.
After all they didn't need to worry about her tripping when the soldiers had dragged her out by grabbing her upper arms through the cloth.
In the end she didn't have the ability to flee. She'd just waited to be taken in.
She wished that she'd never given over Jaune. It would have been better for her to die. She'd contemplated it before, but it was impossible now. The cell was designed to prevent such a thing, not even a sheet to cover herself with.
She'd been stripped of her dress by female soldiers and shoved into a thankfully not itchy orange prisoner's uniform and her shackles were monitoring her Aura, or lack thereof, already having broken it by rapidly tapping a needle inside against her skin until she'd more or less run out of it.
That definitely made her feel sluggish and awful. Which fit how she felt emotionally.
The drone man's voice was right. She should have run.
But she couldn't bring herself to.
She had waited there clutching her adjustable identity passport and airship tickets that were taken from her for evidence. Her Scroll too. That was… well. It wasn't fine, but she didn't want them. Not like this. Not after what she'd brought herself to do.
She was… probably going to remain in jail forever. Never to see Robin again.
Cinder hated it, but accepted the reality. She'd keep Robin alive in her heart forever. That… would have to be enough.
Right?
She endured the questions, answering everything she could.
They had her Scroll from the Drone Man and cross referenced their near-zero interactions while adding inquiries of their own. She replied to everything as truthfully as possible, even shaking hands with some relatively young-looking tanned blonde huntress and seeing their linked hands glow green from some sort of Semblance. The Huntress looked like she didn't want to be there.
That made two of them.
Still, Cinder answered everything perfectly honestly except about who she was.
When asked for her identity, she replied honestly.
She was an orphan, originally from Mistral. That glowed green.
That she no longer had family. That didn't glow green somehow. Cinder supposed she knew why. That she'd always known somewhere inside.
They'd made threats. Demanded the truth.
She replied if she had anything, anyone that she must have considered family left, it must have been Robin Arc. And that because of the guilt and self-hatred from betraying her trust she'd stayed and let herself be caught.
That glowed green.
The interrogators had given her an odd look. Half-pity, half disbelief. The blonde woman with the green-hand Semblance (maybe a lie detecting one?) just shook her head, stating that they shouldn't need her anymore and stormed out the door, clearly filled with disgust.
Cinder didn't know why or care.
She was never going to be free again.
So she gave them all the answers they wanted. They didn't have a lot of questions she could even answer anyways. Most of the questions she didn't know, understand, or even had any answer to.
"You are to be aware that we know your face. Have your DNA and thumbprints. That you are never to re-enter Atlasean soil under threat of imprisonment or death. That you are not to attempt to reconnect with the Arcs under any circumstances as we will protect them as we protect all Atlasean interests. You have signed an agreement for your freedom that you will never detail your time in Atlas under threat of punishment by the Atlasean military. That there will never be another second chance and that only from the protection of Professor Jaune Arc that you are to be deported and freed. Is that understood?"
She'd cried. Cried as she nodded and let out a soft sob.
That strange, strange boy, brother to the strange, strange girl that she'd come to care for so deeply still forgave her.
But she'd never get back that joyous month and half of halcyon days. It would be something she'd only be able to see again in her dreams. If she'd had them back she'd do it all differently. She'd have been… better. Something. Anything. At the least she'd have rid herself before she betrayed them like such.
The Bullhead that had crossed the ocean left her somewhere in Sanus, pointed her towards a local settlement, and left her in the wilderness, only a bag with preserved food (compressed biscuits, jerky, dried fruit and nuts) for about three days, a wilderness blanket, a box of matches, flint, and an old hunting knife.
She momentarily considered ending it all there. What good was this life anymore? What was freedom even worth when she could no longer have Robin Arc?
Her feet began to carry her forwards, away from the settlement they'd pointed her off to, into the woods.
Into the unknown.
She didn't want to be around people right now.
Jaune had woken up the following day after his kidnapping feeling weak and awful.
He quickly drank some R Rarity Consumable: Stamina Recovery Potion (Minor) from a world called Nirn. Apparently cratefulls filled with bottles upon bottles of the stuff had been lost in a ravine by a bandit attack and were taken by the Gacha as a result. Most of the ones he had were from that incident, at least.
Wherever the continent of Tamriel in that world lay, it made some damn good tonics.
