A Series Of Unfortunate Circumstances [RWBY SI] [AHOIAC AU]
- Location
- Tampa Florida
Btw idk if youve seen new world of Warcraft trailer where female is like THIS WORLD IS PRISON AND I WILL SET US ALL FREE but like that just fits shade imo
- Location
- Indonesia
While double posting is technically allowed here, can you not?
Chapter Fifty-Five
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Fifty-Five
The blacksmith had done a good job. Magnistipula was once more completed, and as I checked the mechashifting, the large chunk of iron split in two, giving me two short, stocky swords bound by a rattling chain.
It made the weapon more manageable, and a man with two short ax-like blades was quite different from a man with a large greatsword on its back.
I paid the man his due and then left. As I neared my horse, I looked at the beast with a puzzled look. The horse was one of Salem's. Yet...could it have been infected too? Was there even a way to find out?
My left hand touched its muzzle, and as I patted the poor beast I took a deep breath. The horse neighed softly, its eyes gazing into mine with vivid brightness.
"How would I even know the difference?" I muttered, before stepping on the stirrup and getting on the saddle. "Let's go," I clicked my tongue against my teeth, gently patted the horse's side, and with a slow trot, headed for the repeater tower.
The Gheist was no more, and I had a quick phone call to make to alert Cinder of my estimated day of arrival. With the Grimm-repellent no longer working, I'd need more time to get to my destination.
She wasn't pleased that I needed a bit more time because of potential problems along the way with wild animals, but she accepted it. Emerald was devastated, and I saw the faintest glimmer of misty eyes form before she quickly schooled herself.
Still, I was now on my way along Mistral's road, making good time.
The trip was no longer that boring, Grimm attacking as if I were just a normal traveler, and emerging none the better from it. I had come to an understanding with my altered Semblance, or with whatever it was. It was like fire, only it wasn't simple fire. It was like a whip if I willed it to be a whip, or a gauntlet if I wanted it to be such. It was a stream of white fire, and a beacon of light.
And I still had no idea how it had come to be; or where it was supposed to go, but it definitely didn't belong to Salem, thus, it had to be mine.
But if it didn't drain Aura, then it didn't belong to the Schnee semblance either; perhaps it was a part of my soul? Uh, was that my non-Schnee semblance?
I was chewing on a small chocolate tablet, minding my business and half-lost in thoughts a couple of weeks down the road of my life, when the noise of a motorbike caught my attention. I quietly moved the horse to the side of the road, humming to myself as the bike in question dashed past me.
I dismounted, clapped the horse's flank to let it go on its merry way, and then stepped into the undergrowth. My ears caught the sign of the motorbike's brake engaging.
By the time I heard the telltale sounds of gauntlet-shotgun blasts, I was already wildly off-path.
"Shade! I know you're there!" Yang's voice was familiar to my ears, and also quite rough. "I just want to talk! And maybe cave your face in a bit!"
I shook my head in silence, sighed and then turned thoughtful. Adam hadn't defeated her, but Pyrrha. And I didn't doubt that Yang would have never believed the girl capable of doing that willfully; so she had to know things were off.
But had her loss made her mature, or merely embittered her further?
And how was I even able to change that?
I heard her footsteps crunch the wooden branches. "I just want to know what went on," Yang's voice continued, something akin to a foreign emotion creeping into it. "Beacon fell, and I was out during it. Ruby said you were there, you were by the Grimm's side. For fuck's sake, Shade," Yang snapped, "I know you. Everything you did, being Ruby's and Pyrrha's friend, helping train Jaune, being there for Blake-how can I reconcile the two things? Were you always lying to us?"
I remained quiet.
"I don't think I can ever forgive you," Yang's voice continued, "But at least-at least tell me what happened, so I can forget about you."
I didn't sigh. I didn't move from my hiding spot.
"I know you're listening," Yang stressed, "I don't want to fight, but I will, if it's the only thing that's going to get an answer out of you."
There was silence in the undergrowth. The wind rustled the branches of the trees.
