20

Sanctum was boring.

Was that why most Huntsmen prep schools didn't start until ten to twelve? Sanctum and Patch started at eight or nine. At first it seemed smart to Jaune to start hero training earlier rather than later, but why was it such a drag?

Jaune scribbled into his notebook, completely ignoring the lesson as he made some adjustments in the segments of blueprints within for his collaborations with the good doctor Polendina.

He'd had an interesting idea about creating an artificial human using some of Jaune's Nikke technology as a new basis.

That was fascinating.

He heard Nora softly snoring to his left and the scratches of Ren's pencil as he took notes for two.

Jaune's knowledge of the ARK of Humanity's technology had AI and VI but even if some might considered them sentient, nobody in that world had thought those things to be alive. But Dr Polendina was trying to make a machine with a SOUL.

With Aura.

That was fascinating.

Jaune couldn't help with applying a slew of small adjustments to the model of Project PENNI, though it only applied purely to the foundations of the design so clearly inspired by his NIKKE technology.

It borrowed about seventy percent of the design from it, the rest was a weapons system that utilized Atlas's budding laser technology that he'd contributed data and knowledge from the Missilis company of the ARK of Humanity.

Both weapons and the attempt at giving the machine a soul, to give it Aura, was out of his control and hands, mostly related to Aura conduits created by adapted designs rooted in the logos of the artificial Gen-9 Nikke valkyrie musculature strands and alloys that only existed on Remnant.

He did point out that the wires needed a quick release function as it would be really stupid if it got tangled in something and was unable to be detached. That was a blatantly silly oversight.

Actually comical.

Especially when it could tangle itself in it.

It was clear Dr. Polendina didn't delve often into weapon design. It really showed, despite the projected power estimates.

Satisfied with his notes, he snapped the notebook shut, just a tad too loudly, flinching as he saw the leveled glare of his mathematics teacher.

She just sighed, saying nothing as he quietly passed the notebook over to Specialist Pepper who was sleepily standing next to his seat, her swaying sleepy form drawing way too many eyes (as usual) in the room of growing children, especially as some of the boys and girls who were beginning to enter puberty.

"Mmmmn." Specialist Pepper's long lashes opened up as she felt Jaune poke the notebook into her side. "Ah. Thanks, Little Prof~"

She took the notebook and slipped it into a locked rectangular case strapped to her thigh. She turned the key, applied Aura to the high-tech scanner to apply an additional lock, and took the key and slipped it away into her cleavage before she buttoned it back up over her bosom.

Someone swallowed hard in the room, getting a snicker from someone else.

"I can't wait for Summer Break." Jaune groaned, as he hunched over in his seat. "This is so boring."

"Not everyone's a genius like you, Jaune. The rest of us have to study the old fashioned way." Ren serenely scratched a few more notes as he followed the lesson. "Besides, when you're in Atlas you whine that you have no privacy."

"I'm literally shadowed by either big sis Pepper or Noire on rotation every month here. Privacy is a luxury I can't afford ever." Jaune rolled his eyes. "At least it's not boring too."

Nora mumbled in her sleep.

"See? Nora agrees with me."

Ren chortled out a huffing puff of air from his nose, keeping himself from laughing out loud.

He cared about paying attention in class and doing well and didn't like earning the ire of their teachers.

Jaune on the other hand had given up on such things, as after the Glacier of Menagerie disaster/incident a year and half ago, General Ironwood and Headmaster Ozpin insisted Jaune have more consistent guards.

With the mixture of being a Faunus, apparently accidentally becoming a hit musician because of Farbiglas's meddling, being recognized as a 'genius' that required a permanent Atlasean guard, AND having been confirmed to have been at Menagerie during the Glacial Incident?

Well. Jaune was under constant scrutiny in one way or another.

He'd even given up on making friends halfway though this first year of school.