The second and third were good, at least, though grassy. The first had tasted somewhat like apples and he'd hurled it up into the sink of his private hospital room's bathroom. He'd never drink any potion from Nirn that claimed it was from the Summerset Isles ever again. Apparently most of their potions tasted of apples.
Still, though the first was wasted, the following two had filled him with some energy. He actually felt more like himself physically, even if his heart felt like a wet sponge.
As far as he was concerned that meant he was stable enough that he could leave, even if the doctors insisted he rest more. He just didn't want to be alone in a big empty room, even if they must have left him to allow him rest.
Juniper also joined back up with him, having apparently conversed with the General about his kidnappers over the device that Headmaster Ozpin created for him. Jaune wasn't sure what the specifics of it was, but whatever allowed the General to interact with his Big Brother Juniper must have been impressive and sophisticated. He just hoped that his big brother was able to help the General.
Just like Jaune, his older brother had full confidence that Team STRQ would be able to save him, but it was clear that Juniper wasn't happy with how Jaune ended up handling the situation.
Not that he could have made any good choices while sort of high on aniseed, Jaune argued, but he still knew Juniper was mad despite that. And that didn't make him feel great either. He felt like he'd failed him somehow, even though Juniper said that wasn't the case.
Still, knowing now after ingesting enough aniseed that after five minutes of hyper energy he quickly burned out and would end up a loopy mess, he'd be better prepared for the future. He would definitely have to make sure he'd not be using it in his own cooking if he could help himself.
The fact was that he'd used it a bit before, consumed small amounts without real issues. Maybe it was but that he'd never had taken in enough quantities for it to matter and thought any small burst of energy was from good food. He'd never happened to pull it from his Normal Rarity items in the Gacha so he'd have to buy it in the markets of Mistral. That tended to keep him from using too much or limiting it to smaller amounts before.
He had definitely overdosed from cups upon cups of it in the cider. He and Juniper both thought his initial rush of energy had been a bit of a sugar high. Now they knew it wasn't.
Coming back to reality, his follow up check up this morning showed he'd recovered miraculously.
He kind of wanted to snicker at the doctor's incredulous face.
Technically, he was fit to leave even though he should be still weakened from the cocktail of sedatives that he'd been pumped full of by whoever his kidnappers were. The hospital had cleansed it out of him, but he should have, in theory, been lethargic.
Good thing for Jaune that such a thing was easily offset with Gacha items.
Naturally they insisted he stay and rest to recover regardless. Which was fair, but they'd moved his family elsewhere when he was asleep and he… didn't exactly want to be alone right now.
Jaune just told them that he wanted to be with his family. It was a convenient excuse that happened to be true. Despite the potions restoring him to physical fitness, his hands kept trembling and he wanted to hold onto someone.
It didn't take long for both his family and his extended family in Team STRQ to come together to get him. His sisters and friends had been waiting more or less outside his door, although the adults were apparently elsewhere for adult reasons. Paperwork and stuff.
They only took a little longer to meet up.
He embraced their anger and love both, eventually ending up with Ruby refusing to get off his back as Ren and Yang secured an arm each, refusing to let go of him in the large transport vans that they'd be returning to their rooms on the Academy campus in.
He had to lean forwards to not crush the younger girl that became a living backpack, as usual. His requests that she just sit in his lap instead so he wouldn't have to lean forwards awkwardly was promptly ignored as she simply tightened the grip of her limbs across his torso.
Despite the weird pose he'd have to make, the weight of Ruby on his back helped calm him down. Her warmth kept him calm. It made him wonder what her Aura would feel like once Auntie Summer got around to awakening it. He was sure it'd be nice.
Jaune was just glad that nobody seemed to shun or blame Robin for what had happened, even scif it was clear they all blamed Amber, refusing to even address the girl by name. Robin seemed to just be lost, however, not really talking and just refusing to let go of one of his hands, so clearly sorry and sad, though there was a faint joy from seeing that he was ok buried under it all.
He'd even overheard his parents discussing pulling her out of Sanctum for a year though, just to make sure she was going to be alright after having her best friend betray her like this.
He just hoped they wouldn't. Pulling Robin out of Sanctum might be good for her that year as well as their parents' peace of mind, but it would be an issue after that year. Kids could be mean and her missing a year and being pulled back like that wouldn't be good for her school life either.