"Coward," Yang spat out. She had bluffed, perhaps. She didn't really know where I was.
"You're a coward!" she screamed louder still, and then exhaled, and moved away.
I said nothing as I heard her footsteps grow fainter, and waited for the sound of the motorbike to lose itself into the distance. When I emerged from the undergrowth again, I glanced at my horse who had returned in the meantime, chewing on the roadside's grass, and then climbed back up.
We resumed our journey, the horse and I.
"I'll call you Choco," I said offhandedly, patting the horse's neck. "How do you feel about that?"
The horse neighed. I didn't know whether it was a neigh of approval, or one of disapproval, but it was a neigh all the same. "Well, if you don't like it, just don't answer when I call you that."
Trotting along, the last few days of trekking into the wilderness of Mistral passed by in a blur. I had words in my head, thoughts I didn't wish to think, and whispers I didn't want to hear. Yet, in the end, the gates of Mistral welcomed me.
The people were nervous, yet tried their best to appear at ease. Haven stood over a cliff, on the outskirts of the city of Mistral itself. There was little I could do but show up at the gates of the academy, and see what had happened during my absence.
The huntsman academy was deserted, as I suspected it to be. The main entrance held the statue of Djinn before the stairway up, and as I looked at it, I wondered if Cinder had managed to find out who the Spring maiden was, or if she was still looking for her.
"The academy is closed-" a voice began, only to then stop. I glanced towards it, and grinned at Emerald's frame appearing from the darkest corner of the hall. She was pulling guard duty, I guessed, feigning being a student judging by the uniform she was wearing.
"Hey there," I said with a wink, "Missed me?"
The murderer who wouldn't blink an eye at letting one girl chop the arm of another off, who wouldn't be fazed at the death of countless hundreds, who would shrug at a Grimm eating another human being alive, gasped and then rushed to give me a hug, not unlike a child seeing their parent for the first time after months of absence.
"You're back!" she said excitedly, her arms linking around my neck as I chuckled and returned the hug in question, spinning her around a bit. "Why did it take you so long?" she asked as I dropped her back down, her feet touching the ground. "Did you have any problems? Hazel arrived earlier than you by a week, and he's with Cinder and Mercury right now-" Emerald kept updating me, even as I could see her shifting the weight on her body from right to left.
She was shaking from excitement.
"I didn't have any problems," I said amiably, "What about you instead, Emerald? Everything's fine?"
"Y-Yeah," Emerald nodded, "Everything's fine now," she added as my hand gently came down to rub her head a bit. She preened under the attention. "Oh! I need to tell Cinder you're here! I forgot! If she asks, I told you to contact her immediately!" she blurted out, fumbling for her Scroll and then passing it to me unlocked.
The fact her Scroll background was a picture of us reading a book together made me chuckle, but as I quickly went through her contacts to hit Cinder's number, I brought the Scroll to my ear and waited.
At the third ring, Cinder picked up. "Emerald-"
"Love-dove, I'm in Haven," I said. "Both literally and figuratively, I might add, since I'm closer to you now."
There was a brief moment of silence on the other side of the Scroll. "I see," Cinder said, a small sigh leaving her lips. "The sound of your voice cheers me immensely, but I am busy now. We'll talk more later. Tell Emerald to bring you to Lionheart; the man is working with our mistress, and it would be best he knew you arrived too."
"Understood," I said, "See you soon, dear."
"I cannot wait," Cinder whispered back, and then closed the conversation. I passed the Scroll back to Emerald, who was all too happy to show me around Haven.
Lionheart didn't share in her optimism in knowing there was one more servant of Salem around, but then again, it wasn't like he had the courage to say anything about it; not to my face, at the very least.
With a new Scroll and a new identity to go with it, I now was once more part of the system.
Emerald had a skip in her steps as she eagerly agreed to show me around the city of Mistral. The city itself was a crowded affair; there were people selling food, and thugs glaring and then hastily averting their gaze when we glared back at them.
