On his way to Beacon, Jaune Arc falls into a mysterious cave and discovers a secret power hidden for millennia. Featuring a competent Jaune trained by his grandfather and a lite-system, how far could Jaune Arc go in this gods forsaken world? AU, Slowburn, Will be epic in length
The Arc Moon System
- Thread starter Bub3loka
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Chapter 1 (The Longest Day)
Disclaimer: I haven't watched a single episode of RWBY, apart from a three-hour review on YT about how bad it is. Then again, I did enjoy plenty of its fanfiction, so I decided to write one with my own take on the series and the characters. Expect "inspirations" from other fics and media.
Consider this an AU, and while I will not butcher the characters' personalities, don't expect them to be compliant with "Modern Audiences" or to care about your feelings. This is a death world where humanity has to actually struggle to survive, unlike our own world that is slowly heading towards Universe 25.
This story is crossposted on other websites, and I will be releasing a chapter every once in a while, until I catch up. I suppose I might as well warn you that by chapter 20, Jaune has yet to reach Beacon. I'm just having fun writing the story.
Today was the longest day of Jaune Arc's life.
It was a thousand miles from the port city of Esmeralda, on the northern tip of Sanus, to the city of Vale. Sneaking out of his hometown of Arcade, on the mountains of Vytal Island, was simple enough. An Airbus was out of the question, his meager funds not nearly enough to book passage. Instead, he made his way to the closest port town, and signed up as a deckhand on a cargo ship carrying Dust and other metals mined from the island and within days he was disembarking in Esmeralda.
Now why, oh why did he decide it would be a brilliant idea to walk all the way to Vale? Instead of doing the smart thing and taking the train headed there?
'Remember Jaune, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'
Ah, that's why. Thanks for the tip Grandpa Max. Brilliant advice. Definitely had nothing to do with him being broke, bored and having a severe case of wanderlust. Oh, and the train being delayed, and him not affording a hotel stay didn't help matters either.
Jaune was brought out of his musings as his enemy howled at him. He ducked as he heard the now familiar whooshing sound of a Beowolf's claw swipe aiming at his face. He instinctively swiped his sword at the Grimm, easily decapitating it in one stroke, Crocea Mors as deadly as ever. He didn't waste time celebrating as he immediately turned his attention to the two other Beowolves charging behind the first one. Remembering his grandpa's training, he counter-charged the Grimm instead of waiting for them, shield at the front as he bashed the first Beowolf in the head, stunning it into the ground, before he continued to the other one. Jaune side-stepped a lunge from the Beowolf before slicing the sides of the Grimm. The first Grimm had by now recovered and attacked the young Arc, who met its charge with his shield, momentarily holding it in place.
The second Beowolf was too busy holding its smokey entrails to help its brethren, which received a powerful front kick from Jaune's steel studded boots that staggered it before the young man shoved his deadly blade through its heart.
Jaune pulled out his sword, before relieving the Grimm of its head in a finishing stroke in case it did something in its death throes. 'Never turn your back to a perceived defeated enemy.' his grandpa's voice echoed in his mind. Turning to the last Beowolf, that had finally regained its footing, Jaune dodged a clumsy lunge from it before slicing off the offending claw. The Beowolf didn't even get a chance to roar in pain before it lost its head to one final slice from the Arc ancestral blade.
Jaune stared at the disintegrating corpses of the Grimm, before he took a deep breath and calmed down his nerves. The fight wasn't particularly hard, as he didn't get hit once and never even had to use his Aura to augment his strength. His grandpa's training allowing him to efficiently dismantle the trio of juvenile Beowolves, yet it would not do for him to attract any more Grimm. He collapsed his shield into its sheath form and sheathed his sword before he made his way to his horse, which was grazing on a patch of grass, staring impassively at the scene as if it were utterly bored.
"Thanks for the assist, Arthur. Really couldn't have done it without you. Why, it's not as if you didn't run off at the first sign of danger, nearly tossing me off the saddle to deal with the Grimm by my lonesome. Hell, I even unlocked your Aura to better survive you ungrateful old mule."
The white horse snorted at him in what Jaune thought was mockery but was probably it just sneezing. Jaune was given the old nag for free from a farmstead he passed by a few days ago that he helped with a Grimm problem. The old horse had a bad temper that was frightening the younger stallions. A hot meal and a stay in the barn was certainly a fair price for his pack animal, that would have gotten butchered for its meat otherwise. His fantastical delusion of him being a knight on a white horse had absolutely nothing to do with it, no sir, he did not unlock the horse's Aura just for that… okay, maybe he did so, slightly.
"Come on, then. I don't like the look of those stormy clouds." Jaune mounted the horse, and slowly trotted back to the main road. His destination, the small town of Thornfield, known for its lavender fields that supposedly supplied half of Vale's perfumes.
As they slowly made their way down the road, Jaune thought about his ambition to become a Huntsman and join Beacon Academy. His grandfather had prepared him well enough for fighting Grimm and surviving the wild, though it still grated on Jaune's nerves how his own parents, retired huntsmen themselves, refused to train him. They would much prefer him to find a regular old job like the rest of the Arc clan, whether it's in one of the family businesses or joining his father's workshop. It's the reason he is so broke, despite his family being quite affluent. It is difficult to ask for an allowance when your mother knows you are planning to leave against her wishes.
'No! I come from a long line of warriors and heroes. I refuse to be satisfied with a life of mediocrity.'
He shook his head at the thought. None of that mattered now, his grandfather came with the clutch when he acknowledged his desire to be strong. A retired Huntsman himself, he didn't necessarily support his decision to become a Huntsman, believing the profession to have lost its luster and too limiting. Yet, he firmly believed that being strong was irrelevant to whatever aspirations you may have. Then again, Maximilian Arc was an old man from a different time. Strength of arms meant everything on the frontier lands, and it is your duty to become strong in some way to protect your community. Whether it was Grimm or bandits, if you can't defend yourself, then you have no right to claim the wild empty lands of Sanus and beyond, let alone survive and thrive.
A droplet of water fell on Jaune's nose, pulling his gaze to the skies. The earlier dark clouds looked much heavier now, and he estimated he still had a few hours of travel to get to Thornfield. It was still early morning, but he would have to call it quits for now lest he found himself braving a torrential storm. Summer was just beginning, and the rainy season came with it in this part of the continent.
Jaune continued travelling for a few more minutes while searching for a good place to camp, the pittering of the rain still thankfully light for now. Eventually, he found a good enough spot on a hill underneath a cliff overhang, providing good shelter from the rain.
After securing Arthur to a fallen log, he unsaddled the horse and got his camping gear out. There was no need for a fire as the weather was warm enough, and he wanted to avoid attracting the attention of wild animals or worse. There were whispers in Esmeralda of bandit activity in the area, with a self-proclaimed bandit king terrorizing the small hamlets along the railway. Not to mention the constant threat of the Grimm. Knowing his luck, Jaune felt he had a high chance of getting involved with both, some way or another.
The rain had started in earnest a few hours ago, and Jaune was glad he didn't bother setting up a tent. The cliff face protected him enough from the wind, but the torrential rain might be a problem if it caused a flood.
'I'll handle that if it happens. For now, I gotta make sure my gear is in top shape.'
Jaune had all his armor stripped and laid on a flat rock for cleaning and maintenance. He allowed his thoughts to wander as he did the monotonous task. It's been nearly four weeks now since he left home, nearly two months until Beacon's initiation, and he still felt embittered over the lack of support from his family towards his goal. So what if the life of a Huntsman was dangerous and extreme? Didn't they realize that the world they lived in did not allow for frivolous life choices? Which was better, to live a simple and easy life with the wealth the Arcs have accumulated over the generations? Or to do what is right, no matter how difficult it was? The Arcs were blessed with long lives and strong Auras, truly a clan made for fighting; and with the eternal threat of the Grimm, It should be a no-brainer to dedicate his life to fighting the good fight over anything else. They have been doing it for generations, with his ancestor participating in the Great War and even further back still.
His grandfather was pushing ninety, yet he still looked in his forties. Despite officially retiring from being a Huntsman, he still worked in Massalia, Vytal's main city located on its eastern coast, as the head of the adventurer's guild. He even holds an official military rank in the Vale armed forces from his time fighting in the Faunus Rights Revolution.
It was him who unlocked his Aura. It was him who encouraged him to get strong, especially with how massive his Aura reserves were even compared to the average Arc, regardless of how his own daughter's (Jaune's mother) disapproved of Jaune's training. For once, Jaune had someone who believed in him, and he wanted with all his heart to make his grandfather proud. Even if the old fart was stingy enough to barely lend him any Lien for his travels. At least, he allowed him to have Crocea Mors, the ancestral blade of the Arcs. Passed down from Arc to Arc for hundreds of years, the hand and half blade could be used with a shield or two-handed. He inherited it after its last wielder died in the line of duty more than a year ago. Still, it had proven to be a lifesaver for him. It was extremely sharp and nigh indestructible; Jaune even thought he could feel its presence somehow in the heat of battle. Still, it was disappointing that he had yet to discover his Semblance. If he could compliment it with his sword…
Jaune sighed as he thought more about his family.
His father wasn't an Arc by birth, but he was still a veteran huntsman and an excellent scientist and engineer. His mother had made a name for herself as a huntress herself. It would have made his life so much easier if she had written him a letter of recommendation or at least booked an Airbus ticket for him to Beacon. Instead, he had to rough it out with a naggy old mule and the shitty weather. Even with his grandfather's training, he wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he would be able to even pass the entrance exam, let alone initiation. When he got to Vale, he would have to buy study guides to prepare for the written exam at least. Too bad, he never could convince his parents to enroll him in a combat school. Or even a normal school for that matter.
Jaune sighed again as he finished his work. He then put on his armor, despite how uncomfortable it would be to sleep in. His grandfather's lessons reverberated in his mind about how rough sleep with armor is better than waking up with a missing limb or not waking up at all. He had just strapped Crocea Mors and was in the middle of putting on his boots, when he heard a loud howl through the winds.
Jaune listened closely, trying to figure out if that was a Beowolf or a regular wolf. Grimm had a sort of echoing quality to their roars, so it might very well have been a regular pack of wolves. He quickly put on his boots, and held Crocea Mors across his lap.
Another howl, closer than the last one. Jaune looked at Arthur to find the horse anxiously clopping his hooves on the ground. He quickly saddled the horse, in case he needed a quick getaway, and started packing his supplies into his backpack.
Jaune heard more howls, though this time he was confident that they were Grimm. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose at his stupidity. Grimm were attracted to negative thoughts and emotions, how could he be so foolish?!
"Great job, Jaune. You just had to let your mind wander and be an angsty little shit."
He had no time to rebuke himself, as the first Grimm appeared from the treeline. Though it blended well with the darkness and the rain, its white mask and red eyes couldn't hide itself from Jaune. It was still a distance away and had to climb the hill to reach him, which made Jaune wish he had bought a gun when he had the chance. Blame his frugal nature.
More Grimm appeared from the treeline, and charged up the hill. Arthur was freaking out now and Jaune had no choice but to cut his leash and allow him to run off while he fought the Grimm; He could always find him later. Jaune learned the hard way why few people have their Auras unlocked, nor why you don't randomly unlock an animal's Aura. The creatures of Grimm are attracted to Aura, the more you have, the more they will target you. Normally, Grimm don't target animals, but once their Aura was unlocked, they too become prey for the Grimm. Considering Jaune's obscene reserves of Aura, he shouldn't be surprised that he had been attacked no less than a dozen times in the past week alone. At least it was good training.
His grandfather did take him along for patrols occasionally, but Vytal had no real Grimm problem thanks to its nature as an island, the existence of the Adventurer's guild and the many retired huntsmen living there don't allow the Grimm to grow old enough to be dangerous. As his gramps would say, 'huntsmen don't really retire. They simply become the reserve.'
Jaune concentrated on the present. With Crocea Mors in hand, he waited for the Beowolf to get close enough before he parried a claw strike with his shield and quickly bisected the Grimm. All the while, the torrential rain continued to fall with the wind and thunder nearly making Jaune deaf.
Even more Beowolves approached and Jaune lost himself in the rhythm of parrying, dodging and slicing at his enemies. Occasionally, he would be forced to tank a hit due to poor visibility, though his Aura and armor made any damage negligible. Eventually, a lull was formed as there were no more Grimm in sight, but the rain continued to fall sideways, completely drenching him, and the wind howled.
Not the wind, Jaune thought as a large figure that must have been hiding in the rain charged at him fast. Jaune instantly knew this was a different breed of Grimm, as it had much more bone armor than usual.
'An Alpha Beowolf!'
Jaune gulped nervously, and prepared to meet the werewolf like monster. An unholy howl was ripped from its throat as it lunged at him with a clawful of bone spikes.
'Can't tank that!' Jaune immediately dodged to the outside of the offending claw and attempted to slice at the Wolf's sides. The muddy ground made his dodge unstable though, and only allowed him to slice off a bone spike, instead of the entire arm he was aiming for. The Alpha backhanded him, but Jaune ducked under the swipe. Finding himself inside its guard, he quickly sliced at it's left armpit where there wasn't any armor, rendering the Grimm'sleft arm useless. He then channeled aura through his right arm and to his sword, and delivered a thrust to its gut that easily pierced through its bone armor like it was paper.
The Alpha howled in pain, but it wasn't dead yet. It snapped its jaws at Jaune's head, but an instinctive jerk to the side had the wolf bite his right shoulder instead. The pauldron blunted most of the attack, but Jaune still grunted in pain. Another claw strike came from his left, but he blocked it with his shield. The muddy ground had them both stuck in the same spot, unable to move their legs.
The Alpha shook its head in both pain and rage as it tried to chew through his right pauldron. Jaune took that chance to shatter it's left knee with an Aura infused kick, kicking mud everywhere, before he ripped his sword from its gut and shoved it up a chink in its throat armor.
