Seeing Vale was like seeing an old friend.
It was odd when Juniper thought about it. The Arcs were part of Valean nobility a long time ago, back when that was a thing. Technically Vale did still have a King and Queen, but they were just ceremonial figureheads now, the Council of Vale instead doing all of the heavy lifting when it came to actual governance.
When the Faunus Rights Revolution had resulted in the loss of his grandparents, despite the fact that they still stayed and grew up in Vale, both becoming Beacon graduates in the end, his parents had chosen to move to Mistral for reasons that were never made clear to Juniper.
Which made the fact that Juniper had never known Pyrrha growing up to be extra embarrassing, even if it was good for their relationship and friendship in the end.
Although he had siblings that would grow up to attend Sanctum, being the only son of the Arc family and thus 'heir apparent' he was never allowed to learn about anything Huntsman related out of fear that he'd get some crazy idea in his head, go out into the world and die without ever having any offspring.
Which Juniper did suppose was exactly what had happened in the end. He was sure his parents would have given him an earful of "look how right we were" if they could see him now.
Though he was sure they'd be equally horrified.
Despite being well off as the sole son of head of village security as well as the owner of the second biggest vineyard in Domremy, the Mistralean breadbasket, Juniper had grown up like a sheltered farm boy. A surprisingly wealthy farm boy, but that wasn't too important in the long run.
How on Remnant he managed to successfully book a ticket to Vale in secret as well as a forged transcript was anyone's guess, though he was beginning to suspect that Saphron might have had a hand in it in hindsight as the only other sibling that would leave home.
The irony ran thick.
But in the end, it wasn't Domremy that he saw as home, but Vale.
Vale which had only housed him for about one year, where team Juniper had hung out at. The parks where they held the occasional picnic. Dust stores that they'd haggle for ammunition at due to the shortage caused by Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. Late night diners to grab a quick bite at, squeezing into small booths as they chatted the night away.
How much of it could he even save in the end?
Jaune was still so young and he didn't want to use him like a pawn in some big picture like Ozpin. But he was the only piece on the board of Remnant that Juniper could affect at all. Was it fair for him to still want to hate Ozpin despite now being in the same situation as him?
Ok, maybe not the same. He couldn't pilot Jaune's body like a meat puppet or eventually take his place in the real world.
That was good.
Clear distinctions were important.
Juniper smiled as Jaune was led around by Yang, Ruby hanging off of him like a backpack as they tore through the food court while giggling like the kids they were.
Who knew that the mandatory mental therapy hours back in Atlas would help him at all now?
If only it had been half as useful to Ironwood. Instead of processing his grief, he had closed himself off. Instead of looking for new possibilities, all he had done was dug his feet in, but the foundations he had thought to be so infallible was, in the end, just the frozen surface of a bottomless lake.
It was harder to be mad at Ironwood than Ozpin for Juniper, as he pitied the former more than he did the latter. It probably wasn't fair, but that was just how he felt.
That didn't mean he trusted Ozpin either. In the end, the man had no real plan going forwards against Salem after the fall of Beacon. Who was to say he had any before then? Was it fair to feel that way? Juniper wasn't sure.
That was why while Jaune and the other kids were off playing around with Taiyang secretly following along out of sight as a chaperone (it was important, apparently, for potential Huntsman kids to have independence fostered at a young age, even if they were secretly being watched over regardless) Juniper stayed back listening to a conversation between Ozipin, Summer, Qrow, and a disguised Raven, wearing a large straw sunhat, shades, a light gray turtleneck sweater that hugged her curves, finalized by a long skirt that came down to her calves.
It was past sunset, Vale was in its nighttime stride, as it was difficult for someone as busy as Ozpin to make time for them at the drop of a hat.
It made Raven look a bit ridiculous, but she was technically an at-large bandit chieftain with a bounty to her name, so some attempt at a disguise was important.
"So now that the kids are off and Tai is with them, let's talk." Summer led the conversation as Ozpin placed a small device on the table and turned it on.
It was Atlesian tech. Something to keep sounds contained within a certain distance, allowing private conversations in public. Juniper had seen it used before and knew how handy it was while shadowing the Ace-Ops.
"Yes. We do have a lot to discuss." Ozpin replied calmly.
"Since when were you monitoring me?" Summer came in swinging.
Ozpin sighed as he uncapped his paper cup filled with dark black coffee.