Mistral was class-divided; the richest lived atop the hill, and the poorest down in the slums. For many, the only way to make ends meet was to go into a life of crime, and the few that made it through a combat school in the gutters could attempt a new life as huntsmen, if they made the cut.
But recently, Haven academy had stopped getting new students, and the class divide had grown sharper as many crime families had tightened their holds on the black market following Vale's fall.
Some people still managed to eke by a living, but it was clear by the hunger in other's eyes that things were going downhill. It was just a matter of time before Mistral fell; whether Atlas would move to support them or not, though, that was anyone's guess.
"Oh, this is a local delicacy!" Emerald said suddenly, grabbing hold of my arm and pulling like an eager child in the direction of a stall, "It's fried octopus! You have to try it!"
"Sure," I said with a chuckle.
The man behind the counter was happy to have customers.
He never realized he was paid with illusion-money, nor did I have any intentions on telling him that.
Emerald and I, to the external observer, just looked like a happy father-daughter combo.
And what a combo we were...
...both criminals, with sins crawling on our backs.
The blacksmith had done a good job. Magnistipula was once more completed, and as I checked the mechashifting, the large chunk of iron split in two, giving me two short, stocky swords bound by a rattling chain.
It made the weapon more manageable, and a man with two short ax-like blades was quite different from a man with a large greatsword on its back.
I paid the man his due and then left. As I neared my horse, I looked at the beast with a puzzled look. The horse was one of Salem's. Yet...could it have been infected too? Was there even a way to find out?
My left hand touched its muzzle, and as I patted the poor beast I took a deep breath. The horse neighed softly, its eyes gazing into mine with vivid brightness.
"How would I even know the difference?" I muttered, before stepping on the stirrup and getting on the saddle. "Let's go," I clicked my tongue against my teeth, gently patted the horse's side, and with a slow trot, headed for the repeater tower.
The Gheist was no more, and I had a quick phone call to make to alert Cinder of my estimated day of arrival. With the Grimm-repellent no longer working, I'd need more time to get to my destination.
She wasn't pleased that I needed a bit more time because of potential problems along the way with wild animals, but she accepted it. Emerald was devastated, and I saw the faintest glimmer of misty eyes form before she quickly schooled herself.
Still, I was now on my way along Mistral's road, making good time.
The trip was no longer that boring, Grimm attacking as if I were just a normal traveler, and emerging none the better from it. I had come to an understanding with my altered Semblance, or with whatever it was. It was like fire, only it wasn't simple fire. It was like a whip if I willed it to be a whip, or a gauntlet if I wanted it to be such. It was a stream of white fire, and a beacon of light.
And I still had no idea how it had come to be; or where it was supposed to go, but it definitely didn't belong to Salem, thus, it had to be mine.
But if it didn't drain Aura, then it didn't belong to the Schnee semblance either; perhaps it was a part of my soul? Uh, was that my non-Schnee semblance?
I was chewing on a small chocolate tablet, minding my business and half-lost in thoughts a couple of weeks down the road of my life, when the noise of a motorbike caught my attention. I quietly moved the horse to the side of the road, humming to myself as the bike in question dashed past me.
I dismounted, clapped the horse's flank to let it go on its merry way, and then stepped into the undergrowth. My ears caught the sign of the motorbike's brake engaging.
By the time I heard the telltale sounds of gauntlet-shotgun blasts, I was already wildly off-path.
"Shade! I know you're there!" Yang's voice was familiar to my ears, and also quite rough. "I just want to talk! And maybe cave your face in a bit!"
I shook my head in silence, sighed and then turned thoughtful. Adam hadn't defeated her, but Pyrrha. And I didn't doubt that Yang would have never believed the girl capable of doing that willfully; so she had to know things were off.
But had her loss made her mature, or merely embittered her further?
And how was I even able to change that?