The wolf groaned pitifully before collapsing on the ground. A final slice relieved it of it's head, before Jaune took stock of his situation. He carefully extracted himself from the muddy ground, lest he fall and find himself drowning in his armor. He checked himself for injuries but felt nothing aside from a slight soreness from his right shoulder where the wolf tried to bite him. His pauldrons held well, though, thanks to his Aura protecting him from the worst of the attack, and he could already feel the discomfort disappearing as his Aura started healing him. Not many would reinforce their armor with Aura, as the point of wearing armor is to conserve Aura. Jaune was different, as he had so much Aura that it's more convenient for him to waste Aura to make sure his armor didn't get too damaged.
With no more Grimm in sight, Jaune returned to his camp and gathered his backpack. Suddenly, Jaune felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand before the entire world flashed white, and at the same time a massive rumbling noise was heard from above him. Momentarily blind and deaf, Jaune looked up. A hundred meters above him, Jaune saw the overhang that had protected him so well from the elements was now falling straight down at him.
"FUCK! Fuck, fuck, fuck." Jaune ran as hard as he could down the hill, but before he could make it a few feet through the mud, the massive piece of rock, easily the size of an Airbus, crashed behind him and collapsed the entire hill on itself.
"This just isn't my day…" were Jaune's last thoughts before he fell into the deep sinkhole that formed in place of the hill, the cliff collapsing after it and covering the hole.
"... Ow"
Jaune felt like his entire body was one giant bruise. At least, he could actually feel his body, which meant he should be alright… hopefully. He carefully stood up and retrieved his flashlight from his bag, turning it on. What he saw did not bode well.
"Rocks, mud and water. Must be one hell of a cave-in." Okay, Jaune. No need to panic, wouldn't want to attract more Grimm and make this shitty situation even shittier. He was surrounded by earth and rock except for one direction that stretched out into darkness. It's actually a miracle that he survived the fall in the first place, though upon checking his Aura and feeling about a third of it gone, it might not have been luck after all.
Searching his pockets for his Scroll, Jaune pulled it out and as expected, there was no signal. He checked the map feature, and the last offline location for him was where he camped. It was an unnamed hill, so it would be difficult to even call for help even if there was a signal.
He stored the scroll away, to save its battery. Scrolls can go weeks before needing to be recharged, but better be safe than sorry.
Before he moved, he checked his backpack and belongings. Everything seemed in place, aside from a few dents in his armor. Deciding that he might not get the opportunity later, Jaune grabbed some beef jerky and a granola bar for an impromptu meal before washing it all down with water. Once he was ready, he shouldered his bag and trudged on.
.
.
.
Wherever this place was, there was no way it was natural. The tunnel seemed to stretch endlessly with a slight decline, yet it continued to go on a straight line with no divergent paths. The entire thing looked like a round tube, easily six meters high and four meters across. This tunnel was clearly dug through by some manner of creature, but Jaune had yet to face any Grimm.
And it utterly unnerved him.
He can feel it in the very depths of his soul, that he's being watched. His grandfather once warned him that he would be able to tell when Grimm were watching him, the Aura surrounding him feeling the revulsion of those soulless monstrosities as they watched his every move. Hungering for the manifestation of the soul. This very fact gave him the creeps, for Grimm weren't known for their patience. Such an… intelligent aspect was not to be expected from their kind.
Unless he was dealing with an incredibly old Grimm, and considering he was probably the first human to stumble upon this tunnel, any Grimm that had stayed hidden here would be able to grow old safely enough.
Suddenly, a slight tremor could be felt from down the tunnels. 'Finally!' Jaune thought in excitement as he hung his flashlight on his bag's shoulder strap and unsheathed Crocea Mors. The sound of running footsteps were getting louder, and he could see vague shapes charging at him straight ahead, white bone masks and red eyes visible for him to see. Checking his Aura, he felt it had recovered slightly from when he crashed down here.
He could finally see the Grimm clearly, and there were many of them. 'Creeps! And big ones at that.' The bipedal Grimm in the lead let out a roar before it lunged at Jaune, who met its charge head on, bashing its bony head before thrusting into its neck. He didn't bother with a follow-up, confident it was dead or dying before he moved to the next target. This time, there were three Creeps attacking at the same time, not wanting to risk getting flanked, he channeled Aura through his sword before cutting at them horizontally, releasing an Aura slash in the shape of a crescent that bisected one of the creeps and cut off the leg of the second. The third Creep managed to dodge and tried to headbutt him, but Jaune blocked it with his shield and bashed it into the wall. Stunned, the Creep could do nothing to stop a sword thrust through its eye and to its brain.
Jaune returned to the crippled Grimm and finished it off, before more sounds of Grimm approaching grabbed his attention. He looked ahead, and started moving towards his enemies. More Creeps approached, and Jaune lost himself in the monotony of the fight as he systematically dispatched them with efficient use of his environment and weapons. He would rather conserve his Aura, but he wasn't shy about using it to devastating effect. Crocea Mors was highly compatible with Aura, amplifying any Aura channeled through it.
As he disemboweled the last Creep, Jaune exhaled and took a swig of water, before he carried on. Before he could walk for long, another tremor could be felt, as something slithered its way towards him.
"No rest for the wicked," A giant snake head greeted him after those words, with a lunging bite that he was barely able to block with both sword and shield, yet he was still sent staggering back a few feet. The black head of the snake Grimm, a King Taijitu, lunged again. Jaune was better prepared though, as he lunged with his shield before the snake could start its lunge, thus stopping it cold with a firm application of Aura to his shield. Before he could stab it though, the snake's other head lunged at him from the side, forcing him to disengage.
Now, both snake heads completely blocked the tunnel as they hissed and snarled at him. Jaune remembered how the snake Grimm was fast on the attack, but once you have both heads next to each other, they could barely move. Which is why the snake Grimm was content to just hiss at him. Judging by its large size and many bone plates, it was old and smart. It knew Jaune had to go through, and he had to attack one of the heads but not both at the same time. Once he attacked one, the other would retaliate. Jaune was confident that this was the old Grimm that had been watching him.
The aspiring Huntsman was running out of patience with this little adventure he found himself in. The snake blocked the only exit for him, and he had no desire to spend the night in this cave. "You're in my way you monochrome bastard!" Jaune channeled enough Aura through Crocea Mors for the sword to shine brightly, causing the King Taijitu to flinch from the bright light, before he released the pent-up Aura in a horizontal slash at the black head, cutting deeply into its neck. The white snake head hissed angrily and lunged at Jaune, it's other dead head dragging uselessly behind it. Jaune tanked the lunge, but the snake bit angrily into his shield. If it weren't for his Aura protecting his shield, it would have massive holes in it. A simple thrust of his sword to its neck dispatched the snake, and he watched impassively as the Grimm disintegrated. He continued on down the tunnel, hoping he would reach the end soon.
Jaune checked his scroll for the time, finding that he had been walking for six hours since he first fell here, and it was approaching nighttime outside. He still couldn't receive any signal, and his map app wasn't working either, insisting that his last location was the destroyed hill. He probably travelled over twenty miles already, and he could feel the pressure of being underground forming in his ears. All the while, he had been constantly fighting Grimm, mostly of the Creep and King Taijitu variety, but his toughest challenge was a Centinel. He had no idea what a Grimm that was native to Solitas was doing in a Sanus cave. He knew he had to go all out to kill it as fast as possible before it evolved into a Cenitaur and collapsed the entire mountain on his head. It didn't help that he was swarmed by more Creeps at the same time. Thankfully, prodigious use of an Aura imbibed Crocea Mors was enough to kill them, though his Aura had gone down to 50% as a result. Unfortunately, the Grimm's acid blood splashed on his armor and also his bag, damaging them both. It destroyed his favorite pajamas! His sisters made that for him, dammit! And it was so damn comfy too. RIP, Mr Onesie, you would have been a killer with the ladies.
Finally, he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Turning off his flashlight, Jaune cautiously walked until the tunnel opened into a massive cavern with a sheer cliff from where he stood. He gazed in awe, as the light he could see was due to an abundance of Dust crystals lining the walls. At a first glance, he could see plenty of red and orange, designating Fire and Earth, with a few yellow crystals for Lightning Dust. He approached a yellow crystal near him, and placed his hands on it, immediately feeling the electrifying power of the Dust coursing through him.
Jaune looked around in amazement, the sheer amount of Dust crystals he could see could power an entire city for years. He gave the crystal a tentative pull, and it easily came off, yet he could see more Dust behind the walls. He quickly turned on the camera on his scroll and attached it to his bag's other shoulder strap, across from the turned off flashlight. Recording what might be a once-in-a-lifetime achievement was a no-brainer. Who knows? He might even lay claim to this discovery.
'Wow, I wonder why no one ever excavated this site. Could I really be the first one to find this place?'
Jaune looked around the chamber, he knew he needed to go up, but he couldn't tell if the light at the top was more Dust or the moon outside. About thirty meters below him was the bottom. There was what appeared to be a massive white rock protruding from the ground. It was like a small mountain in the chamber. The ledge he was on went both ways, up and down. Jaune was tempted to explore the bottom, but he was very much done with this place, and would prefer not to spend the night here. There were a few dark spots along the walls, and looking closely, Jaune recognized them as more tunnels.
Decision made, he pocketed the Dust crystal and started going up, only for a chill to crawl up his back. He knew this feeling. He was being watched. Looking up, he saw something crawling along the walls. Scratch that, he saw dozens, of things crawling down the walls. His eyes widened in fear as he recognized them as Sulfur Fish, their triple flame tails visible and their single eyes glaring malevolently.
"NOPE!"
Jaune did a quick 180 that had him running down the ledge as fast as he could, the dog-sized Grimm scuttling down the walls after him with their squeaky screeches. No way would he be able to fight them effectively on the small path he was on. That was just asking to be swarmed and taking the expressway to the bottom. He did NOT want to find out if he could survive a thirty-meter drop.
Thankfully, the Grimm were easily noticeable due to all the light coming from the Dust crystals. A few dropped from up high to flank him as the path circled the chamber to the bottom, only for most of them to continue falling off the ledge, hopefully to their deaths. The ones that blocked him were quickly punted with a kick before they could attack.
Finally, he made it all the way to the bottom. A quick glance showed a tunnel in the massive block of white rock that he saw earlier, it's symmetrical shape clashing with the natural rock and Dust around it. Other tunnels were lining the walls in the opposite direction, but with no time to decide, he sprinted towards the closest tunnel, which was in the white rock, dodging Sulfur Fish as they dropped from on high. He quickly made his way inside the tunnel, before turning around to face the Grimm.
The tunnel barely allowed enough space for two Sulfur Fish to attack him at the same time, and Jaune got to work on them. It was a Knight's work as he had to be careful not to allow their searing hot tails to strike his shield or armor lest they destroy them, or deplete his Aura. With his Aura already half empty after an entire day of constant fighting, Jaune had to fight smart in this situation.
The first fish lunged at him, and he blocked its headbutt. Its tails poised to strike over his shield, but quick reflexes had him cut the tails off with his sword and a quick thrust into its single eye instantly killed it. Jaune had to move further back to dodge another fish, but a shield bash then a kick to its head sent it flying back into its brethren. This bought Jaune a few seconds of breathing room before more fish charged in, though this time the Grimm scaled the rock to attack him from above as well as the walls. Panicking a bit, Jaune channeled Aura to his blade before sending a Crescent Wave at the charging Grimm, before he sidestepped a tail lash from another fish on the ceiling. It wasn't high enough to stop him from stabbing it though, but more Sulfur Fish came in, forcing Jaune deeper into the Rock.
This continued on for a few more meters, until he noticed the small tunnel he was in opened to a small chamber. A quick glance assured him there weren't any Grimm behind him, but retreating to the chamber would not be in his best interest. The Sulfur Fish were sitting ducks in the funnel of the tunnel, and if he allowed them to reach the chamber he will be easily swarmed.
Feeling his dwindling Aura, Jaune continued hacking and slashing at the vermin-like Grimm. Looking to the back of the pack, he could finally see the last of the Sulfur Fish inside the tunnel; a veritable swarm of them on the ground and walls, and he knew this would be his only chance to get rid of all of them in one go. If he waited anymore, he risked them combining into their more dangerous forms.
Jaune channeled Aura through his shield and bashed a couple of fish back through the tunnel, the shockwave taking a few of their kin with them. Immediately, he threw away the shield and held Crocea Mors with both hands as he channeled a good half of his remaining Aura, about a fifth of his maximum, through the blade. He had never channeled so much Aura through a weapon. His previous max with his training sword shattered the regular iron sword at 5% of his max Aura, but Crocea Mors proved to be more than a match for his reserves as it shined a brilliant gold and seemed to elongate. The sheer brilliance of the light stunned the Sulfur Fish as they tried to cover their single eye. The aspiring huntsman focused his aura on the tip of the blade…
And then he swung it down.
BOOM!!
Jaune breathed heavily, as he looked at his handiwork. The tunnel had a large trench, ten meters long, from where Crocea Mors struck the ground all the way to its entrance, and beyond, though surprisingly the white rock itself was intact with nary a scratch. All the Sulfur Fish were obliterated by his attack, and Jaune chuckled at the success of his plan.
"Haah…haah…hehehe, hahahah. Take that you stupid rats."
Jaune pulled his sword from the nearly molten ground, and collected his shield. The shield was dented in many spots from the fiery tails of the Fish, but it should still function well enough. He hoped. It still collapsed to sheath form, but when he tried to expand it again it was stuck. He sheathed his sword, deciding it will do as a sheath for now.
Jaune felt something from behind him, and turned to the chamber he just discovered.
The chamber was smaller than he thought. It was empty inside except for a small pedestal in the center that had what grabbed his attention. He… wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at.