In the end that was fine as Jaune still had Ren and Nora. Although he and Ren both had a smattering of admirers, Nora was a rather protective guard dog.

She'd taken the promises she'd made with her adoptive sisters very literally, keeping away every person that displayed any traits that she'd identified as 'hussy'.

Jaune thought it was ridiculous. They were eight going on nine. Heck, Ren had turned nine last week and the whole family had gotten together in Mistral for it.

Still it would only be another month and a half until summer break where he'd be flying over to Atlas and do a little guest speaking and helping Dr. Polendina with work on Project PENNI.

And even though finals were approaching, the only class Jaune had to actually study for really was History.

Oh and he supposed Literature, too.

But all of his conversations with Blake and the variety of genres she was into he found himself coasting decently well, already often having read, or at least skimmed the reading material at some point beforehand.

When his parents had told him that he would be joining his older sisters Clarent and Robin at Sanctum he'd been excited. It was also nice getting to meet and hang out with the two sisters that boarded away in Argus on weekends, but it just wasn't the same as he'd expected.

He'd gone through too much. Experienced real horrors.

The other kids were only starting their conditioning and those from traditionally Huntsman families like him that were allowed to spar at all were… well Jaune had an unfair advantage.

Currently he needed Ren and Nora to fight him together to give him any challenge at the current moment. It made all of his Combat Basics classes just… awkward.

Juniper assured him that in another year or two someone that could challenge him at all would appear, but Jaune was already tired of waiting.

Actually his Big Brother had almost seemed surprised that the expected someone wasn't even here yet, later telling Jaune after he'd sacrificed some prana from a Command Seal that he'd have to wait until he was elevenish years old.

It felt so far awayyyyy.

Still, he'd put up with it. There were more important things at stake than his pride.

Though he was totally going to sneak out of Sanctum on his own to go exploring Mistral again.

He always felt bad for giving his big Specialist sisters the weekly slip using his Shadows, and they tried their best to track him down whenever he'd sneak off, but…

Well at this point he had to make his own fun.

Emerald spotted her mark.

A boy in a black wool-knit beanie about her age. A long hakama coat hung off him like a tourist.

He'd been so casually walking about. The sign of an easy mark. Rich too, by the fact he'd casually flick out Lien and not even bother to haggle.

He only did when it was super obvious they were trying to rip him off, so he wasn't a complete moron. Just smart enough that he'd give up once she'd gotten away, cutting his losses.

He was a perfect mark.

"Hey, c'mon now. This is ridiculous."

So how was she not losing him?

Emerald felt her Aura dip again as she became invisible to the boy in the beanie with the bright blue eyes, seeing his eyes drift to follow the illusion of her ducking down an alleyway to the left.

She made sure he'd fallen for it this time.

She casually walked down the street to the right, his messenger bag over her shoulder, it feeling laden heavily with her new ill-gotten gains.

She saw him turn and follow her down the street.

What was going on?

He had fallen for the illusion! That wasn't how this worked!

Her feet picked up pace, feeling her Aura dip drastically this time. She WOULD lose him this time she layered it twice, disorienting his sense of balance by making his perception of the world spiral intensely (feeling satisfaction at hearing beanie boy retch) and showing herself booking it down the street as she turned into an alle-

A hand clenched over her mouth as she ran almost straight into it, pulling her up as her legs flew forwards painfully straining her neck as her feet dangled uselessly.

"Well looke wot we got 'ere."

Emerald looked up, her hand desperately trying to tear away the hand that lifted her off the ground by her face as they retreated back into the alley with her in tow.

The arm that held her aloft bore the mark of the Spider in a large tattoo that wrapped around the whole of the forearm.

No.

"If it ain't the little green trickster of Koishi street?" The yellow crooked smile of Kaede the Butcher stared at her with beady red eyes. "Got a lotta nerve slinking in on Spider turf, little waif."

Her screams were muffled by the deathgrip over her mouth. Emerald wailed and struggled but to no success. The muscles of her jaw hurt from the way he clenched his calloused adult hand.

