The Temptation 017 (Patreon)

With the election looming, there was a lot of work to do. As the days ticked over and the big night approached, various voting stations were set up all across Atlas and Mantle. Due to the hostile sentiment in the lower city, huntsmen were deployed to help set everything up and hopefully soothe any flaring tempers, and put down anyone that decided to act upon their anger. Alongside this, the General had recognized that the combined strain of the embargo and the SDC closing its doors was putting unnecessary hardship upon the people. While he wouldn’t lift the embargo, and while key materials were still being directed to the Amity Project, he could help provide for those that were in need. Food packages, medicine, even things as simple as extra clothing and blankets were a godsend for the downtrodden. Especially now that the temperatures across Solitas were beginning to dip even lower.

It was an olive branch. That much was clear – and most took it with a grateful, tried smile, not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth. It didn’t mend the rift but it was a start. The rest weren’t so grateful, filled with resentment and spitting venom, yet they took it all the same.

No one was going to turn down free provisions. Not with the current state of things.

Jaune wasn’t a fan of being yelled at, though – and more than a couple of people had vented their frustrations at him.

The important thing was that it was working. For the most part, the people seemed a little less riled, a little calmer and level headed. The nights were no longer filled with the orange glow of bins lit aflame, though the tension remained under the surface. Things were improving but it wouldn’t take much to set them off again.

It was a house of cards they were building. One strong gust would send it all tumbling down – but for the time being, it was holding. The situation was still salvageable.

Jaune watched as Nora skipped over to a family of four, handing over a parcel of goods. They were faunus and from what Jaune could deduce at a glance at his overalls and boots, the father was a miner. That was one section of the Schnee Dust Company that had not stopped in the wake of Jacques Schnee’s announcement. Even if they couldn’t ship dust to the rest of the world, Atlas still required its share – and even as egotistical as Weiss’ father was, he wasn’t about to cut off every single revenue stream, not completely. Not when he didn’t need to.

Shutting everything else down was more than enough to get the reaction he desired.

Nora said something to the children that made them laugh. It was a wholesome sight and Jaune couldn’t help but beam at his teammate with affection as she skipped back over, her mouth showing off her pearly white teeth.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re a natural at this,” he said, gesturing around them. The place had been packed with families earlier, sullen and downtrodden, though now only a few remained – in no small part to Nora’s enthusiastic work ethic. She was a bundle of energy and warmth. The latter was perhaps even more important. Those same sullen and downtrodden people had mostly left with a smile or a laugh thanks to his teammate. A little cheer could go a long way. “You’re handing out just as many smiles as parcels. Good work.”

“Aww, shucks,” she waved at him while fanning her face. “You’ll make me blush, leader man.”

Then she adopted a serious look, observing the remaining people being serviced by a couple of young volunteers from Atlas. High school students who wanted to help and make a difference, no matter how small. Not everyone in the upper city regarded Mantle poorly.

“I just...” she trailed off for a moment, looking pensive. Jaune remained quiet, content to listen. “I know what it’s like, ya know? Having so little or nothing at all. There was this one time, it wasn’t very long after – well, you know...” she sighed, looking up at the sky. Kuroyuri was something they would carry with them, always. “This old man, he gave us some food, even offered us a place to stay. We’d been walking for days, his farm was the first place we’d come across in nearly a week. We’d been surviving off eating peanuts we’d stolen from the last town and whatever berries we found in the wild. Most people would chase us off, but not him. I think he was happy to have company, all his children had left home and his wife had recently passed away. I always remember this stupid little joke he told me. It wasn’t even that funny, the sort of thing Yang would say but I must have cried, I laughed so hard. For some reason, that meant just as much to me as the food and the shelter.”

Jaune touched her hand and she laced their fingers together, squeezing firmly.

“I guess it was because it made me feel like a person,” she continued, turning to look at him. Her eyes were intense, full of emotion. “The food, the roof over our head – that kept us alive, healthy. But the joke... it made me feel good, in here,” she tapped her chest, right above her heart. “It made me want to keep going, you know? Urgh – sorry, I’m getting all depressing.”

“Hey,” he bumped their shoulders together. “I think I know what you mean.”

The joke gave her hope. That even after all the horrible, terrible things that had happened to her, that had happened to Ren, she could still laugh. She was still capable of joy.

And that there were people out there willing to help a couple of orphan kids, treat them like people and not trash.

He bumped her again. “Keep making them laugh. You’re doing great.”

“You’re the best leader ever,” she said, voice utterly serious.