I heard her footsteps crunch the wooden branches. "I just want to know what went on," Yang's voice continued, something akin to a foreign emotion creeping into it. "Beacon fell, and I was out during it. Ruby said you were there, you were by the Grimm's side. For fuck's sake, Shade," Yang snapped, "I know you. Everything you did, being Ruby's and Pyrrha's friend, helping train Jaune, being there for Blake-how can I reconcile the two things? Were you always lying to us?"
I remained quiet.
"I don't think I can ever forgive you," Yang's voice continued, "But at least-at least tell me what happened, so I can forget about you."
I didn't sigh. I didn't move from my hiding spot.
"I know you're listening," Yang stressed, "I don't want to fight, but I will, if it's the only thing that's going to get an answer out of you."
There was silence in the undergrowth. The wind rustled the branches of the trees.
"Coward," Yang spat out. She had bluffed, perhaps. She didn't really know where I was.
"You're a coward!" she screamed louder still, and then exhaled, and moved away.
I said nothing as I heard her footsteps grow fainter, and waited for the sound of the motorbike to lose itself into the distance. When I emerged from the undergrowth again, I glanced at my horse who had returned in the meantime, chewing on the roadside's grass, and then climbed back up.
We resumed our journey, the horse and I.
"I'll call you Choco," I said offhandedly, patting the horse's neck. "How do you feel about that?"
The horse neighed. I didn't know whether it was a neigh of approval, or one of disapproval, but it was a neigh all the same. "Well, if you don't like it, just don't answer when I call you that."
Trotting along, the last few days of trekking into the wilderness of Mistral passed by in a blur. I had words in my head, thoughts I didn't wish to think, and whispers I didn't want to hear. Yet, in the end, the gates of Mistral welcomed me.
The people were nervous, yet tried their best to appear at ease. Haven stood over a cliff, on the outskirts of the city of Mistral itself. There was little I could do but show up at the gates of the academy, and see what had happened during my absence.
The huntsman academy was deserted, as I suspected it to be. The main entrance held the statue of Djinn before the stairway up, and as I looked at it, I wondered if Cinder had managed to find out who the Spring maiden was, or if she was still looking for her.
"The academy is closed-" a voice began, only to then stop. I glanced towards it, and grinned at Emerald's frame appearing from the darkest corner of the hall. She was pulling guard duty, I guessed, feigning being a student judging by the uniform she was wearing.
"Hey there," I said with a wink, "Missed me?"
The murderer who wouldn't blink an eye at letting one girl chop the arm of another off, who wouldn't be fazed at the death of countless hundreds, who would shrug at a Grimm eating another human being alive, gasped and then rushed to give me a hug, not unlike a child seeing their parent for the first time after months of absence.
"You're back!" she said excitedly, her arms linking around my neck as I chuckled and returned the hug in question, spinning her around a bit. "Why did it take you so long?" she asked as I dropped her back down, her feet touching the ground. "Did you have any problems? Hazel arrived earlier than you by a week, and he's with Cinder and Mercury right now-" Emerald kept updating me, even as I could see her shifting the weight on her body from right to left.
She was shaking from excitement.
"I didn't have any problems," I said amiably, "What about you instead, Emerald? Everything's fine?"
"Y-Yeah," Emerald nodded, "Everything's fine now," she added as my hand gently came down to rub her head a bit. She preened under the attention. "Oh! I need to tell Cinder you're here! I forgot! If she asks, I told you to contact her immediately!" she blurted out, fumbling for her Scroll and then passing it to me unlocked.
The fact her Scroll background was a picture of us reading a book together made me chuckle, but as I quickly went through her contacts to hit Cinder's number, I brought the Scroll to my ear and waited.
At the third ring, Cinder picked up. "Emerald-"
"Love-dove, I'm in Haven," I said. "Both literally and figuratively, I might add, since I'm closer to you now."
There was a brief moment of silence on the other side of the Scroll. "I see," Cinder said, a small sigh leaving her lips. "The sound of your voice cheers me immensely, but I am busy now. We'll talk more later. Tell Emerald to bring you to Lionheart; the man is working with our mistress, and it would be best he knew you arrived too."
"Understood," I said, "See you soon, dear."