It was a crystal, but he was sure it wasn't Dust. It was floating on the pedestal, yet it didn't have the black and purplish color of Gravity Dust. Hell, he wasn't sure what color it was for it changed with every angle he looked at it. Like a rainbow, except it wasn't just seven colors.
Hesitantly, Jaune approached the pedestal and looked around from different angles, trying to see if there were traps or anything of interest in the chamber. When he found nothing, he stared at the crystal for a long moment.
"Well, you can't stand here all day, Jaune. Let's just get this over with," He dropped his bag and weapons on the ground, and high on adrenaline from his previous fight and full of bravado, Jaune grabbed the crystal.
Immediately, Jaune knew something was wrong. His Aura, which had sat at about a quarter, started dropping. He tried to let go of the crystal, but he couldn't. It was as if his hand was paralyzed and stuck to the crystal. He gritted his teeth as he felt more and more of his Aura dropping. It was slow, but definitely steady. He started to panic, and heaved as strong as he could, his other hand on the pedestal for leverage, but to no avail.
Jaune started to feel exhaustion settling in. He had been on the road for days, and today had been the longest day in his life. He had killed hundreds of Grimm in the past twelve hours, and even with his massive Aura reserves, his stamina would certainly suffer from all that activity. He was only human after all.
The crystal continued to drain him, bringing him to his knees as he tried to let go of it.
"Shit, shit, let go you stupid rock," Jaune unconsciously grabbed it with both hands, but that was a terrible mistake as he felt his Aura dropping twice as fast now.
"Fuck! What the hell is this thing?!" His Aura had reached the single digits now, something that had seldom happened to him. What would happen if his Aura shattered? Would the crystal stop draining him? Would it keep going? What else would be there to drain?
"No… No, no, no, this can't be happening." Unwilling to see what would happen if his Aura shattered, Jaune focused on the piece of Lightning Dust in his pants pocket and sent a thread of his Aura towards it in a panic.
Immediately, he felt the electrifying energy of the Dust Crystal coursing through him… along with agonizing pain.
"AAAGGGGHHHHHH! FUCKING SHIT!!" In the midst of his agony, he could feel his Aura stop dwindling, the crystal draining the Dust instead.
But the pain… the PAIN!! Jaune couldn't remember how long he had been screaming himself hoarse from the sheer agony of having the unrefined Dust's energy course through his body, up his torso to his arms and then to the crystal. Vividly, he felt parts of his body getting cooler, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he reasoned that his clothes must have been burned off.
Finally, after what felt like hours to Jaune, the Dust's energy was depleted. He could still feel it seared into the skin of his thigh, but the crystal itself was inert.
"Haah… hah…haaah." Jaune tried and failed to control his breathing, but ended up vomiting on the ground instead.
After a minute of dry heaving, he finally regained his breathing, "i-is it finally o-over?"
A beat of silence… and then Jaune could feel, to his rising horror, his Aura dropping again. He had no energy at all to try to let go of his hands again.
"Come on, just let go of me already… please!" His voice was incredibly hoarse, and it came out more like a croak. It spoke of how desperate Jaune was that he started begging a simple rock for mercy. Was this how he was going to die? Not against an epic for, but a damn rock? In the middle of nowhere? He sardonically thought of how his tomb would at least be quite lavish indeed with the amount of Dust lying around. If only he could tell his family where his corpse would be, at least they would have been able to profit from his idiocy.
He stared in defeat at the Crystal as the last of his Aura was drained and flickered dimly before ceasing to exist. Idly, he noticed how it didn't shatter but he couldn't bring himself to care. Jaune felt another wave of exhaustion hit him, yet, not even then was he able to feel the bliss of unconsciousness as the hungry Crystal still continued to drain… something from him.
Was he truly going to give up like this? What could he even do? He was out of Aura. Out of tricks. His entire shtick was having massive Aura reserves. Without Aura, he was worthless. That Lightning Dust crystal wreaked havoc on his body, and he could barely concentrate. He wasn't even sure if it even helped with the draining or not.
"No," Jaune growled, "I didn't survive this shitty day and killed so many Grimm, just to die to some greedy little rock like you."
His heartbeat was loud in his ears. He had to think of something. He had to survive. His Aura was broken, but that wasn't the end of the world. His ancestors fought the Grimm without Aura or even Dust, there must be something he could do! Aura was the manifestation of the soul, which meant that even if shattered, it shouldn't be completely gone. Otherwise, he would instantly die without his soul, right? So, where was his soul exactly?
He focused his entire being inwards, looking for his soul. He could feel a tiny sliver of something hiding deep within his being. Trying to escape from the draining powers of the Crystal. Jaune felt it was similar to his Aura. His Soul. He probably would never have found it if his Aura wasn't gone, and he could feel almost nothing but numb emptiness.
He latched onto that sliver, and dragged it towards him. He didn't know what would happen if he forced it outwards from his body, for all he knew, this piece of his soul could very well be the piece that would allow him an afterlife or something. Jaune wasn't overly religious, but at this point he didn't care anymore.
Jaune's soul seemed to struggle a bit against him, as if it was hesitant to follow his lead. He couldn't afford to waste time though, as he could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. Was it his delirious mind? Or was his body losing mass? Regardless, he forced, cajoled, begged and dragged that piece of his soul kicking and screaming to the forefront of his being, whatever that meant to him, he didn't know.
Until finally, something just… clicked.
An explosion of golden light rushed out of all his pores. Jaune wasn't sure how he did it, but he felt his Aura return. His reserves climbed so fast he felt vertigo from the rush of energy. The Crystal continued it's draining, but he would like to imagine that it was starting to slow down. Or maybe his recovery was faster than its draining.
Finally, his Aura topped off at full… and continued growing. Now, Jaune started feeling like his body was bloated. In a bit of panic, Jaune unconsciously poured more Aura into the crystal, completely counterproductive to what he wanted earlier. He could feel his reserves dipping back to their normal levels before climbing again. Jaune could almost imagine his metaphorical Aura tank expanding to accommodate the rushing Aura.
At last, after what felt like days, Jaune could feel both his Aura recovery and the crystal's draining slowly cease until his reserves felt near empty again. Eventually, the crystal stopped draining as well, but by then, Jaune was completely out of it.
Jaune collapsed unconscious on the ground near the pedestal. He never noticed the crystal turning into specks of light that merged into him.
Jaune felt like he was dreaming. Or maybe his mind was broken, and he was dying? Was this a memory perhaps?
He was standing in a familiar living room, dressed all in black. Surrounding him was a group of people with golden hair and blue eyes. Jaune couldn't register their features though and suddenly felt like sleeping… only for everything to clear up but from a different perspective.
"Why? Why do you insist on going against me at everything? Do you just enjoy making your mother worried, Jaune?"
Lianne Arc was dressed in black as she finally blew up on her son's incessant demands to be trained. The stubborn matriarch of the Arc family had the patience of a saint normally, but it appears that patience was finally torn by her 16-year-old son.
"Why do YOU insist on not even listening to what I have to say? You never explain why you refuse to unlock my Aura. You refused to send me to a combat school, instead homeschooling me. I never even had friends my age because of you!"
Jaune Arc was pacing like a caged lion, as he yet again argued with his mother for the same damn reason he sees them arguing every time he visits.
"I do this for your own good, Jaune. We wouldn't be here attending my brother's funeral if he had stayed home and never became a huntsman. I don't want the same to happen to you!"
"It's my choice in the matter, mom. If I choose to have the power to defend the innocents and the weak, then it's MY choice! I refuse to be weak, I refuse to be mediocre. Uncle Adrian may have died, but he saved an entire village from a Grimm horde! I'm as sad as you are about his passing. I loved uncle Adrian, he will never take me fishing or hunting or tell me tales of his adventures ever again. But, at least he died knowing that his sacrifice was noble, and that his actions had saved the lives of thousands!"
"And why do you think there was a horde in the first place? Us Arcs are both blessed and cursed with our Aura. We attract the Grimm like moths to flames, the more powerful you are the more you will attract the Grimm. Why do you think you and the rest of your sisters survived to adulthood without any noticeable Grimm attack? It's because none of you unlocked your Aura, that's why." Lianne was breathing heavily from her tirade, but she wasn't done yet, "And how many of my blood will the world take from me until it's satisfied? You're too young to remember your other aunts and uncles that died for this wretched profession, Jaune. Haven't the Arcs paid enough blood for Remnant to fight the good fight instead? Let them have their noble deaths."
The entire Arc clan, all seven sisters of Jaune, watched the back and forth between mother and son in silence. It wasn't the first time both of them argued about the matter, but this time Lianne had reached her limit. They were all attending the wake of Adrian Arc in his Argus home. His body was already on a Bullhead with Jaune's father, escorting it to their ancestral home of Arcade to be buried with the rest of his family… including his dead elder siblings.
"That's enough." A low but powerful voice echoed out in the room, causing the mother and son pair to turn to its owner.
Maximilian Arc, the patriarch of the clan, stared blankly at the fireplace from his armchair. His long golden blonde hair tied in a wolftail and his full beard had just barely started to finally gray in his old age. Crocea Mors in his hands had dark red stains from the blood of his son. His last son… for all his other children, along with their mother, were dead aside from Lianne.
"We are here to pay respects to my son, this is not the time nor place for your usual arguments."
Lianne and Jaune bristled at that, but nodded in shame and returned silently to their seats.
"Grandpa Max… would you like a drink?"
Max turned to his eldest granddaughter and her lover as they approached with a bottle of wine. Saphron had moved in with her uncle the moment she came of age and enrolled in one of Argus' top universities. She had lived in Argus for a few years now, working in the communication tower where she met Terra. He honestly was not sure if Terra was Adrian's lover or Saphron's and he was too old to get involved with this shit. Regardless, with Adrian's death, the house would pass on to her now. He accepted a glass and drank it all in one gulp.
"Thank you, Saphron. And you Terra, thank you for taking care of my granddaughter. How's the babe coming along?"
Terra Cotta smiled as she placed her hands on her bulging stomach, "He's coming along nicely, just a few more months now. The doctor says he is quite healthy. I guess he takes heavily after his father."
Saphron interjected then, "We're thinking of naming him after uncle Adrian. He was the sperm donor, and I'm sure he would grow up big and strong just like his papi."
Max smiled at that, "A son. There has been a shortage of Arc males for a couple of generations now. Not just the Arcs if I recall," Max sighed, "Fate works in different ways, it takes a son from me yet gifts me with another."
A bit of a silence stretched on after this, and Max could see his grandson still strung up. He knew he had to do something about this, lest his family fractures more than it already had. Jaune was as stubborn as any Arc, even more considering he had to grow up in a house with so many women. His daughter will not like it, not at all, but with the death of his youngest son, he needed to make sure that the last male Arc would be able to survive this Grimm-infested world they lived in. Crocea Mors shall not be retired, he can feel the blade singing in his hands, demanding a worthy wielder, begging him to wield it once more.
But no, his time had long passed. His duties now lie in the mundane work of the world, rather than the frontlines. Time for another generation to take up the mantle.
"I will be taking over your training, Jaune. Once we return to Vytal, we will begin immediately."
Before Jaune could so much as jump in joy, Lianne predictably exploded in anger.
"You will do no such thing! I will NOT have my son throw away his life and–"
"My decision is final, Lianne. I do not care if Jaune chooses to become a huntsman or join the military, what I do care is that he becomes strong. Presently, he is not. He is an utter weakling who wouldn't even be considered good enough to be Grimm fodder." Jaune cringed heavily at the exaggeration, while one of his sisters snickered. "You didn't allow any of his sisters to train or unlock their Aura, and I respected your decision as a mother, and acknowledge the wisdom behind it as they did survive and thrive as you hoped. But no more. At least not for Jaune. Jaune has already reached his majority and is considered an adult. He shall be living with me for the rest of the year in Massalia. At the end of the year, it will be up to him if he wants to stay longer or return home."
Maximilian turned his gaze to his grandson, "You asked for this, Jaune. This is your only chance to back out, I will make your life an absolute hell to make up for the ten years of training you missed. Are you absolutely sure you can handle it?"
Jaune felt the perspective of the dream shift again, back to his own body. Idly, he noticed the moon shining down through the window
He could feel his sweat dripping at his grandfather's words, but his resolve was solidified. He knew his grandfather wasn't bluffing. Despite him taking excellent care of his body, and diligently training it, he felt that his grandfather will yet test his limits before breaking them. Nevertheless, Jaune will not let his uncle's death deter him or be in vain. He will not accept being weak nor will he be mediocre.
"I accept."
Jaune squeezed his eyes at the strange, mechanical, yet cultured voice. He was having a good dream, a sad dream. No, it was a memory, though something felt weird about it. That visit to Argus, in the middle of winter, was supposed to be for his sixteenth birthday, in celebration of him legally being an adult. Uncle Adrian just had to die, though.
'I miss my family… But that memory was strange, it felt more like it was my grandfather's rather than my own.'
Jaune groaned as he opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was that strange rock that drained his aura in the white cave. He expected to find himself back in the cave, but instead, he saw nothing but an empty gray void. There was a table and chair, but that's all he could see.
"Where am I?" he rose sluggishly from the ground and made his way to the chair, dropping on it with another groan.
"Who's there?" Jaune looked around warily, but he could see nothing apart from the empty table in front of him.
"What system? What do you mean by user? Wait, are you that rock that nearly killed me?"
Jaune was speechless. He threw that accusation randomly, but he certainly didn't expect for the rock to actually be a sentient being. He couldn't even blame it for what happened as it was solely his fault for his curiosity and recklessly taking hold of that crystal.
"It's fine, I guess," Jaune sighed, "It wasn't your fault. I am the one who needs to learn more control over myself. Still, I would appreciate an explanation of what or who you are, as well as what you meant by guiding me on my path. Moreover, who is that Creator you speak of?"
