SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Talks With Mothers (Rewrite)

“It’s weird,” Blake said. “To think that this could be over soon.”
Sunset was sat on her bed, infusing fire dust into Soteria. If they were going to walk into a trap, she didn’t want to do it unprepared or without any of her wide array of weapons and defences. That was why she’d re-infused her jacket and bracers with dust – fire, again, for the jacket, and lighting for the bracers – as well. It wouldn’t exactly be great if her phoenix cape sputtered and died halfway through a fight because she’d been too lazy to infuse more dust.
Blake’s remark made her look up. “'Over'?” Sunset asked, a little confused about what might be over soon. Indeed, given what Sunset and Pyrrha had found out and then relayed back to the others, it was beginning to look as though some things might never be over.
Not that we ever had any right to suspect they would be. As Pyrrha said, it was nought but vanity to believe otherwise.
Thank Celestia I am not so vain as once I was, or this knowledge might have broken me. She was fortunate to have learnt to mine her courage from a different lode since then.
“The threat from the White Fang to Vale,” Blake explained. “It might not, but… if this base in Mountain Glenn is as big as Torchwick says it is, if so much of their strength and equipment is there… this could cripple the Vale chapter for years.” She frowned, as if she wasn’t exactly sure how she’d feel about that if it came to pass. “If that happens, Atlas wouldn’t need my help any more. That’s what would end. This.” She smiled sadly. “I’ll miss this when it’s gone.”
“We’ll miss going on missions with you too, Blake,” Ruby said. “But you’ll only be across the hall, and just because we’re not working together any more doesn’t mean that we won’t see each other, right? Just because we’ve beaten the White Fang doesn’t mean that we can’t still be friends.”
Blake’s smile broadened just a little, and the frost that had covered it like a flower in winter melted somewhat. “No, you’re right, of course.”
“Unless you go to Atlas,” Sunset said softly, “with the Rosepetals.”
Blake was silent for a moment. “Yes,” she admitted, with a sigh in her voice. “Unless I go to Atlas.” She paused. “If that happens, I really will miss you. All of you.”
“It will be entirely mutual, I assure you,” Pyrrha told her. “You still haven’t come to a firm decision either way?”
“No,” Blake confessed. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
“Hmm,” Ruby murmured.
“I haven’t!” Blake insisted, her voice rising. “I… there is a lot to admire about the Atlesian students, their courage, their commitment-”
“And what are we, cowards?” Sunset demanded.
“Sunset,” Jaune said reproachfully, “you know that’s not what Blake meant.”
“Didn’t you?” Sunset asked.
“No! I just meant… there’s so much good in them,” Blake said. “And that appeals to me. The good that I could do in Atlas appeals to me. But then… then I remember…” One hand rose, brushing gently against the side of her face.
“Remember what?” Ruby asked.
Blake smiled fondly. “Nothing,” she said; neither she nor Sunset had told Ruby about the brand on Adam’s face; they hadn’t told any of the human members of Team SAPR. It was not their concern, nothing for them to worry about. For Sunset’s part, she suspected that what Blake would have said if Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune hadn’t been there was that it bothered her that after all this time, Rainbow’s promise that her powerful friends would look into it had yielded no visible results. Either Councillor Cadenza wasn’t really interested, or even the power of a Councillor was as nothing compared to the wealth and influence of the SDC.
Neither option was particularly appealing.
“I suppose,” Blake went on, “I sometimes wonder if I’m seeing the very best of Atlas here at Beacon, and the real thing will turn out to be much dirtier once I get there.” Once more she paused. “But that… that’s all for the future. For now… I just can’t believe that this whole story might be over soon.”
“If it is, another one will start soon enough,” Ruby said.
Blake chuckled. “Probably,” she conceded. “Still, this is one tale I’m sure we’ll all be glad to put behind us.”
Sunset got to her feet. “Whether we knock the White Fang out – in Vale at least – or not in the next few days or however long this mission takes, whether you want to go to Atlas or not… you’ll always be an honorary member of Team Sapphire.” She grinned. “You put your name on the wall; there’s no getting away from us now.” She paused for a moment. “Except for the Vytal Festival, of course; then we’re going to have to kick your ass along with the rest of Team Iron.”
