Professor Arc

Chapter 42

The reaction to his words was around the level he'd expected. Juniper recoiled back in shock at his dismissal, while his sisters exchanged worried and confused looks between one another. Nicholas Arc, however, simply crossed his arms. Clearly, he had somehow realised that would be his response. "No?" Juniper repeated as she slowly regained control of herself, "What do you mean no? I don't think you're in a position to say no, young man!"

He shook his head in amusement, a small chuckle slipping from his lips as he crossed his arms and watched them. "Young man? It's been a while since anyone called me that. Anyway, I think you'll find I'm not in a position to say yes, either. I have to stay as a professor of Beacon."

"They can find somebody else to fill it," Juniper said, "Or did you think you could just keep lying about this forever? Did you think no one would ever find out?"

"I might have done, once," he admitted. "But no, I don't expect this lie to last. What's your point?"

"..."

"I think mom's point," Sapphire stepped in when it was clear their mother had run out of words. "Is that when this lie runs out, you'll be in deep trouble. The kind of trouble that an apology isn't going to fix."

His eyebrow rose as he looked towards each of his sisters. "And you think I don't realise that?"

"She's talking about prison, you fucking idiot," Hazel snapped. "Not some slap on the wrist."

He laughed. "Prison? You haven't been keeping up with what's going on here, have you? Vale has been attacked by terrorists, there were over fifty civilian casualties last month alone. Prison would be an easy alternative to what General Ironwood would put any suspects through."

That shut them up, though maybe not in the way he would have wanted. His mother was lost for words, shaking her head in fear – but Nicholas stepped forward. "I heard about the breach," he said. "Did they send you down to fight against the Grimm?"

"No!" Juniper gasped, "They couldn't have... you're safe and healthy, they couldn't have made you face them."

Perhaps it was cruel but he couldn't stop his lips twisting into a wide smile as he prepared to drop the bomb on them. It was all the sweeter for the relief his mother wore, not to mention the dismissive looks of his sisters. "They didn't send me down to fight," he said and watched as they all relaxed. "But only because I was on a mission at the time in a nearby village."

Nicholas flinched, catching the implication long before anyone else did.

"I was hunting down a serial killer."

"Jaune!" His mother gasped in horror while his sisters could only stare.

"What?" he shrugged nonchalantly, "It's a normal thing for a Huntsman to be doing. Sometimes the biggest monsters wear human skin. They're harder to track down than Grimm, but easier to actually fight. Well, sometimes." There was always people like Roman and Neo, who were both difficult to find and face.

"You're not a huntsman," Juniper seethed. "And they shouldn't be sending a seventeen-year-old out to face people or Grimm. For the love of God, Jaune – this is exactly why you need to get out of this. You need to get out before something goes wrong!"

Before something went wrong? He almost snorted but kept it back. Things had already gone wrong, not only with them, but with Cinder and Roman – whatever their plan was. He couldn't tell his family that, however. It would only make them pull all the harder. "I have responsibilities here. People are counting on me. As for being a huntsman? Well, I think you'll find in every way that matters, I already am one."