Tough Calls

A/N: Winter and Willow have their reunion, but Jaune finds himself faced with a tough decision.

-x-X-x-

Watching from the sidelines, Jaune lifts a brow as he observes Willow and Winter's interaction. For the briefest of moments, the Schnee Matriarch lifts her arms, her fingers twitching as if she wants to reach out and grab Winter to pull her eldest daughter into a hug. But she thinks better of it, dropping her hands back to her sides a moment later and dropping her head as well.

"Winter… I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

There's a beat of silence in which Winter is visibly surprised by her mother's words. Then, she quickly schools her features again and tilts her head to the side.

"Are you, mother?"

That gets Willow's attention. The older woman's head snaps up and she scowls for a moment, before remembering who she's scowling at. Still, her hands curl into fists at her sides as she nods emphatically.

"Yes. Hate me if you must, Winter. Despise me for how shitty of a mother I was to you and your siblings. But please believe me when I tell you that I regret every moment. If I could go back and do things differently I would. If I could…"

Willow trails off and glances over at Dr. Polendina. To be fair, the man isn't paying them any mind. He's very much fussing over Penny's body at this point, checking her over and looking as distraught as a parent should when presented with the corpse of their child. The only difference is, the chairbound man isn't collapsing into grief or despair. Which Jaune assumes means the good doctor CAN fix her. She's not permanently dead.

Regardless, after glancing in Pietro's direction, Willow steps in closer to her eldest, making Winter tense up in response. But far from trying to hug her or anything like that, Willow simply speaks in a quiet tone, her words meant for only her daughter's ears. Jaune hears them all the same due to his enhanced senses.

"if I could go back and kill your father earlier Winter, before he drove you and Weiss away, before he started in on ruining Whitley… I would have."

That catches Winter off-guard, her eyes widening and darting past her mother to where Jaune is standing. He wasn't entirely sure how to tell the younger Schnee that he'd essentially forced her mother to kill his father. So… well, he hadn't. But the cat was out of the bag now, wasn't it? He reluctantly nods to confirm what Willow is saying, not quite sure how Winter is going to react to the news.

"… Come with me, mother. We should talk privately."

Willow lights up at that, brightening considerably. Though she doesn't immediately move to follow Winter. Instead, she glances in Jaune's direction, as if asking permission. He gives both Schnee women a smile and a wave of his hand.

"Go ahead, Willow. You should probably know that I've all but kidnapped you and Pietro at this point. You're not in Atlas anymore. You're in the Land of Darkness. You'll be leading the SDC remotely for the time being, and we won't be returning to Atlas unless it proves to be absolutely necessary."

At this news… Willow doesn't look too upset. In fact, after absorbing what Jaune just said, she actually smiles as she glances over at Winter.

"That's alright. I'm right where I need to be."

Winter can't help but smile in response, though only for a moment before she quickly wipes it from her face and returns to a stern look. But Jaune still sees it. And he sees that Winter is happy, even if she's trying to hide it as she leads Willow out of the laboratory and down the hall.

Once the mother and daughter are gone, Jaune turns to the other man in the room.

"Dr. Polendina…"

Not even looking up from his work, Pietro waves a hand dismissively in his direction.

"Yes, yes, I heard. Kidnapped. Land of Darkness. As Mrs. Schnee put it, I'm right where I need to be. That is…"

Here, the chairbound doctor looks up from his daughter's inert body and narrows his eyes at Jaune.

"You ARE intending to let me fix her, right?"

Jaune smiles at that. Honestly, he was just happy that Pietro hadn't turned out to be a total monster. The man could have easily been a bastard. He could have seen Penny as nothing more than a weapon like the Atlesian Military and General Ironwood clearly had. If Pietro Polendina had turned out to be nothing like the public perception of the man, Jaune wasn't sure what he would have done. Hmm… he probably still would have brought the doctor here. It just wouldn't have been nearly as amicable.