“I think Yang might have something to say about that,” Blake said.
“Yang can say whatever she likes; I’ve got the better team, and I know it,” Sunset said. “And soon, the whole of Remnant is going to know it too.”
“Are you really thinking about the Vytal festival at a time like this?” Jaune asked.
“Hey, we’ll have saved Vale from the White Fang by then,” Sunset said. “We might as well complete the trick by defending its honour against the other kingdoms. And really, who is there to stand in our way?”
“I wouldn’t underestimate Yang,” Pyrrha said, softly and calmly. “Or Weiss either, for that matter. Not to mention Arslan.” She looked up from the fine-tuning she was doing to Miló. “I wonder who Rosepetal will send into the singles round.”
“Penny,” Sunset said. “It has to be.”
“Rainbow Dash wouldn’t say no to a chance at glory on the world stage,” Blake pointed out.
“Maybe, but you don’t build someone like Penny and then not show her off where the world is watching,” Sunset replied. “But I guess Jaune might have kind of a point: we can speculate on the tournament all we like after we get back from the mission. I’ve got something I want to ask you first: have you ever used dust?”
Blake blinked in surprise. “I’ve used it, sometimes, when I could steal some. I don’t do that any more.”
Sunset reached into her pocket and pulled out the money card she’d gotten from Lady Nikos. “Lady Nikos gave me this; she tops it up every month. So long as you only buy dust and ammo with it, and don’t splash out on dirty books or something, then she’ll never know it wasn’t me making the purchases.”
“I do not read dirty books,” Blake declared proudly. “I read romances… sometimes erotic romances.” She hesitated. “Why are you giving this to me?”
“I was given this so that I could be at my best as Pyrrha’s teammate,” Sunset said. “Her mother didn’t want Pyrrha to suffer because her team leader was hampered by poverty. I’m lending it to you so that you can be at your best as all our teammate on this mission. You say you’ve used dust before, so it can’t hurt.”
Blake lightly plucked the money card out of Sunset’s hand. “You know I don’t usually take charity.”
“Neither do I,” Sunset said.
Blake nodded. “Thanks.”
“You can pay me back by setting something on fire when we get to Mountain Glenn.”
Blake snorted. “I should probably go now, or I might as well, at least. There’s no point leaving it until the afternoon.” With one hand, she reached for the door handle.
“Uh, I need to go too,” Ruby said, shooting to her feet. “Um, not because I’m going shopping or anything; I just… I need to talk to Yang about something, so, uh, yeah. I’ll be back really soon. Probably.”
Sunset looked at her. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re going to talk to Yang?”
“Yeah!”
“Then why are you acting so nervous?” Sunset asked. “What are you going to talk to her about?”
“Oh, you know,” Ruby murmured, looking down at her hands. “Stuff. Sister stuff. Salem-”
“What?” Jaune exclaimed.
“Ruby,” Pyrrha said, more gently but sounding no less concerned. “You want to tell her… everything?”
Sunset said nothing, but folded her arms as she regarded Ruby keenly.
Ruby hesitated, silent for a moment or two. When she spoke, her voice was small and high and childlike, younger even than she normally sounded. “She’s my sister,” Ruby said. “I’ve never kept any secrets from her before, none. When I was little, after my mom died, Yang used to read to me before I went to bed. She’d make dinner when Dad was… she took care of me. No matter what happened, we always had one another. I can’t know all of this stuff and not tell her; I won’t. She’s my sister, and if I know, then she knows. Besides, if our mom was involved in this, then she deserves to know, and her mom too… you know what I mean.”
Sunset nodded. “Don’t worry, we understand. Off you go then, and we’ll see you when you get back.”
“Sunset,” Pyrrha said. “Ruby… are you sure that this is a good idea? Professor Ozpin-”
“Can kick us out of the club if he doesn’t like it,” Sunset said. “Which he didn’t do when we told Ruby in the first place, so I think it’s unlikely that he’ll bestir himself now, even if he finds out.”
