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.

Presentation

After we finished our discussion and came to an agreement, Grandmother and I went our separate ways to deal with our own business. Which, in my case, meant…well, not a whole lot. I got dinner started early, to compensate for the enormous amount of food that needed to be prepared, finished the laundry, and generally went about helping my sisters get situated.

When I left for the hospital later that night, my grandmother and Bianca were the only ones to come along. Mom was sleeping again when we stopped by, which didn't seem to concern Bianca much at all, but she and Grandmother spoke with Acer about her condition at the front desk. I healed Mom again to little effect and thought longingly about slipping into Naraka to train, but Grandmother and I had agreed I should wait for a while on that front, just until explanations could be given. Instead, I waited until everyone was asleep to fade into my dimensional barrier and spent the night grinding, leaving it at about four in the morning to make sure I was the first one 'up.'

Things continued along that vein for the next two days, the lot of us slipping into a new routine fairly quickly while Grandmother and Bianca made arrangements for my father's funeral. It was a fairly simple process, all told—in a profession like Hunting, people were taught pretty quickly to be prepared for death, and so my father had arranged his Will, funds, and all the paperwork long in advance. Really, it was mostly just a matter of juggling schedules and getting in touch with the right people at the right time. My sister's spent their days in town, making visits to old friends at Signal or Beacon, and, occasionally, wandering into the hospital for short, uncomfortable visits. But it was pretty obvious that we were all waiting for Sienna and Azure, for a number of reasons. The gathering wouldn't be complete without them, after all, and I'd decided to wait for everyone to arrive before telling them my fucked up story.

Although, I thought to myself as not being able to train as often became progressively more irritating, if they didn't show up soon, I'd just tell everyone here and let them get filled in later. Even though I gave myself ample time to train by visiting the hospital—which warded my sisters off like a plague—and I still had the nights free, I wasn't much for beating around the bush if I could avoid it. The only thing that held me back was the knowledge that things would likely go more smoothly if I dealt with all my sisters at once, so that I was on hand to avoid any misunderstanding.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to wait too long. On the third day after my Grandmother and I spoke, the last of my sisters knocked on my door. I was making my way towards it before the first tap, having long since felt them coming, but opening door the to see their faces came as something of a relief.

"Sienna," I smiled. "Azure. Welcome back from Atlas."

"Jaune," The older of the pair said, giving me a sharp nod as her blue eyes met my own. She had a heavy coat and scarf hung over an arm and even with those removed, she wore a thick, long-sleeved shirt; a reminder of what the weather was like up in Atlas. She wasn't wearing the uniform she'd been in in the picture's my sister had shown me, but her outfit's colors were reminiscent of it, in greys and whites. She wore grey leggings, knee-high boots, and a dress skirt that looked like it had been ironed and pressed at some point. She peered at me for a moment with piercing eyes and seemed to wonder what to say after all this time—but after a moment she reached up to put a hand on my head. "You've grown like a goddamn weed."

The Prison of Frozen Screams

LV 83

Sienna Arc

"Yeah," I said, smirking slightly. "It looks like I'm the tallest now, C."

She snorted and tossed her bag towards my face. I caught it out of the air wordlessly and threw it over a shoulder in one smooth motion.

"Then I guess you won't have any problem carrying all my stuff, huh, big guy?" She lifted an eyebrow challengingly, brushing back a lock of hair that had escaped from her bun.

"Not at all," I answered graciously. Truthfully, I barely felt the weight even as I picked up what seemed to be a bag filled with belts and belts and belts of ammunition. "I'll be glad to take it up to your room for you—you must be tired after such a long trip. Or I assume it was a long trip, since you're the last to arrive. Please tell me you're more punctual when you're on the job?"

She made a face, looking annoyed by the words.

"Forgive us," My other sister said, smiling at my apologetically. Unlike Sienna, she wore a light blue blouse and jeans, seeming to have already stored her jacket away in one of her bags instead of walking all this way carrying it. Her neck length hair was pulled back away from her face, and her smile was sunny. She didn't look much like a military scientist, but she did look just like I remembered her, down to the glasses that framed her blue eyes. Though last time I saw her, the glasses hadn't glowed or had quite so many buttons. "Had to make arrangements before we left, even for something like this. Are you okay, Jaune?"

Remnants of the Lost and Sunken City

LV 89

Azure Arc

"Yeah," I said, smiling at her. "Now that everyone's here, at least—and I was just kidding, Azure. I know how busy you two must be. Here, let me take your bag—we're about to have lunch."