"I wish to preface this with the fact that it was in the week after we lost Triana, during your senior year at Beacon. We were lucky that Amber was her chosen Fall Maiden, but in my grief, I… acted in a manner unbefitting of myself in a moment of paranoia. I overstepped my bounds and once I realized what I had done… I figured it would be easier to beg forgiveness if it came to it. This was also, admittedly, when both Branwen siblings were under my employ-"
Raven's snort interrupted the flow of Ozpin's explanation, getting a very light slap on the back of the hand from Summer. This time there was no Aura flash. She was taking to Jaune's strength control exercises well.
Ozpin sighed.
"I had thought then that thanks to Raven's Semblance and her affection for you, if there was any signs of danger from the monitoring enchantment she would be able to assist more quickly than anyone else in the world."
Ozpin placed a set of four small ceramic animals on the table. A badger, a cat, a dog, and the last one was shattered beyond recognition.
"When it registered that it had detected an influx of magic and then Summer had quickly begun to perish, even reaching a state of death in mere minutes… I could only assume the worst. I had thought Salem had found you and informed your husband of what I could. It was what I owed him, least of all."
"Tight leashes." Raven spat, getting another slap on the back of her hand.
"Ozpin, you know I've been defending you to my sister, right? This looks bad for both of us."
"You don't need his help to look bad, dunce." Raven exhaled a short burst of air from her nose, "That's your resting state of being."
"Oi, better than your resting bitch face."
Raven shrugged.
"I don't know, it got me Summer, didn't it?"
"I'll make both of you seiza in public if you don't stop right now." Summer sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as the Branwen twins shut up.
"I see you still have the touch when it comes to these two, Mrs. Rose-Branwen-XiaoLong"
"Just Summer will do, Ozpin. God that's so long." Summer groaned as she shook her head chuckling a little as she did so, "So these were it? Your only way of keeping your eyes on us?"
"The only thing that might be considered intrusive." Ozpin admitted quietly, "By Huntsman bylaws I am required to at least keep a light eye on every Beacon graduate."
"Good." Summer nodded. "Keep them. Only reason you were wrong about me dying is because I was borderline resurrected. Raven won't like it, but I'd sleep better at night knowing that someone has our backs, even if I'm not your biggest fan at the moment."
"I will do my best to earn back your trust." Ozpin smiled softly, taking a deep drink of his coffee. "And… apologies again. I did not mean to apply pressure on you. I have made my promises to you, and I do wish to keep them. My words were that of a foolish old man who has made more mistakes in his life than he has been able to correct. I owed you better than that, Summer. I am sorry."
Qrow picked at a plate of stir fried noodles with a bitter countenance, clearly having been a bit let down by Ozpin himself.
Juniper knew that Qrow had always thought the world of the man until the Relic had made all truths clear. That Ozpin was stuck doing his best to unite the world as he fought the inevitable, all of his plans being torn apart by Salem at every turn, but that he didn't actually trust the people under him for the full truth, too scared that they'd turn on him the same way Raven had done.
Which begged the question if Raven knew more than she let on, or if she had simply jumped to conclusions and had happened to be correct.
And while it wasn't enough now to change Qrow's image of Ozpin as a whole, this information had definitely caused Ozpin's image to take a hit in Qrow's eyes.
"I did, however. Wish to ask you some questions about young Jaune."
Juniper was surprised that it was Raven that was the first to jump to his defense.
"No. You're not getting your claws on him. He's mi-ours. He's ours." Raven corrected herself, though her claiming ownership of that which wasn't hers was still definitely a bad habit that needed correcting just as much as sharing.
"I did not mean that I wished to take him off your hands. I understand that you currently do not trust me. And that is… fine." Ozpin made a smile as if a strange burden had been slightly lifted from his shoulders. "I have many questions, of course. But I shall not ask about anything related to magic. This time. My concerns were more of Summer's new body as well as this."
He reached down to a small paper wine bag to the side, a thick and quality black with gold trimmings and a familiar crest.
"Uh-oh." Juniper felt an uncomfortable sinking in his gut.
"Myself as well as many Huntsmen and Huntresses in positions of power were recently sent this, from the Domremy bread basket in Mistral." Ozpin pulled out an expensive looking bottle of Dom Perignon. "A fine year, aged for a decade. Was supposed to be left aging for another ten long years, actually. But they broke it out ahead of schedule, though I'm told the taste has not suffered at all for it."
He spun the bottle to the label on the back.
And an image of Jaune, bunny ears and all, looking a bit scared and nervous, was displayed on a picture taped to its back with a handwritten scribble.
"Please help find our son, Jaune Arc."
