The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Random Encounter

I remained calm thanks to my power and looked at the man without flinching or paling, which should have earned me a medal.

He knew about me, I was certain of that. But how? And how much? What had he seen? He couldn't have been aboard the White Whale—not only would I have been shocked if he could evade all my senses for such a prolonged period of time, but I'd seen him on the ground when I left. I hadn't paid him that much mind at the time, which I regretted slightly even if I had been more focused on other matters, but he'd been there. He couldn't have been on the ground and in the ship.

Unless it was his Semblance, somehow? Or some planted bug I'd missed? The latter was unlikely when I had both Crocea Mors and Vulturnus, but the former…there was really no way to know. This was Professor Ozpin, he could—

No, I stopped myself calmly.

I knew the power of a well-crafted reputation—I only had to look at the one that had formed around me. It was something that had very real power.

But that wasn't the same as it being real.

I knew, if somewhat vaguely, about Ozpin. He was famous, a legendary Hunter and trainer of Hunters, a man even my parents looked up to who'd looked after Vale for decades and had friends and allies everywhere. It would have been easy to fall prey to that, to assume he knew everything, had seen everything, that he'd lurked beside me the whole time and somehow kept me unawares—but that didn't make sense for a lot of reasons. While there was the possibility of him having a Semblance that allowed him to know all and see all, there was nothing to support that possibility but awe and fear. If I excluded unsupported fear, what did that leave me?

Logic.

He couldn't have been on the ship; it didn't make sense and if he had been, he'd have needed to stay with me for the entire duration of my trip even when things were going to hell. It meant not revealing himself even when it would have been wise to do so, not stopping me and making me turn the ship around at any number of points, not reacting to Ziz, not…it didn't make sense and I couldn't see an easy way for him to do it. Any time after that and I'd probably been off the grid.

What about before the theft? That opened up a few more possibilities. It wasn't impossible, or even unlikely, that a man with Ozpin's power and influence could keep track of me while I was in or near Vale if given cause to do so. If I put myself in his shoes…I could think of a few ways to do it pretty easily. Maybe not everywhere I went, depending on a number of factors, but the stuff at home? He could have seen that with some cameras, maybe, or an informant positioned nearby. Though I had no way of knowing how good his intelligence was, he could easily cover a lot of the stuff in town, too; he'd just need to follow the car, see where I went, and respond appropriately. Depending on how prepared he was and what he'd set up over his decades protecting Vale, he could monitor everything from my house to…who knows. I couldn't let myself assume he was all-powerful, but I could see him being aware of many of the things leading up to the mission. If dad had given him a heads up and a reason to actively look…yeah, I could see it.

And if he knew that, all it would really take were some friends in Atlas to know what I'd done over there—like, say, the General. I needed to avoid overestimating him, but he was a very old, experienced Huntsman with a lot of friends and I couldn't underestimate that either, especially when I wasn't sure what resources he had available. Hell, maybe he did have some secret camera network.

The question, then, was what to say. Even if he didn't know the specifics of everything I'd done, he probably had enough to peg me as the criminal even if I said nothing, so actually lying to him probably wasn't feasible. On the other hand, he wasn't arresting me right now, so…

"Professor Ozpin, isn't it?" I asked. "It's an honor to meet you, sir, though I can't say I expected it."

"Likewise, Mr. Arc," He replied, taking a sip from his mug. "You had us all worried with your abrupt departure."

I scratched the back of my head, giving a fake rueful smile. I saw my mom open her mouth to speak but Ozpin shifted his gaze slightly and she hesitated, looked like she was going to say it anyway, and then bit down upon it. I saw her look over my head at my father, but whatever they communicated, I didn't see anything when I turned to face him. Feeling somewhat left out of the silent conversation, I looked my dad in the eye and tilted my head very slightly in the Headmaster's direction. My dad glanced to the side and I was pretty sure that he communicated something with Ozpin as well before he gave me a very shallow nod.

There were so many people not-talking in here, I mused, that it was a wonder I could hear myself think.

"In the interests of saving us all a lot of time and effort," I said, turning back to Ozpin. "Shall we cut right to the chase?"

I heard my mom sigh and saw her pinch the bridge of her nose. She moved to speak again, but halted again as Ozpin raised his cup in acknowledgement.

"What would you like to know first?" I asked, just to make sure that he knew what I thought he knew. Even if I was pretty sure, well…it would be really embarrassing if he actually knew nothing and just tricked me into thinking he did.

He gave me a knowing look—which may or may not have meant anything. I could give a pretty mean knowing look myself because pretending you already knew something was a surprisingly good way to learn things you didn't know. I waited patiently as he took another sip of coffee, making sure he saw me completely at ease.