He hadn't had a chance to introduce Emerald to the rest of his family yet, but with her Robin would have five people to help her at school now rather than four, so it would still be alright. He could still make everything alright.
…actually how was he going to explain Emerald to everyone?
Regardless of his straying thoughts, it was true that Jaune couldn't fault his family and friends for feeling so angry towards Amber.
He was angry about what she'd done too, but it still felt to him that it was unfair to blame her so. The people that blackmailed her were good enough to fly under the radar of the whole of Atlas. THAT was actually crazy. Even if he was mad at her, it was obvious to Jaune she'd had little choice in the matter.
It didn't sit right with him for some reason, even if he was still mad at her too.
Her betrayal hurt. He'd gone out of his way to make her comfortable. Done everything he could to help Robin make her first friend. He'd even done her hair and gotten a hug as a result, though he supposed that last act of kindness from him must have been after the point of no-return blackmailing so maybe he shouldn't count that. Even if he felt like he deserved to.
But heroes had to be understanding. She'd had little choice. Even despite it all… she still tried to get him to run away from her. She tried to set herself up to fail. Even if it was only because she cared deeply for Robin, that was enough for him.
Even if he felt betrayed, he felt he had to forgive her. Even if he was angry. Because that was the right thing to do.
The next few weeks were a mess of activity, everyone treating him as if he was fine china as he tried to return to a sense of normalcy, making it all harder. Juniper hovered around, discussing what to do in different kidnapping scenarios. That was a bit more fun and helped keep everything a lot more bearable.
He was sure it was his brother's subtle way of reminding him to not fuck up like that again, that he was a big dummy even if everyone insisted that Jaune was some sort of genius, and he appreciated it. At least it came in a way that taught him something, rather than 'Jaune bad, Jaune no do again'. It felt a lot more productive. He could make sense of that rather than everyone expecting that Jaune instinctively understood what he'd done wrong.
He wasn't happy with what happened, but he didn't feel like he'd done anything wrong.
Though somewhat justified, for a few weeks he wasn't left with much privacy as he was constantly accompanied by two people at a time.
Even his daily check up on Emerald to feed her a proper meal had to be cut shorter than normal for a while.
She seemed to notice he wasn't feeling well emotionally immediately. Still she didn't bother asking any questions, just trying to match what he did for her pre-exam jitters to comfort him in what small way she could.
He'd quietly enjoyed a few minutes of laying in her lap, eyes closed, as she ran his fingers through his hair. That was nice. Comforting. Soothing.
It became a new daily routine for a while.
He'd even had to message Trivia and Neo that he was somewhat grounded and wouldn't be able to meet for a week or two. They were clearly upset, but claimed they would forgive him for extra cuddles later.
Despite all the extra cuddles he was already getting now, that sounded fine to him. Jaune already found himself missing them after the first Friday apart. That had become such a norm for him. Such a standard routine.
Even Winter, Weiss, and Whitley had to take a back seat for a bit, though they knew the broad strokes of what had happened to him via Clarent and had been considerably understanding. He still helped Winter deliver letters via Shadows, however, as that was done easily enough.
A materials form was filled out and supplied quickly, his now three Multi-Fabricators quickly churning out what he'd need for the upcoming Nikke-fication of the four Huntresses he'd met.
He put extra effort into it, feeling guilty about how he had so heavy handedly threatened the General after promising to help them.
Huntress Elm would be the hardest, as if he built her musculature accurately via the Nikke valkyrie muscle strands she'd tear her own bones apart from her force. She'd been quite muscular in her most recent photos. He thought the photo of her graduation trip to South Mistral where she'd fished up a large Tuna as large as herself was fun.
She'd require more well placed subdermal armor to give artificial musculature akin to her old body.
Either way he'd need to pre-plan and design everything accordingly, even crafting a spare body for them in case of accidents, as long as the black box that contained the brain was recovered within the lifespan of its battery they could be restored.
Which also reminded him that he might want to talk to Team STRQ about making sure they had a spare body for Summer as well. Maybe even with her original appearance, if that's what they wanted.
This wasn't even including, suddenly, all the issues with the NIMPH nanomachines that maintained the condition of the Nikke brains that he hadn't even really considered a bit over two years ago beyond ensuring Summer's memory of her family.