"You sure?" She asked as she looked up at me.

"Positive," I replied as I shifted out of the doorway to let them pass. I caught the strap of Azure's bag as she entered, but lifted it more gently then I had Sienna's, feeling the carefully packed boxes within. I turned as they went by and followed just a step behind until we walked by the stairs, where I broke off to put their bags up in their rooms. As I left, though, I heard my other sisters—or at least, those that had been waiting at the kitchen table—greet the new arrivals.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up," Shani began. "Do your superiors let you get away with being this—"

"Jaune already made that joke," Azure told her. "Minus fifteen points."

"Ugh," I could practically hear Shani grimace. "Dammit—I was gonna go with a Mountains of Madness joke instead, but I was unable to make it work in any meaningful capacity."

"Really, sis?" Sienna said with a sigh. "We see each other again after all this time and you barely put any effort into greeting me."

"Sienna, you're so cold—"

"Nope," Azure said with an audible pop. "It's been ten seconds; you've lost your chance to make any ice related jokes or puns."

"Oh, come on—"

"Also," Sienna spoke over her. "It was a flat-out pathetic attempt. You can do better. Hello, Bianca."

"Sienna," My oldest sister greeted. "It's good to see you again. Is your job treating you well?"

"As much as ever," By the sound of her clothing, she'd just shrugged. "And you? How has Vacuo been since I left—"

"Indigo," I said as I pulled my attention away from my sister's conversation, glancing into the seemingly empty room on my left. "Sienna and Azure are here and lunch is almost ready."

There was a shifted and Indigo rolled out from under her bed, rubbing at her eyes with the back of a hand.

"I'm awake," She said. "What are we talking about?"

"Sienna and Azure are here," I repeated. "We're about to have lunch. Do you mind getting Olivia and Violet while I put these bags away?"

She stared at me blankly for a long moment, the words seeming to fail to penetrate, before she put her head in her hands and rubbed at her face vigorously. When she looked up again, she appeared calm and composed—or as much so as one could, having just woken up under their own bed.

"Right," She said, standing up. "I can do that. What are we having?"

"About six different types of soups and sandwiches," I answered. "I made your favorites, but I'll need to add some stuff for our new arrivals."

"Okay," She said, blinking rapidly. She looked around slowly, probably trying to remember where she was or who she was or why she was awake. Indigo tried her best, but she wasn't a morning person. She wasn't even a noon person. While my take on the subject was 'sleep is for the weak,' she was more of a 'sleep for a week' type of girl. Though looking at her now…

"You sleep okay?" I asked, feeling a bit concerned.

She frowned down at her bed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Not really," She answered at last. "But it's nothing. Violet and Olivia, got it."

"If you're sure," I said, a bit unconvinced. After all, I was able to feel her emotions. I made a note to check if she had any nightmares tonight.

But for the moment, I left the matter be and put my sisters bags away before going downstairs. Even having just woken up, Indigo worked fast and Violet and Olivia were waiting for me in the kitchen, talking with the others. I slid past them to do a bit more grinding for my cooking skill before getting everyone's plates ready. The moment I began setting food down, Grandmother walked in, as well—as per usual, by this point.

And for the amount of time it had taken to prepare, lunch ended in about two minutes, torn apart and devoured in a series of savage, violent displays. But that's a family full of Hunters, for you.

"So!" Shani said loudly, putting down her empty bowl. I hadn't bothered giving her a spoon and she hadn't bothered using one. "Now that the gang's all here, isn't there something you want to tell us Jaune?"

I smiled at her, a bit amused. She'd always been the least patient, though she'd respected my desire to wait until everyone was here.

"What?" Sienna lifted an eyebrow again, looking at her twin. "What's this about?"

"Jaune awakened his Semblance recently," Shani explained. "Got famous, too, and he said that was part of why, but he's been making us wait until he could tell all of us at once—and someone was late."

"I feel less guilty now that I know it meant making you wait," Sienna smiled but turned her questioning glance my way, as did Azure. Seemingly as one, the others followed suit, except for my Grandmother who was browsing on her scroll. She nodded her head slightly as I looked at her, however, and I smiled.

"Well, it's actually a pretty long story," I began. "And since we're on the topic, let's get some minor stuff out of the way."

I took a breath and Bai Hu rose around me, gently plucking the dishes from the table and depositing them in the sink without making me stand before placing his clawed hands on the back of my chair and standing quietly.