"Generally, one should start at the beginning when telling a story," He said and I gave serious thought to starting with my birth just to be a sarcastic twit before he smiled and shook his head slightly. "But as you said, in the interests of saving time, let's begin with what happened after Ziz flew off with you. I must admit, I was rather worried for your life, Mr. Arc, especially after your extended silence. Your family was quite distraught."

I remained focused and passive, even as I felt the guilt rise up. Though I could only see her out of the corner of my eye, I could see enough of her expression to tell we weren't done talking about that, but after what I'd put them all through….I deserved it.

Even so, I had to focus. I could take his words as confirmation that he knew everything up to the White Whale—maybe. Unless he wanted me to think that—no, simplest explanation for the moment.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Ziz made things…complicated." I said, watching him carefully even as I considered what to say. He didn't react so I made sure not to, either. "Last I saw, it was back to sleep, by the way; I can show you where on a map, if you need me to."

"Good news," Ozpin mused, looking down into his cup. "Certainly, that would help matters. There's been rather a panic over its whereabouts lately; we'll need to arrange an explanation for how we came by the information, but…"

I shrugged.

"If needed, I can send a message," I said, not elaborating. He looked at me obliquely for a moment, taking another sip of his drink.

"I suppose you could." He acknowledge as if we were talking about the weather. "Your story, then, Mr. Arc?"

"Well, it's a long story so forgive me if I summarize a little bit, but…Ziz carried me off to an island south of Atlas and tore the White Whale apart," I answered promptly, having put my story in order. I'd decided to tell the truth, but I didn't want to let any major details slip in front of someone I didn't even know, so I abridged things slightly. "I fixed the ship and flew up towards Atlas itself to do some stuff, which was when I sent the message. A few days later, I hit the mining town, fought some people they sent after me, won, and flew off with about a thousand Faunus that were being kept as slaves. I came back, dropped them off, and went home."

I shrugged and gestured at myself.

"Jaune," My mother spoke up at last, sounding simultaneously tired and annoyed. "Good God, that's not how you give a report."

"Don't listen to her son," Dad disagreed. "The only thing that happens when you give good reports is that people make you give more. Your mother's had to give every report for our team in the last…uh…twenty…three years? Since the Vacuo embassy thing."

"Shut up, Jack," She said, sounding even more tired.

For his part, Ozpin just nodded in acceptance. I wasn't sure if he'd learnt everything he'd needed from that or if he just didn't care.

"A rather remarkable adventure you've had, Mr. Arc," He said evenly. "Perhaps there will be time for more details later. Nonetheless, I'd say you've performed rather remarkably given the circumstances. A number of your actions were questionable, but…well, I imagine such matters would be best left for your mother to address. Isabelle?"

"Oh, yes, sir," She said in a tone dark enough to blot out the son. I figured whatever she'd done to dad must have taken the edge off.

I sighed.

"I love you, Mommy," I told her resignedly. Honestly, I wasn't even scared or upset. Considering everything…

"I love you, too, sweetie," She answered, patting my shoulder with a kind, gentle smile. Dad and I shared a look and I acknowledge that it was my turn to take responsibility for my actions.

"You're not going to arrest me," I stated, refocusing on Ozpin as I took a guess. "But you still want something, right?"

"I'm afraid I merely came to inform your parents of the news I'd received from Atlas," Ozpin said, adjusting his glasses slightly. He let that statement linger for all of a heartbeat before ruining it. "Although, now that you're here…I could think of something for you to do."

"Oz," My dad sighed.

"Me," I asked. "Or me?"

"You, naturally," Ozpin answered without missing a beat. "Though should you so desire, you may turn to yourself for aid."

"Ozpin, he only just got back," Isabelle Arc stated firmly. "There are things that take priority."

The Headmaster of Beacon chuckled slightly, gesturing with his mug in acknowledgement.

"Merely a joke on my part," He said. "I wouldn't dream of sending him away from you before even receiving his punishment, much less so soon after such an ordeal. It's nothing urgent—just some whispers in Mistral. Now then, I should leave you to your reunion. Jacques, Isabelle."

He nodded to each of my parents as he walked by, before pausing a moment to put a hand on my shoulder.

"We'll talk again soon," He said with such quiet surety that I just accepted it as true and nodded. "Good luck, Mr. Arc."

As the door closed behind him, I heard my mother sigh.

"That man…" She said, shaking her head.

"Hm?" I hummed inquisitively, not sure exactly which part she was referring to.

"Never you mind," She said, pinning me with a look. "Now then…he left so we could speak privately. I think you owe me an explanation, young man."