"This… is a lot to take in," Jaune took his time to process what the voice said. First thing's first, this is his mind? How… depressing. He would like to think his mind would be better looking than that. Why, he should at least sit on his father's fancy armchair instead of this uncomfortable thing.
Suddenly, the chair he was sitting on morphed into an extremely comfortable armchair, with satin pillows and silky armrests. Jaune involuntary groaned at the pleasure of sitting on something posh for the first time in who knew how long.
"I guess so. Give me a moment," Jaune concentrated, and his surroundings changed to match the veranda of his home. Arcade, sprawled in front of him. Completely built on one of the summits of the Vytal Mountains, where the Arcs of old constructed their castle and formed their fief. The castle still stands, albeit turned into a barrack for the troops and a workshop for his dad's experiments. It is also the only place where a VTOL Aircraft could land on its roof due to the limited space available in the town. In time, the town had changed into a tourist destination thanks to its wonderful hot springs.
The Arc mansion was on a slight hill, with a sheer cliff behind it. He could see the foot bath in the center of town where hot spring water was pumped out for all to use, surrounding it was the marketplace with all kinds of stores, restaurants, and other establishments. There were a few inns and hotels here and there, but any wealthy visitor would certainly rather stay in the world renowned Moonfall Resort and Spa; named as such due to the two blocks of moon rock that hang on the mountains above it, forming two crescent moons. It was also the emblem of his family, and the reason the town was called Arcade.
In winter, the mountains and town were snowed over, thus providing an excellent opportunity to snowboard down the mountain. The roads to the town were blocked by snow in winter, and the town itself could only be accessed via a cable car to the town of Ashdale, built in a valley at the bottom of the mountain. From there, one could travel to the rest of Vytal on foot or by vehicle.
Jaune sighed in nostalgia before deciding he had reminisced enough, "So, don't you have some kind of physical form? Or will I keep speaking to a disembodied voice?"
"Sounds rough… so that Creator guy, is he a God? Goddess? Sort of like the Brother Gods?"
Jaune was shocked at that. He wasn't really religious, and even then, his family didn't follow the most popular religion in Remnant. They preferred ancestral worship and the moon for obvious reasons. Still, to learn that the Brother Gods were real, yet they are gone now… makes him feel hollow and abandoned.
"Enough theology for now," Jaune sighed as he set his head on the chair's headrest and gazed on the empty scenery of his town. For some reason, he'd been relatively calm despite the insane situation he found himself in.
"You mentioned earlier that you could modify my body and give me boons. As my Grandpa would say, there is no such thing as a free lunch and if you are ever offered one, to always check for poison. So, what did you mean by it exactly?"
Jaune thought for a moment, before he had an incredulous look on his face. "Wait a moment, when you said System, did you mean like, a gaming system? Like those RPG games with character sheets and hit points and such?"
Intrigued, Jaune nodded in the affirmative, and was shocked when an actual status screen appeared in front of him, complete with abilities, stats, skills and other stuff.
Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 2900/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr)
Strength (STR): 40/81 DEBUFF
Vitality (VIT):49/ 98 DEBUFF
Dexterity (DEX): 42/85 DEBUFF
Agility (AGL): 31/62 DEBUFF
Perception (PER): 21/42 DEBUFF
Intelligence (INT): 93
Special Stats:
Wisdom (WIS): 46
Arc Bloodline (inherent): Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration.
Semblance (UNLOCKED): Your semblance allows you to instantly refill your Aura to the maximum once a day with unpredictable side effects. More testing is required. It might have more abilities that are waiting to be discovered.
Status Effects:
Semblance Used: Aura recovery halved.
Weakened: Some Stats are reduced.
"That's a lot of information, yet not as detailed as I expected, to be honest. I half-expected you to have my personality traits, skills, and flaws along with levels or something."
"Know thy enemy and know thyself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Know thyself but not the enemy, and for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. Know neither the enemy nor thyself, and you will succumb in every battle."
"Indeed, though I am surprised you know about Mistral already."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Jaune could already feel himself awakening, just by thinking about it. "Oh, and System? We need to find a name for you. If you can't think of one, I'll come up with one for you."
"Then, I'll call you Krystal. In honor of our first meeting," Jaune chuckled as his body started disappearing, "And Krystal? Call me Jaune."
Afterword: That's that I suppose. Jaune is well-trained here, and certainly more knowledgeable than in the show. He does not suffer from what I call, "Hilariously Ignorant Character" where authors/writers make a character unrealistically ignorant about matters of their own world for the sole purpose of dropping exposition and info dumps for the readers.
Jaune fucks around and finds out.
If you had not noticed, this story will be a system fic. I would be hesitant to call it a gamer fic, as I have no desire to drown myself in Excel sheets, and nor will Jaune be traveling dimensions. The system will purely be there for gacha (which will be limited) and for the occasional quest.
If you would like to support me or read ahead, feel free to join me on Patreon under the same penname
Consider this an AU, and while I will not butcher the characters' personalities, don't expect them to be compliant with "Modern Audiences" or to care about your feelings. This is a death world where humanity has to actually struggle to survive, unlike our own world that is slowly heading towards Universe 25.
This story is crossposted on other websites, and I will be releasing a chapter every once in a while, until I catch up. I suppose I might as well warn you that by chapter 20, Jaune has yet to reach Beacon. I'm just having fun writing the story.
Today was the longest day of Jaune Arc's life.
It was a thousand miles from the port city of Esmeralda, on the northern tip of Sanus, to the city of Vale. Sneaking out of his hometown of Arcade, on the mountains of Vytal Island, was simple enough. An Airbus was out of the question, his meager funds not nearly enough to book passage. Instead, he made his way to the closest port town, and signed up as a deckhand on a cargo ship carrying Dust and other metals mined from the island and within days he was disembarking in Esmeralda.
Now why, oh why did he decide it would be a brilliant idea to walk all the way to Vale? Instead of doing the smart thing and taking the train headed there?
'Remember Jaune, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'
Ah, that's why. Thanks for the tip Grandpa Max. Brilliant advice. Definitely had nothing to do with him being broke, bored and having a severe case of wanderlust. Oh, and the train being delayed, and him not affording a hotel stay didn't help matters either.
Jaune was brought out of his musings as his enemy howled at him. He ducked as he heard the now familiar whooshing sound of a Beowolf's claw swipe aiming at his face. He instinctively swiped his sword at the Grimm, easily decapitating it in one stroke, Crocea Mors as deadly as ever. He didn't waste time celebrating as he immediately turned his attention to the two other Beowolves charging behind the first one. Remembering his grandpa's training, he counter-charged the Grimm instead of waiting for them, shield at the front as he bashed the first Beowolf in the head, stunning it into the ground, before he continued to the other one. Jaune side-stepped a lunge from the Beowolf before slicing the sides of the Grimm. The first Grimm had by now recovered and attacked the young Arc, who met its charge with his shield, momentarily holding it in place.
The second Beowolf was too busy holding its smokey entrails to help its brethren, which received a powerful front kick from Jaune's steel studded boots that staggered it before the young man shoved his deadly blade through its heart.
Jaune pulled out his sword, before relieving the Grimm of its head in a finishing stroke in case it did something in its death throes. 'Never turn your back to a perceived defeated enemy.' his grandpa's voice echoed in his mind. Turning to the last Beowolf, that had finally regained its footing, Jaune dodged a clumsy lunge from it before slicing off the offending claw. The Beowolf didn't even get a chance to roar in pain before it lost its head to one final slice from the Arc ancestral blade.
Jaune stared at the disintegrating corpses of the Grimm, before he took a deep breath and calmed down his nerves. The fight wasn't particularly hard, as he didn't get hit once and never even had to use his Aura to augment his strength. His grandpa's training allowing him to efficiently dismantle the trio of juvenile Beowolves, yet it would not do for him to attract any more Grimm. He collapsed his shield into its sheath form and sheathed his sword before he made his way to his horse, which was grazing on a patch of grass, staring impassively at the scene as if it were utterly bored.
"Thanks for the assist, Arthur. Really couldn't have done it without you. Why, it's not as if you didn't run off at the first sign of danger, nearly tossing me off the saddle to deal with the Grimm by my lonesome. Hell, I even unlocked your Aura to better survive you ungrateful old mule."
The white horse snorted at him in what Jaune thought was mockery but was probably it just sneezing. Jaune was given the old nag for free from a farmstead he passed by a few days ago that he helped with a Grimm problem. The old horse had a bad temper that was frightening the younger stallions. A hot meal and a stay in the barn was certainly a fair price for his pack animal, that would have gotten butchered for its meat otherwise. His fantastical delusion of him being a knight on a white horse had absolutely nothing to do with it, no sir, he did not unlock the horse's Aura just for that… okay, maybe he did so, slightly.
"Come on, then. I don't like the look of those stormy clouds." Jaune mounted the horse, and slowly trotted back to the main road. His destination, the small town of Thornfield, known for its lavender fields that supposedly supplied half of Vale's perfumes.
As they slowly made their way down the road, Jaune thought about his ambition to become a Huntsman and join Beacon Academy. His grandfather had prepared him well enough for fighting Grimm and surviving the wild, though it still grated on Jaune's nerves how his own parents, retired huntsmen themselves, refused to train him. They would much prefer him to find a regular old job like the rest of the Arc clan, whether it's in one of the family businesses or joining his father's workshop. It's the reason he is so broke, despite his family being quite affluent. It is difficult to ask for an allowance when your mother knows you are planning to leave against her wishes.
'No! I come from a long line of warriors and heroes. I refuse to be satisfied with a life of mediocrity.'
He shook his head at the thought. None of that mattered now, his grandfather came with the clutch when he acknowledged his desire to be strong. A retired Huntsman himself, he didn't necessarily support his decision to become a Huntsman, believing the profession to have lost its luster and too limiting. Yet, he firmly believed that being strong was irrelevant to whatever aspirations you may have. Then again, Maximilian Arc was an old man from a different time. Strength of arms meant everything on the frontier lands, and it is your duty to become strong in some way to protect your community. Whether it was Grimm or bandits, if you can't defend yourself, then you have no right to claim the wild empty lands of Sanus and beyond, let alone survive and thrive.
A droplet of water fell on Jaune's nose, pulling his gaze to the skies. The earlier dark clouds looked much heavier now, and he estimated he still had a few hours of travel to get to Thornfield. It was still early morning, but he would have to call it quits for now lest he found himself braving a torrential storm. Summer was just beginning, and the rainy season came with it in this part of the continent.
Jaune continued travelling for a few more minutes while searching for a good place to camp, the pittering of the rain still thankfully light for now. Eventually, he found a good enough spot on a hill underneath a cliff overhang, providing good shelter from the rain.
After securing Arthur to a fallen log, he unsaddled the horse and got his camping gear out. There was no need for a fire as the weather was warm enough, and he wanted to avoid attracting the attention of wild animals or worse. There were whispers in Esmeralda of bandit activity in the area, with a self-proclaimed bandit king terrorizing the small hamlets along the railway. Not to mention the constant threat of the Grimm. Knowing his luck, Jaune felt he had a high chance of getting involved with both, some way or another.
The rain had started in earnest a few hours ago, and Jaune was glad he didn't bother setting up a tent. The cliff face protected him enough from the wind, but the torrential rain might be a problem if it caused a flood.
'I'll handle that if it happens. For now, I gotta make sure my gear is in top shape.'
Jaune had all his armor stripped and laid on a flat rock for cleaning and maintenance. He allowed his thoughts to wander as he did the monotonous task. It's been nearly four weeks now since he left home, nearly two months until Beacon's initiation, and he still felt embittered over the lack of support from his family towards his goal. So what if the life of a Huntsman was dangerous and extreme? Didn't they realize that the world they lived in did not allow for frivolous life choices? Which was better, to live a simple and easy life with the wealth the Arcs have accumulated over the generations? Or to do what is right, no matter how difficult it was? The Arcs were blessed with long lives and strong Auras, truly a clan made for fighting; and with the eternal threat of the Grimm, It should be a no-brainer to dedicate his life to fighting the good fight over anything else. They have been doing it for generations, with his ancestor participating in the Great War and even further back still.
His grandfather was pushing ninety, yet he still looked in his forties. Despite officially retiring from being a Huntsman, he still worked in Massalia, Vytal's main city located on its eastern coast, as the head of the adventurer's guild. He even holds an official military rank in the Vale armed forces from his time fighting in the Faunus Rights Revolution.
It was him who unlocked his Aura. It was him who encouraged him to get strong, especially with how massive his Aura reserves were even compared to the average Arc, regardless of how his own daughter's (Jaune's mother) disapproved of Jaune's training. For once, Jaune had someone who believed in him, and he wanted with all his heart to make his grandfather proud. Even if the old fart was stingy enough to barely lend him any Lien for his travels. At least, he allowed him to have Crocea Mors, the ancestral blade of the Arcs. Passed down from Arc to Arc for hundreds of years, the hand and half blade could be used with a shield or two-handed. He inherited it after its last wielder died in the line of duty more than a year ago. Still, it had proven to be a lifesaver for him. It was extremely sharp and nigh indestructible; Jaune even thought he could feel its presence somehow in the heat of battle. Still, it was disappointing that he had yet to discover his Semblance. If he could compliment it with his sword…
Jaune sighed as he thought more about his family.
His father wasn't an Arc by birth, but he was still a veteran huntsman and an excellent scientist and engineer. His mother had made a name for herself as a huntress herself. It would have made his life so much easier if she had written him a letter of recommendation or at least booked an Airbus ticket for him to Beacon. Instead, he had to rough it out with a naggy old mule and the shitty weather. Even with his grandfather's training, he wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he would be able to even pass the entrance exam, let alone initiation. When he got to Vale, he would have to buy study guides to prepare for the written exam at least. Too bad, he never could convince his parents to enroll him in a combat school. Or even a normal school for that matter.