She'd heard stories of The Butcher of Spider Gang. That he was a cannibal. That he preferred the flesh of children.

She'd never taken any stock in it. Mistral gangs tended to exaggerate stories of their enforcers.

But the way he licked his lips weren't the same as she'd seen pervy men give the corner gals.

He was hungry.

Her Aura was draining as he squeezed harder and harder and Emerald had already strained herself too far trying to lose the boy in the beanie.

She couldn't make a new illusion. She was running on empty.

"But cap'n." She heard a heavily breathing voice call out, "She's exotic. Darker skin from Vacuon roots even with Aura. And such pretty colored hair with gem eyes."

One of The Butcher's men ran a finger past her matted mint green locks. She kicked at him but her Aura fizzled out completely, leaving her even weaker than normal.

"Clean 'er up and 'Lil Miss Malachite could put 'er to work. Worth more than a coupla meals, yeh?"

"Comes with a bonus too." Another laughed as they prodded her messenger bag with a short blackjack club. "Passive income with a down payment, eh?

The Butcher grinned.

"Then let's bundle you up with the rest. Or that's what I'd say if you weren't so slippery. No. I'll just break your neck and AGRGH!"

Emerald gasped in a rush of sweet air, landing and twisting her ankle, feeling the pain of it streak up her leg.

She smelled the sharp but muted scent of bile and the sharp tang of blood.

A golden blade of a black spear the length of a sword of grecian style pierced through The Butcher's forearm, ignoring his Aura that lashed around the wound in dark blue.

"Yeah, no."

It was the boy with the beanie. She had made him vomit, and now he was here.

She was doubly dead.

"Thought maybe if I listened in a bit, you'd lead me to other people you'd kidnap, but apparently you're jumping straight to murder? Nuh uh." He reached out his hand as the weapon jerked out of the wound, spilling crimson blood with a metallic scent into the dusty alleyway, flying into his hand and seemingly disappearing. "Bad move, villain man."

"Do you fucking kno-"

"Don't care." The boy jumped firing forwards like a rocket, catching all three members of the Spiders in a double arms spread lariat as he bowled them over in a single bound.

Emerald crawled slowly back, praying for her Aura to regenerate faster as her ankle throbbed painfully. Sadly, that wasn't how it worked.

Especially once your Aura broke, but Emerald prayed anyways.

Beanie boy whipped out a pair of fully steel spears from out of nowhere, slamming them down like hammers cracking the muddy cobblestone beneath The Butcher's two thugs.

One of their Auras shattered immediately, going limp.

The other pulled a handgun as The Butcher began to attempt to stand, but the beanie boy just tanked a shot from the loud handgun, hakama fluttering from the impact of a 45, as he drove the twin points of his heavy spears (as if they were weightless) into The Butcher's groin region.

A surprisingly high pitched scream echoed as his Aura shattered and one of the speartips poked through the other side of wherever it pierced and out of his buttocks.

"Yikes. Oops. Hey man, I'll just patch you up after." Beanie boy casually grimaced leaving that spear in place as he took the non impaling spear and slammed the butt of it three times into the face of the one that had shot him, creating more cracks in the ground.

The gunman quickly also fell into unconsciousness.

Ah. Emerald shivered. She'd… she'd finally picked the wrong mark. Met the end of her short rope.

She closed her eyes, ready to accept the end.

She'd always known, somewhere inside, that she'd never escape these streets. That she'd die in a back alley in Mistral one day. Even with Aura. Like so many other orphans.

The Butcher screamed in pain, but nobody would be coming to help either of them in this corner of Mistral. Not without money greasing someone's palms.

"Hey. Stop screaming. Y'know what? I'll question you later, go to sleep."

She winced as she heard the sound of metal smacking bone.

She'd be next.

"I always hate having to use a Potion on bad guys. Meh."