He had already disabled all the issues with automatic memory wiping and there were no forced loyalty protocols anymore, but lifespan was the issue.
Theoretically a Nikke could live forever as long as the body went through regular maintenance (which included an inevitable memory wipe or two) and the brain wasn't destroyed.
Jaune was pretty sure that realistically something about the human brain wouldn't be able to handle that. Still he did leave the NIMPH nanotechnology ability to reset neutral pathways to their initial recorded state if anything odd ever happened. If any severe brain damage occurred it would be better to lose some recent memories than deal with that.
Because of all of this, he suddenly had the duty to give every Nikke a set lifespan.
He didn't feel very comfortable at the thought of that.
Right now he defaulted it to a hundred and twenty years of service from the NIMPH and wasn't sure what would happen once they ceased to function. It was… uncharted territory. Who knew what could happen?
And he would need to adjust Summer's NIMPH to disable her immortality protocol as well.
Without agreeing to the General's request this might have potentially gone under the radar until it was too late. Jaune swore to put more effort into the four Nikke in return as a thank you.
After almost a month of being overly looked after he started to get some more freedom as his loving friends and family began to ease up on him. He'd enjoyed the affection, even needed it to an extent, but it had definitely been suffocating.
It must have been due to his Huntsman upbringing, but he'd become so used to independent actions and just going about on his own. Suddenly having been deprived of that hadn't been great.
He spent extra time catching up with Emerald. Helped Winter, Weiss, and Whitley come together as a family once more, getting some awkward hugs from Winter's younger siblings as they tried to comfort him but were very awkward, even if getting hugs from Weiss made his brain still short circuit sometimes.
Whitley also asked a lot of questions about Clarent for some reason as Weiss elbowed him in the side.
Neo and Trivia were just glad to have him back, refusing to let go of him for an hour before they went off galavanting and gang-busting. The weeks of the 'Green Hornet' not operating had caused a bit of repressed crime to spill over and they'd have their work cut out for them.
Vigilante work was cathartic and freeing.
He could have sworn he saw Raven at some point though, but when he looked again there was just a bird on top of a building. A little black raven. Jaune felt he was being too paranoid.
And it wasn't long that he was informed that the Criminal known as Amber would finally be officially deported. So he kept tapping into the sole Shadow that he'd placed on her to check up on her situation.
A month apart had cooled his head, but he didn't feel confident in seeing her again. He was worried he'd explode on her. Or say something mean and cruel because he still felt betrayed.
But she probably wouldn't be able to contact Robin without his intervention. His sister would lose one of her few friends. Honestly it was more accurate to say she was her only friend that wasn't family in some way.
His sister was being forced to attend some mandatory mental therapy, but if Jaune was being honest, she wasn't doing too great. Sometimes she'd just stare out into nothing or lose track of what she was up to. Every other thing she'd see reminded her of Amber. Which wasn't to say that she was defending her friend or her actions, either.
Robin clearly felt betrayed too, a part of her even found herself hating her only friend, but she couldn't help miss Amber. To want her back.
Jaune just felt awful when he looked at her. Maybe they'd never have met without him connecting his family to Atlas, but also the reason she was forced to become a criminal was because someone wanted him. Wanted him badly enough to kidnap him and drag an innocent bystander into it.
Juniper said he wasn't prepared enough to know the details. That he'd not become a big enough hero yet. That he needed more time to grow and that he should just remember to be a kid more.
Jaune was unhappy about that, but accepted it without question. He trusted Big Brother Juniper. And he enjoyed being a kid, even if sometimes he wished he could be a grown up faster.
But his older brother agreed that he should at least meet her one last time. For closure. And in doing so he might as well get to hear her side of it all. It was only fair. He deserved the truth from her.
And he felt a lot safer knowing his brother would be watching over him when he entered the bathroom at night and warped to her via his Shadow.
He'd known she was alone from what his mouse could relay with its limited intelligence, but he thought she'd be in a hotel or a motel room. Not dozing off under a wilderness survival blanket by a small campfire in the woods.
"..." Jaune felt the flash of anger in him fade as he saw her sleeping tear stained cheeks. She was layered in a thin, gritty sheen of sweat and dirt. She'd been camping in the wilds for a day or two. Why?