But no. Pietro was a grieving father first and a scientist second. And that made all the difference. He was a man who would use his brilliant intellect to HELP Penny, not to use and abuse her. He knew now that he'd put his trust in the wrong sort of people and Jaune believed him when Pietro said that he would remake Penny in such a way that she would never be beholden to Ironwood or the Atlesian Military ever again.

That said… it would do the doctor some good to be reminded, now wouldn't it?

"Of course I am, Doctor. So long as YOU are intending to free her of any and all restrictions that you or anyone else has put on her mind."

Pietro blinks… and then nods, his expression hardening at the reminder. Not because he's annoyed at Jaune or anything like that, but because he's still angry with himself.

"You can count on it, young man. I promise you, I won't let anyone abuse Penny ever again."

Young man. It's funny, because Willow doesn't know yet either… but it feels strange to not tell Pietro, especially now that he's here in their Palace.

"There's something else you should know, Doctor."

Pietro looks at him, half-intrigued but also half-annoyed at the constant interruptions. Still, his eyes widen when a number of Seers drop down from where they were hidden in the ceiling. The floating jellyfish-like Grimm are quite literally living security cameras, designed by Salem for both surveillance and message transmissions.

As they drop down to surround Jaune, he lifts a hand and runs it along his face… pulling away the magic that Salem has cast on him with his aura-clad fingers. He rips the spell to shreds, something he couldn't have done before his Aura was awakened by Pyrrha, Boudicca, and Summer. And after all is said and done… his true appearance is revealed to Pietro Polendina.

"You are not just in the Land of Darkness, Doctor. You are at its heart, in the Palace of the Grimm King and Queen."

It's a good thing Pietro is already sitting down, because he looks a little faint as he stares at Jaune's Grimmified features in disbelief for a moment. But the man is a scientist first and foremost, and his own eyes make it impossible to deny what's right in front of him. Slowly, he recovers himself, a quick glance at Penny helping him to gird him all the more strongly as he swallows thickly and squares his shoulders.

"And who do I really have the pleasure of speaking to then, exactly?"

Smiling slightly, Jaune gestures and the Seers all float back up into the ceiling.

"You have the pleasure of speaking to the King of the Grimm… and the reason that the Grimm have pulled away and left humanity in peace these past few years. Though… that did not have quite the effect I was hoping for when I made that decision."

Jaune grimaces a little as he winds up reminding himself of how the Kingdoms all went to war over the absence of the Grimm. He wasn't any quicker to figuring out how the fuck he was going to fix that to be honest. But he had the SDC under his thumb now. He had Pietro Polendina as well. So… that was a start, he supposed.

"You didn't anticipate that we would fall upon each other with such viciousness the moment we no longer had an enemy to fight, did you?"

Pietro's amused tone causes Jaune to shoot him a dry look.

"No. I did not."

Chuckling and shaking his head, Pietro sighs.

"Whyever not? Even when the Grimm were nipping at our heels and coming at us from all sides, the history of humanity is littered with war. The Grimm certainly made for a good common enemy, but even when they were a very real threat, we still fought each other. You do not have to confirm it… but I suspect you actually are quite young, despite your stated title."

Jaune stays quiet, but that's confirmation enough for Pietro to nod and let out another sigh, this one more drawn out and weary.

"This is merely my professional opinion, King of the Grimm… but even if you hadn't pulled the Grimm back, I suspect we'd have been at war by now. There will always be the power hungry and ambitious. There will always be those who want to take and take and take, regardless of whether they have enough or not. You didn't cause this war. You merely gave them all the excuse they were looking for."

He doesn't know how to respond to that, truthfully. But… he appreciates the sentiment all the same. He gives Pietro an inclination of his head to show as much, causing the doctor to smile.

"I assume this display was to let me know I'm being watched at all times. Consider the message received. You don't have anything to worry about from me, Grimm King. I won't do a thing that might jeopardize my Penny's recovery. I won't ever risk her life, not ever again. So as long as you help me bring her back and keep her safe… I will be your model prisoner."

Jaune hesitates for a moment before just nodding one final time.