She waited silently, refusing to give any reactions.

She would go down defiant until-

Emerald winced, feeling a hand on her thin ankle, the one she'd twisted as she landed, hissing in pain.

Oh god was he going to tor-

"Hmm. Yeah, not broken, but you definitely twisted it something fierce. Bottoms up, ok?"

What did that-

She heard the sound of a soft cork popping. A sound she would sometimes hear while passing a tavern at night for the warmth of air and scent of food it exhumed, washing over her in a warmth she wasn't allowed.

The lip of a glass bottle was shoved somewhat roughly past her lips and teeth.

She choked, but a firm hand pinched around her lips and Emerald found herself involuntarily swallowing.

"Drink it up. I didn't rescue you just to kill you, weirdo."

As if she was the weird-

Her ankle was warmer, but in a gentle way, then cooled rapidly, like ice from sleeping in winter when bigger street kids stole her shelter. But it wasn't painful like that.

Emerald opened her eyes to see the bright blue eyes of the beanie boy, holding a now mostly empty glass bottle in her mouth.

Behind him was the unconscious form of the three members of the Spiders.

"So I'm going to wake one of these bad guys up and interrogate them. After that… well. You look like you need a meal and a hot bath." His eyes narrowed in exasperation, rather than annoyance or anger. "Don't make me hunt you down again, ok?"

Emerald shivered again but nodded, watching the beanie boy turn to the unconscious men, a bucket of water appeared in his hands as he walked forwards with a whistle.

She was dead to rights, but he let her live. That meant that she owed him now, and he owned her until she'd repaid his mercy.

Those were the laws of the streets if you were weak.

Her Aura hadn't made her strong and her Semblance let her sidestep it all, but she was still of the streets. And Emerald was weak.

The streets always caught up eventually. Always took their toll.

Emerald just hoped she'd survive the loss of her pound of flesh. Tonight she might have leapt from the frying pan she'd landed upon into the fire.

The orphan girl Emerald ate like a hungry dog.

Actually it reminded him of Nora the first time he saw her eat in Oniyuri, before they head back to the Arc estate after the events of Kuroyuri.

Emerald didn't even seem to notice him (though he could sense she was still hyperaware of him sitting across from her in their private booth) as her chopsticks clattered as she inhaled another two potstickers.

She speared them like the utensils were a fork instead of using them as normal.

A hand quickly reached out and her lips preemptively leaned out hungrily like some little animal.

It was…

"...kinda cute."

The bowl covered her face as a trail of egg drop soup trickled from the corner of her lip and down her neck.

"Slow down, slow down." Jaune reached out with a cloth napkin, wiping the trail on her neck, feeling Emerald tense at his touch. "I'm not going to steal your food. I'll order more if you need more too."

She reminded him of Nora when they'd first met. All tense and unused to gentleness.

Nora had adapted quickly though, and loved any and all attention she could get.

Emerald still looked at him with garnet eyes glimmering like gems with reluctant acceptance, clearly still wanting to scarf down her meal.

Still she listened to his advice.

Weirdly he felt like she was taking it more as an order. As if she had to obey whatever he said.

He wasn't sure why, but he supposed it didn't matter.

"Seriously, you'll just give yourself a stomach ache if you eat like that." Jaune frowned, unknowingly slipping into his 'big brother mode' the way he would sometimes with Nora and occasionally Ruby. "Chew it all thoroughly, enjoy it."

For some reason that seemed to do the trick as the dirty orphan girl in front of him began to quietly, but still quickly, take spoonfuls of shrimp fried rice, her eyes glimmering with satisfaction as she finally properly tasted her food.

She made a multitude of sounds as she (hamu) closed her lips over the spoon, (mmm) moaned contentedly as she chewed, (gulp) swallowed her meal.

Jaune had the feeling she'd be able to eat more, but decided that something lighter to soothe her stomach would be best.

