The city of Vale ca into view just after six.
It wasn't quite like Ansel.
Ansel had traffic and high-rises and more than one coffee chain per block, but it still felt manageable.
Human.
Vale didn't. Vale felt like it had been built for sothing bigger than people.
Jaune leaned against the car window, staring out as the skyline grew in the distance. Towers of steel and glass rose from the earth like monunts, glowing faintly in the early evening light. Streetlights blinked on, one by one, casting long reflections on the pavent. The sun had already dipped behind the tallest buildings, leaving the sky streaked in violet and burnt gold.
In the window, his own reflection looked back at him. Blond hair, longer than it should've been, curled ssily at the edges of his hood. He had a bit of a soft face—at least, that's what people always said, like he hadn't quite grown into it yet. His blue eyes, oddly like sapphires, did not help his case.
They were almost searchingly alert, as if expecting the city itself to suddenly reach down and poke him in the chest.
"So," his dad said, one hand on the wheel, the other fishing around for a water bottle. "Excited? Nervous? Trying not to throw up?"
Jaune blinked. "In that order?"
His dad grinned. "I'm just saying, it's a big day. You're allowed to feel things."
"I do feel things," Jaune muttered. "I'm just better at hiding them."
"You say, while staring dramatically out a window."
Jaune sighed but couldn't help a small smile. "I wasn't being dramatic. I was absorbing the atmosphere."
"Ah. Of course. My mistake." His dad took a sip of water and raised an eyebrow. "Absorb quietly then, Mr. Atmosphere."
They fell into an easy silence. The music humd from the speakers, and the engine purred steadily below, almost as constant as a heartbeat. The road ahead split into looping overpasses and snarled intersections, lights glowing red and white like rivers of signal. Jaune watched it all with a kind of cautious awe. It was beautiful in a way he hadn't expected. Intimidating, sure, but beautiful.
The car turned off the expressway, and Vale truly opened up.
Billboards lit the sky, advertising movies he hadn't seen and restaurants he couldn't afford. People moved like currents through the streets, so laughing, so arguing, most glued to their phones as if the world around them wasn't on the verge of swallowing them whole. Everything felt faster here.
Brighter and... sharper around the edges.
"So," his dad said, glancing over, "what's on your mind?"
Jaune shrugged. "Just... new city jitters, I guess. New school and no friends. Nothing terrifying about that."
His dad chuckled. "You'll be fine. You've got the Arc charm after all."
"I've got a fear of heights and a poor posture."
"Which makes you relatable."
They shared a look, then grinned at each other.
It helped.
Even with the pressure in his chest and the uncertainty twisting in his gut, it helped.
As the car crawled through traffic toward their new house, Jaune caught another glimpse of himself in the side mirror. Perhaps his dad was right. This was an opportunity to spread his wings and expand his worldview.
His expression looked a little different now. Like sothing had already started shifting, even if he couldn't na it yet.
And soon they arrived at their new stay.
The house sat at the edge of a nice, quiet neighborhood, tucked just far enough from the main road that it felt a little removed from the city without being isolated. It had pale blue siding, a slanted roof that looked like it needed a good cleaning, and a porch light that flickered once before staying on.
Jaune tried not to read into that.
"Well," his dad said as he pulled into the driveway, "there it is. Our new fortress of... unpacked dreams?"
His dad paused, scratching at his blonde beard.
"Maybe Arc hostead number two might be a better na."
Jaune smirked and stepped out of the car, taking a deep long breath in the process.
The air slled faintly like freshly-cut grass and soone grilling at a few houses down. The sky overhead was now turning into a darker shade of blue, just tipping into night-black.
"Looks bigger than I thought it would." Jaune comnted, stretching out his arms.
His dad walked around the car with a little grunt. "Everything looks bigger after a four-hour drive. Except your posture."
Jaune rolled his eyes.
"You've ntioned."
The front door creaked open without a fight. The lights ca on with a soft hum, revealing a mostly furnished living room and a scattering of boxes waiting to be dealt with. Most of the heavy lifting had been done the week before when his dad made the first trip up. Now it was just a matter of finding where everything went.
"Boxes with your na are upstairs. I left the important ones untouched," his dad said as he slipped off his shoes. "Figured you wouldn't want manhandling your little collection of… what kind of toys are they? Ani elves?"
"They're collectible figures," Jaune replied as he headed for the stairs. "And they're limited edition hero models. Not ani elves."
"Of course they are."
His room was the second door on the left, slightly smaller than his old one back in Ansel, but it had a big window with a view of the quiet street. The walls were blank, the mattress already in place, and beside it, a short stack of boxes labeled simply in black marker: Jaune's stuff.
He crouched down and peeled one open. Inside, nestled in layers of bubble wrap, were his favorite figures—knights, heroes, the occasional masked swordsman in way too many belts. He picked one up, turning it over in his hands, then placed it on the dresser like it had always been there.
It was strange how comforting sothing that small could be.
Downstairs, he heard a cupboard open, close, then open again with a little more force.
"Jaune!" his dad called up. "We've got two options for dinner. Pizza or... mystery Tupperware."
Jaune stuck his head out of the doorway. "Does the mystery glow in the dark?"
"It might if we leave it out long enough."
"Pizza it is, then!"
They ate on the couch with the box between them and paper towels serving as plates. His dad scrolled through a few streaming apps, never settling on anything, while Jaune mostly stared out the window.
The neighborhood was quiet, dotted with porch lights and the occasional passing car. It felt safe in a way that made him a little uneasy, like sothing was missing but he couldn't tell what.
"You doing alright?" his dad asked, chewing thoughtfully on a crust.
"Yeah," Jaune said. "Just tired. Big day today, and even more of one tomorrow, after all."
"You're handling it better than I did at your age. I moved to a new school and imdiately got locked in a janitor's closet by the swim team."
"Did you deserve it?"
"Eh... probably. Your mom and I were caught ssing around by them but I was very charming, so they let out pretty fast."
Jaune's smile strained. "Didn't really need to know about that."
"And besides," Jaune added
"You were probably as awkward as I am."
"That hurts," his dad said, then added with a shrug, "but fair."
Later, Jaune stood in his room, staring at the ceiling fan as it spun lazily above him. The window let in the soft hum of the city, muffled by the walls and the quiet of the neighborhood.
Jaune had already unpacked most of what mattered.
The rest could wait.
He didn't really feel nervous anymore. Not exactly. Just stretched thin by the change, like he wasn't quite caught up to where he was.
His phone buzzed once with a ssage. After a glance at it, he didn't feel like answering.
He set it aside and climbed into bed. The house creaked once, sowhere downstairs. Pipes or settling or the ghosts of rental agreents past.
Or maybe it was just his dad.
Whatever it was, it didn't bother him.
Not yet.
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