"Yeah," I nodded. "I do."

I told them everything.

They were my parents; I was allowed.

I started, of course, with my power, giving them the longer explanation I'd promised Dad. I'd explained the reasons I'd gone on the mission, how things had broken down and eventually escalated, my actions onboard the White Whale and in the mining town—I told them everything I'd considered mine to tell. I was pretty sure they'd been able to make the connect between Tukson and the White Fang, seeing how they'd met him right before I got involved with all this, and from there it wasn't a huge stretch to the rest, but…

But I told them. How my world had changed literally and metaphorically, why I'd associated with a terrorist organization, why I'd caused them so much worry and pain.

They listened silently until I finished, not saying a word but reacting differently. My Dad occasionally nodded, raised his eyebrows, or frowned, depending on the subject, at first standing by the counter as he waited on the coffee machine. When it finished, he poured a cup for himself, one for mom, and brought both over to the table where he sat beside me.

I was aware of this mainly because I was trying not to focus on what my mom was doing; namely, writing something down on a notepad she'd produced from a drawer. I was tempted to use Observe on it, but it was like…I wanted to know, but I didn't want to know.

"You're right," My dad said at last, finally breaking the silence that followed the end of my speech. "Your power is bullshit."

"I know, right?" I nodded quickly, smiling hesitantly for a moment before doing so more fully as he gave me a sure grin.

"Life as a game," He mused. "Not a Semblance I'd have thought of off the top of my head, but if you think about it…"

"It's amazing," I agreed wholeheartedly. "I mean, it took we awhile to figure out how to use it right and all, but once it did…well, I don't mean to boast, but I can throw a pretty mean punch if I need to."

"Pretty good at infiltration, too, sounds like," He said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table, fingers wrapped around his mug. "You know, a lot of people don't believe it, but I used to be pretty good at some of that stuff myself."

I took a moment to imagine it and laughed.

"Bars?" I guessed.

"It's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it," He shrugged, smirk growing. "A lot of people don't think about that type of thing when it comes to getting information out of people, but—"

"I know," I nodded. "It was almost disappointing when I realized how easy it was."

"A lot of things are like that," He cracked his neck before resting his chin on the palm of a hand. "They seem really amazing and difficult, but it's really just a matter of knowing what you're doing and practicing it. Well, I'm sure the people who make robots probably think that, too…"

I hummed an agreement as he looked at me ponderingly.

"You know," He mused. "And don't take this the wrong way, because I'm not trying to knock your fighting skills or anything—but you would make a pretty amazing doctor. I always thought healers were pretty amazing. I mean, don't get me wrong, being able to slaughter monsters with a stick is pretty awesome, but there's a lot of times…well, I wouldn't have minded having someone there to heal people. Maybe not the most glorious job, but saving lives with a touch…pretty amazing. I'm not trying to sell anything but…"

"Yeah," I said, understanding. "I know. I haven't…well, life's been hectic, but I've thought about it, too. I mean, I definitely want to get as strong as I can at…everything and become a Hunter, but healing the sick and the wounded…I have the power, right? And there's a lot of people I could help, if I keep training the skill."

"Nothing wrong with saving lives," Jacques said. "We could brag about our son the doctor. Right, honey?"

Mom looked up from her writings to give him a glance and shallow nod before returning to her work. I watched her drum her fingers, waiting for her say something, but it never came. After an awkward moment, my Dad continued talking, apparently trying to brush over the lack of response.

"Yeah," He said forcefully. "Really, you've got plenty of options. That Regeneration thing you mentioned was from blue Dust, right? Think you could do it with the other types? If you can heal, empower, and fight, you'd make a great addition to any team."

"I'm pretty sure I could do it with at least red, yellow, and green Dust," I said. "I'll have to test with the other types, but…still, Haste is great and Feather Fall turned out to be surprisingly useful. It's really nice to not get smashed into stuff, you know?"

"Trust me, I know. I've been through some walls in my day. And rocks. And trees. It's not fun." He shook his head. "Healing, supporting, awakening Auras…not bad, son."

"Thanks," I fiddled with my drink absently, not really paying it any attention. "Still need to train them all, especially the Aura one, but…it's cool. Not sure how I could explain any of it, but…"

My dad gestured dismissively.

"Some of it will be hard, but I'm sure Oz will think of something for the basics. Trust me, the guy writes enough fiction to be a novelist and it'd be great to have at least an emergency healer on standby. You know…I could probably get Oz to bend some rules and bring you with me on a few missions, if you want?"

"Yeah?" I asked, eyebrows going up. "Me?"

Dad shrugged like it was nothing.

