Looking to the Future

The group reached the stands where the Arc sisters, Emerald and Jaune's father were seated. Making room the girls started talking to Pheris, Pyron and Pyrrha. After the introductions were done Pyrrha rejoined Jaune sitting right beside him. The two looked at one another with smiles then in sync turned to watch the rest of the matches.

The rest of the day continued on like this. Jaune and Pyrrha were watching the matches commenting on the fighting styles and weapons each person used. When a semblance was used, they came up with different ideas of how to utilize them. Emerald who had finished speaking with the sisters made her way over.

"Hey what are you two going on about by yourselves?" Emerald asked. She had become more familiar with the family allowing her to return to her child like innocence. Having so many heavy burdens lifted from her shoulders her outlook and reactions returned to before she was pushed onto the streets.

Jaune and Pyrrha responded, "Training."

"What do you mean? You guys aren't training in any way sitting there." Emerald asked.

"Well this is a different form of training." Jaune started.

"Here you examine your opponent and come up with strategies of how to deal with them." Pyrrha finished.

"And find ways you would use their abilities differently." Jaune added

"Oh. How do you do that?" Emerald asked.

Jaune and Pyrrha smiled as they began to explain and show ways to notice certain aspects of a person. Emerald who had been on the streets caught on pretty quick as she had to determine marks and threats. With her joining the three continued to train their observation skills.

The tournament ended and the two families went out to eat. Emerald who had been a long time without a meal heard her stomach roar making the surroundings laugh.

"Well we have a hungry one here. Don't you worry honey, you can eat all you want tonight. Gol is paying after all." Honeydew said with a smile

Gol spluttered at this, "You are killing me woman! We will be going broke before we leave."

"What was that honey?" Honeydew asked with s sickly sweet smile again.

Gol's face was filled with sweat before he turned away and said, "N-nothing at all. Alright everyone I am paying for the meal."

There was a cheer from the Nikos family, while Gol had silent tears running down his face, "Goodbye, sports car. I hardly knew you."

Honeydew pinched Gol's side, "You didn't need that anyway."

"Oh come on you have always known I wanted one. I was so close to it too." Gol said as he morosely walked into the restaurant.

"Just borrow your brother's for a joy ride." Honeydew said exasperatedly.

"Its not the same!" Gol continued to whine.

Marron looked upon Gol and a manly understanding passed between the two. Marron felt Gol's pain. Then he felt pain coming from his side as Nina elbowed him. "What was that for?"

"I just felt like you needed it." Nina said with a similar smile to Honeydew.

The group took up a portion of the restaurant. The rest of the night was extremely happy and full of joy. Emerald upon finishing her multiple plates of food received some good natured ribbing from the Nikos and the Arc families. She could only flush and laugh along with them.

Emerald asked how long this could last. Her mood took a quick downturn from that point. Jaune and Pyrrha both saw it. Jaune asked, "What's wrong? Is your stomach upset?"

"No, no. It's not that." Emerald said.

"What is it then?" Pyrrha asked.

"I-I don't want to lose this feeling. It is the best. I just don't want to be alone anymore." Emerald said as she began to cry.

Jaune reached out and hugged Emerald. "You will meet this blacksmith and his wife later, they are very nice people. For now, just enjoy yourself."

Emerald nodded her head at this sniffling.

Later after the merriment was over Jaune and Gol walked Emerald to the Blacksmith's shop. Emerald was getting fidgety as they got closer to the building. "Calm down Emerald. It's going to be ok."

Emerald just nodded as she walked closer to the somewhat familiar shop.

The group of three reached the door and knocked. A few moments later the Blacksmith and his wife came to the door. Gol waved at the couple and said, "Hello there. We have brought the girl with us. Say hello Emerald."

Emerald who was standing behind Jaune walked forward and introduced herself, "H-hello I am Emerald Sustrai. I will be living with you from now on, from what I was told. Please treat me well."

"Hello dearie. Welcome to our home." The wife said.

"You seem familiar." The blacksmith said as he leaned towards Emerald.

Emerald tried her best not to shake in place from the man's gaze. A second passed before his eyes widened. Emerald flinched before she heard a roaring laugh. Emerald opened her eyes and looked at the Blacksmith who was still laughing even as his wife hit his arm over and over. "What did you do that for? You scared the poor girl!"

The blacksmith only tried to regain his calm before he explained, "Honey, You remember when I told you about the pompous ass who came by not too long ago? Well after he left my shop I saw this little girl pass by him and strip him of everything save his underwear! Haha. It was marvelous! I had been wanting to meet her and give her my thanks. And here she is on our doorstep. I would have given her a job had I found her, just for what she did." The blacksmith said smiling widely.

Emerald looked on in confusion. "Why would you be happy about it? I figured you would want to call the guards on me."

"Well you see. That man was a real piece of work. He did his best to discount my abilities as a smith. He had returned multiple times to try and destroy my business. But after the day you stripped him bare he couldn't show his face here again. You helped me that day and it seems I can finally return the favor." The blacksmith said with a kind smile at Emerald. "You are welcome into our house and family should you wish it."

Emerald stood there not really understanding the situation. For the second time today Emerald was being accepted by a random family. She realized then that there were good people in this world. The world was not just dark like she had thought for so long. Emerald started to shake and cry at everything. The wife and husband seeing this walked forward and hugged the trembling girl. Emerald quickly hugged the two with all her strength.

