Winter Break 18

While she prepared the cookie dough, Gwen continued to speak with the silver-eyed reaper about the adventures and stories from her time with their mother.

The conversation became chipper as she regaled Ruby with stories of their time at Beacon and many of the shenanigans that went on in their youth.

Ruby laughed many times over the course of her and Gwen making a truck load of cookie dough. Although she wasn't her real mother, Ruby enjoyed the moment as if she were.

While the silver-eyed cookie monster impatiently watched over the baked goods cooking in the stove, Jaune came back in and helped make his batch of cookie dough.

His mother was impressed with his progress as a chef as she said, "Wow, I guess those cooking lessons paid off."

Jaune blushed as he looked at Ruby licking the bowl of cookie dough before he said, "Yeah, I never did thank you for that." 

He then gave his mom a hug and a quick peck to her cheek as he continued speaking in a soft tone, "Thanks, mom, for everything."

Gwen smiled as thought that her baby was all grown up. As she was lost in thought, the Arc Matriarch saw Jaune finish up with melting and mixing the chocolate before he walked over and hand a chocolate covered spoon to Ruby.

Ruby's eyes glowed as she took it and gave Jaune a kiss, "Thanks, Jaune!"

Gwen chuckled as she snapped a quick pic of their interactions and then started to get working on dinner.

After they finished, everyone gathered around the long dinner table and ate sweets while they discussed their lives and things that made them happy, things like Pancakes for Nora or Weapons for Ruby.

Boys came up multiple times and the Arc Sisters threatened Jaune to tell them the name of Yang's future husband.

Jaune coughed and said, "She'll meet him soon enough." 

He stared at the blond brawler with a disapproving expression, almost as if he were calling her Tattle Tell! 

Yang grinned and flicked a chocolate chip at Jaune, to which he responded by opening his mouth and eating it before it could hit him in the face.

Lance told stories about the hunts they've been on, and Joan joined in as well. The girls loved hearing of Grandma's stories when a knock at the door made the Arc family smile.

"Open up, this is the police. We have your Grandpa's here in that back of our car. He said something about visiting and giving presents. I need you to come out to confirm if his story is true! He brought weapons and the latest hunter tools from Mistral, so we can't just let him go!" 

Joan laughed at her husband's antics. 

"He's such a dork!" Lance moaned as he stood up.

The Arc Patriarch walked over to the front of the house and opened the door before Jaune's Grandfather came in with wide arms and bags filled with gifts.

Jaune's grandfather was around 6 feet and 2 inches tall, he had grey hair that ran around his head and a bit of gold still remaining on top.

He looked fit for a 67-year-old man, and healthy as an ox to boot. His face had many of the same markers from Jaune, showing that his grandson resembled him more than his own son.

The only major difference was there build. Jaune had more of a pro athlete's build while his grandfather had more of a muscleman build.

"Dad, you know how I feel about you spoiling them?" Lance said as he gave his father Ben Arc a hug.

"Hahahaha! My boy, that is the privilege of being a grandparent. I'm sure you'll understand someday. That is, once your kids have kids of their own," Ben said as was rushed by 7 beautiful blonds all at once.

"Grandpa!" The Arc sisters and Nora shouted as they hugged him.

Ben laughed as he looked over at the crowd of his grandkids.

As he handed out gifts, he noticed that they had quite a few guests visiting the house, mainly Nora who was still holding her hands out waiting for her present. Thankfully Ren pulled her away before she could do anything crazy. 

"Hey, you guys didn't suddenly adopt or anything did ya?" Ben asked, seeing the group of Hunter Teams.

"Hey, grandpa." Jaune waved his hand.

Ben dropped his bags as he felt that Jaune had his Aura unlocked. He then walked up to Jaune and hugged him tightly before asking, "How did this happen?"

"It's…a long story," Jaune chuckled.

Ben sighed and turned to Lance, "I see, you guys have a lot to explain."

It took a while for them to let Ben in on the news. He had many questions, which Jaune answered to his fullest. They all went to the dinner table and began to tell Ben of everything that happened.

"I see." Ben placed his hand on Jaune's shoulder, "So I might be getting a great grandkid even sooner than I thought. To be honest, I thought the girls would be first."

Ruby and Jaune blushed as Gwen grabbed his ear, "I don't think so, father-in-law. They're a little too young to be making me a grandma."

Joan chuckled and agreed with her daughter in law, "I would listen to her, honey. Although I want to see some new toddlers running about, we can at least wait a couple more years."

Ruby spit out her drink and started coughing, her face was bright red, she suddenly started stammering, "I...I...I...Couple? Like…Two...Years...Me and Jaune's b...b...b...b...b...ba…." 

"Ruby-Exe has crashed. Please reboot system," Nora chimed in behind Ruby.

 "Granny, please don't tease Ruby. We'll have kids when we are ready, but I don't think 2 years is enough time for us to settle everything," Jaune pleaded.

The silver-eyed reaper turned even redder at the thought Jaune wanting to have kids with her someday. 

"Omgosh, this isn't happening," Ruby said as she pulled her hood over her head, feeling embarrassed, nervous, and kind of happy.