"Huh? Wait. Julius was human, and so was Noelle. Unless-"
"The boy ran away when a blood test was being held." Ozpin interrupted Qrow, explaining the situation. "And it seemed in their self-imposed isolation they… may have slipped back into some of their older, more distasteful opinions in regards to the Faunus. It also meant that Julius may have chosen to forget the fact that even if it skips multiple generations, humans can carry Faunus lineages without it ever coming to form. I presume the boy was merely a… late bloomer when it came to his features. Some hurtful words had apparently been exchanged between Julius and Noelle and I've been led to believe that it might be possible that young Jaune believes it to be his fault."
"I know Julius and Noelle both lost their parents in the last war, but…" Summer pursed her lips. "That's still awful."
"Indeed." Ozpin nodded. "Apparently it didn't help when Jaune had begun to act… erratically for the past quarter of a year. Disappearing randomly, coming home with things that they didn't buy for him, Dust going missing. All things they attributed to poor Faunus behavior. I assume the boy somehow managed to unlock his Aura and was discovering his talents in… many things? It's… hard… for me to wrap my head around the level of ingenuity it would take for Summer's new form." He admitted. "The boy might simply be a genius one that could jumpstart robotics and prosthetics for centuries to come."
"He's a moron." Raven countered. "And his ego's the kind that'll inflate easily. Like rising dough, you gotta punch him down on occasion."
"I appreciate your attempt to make the analogy more… domestic, but let's really not make allusions to punching Jaune, please Rae?" Summer let out a sighing laugh. "Good baby step in this case for you, though."
Raven looked pleased, though it was once again clear that she didn't see what it was that she was being half-reprimanded for.
"Regardless. I have made some inquiries. The Arcs are not aware of their son's technological innovations. They have been attending couples therapy and that they simply want their son back. They seem genuine in their-"
"Tough tits. Let the kid decide anything. Why are we even having this conversation without him if he's so damn smart?"
"...Actually I'm with Raven on this one." Qrow grumbled, hating to be on the same page as his twin sister. "Kid should decide."
"Well. Maybe we should also make inquiries of the… guardian spirit he seems to have stumbled into." Ozpin shrugged, looking up to make what felt like direct eye contact with Juniper. "Although it's impossible that it was what imparted the knowledge of robotics to young Jaune, I'm certain it must have been quite the soundboard for the child."
Juniper flinched.
"What the hell do you mean, Oz?" Qrow asked from the corner of Ozpin's vision, looking up to try to see what the Headmaster was staring at."
"I can barely see the faintest glimpse of it. It's missing an arm and his soul feels similar to that of young Jaune, but not the same. As if it twisted its existence to match that of our young friend. Likely to help unlock his Aura, no? Though I've never seen a Spirit willing to split its own existence for a mortal before. The fact that I can still even detect its existence this long past the age of magic means that it would have to once have been even a Greater Spirit. Likely one of Wisdom, encompassing guidance, hindsight, and nurture."
Ozpin was wrong, so wrong, but once again he was a man that was left piecing together as little information available into a bigger picture with the best of his ability, even if he swung so far off the mark this time.
Juniper decided it was inevitable that he'd miss his mark at times. Ozma was known as a Hero and warrior, not a scholar. Perhaps the Brothers had made a mistake after all in sending him back instead of someone more learned?
"Wait. Fuck. The kid. He keeps talking to himself, what the hell was it… Big Brother Juniper! So wait, that isn't just an imaginary friend?" Qrow muttered, his fork falling from his long fingers.
"I think I hate that brat."
"I doubt it can communicate with anyone but Jaune himself anymore due to its new nature. But it has been listening in on our conversation from the beginning." Informed Ozpin, this time correct. "But if it had any malicious intent I would have detected such. As such I believe it safe to assume, you wish to be the young boy's ally, do you not? Might we meet again for a discussion in the future? I shall prepare a medium to allow for some rudimentary communication that you might talk with all of us and contribute to the well being of your young charge."
Juniper sighed.
"Well this… complicates things." He muttered floating down to eye level with Ozpin, the man's eyes not leaving his form.
Juniper realized he was, while misunderstood, honest about only being able to see his outline, as it was more accurate that Ozpin was staring at Juniper's general face area than his eyes.
He made as big of a nodding motion as possible.
"Fantastic." Ozpin smiled. "I assume you also had some guiding hand in Summer's rescue. I offer my thanks once more, great spirit."
Summer stared a bit at Ozpin as if he had lost it before turning to the space where she assumed Juniper was.
"Uhhh. If he's right, then… thank you?"
Juniper buried his face in his remaining palm.
Neo looked on jealously as Trivia took her first sip of her chocolate-vanilla milkshake.
Mmmm. Heavenly.
