WARNING: Just to give you all a fair alert for what's ahead, we got talk of some heavy stuff from all kinds of abuse...I know it's probably worrying over nothing but it's worth it to give people reading this a heads up, so just be warned for Abuse triggers and the implications of the R-Word
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Waiting Rooms were always a hard place for Jae.
The growing pressure of waiting in the chair outside of the doors felt like he was awaiting a sentence that he didn't know was coming to the rhythm of a ticking clock; it was always this way, he was like this for the hospital when he was taken with his mom during her latest "accident" or waiting outside the head Foster's office for hitting someone who tried to sneak a marble into his cereal while he ate.
"Jae Cielo?" A voice called out as a short woman looked around with a clipboard in hand and wearing a uniform; "Right this way."
"Let's just get this over with…" Jae whispered to himself as he walked alongside the woman. Every fibre in his body was yelling at him to turn around and walk away but he didn't; "I have to…I'll do this then I can move on…"
"Just for a fair warning, Sir…Make sure you leave your belt along with anything in your pockets, we don't want to run the risk of anything happening." The lady warned him as she grabbed a clear plastic tray.
"In all honesty, I'd rather avoid giving that man chances at all." Jae mentioned as he was lead to a door. It opened up into visiting room meant for two; A table was sat in the middle and each half was blocked off by an inch of thick glass, on the other side of the room was a man wearing Vale's typical prison attire and looked like a drastically older looking Jae with black hair. He had salt and pepper streaks in his long and ratty hair from a combination of age and the duress of being in prison, his eyes had dark rings under a set of dull grey pools. If he had been on the outside then he would've been considered weirdly handsome but since he was gaunt from lack of exercise and muscle withered from incarceration: He looked more like a bipedal rat skeleton than a man.
The Man standing behind the tempered glass with guards on either side of him was the man who had made Jae's childhood a nightmare: Amon Cielo. "Well…Look who finally decided to visit dear old Dad during his stay." He said with a velvety smooth voice and a crooked grin, though Jae's face remained unchanged.
From the moment that Jae sat down; He was a rock, his face became hard and cold in the presence of someone he considered to be the worst kind of person. "…You've aged…." He remarked curtly as he then decided to get this over with. "I want answers from you."
"Well, what else is new? First it was those stuffy cops who kept bugging me about HER…Then that blonde chick with the crop who asked me the same questions…Then again, I wouldn't minded answering if she showed me a little something for motivation."
Jae gave off a warning growl with a tight forming grimace on his face; "Get to the point…." He spelled out through grit teeth.
"Right, right…You're no fun…." He waved off Jae and listed off more; "That tightly wound army guy from the news came around to ask me about you of all things…At first I thought he wanted to find out why I hadn't enlisted in the military or as a full time Huntsman, turns out he only ever wanted to talk about you." Amon continued to talk at Jae though that same smooth tone that he used had a slight tinge of venom eke out at that last part.
"That's not what I want to know….I wanna know what happened to Mom…After she got carted off to the hospital." Jae finally revealed his ultimate reason as to why he kept coming back; "I came here and you complained either about me, her or poor you stuck in prison…So where is she?"
"Why the hell should I know? That Demon seed bearing harpy of a woman could've wandered off anywhere…She got me in prison and she finally got you out of her life, I could imagine that the bitch was quite overjoyed…" Amon snarked as he scratched at a spot on his head; "Honestly that's the only thing I envy about her…She gets no consequence while I get fucked over for everything."
"I don't even know where to begin that could explain why you're wrong…" Jae stated bluntly as he pointed at Amon; "You weren't exactly a model husband…Or a good person overall." He argued with a narrowed glare, with all the years to remember it for; the man that Jae called a father held absolutely no good memories at all.
"And there it is…You are so deluded that you believed she actually cared about you? About me at all…First chance she got to leave and she took it…conveniently enough to get me locked up and you dropped off at some bumfuck orphanage in Vale." Amon lamented with a sour glare at his son, "You think she's innocent? Let me tell you…She gave as good as she got."
"Every time I saw you in a room together with me or her; You were always the first one to lash out with your words, a bottle or just your fist if you felt like it…For literally anything. Somehow you forget that this doesn't get forgotten easy!" Jae argued at Amon with a slowly growing frustration and lifted up the hair from his forehead to show a thin but still visible cut on the side of his head that had scarred over.
"And yet you never once remembered what I taught you or even said thank you for dedicating my busy time to showing you how to stop picking your nose and to pick your sword out of a Grimm!" Amon snapped as he leered at Jae; "Honestly, you should be grateful that I even taught you how to use that sword…But nooooo, as always you have to be the same whiny, cowardly little brat that goes crying to mama whenever I go a little tough on you!"