"Sure. Let me tell you, if you know the guy, it's really not hard to get Oz to bend the rules. Nothing major," He said, seeing my look. "No offense, but I wouldn't bring you along on the type of Search and Destroy missions I get sent on—but there's some Village Security stuff and such that could work. A lot of places like that have their fair share of sick and wounded. My team could deal with the actual security while you healed them. Might not be the most glamourous or exciting mission, but it could save some lives and I'm sure there's some way of making it fly as extra credit or something. You could make some friends along the way, some connections…I mean, if you want."

"Please," I said immediately, just…imagining it. Going on a mission with my father, if as the medic. "I'd love to."

He smiled.

"I'll talk to him, then," The Arc Patriarch said. "Maybe it'll even count as one of your Quest things?"

"Maybe," I nodded, not even sure I cared. He seemed satisfied with the answer regardless.

"Any thoughts on what you're gonna do next, then?"

"Uh…" I tilted my head to the side. "Probably just keep training. Working out for my physical states, reading books for my Intelligence, that type of thing. I want to hone some of my new skills, too, like awakening Aura's. I figured I'd start small, though, in the hopes nothing goes wrong."

"Oh?" He asked. "What'd you have in mind?"

"I was thinking about starting a garden, honestly," I admitted. "I don't know how well it'll work, but maybe awaken some flowers or trees to start with. I figure the odds of things going catastrophically wrong will be lower than if I start with animals. After I know what's liable to happen and am confident I can handle it, I'll upgrade to some goldfish or something, and then advance up to stuff like dogs. I can probably get a skill to train them, too, so…"

"Could work," He agreed. "It takes a fair amount of training to bring out their full potential, but good Hunting dogs are invaluable. There's plenty of stuff you can work on if you're interested. Let's see…I saw one guy who'd trained a falcon like that awhile back and a few other animals. Plants…there've always been a fair number of experiments along that vein for crops and such, but I don't really know much about it. They never really implemented anything that I know of, but I don't know if they had problems or if the issue of awakening enough crops to actually matter just made it unfeasible. For something we grow just to eat…I don't know. You can probably find something on that, though."

"Huh," I said. "I'll look into that. I hadn't heard anything about that."

"Like I said, I don't know how that's worked out for them; never really thought about it until now." He paused. "Well, there was this one time, but it turned out to just be a guy who could make plant minions with his Semblance."

"What was that like?" I asked, somewhat surprised I'd never heard this story. Dad's brow furrowed.

"Surprisingly horrifying. It's easy to make fun of a cabbage until it unfolds into layers and layers of teeth," He shook his head. "Naturally, we ended up fighting the guy in the middle of a forest, too, and at night. It was…"

He exhaled loudly.

"…Something." He took a sip of his coffee, blowing away the last remnants of steam. "It shouldn't be an issue for you though. I know a few people down in the Agricultural District if you're looking for anything in particular, though."

"I'll have to look into it," I said. "I never even considered the idea until today. I could just start with the trees and plants around here but…it's something to look into. Maybe see if I can awaken seeds and test them against normal versions of the plants, see if different breeds react in specific ways…it's neat to think about. I'll look into it."

My dad chuckled.

"My son the botanist," He said. "And the doctor and the captain."

He was silent for a moment.

"I'm proud of you, you know," He murmured. "Despite the danger and what happened…I won't say everything you did was flawless and you scared a lot of people, but I know why you did it. And despite the risks, you saw it through, even when you were alone and no one could have blamed you for turning back. I wish you'd called, that you'd told us, that…I wish a lot of things. But I get why, even as scary as it had been, and I'm proud that you saved those people, Jaune. You did good, son."

I ducked my head but was pretty sure it didn't fully hide my smile. For someone who was probably an internationally wanted supervillain, I couldn't keep from lighting up at my father's praise. He shifted slightly to bump me with a shoulder and I laughed a bit before sobering and looking up.

"Mom's been quiet," I whispered.

Dad sighed slowly and nodded.

"You about done, dear?" He asked. She flipped a page in the notebook to scrawl something and then clicked her pen.

"More or less," She said, pushing her chair back and rising. "Come with me, Jaune."

I rose and came around the table with a nod.

"Where are we going?" I asked. After a moment's pause, I continued. "Did you decide on my punishment?"

"I'm not going to punish you, Jaune, I'm going to teach you something," She answered calmly. "Which is why we're going into the forest to train. Follow me."

I nodded wordlessly, casting a glance back at my father, who saluted me with his coffee mug. I knew she wasn't really mad—or not mad about the things I feared, at least—and given everything I'd done…

This was fine. I'd take my medicine like a man.

It's not like I feared pain or effort anymore.