Jaune sighed again as he finished his work. He then put on his armor, despite how uncomfortable it would be to sleep in. His grandfather's lessons reverberated in his mind about how rough sleep with armor is better than waking up with a missing limb or not waking up at all. He had just strapped Crocea Mors and was in the middle of putting on his boots, when he heard a loud howl through the winds.
Jaune listened closely, trying to figure out if that was a Beowolf or a regular wolf. Grimm had a sort of echoing quality to their roars, so it might very well have been a regular pack of wolves. He quickly put on his boots, and held Crocea Mors across his lap.
Another howl, closer than the last one. Jaune looked at Arthur to find the horse anxiously clopping his hooves on the ground. He quickly saddled the horse, in case he needed a quick getaway, and started packing his supplies into his backpack.
Jaune heard more howls, though this time he was confident that they were Grimm. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose at his stupidity. Grimm were attracted to negative thoughts and emotions, how could he be so foolish?!
"Great job, Jaune. You just had to let your mind wander and be an angsty little shit."
He had no time to rebuke himself, as the first Grimm appeared from the treeline. Though it blended well with the darkness and the rain, its white mask and red eyes couldn't hide itself from Jaune. It was still a distance away and had to climb the hill to reach him, which made Jaune wish he had bought a gun when he had the chance. Blame his frugal nature.
More Grimm appeared from the treeline, and charged up the hill. Arthur was freaking out now and Jaune had no choice but to cut his leash and allow him to run off while he fought the Grimm; He could always find him later. Jaune learned the hard way why few people have their Auras unlocked, nor why you don't randomly unlock an animal's Aura. The creatures of Grimm are attracted to Aura, the more you have, the more they will target you. Normally, Grimm don't target animals, but once their Aura was unlocked, they too become prey for the Grimm. Considering Jaune's obscene reserves of Aura, he shouldn't be surprised that he had been attacked no less than a dozen times in the past week alone. At least it was good training.
His grandfather did take him along for patrols occasionally, but Vytal had no real Grimm problem thanks to its nature as an island, the existence of the Adventurer's guild and the many retired huntsmen living there don't allow the Grimm to grow old enough to be dangerous. As his gramps would say, 'huntsmen don't really retire. They simply become the reserve.'
Jaune concentrated on the present. With Crocea Mors in hand, he waited for the Beowolf to get close enough before he parried a claw strike with his shield and quickly bisected the Grimm. All the while, the torrential rain continued to fall with the wind and thunder nearly making Jaune deaf.
Even more Beowolves approached and Jaune lost himself in the rhythm of parrying, dodging and slicing at his enemies. Occasionally, he would be forced to tank a hit due to poor visibility, though his Aura and armor made any damage negligible. Eventually, a lull was formed as there were no more Grimm in sight, but the rain continued to fall sideways, completely drenching him, and the wind howled.
Not the wind, Jaune thought as a large figure that must have been hiding in the rain charged at him fast. Jaune instantly knew this was a different breed of Grimm, as it had much more bone armor than usual.
'An Alpha Beowolf!'
Jaune gulped nervously, and prepared to meet the werewolf like monster. An unholy howl was ripped from its throat as it lunged at him with a clawful of bone spikes.
'Can't tank that!' Jaune immediately dodged to the outside of the offending claw and attempted to slice at the Wolf's sides. The muddy ground made his dodge unstable though, and only allowed him to slice off a bone spike, instead of the entire arm he was aiming for. The Alpha backhanded him, but Jaune ducked under the swipe. Finding himself inside its guard, he quickly sliced at it's left armpit where there wasn't any armor, rendering the Grimm'sleft arm useless. He then channeled aura through his right arm and to his sword, and delivered a thrust to its gut that easily pierced through its bone armor like it was paper.
The Alpha howled in pain, but it wasn't dead yet. It snapped its jaws at Jaune's head, but an instinctive jerk to the side had the wolf bite his right shoulder instead. The pauldron blunted most of the attack, but Jaune still grunted in pain. Another claw strike came from his left, but he blocked it with his shield. The muddy ground had them both stuck in the same spot, unable to move their legs.
The Alpha shook its head in both pain and rage as it tried to chew through his right pauldron. Jaune took that chance to shatter it's left knee with an Aura infused kick, kicking mud everywhere, before he ripped his sword from its gut and shoved it up a chink in its throat armor.
The wolf groaned pitifully before collapsing on the ground. A final slice relieved it of it's head, before Jaune took stock of his situation. He carefully extracted himself from the muddy ground, lest he fall and find himself drowning in his armor. He checked himself for injuries but felt nothing aside from a slight soreness from his right shoulder where the wolf tried to bite him. His pauldrons held well, though, thanks to his Aura protecting him from the worst of the attack, and he could already feel the discomfort disappearing as his Aura started healing him. Not many would reinforce their armor with Aura, as the point of wearing armor is to conserve Aura. Jaune was different, as he had so much Aura that it's more convenient for him to waste Aura to make sure his armor didn't get too damaged.
With no more Grimm in sight, Jaune returned to his camp and gathered his backpack. Suddenly, Jaune felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand before the entire world flashed white, and at the same time a massive rumbling noise was heard from above him. Momentarily blind and deaf, Jaune looked up. A hundred meters above him, Jaune saw the overhang that had protected him so well from the elements was now falling straight down at him.
"FUCK! Fuck, fuck, fuck." Jaune ran as hard as he could down the hill, but before he could make it a few feet through the mud, the massive piece of rock, easily the size of an Airbus, crashed behind him and collapsed the entire hill on itself.
"This just isn't my day…" were Jaune's last thoughts before he fell into the deep sinkhole that formed in place of the hill, the cliff collapsing after it and covering the hole.
"... Ow"
Jaune felt like his entire body was one giant bruise. At least, he could actually feel his body, which meant he should be alright… hopefully. He carefully stood up and retrieved his flashlight from his bag, turning it on. What he saw did not bode well.
"Rocks, mud and water. Must be one hell of a cave-in." Okay, Jaune. No need to panic, wouldn't want to attract more Grimm and make this shitty situation even shittier. He was surrounded by earth and rock except for one direction that stretched out into darkness. It's actually a miracle that he survived the fall in the first place, though upon checking his Aura and feeling about a third of it gone, it might not have been luck after all.
Searching his pockets for his Scroll, Jaune pulled it out and as expected, there was no signal. He checked the map feature, and the last offline location for him was where he camped. It was an unnamed hill, so it would be difficult to even call for help even if there was a signal.
He stored the scroll away, to save its battery. Scrolls can go weeks before needing to be recharged, but better be safe than sorry.
Before he moved, he checked his backpack and belongings. Everything seemed in place, aside from a few dents in his armor. Deciding that he might not get the opportunity later, Jaune grabbed some beef jerky and a granola bar for an impromptu meal before washing it all down with water. Once he was ready, he shouldered his bag and trudged on.
.
.
.
Wherever this place was, there was no way it was natural. The tunnel seemed to stretch endlessly with a slight decline, yet it continued to go on a straight line with no divergent paths. The entire thing looked like a round tube, easily six meters high and four meters across. This tunnel was clearly dug through by some manner of creature, but Jaune had yet to face any Grimm.
And it utterly unnerved him.
He can feel it in the very depths of his soul, that he's being watched. His grandfather once warned him that he would be able to tell when Grimm were watching him, the Aura surrounding him feeling the revulsion of those soulless monstrosities as they watched his every move. Hungering for the manifestation of the soul. This very fact gave him the creeps, for Grimm weren't known for their patience. Such an… intelligent aspect was not to be expected from their kind.
Unless he was dealing with an incredibly old Grimm, and considering he was probably the first human to stumble upon this tunnel, any Grimm that had stayed hidden here would be able to grow old safely enough.
Suddenly, a slight tremor could be felt from down the tunnels. 'Finally!' Jaune thought in excitement as he hung his flashlight on his bag's shoulder strap and unsheathed Crocea Mors. The sound of running footsteps were getting louder, and he could see vague shapes charging at him straight ahead, white bone masks and red eyes visible for him to see. Checking his Aura, he felt it had recovered slightly from when he crashed down here.
He could finally see the Grimm clearly, and there were many of them. 'Creeps! And big ones at that.' The bipedal Grimm in the lead let out a roar before it lunged at Jaune, who met its charge head on, bashing its bony head before thrusting into its neck. He didn't bother with a follow-up, confident it was dead or dying before he moved to the next target. This time, there were three Creeps attacking at the same time, not wanting to risk getting flanked, he channeled Aura through his sword before cutting at them horizontally, releasing an Aura slash in the shape of a crescent that bisected one of the creeps and cut off the leg of the second. The third Creep managed to dodge and tried to headbutt him, but Jaune blocked it with his shield and bashed it into the wall. Stunned, the Creep could do nothing to stop a sword thrust through its eye and to its brain.
Jaune returned to the crippled Grimm and finished it off, before more sounds of Grimm approaching grabbed his attention. He looked ahead, and started moving towards his enemies. More Creeps approached, and Jaune lost himself in the monotony of the fight as he systematically dispatched them with efficient use of his environment and weapons. He would rather conserve his Aura, but he wasn't shy about using it to devastating effect. Crocea Mors was highly compatible with Aura, amplifying any Aura channeled through it.
As he disemboweled the last Creep, Jaune exhaled and took a swig of water, before he carried on. Before he could walk for long, another tremor could be felt, as something slithered its way towards him.
"No rest for the wicked," A giant snake head greeted him after those words, with a lunging bite that he was barely able to block with both sword and shield, yet he was still sent staggering back a few feet. The black head of the snake Grimm, a King Taijitu, lunged again. Jaune was better prepared though, as he lunged with his shield before the snake could start its lunge, thus stopping it cold with a firm application of Aura to his shield. Before he could stab it though, the snake's other head lunged at him from the side, forcing him to disengage.
Now, both snake heads completely blocked the tunnel as they hissed and snarled at him. Jaune remembered how the snake Grimm was fast on the attack, but once you have both heads next to each other, they could barely move. Which is why the snake Grimm was content to just hiss at him. Judging by its large size and many bone plates, it was old and smart. It knew Jaune had to go through, and he had to attack one of the heads but not both at the same time. Once he attacked one, the other would retaliate. Jaune was confident that this was the old Grimm that had been watching him.
The aspiring Huntsman was running out of patience with this little adventure he found himself in. The snake blocked the only exit for him, and he had no desire to spend the night in this cave. "You're in my way you monochrome bastard!" Jaune channeled enough Aura through Crocea Mors for the sword to shine brightly, causing the King Taijitu to flinch from the bright light, before he released the pent-up Aura in a horizontal slash at the black head, cutting deeply into its neck. The white snake head hissed angrily and lunged at Jaune, it's other dead head dragging uselessly behind it. Jaune tanked the lunge, but the snake bit angrily into his shield. If it weren't for his Aura protecting his shield, it would have massive holes in it. A simple thrust of his sword to its neck dispatched the snake, and he watched impassively as the Grimm disintegrated. He continued on down the tunnel, hoping he would reach the end soon.
Jaune checked his scroll for the time, finding that he had been walking for six hours since he first fell here, and it was approaching nighttime outside. He still couldn't receive any signal, and his map app wasn't working either, insisting that his last location was the destroyed hill. He probably travelled over twenty miles already, and he could feel the pressure of being underground forming in his ears. All the while, he had been constantly fighting Grimm, mostly of the Creep and King Taijitu variety, but his toughest challenge was a Centinel. He had no idea what a Grimm that was native to Solitas was doing in a Sanus cave. He knew he had to go all out to kill it as fast as possible before it evolved into a Cenitaur and collapsed the entire mountain on his head. It didn't help that he was swarmed by more Creeps at the same time. Thankfully, prodigious use of an Aura imbibed Crocea Mors was enough to kill them, though his Aura had gone down to 50% as a result. Unfortunately, the Grimm's acid blood splashed on his armor and also his bag, damaging them both. It destroyed his favorite pajamas! His sisters made that for him, dammit! And it was so damn comfy too. RIP, Mr Onesie, you would have been a killer with the ladies.
Finally, he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Turning off his flashlight, Jaune cautiously walked until the tunnel opened into a massive cavern with a sheer cliff from where he stood. He gazed in awe, as the light he could see was due to an abundance of Dust crystals lining the walls. At a first glance, he could see plenty of red and orange, designating Fire and Earth, with a few yellow crystals for Lightning Dust. He approached a yellow crystal near him, and placed his hands on it, immediately feeling the electrifying power of the Dust coursing through him.
Jaune looked around in amazement, the sheer amount of Dust crystals he could see could power an entire city for years. He gave the crystal a tentative pull, and it easily came off, yet he could see more Dust behind the walls. He quickly turned on the camera on his scroll and attached it to his bag's other shoulder strap, across from the turned off flashlight. Recording what might be a once-in-a-lifetime achievement was a no-brainer. Who knows? He might even lay claim to this discovery.
'Wow, I wonder why no one ever excavated this site. Could I really be the first one to find this place?'
Jaune looked around the chamber, he knew he needed to go up, but he couldn't tell if the light at the top was more Dust or the moon outside. About thirty meters below him was the bottom. There was what appeared to be a massive white rock protruding from the ground. It was like a small mountain in the chamber. The ledge he was on went both ways, up and down. Jaune was tempted to explore the bottom, but he was very much done with this place, and would prefer not to spend the night here. There were a few dark spots along the walls, and looking closely, Jaune recognized them as more tunnels.
Decision made, he pocketed the Dust crystal and started going up, only for a chill to crawl up his back. He knew this feeling. He was being watched. Looking up, he saw something crawling along the walls. Scratch that, he saw dozens, of things crawling down the walls. His eyes widened in fear as he recognized them as Sulfur Fish, their triple flame tails visible and their single eyes glaring malevolently.
"NOPE!"