"Do you even listen to yourself?! When I didn't cut a dummy down, you smacked me so hard that I hit a tree and knocked out a tooth!" Jae ranted; "Not convinced? How about when I didn't hit a target dead centre with an air gun and you left me outside to sleep for the night…"
"Everything I did was to make you into a Huntsman worth a damn!" Amon groaned; "Yet once again, you always have to make it about you…."
"You made it about me when you started to admit to Mom that you hated me!" Jae yelled at him and stood out of his chair; Leaning down to glare at the unapologetic man. "But if that's all you have to say about her then I'll consider this done." He sighed and then looked to the door.
"Well, since I answered your questions…How about you do your old man a favour?" Amon asked and scratched his nose like his son hadn't burst into a rant; "I've been cooped up in here for 7 years…Now that you and I are talking again, you can whisper a few nice words to that General friend of yours and tell him that I'm ready to get my parole."
"You're serious? You think that just because you vaguely answered a question or two, you think that you're some kind of reformed Saint?!" Jae asked incredulously as he saw this man looking at him like he was waiting for his turn in the bathroom.
"There's no choice in the matter boy. You HAVE to listen to me, to obey me and to do whatever I ask of you…Because without me to show you how strong you could be? You'd be nothing that same snivelling little waste of space….Now do as your father says!"
Just hearing that phrase reverted Jae back 12 years; The harsh yelling from his father, the louder arguing from both parents…Just from that tone of voice alone made Jae feel like he was a little boy all over again, too scared to argue back and too weak to stand up and defend his mother…He hated having to remember this.
Smirking at seeing this still having an effect on him, Amon decided to push it; "Remember all those times I trained you…All those times that I showed you how the world worked? You. Owe. Me."
"I owe you nothing…." Jae growled with a furrowed brow, dealing with trying to overcome what he had gone through was one thing but this was not something he was going to let happen again. "For all the hurt, all the anger and all of your cruelty…I don't owe you a single thing…But I also don't expect you to give me anything back, so if this is all you have then I say we're done."
"Oh we are far from done, you disrespectful snot! You talk about going through hell? YOU put me through hell! All your whining and griping was one thing, you refused to learn, you always hid behind that coldhearted harpy and you make her fight for you! You just never seemed to understand that what you thought was your best wasn't good enough!" Amon snapped with a vicious snarl on his face; "I put in so much work for you…Dealt with your little complaints and that woman's snippy comments but all I get in return in "Daddy, it's too much!" or "Daddy, you nearly cut me!"…Then there was my personal favouri-"
"THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Jae yelled at him; "You are a horrible, HORRIBLE person! Anyone who's ever gone near you has been screwed over in one way or another yet all you do is laugh at them or complain that they didn't give you anything back!"
"I've been screwed over! You wanna know what happened the last time someone gave back something to me? I got stuck with some fat faced, bawling overdeveloped sperm and the demonic cow who decided to stick around and saddle me with both your problems!" Amon yelled back but then straightened himself up as he grew that malicious smile back; "But then again…I never really had to work all that hard to get what I wanted from her in the first place…all it took was to pin her down long enough for me to enjoy it~"
Jae felt everything slow down to a crawl and his heart sank into his stomach like a rock when he heard that line register in his head; "…What?" He asked slowly as he turned around to face him. "You…Mom…You didn't…."
"All I wanted out of life was fun! I get what I want and do what I want…How the hell was I supposed to know that my one night of fun shackled me to an icy witch of a demoness with some worthless 8 pound pile of afterbirth that slithered out of that whore's filth." Amon continued his tirade as he kept that self-convinced assurance running.
"….up…."
"You want my honest opinion? If I REALLY wanted to keep something like you around, I'd have put you up in a glass jar on the mantlepiece…But considering how much of a colossal mistake you are….I could've easily just made your mother swallow you instead."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Jae bellowed at him as he finally lost it and now had his Fire Dust revolver pointed at the glass, ensuring he was directly aiming for the spot between Amon's eyes.
This was enough of a threat that the two guards pointed their own weapons at Jae; "Hey kid! Don't do anything stupid!" They tried to talk him down; In all honesty, Amon Cielo was one of the most malicious and openly hostile prisoners that they had but even so, they didn't want to see a kid get dragged down to his level and carted off to prison. "You're better than this…"
"You heard the guards….Back off or you'll end up in here right beside me...Just. Like. Me…" Amon sneered with a warning as he noticed them coming to stop him from getting shot.
Jae was more emotionally volatile than he had ever felt before as his knuckles were white from gripping Carmen so tight and he could feel his whole body tremble in long since bottled up emotions; His finger just over the trigger and one squeeze could mean that he ended his torment for good.