"Pretty Miss!" He waved down a waitress, waving a blue two thousand Lien bill in the air, "A light broth congee! Anything the house recommends!"

The serving girl smiled prettily, took the bill without another word, accepting the extra cash as a tip and expediting the order to the chef wordlessly.

Jaune didn't like that it was how the service industry in Mistral worked, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

Those poor servers only really survived off whatever tips they could earn.

Luckily he always had money from bad guys he was looking to burn.

"Y-you could have gotten the same service from half of that." Emerald quietly advised, hoping she could be of some help. "She's just going to pocket the rest."

"That's the point." Jaune laughed, "This way she'll have some more money to use and live off of."

Emerald kept staking slow but consistent spoonfuls of her fried rice, leveling a look of confusion at him.

"Why?"

Jaune paused.

Hmm. He wasn't sure how to answer her."

"It's fun for me." He admitted honestly, wanting to earn her trust.

He didn't even know why his brother Juniper suggested he take care of the girl.

Normally he'd advise Jaune to guide any orphans or victims to some authority figure and hope the system would handle it. Because Jaune was still a hero in training and couldn't be responsible for everyone they came across.

But strangely, Juniper told him to at least treat the girl to a meal. As if he knew something Jaune didn't.

That made Jaune curious, naturally. If his Big Brother Juniper took interest in anyone that meant they'd be important to Jaune at some point. He might as well take charge of it all and figure out this mystery on his own.

"...Are you rich?" Emerald gave Jaune a look of suspicion.

He felt that she didn't trust rich people. Or rather, she was scared of them.

She must have seen the seedier sides of Mistral's criminal underbelly from growing up in the streets and knew how the rich held many vices. She likely attributed the wealthy as inherently dangerous.

"Not like that." Jaune assured, "I mean it's true that I've got legit money from some stuff-" he handwaved the numbers he got from Atlas.

Frankly, he'd just stopped looking at it, occasionally writing big checks to the White Fang and just seeing if it'd bounce back. It hadn't yet.

"-but pretty much everything I spend I've taken from bad guys like the ones that were hurting you."

And his Friday nights were kinda making sure Jaune was loaded. Not rich rich, but it was a lot of cash nonetheless.

It'd gotten bad enough that his partners in crime were just having him hold onto their halves of their Loot at this point, apparently having run out of places to hide it.

Neo and Trivia had become a right terror to the criminals of Vale. Despite the two girls only being about fourteenish now, they were genuinely better at one on one combat now than some of the oldest kids he'd seen and fought once or twice at Sanctum.

Honestly aside from the classwork, he was pretty sure she could qualify for Beacon off her combat ability alone, even ahead of her year.

And they were the girls helping him to wipe out the Valean gangs.

It was a little scary how effective they'd become. They'd started to, in good humor, mock his dumb moniker in Vale, disguising themselves as seemingly older versions of the 'Green Hornet' and teasing him ruthlessly every Friday.

Still they were great girls.

"You… rob gangs?" Emerald swallowed hard, her eyes wide and disbelieving. "I've never heard of anyone doing that around here."

"Cuz I haven't in Mistral." Jaune admitted, "And even if I was doing it here, you probably wouldn't hear about it unless someone went bankrupt cuz of it. It's bad for business to admit that you're being hit up and hemorrhaging cash, apparently, even if rumors spread anyways."

Still seeing Jaune interrogate one of the underlings of the guy he'd punctured the inner thigh of, someone called 'The Butcher' and leaving them hanging from the top of the alleyway, gagged and wrapped in paracord, Emerald seemed to believe him enough.

Jaune had sent a picture of the criminals from a polaroid camera alongside a note in an envelope and dropped it off with one of the few cops in Mistral known for their integrity. He wanted to handle it himself, but he was mostly sure that his big sis Specialist Pepper would find him sooner than later and wouldn't be able to handle it without getting in trouble.