Jaune did a quick 180 that had him running down the ledge as fast as he could, the dog-sized Grimm scuttling down the walls after him with their squeaky screeches. No way would he be able to fight them effectively on the small path he was on. That was just asking to be swarmed and taking the expressway to the bottom. He did NOT want to find out if he could survive a thirty-meter drop.
Thankfully, the Grimm were easily noticeable due to all the light coming from the Dust crystals. A few dropped from up high to flank him as the path circled the chamber to the bottom, only for most of them to continue falling off the ledge, hopefully to their deaths. The ones that blocked him were quickly punted with a kick before they could attack.
Finally, he made it all the way to the bottom. A quick glance showed a tunnel in the massive block of white rock that he saw earlier, it's symmetrical shape clashing with the natural rock and Dust around it. Other tunnels were lining the walls in the opposite direction, but with no time to decide, he sprinted towards the closest tunnel, which was in the white rock, dodging Sulfur Fish as they dropped from on high. He quickly made his way inside the tunnel, before turning around to face the Grimm.
The tunnel barely allowed enough space for two Sulfur Fish to attack him at the same time, and Jaune got to work on them. It was a Knight's work as he had to be careful not to allow their searing hot tails to strike his shield or armor lest they destroy them, or deplete his Aura. With his Aura already half empty after an entire day of constant fighting, Jaune had to fight smart in this situation.
The first fish lunged at him, and he blocked its headbutt. Its tails poised to strike over his shield, but quick reflexes had him cut the tails off with his sword and a quick thrust into its single eye instantly killed it. Jaune had to move further back to dodge another fish, but a shield bash then a kick to its head sent it flying back into its brethren. This bought Jaune a few seconds of breathing room before more fish charged in, though this time the Grimm scaled the rock to attack him from above as well as the walls. Panicking a bit, Jaune channeled Aura to his blade before sending a Crescent Wave at the charging Grimm, before he sidestepped a tail lash from another fish on the ceiling. It wasn't high enough to stop him from stabbing it though, but more Sulfur Fish came in, forcing Jaune deeper into the Rock.
This continued on for a few more meters, until he noticed the small tunnel he was in opened to a small chamber. A quick glance assured him there weren't any Grimm behind him, but retreating to the chamber would not be in his best interest. The Sulfur Fish were sitting ducks in the funnel of the tunnel, and if he allowed them to reach the chamber he will be easily swarmed.
Feeling his dwindling Aura, Jaune continued hacking and slashing at the vermin-like Grimm. Looking to the back of the pack, he could finally see the last of the Sulfur Fish inside the tunnel; a veritable swarm of them on the ground and walls, and he knew this would be his only chance to get rid of all of them in one go. If he waited anymore, he risked them combining into their more dangerous forms.
Jaune channeled Aura through his shield and bashed a couple of fish back through the tunnel, the shockwave taking a few of their kin with them. Immediately, he threw away the shield and held Crocea Mors with both hands as he channeled a good half of his remaining Aura, about a fifth of his maximum, through the blade. He had never channeled so much Aura through a weapon. His previous max with his training sword shattered the regular iron sword at 5% of his max Aura, but Crocea Mors proved to be more than a match for his reserves as it shined a brilliant gold and seemed to elongate. The sheer brilliance of the light stunned the Sulfur Fish as they tried to cover their single eye. The aspiring huntsman focused his aura on the tip of the blade…
And then he swung it down.
BOOM!!
Jaune breathed heavily, as he looked at his handiwork. The tunnel had a large trench, ten meters long, from where Crocea Mors struck the ground all the way to its entrance, and beyond, though surprisingly the white rock itself was intact with nary a scratch. All the Sulfur Fish were obliterated by his attack, and Jaune chuckled at the success of his plan.
"Haah…haah…hehehe, hahahah. Take that you stupid rats."
Jaune pulled his sword from the nearly molten ground, and collected his shield. The shield was dented in many spots from the fiery tails of the Fish, but it should still function well enough. He hoped. It still collapsed to sheath form, but when he tried to expand it again it was stuck. He sheathed his sword, deciding it will do as a sheath for now.
Jaune felt something from behind him, and turned to the chamber he just discovered.
The chamber was smaller than he thought. It was empty inside except for a small pedestal in the center that had what grabbed his attention. He… wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at.
It was a crystal, but he was sure it wasn't Dust. It was floating on the pedestal, yet it didn't have the black and purplish color of Gravity Dust. Hell, he wasn't sure what color it was for it changed with every angle he looked at it. Like a rainbow, except it wasn't just seven colors.
Hesitantly, Jaune approached the pedestal and looked around from different angles, trying to see if there were traps or anything of interest in the chamber. When he found nothing, he stared at the crystal for a long moment.
"Well, you can't stand here all day, Jaune. Let's just get this over with," He dropped his bag and weapons on the ground, and high on adrenaline from his previous fight and full of bravado, Jaune grabbed the crystal.
Immediately, Jaune knew something was wrong. His Aura, which had sat at about a quarter, started dropping. He tried to let go of the crystal, but he couldn't. It was as if his hand was paralyzed and stuck to the crystal. He gritted his teeth as he felt more and more of his Aura dropping. It was slow, but definitely steady. He started to panic, and heaved as strong as he could, his other hand on the pedestal for leverage, but to no avail.
Jaune started to feel exhaustion settling in. He had been on the road for days, and today had been the longest day in his life. He had killed hundreds of Grimm in the past twelve hours, and even with his massive Aura reserves, his stamina would certainly suffer from all that activity. He was only human after all.
The crystal continued to drain him, bringing him to his knees as he tried to let go of it.
"Shit, shit, let go you stupid rock," Jaune unconsciously grabbed it with both hands, but that was a terrible mistake as he felt his Aura dropping twice as fast now.
"Fuck! What the hell is this thing?!" His Aura had reached the single digits now, something that had seldom happened to him. What would happen if his Aura shattered? Would the crystal stop draining him? Would it keep going? What else would be there to drain?
"No… No, no, no, this can't be happening." Unwilling to see what would happen if his Aura shattered, Jaune focused on the piece of Lightning Dust in his pants pocket and sent a thread of his Aura towards it in a panic.
Immediately, he felt the electrifying energy of the Dust Crystal coursing through him… along with agonizing pain.
"AAAGGGGHHHHHH! FUCKING SHIT!!" In the midst of his agony, he could feel his Aura stop dwindling, the crystal draining the Dust instead.
But the pain… the PAIN!! Jaune couldn't remember how long he had been screaming himself hoarse from the sheer agony of having the unrefined Dust's energy course through his body, up his torso to his arms and then to the crystal. Vividly, he felt parts of his body getting cooler, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he reasoned that his clothes must have been burned off.
Finally, after what felt like hours to Jaune, the Dust's energy was depleted. He could still feel it seared into the skin of his thigh, but the crystal itself was inert.
"Haah… hah…haaah." Jaune tried and failed to control his breathing, but ended up vomiting on the ground instead.
After a minute of dry heaving, he finally regained his breathing, "i-is it finally o-over?"
A beat of silence… and then Jaune could feel, to his rising horror, his Aura dropping again. He had no energy at all to try to let go of his hands again.
"Come on, just let go of me already… please!" His voice was incredibly hoarse, and it came out more like a croak. It spoke of how desperate Jaune was that he started begging a simple rock for mercy. Was this how he was going to die? Not against an epic for, but a damn rock? In the middle of nowhere? He sardonically thought of how his tomb would at least be quite lavish indeed with the amount of Dust lying around. If only he could tell his family where his corpse would be, at least they would have been able to profit from his idiocy.
He stared in defeat at the Crystal as the last of his Aura was drained and flickered dimly before ceasing to exist. Idly, he noticed how it didn't shatter but he couldn't bring himself to care. Jaune felt another wave of exhaustion hit him, yet, not even then was he able to feel the bliss of unconsciousness as the hungry Crystal still continued to drain… something from him.
Was he truly going to give up like this? What could he even do? He was out of Aura. Out of tricks. His entire shtick was having massive Aura reserves. Without Aura, he was worthless. That Lightning Dust crystal wreaked havoc on his body, and he could barely concentrate. He wasn't even sure if it even helped with the draining or not.
"No," Jaune growled, "I didn't survive this shitty day and killed so many Grimm, just to die to some greedy little rock like you."
His heartbeat was loud in his ears. He had to think of something. He had to survive. His Aura was broken, but that wasn't the end of the world. His ancestors fought the Grimm without Aura or even Dust, there must be something he could do! Aura was the manifestation of the soul, which meant that even if shattered, it shouldn't be completely gone. Otherwise, he would instantly die without his soul, right? So, where was his soul exactly?
He focused his entire being inwards, looking for his soul. He could feel a tiny sliver of something hiding deep within his being. Trying to escape from the draining powers of the Crystal. Jaune felt it was similar to his Aura. His Soul. He probably would never have found it if his Aura wasn't gone, and he could feel almost nothing but numb emptiness.
He latched onto that sliver, and dragged it towards him. He didn't know what would happen if he forced it outwards from his body, for all he knew, this piece of his soul could very well be the piece that would allow him an afterlife or something. Jaune wasn't overly religious, but at this point he didn't care anymore.
Jaune's soul seemed to struggle a bit against him, as if it was hesitant to follow his lead. He couldn't afford to waste time though, as he could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. Was it his delirious mind? Or was his body losing mass? Regardless, he forced, cajoled, begged and dragged that piece of his soul kicking and screaming to the forefront of his being, whatever that meant to him, he didn't know.
Until finally, something just… clicked.
An explosion of golden light rushed out of all his pores. Jaune wasn't sure how he did it, but he felt his Aura return. His reserves climbed so fast he felt vertigo from the rush of energy. The Crystal continued it's draining, but he would like to imagine that it was starting to slow down. Or maybe his recovery was faster than its draining.
Finally, his Aura topped off at full… and continued growing. Now, Jaune started feeling like his body was bloated. In a bit of panic, Jaune unconsciously poured more Aura into the crystal, completely counterproductive to what he wanted earlier. He could feel his reserves dipping back to their normal levels before climbing again. Jaune could almost imagine his metaphorical Aura tank expanding to accommodate the rushing Aura.
At last, after what felt like days, Jaune could feel both his Aura recovery and the crystal's draining slowly cease until his reserves felt near empty again. Eventually, the crystal stopped draining as well, but by then, Jaune was completely out of it.
Jaune collapsed unconscious on the ground near the pedestal. He never noticed the crystal turning into specks of light that merged into him.
Jaune felt like he was dreaming. Or maybe his mind was broken, and he was dying? Was this a memory perhaps?
He was standing in a familiar living room, dressed all in black. Surrounding him was a group of people with golden hair and blue eyes. Jaune couldn't register their features though and suddenly felt like sleeping… only for everything to clear up but from a different perspective.
"Why? Why do you insist on going against me at everything? Do you just enjoy making your mother worried, Jaune?"
Lianne Arc was dressed in black as she finally blew up on her son's incessant demands to be trained. The stubborn matriarch of the Arc family had the patience of a saint normally, but it appears that patience was finally torn by her 16-year-old son.
"Why do YOU insist on not even listening to what I have to say? You never explain why you refuse to unlock my Aura. You refused to send me to a combat school, instead homeschooling me. I never even had friends my age because of you!"
Jaune Arc was pacing like a caged lion, as he yet again argued with his mother for the same damn reason he sees them arguing every time he visits.
"I do this for your own good, Jaune. We wouldn't be here attending my brother's funeral if he had stayed home and never became a huntsman. I don't want the same to happen to you!"
"It's my choice in the matter, mom. If I choose to have the power to defend the innocents and the weak, then it's MY choice! I refuse to be weak, I refuse to be mediocre. Uncle Adrian may have died, but he saved an entire village from a Grimm horde! I'm as sad as you are about his passing. I loved uncle Adrian, he will never take me fishing or hunting or tell me tales of his adventures ever again. But, at least he died knowing that his sacrifice was noble, and that his actions had saved the lives of thousands!"
"And why do you think there was a horde in the first place? Us Arcs are both blessed and cursed with our Aura. We attract the Grimm like moths to flames, the more powerful you are the more you will attract the Grimm. Why do you think you and the rest of your sisters survived to adulthood without any noticeable Grimm attack? It's because none of you unlocked your Aura, that's why." Lianne was breathing heavily from her tirade, but she wasn't done yet, "And how many of my blood will the world take from me until it's satisfied? You're too young to remember your other aunts and uncles that died for this wretched profession, Jaune. Haven't the Arcs paid enough blood for Remnant to fight the good fight instead? Let them have their noble deaths."
The entire Arc clan, all seven sisters of Jaune, watched the back and forth between mother and son in silence. It wasn't the first time both of them argued about the matter, but this time Lianne had reached her limit. They were all attending the wake of Adrian Arc in his Argus home. His body was already on a Bullhead with Jaune's father, escorting it to their ancestral home of Arcade to be buried with the rest of his family… including his dead elder siblings.
"That's enough." A low but powerful voice echoed out in the room, causing the mother and son pair to turn to its owner.
Maximilian Arc, the patriarch of the clan, stared blankly at the fireplace from his armchair. His long golden blonde hair tied in a wolftail and his full beard had just barely started to finally gray in his old age. Crocea Mors in his hands had dark red stains from the blood of his son. His last son… for all his other children, along with their mother, were dead aside from Lianne.
"We are here to pay respects to my son, this is not the time nor place for your usual arguments."
Lianne and Jaune bristled at that, but nodded in shame and returned silently to their seats.
"Grandpa Max… would you like a drink?"
Max turned to his eldest granddaughter and her lover as they approached with a bottle of wine. Saphron had moved in with her uncle the moment she came of age and enrolled in one of Argus' top universities. She had lived in Argus for a few years now, working in the communication tower where she met Terra. He honestly was not sure if Terra was Adrian's lover or Saphron's and he was too old to get involved with this shit. Regardless, with Adrian's death, the house would pass on to her now. He accepted a glass and drank it all in one gulp.