"I cannot wait," Cinder whispered back, and then closed the conversation. I passed the Scroll back to Emerald, who was all too happy to show me around Haven.
Lionheart didn't share in her optimism in knowing there was one more servant of Salem around, but then again, it wasn't like he had the courage to say anything about it; not to my face, at the very least.
With a new Scroll and a new identity to go with it, I now was once more part of the system.
Emerald had a skip in her steps as she eagerly agreed to show me around the city of Mistral. The city itself was a crowded affair; there were people selling food, and thugs glaring and then hastily averting their gaze when we glared back at them.
Mistral was class-divided; the richest lived atop the hill, and the poorest down in the slums. For many, the only way to make ends meet was to go into a life of crime, and the few that made it through a combat school in the gutters could attempt a new life as huntsmen, if they made the cut.
But recently, Haven academy had stopped getting new students, and the class divide had grown sharper as many crime families had tightened their holds on the black market following Vale's fall.
Some people still managed to eke by a living, but it was clear by the hunger in other's eyes that things were going downhill. It was just a matter of time before Mistral fell; whether Atlas would move to support them or not, though, that was anyone's guess.
"Oh, this is a local delicacy!" Emerald said suddenly, grabbing hold of my arm and pulling like an eager child in the direction of a stall, "It's fried octopus! You have to try it!"
"Sure," I said with a chuckle.
The man behind the counter was happy to have customers.
He never realized he was paid with illusion-money, nor did I have any intentions on telling him that.
Emerald and I, to the external observer, just looked like a happy father-daughter combo.
And what a combo we were...
...both criminals, with sins crawling on our backs.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Aww.
What a cute moment...you know, ignoring this came after the Yang thing.
What a cute moment...you know, ignoring this came after the Yang thing.
This is kind of the perfect example of the bittersweet stuff that tends to shade posts, a third exposition, a third despair and a third fluff.
Interlude - Team PBJRNR
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Interlude - Team PBJRNR
"We are not going to call ourselves team Peanut-Butter Junior Ranger," Blake said flatly, even as the long road towards Mistral had pretty much eroded what little desire she had left for complaining about the long-winded name that Ruby was adamant they use.
Pyrrha was unofficially the team leader of their expedition to Mistral; the determination in the champion's eyes was similar to the one that Blake had seen, once, in the eyes of someone she was glad she had never decided to follow.
"We need to get to Mistral as quickly as possible," Pyrrha would say as an excuse whenever it came down to rest. "Ten more minutes on the march each day can mean arriving one day early," she would keep on saying, acting as if she could run forever.
Blake definitely felt like she could, if the fact that she trained harder than all of them combined was any proof of it.
"Shouldn't you pace yourself a bit?" Ren had tried to valiantly ask, only for Pyrrha to shake her head in answer.
"Pacing ourselves won't bring us closer to him," she answered. "We need to go above and beyond; it's the only way to even the odds."
Somehow, Blake felt that Pyrrha was simply putting Shade on a pedestal of sorts, a bad, warped vision of what the man was truly capable of. And if it wasn't, then they probably had little chance to begin with. Hearing Pyrrha's words, they should be prepared for anything and everything; for the strength to crush mountains to the speed to blindside them, to a never-faltering Aura and so forth.
If it was a twisted form of hero-crush, Blake couldn't say.
What she did know was that Pyrrha had taken it badly, even more so than she had.
I'd rather be despised by worthless people, than fake being someone I'm not, just so they'd all be my friends.
The hypocrisy of those words wasn't lost on her. She had to admire his nerve; she wondered if she'd have managed the same calm, if she had ever joined the White Fang and then hidden at Beacon for them.
Jaune was the one who had been the most puzzled. "I still can't believe that when he said he was evil, he meant it."
"He probably was having an incredible amount of jokes at our expenses," Ruby mumbled back. "Laughing at us behind his impenetrable mask-treating us as friends while just fattening us up...it's horrible, really."
"Him and the rest of Cinder's team were probably in it together," Blake agreed. "Salem's their leader-and she can even control the Grimm."