"Th-then what are you going to do with me?" Emerald looked a bit scared, making Jaune feel bad.

He scratched the back of his neck as a bowl of abalone congee was brought to their table, their server quickly pouring a bit of fragrant sesame oil and sprinkling a thick pinch of salt, handing a new spoon to Emerald.

The girl ignored the new spoon, going to take an immediate spoonful, causing Jaune to stop her as the serving girl left.

"No, wait. You gotta stir that all in. Plus it's hot, look."

He stirred up the congee, taking careful care to spread the salt and sesame oil in an even manner, as he scooped up a spoonful, blowing on it to cool it off for safe consumption.

"Like this, try it. Aahhh." He held out the spoon, one hand cupped under it to catch any drippage.

Emerald just looked confused.

"Open your mouth so I can feed you already." Jaune rolled his eyes.

Emerald blushed, her darker skin flushing warmly, as she felt like she was being ridiculed and mocked. Still she opened her mouth as she closed her eyes strangely obediently.

Jaune just fed her the spoonful, pulling it out to a soft pop as the girl chewed and enjoyed the soft rice porridge.

"C-can I have more fried dumplings?" Emerald licked her lips. "It would go well with this."

Jaune smiled brightly, glad to see the weird girl feel more comfortable with him, seemingly less scared.

"Sure! Pretty miss!" Jaune flashed another blue Lien bill in the air. "I've got another order!"

Emerald was going to die.

She was so embarrassed that she was going to die.

After the almost heavenly meal, eating enough that she was sure that she'd be able to survive the next two days without food if she'd have to pay it all back in the worst of conditions, Jaune had taken her to a hotel.

She'd known some of the older girls had to spend nights with men to survive the cold winters.

She'd seen how some of them wouldn't ever come back out of those buildings sometimes. To Emerald a hotel was where young girls went out of desperation, sometimes to die.

Emerald was always resourceful enough to find enough shelter to not need to do that, even if there were gross and evil looking men that offered her large sums of Lien. Even if she'd have to sleep in the cold here and there.

She'd never have entered a hotel willingly, but right now Jaune owned her life. She couldn't, wasn't allowed to refuse him.

She'd heard horror stories, and was sure that what was happening to her wasn't what happened to normal street girls. Even so, she was afraid and nervous.

Jaune had ordered her (sure he suggested, but she knew it was a demand) to take a shower and clean up.

Emerald had shamefully done her best to wash up her scrawny body as clean as she could manage. The warm water felt amazing and her clumsy attempts at enjoying the experience was only ruined by her fear of whatever would come.

The soap smelled clean and amazing and almost made her forget what she was going to have to do.

But when she'd come out as clean and dry as she could manage without knowing really what to do in a shower, dressed in a fluffy bathrobe.

Jaune had frowned at her.

Emerald felt her heart drop, thinking she'd just be kicked out into the street without her clothes with nothing but the bathrobe. Or worse.

Then Jaune pat his lap.

She'd sat upon it, flushing with fear and embarrassment. Dread.

Jaune laughed. At her.

She wanted to die.

Now she was laying on his lap, hands over her face, trying to bury herself in her shame, as Jaune was running multiple brushes through her hair, trying to do his best to untangle the knots and mats in her hair like she was some sort of weird pampered princess!

He was treating her like the dolls she'd seen normal girls with family carry around.

She was just a doll. Yes that's how she was going to get through this. She was-

"I don't know what weird thoughts are running through your head at this point." Jaune's amused hum of laughter echoed in her ears, "But you're not a doll, weirdo. I'm just fixing your hair. It's a shame to leave your hair like this. I like this shade of green."

All Emerald could feel was her eternal shame and the strange… warmth of Jaune's Aura. Spicy and fragrant, like fruit and spices from the produce stalls of Mistral. Like the one time she'd mistaken a different fruit for delicious and sweet blueberries. What were they?

Juniper.

His Aura felt like juniper berries on her lips.