“Thanks for understanding,” he heard what was left unsaid.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the families to receive their packages. Jaune was just helping load a few boxes into the back of a car when he spotted a recognizable pair approaching from across the street. Nora was by his side in an instant, hand on hip as the other stayed close by her belt, and the collapsed form of Magnhild. The pair he had been helping load their car must have sensed the shift in the air and quickly got into their vehicle after a muttered ‘thank you’ and driving away.

He didn’t blame them. He wasn’t exactly sure how this was going to pan out.

“Well, well,” Robyn Hill stopped some distance away. “If it isn’t two of Ironwood’s little huntsmen,” she glanced behind them. “Helping out the citizenry, are we? Better late than never, I suppose.”

“Miss Hill,” Jaune greeted, not rising to the bait. He peered at her companion curiously. “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met.”

She was a young woman with short, messily swept white hair and olive green eyes. She was also a faunus; her ears were that of a sheep or goat, he wasn’t sure which. She was small in stature yet held herself like a huntress, though Jaune spotted no weapon. That wasn’t so surprising; with mecha-shift technology, it was probably collapsed and hidden within her coat.

Without a doubt, she was one of the Happy Huntresses that were often seen around Robyn Hill.

“Fiona,” she supplied happily, her smile genuine. He had a feeling she would have offered her hand if they were closer. “Fiona Thyme.”

“Jaune Arc,” he returned in kind, giving her a smile. “This is my teammate, Nora Valkyrie.”

“Hi,” Nora said bluntly, sizing Robyn up.

The older woman grinned at them, “Easy there. I’m not here to cause trouble. Not this time, at any rate.”

She was willing to cause trouble other times, though, the meaning not lost on him. Though that now begged the question; what was she doing there?

So he asked.

“So what are you doing here, then?”

“Right to the point, huh?” she stared at him for a moment. “I can’t say that I dislike that about you, Jaune Arc.”

Jaune frowned. “You say that like you know me.”

“Don’t I?” she asked, looking around. The two high school students from Atlas were watching from afar, recognizing that one of the electoral candidates was on site but unsure what to do about it. “Do you honestly think we aren’t keeping tabs on your group, every time you venture down here? Trust me – we’ve been watching, and I must say, I’m impressed.”

“Impressed?”

“You seem to genuinely care,” she shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying. “At first, I thought you had some kind of angle. Why else would you come down to Mantle every weekday just to escort a bunch of kids? It isn’t the sort of thing huntsmen willingly subject themselves to, like some overpaid traffic cop. Yet the more we watched you, the more we realized that you were actually doing it for them. Not to curry favor or use it as a smokescreen for anything else – you came down, did your job and went home. Your little friends even filled in for you when you were unexpectedly absent.”

“I’m not the only one that takes those jobs.”

“No – but you, by far, take them the most,” Robyn countered.

Jaune shrugged. “They’re our most vulnerable, right? And the streets of Mantle aren’t exactly safe. Grimm get through the breach often enough that they are in very real danger of being attacked. What sort of huntsman would I be if I ignored that?”

“Yet they do nothing to fix it,” she gestured at the sky angrily, “and you follow the man who allows this to continue. How can you so genuinely care about the people here and still listen to General Ironwood’s orders?”

Because there was more going on than people knew. The Grimm were controlled by a Queen, the immortal witch Salem – and she had people everywhere, humans, faunus, infiltrating the kingdoms. The attack on Vale had done more than just bring the kingdom low. It had crippled worldwide communication and had divided humanity. It had allowed her people to move on Haven and it had caused Atlas to shut itself off from the rest of the world, scared that what had befallen Vale would happen to them. Anti-Atlesian sentiment had spread as the world had witnessed Atlas military hardware turn on the very people it was deployed to protect.

In one single stroke, Salem had weakened the entire world that day. And that was before even factoring in the Fall Maiden and the death of the Headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin. That was before recognizing that Cinder Fall had killed the best and brightest future huntress they possessed, a once in a generation talent, someone who could have led them to a brighter world.

But he couldn’t say any of those things. Trust aside, it was partially because he understood what Ironwood was trying to accomplish by reestablishing world communications, but also because he understood where Robyn Hill was coming from and agreed.

Amity needed to be finished.

But Mantle also needed to be protected.

“Don’t you see that he doesn’t care about us?” she continued. “That this here, donating food and clothes, medicine – it’s just all good PR, in an attempt to keep everyone in line. That if he really cared, that wall would have been repaired months ago, not sitting wide open, inviting Grimm inside.”

“You won’t find any argument here,” Jaune replied. “I’ve thought that from the beginning. Ever since we arrived.”

Robyn stepped forward. “Then you understand? We are in agreement.”