Yang burst out laughing, "That would put you in a real grand motherload of a situation, and I might get Auntsy if they have a kid so soon."

Everyone groaned at Yang's joke when Ben laughed loudly as he showed no expression of pain from Gwen pulling on his ears.

Ben crossed his thick arms and said, "HAHAHA! Now that was a good joke!"

Sheer horror was apparent to everyone at the table, Joan slapped her own forehead as Yang's smile grew and her face filled with a blush as she said, "Wow, um...thanks."

Everyone but the time travelers showed a shocked countenance. They didn't know Yang could make that kind of appearance, but Jaune and Sun did. They often saw it when the blond brawler's future husband laughed at her jokes.

"Don't go falling for my grandpa, he's taken," Jaune said earning a chuckle from Ruby.

"That I am," Ben wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder.

Joan chuckled and elbowed Ben, "Dear, you're embarrassing the poor girl."

The foxy-grandpa just laughed and laughed harder once he saw Yang slapped Jaune in the back of the head, knocking him out of his chair.

His sisters cheered Yang on as well. They were obviously still upset with him not sharing the identity of Yang's future husband. Jaune swore that those girls are way too into their love-gossip.

The blond knight picked himself off the ground and grunted at his sister-in-law. 

In response to his expression, Yang stuck her tongue out and made him grin. 

"Payback will be swift and without mercy." Jaune thought as he crossed his arms.

It was getting close to Lunch time so Gwen and Jaune worked together to make meals for everyone.

The food was good and bountiful. They made dozens of different sandwiches, chips, plenty salad, and drinks that fit everyone's tastes. Anyone who couldn't finish, Nora was more than pleased to clean their plates in a very Nora-like fashion. Meaning, it was licked clean. 

Jaune discussed what he should do to prepare for the trail and was more than happy when his grandfather agreed to teach him the Arc's style of combat.

After cleaning up, Lance, Joan, and Ben took Jaune out to the field to start training him.

Jaune didn't get any rest that night. When the blond knight managed to tire out one of his familial opponents, they switched and kept the pressure on him.

The basics of Arc Style Swordsmanship consisted of improving one's endurance and fortitude. Jaune had to push his stamina to new levels in order to continue this level of training.

He was constantly beaten down and started to realize what monsters his family members were.

"You can hit harder than that, right, son?" Lance said as he kicked Jaune in the stomach and slapped him upside his head with the flat end of his sword.

Jaune rolled across the grass and jumped back up before he swung his sword. He felt Lance hit his sword aside with the flat of his sword as he saw his father aim for the throat. 

The blunted wooden sword pushed into his neck before Jaune's back slammed into the ground. As he felt sore from the blow, Jaune felt a bit freaked out. He knew that if he wasn't coating his body in Aura, that attack would have taken his head off.

Jaune pulled himself back up and panted heavily as he struggled to fend off Lance's sudden attack.

The sounds of wooden swords clacking against each other echoed throughout the area as the two continued to swing out with everything they had.

Jaune saw his father move even quicker as Lance managed to step into his strike zone. The blond teenager tried to back up, but Lance dashed forward and hit Jaune in the gut with a powerful swing.

Jaune rolled against the ground a few times before stabbing his wooden sword into the ground. He slid a few feet and regaining his balance when looked up to see his father leaping down at him with a full-powered swing.

Jaune took a deep breath and swung out with all of his strength. However, it wasn't enough. The moment he hit Lance's sword, he felt like all the weight from the blow vanished, almost like he was hitting a ghost.

"Where'd he go?" Jaune thought as Lance front flipped over him and smacked Jaune in the back of the head at the same time. 

The blond knight fell face forward and sensed danger as quickly rolled to his side. Everything he knew about combat tactics and from what little he learned of his father's fighting style told him that another attack was coming.

The ground beside him shattered into a small plum of dirt, proving him right.

His instinct took charge of body. The knight knew that it was best to strike when one appeared to be weak, so instead of completely dodging the attack, Jaune aimed for a counter. 

The moment his father's training sword hit the ground, Jaune snapped back up and blindly swung his sword where his thought Lance would attack next. 

A loud clack of two wooden swords confirmed his suspicions. However, his victory was short-lived.

A sharp pain in Jaune's stomach sent him rolling back against the ground as he saw his father's foot firmly planted in his gut. 

Lance's kick hit Jaune so hard, he was pretty sure it made him vomit food from his early childhood.

"Oh, Monty, I hope that's not baby food," Jaune thought another swift kick hit him underneath his jaw.

Jaune stood up and quickly placed his sword to his side while taking a defensive stance. 

Lance's sword hit his son's guard and sent him flying to the side.

As Jaune tumbled across the ground he looked at his father and jumped back up, "Why ... pant ... can't ... pant ... we ... use ... pant ... shields?"

"Better to focus on one thing at a time. I'll commend you for your will and drive, but your stamina is still lacking a bit, and your skills are all over the place. It's full of other styles and techniques you've learned over the years. Now, there's nothing wrong with learning from others, but you still haven't made it your own. You're martial art is missing a natural flow."

Something clicked in Jaune's mind as he stood up straight and pointed his sword towards Lance, "Well, come on then."