“But we were asked to be discreet about all this,” Pyrrha murmured.
“Yang won’t tell anyone else,” Ruby promised. “I’ll make sure that we’re alone, and I’ll ask her not to tell Ren or Nora.”
Pyrrha didn’t look entirely convinced or mollified by that, but she said nothing further about it.
“Well… I’ll be back soon,” Ruby said. “Probably.”
“Me too,” Blake said. “Although not as quickly as Ruby… probably.” She smiled a little, as she opened the door and held it open for Ruby. They both left the room, and the door closed behind them both.
Pyrrha glanced at Sunset. “Do you believe that this is a good idea?”
“Do you believe it’s such a bad idea that we should have done something to prevent it?” Sunset replied.
“We could have persuaded her not to go through with it,” Pyrrha murmured.
“And made her miserable, most likely,” Sunset said. “Why?”
“Because Professor Ozpin asked us to keep this to ourselves,” Pyrrha pointed out.
“My loyalty is to this team, not to Professor Ozpin,” Sunset said. “If this is what Ruby wants, then I see no reason to object.”
“Would you feel the same way if she wanted to tell Yang about magic?” Pyrrha asked. “Another secret she’s keeping from her sister.”
Sunset opened her mouth, but no words came out. Not at first, anyway. It took her a moment to find any. “That,” she replied magisterially, “is completely different. That particular secret harms no one, and is no business of Yang Xiao-Long.”
“Professor Ozpin might say the same.”
“Professor Ozpin’s knowledge is the business of all huntsmen and huntresses,” Sunset said. “And after telling nine people, what’s one more?”
Jaune sheathed his sword. “I… I need to step out for a minute too. I think.”
“You think?” Sunset asked.
Jaune didn’t get up off his bed. He had his elbows resting on his knees, and he was looking down at his hands. “Yeah. I’m still… not quite sure yet.”
Pyrrha put down Miló and Akoúo̱ and got up, walking towards Jaune. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” Jaune said, without a completely convincing level of conviction.
“Are you sure?” Sunset said. “Because…” She hesitated to say this, because they could use his semblance out there in the field, but if his heart and head weren’t in it, then he might end up being more hindrance than help. “If you don’t want to-”
“It’s not about that,” Jaune said quickly. “I’m not going to walk away from all of you, especially not now, with so much at stake. This is something else.”
“Like?” Sunset asked.
“You don’t have to tell us,” Pyrrha reminded Jaune and Sunset both, as she sat down on the bed beside him.
Jaune shook his head. “You’ll probably think this is stupid, but… I was thinking… I’ve been thinking for a little while… whether or not I should call my family.”
He waited, as if he were expecting some kind of reaction other than the silence which greeted that pronouncement. Sunset wondered if he was expecting them to laugh at him and mock the triviality of what he said.
Well, Pyrrha wasn’t the kind to laugh at her boyfriend, and Sunset… Sunset understood that this wasn’t a trivial thing, not in the least.
“When was the last time you spoke to them?” Sunset asked as she began to walk slowly towards him, stopping at Pyrrha’s bed, the next one away from Jaune’s.
“On the night before I left for Beacon,” Jaune said.
That didn’t sound too good. “You had a fight?”
“No, I snuck out in the middle of the night without telling anybody where I was going or what I was gonna do,” Jaune said. “I stole Crocea Mors, and I left, and… I didn’t look back. Until recently.”
Pyrrha put a hand on Jaune’s shoulder. “Were they… cruel to you?”
“What? No,” Jaune said quickly.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Pyrrha said. “I didn’t mean to… I just thought… you must have had a reason for running away.”
“I did,” Jaune replied. “I wanted to come here, and my parents never would have let me go if I’d told them about it. When I did try to tell them about it, they… they didn’t believe in me. Mom thought I’d get myself killed; my sisters too. Dad told me there was no point, I’d be back home in a week anyway. Which is why I had to leave: this has been my dream, and you guys… you’re like my family now too. But I was thinking that maybe… maybe-”
“Maybe you should try and mend fences with them, now that you’re here,” Sunset said. “Because you still love them, in spite of everything.”