"Very well then. I'll leave you to it."

With that, he turns and leaves the laboratory, knowing full well that Pietro isn't going to get up to anything nefarious with over fifty Seers all watching him like hawks. At the same time though, Jaune doesn't quite know where to go next… until a certain former bandit leader catches up with him, making him blink in surprise. He'd momentarily forgotten Raven Branwen was even in that laboratory with them that whole time.

"So… you had the Schnee woman kill her husband, huh?"

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Jaune turns to Raven, amused by her attempt at breaking the ice. In response, the red-eyed woman freezes up, licking her lips to wet them as she squirms under his gaze.

"It's true that Jacques Schnee died at Willow Schnee's hand, yet. He deserved that much and more, truth be told."

"I'm sure you're right."

That sounds like the Raven he knows. However, what catches Jaune off guard is what she does next. Namely, dropping to her knees right there in the middle of the hallway and reaching for his pants. He grabs her by the wrists and narrows his eyes at her.

"What are you doing?"

Freezing for a moment under his gaze, the former bandit flushes.

"… You still haven't knocked me up yet. Back in my camp, back with the tribe… you said that you'd knock me up. And then I would be useful to you. Then I would be… safe. But I'm not pregnant yet. So we have to keep trying, right?"

Jaune stares down at the Spring Maiden for a long moment at that. Then, he lets go of her wrists. Raven wastes no time in unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants, pulling out his cock and taking it into her mouth. She begins to suck him off right there on the spot, her head bobbing up and down on his dick as Jaune just looks at her.

… She wasn't in any danger. Sure, she was a Maiden, but if Salem was going to kill her by this point, she would have.

"Raven… I'm not going to kill you out of hand, you know that right? If I haven't killed you by now, you'd have to really fuck up at this point to wind up on the chopping block."

Raven freezes and blinks up at him for a moment… before continuing to suck his cock with the same level of enthusiasm as before. Jaune's eyes narrow at that response.

"You don't have to do any of this, Raven. I have more than enough women who WANT to get down on their knees and suck me off. You don't have to make yourself useful this way."

But she doesn't stop. She keeps going. Finally, Jaune places a hand atop her head, sliding his fingers through her rich, lush black locks. Only then does Raven freeze in place as he splays his digits across her scalp and palms her skull, slowly dragging her backwards off of his cock. Red eyes meet Jaune's gaze as he tilts her head back and just looks down at her for a second.

"… You want it, don't you Raven? You want another child. Not to keep you safe, but just… because? Why? Where is this coming from?"

Raven tenses and her eyes widen, letting Jaune know he's hit the nail right on the head. Panting lightly, her gaze darting between his cock and his gaze, Raven is silent for a moment before finally finding the words.

"I'm a fucking failure of a mother. That's why."

Jaune tilts his head to the side at that, prompting Raven to explain.

"Yang is supposed to be my kid. But she calls Summer 'mom', not me. And Vernal… Vernal doesn't even respect me anymore, let alone consider me her mother. And yeah, I know she's not my flesh and blood daughter like Yang. That's not the point."

Raven's voice is quiet as she speaks, but Jaune still hears every word loud and clear. He also hears the heartbreak in Raven's tone.

"I've always been a terrible mother… but I could hide behind being a pretty good fighter and a half decent leader of the Tribe before. Now I don't even have that. I'm just some worthless sack of shit. An utter waste of space. So I figured… maybe if I did have your kid, I'd get another chance at it. You'd let me raise the brat, right? Or at least let me help? I promise I'd try better this time…"

Well now. That was certainly… heavier than he was expecting. But also so undeniably Raven it hurt. The woman was spectacular at running from her problems, wasn't she?

The question was, did Jaune want to enable her by giving her what she wanted? Or should he make some sort of effort to try and help her reconcile with Yang or Vernal? He didn't want the younger women to feel forced to make nice with Raven just because he'd stepped in however… and he was well aware of the sort of influence he had over the women in this palace.

… Ugh, what a shit show.