"When we told the professors, they didn't even want to believe us," Ruby said, gloomily. "But Shade told us that, laughing and-"
"He knew we'd be unable to do anything about that," Pyrrha said, angrily. "Arrogant asshole."
"Hey now," Nora said, humming and with a smile on her face, "I know things are bad right now, Red, but we still got each other, and that's gotta count for something! We're all friends here, real friends who totally don't betray you out of the blue like a cheap spy movie!" she then glanced around, "Unless...Jaune! Do you have an evil twin by the name of...Jaune!?"
"N...No?" Jaune replied, furrowing his brows in puzzled perplexity.
"But how could you know! And what if he's already taken your spot over and you're just a spy!?" Nora's hand moved to grab the scruff of Jaune's armor, "Where did you hide our real Jaune, evil-twin Jaune!? Where!?"
"And that's enough for now, Nora," Ren said with a sigh, placing a hand on Nora's neck and starting to drag her away, much to the girl's satisfied grin.
Their trip through Mistral wasn't filled with only good moments, though. They crossed abandoned towns, small villages that yet still thrived due to the kindness of random passerby huntsmen, and came to a halt by a village that had been recently hit by bandits.
"The only good thing is that the Grimm ain't attacking," the wounded, and barely standing, guard of Shion mentioned to them as they stepped inside the place, where burned houses were hastily being repaired.
"I used to camp here with my family," Jaune mentioned, looking around, "These people could use some help."
"We can't hang around here forever," Pyrrha said, impatiently looking at the road ahead. "Isn't there supposed to be an airship?"
"The bandits destroyed it," the guard said glumly. "It was our village's pride. Could have used it to get supplies in from a nearby village, but without it..." he sighed. "We'll have to send people by road, and while the Grimm aren't attacking yet, it doesn't mean they won't."
Pyrrha looked torn. "What's the point in stopping Shade, if we end up leaving innocent people behind to die?" Ruby asked in a hushed whisper, looking at Pyrrha.
Pyrrha hung her head, silently admitting her own defeat.
They were losing time; but if it was meant to aid others, then it wasn't really wasted.
Yet the fact that no Grimm attacked them during the supply run for Shion made her feel toyed with. It was as if the Grimm had suddenly decided to vacate the premises; which was bizarre and nearly impossible, unless they were migrating in mass for elsewhere?
Like with Beacon, perhaps even in Haven there would be a Grimm assault?
But then, wouldn't the huntsmen intervene earlier? Moving so many Grimm, it was bound to catch someone's attention, no?
It was as they made their way back to Shion with the supplies that something caught her attention. It was the typical sound of rustling undergrowth, but the snaps on the branches told her there was weight behind it.
Her senses alert, she glanced towards Ren who was the second person she trusted the most in catching subtle signs up.
He arched an eyebrow in her direction, and then slowly nodded. The moment he did, Nora realized something was going and kept a grin, even as her hands went to her hammer.
"Ruby," she whispered, "There's something following us."
"Where?" Ruby asked.
Pyrrha inclined her head slightly to the side, and as one, they moved.
Ruby disappeared in a shower of petals, ready to strike only to them scream and tumble.
"Ruby!" Pyrrha yelled next, "Everything-"
"Kiddo! Is that any way to treat your uncle!?" a ruff voice spoke from the trees.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby yelled back, "what are you doing here!?"
The figure of Qrow Branwen emerged from the undergrowth, grumbling all the while. "Doing a job for Ozpin..." he grumbled, "or at least, hoping to." He shook his head, "but anyway," he glanced at them. "You look like you could use some extra, experienced hand."
"Are you the reason Grimm aren't attacking us?" Pyrrha asked, sheathing her weapons.
"Would want to claim the merit," Qrow grumbled, "But it's like they've gone on vacation around these parts. No idea where they went, but wherever it is, it sure as hell ain't here."
The wariness of having her doubts confirmed didn't make Pyrrha feel better.
If anything, it made her feel even more worried.