"First of all, I'm Jian Bing," I said, smiling.

My sisters just stared.

I waited patiently with my glowing tiger at my back, calmly waiting for a reaction. I saw brows furrow, expressions slacken, and mouths open—but for several long seconds, no one said a word. They looked at me and then at each other, but seemed to struggle to form the words. To my surprise, it was Olivia that overcame her shock first, at least to some extent.

"Um," She began, looking down at the table and then up at me, raising a finger—and pulling it back to touch the side of her hand against her lips. She seemed to rethink whatever it was she was about to say before shaking her head and spreading her hands, seeming to give up. "What?"

I lifted a hand to stop her—not that she was going to say anything else, granted—and nodded in faux-understanding.

"Now, I know what you're thinking," I said. "'Jaune, you can't be Jian Bing—you're not a Faunus!'"

"Uh, that's…I don't really think that's what any of us are wondering. Rather—" Sienna began before I spoke over her.

"Well, the answer is actually quite simple," I continued, opening my status window and changing my titles deftly. One moment I was a human, the next I was a Faunus, my claws clicking slightly against the tabletop even as my tail wrapped around my waist. "I simple turn into a Faunus whenever I feel the need, as part of my disguise. After all, who would ever suspect mild-mannered Jaune Arc to be the famous Jian Bing?"

"Did…" Shani was blinking rapidly. "Did you just use the words 'mild-mannered' in an actual sentence?"

"Now, I understand that you might find this concerning," I kept going, still smiling at them even as I shift back to my human form and ignored Shani's skewed priorities. "But don't worry—it's all just part of an international conspiracy. Grandmother's in on it, as is Ozpin if you want to ask him. I'm kind of a secret agent, though, so I'm gonna need all of you to keep quiet about this, so as to not blow my cover."

"Uh…" Violet looked around at the faces of the others, expression helpless. Beside her, Indigo seemed to regret being awake.

"Still, I wanted you all to know, just in case something happens," I told them, clapping my hands. "Now that you know my secret identity, you can call me in an emergency and you know not to, you know, kill me if something happens. Just remember that if we ever meet while I'm Jian Bing, we aren't supposed to know each other, so don't do anything to give it away. Also, there's a number of people who'll probably kill me if they find out about it, so try and avoid talking about it if you can—like, it turns out Raven Branwen's alive and part of the White Fang? And she can use these portals to spy on people from really far away without them noticing? So I'd rather she not hear about this just yet, because she might do something I'll regret, so just keep it to yourselves, if possible."

Bianca had her head down and was pinching the bridge of her nose as if a massive headache was coming onto her. Grandmother was playing some game on her scroll beside her, seemingly ignoring the proceedings, but I could see a slight smile on her face.

"I…" She began before her voice faltered.

"Don't worry, though," I assured her kindly. "That's just something I do in my free time and I just wanted to get it out of the way now. You see, I'm able to do all of this because of my Semblance, The Gamer, which allows me to live life as a game character. I have levels and can level up, I have stats and skills I can improve, I can see those sorts of things in other people, that type of thing. I'm really good at learning stuff because of it—the healer thing you and Shani asked me about? I've just been grinding my healing skill to a high level. I picked it up in a bookstore because my power lets me use 'skill books' to learn stuff, and that's how I got into the Jian Bing thing. Have you ever seen Bai Hu's temple in Vacuo? Apparently my friend copied stuff from the walls there and that's how I became Jian Bing. Well, various things happened to lead to that point, but that's more or less the story."

I looked around the table at all of their faces, took a deep breath, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Wow, it sure feels good to get that off my chest," I said. "I wanted to wait until you were all here, but it sure felt like a long time, you know? Well, I just hope that's clarified things so that nobody will be confused now. Does anyone want some ice cream to celebrate?"

The room was dead silent, though my grandmother seemed to be forcing herself not to laugh. I hoped she didn't hurt herself, because she was looking a bit strained. I looked around again, waiting for a moment, before shrugging.

"You know what? I'll get it." I offered, rising from my seat and going to the refrigerator, where I'd set the ice cream to thaw. Bai Hu reached out to open the cabinet and fetch several sets of dishes, as well as a scoop from the drawer. Nine scoops later, I walked back to the table, carrying the dishes between two pairs of hands and distributing them quickly before sitting down again. Even as I did, however, no one said a word, and I eyed them lazily before speaking again. "Also, for anyone who doesn't already know, my dog can talk—"

"Hello!" Gou shouted from the other room, breaking his somewhat prolonged silence.