And the sound of a Grimm lurking in the nearby brush, smelling the sorrow and self loathing on her Aura.
Durindana flashed out to instantly pierce through it as it flew out of his hands, the sound of a lone Ursa's death call waking Amber up.
"...what?"
He turned to look at her gaze, hungry and tired. She seemed to think she was still dreaming.
"Hey Amber." He gave her a small smile, though it was a bit strained. "What're you doing in the forest?"
"I… they dropped me off near some village north of Vale. I just… wanted to be alone for a bit." She replied groggily, only half awake and thinking him a nightmare.
He heard the cold hiss of distaste from Juniper behind him. Jaune agreed. Why the hell did they leave her in the wilderness? What good did that serve?
"What the hell is that? That's messed up."
Amber laughed groggily at him.
"They probably just want me to disappear or die. I'd deserve it too."
"Like hell you do!" Jaune hissed angrily. His betrayal was quickly being overrun by anger. Was THIS what Atlas did to people they deported?! "I can't believe this! Did they at least give you enough supplies?"
Jaune reached to the small backpack next to her to see her minimal belongings and only about a day and a half's worth of food left.
"They didn't even give you any Lien or try to get you any- this is crap!"
His anger seemed to wake her into proper consciousness. As Jaune pulled a large rucksack out of his inventory and began filling it with essentials.
"...Jaune? Wh-what are you-"
"Apparently I have to make sure you even have the bare minimum! They didn't even give you pads or tampons! What is this?!"
Amber flushed a violent red, looking mortified, her shame snapping her fully awake.
"JAUNE!"
"Oh get over it, I have eight sisters and four of them are older. I know what female hygiene products are." Jaune rolled his eyes, dumping a few boxes of each in the rucksack he was filling up for her. "Jeez. I'll give you a self set-up and collapsing tent too. Don't bother asking how it works, it just works."
He dumped a R Rarity Equipment: Magic Tent (which looked like a flat green box the size of a laptop) into the rucksack alongside a rolled up thin but effective foam sleeping mat to use as an outdoor mattress, and almost all of Amber's clothes that had been left behind in the room she'd shared with Robin.
"I-you-how are you here?!"
"My Semblance is flexible, ok? Don't worry about it."
"I am very worried!"
He just giggled, finding Amber's panic funny (and kind of satisfying after what had happened between them) as he pulled out a leather waistband wallet from his Inventory to minimize pick pocketing. It was pointless to HIM, but it'd be handy for others. Zipping it open, he shoved small stacks of Lien (both paper and cards) into it before pushing it into her arms.
Suddenly he felt silly at how much he'd dreaded coming to meet Amber again. He was in a weird groove of helping mode and everything he'd been worried about seemed more like a joke, even as embers of anger still smoldered beneath.
"I- what's wrong with you? You shouldn't be here, you should hate me! How are you here?!"
He shrugged as he put a few MREs and small sacks of jerky, dried fruits, nuts, and compressed biscuits for a week or two into the rucksack.
"I probably should. I am still mad at you, by the way. I just think that that's not reason enough to not help you. Oh and this," Jaune pulled out a SR Rarity Equipment: Decanter of Endless Water and gestured to the bluish ivory flask, "will give you fresh water. Just say 'Stream' when you open it and it'll pour a gallon of drinkable water. Don't ask how this works either, but you can use it pretty much endlessly."
He shoved that into her rucksack too.
"What are you doing here?!"
"Originally? To give you this." Jaune finally whipped out a Scroll he had personally put together the OS for. "So you can still message Robin. It's not for your sake, but for hers. She misses you and isn't doing great and I care for my sister more than I dislike you. I don't think she'll be able to get through this all properly without getting some closure and a proper conversation with you… But still, I just didn't think they'd give you so little, or even not leave you in an actual city. Oh. and since you're out here I'll come back tomorrow with a portable solar pack and a mini signal booster. Can't even use the Scroll for communication without those this far out. It'll be a bit heavy to lug around but deal with it."
That caught Amber's attention as she stared at him like he was some sort of savior. He liked that feeling, even though it was weirdly itchy. She missed Robin so much.
Jaune shook his head. The two girls were made for each other. Destined best friends or whatever.