Jaune looked up and looked at Sunset over his shoulder. “Yeah. Exactly.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Sunset asked.
Jaune looked at her, and then looked down once more. “I’m not sure if they’d care. I left them a note telling everybody where I’d gone. I was a little worried that they’d come to try and take me back home… but I was also worried that they wouldn’t. What if I call, and it turns out… it turns out that they never cared at all?”
“I’m sure that isn’t true,” Sunset said. She walked around until she was standing in front of Jaune so that he wouldn’t have to look over his shoulder at her any more. “It might seem that way, and I get why, believe me.” She squatted down in front of him and reached for his hands. “I get that you’re scared. You’re afraid to find out what they think about what you did, what they think about you now. You’re afraid to find out that your worst fears are true. But if you don’t take this step and reach out to them, then those fears aren’t going to go away. They’ll just continue to fester and grow and breed in the darkness, and they’ll drive you crazy. But if you reach out, then I’m sure you’ll find that they love you just as much as they always did, because there’s no way that they could stop loving you, even if they wanted to… any more than you could stop loving them.”
Jaune frowned. “Then why couldn’t they believe in me?”
“Love has nothing to do with belief,” Pyrrha said. “You can believe in someone, at least in part, without loving them… and so, why shouldn’t the reverse be true as well: love… without faith?”
“Plus, let’s be honest, you were pretty useless when you first got here,” Sunset said, with a smile to show that she didn’t mean it to be cruel or harsh.
Jaune chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I guess I wouldn’t have made it here without help. A lot of help.” He looked at Sunset, and then at Pyrrha. “Do you really think that I should do this?”
Sunset nodded. “You’ll be happier once you do.”
“If it’s what you want,” Pyrrha said, sounding a more cautious note. “Then you should do it.” She smiled. “Just remember: we won’t let them take you away from here for so long as you don’t want to leave.”
Jaune laughed again. “Right.” He stood up. “Now, I just need to find somewhere private.”
“We can go, if you’d like the room,” Pyrrha said.
“No, you’re not done yet, and we have a mission to prep for,” Jaune said. “I’ll find somewhere.” He grabbed his scroll from where it was resting on his pillow and shoved it into the pockets of his jeans before he walked towards the door. “Thanks a lot,” he said, as he opened said door. “I just needed that extra push.”
Then he left too, and Sunset and Pyrrha were alone together.
“I hope it works out for him,” Pyrrha said, her voice subdued.
Sunset frowned as she stood up. “Why wouldn’t it?”
Pyrrha glanced at Sunset out of the corner of her eyes. “You assume that it will?”
“It did for me,” Sunset said. “Although Princess Celestia isn’t my mother, I… I loved her as though she was.” She began to walk away, back to her bed and her waiting sword. “And so did she, as it turns out, despite all my fears and all the distance that had in every sense grown between us. She loved me, in spite of everything. And I only needed to reach out to her to see that.”
Pyrrha nodded. A sigh escaped her mouth. “Not everyone is so fortunate in their parents.”
“Your mother loves you,” she said softly.
“Will she remember it, before the end?” Pyrrha asked in response.
“She has not forgotten,” Sunset insisted. “I do not believe she has forgotten.”
“Then why can she not admit that she is wrong?” Pyrrha demanded. “That is all I ask! I do not even demand that she should like Jaune, only that she say ‘I am sorry, and I accept your choice.’ Is that so much to ask?”
Sunset was silent for a moment. “No,” she admitted.
“No,” Pyrrha repeated. “And yet…”
“And yet?”
“And yet, I feel as though…” Pyrrha sighed. “I feel as though I have you on my shoulder urging me to reach out to her.”
“Sorry,” Sunset winced.
“I meant it metaphorically, not in reference to the number of times you have actually urged me to reach out to her,” Pyrrha explained.
“Nevertheless, you have my apology if I have been overbearing.”