"Thank you, Saphron. And you Terra, thank you for taking care of my granddaughter. How's the babe coming along?"
Terra Cotta smiled as she placed her hands on her bulging stomach, "He's coming along nicely, just a few more months now. The doctor says he is quite healthy. I guess he takes heavily after his father."
Saphron interjected then, "We're thinking of naming him after uncle Adrian. He was the sperm donor, and I'm sure he would grow up big and strong just like his papi."
Max smiled at that, "A son. There has been a shortage of Arc males for a couple of generations now. Not just the Arcs if I recall," Max sighed, "Fate works in different ways, it takes a son from me yet gifts me with another."
A bit of a silence stretched on after this, and Max could see his grandson still strung up. He knew he had to do something about this, lest his family fractures more than it already had. Jaune was as stubborn as any Arc, even more considering he had to grow up in a house with so many women. His daughter will not like it, not at all, but with the death of his youngest son, he needed to make sure that the last male Arc would be able to survive this Grimm-infested world they lived in. Crocea Mors shall not be retired, he can feel the blade singing in his hands, demanding a worthy wielder, begging him to wield it once more.
But no, his time had long passed. His duties now lie in the mundane work of the world, rather than the frontlines. Time for another generation to take up the mantle.
"I will be taking over your training, Jaune. Once we return to Vytal, we will begin immediately."
Before Jaune could so much as jump in joy, Lianne predictably exploded in anger.
"You will do no such thing! I will NOT have my son throw away his life and–"
"My decision is final, Lianne. I do not care if Jaune chooses to become a huntsman or join the military, what I do care is that he becomes strong. Presently, he is not. He is an utter weakling who wouldn't even be considered good enough to be Grimm fodder." Jaune cringed heavily at the exaggeration, while one of his sisters snickered. "You didn't allow any of his sisters to train or unlock their Aura, and I respected your decision as a mother, and acknowledge the wisdom behind it as they did survive and thrive as you hoped. But no more. At least not for Jaune. Jaune has already reached his majority and is considered an adult. He shall be living with me for the rest of the year in Massalia. At the end of the year, it will be up to him if he wants to stay longer or return home."
Maximilian turned his gaze to his grandson, "You asked for this, Jaune. This is your only chance to back out, I will make your life an absolute hell to make up for the ten years of training you missed. Are you absolutely sure you can handle it?"
Jaune felt the perspective of the dream shift again, back to his own body. Idly, he noticed the moon shining down through the window
He could feel his sweat dripping at his grandfather's words, but his resolve was solidified. He knew his grandfather wasn't bluffing. Despite him taking excellent care of his body, and diligently training it, he felt that his grandfather will yet test his limits before breaking them. Nevertheless, Jaune will not let his uncle's death deter him or be in vain. He will not accept being weak nor will he be mediocre.
"I accept."
System calibrating… Calibration complete.
Welcome User, to the System.
Welcome User, to the System.
Jaune squeezed his eyes at the strange, mechanical, yet cultured voice. He was having a good dream, a sad dream. No, it was a memory, though something felt weird about it. That visit to Argus, in the middle of winter, was supposed to be for his sixteenth birthday, in celebration of him legally being an adult. Uncle Adrian just had to die, though.
'I miss my family… But that memory was strange, it felt more like it was my grandfather's rather than my own.'
Jaune groaned as he opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was that strange rock that drained his aura in the white cave. He expected to find himself back in the cave, but instead, he saw nothing but an empty gray void. There was a table and chair, but that's all he could see.
"Where am I?" he rose sluggishly from the ground and made his way to the chair, dropping on it with another groan.
This is your mind, User
"Who's there?" Jaune looked around warily, but he could see nothing apart from the empty table in front of him.
I am the System. And you are my User. It is my duty to guide you on your path, as it was decreed by the Creator.
"What system? What do you mean by user? Wait, are you that rock that nearly killed me?"
I am not a rock. And you are alive and well. I am the System. I was designed to absorb the ambient energy of what is known to you as Dust for millennia before I awaken, but your interference has greatly expedited the procedure. I am thankful for your assistance yet regretful that it has caused you so much suffering.
Jaune was speechless. He threw that accusation randomly, but he certainly didn't expect for the rock to actually be a sentient being. He couldn't even blame it for what happened as it was solely his fault for his curiosity and recklessly taking hold of that crystal.
"It's fine, I guess," Jaune sighed, "It wasn't your fault. I am the one who needs to learn more control over myself. Still, I would appreciate an explanation of what or who you are, as well as what you meant by guiding me on my path. Moreover, who is that Creator you speak of?"
Thank you for your understanding, User. To answer your questions, as I said, I am the System. I am connected to the Records of this world known as Remnant, and through it, I can modify your body or bequeath you with boons. I shall also guide you to whatever path you so choose, whether you want to be a renowned warrior, an immoral manipulator, a lusty womanizer or a great leader. I shall guide and help you no matter your choice.
As for the Creator, the Creator is the Creator. The Creator created everything. The Creator came from nothing and encompasses everything. The Creator sent me to this world of Remnant many millennia ago, I was not destined to awaken until thousands of years later. However, I was programmed to accept whoever awakens me as my User, and thus you Jaune Arc are my User.
As for the Creator, the Creator is the Creator. The Creator created everything. The Creator came from nothing and encompasses everything. The Creator sent me to this world of Remnant many millennia ago, I was not destined to awaken until thousands of years later. However, I was programmed to accept whoever awakens me as my User, and thus you Jaune Arc are my User.
"This… is a lot to take in," Jaune took his time to process what the voice said. First thing's first, this is his mind? How… depressing. He would like to think his mind would be better looking than that. Why, he should at least sit on his father's fancy armchair instead of this uncomfortable thing.
Suddenly, the chair he was sitting on morphed into an extremely comfortable armchair, with satin pillows and silky armrests. Jaune involuntary groaned at the pleasure of sitting on something posh for the first time in who knew how long.
I see you have discovered how to manipulate your mindscape, User.
"I guess so. Give me a moment," Jaune concentrated, and his surroundings changed to match the veranda of his home. Arcade, sprawled in front of him. Completely built on one of the summits of the Vytal Mountains, where the Arcs of old constructed their castle and formed their fief. The castle still stands, albeit turned into a barrack for the troops and a workshop for his dad's experiments. It is also the only place where a VTOL Aircraft could land on its roof due to the limited space available in the town. In time, the town had changed into a tourist destination thanks to its wonderful hot springs.
The Arc mansion was on a slight hill, with a sheer cliff behind it. He could see the foot bath in the center of town where hot spring water was pumped out for all to use, surrounding it was the marketplace with all kinds of stores, restaurants, and other establishments. There were a few inns and hotels here and there, but any wealthy visitor would certainly rather stay in the world renowned Moonfall Resort and Spa; named as such due to the two blocks of moon rock that hang on the mountains above it, forming two crescent moons. It was also the emblem of his family, and the reason the town was called Arcade.
In winter, the mountains and town were snowed over, thus providing an excellent opportunity to snowboard down the mountain. The roads to the town were blocked by snow in winter, and the town itself could only be accessed via a cable car to the town of Ashdale, built in a valley at the bottom of the mountain. From there, one could travel to the rest of Vytal on foot or by vehicle.
Jaune sighed in nostalgia before deciding he had reminisced enough, "So, don't you have some kind of physical form? Or will I keep speaking to a disembodied voice?"
Unfortunately, I do not have a physical form. That was not the purpose of my creation. The Creator preferred that the Users would not become too attached to the Systems. I am but a tool. I might have the capability of thought and speech, but I do not have the capacity to feel emotions though I do understand them as per my program.
"Sounds rough… so that Creator guy, is he a God? Goddess? Sort of like the Brother Gods?"
The Brother Gods… The God of Darkness and the God of Light. They appear to be the main deities of this world, yet I do not feel their presence. I suspect they are fragments of much more powerful entities that might have visited this world on a whim. What I am positive of, however, is that they have most assuredly forsaken this world, or else they would have felt my presence awaken and certainly object to my merger with you.
Jaune was shocked at that. He wasn't really religious, and even then, his family didn't follow the most popular religion in Remnant. They preferred ancestral worship and the moon for obvious reasons. Still, to learn that the Brother Gods were real, yet they are gone now… makes him feel hollow and abandoned.
"Enough theology for now," Jaune sighed as he set his head on the chair's headrest and gazed on the empty scenery of his town. For some reason, he'd been relatively calm despite the insane situation he found himself in.
"You mentioned earlier that you could modify my body and give me boons. As my Grandpa would say, there is no such thing as a free lunch and if you are ever offered one, to always check for poison. So, what did you mean by it exactly?"
To explain that, I will need to confess that I have taken the liberty to scan your body and abilities in order to convert them into a database of numbers to easily help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Jaune thought for a moment, before he had an incredulous look on his face. "Wait a moment, when you said System, did you mean like, a gaming system? Like those RPG games with character sheets and hit points and such?"
Please give me a moment while I scan the Records for what you mean… Yes, this is a good explanation of what I am doing. Although, it is much more limited yet also more flexible than what I see. Would you like to see what I have compiled?
Intrigued, Jaune nodded in the affirmative, and was shocked when an actual status screen appeared in front of him, complete with abilities, stats, skills and other stuff.
Status
Profile:Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 2900/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr)
Strength (STR): 40/81 DEBUFF
Vitality (VIT):49/ 98 DEBUFF
Dexterity (DEX): 42/85 DEBUFF
Agility (AGL): 31/62 DEBUFF
Perception (PER): 21/42 DEBUFF
Intelligence (INT): 93
Special Stats:
Wisdom (WIS): 46
- You have chosen some arguably idiotic life choices.
- You are still a child with little life experience.
- You are neither handsome nor ugly.
- Your fashion choices are pitiful.
- You have never gotten the opportunity to converse with people your own age, thus making you socially awkward.
- Gained one point from awakening the System early.
- Gained one point from merging with the System.
- Gained one point from Arc Bloodline perk.
Arc Bloodline (inherent): Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration.
Semblance (UNLOCKED): Your semblance allows you to instantly refill your Aura to the maximum once a day with unpredictable side effects. More testing is required. It might have more abilities that are waiting to be discovered.
Status Effects:
Semblance Used: Aura recovery halved.
Weakened: Some Stats are reduced.
"That's a lot of information, yet not as detailed as I expected, to be honest. I half-expected you to have my personality traits, skills, and flaws along with levels or something."
I apologize. While I stated that it would be similar to what you call an RPG character, it is merely a spreadsheet of your current self that exists to guide you to improve yourself. After all, you cannot work on your weaknesses if you do not know them.
"Know thy enemy and know thyself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Know thyself but not the enemy, and for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. Know neither the enemy nor thyself, and you will succumb in every battle."
Well said. I believe that quote is attributed to a Mistralian philosopher?
"Indeed, though I am surprised you know about Mistral already."
I know all that you know, User. Any knowledge that you gain, I automatically learn as well. In addition, I have access to the records of this world, but please bear in mind that I am not allowed to divulge any knowledge that may affect your path unless you have already discovered said knowledge. I am to help guide you on your path, not choose one for you.
Now I am sure, you have other questions, though I suggest the User to wake up now. We can discuss more later, but your body needs sustenance in order to properly recover.
Now I am sure, you have other questions, though I suggest the User to wake up now. We can discuss more later, but your body needs sustenance in order to properly recover.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Jaune could already feel himself awakening, just by thinking about it. "Oh, and System? We need to find a name for you. If you can't think of one, I'll come up with one for you."
If that is the User's wish, then you may name me as you see fit.
"Then, I'll call you Krystal. In honor of our first meeting," Jaune chuckled as his body started disappearing, "And Krystal? Call me Jaune."
As you wish, Jaune.
Afterword: That's that I suppose. Jaune is well-trained here, and certainly more knowledgeable than in the show. He does not suffer from what I call, "Hilariously Ignorant Character" where authors/writers make a character unrealistically ignorant about matters of their own world for the sole purpose of dropping exposition and info dumps for the readers.
Jaune fucks around and finds out.
If you had not noticed, this story will be a system fic. I would be hesitant to call it a gamer fic, as I have no desire to drown myself in Excel sheets, and nor will Jaune be traveling dimensions. The system will purely be there for gacha (which will be limited) and for the occasional quest.
If you would like to support me or read ahead, feel free to join me on Patreon under the same penname
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Chapter 2 (Tutorial)
Disclaimer: I just watched the first season of RWBY. It was intriguing, but so damn bare-bones!! At least this gave me some ideas on how to write certain characters. But by God does Ruby's VA sounds so nasally and annoying. Please, someone tell me that she gets better?! I like Ruby's premise as a character, but that voice? Just…no. On the other hand, Weiss is just "Chef's Kiss"
On the bright side, excellent fight scenes and choreography. Makes my attempt at writing fight scenes seem dull and amateurish in comparison.
Warning: This chapter is full of exposition and an info dump. It's the system tutorial.
Edited by: Gladiusx. Check out his awesome works on Harry Potter and ASOIAF.
Pain… pain, pain and more pain. That was all of Jaune Arc's reality as he slowly and sluggishly regained consciousness. Every nerve in his body was tingling. Every muscle felt like it was stretched to its absolute limit and tore through those limits before getting shredded to bits. Even his bones felt frail and rattled.
But none of those were new to him. The worst was his throat. He tried to moan a curse out but only felt burning pain. His throat felt like it was ground to mush before it was drenched in acid. Even breathing was painful, the simple movement of his throat muscles as air flowed in and out was torture for the aspiring Huntsman.
He opened his eyes to see what he now recognized as Moon Rock. He didn't notice earlier when he found the pedestal and Krystal, but there was a hole in the ceiling that allowed pure white light into the chamber. Moonlight perhaps? He tried to stand, but every fiber of his being screamed in protest.