"Kid…You don't want to do this…If you follow through on those thoughts then you'll end up being no better than the vile excuse of a man who put you through this….So why not let the police keep him here and allow justice to win over him…" That same voice echoed in him, trying to make him remember the humanity that he was a part of.
However another voice came in ready to goad him; "He ruined your life, beat you until your body and your spirit broke over and over without even a second thought….He even took away your mother…Fulfil your role as a Demon and exact the cruel retribution that he so openly felt you deserved….Because while He lives…Your future as a Demon and a Hunstman die."
Jae hesitated for a moment as the shaking stopped and he began thinking more clearly; "Those things may die…But I know the right thing to do…" He said to himself before lowering the gun and watched the guards do the same; "Never…I wouldn't stoop to your level…Not while I have people to help me."
"Heh…Typical of you…You finally had the chance, you had your literal shot to settle things but you wimped out…" Amon taunted him with a smug look on his face like getting threatened at gunpoint was nothing.
Jae smirked; "I rather use my shot with my teammates…You must've seen it on TV…My team's on it's way into the finals of the tournament." He explained in great detail; "We're all over the broadcasts and on the way to becoming legitimately realised Hunstmen….Unlike you…"
Amon felt his body stiffen as a deep seated anger filled his body like he touched a hot coal. "What did you say to me?"
"You heard me…We're popular, we're front and centre on every screen because of our efforts and I have the pleasure of leading them." Jae further rubbed it in; "You've spent so much of this time getting under my skin that I never even thought of returning the favour….So how does it feel? Knowing that someone as abhorrent as you who tried to play off that you're a Huntsman is stuck in here while your "Demon" of a son gets to lead a team of strong people and gets to enjoy the appreciation."
Amon wasn't sure where Jae got this bounce back from but he hated it….no….He despised it; "You…You think you're so cool now? Well wait until they find out the truth…When they realised that you're nothing special! That you're nothing more than some overdeveloped freak of nature that can't even hold a sword without crying his eyes out!" He started yelling and blustering as he realised that Jae was starting to slip free from his grip.
"They already know about me…Though even if they didn't, I've got nothing to prove…You've always told me I was nothing…But now I can see you for the person you really are, YOU are nothing." Jae stated with a serious look on his face; "You have nothing to show, nothing to command me with and nothing to threaten with…As far as I'm concerned, we're done here." He finished as he turned towards the door, asking the guard to let him out.
"No…No….This little bastard ruined my life once…I refuse to let him do it again!" Amon thought as he pounded on the glass; "Don't walk away….DON'T YOU DARE WALK AWAY FROM ME! I AM YOUR FATHER! YOU OBEY ME! YOU NEED ME! YOU SHOULD BE BEGGING ME FOR A THOUSAND THANKS JUST TO LET YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE YOUR BALLS DROP!" He screamed at Jae's back, continuing to pound and thrash against the glass with no answer to return.
"No…I don't." Jae muttered darkly as he saw the door unlock and open up.
Amon was desperate, his last ounce of control was gone along with his restraint as he frantically grabbed one of the guard's rifles and aimed it at the glass. "I may have brought you into this life by accident, you little shitstain! BUT I WILL TAKE YOU OUT OF IT MYSELF!"
However the guards and Amon himself didn't even have a chance to react as a single gunshot rang out through the visiting room and a single hole was visible and burned through the glass in a perfect entry and exit point. Amon let out a panicked laugh as he didn't feel the bullet in his body; however his mind caught up as he collapsed to the floor his hand clasped on to the right side of his head with a squeal of pain as it looked like a perfect crescent shape had been made on the edge of his ear where Jae had shot it.
Jae looked done, he WAS done with everything to do with him; "If you can't tell me anything else about Mom, then I think that's it…I'm gonna ask the team to put me forward for the Finals and I'm gonna go looking for her once I graduate." He explained it slowly so Amon could hear it clearly; "So congratulations, you finally get what you always thought you deserved: Me out of your life because when I walk out of this door and out of this prison…It'll be the last you'll ever see of me."
"You…I'll get out eventually…And when I do, I can run straight to those Demon Hunter fanatics wherever they are and tell them all about you! Then we'll see how much your confidence will take you…But hear my warning! No matter where you go or who you're with, I know you'll bring ruin to anyone you come across like you ruined me, destroying everything you touch and putting people in danger just by existing!"
"Always nice to hear you encourage me…But as far as where you stand? I have no father, never did since I was 10…And if I do ever see you near me or any of my friends…I'll aim to shoot more than just your ear…" Jae warned as he shut the door behind him with a cold, metallic slam to the sound of Amon Cielo's angered screaming and ranting dying out when he got outside. Once he made it out into the fresh air and took a hefty drop onto a empty park bench, once he realised that he had no one else watching him; He broke…The weight of everything came crashing down on top of him; Amon making him relive his childhood, the fact that he was nowhere closer to finding out what happened to his mom and the fact that from within his own family line…He was alone.