“You have, where this subject has been concerned,” Pyrrha informed her. “But I understand why. You care for my mother.”
“I find her a noble lady.”
“But she is not your Princess Celestia,” Pyrrha told her. “Even if she did always love me as I am, my mother’s back would never bend enough to let her tell me so. I fear she is beyond contrition.” She sighed once more. “And yet. And yet, and yet, and yet…”
Sunset waited, silent, expectant, saying nothing that would give Pyrrha a chance to avoid finishing her thought.
“And yet,” Pyrrha repeated. “As you reminded me, through deeds and words, we are all but mortal. And this battle in Mountain Glenn… it will be dangerous, without a doubt.”
Sunset closed her eyes. This was what she had wanted, but… but now that it had come, it felt wrong, somehow. Yes, she had said that Pyrrha should not die estranged from her mother, but now… now that Lady Nikos was on the brink of getting what she wanted, it felt… wrong.
Pyrrha was not giving in because she had accepted Sunset’s arguments, but because she was afraid. She had been rattled by everything that they had learned, and so, the dangers of this mission loomed larger overhead than they might have done.
And it pained her.
“Stop,” she begged, sitting down next to Pyrrha and putting one arm around her, drawing the champion of Mistral close. “Stop,” she repeated.
Pyrrha looked at her. “Is this not what you wanted?”
“Not like this,” Sunset replied. “And if I did… I never wanted you to surrender. I never wanted to see you surrender.”
Pyrrha was silent for a moment. “No?” she asked.
Sunset shook her head. “You said in the garage that we had reached the end of vanity-”
“Have we not?” Pyrrha asked. “Knowing what we now know?”
“Knowing what we know now, without our pride, we have not ourselves,” Sunset declared. “Without ourselves, we have nothing. Yes, the world is more dangerous now than it seemed before. We face not grimm but the timeless lady who commands them all, who gathers to her adversaries like Cinder. But how are we to avoid despair if not by pride? Who but the proud would plant themselves between this evil and all that they desire? Who but the proud and vain would not be cowed by her? Take heart, I beg of you, for if we are to prevail, it is by stepping forth and saying ‘I am Pyrrha Nikos, Princess Without a Crown, and my name is equal to withstand your villainy!’”
Pyrrha managed to raise a chuckle at that, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m not sure I could ever imagine myself saying that.”
“Speak it with your heart, at least, I implore you,” Sunset said softly. “Without ourselves… our selves are all we have.”
“Our selves,” Pyrrha murmured. “And one another.”
Sunset was silent for a moment. She nodded, “Yes,” she acknowledged, “and one another.”
Pyrrha smiled at her, briefly. “Will you stay here, with me, when I call her?” she asked.
“Pyrrha-”
“I will not surrender,” Pyrrha promised. “But, since we might die, for all our best effort and our skill and valour, I would give her a chance to apologise so that we may make things right between us.”
Sunset stared at her for a moment, before a slow smile spread across her face. “And that,” she declared, “that is how we’re going to beat Salem.”
“I would not go that far,” Pyrrha murmured. “Will you stay?”
Sunset thought about it for a moment before deciding that, whatever Lady Nikos might think, she still could not decently refuse. “Yes,” she said. “I will.”
“Thank you,” Pyrrha said softly as she got out her scroll and called Lady Nikos.
The two of them waited, sat side by side upon the bed. Sunset took her arm away from Pyrrha’s shoulder, in case Lady Nikos thought that this had been Sunset’s idea or something.
After a few moments, which seemed to stretch on more than they had any right to as the scroll buzzed in Pyrrha’s hands, the face of Lady Nikos appeared on the screen. It was hard to tell at this angle, but Sunset reckoned that she saw hope in Lady Nikos’s face, dancing in her green eyes as she looked up at them.
“Pyrrha,” she said. “And Miss Shimmer too. This is… a surprise.”
“Good afternoon, Mother,” Pyrrha said.
“Good morning, Pyrrha,” Lady Nikos replied in an even tone. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call? I can see from Miss Shimmer’s presence that she has not suffered another brush with death.”