Just the right balance of flavor and perfect consistency.
"What's with your eye?" A voice interrupted her moment of bliss.
Trivia frowned, looking up at a girl with green streaks of color dyed cheaply into her short spiky hair. A sort of punk take on a chin-length bobcut.
She was flanked by two girls with similar haircuts and highlights, with identical outfits, sort of like an attempt at a kind of uniform.
Short-sleeved black jackets, one in leather, the rest cotton, over pale blue tops that rode up and flashed hints of navels. Tight miniskirts with silver chain belts. Their boots were chunky and a bit oversized to make their legs appear a tad slimmer.
Trivia took a confused sip of her milkshake as Neo mocked their shoes, her hand flicking forwards at the wrist as if to say What are thooooose?.
Was… this a gang?
They were only maybe a few years older than Trivia. Maybe fifteen to sixteen?
A pang of envy was felt within her breast.
They were lucky. Lucky to dress however they wanted. Lucky to be free to style their hair in whatever weird and outlandish display that fit their moods.
"And what-" The girl on the left sneered in a mockingly singing voice, "-is she wearing?"
"Yeah, look at those shoes." The leader in the middle with the leather jacket agreed.
Trivia felt herself blush, Neo standing between them and gesturing wildly at their chunky footwear.
How could anything be worse than those?
"Can we not do this? She looks like she's twelve or thirteen. She's a kid." The third girl seemed uncomfortable.
"Ugh. Nobody asked you, Heather." Lefty rolled her eyes.
Trivia tucked her head down and turned to walk away.
Lefty didn't make it so easy as she quickly used her longer legs to get in the way, her shirt riding up further to reveal a silver piercing.
"And where do you think you're goin? We just wanna talk!"
Trivia put a hand to her throat and shook her head to show she couldn't talk, turning to leave again.
"Aww you don't wanna talk to us?" Leather Jacket laughed nasally. "Alright I get it. Mommy and Daddy tellsya to not talk to strangers? Alright, I'm Cookie."
She pointed at Lefty. "Max."
Then at the apologetic girl.
"And you already got Heather's name, yeah?"
Trivia wasn't sure where this was going.
"You can hang out with us if you buy us shakes to-"
Cookie was interrupted as a pitch black spear with a beautiful golden blade and accents landed between them, tip stuck in the ground.
Neo looked like she wanted it. It was pretty. Trivia did too.
"Akh!"
Cookie fell back in surprise as a blond Faunus boy appeared, using the shaft as a landing, sticking to it with his feet as he seemingly ignored gravity.
"I've heard enough." He declared, kicking his feet in a motion like he was skateboarding. As if his feet gave more traction than they should, the weapon dislodged itself, twirling like a drill as it spun up, landing casually over one shoulder as his left arm rested on the lower shaft, wrist casually limp over it to slow the drilling momentum.
His feet landed without a single sound although Trivia saw a flash of silver by an ankle.
Neo leaned over with a hushing motion as she lifted the hem of his pants revealing a gorgeous silver shackle with delicately engraved spiders webs filled in with black. A red ruby hingepin glimmered like a star.
Oh Trivia wanted that. She was jealous, it was so pretty.
"You lot leave her alone!" His golden rabbit Faunus ears flicked up to their full length, twitching slightly in the night breeze, making Trivia want to flick it.
Neo was more preoccupied with a slight bulge at the back of his waist.
"W-what gives! We were just-"
"Trying to bully her for milkshakes and whatever else you could squeeze out of her because she looked alone and rich?" The boy shrugged, apparently hitting the nail on the head judging from Cookie's blush. "Yeah, I can tell. Get lost."
Trivia heard a slew of whispers, the bystanders that were ignoring her earlier gossipping and commenting.
Huntsman were getting younger. How it was dangerous to let children have weapons. That should call the police and warn them about a dangerous animal. That it was racist to say so.
Cookie scrambled back onto her feet, although her shoes did her no favors, much to Trivia's and Neo's amusement.
"Fucking Huntsmen kids." Max growled as she slid next to Cookie helping her back up away from the boy. He couldn't have been older than six or seven, Trivia noted. "Short fuck."
But he could stand up for himself, unlike her.
Trivia bit her lip, Neo giving her a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"Girls, let's just go." Heather's voice was harder than before, "Or we'll catch Faunus rabies."
The boy didn't flinch, but his ears drooped slightly. Trivia didn't think the other girls noticed, though.
"Yeah. He's probably dirty." Cookie agreed with an ugly grin as she stepped away, spitting on the ground as she did so. "Bye rabies boy."
"Rabies boy." Max sang along as the girls left.