"...They said I'm not allowed to talk to any of you." She said, but her gaze fell down to the Scroll and didn't drift away from it.
"They don't have a right to decide that." Jaune disagreed. "That's our choice. Robin misses you and is too distracted by that to work through anything. Even Big Brother Juniper thinks that we need to let her contact you for some closure, at least."
Amber let out a wet laugh, a tear beginning to glimmer in the corner of her eye in the campfire light.
"She… does?"
"I wouldn't be here other- no, well. I'd still probably checked in on you just in case. For my own closure or to… I donno. Things just got so complicated so quickly. I feel like I don't even know how I should feel. But yeah, she misses you. Won't mention you because everyone else sort of hates your guts, but I already forgave you, even if I'm mad at you. And I want Robin to be happy."
He pushed the Scroll into Amber's hands, watching as she clutched onto the device like a lifeline.
"...thank you."
"Next time anything like this happens… just trust us. Or I donno, anyone that's trying to help you out!" Jaune sighed, feeling the anger build up inside him again. "I trusted you! Robin trusted you! We would have done something!"
Amber's amber eyes lifted up to meet his own, filled with guilt and regret.
She took some deep breaths, closing her eyes as she mustered up some courage. Then spoke.
"I… I was abused. Adopted from an orphanage just to… work like a slave." Words suddenly spilled from her lips, as if she needed to confess to him. Felt she had to. That she owed him the truth. "It's not that I didn't… didn't trust but I…"
For the first Amber didn't try to hide anything from him. Her desperate need to tell him the truth was so clear that it might as well have been spring water.
"...is that why your neck is…"
Amber didn't show him her neck, just nodding.
Jaune could feel that when her Atlasean imprisoners had checked her over they must have noticed the neck scarring because they'd given her back the expensive satin choker that he'd bought for her. The one she'd worn at the Starlight Eagle Ball. It was dirty now.
"I didn't just run away. They drove me to the edge and I… I killed them. But please you have to understand-"
"They sound like they got what they deserved."
Amber's eyes snapped open, wide as saucers, and Jaune heard Juniper groan behind him, not agreeing in full. ("Jaune, she can't just go around killing people!") He felt bad about his differing opinion, but Big Brother Juniper was better than what Remnant deserved in his opinion. This world was shit. Some people were just really bad people.
"Don't get me wrong. I think killing isn't great. In fact I'm not actually happy to hear anyone died." His ears flicked in his brother's direction, telling Juniper that he really believed so. "But clearly what they did to you was wrong."
Jaune's eyes narrowed. Half in disappointment.
"And I think today Atlas proven to me that they're not as perfect as they pretend they are either. They didn't even give you hygienics for some goddamn reason and abandoned you in the wilderness! You probably couldn't have proved the abuse without being punished further in turn. I don't like that you had to kill anyone but good on you for getting out."
Amber's eyes were lost in confusion. As if her line of thought had cut out entirely as he couldn't read her now.
"I know it's not the same with me, but...I ran away from home when I was six and a half. I was fine because my Big Brother Juniper found me, but… I've killed too. Ok? I killed someone to save Auntie Summer. That's no different. Not to me. I… look I get it. You did what you had to. As long as you don't resort to killing first and make that a consistent answer to your problems, I think that's all that matters. And for what it's worth, I don't think you could have killed me."
He really didn't think she could have brought herself to. And he certainly could have defended himself even when hopped up on aniseed. Probably. Maybe.
…he probably should see if SR Rarity Ability: Drunken Fist would work on aniseed. In a controlled environment. Just to be safe. He'd go and pop open that capsule the moment he got back. Jaune never wanted to feel that defenseless and useless again.
He hadn't used the ability capsule because he was EIGHT and a half. That literally wouldn't have been useful for at least eight and a half more years for seventeen which was the universal age of adulthood on Remnant.
"Whatever you did… well I'll forgive you on behalf of Atlas. Because honestly they owe you for letting you even be put in that situation. Maybe that's unfair to them but screw it! I don't care." Jaune gave the older girl a hug. She looked like she needed it. "Nobody will know. Not even Robin if you want me to."
"...I'll… I'll tell her one day. One day I'll be brave enough."
"Ok." That would have to do for now.