Sunset ventured a smile. “Indeed, my lady, I am in good health.”
“I am glad to hear it, Miss Shimmer, but my curiosity is whetted nonetheless.”
“Mother,” Pyrrha said. “I… I have decided…” She took a deep breath. “I wanted to give you a chance to apologise.” The words emerged from her mouth quickly, as though trying to escape before it was too late.
“'Apologise'?” Lady Nikos repeated incredulously, her eyebrows rising.
“Yes,” Pyrrha said quietly.
“You denounce me to my face, storm out of my house, do not speak to me save from grim necessity, and yet you would have me apologise?” Lady Nikos demanded.
“I would have you apologise for lying to the man I love in pursuit of matching me with a man whom I do not,” Pyrrha declared.
“I am open to acceptance of Mister Arc,” Lady Nikos replied. “Has Miss Shimmer not told you-”
“I am aware that you have asked Sunset to find some proof that Jaune is a gentleman born,” Pyrrha said. “Sunset also believes that you may be content with a pretty lie upon that account. If that will help you save face with Councillor Ward and Lady Ming and the Lord Steward, then that is your business, Mother, and I will not hinder it, but that is not what I want. I do not need your begrudging acceptance of Jaune, I know his worth, and though I am saddened that you cannot see him as I do, I do not require it. What I want is your admission that you behaved intolerably, and your regret.”
Lady Nikos was silent for a moment. “What brings on this sudden demand?”
Pyrrha did not mention the mission. Sunset respected that Pyrrha wouldn’t try and guilt her mother into action the way that, well, the way that Sunset had tried to guilt Pyrrha. Instead, she said, “A friend has recently reminded me that we are nothing without a touch of pride.”
“I did not advise this course, my lady,” Sunset said quickly. “Counsel meant for different circumstances has been… applied as I did not foresee.”
“I would not disdain you if you had counselled it, Miss Shimmer,” Lady Nikos said. “In fact, I might even thank you.”
Sunset blinked. “My lady?”
“I asked you to bring about a reconciliation between Pyrrha and myself,” Lady Nikos declared. “And now, here we are, upon the cusp of reconciliation. Miss Shimmer, if you find the time, I would appreciate your continued researches into Mister Arc’s background. As Pyrrha points out, it will save me face amongst what remains of my social circle.”
“Um,” Sunset hesitated. She bowed her head. “I will endeavour to oblige, my lady.”
Lady Nikos nodded, before she returned her full attention towards her daughter. For a moment, she said nothing. Only at length did words emerge. “Pyrrha,” she said, “I am glad to see that you are finally developing the self-respect proper to your rank and birth and skill at arms,” she began. “I am sorry that it is in the cause of your relations with Mister Arc-”
“Mother-” Pyrrha began.
“But I take comfort from the hope that the seed planted there will flower to more aspects of your life besides.” Lady Nikos paused. “I have grown old before my time,” she confessed. “And in my old age, I have forgotten what it is to be young. I am sorry, Pyrrha. I did not treat your guest with the courtesy he was entitled to expect in my house, and I did ill in seeking to dispose of you according to my own designs without reference to your will.”
Pyrrha stared down at her mother’s face in silence a moment, before she said, “Thank you, Mother. I accept your apology.”
“Does this mean that the silence is broken between us?”
“I will answer if you call,” Pyrrha replied. “Although we will be out of contact for the next few days, perhaps until the semester ends.”
“I see,” Lady Nikos murmured, and Sunset was almost certain that she understood – or guessed – what Pyrrha was not saying. “Then I wish you good fortune on your mission,” she said, glancing at Sunset. “Good luck to both of you.”

Jaune had debated calling Saphron first, because of all his sisters, she had often seemed to be the one who ‘got him’ the most, although that might just be the fact that she was too old to actively tease him in the way that some of his sisters closer to his own age had, or maybe it was the fact that she’d moved out of the house and hadn’t bugged him the way that some of the others had for longer, or maybe she really did get him more than most of his family… but it didn’t really matter because Saphron would be at work about now, and anyway, she’d probably just tell him to call Mom anyway.