Just what kind of monster would stand by the side of the Grimm...
...if not one that believed them better than humans themselves?
"We are not going to call ourselves team Peanut-Butter Junior Ranger," Blake said flatly, even as the long road towards Mistral had pretty much eroded what little desire she had left for complaining about the long-winded name that Ruby was adamant they use.
Pyrrha was unofficially the team leader of their expedition to Mistral; the determination in the champion's eyes was similar to the one that Blake had seen, once, in the eyes of someone she was glad she had never decided to follow.
"We need to get to Mistral as quickly as possible," Pyrrha would say as an excuse whenever it came down to rest. "Ten more minutes on the march each day can mean arriving one day early," she would keep on saying, acting as if she could run forever.
Blake definitely felt like she could, if the fact that she trained harder than all of them combined was any proof of it.
"Shouldn't you pace yourself a bit?" Ren had tried to valiantly ask, only for Pyrrha to shake her head in answer.
"Pacing ourselves won't bring us closer to him," she answered. "We need to go above and beyond; it's the only way to even the odds."
Somehow, Blake felt that Pyrrha was simply putting Shade on a pedestal of sorts, a bad, warped vision of what the man was truly capable of. And if it wasn't, then they probably had little chance to begin with. Hearing Pyrrha's words, they should be prepared for anything and everything; for the strength to crush mountains to the speed to blindside them, to a never-faltering Aura and so forth.
If it was a twisted form of hero-crush, Blake couldn't say.
What she did know was that Pyrrha had taken it badly, even more so than she had.
I'd rather be despised by worthless people, than fake being someone I'm not, just so they'd all be my friends.
The hypocrisy of those words wasn't lost on her. She had to admire his nerve; she wondered if she'd have managed the same calm, if she had ever joined the White Fang and then hidden at Beacon for them.
Jaune was the one who had been the most puzzled. "I still can't believe that when he said he was evil, he meant it."
"He probably was having an incredible amount of jokes at our expenses," Ruby mumbled back. "Laughing at us behind his impenetrable mask-treating us as friends while just fattening us up...it's horrible, really."
"Him and the rest of Cinder's team were probably in it together," Blake agreed. "Salem's their leader-and she can even control the Grimm."
"When we told the professors, they didn't even want to believe us," Ruby said, gloomily. "But Shade told us that, laughing and-"
"He knew we'd be unable to do anything about that," Pyrrha said, angrily. "Arrogant asshole."
"Hey now," Nora said, humming and with a smile on her face, "I know things are bad right now, Red, but we still got each other, and that's gotta count for something! We're all friends here, real friends who totally don't betray you out of the blue like a cheap spy movie!" she then glanced around, "Unless...Jaune! Do you have an evil twin by the name of...Jaune!?"
"N...No?" Jaune replied, furrowing his brows in puzzled perplexity.
"But how could you know! And what if he's already taken your spot over and you're just a spy!?" Nora's hand moved to grab the scruff of Jaune's armor, "Where did you hide our real Jaune, evil-twin Jaune!? Where!?"
"And that's enough for now, Nora," Ren said with a sigh, placing a hand on Nora's neck and starting to drag her away, much to the girl's satisfied grin.
Their trip through Mistral wasn't filled with only good moments, though. They crossed abandoned towns, small villages that yet still thrived due to the kindness of random passerby huntsmen, and came to a halt by a village that had been recently hit by bandits.
"The only good thing is that the Grimm ain't attacking," the wounded, and barely standing, guard of Shion mentioned to them as they stepped inside the place, where burned houses were hastily being repaired.
"I used to camp here with my family," Jaune mentioned, looking around, "These people could use some help."
"We can't hang around here forever," Pyrrha said, impatiently looking at the road ahead. "Isn't there supposed to be an airship?"
"The bandits destroyed it," the guard said glumly. "It was our village's pride. Could have used it to get supplies in from a nearby village, but without it..." he sighed. "We'll have to send people by road, and while the Grimm aren't attacking yet, it doesn't mean they won't."