Amber laughed as she cried, holding him through the rough survival blanket, the crackling of a campfire besides them in the darkness.
Her Aura was softly roaring fire and gentle soap water. The tinkling of glass on the wind.
"Well ladies. How do you feel?" Ironwood asked with a small smile.
He had some idea.
"I can walk… talk… move my own body… ha ha." Sergeant Solina looked more or less as she did before the Paladin Incident, though dressed in a simple patient's gown.
Her rich brown hair decorated her face with long gentle streaks of slightly spiky bangs as it flowed long and straight down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were now a soft gold instead of her original blue, but everything else looked as if an artist had sculpted an interpretation of her original appearance. More than her original beautiful appearance, she was almost ephemeral in beauty, not unlike Summer Rose-Branwen-XiaoLong.
She clenched her hands as her bare feet pitter pattered against the bare floor.
"This is amazing…" She marveled, her eyes even watering as if she was about to cry tears of joy.
Corporal Annette was already sobbing soft and joyful tears into Corporal Mercedes's shoulder, her shoulder length light red hair that curled at the ends mingling into the longer soft almost beige blonde of Mercede's flowing locks. The two cousins held each other hard enough that their green and yellow Auras flashed against each other.
Ironwood refrained himself from warning them about controlling their strength, instead keeping tabs on their Aura levels from his HUD instead, allowing the two a moment of comfort.
Their eyes were pools of golden amber as well.
Young Jaune must have done it out of spite and as a reminder, but that was fine to Ironwood.
When he grew up he'd understand better that he had only acted in the boy's best interest. He was allowed to be a little bitter now. He was still a child, after all. Had time to grow and learn.
Time would mend all wounds.
"Is the Little Professor around?" He turned to see Corporal Elm (she'd just have to get used to her promotion now that she'd be one of the faces of the new Nikke taskforce) marveling at how near-perfectly accurate her appearance seemed, though she'd not had the chance to witness her own pools of golden amber eyes or her own new almost unearthly beauty. "I… I really thank him. This is… amazing…"
"He'll be around in a bit. He'd also created new weapons for you all while you were recovering, but wanted to access your original Huntress weapons so that he could incorporate them, keeping your abilities as close to your optimal original as possible."
That caught Corporal Soline's attention, as her weapon had been handed down from her father. A Second-Generation type legacy weapon.
"Do not worry. I've informed him that your original weapon in particular was to be left untouched and he promised to simply machine new parts and use your Shearing Trigger as a basis for design only." Ironwood assured. As if he'd forget a personal detail of his chosen Nikke. "Rest assured it will be left untouched."
"Thank you, General. It's just all I have left of my father."
He nodded, turning away to see Anette and Mercedes had let go of each other, their Aura having almost entered the yellow.
"The four of you have some physicals to attend to now, alongside some strength control exercises that are now necessary as a result of your new bodies. Especially you, Corporal Elm. While your musculature isn't actually as impressive as it appears, your body was made to be physically stronger than the rest of your peers due to your fighting preferences."
"Yes, sir!" Corporal Elm's salute cracked the floor beneath her as she snapped to attention, her heels applying too much pressure to the sterile white metal floor. "...sorry sir."
Ironwood just gave a small bark of laughter, coughing immediately after to catch himself, Mettle burning softly, having not been active beforehand. Actually he had needed Mettle less most days as his prosthetics had become just as comfortable as his actual body.
"It's quite alright. There will be an adjustment period. I, too, have gone through the experience." He reached over to a fruit basket, grabbing an apple. "Naturally I currently have no issues with my control."
He casually tossed the apple up and down with no damage to the fruit before instantly juicing the fruit on the third toss with the squeeze of his hand.
"But even without Aura we've become quite powerful. This isn't to be taken lightly. All four of you are expected to exercise extreme caution when around people until you all learn to master your new bodies and can control your strength until it's as easy as breathing." His gaze washed over them all, reminding them that this was not merely a second chance at life but a second chance to protect and serve. "You are all symbols of a new wave. Of a new path forward for all of Remnant. The future of our planet."
"SIR!" Four voices cried out in unison, the air filling with purpose and determination.
They were not mere humans anymore.
They would be his exemplars. His Nikke.
The new goddesses of victory that would save the world.
"Then let's get you all dressed and run you through some tests, Victory Wing."