“On that, sure. But when you say Ironwood doesn’t care – now that, I don’t agree with.”

She scoffed. “His actions beg to differ.”

“Have you ever actually sat down with him and talked, one on one?” he asked.

“I... haven’t had that particular pleasure,” he said after a pause, shaking her head.

“I’m not going to pretend that I know everything about what the General feels. We aren’t that close. But I can tell you what I believe about him, and I believe that he cares deeply about the people of Atlas and about the people of Mantle. So much so that it can blind him, at times. He is always looking at the big picture – but because of that, he often misses the smaller things. If he really didn’t care, Miss Hill, I wouldn’t be walking kids to school every morning. I’d be patrolling some spoiled rich kid’s mansion in the clouds. You say this is all PR,” Jaune waved his arm around. “But there are better ways to foster goodwill, more effective ways.”

“Have you ever thought that maybe there is a reason he hasn’t fixed the wall?” Nora suddenly asked. Jaune glanced her way.

Robyn looked between them. “What could possibly stop him from doing so?”

Nora shrugged. “Exactly.”

“You two know why,” it wasn’t a question.

“Talk to him,” Jaune said. “Win or lose – talk to him. Stop attempting to steal trucks and open a dialogue. Even if he doesn’t listen, I bet he will at least hear you out. And maybe you’ll be able to get a sense of the man if you talk in person. You’ll realize that you aren’t enemies after all and maybe you could even work together.”

Another family had turned up, glancing their way curiously. The air was tense around them, serious. Robyn Hill kept looking between the pair of them, contemplative. Fiona stared at Jaune, a look of surprise on her face.

“You really think he’d meet with me?”

“There is only one way you’ll find out.”

Robyn grinned. “Like I said – I don’t dislike that part of you,” she then turned away. “I’d shake your hand but... I don’t think I need to.”

Fiona looked taken aback. “Robyn?”

“Come on. Let’s leave them to their work.”

Jaune and Nora watched as they left. Fiona kept shooting not so subtle glances over her shoulder until they both vanished around a corner, releasing the tension that had built up.

“Well, that was something,” Nora said.

Jaune sighed. “Yeah – that was something, alright.”

She didn’t need to shake his hand? What was that about?

The rest of the morning was uneventful, much to their relief. They continued to hand out parcels and load cars until they had nothing left, not even a spare blanket. They were officially done. They were just waving off the volunteer helpers after finishing the clean up when Ren and Yang appeared, each carrying food enough to feed their entire friend group.

“Great, you guys are finished,” Yang held up a few of the bags. “Hungry?”

“Starving,” Nora groaned. “Where are we going?”

“Ruby and the others are just finishing up a few streets over.”

Ren fell into step with Nora while Yang sidled over next to Jaune, nudging him with her elbow. Her smile was a little on the shy side, her eyes crinkling happily.

“Hey,” she said, voice low.

“Hey Yang,” he offered his hand and she let him take some of the load off, slipping him a few bags before linking their arms together, her warmth seeping through his hoodie. “Yang?”

She poked out her tongue. “Keep me warm?”

Her lilac eyes held a suggestive look, her lips quirking in a little smirk. Her mouth looked incredibly kissable right now, he couldn’t deny.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered so the others wouldn’t hear.

They saw each other every day – but Jaune understood. They’d been so busy lately that they barely got any time to just relax. He hadn’t been alone with Yang since their mission. Since he had shot his load inside her womb as she cried her love for him and the awkwardness that followed.

It seemed that awkwardness had abated. All it had taken was a little time.

“I’ve missed you,” he parroted. “How did things go on your end? No trouble?”

She pouted. In that moment, she looked so like her sister Ruby that he was struck by just how similar they truly looked if you knew where to focus. They had different mothers but they had the same dad, and though their coloring was completely different, Jaune saw that the shape of their eyes was the same, as was their nose. It even wrinkled the same when they puffed their cheeks.

Then she sighed. “Never change, Jaune.”

“What?”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “You’ve got a totally hot babe hanging off your arm and you want to talk about work? You are making me feel a little insecure here, champ.”

Jaune was about to reply when she leaned in and said, “Don’t you want to fuck me again?”

Jaune swallowed, his blood thrumming with excitement. He stared at her and she stared right back, her bottom lip curling as she bit it lightly. He did – more than anything. It had felt amazing the first time and she had made him cum so hard. He wanted more of her beautiful body, wanted to hear her sweet moans in his ear as he took her aggressively. She’d been so tight and wet, so hot inside. Just thinking about her pained little mewls as he tapped her cervix had his cock hardening quickly.