He was in Doctor Oobleck’s history classroom, empty because it wasn’t time for class, and he was sat on one of the benches with his feet braced against the desk, his scroll in his hands, waiting to be used.
Video, or voice only?
He decided to go for voice only this time. He wasn’t sure – Sunset’s assurances aside – that he wanted to see her face.
The scroll rang a few times – eleven times; yes, he was counting – before his mother answered in her familiar, musical voice. “Hello?”
Jaune couldn’t speak. His words were stuck in his throat. What was he supposed to say? Should he have thought of something to say before he called? Should he have written it down somewhere? He hadn’t said anything to his mom for months, not since he walked away in the middle of the night, leaving a note behind, so what was he supposed to say now?
What was he supposed to say?
“Hello?” Mom asked again. “Is anyone there?”
“Hey, Mom,” Jaune said, or rather, those were the words that he managed to get out, inadequate as they were.
There was silence on the other end of the line. “Jaune?”
“Yeah,” Jaune said slowly, cautiously. “Yeah, Mom, it’s me.”
“Oh my…” Mom murmured. “Thank goodness, I’ve been so… where are you?”
“I’m at Beacon Academy,” Jaune said, trying to sound upbeat. “Right where I told you I was going.”
“You mean you made it? And you’re still there?”
And that right there is exactly why I left. Jaune couldn’t help but feel a little chagrined, and a little bit vindicated at the same time. “Yes, Mom, I’m still there. I’m actually doing pretty great.”
“But how?” Mom asked. “I’m sorry, that… you must think I’m terrible.”
“No, Mom,” Jaune said, and it was mostly true. “I don’t think that.”
“Then why did you leave?” Mom demanded, her voice rising. “And why did you leave like that? A note? In the middle of the night? Sky had every deputy out searching the woods; I kept waiting for her to come home and tell me they’d found your body! Gold told me that you’d come back on your own after a couple of days-”
“Really? Dad actually said that?” Jaune squawked indignantly. He’d know that his father didn’t think he was up to much but come on! “Did you think that I was just acting out or something?!”
His mother’s silence on the other end of the line said everything that needed to be said on the matter. They had thought it was all just a stupid teenage temper tantrum, theft and note and all. They had thought that he’d come back after a short while with his tail between his legs, having learned his lesson.
And the worst part was that he might actually have done it. There had been a time when he had been so close to giving up. If it hadn’t been for everyone’s help… he’d be back home now, almost certainly.
“I asked Gold to go and look for you,” Mom said apologetically. “But you know your father; he said-”
“I can guess,” Jaune said quickly. “It’s okay, Mom. You don’t have to explain, and you don’t have to apologise. I… I should be the one apologising for just walking out like that. I’m sorry if you were worried about me.”
“I wish I understood why you did it.”
“Because this is my dream,” Jaune said. “This is what I want to be, what I always wanted to be. I know that you thought I didn’t understand what it meant to be a huntsman, and… and you were right. I didn’t. I thought it would be easy and cool, and it isn’t; it’s hard work and… and it’s difficult decisions, knowing things and doing things that you might not always want to know or do.” Sitting here, talking to his mom – to his mom – again, the temptation was so great to just let it all flow out of him. To just spill the whole thing: everything that he knew, everything that had happened to him, everything that Sunset and Pyrrha had told him. Just let it out and let his mother take it all away from him.
But he didn’t, because he was a huntsman in training, and a part of being a huntsman was taking on the burdens so that others didn’t have to. Like Ruby’s mom had done. Like they were going to do.
Like he would do.
“It’s hard sometimes,” he said. “But it’s what I want to be. More than ever now.”
“But… how?” Mom asked. “When you left, you didn’t have any training, you didn’t know how to use that sword… I don’t mean to sound like I don’t have any faith in you; it’s just that I don’t understand how you’ve made it this far.”