"We will leave you to it." Gol said smiling.

"We will be going out again tomorrow Emerald. You can join us again if you want. Or you can spend time with your new family. You can decide when we come by tomorrow." Jaune said with a smile.

"Thank you Jaune. I will decide tomorrow." Emerald said with a wide smile with happy tears falling down.

The week went on and the three families got very close. Jaune, Pyrrha and Emerald all became inseparable in this time. The blacksmith spoke with the Nikos clan becoming their weapon supplier in the future. Ebon Nav and his wife Zaff Nav who ran NAV Blacksmithing. Jaune's family also got weapons and armors at extremely low prices. The family happily agreed with this, only after they marked up the price as to not gouge the Nav family. They would also become a direct customer of Nav Blacksmithing. Ebon even said he would personally forge the weapons the girls and Jaune chose to design in the future.

Everyone was happy with the new arrangement. Emerald had been dragged around by the Arc sisters, Pheris and Zaff, her new mother, to get all kinds of cloths and other necessities. By the end of the week Emerald looked like a completely different person. Everyone looked on with happy gazes when Emerald walked around in a neon green skirt and a light green top. It was a nice contrast with her mocha tinted skin.

Jaune, Pyrrha and Emerald all kept up their training while watching the tournament. Emerald even if she was new, quickly learned. After a few days she was able to come up with an equal level of ideas as Pyrrha and Jaune. Pyrrha and Emerald became fast friends with their competitive spirits. Emerald even showed Pyrrha how to be a good pickpocket. Pyrrha saw this and watched in fascination. She tried it out on the family and was quickly caught. Emerald laughed at this and after a while started training Pyrrha to be slyer and have smoother movements and distractions as to not attract attention. Jaune also trained in this skill even though he had no idea when it would be useful but from the heroes it seemed it would eventually.

The week came to an end and the three were looking at one another. Jaune said, "Well we need to keep in touch. Here is my scroll's contact info."

"Agreed. Here is mine." Pyrrha said.

Emerald hopped in place as she held out her brand-new scroll and said, "Here is my contact info as well."

The three exchanged information. Emerald calmed down and tears filled her eyes. "Jaune. I can't ever repay the kindness you have shown me. But I will do my best to do so. I will help others like you did for me when I get the chance."

Jaune smiled at this and said, "I am happy to hear that. You don't need to repay me. Just live happily."

Emerald couldn't say anything as she was choked up. Pyrrha came to her side and hugged her, "Well I am nearby so come visit me when you have the time. My family will welcome you."

Emerald laid her head on Pyrrha's shoulder and nodded her head.

"I will contact you both when I come to visit in the future." Jaune said as he started boarding the airship.

The two girls waved and replied, "We will see you then!"

Jaune entered the ship and joined his family. "Hey buddy. Say goodbye to your lady friends?" Gol said to Jaune.

"Yeah I did." Jaune said with a smile, totally missing the smarmy look his father was giving him.

"Oh leave Jaune alone. I have a feeling we will be returning here a lot more in the future." Honeydew said with a small smile.

"Of course. I have to get to know my new daughter-in-law's families." Gol said seriously.

Honeydew froze before she turned to her husband, "Excuse me?"

"Well our Jaune is something of a prodigy the likes of are hardly seen in a century. It isn't too hard to believe that he will have a group of girls clamoring for him." Gol said smiling.

Honeydew wanted to refute his words, but she had a hard time doing so. Many strong huntsman or huntresses were known to have large families. "I guess you are right. But will Jaune be happy with multiple girls?"

"Oh, I'm sure he will be fine. He is an Arc and will do his duty. Just by doing that he will attract people to his side. With his temperament as long as he finds strong girls, he will do his best to make them happy." Gol said.

"I guess so. But I have a feeling that the girls will have to be the ones in control of the relationship, otherwise he will try to escape." Honeydew said with a small smirk.

"Hehehe. Maybe." Gol said as a sweat drop formed on his head.

In this world where death is around the corner at any time, familiar conduct is much more loose than the other world. The heroes who were all from a time where life and death were a daily conflict, all had little worries over the words that Jaune's parent spoke of. They had seen many similar situations in their time and found it a normal aspect of life.

Even Shirou who came from the modern world also felt the same as he had come to the same situation. He had multiple woman come after him and he accepted them all.

"I hope Jaune is ready for the future." Tama said.

"Yes, he has to prepare so he can be ready to accept multiple girls in the future." Artoria said.

"Time management and detailed event planning." Shirou said.

The three other heroes looked at Shirou with questions in their eyes. "What do you mean by that Shirou?" Chiron asked.

"Well from what I learned in my life those two skills are the most important for someone who has multiple significant others." Shirou said explaining his past life experience.

"Ah that does make sense." Chiron said.

"Well you aren't wrong but there is a whole lot missing from that." Tama said when she was agreed with by Artoria.

"Yes but those two will save him from a lot of pain in the future." Shirou said.

"Well time management is already being used but it can be focused on more though. The event planning I think his sisters will be the better trainer for him to learn from." Artoria said. "Though I could help him in that as a campaign planning. Could be useful in the future with his team."

"Agreed." Chiron said.