Pyrrha looked torn. "What's the point in stopping Shade, if we end up leaving innocent people behind to die?" Ruby asked in a hushed whisper, looking at Pyrrha.
Pyrrha hung her head, silently admitting her own defeat.
They were losing time; but if it was meant to aid others, then it wasn't really wasted.
Yet the fact that no Grimm attacked them during the supply run for Shion made her feel toyed with. It was as if the Grimm had suddenly decided to vacate the premises; which was bizarre and nearly impossible, unless they were migrating in mass for elsewhere?
Like with Beacon, perhaps even in Haven there would be a Grimm assault?
But then, wouldn't the huntsmen intervene earlier? Moving so many Grimm, it was bound to catch someone's attention, no?
It was as they made their way back to Shion with the supplies that something caught her attention. It was the typical sound of rustling undergrowth, but the snaps on the branches told her there was weight behind it.
Her senses alert, she glanced towards Ren who was the second person she trusted the most in catching subtle signs up.
He arched an eyebrow in her direction, and then slowly nodded. The moment he did, Nora realized something was going and kept a grin, even as her hands went to her hammer.
"Ruby," she whispered, "There's something following us."
"Where?" Ruby asked.
Pyrrha inclined her head slightly to the side, and as one, they moved.
Ruby disappeared in a shower of petals, ready to strike only to them scream and tumble.
"Ruby!" Pyrrha yelled next, "Everything-"
"Kiddo! Is that any way to treat your uncle!?" a ruff voice spoke from the trees.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby yelled back, "what are you doing here!?"
The figure of Qrow Branwen emerged from the undergrowth, grumbling all the while. "Doing a job for Ozpin..." he grumbled, "or at least, hoping to." He shook his head, "but anyway," he glanced at them. "You look like you could use some extra, experienced hand."
"Are you the reason Grimm aren't attacking us?" Pyrrha asked, sheathing her weapons.
"Would want to claim the merit," Qrow grumbled, "But it's like they've gone on vacation around these parts. No idea where they went, but wherever it is, it sure as hell ain't here."
The wariness of having her doubts confirmed didn't make Pyrrha feel better.
If anything, it made her feel even more worried.
Just what kind of monster would stand by the side of the Grimm...
...if not one that believed them better than humans themselves?
JPVeigar
Oh god, there's people here!
Ah yes, the true M. Night twist by Shade. Cinder truly is just the doting wife with an possessive streak while Pyrrha is the TRUE Yandere.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What delightfully handled characters!
- Location
- Texas, United States
In the other routes, Jinn has some weird interactions with Shade's nature. I wouldn't be too surprised if he threw as much of a 404 as Ozpin and Salem often do in questions posed at her, lol.
warhammer651
The Festive Fortress is Unbreachable!
Well not anymore, now that Jaune has preemptively slain Juane and taken his place
- Location
- Portugal
One day we will have the Holy Yandere War where Gilgamesh, Jeanne, Isabella, Cinder, Pyrrha, Fragnostic and BB(you know where the daugher-father moments in extra where going <.<) shall fight for supremacy.
Heck, I don't even suspect where this story is going, well... with the exception of Shade absorbing Salem for the angst. I can see too many ways this can go.
Heck, I don't even suspect where this story is going, well... with the exception of Shade absorbing Salem for the angst. I can see too many ways this can go.
- Location
- America
Now I want them to find that battlefield that Shade left behind.
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Its so amusing that everyone is just assuming so many things about how Shade does things, or his reasoning. We have the delightful back seat view of his broken perspective, and its all sorts of hilarious to see the strawman-type attempts to justify what happened. Rather than take what he said rather literally - he was nice and friendly and helpful to them because he wanted to be, and still has the complicated side that has him follow Cinder's plan for things(mostly... kinda? At least the key points...)
Nora... Jaune's a dumb but good looking blond bleeding heart cloud coocoolander hero who's weak at first, but then becomes a swashbuckling Hero... His evil twin is obviously called Enuaj.