"Jae?" A voice called out to him curiously.
After wiping his eyes and turning to where he heard it; Jae saw that it was Blake standing there and once she saw his reddened eyes, her concern for him grew and then went to sit with him; "O-Oh…Hey Blake…"
"What are you doing out here alone? I thought you'd be talking with the others about who's going into the finals?" Blake asked as she had stopped out to get more tea for their dorms before the first match in the finals.
"Uh…Y-Yeah, they messaged me to say they were gonna chat before we go to the stadium…" Jae mentioned softly as he tried to pull himself together. "I honestly don't know if Pyrrha's gonna go for it or if someone else will."
"You know, they could always pick you…I think out of the other three, you probably deserve your time in the limelight for once." Blake tried to assure him and lightly pat his back. 'I mean; Pyrrha is the most well known fighter in this whole thing, Ren's the poster boy for ninja and Nora is a natural charm…It's only fair that you get your chance."
"Yeah but…"
"But nothing! You've put in so much effort to get as far as you did, you want to show everyone that you can be just as good as anyone else, right? If you turn this down then you might not get a better chance to prove yourself." Blake gently clapped her hands on his cheeks; "You need to focus, if not for yourself then for the teammates that are gonna vouch if you or Pyrrha get picked." She said softly and then leaned in to kiss him on the lips, her body softening like his had as the tension started to ebb away.
"Y-Yeah, you're right…I must've sounded pretty dumb…" Jae admitted with an embarrassed laugh as Blake pulled him a little out of his funk; "I'll go talk to the others and we'll sort things out."
"I'll make sure we watch if you two get picked…" Blake mentioned as she went into town for her last minute buy; "I'll see you around Jae…But come see me after the next match, I want to ask you something later on."
Jae nodded as he headed for the airship back to the dorms, hoping to find his team though when he knocked on the door; only Ren and Nora were there. "Good, I was hoping t-Wait, where's Pyrrha?"
"She got called to Professor Ozpin's office for something so she's on her way there." Ren explained; "She said that she's sorry that she couldn't stay behind but she wanted us to pass on a message for you."
Jae nodded as he grabbed a seat on his bed; "Pyrrha got called to Ozpin's office…Maybe she's been asked about who's going forward?" He thought to himself before looking to the others; "So what exactly was it that she wanted to say?"
Nora had a mile wide grin as she bounced on her own bed; "Can I tell him?CanI?CanI?CanI?CanI?CanI?CanI?" Nora asked giddily and with a machinegun quick pace while she poked Ren's cheek to try getting him to say yes.
"So there's two things actually…The first was that Nico and the others wanted to hand something over to you." Ren mentioned as he reached down under his bed and pulled out a note. "They said it was too much to keep in our dorm so they handed the thing over to Ozpin to put in your locker.
"And we chose you for the Finals!" Nora burst out with a loud cheer as she dramatically jumped off her bed and hugged Jae; "Pyrrha said that everything you've accomplished was more than enough to earn yourself some time in the sun!"
Jae was dumbstruck and thrown for a loop as he welcomed Nora's hug and lightly pat her head as she normally wouldn't let go until her patented "Nora-Hug" satisfied her when she got Ren, Jae or Pyrrha into one.
"Yee~ Nice pats~" Nora giggled softly as she held on.
"So…You guys're all okay with that? I would've thought Pyrrha was the sure thing for it…" Jae tried to confirm as he took the note and started to read it.
"Hey Kid!, we stopped by because I finished up on a little project of mine as a reward for your help in clearing out that mountain a while back, those two lovely ladies were a "Graduation Gift" for handling our training to make you a stronger Demon but what I cooked up here is a gift to say thanks for getting me some…honestly, pretty godsdamned amazing quality Dust Ore! I talked it through with Oz and he okayed it if you wanna use it if you get picked for the next match, just go to your locker and pick it up…You won't be disappointed, Trish and Lady both say hi btdubs~ N."
"We're okay with you going for it, so show them what you're good at and kick their butts, dummy~!" Nora pointed out as she finally let go of the hug but kept sat with him as Ren joined him on the other side.
"See? Everyone wants you to go forward to the finals…And I know you don't wanna disappoint, do you?" Ren asked as he pat Jae's back, "Come on, let's go meet up at the Stadium."
Jae smiled a little more as he got up with the others to head on out for the Final few matches remaining; Sure in terms of his family, he was alone…But with the friends that stuck by him and the desire to do good despite that? That made him feel not so bad in the grand scheme of things.