But he had to be careful.

The sudden ignition of his lust was tempered by remembering the situation he was currently in.

Ruby knew about Blake.

Not only that, but the younger girl had admitted that listening to them had turned her on. It was possible that the little Rose had fingered herself to the sound of him and Blake getting it on, though he was unsure if she’d been able to get back to Atlas in time for such a thing. All he knew was after her unintentional verbal gaffe, Ruby was now straight up avoiding him. It was worse than before. Before she would still interact with him, she just wouldn’t look at him for any period of time. Now they weren’t even talking.

Usually that was something everyone would take note of in an instant but their busy schedule had mostly kept them apart anyway, minimizing interaction. If it went on much longer, though, someone was bound to notice.

He didn’t know how to fix things. It wasn’t that he had done anything wrong, not really. It was just that Ruby felt embarrassed, mortified by what she had revealed. He couldn’t blame her. Knowing that she had heard him having sex with Blake made him want to hide under a rock.

Though there was a part of him, deep down inside that relished the thought. That part of him loved the thought of Ruby furiously touching herself as she listened to him plowing her friend and teammate. If he was completely honest with himself, it wasn’t that deep down at all.

It was a messy, complicated situation. At the very least, it seemed like Ruby hadn’t shared it with anyone else. Yang obviously didn’t know about it. He wasn’t sure how the blonde girl would react to him and Blake being intimate considering their own situation. Would she be angry? Jealous? He didn’t want to hurt her, hurt any of them. But then he remembered that night on the dance floor and wondered if maybe she wouldn’t mind all that much.

That was probably wishful thinking, though.

When he remained silent, Yang’s face slowly morphed from one of confidence to concern, “Or... don’t you want to?”

She tried to hide it but her voice wavered, unable to mask her sudden bout of insecurity. Her eyes darted away, her head dipping. Before she could pull away, he tightened his hold on her arm.

“Of course I do,” he replied, meaning every word. She looked back at him. “But let’s not force it, right? Maybe if we get some free time, we could go somewhere?”

She beamed at him. “I’d love that.”

Yang placated for the time being, it gave him room to think. He could take her on a date, masked as just a regular outing among friends. It wasn’t so unusual. Atlas had plenty of places to visit, plenty of places where friends could check out without rousing any suspicions. They hadn’t been everywhere.

And then afterward, they could find a private spot and have a bit of fun. He’d like that.

When they found their friends, they were just in the midst of their own clean up. Jaune attempted to untangle their arms but Yang held firm, winking when he shot her a questioning glance.

“We bring food!” Nora hollered, drawing the attention of everyone in the vicinity. “Delivery complete! Please tip generously~!”

Ruby saw him with Yang and turned away, though she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to. Not without being suspicious. He wasn’t sure she would have left anyway since Jaune noticed as they came to a stop that she was glancing at him out of the corner of her eye in an attempt at being subtle. It would have been cute if he wasn’t so worried about how to bridge the sudden gap between them.

Weiss looked pleased at their arrival, throwing the last of the rubbish in a nearby bin. “Nora, you are a lifesaver. I am absolutely famished.”

“Where did you get the food?” Blake asked curiously. Amber eyes settled on their joined arms. Jaune waited for some kind of reaction but her face was expressionless. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“An elderly couple dropped it off,” Ren revealed. “For all the good work we were doing, they said. They told us to share it with our friends.”

“That was sweet of them,” Jaune said.

“Where should we eat?” Yang asked.

There was a park nearby, though it wasn’t much of one. It contained a few benches and tables, a playground for children and not much else. Everything was covered in a layer of frost, though a little application of fire dust by Weiss melted it away and dried the resulting water so they could sit down. Such nuanced control of such a volatile substance was impressive, something only someone of Weiss’ caliber would be able to pull off.

“Being a dust princess sure has its uses,” Nora teased.

Weiss turned her nose up, her braid swishing behind her back. “I am not a princess.”

She then sighed, looking at them all. “I’m not even an heiress anymore. You’ll have to find a better joke.”

“Hey – your father may have disowned you and made your brother heir, and maybe you lost your entire fortune,” Yang finally untangled their limbs and began helping set all the food out on the table, “but you’ll always be our little spoiled heiress. Don’t you worry, we’ve got you covered.”

Weiss rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Thank you. So much.”

It was a testament to their friendship that they could joke about what should have been a heavy topic. Ruby even giggled, setting off a chain reaction that had them all chuckling. Weiss tried to maintain her faux annoyance but her lips stretched into an easy grin.

It was a wholesome moment. One that he wished they could stay in forever.