"—And you're all aunts, now," I finished. "So, how have you been?"

No one answered for a minute until Azure let out a slow breath and pointed at me, mouth opening. It felt like a question was supposed to come out, but none came out and her finger was left bobbing in the air. She tried again, finger drawing a series of arcane shapes in the air as her mouth tried to form words. At last she just set it down.

"Wow," She said. "I, uh…I don't even know where to begin."

"Ask about his power," Grandmother whispered, making Azure nod, but her expression was so blank I wasn't sure she actually realized what she'd just been told to do.

"Right, right," She muttered. "So, uh, you have…game powers. You said that they…let you learn things fast? What kind of things?"

"Oh, all types of stuff," I answered. "I can project my soul into the material realm and do all sorts of tricks with Aura—"

Bai Hu waved at them.

"—Control the elements and summon Elementals—"

One by one, my Elementals appeared, Levant, Suryasta, Vulturnus, Xihai, and Ereb forming a loose circle around the table while Crocea Mors hummed quietly through the metal of the room.

"—Manipulate things like time and gravity—"

I Accelerated slightly to make my hands blur, even as I made the glass cup before me fall into the air and hang suspended upside-down.

"—And create pocket dimensions, among other things," I finished, snapping my fingers to shunt us into Naraka for a few seconds before returning us to regular reality.

Azure had started making small, strained sounds in the back of her throat around the time the Elementals appeared and rocked back in her chair for a moment before bracing herself on the table. She took several deep breaths before nodding and look up at me.

"That's nice," She said with more calm then I expected, looking around at the rest of our sisters. "So, uh, does one of you want to take this? I, um…I'm gonna need a minute. Jetlag and all."

"These are my friends, by the way," I nodded at my Elementals when no one said anything. "This is Levant, Suryasta, Vulturnus, Xihai, and Ereb, my Air, Fire, Lightning, Water, and Earth Elementals, respectively. And, of course, you remember Crocea Mors, who's now my Metal Elemental."

"Uh," Indigo said, drawing out the word for over ten seconds before swallowing. "Okay. Hello, everybody."

She lifted a hand and touched it to her face before just looking at the appendage silently, as if expecting answers from it.

"Bianca, help," Violet whispered harshly, making my oldest sister open her eyes at last, pulling her hand away from the bridge of her nose.

"Of course," She said, turning her head to face me full on. "You said Ozpin was aware of all this?"

"Yup," I said, reaching into my Inventory to draw my scroll out of thin air. She closed her eyes for a moment at the sight before focusing on me again as I went to contacts and found the Headmaster's number. He answered at the second ring.

"Hello, Jaune," He said. "Tell me it's not more bad news."

"Hope not," I answered brightly. "Are you alone, Ozpin?"

"Of course," He asked, furrowing his brow as he looked around warily, just to be sure. "I make a point to be quite careful in that regard. Why, Jaune?"

"Explaining something to my sisters," I replied, turning the scroll to face them. "You mind telling them that you're aware of the whole Jian Bing thing?"

"Ah," He said after a moment. "I suspected this would happen eventually. Welcome back to Vale, girls—I suppose this must be something of a shock. As Jaune has likely told you, I'm aware of his…shall we say, extracurricular activities and we have been working together. Needless to say, this is all heavily classified, for the safety of both your brother and your entire family."

"Of course," Bianca nodded once before gesturing vaguely at me. "But you know what's going on?"

"As much as I ever do, Bianca," Ozpin said before I turned the scroll back my way. "Will that be all, Jaune?"

"For right now, yeah," I nodded. "I'm gonna need to talk to you about something later, but I figured it was best to have this talk now and avoid any misunderstandings, you know? Hope it wasn't any trouble."

"Not at all, Jaune," He lifted his mug towards me and smiled. "Just stop by my office when you need to speak to me and take care."

"And you," I replied, hanging up before quirking an eyebrow at my oldest sister. Bianca took a deep breath and bobbed her head once.

"As long as someone fucking knows what's going on," She said. "I'm out. Anyone else?"

Again, there was a prolonged silence and I scanned the table slowly to meet their eyes one by one. Most of them were rather glassy, still, but I nodded and rose.

"I guess it's a lot to take in, huh?" I mused, smiling at them. "Well, perhaps a quick break would help us all. I'm going to go train in my pocket dimension for a bit, so why don't we continue this later?"

I waved at them once before fading into Naraka and walking off.