Jaune took advantage of the fact that the call was voice-only to open up his pictures folder. He scrolled through some of the team photos that they’d had taken until he found one that included Blake in it; it was true that they hadn’t talked much at all, but considering that she’d been a big part of their first mission and was about to go with them on this one, it felt rude and wrong to just ignore her. Apart from that, the picture was one he thought his mom would like: a nice group shot of them all standing in front of Beacon Tower, arms around one another’s shoulders. Ruby was in the middle, with Sunset and then Blake on her right, and Pyrrha and then Jaune on her left, the taller members of the team – moreso Jaune and Pyrrha than Sunset or Blake – bending down so that their faces were on something of a level. They were all smiling, faces full of life and happiness.
Ignorant of everything that was to come. Of everything that they were to discover.
We’ll be like that again; wiser, maybe, but just as happy.
At least, I hope we will.
He sent the photo. “I just sent you a picture. Can you see it?”

There was a brief. “Yes, sweetie, I’ve got it now.”
“Those are my teammates,” Jaune said. “They’re my friends. Sunset, Pyrrha, Ruby, and on the left is Blake; she roomed with us for a while.” He decided not to tell his Mom that he and Pyrrha were dating, because he had no idea at all how she’d react to it. “They help me, and they take care of me a little bit, and I take care of them too. We’re a team, Team Sapphire, and we help each other get through the rough patches. They’re the reason I’ve made it this far, and I’d like to think that I’ve helped them make it too.”
“They’re… they’re good people, then?”
“Yeah,” Jaune said. “They’re the best.”
“Then I’m glad you’re not alone there at Beacon,” Mom said. “Although I am worried, the news said that a training exercise had gotten out of hand or something?”
“Um… yeah, I heard about that,” Jaune said, deciding that telling her he’d been right in the middle of that wasn’t necessary either. “A few more grimm showed up than people expected.”
“That doesn’t sound very safe.”
“I’m training to be a huntsman, Mom; it’s not safe,” Jaune said. “But it’s important. I’m making a difference, and that’s what I want. That’s what I always wanted.”
“I thought you always wanted to wear a fancy costume like those comic book characters you kept reading about.”
Jaune laughed nervously. “Well… that too, sure.”
He could hear his mother sighing on the other end of the line. “Are you happy, dear?”
“Yes,” Jaune said earnestly. “I really am. I’m… I’m where I belong.”
“Then I’m glad for you,” she said. “I’ll probably never stop worrying – I am your mother after all – but I’d hate to see you waste away at home with nothing to do and nothing to motivate you. I’m glad you called. Your father will be glad too, when I tell him.”
“Is Dad around?” Jaune asked, hoping that he wasn’t because he didn’t really want to speak to his old man right now. Mom had turned out to be not nearly so bad as he’d feared, but his father was something else altogether.
“No, I’m afraid he’s at a meeting of the town elders, but I know he’ll be as pleased as I am to know that you’re… not safe, but you know what I mean. Jaune?”
“Yeah?”
“I know that you’re not coming home any time soon… but is there any chance that you could visit? Do they ever let you out of that place? Only, it’s your father’s birthday in a few weeks, and everyone’s getting together to celebrate. Saphron and Terra are even flying in from Argus. It would mean so much to all of us if you could come back for the party.”
“I don’t know, Mom,” Jaune said. Leaving aside the question of what he’d actually say to his father, the semester – and the mission, probably – would be over in time for him to go home for the holiday… but would he be in any state to go home by the time it was over? “I’m about to go on a mission; that’s why I called. I wanted to say something before I left. But I don’t know… I don’t know how long it’ll take. I’ll try my best, I promise.”
“A mission,” his mother murmured. “You mean…you’re going outside? You’re going to fight… the grimm?”
“Yeah,” Jaune said, because it was easier to let her assume it was the grimm than explain everything about the White Fang and Cinder.
“It’s going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”
“A little,” Jaune admitted. “But I’ve got my team with me, and we’re all watching out for one another.”
“I still remember when your sisters used to put your hair in pigtails,” Mom said.
“So do I,” Jaune muttered.
“My baby,” his mother murmured, her voice starting to sound a little choked, “please be careful out there.”