More whispers echoed about.
"Let's just go see a movie." Heather suggested as the girls left with calls of singing the words Rabies boy.
Trivia saw his ears flicker, but couldn't see his expression from behind as he stepped to stay between her and the black jacket trio as they left.
But he rolled his wrist, weapon spinning once before it disappeared like magic, and turned to Trivia with a bright smile.
"Ah, hope I didn't scare you. Are you ok?"
Trivia nodded, thinking he was cute. Like a little brother or a puppy. They both probably would drool the same amount.
"I'm Jaune! Nice to meetcha!" He held out his hand.
Trivia shook his hand, raising her other hand to her throat.
His Aura was like the juniper berries she mistook for blueberries once. Spicy and thick, like pine and pepper, a hint of grapes and coriander. Like a sip of mommy Carmel's mulled wine.
She ignored the feel of his overwhelming Aura as she tapped her throat and made a little x mark in the air.
"Oh. You can't talk. No problem! Nice to meet you anyways."
Neo giggled behind the boy.
She used her hands holding the back of her wrists against the top of her head and hopped twice.
"Yeah, I'm a rabbit Faunus, it's pretty obvious ain't it?"
Trivia and Neo blinked in unison.
"Oh." The boy sheepishly shrugged, "I-I'm good at reading people. Sorry."
Trivia shook her head. That was surprising but it was-
"Because I read what your friend was…" Jaune looked confused, turning around to look behind him at Neo, but not seeing her.
But then he made a noise of surprise before he turned back to her.
"You're like me! I have Big Brother Juniper! He's hanging back with the adults right now!"
What?
They were… alike?
"Yeah! We're alike!"
Huh. He was weird.
"If I'm weird, so are you." Jaune pouted, "What's your friend's name?"
It was going to be hard for him to get a name, no matter how the heck he was reading Trivia's mind-
"It's not mind reading, you know. Give me objects, colors, I'll figure it out. Feeling your Aura helps too."
Oh. They were still holding hands.
Trivia wasn't sure what was happening. Not even her parents understood her but this boy…
She smiled, lifting her milkshake with a little shake while thinking of Neo's pink hair.
"Uh. Milksh-no. Ice cream, two, three colors? Strawberry cheese, nope. Chocolate too. Neopolitan ice cream. Shorthand for Neo?"
Trivia almost leapt up, poking the tip of her index finger to her nose.
Neo laughed as she wrapped her arms around Jaune's neck as she hugged him from the back, burying her face in his hair.
Jaune yelped, as if he could feel Neo hug him.
Oh. He could feel Neo?
She could normally only let people see her for short bursts. At most she could play some pranks here and there. But he could feel Neo.
Come to think of it, she had lifted the hem of his pants sleeve before too. How?
"G-get her off! She's sniffing me!" Jaune blushed in a panic.
This was amazing! What was different? The only new thing was-
The sensation of Jaune's Aura. Like spiced pine with a hint of grapes. Spicy and pungent and overflowing with a hint of fruit.
Trivia gripped hard at his hand.
They were the same. She wanted him. Needed him. Was going to keep him with his pretty spear and pretty shackles.
Neo grinned, rubbing her chin into the top of his head between his ears.
"Alright, alright. Uh, girls? Man the pink haired one literally appeared out of thin air… I'm gonna need Jaune back soon." A chuckling man's voice could be heard.
Trivia saw a tall tan man, short and handsome blond hair. Possibly related to Jaune but definitely not his brother or dad. He had a pair of girls scooped up in his left arm.
A three or four year old ravenette with reddish tips wearing a pink sundress that was gnawing messily on a Vacuoan churro, content with her fried dough and sugar. The other was a pretty blonde with long hair, slight curliness, with lilac eyes with faint red pinpricks. Her oversized orange shirt was tied off at her waist to a pair of rugged and boyish jean shorts. And she was glaring at Trivia.
"Jaune!" The blonde girl demanded. "C'mere!"
She reached out with an arm as the blond man, her father, Trivia realized, made a complicated face.
"Uh-"
Jaune took a step forward as Trivia and Neo pulled together to grab Jaune by each arm.
Trivia could feel that he could pull both her and Neo forwards if he wanted to, even though he was younger than her.
"I mean, I don't wanna hurt you by accident." Jaune complained. "But you gotta let me go."
Neo gripped his arm harder.
"What do you mean you need my Aura?" He sounded confused as he stared at Neo.
He was dumb but he was perfect.
"I'm not dumb!" Jaune huffed at Trivia.
He was. But how was she supposed to sneak him home?