Jaune had never in his life felt so much pain all at once. Pain, in general, was a foreign feeling for him. For the first sixteen years of his life, he had enjoyed a comfortable and easy lifestyle. Despite his arguments with his mother about the lack of training, he was not foolish to not enjoy the high quality of living that his family provided. It was only after he started training with his grandfather that he truly learned the meaning of pain and suffering.
Thinking of his grandpa had Jaune remember his lessons. Aura had a passive healing factor, if left alone, it would eventually heal even broken bones and torn muscles. Maximilian, after discovering how high Jaune's reserves were, had abused that fact by literally breaking down Jaune's body to pieces before forcing him to use his Aura consciously to heal himself. The action of tearing his muscles and breaking his bones before healing them again and again for weeks on end had turned his body into a killing machine. It also had the side effect of him discovering a way to shorten his need to sleep through Aura, thinking he would be able to make more leisure time for himself. At least until his grandpa discovered it and added more time to his training.
Sometimes, he hated his grandfather. Other times, like now, he couldn't help but want to kiss the old fart. All that tortu-, no, training in a controlled environment had not gone to waste after all.
It was through his brutal training and this application of Aura that Jaune started fixing his body. He slowly cycled his Aura throughout his body, feeling out the places that were most injured. The idea of dumping all of his Aura into his body all at once was tempting, but doing so would risk complications if he suddenly ran out of Aura mid-healing. Jaune had to heal the most injured parts of his body first before he gradually moved to the less dangerous wounds.
Then again, his throat and vocal cords were certainly important enough to warrant priority, so… yeah.
It had taken longer than he thought it would, but Jaune was finally capable of moving. He felt his Aura had plummeted again after he finished treating himself. It took a few minutes, but Jaune managed to stand up and lean on the empty pedestal. He then took stock of his situation.
He was nearly naked. His clothes were shredded, and pieces of his armor were strewn around the chamber, their leather straps completely eroded. Even his boots didn't survive as they had holes from where he guessed lightning from the Dust had discharged. Looking down at his body, Jaune felt his breath hitch in his throat.
Scars. Angry red scars greeted him. It reminded him of pictures he saw of lightning strike survivors. The entire right side of his body, from halfway to his thigh all the way up to his liver, was covered in crimson, interconnected scars reminiscent of tree branches. Jaune was at least glad his family jewels were intact. There were lighter scars that stretched across his chest to his arms, all the way to his palms. The further they went from ground zero, his right pants pocket, the lighter they appeared until they were barely visible. He hoped that some of those scars would fade with time, but that brand right where the Dust crystal was, would most likely be permanent. The same Dust crystal that was lying innocently on the ground, completely devoid of power.
He also appeared to have lost some weight, not that he had any kind of fat on his body anymore. Though, the past few weeks of travel had not allowed him to diligently follow his training regimen, so it would be understandable that he had put on a few pounds. Yet, it seemed that he had lost those along with some of his muscle mass.
'Must be Krystal's doing from when it was draining me.'
Jaune grabbed his throat in discomfort as he tried to speak out loud. He might have already administered first aid with his Aura, but even Aura had its limits. Only time and actual medical attention would fully heal him. He will have to stay silent for now.
His bag and sword were still where he left them earlier. How long was he out anyway? His gaze dropped to his scroll attached to his bag, and he had a sudden thought.
'Was it still recording all this time?'
Jaune grabbed his scroll and turned off the recorder. He checked its battery and found that it was down to a fifth. A quick playback of the video showed him his discovery of the cave, the epic/desperate fight against the Sulfur Fish as well as the loss of his control to Krystal as it drained him dry. All in HD resolution. It then recorded nothing happening for nine hours, as he was on the opposite side of the pedestal, which at least told him how long he had been out.
'Might be best to delete the part involving Krystal. Too embarrassing and too risky for anyone to find out.'
A quick application of an editing app had the video split in two, ending with him defeating the Sulfur Fish. Jaune stared for a while at the second video, which featured his breakdown. He sighed and saved it. It might be useful later. Just in case, though, he placed it in a password-protected folder.
'Alright, how can I contact Krystal now?'
Jaune flinched badly, nearly dropping his scroll. He placed it back in his bag and took a deep breath to calm himself. He tried speaking out loud again, but all that came out was a croak and a painful grunt. Shaking his head, he opted to speak in his mind instead.
'I take it you can hear my thoughts then?'
'This is both convenient and creepy. You don't actually hear all my thoughts, do you? Actually, don't answer that. I would rather not know. Before we discuss or do anything, though, I need a change of clothes and a large meal. Meanwhile, you could give me a breakdown of the system and its features.'
"So to summarize my so-called physical stats; STR defines my muscle mass and explosive power, VIT is my stamina and overall health and, to an extent, the toughness of my bones, DEX is my motor skills and finesse, AGL is my reflexes and speed, while PER encompasses my five senses vision, hearing, smell, sense, and taste. Did I get everything?" Jaune busied himself with his portable stove as he spoke in a low tone. A bit of Aura to turn on the ground Fire Dust in the stove, then some water from his hydro flask and a gram of Water Dust to increase its volume.
"I see," once the water started boiling, Jaune added a packet of noodles along with strips of jerky and some dried veggies. A meal fit for kings… or impoverished adventurers. "I take it that most of my stats were already over 100, but thanks to your… accident, they are the reason they are down now?"
"… If you say so. I do not need to check a data sheet to know all my physical stats lost a good twenty percent of their total from yesterday. That, and the effects of the Weakened debuff, has me feeling like a wet towel. At least you didn't drain my brain as well."
"As I said, it wasn't your fault. You didn't do it intentionally, and it was my recklessness that caused this mess. What's done is done, any anger on my part would serve neither of us. I'm still angry, of course, but more at myself rather than you."
"Thank you. Anyway, you mentioned INT is not really how smart I am but rather my brain's capacity to learn and remember things. What about the special stats WIS and CHA?"
Jaune chuckled at that, "True enough."
Jaune swallowed a scowl at the last comment as he gulped his food in record time before reheating the pot and making another serving. It's not his fault that his parents, his mother more than his father, had refused to send him to any kind of school, and there weren't many people his age back in Arcade. Even when he moved to Massalia with his grandpa, he never really had the chance to socialize due to his training as well as helping his gramps with his work. At least he officially joined the Adventurer guild and rose through the ranks to become a D-ranked adventurer, so there's that.
He looked at his pot in silence as he vividly noticed that this was his last meal packet. All he had left were a couple of beef jerky sticks and an energy bar. Barely enough emergency food for two more days. He should have been in Thornfield yesterday if everything had gone according to plan, but you can't put the moon back together.
Unknowing of Jaune's thoughts, or perhaps purposefully ignoring them, Krystal carried on.
Jaune nodded as he turned off the stove and started on his second serving, "What about my Semblance? I finally discovered it, but I feel like I barely scratched the surface with it. What do you know about it?"
"Fair enough. And Magic? It has to be something big, considering I only have three points of it. Two from you and one from my bloodline somehow."
Jaune thought about the history of the Arc family. He wasn't that surprised about his family having some form of divine connection. Essentially, every noble family in Remnant with a long and celebrated history would claim to have some fairy tale like beginning to their bloodline. The Arcs were no different.
"It's the Moon, isn't it? Some kind of Moon Deity liked an ancestor of mine and blessed their entire line all the way down to little old me."
"Later," Jaune finished the last of his meal and set aside the pot. He cleared his throat and tried his voice. It was better now, as he had been whispering this entire conversation with Krystal. He had really done a number on his vocal cords with his screams of agony, he probably would always have a bit of a rasp to his voice from now on.
He cleared his throat again and spoke aloud, "So, how can I use magic? How do I recover it? Is there a way to expand my meager reserves?"
Jaune nodded his head along with Krystal's explanation as he moved tiredly to collect his armor bits and see which ones he could recover or reuse. His entire body still ached terribly, and he felt winded despite sleeping far more than he ever did in the past six months. So far, the only thing he could make use of was his breastplate which he turned into a make-shift buckler in place of his damaged shield. "And how exactly would I be able to do that if the Brother Gods are gone from this world? Are there other gods still in Remnant? I already have the Blessings of the Moon, but the moon is shattered, I doubt whatever god that governed it still exists." Jaune placed a hand on the Moon Rock. He could feel… something from the rocks. Or it could be a placebo effect from him learning about the Blessings of the Moon.
Jaune froze at that, "what exactly are you trying to say, Krystal?"
Jaune gulped at the tone that Krystal inflicted at the word "earned". He could guess that it would not be something as simple as praying daily to the Creator or singing a hymn to their praises. "What exactly do I need to do? Actually, no. Forget that for now. You haven't even answered the rest of my questions."
Jaune thought deeply about this. Should he test his luck? Perhaps, but first, it would be prudent to check the catalog first, so to speak. "What are the ranks of abilities anyway?"
"Quite the jump in prices here, don't you think?"
Jaune was shocked. Such insanity! And he could potentially gain such power? The very idea is utterly terrifying to him. He remembers his dad's words about how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Though dad was talking about Atlesian society at the time, but still… He would rather not be in such a position. Regardless, the simple fact is that it's extremely unlikely he would ever be able to gain any such power.
"That's… quite insane, don't you think? I could start my own cult this way." Jaune chuckled at the sheer versatility of him empowering his loved ones with magical power.
"Okay, back to the abilities thing. Will I be able to browse all the abilities I can buy? Maybe plan ahead to save up for the awesome powers?"
"…"
"… You're shitting me, right?"
"… HUUUHHHH?! Sentient Rock says what now? What kind of bullshit sales pitch is this? The hell you mean I have to buy whatever you're shoving down my throat?!! Who the hell decided on this kind of system?!"
Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose and stared at the heavens, or the ceiling in this case, in defeat. "I take it the Creator has a wicked sense of humor? Or are they a sadist? A complete believer in making people's lives as interesting as possible?"
Jaune sighed tiredly, "Out of context question, but am I your first user, Krystal?"
"And you at least agree with me that this is just ridiculous, right?"
"You know what? Fuck it. Spin the wheel for me, Krystal. I never planned to depend on Magic to be strong in the first place. So let's see if Lady Luck will be on my side."
Suddenly, a holographic roulette appeared in front of Jaune. It was large, but Jaune could not make sense of anything of what was on it. It was absolutely filled to the brim with words on top of each other in such a haphazard way that he was unable to read any one of them due to how fast it spun. Not to mention, the spinner itself seemed to be shrinking to the base and expanding to the border of the roulette. It spun for about half a minute before it abruptly stopped on a tiny tile a third of the way from the base with a pinging sound.
"That's… actually pretty good? It's almost tailor-made for me with my low PER and massive Aura reserves. I take it back, that Creator fellow is a pretty chill dude."
"Yes, please."
Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 3000/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr)
Strength (STR): 60/81 DEBUFF
Vitality (VIT): 73/98 DEBUFF
Dexterity (DEX): 63/85 DEBUFF
Agility (AGL): 47/62 DEBUFF
Perception (PER): 31/42 DEBUFF
Intelligence (INT): 93
"Remove the WIS and CHA from my status, please. They are distracting and unnecessary."
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG): 2/3
Arc Bloodline (inherent)----->Arc Moon Bloodline: The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the moon watch over you.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration.
Semblance (UNLOCKED): Your semblance allows you to instantly refill your Aura to the maximum once a day with unpredictable side effects. More testing is required. It might have more abilities that are waiting to be discovered.
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature, to form a new and better ability.
Status Effects:
Semblance Activated: Aura recovery halved.
Weakened: Some Stats are reduced.
"By the way, why is my height not set?"
"So that means I can expect my height to grow to 6'3" eventually? And maybe raise my horrendous PER to something more respectable?"
"Hmm, I wonder what other effects I would have gained if I was younger? Ah nevermind, How do I use Observe then?"
Jaune didn't feel any different from gaining the ability. It is as Krystal had said, magic could not be felt nor analyzed through mundane means. He unsheathed Crocea Mors and held it before him. He decided to use the bare minimum of Aura for the ability to take hold, which after trial and error, he learned was 100 AP. At least for Crocea Mors.
'Observe'
"That didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know."
"No," Jaune resheathed Crocea Mors before beginning to pack his meager belongings. He stared at the empty Dust crystal that was the source of so much of his pain before storing it in his bag. It would serve to remind him of the consequences of being reckless. "I am already low on Aura and just wasted an hour's worth of Aura regen to confirm information I already knew about my sword."
He double-checked his attire, khaki pants and his last Pumpkin Pete's hoodie, along with a pair of black sneakers. Jaune had managed to reuse his armor parts and turned them into makeshift bracers and elbow guards instead of pauldrons. His breastplate was too dented and missing its straps, so it will have to do as a makeshift shield. "I can't afford to dawdle any more than necessary. Most of my food and supplies were in the saddlebags, and who knows where that old nag had run off to. The sooner I am out of this cave and make my way back to civilization, the better."
As Jaune moved towards his belongings, he nearly tripped as a wave of nausea hit him. He felt light-headed and tired. Even after rest and food, he had barely recovered. Nevertheless, he had no choice. He must persevere.
Jaune secured his bag on his shoulders, his flashlight, and Scroll on either strap. He also took out his unused Medkit and strapped it to the bag with a carabiner for ease of access. That kit was the reason he didn't have a gun, costing him a good 500 Lien, half of all his funds when he landed in Esmeralda.
Once he was done, Jaune placed his hand on the white walls of the Moon Rock. A pleasant feeling flowed through him, and he could almost feel someone smiling softly at him. He liked to imagine it was an ancestral spirit watching over him. After a moment of silent prayer, he finally moved away from the wall and made his way to the tunnel. Halfway through, he stopped and stared ahead at the many dark shapes waiting outside the tunnel exit, snarling and shifting around. The Grimm had been waiting for him, and as one, they all turned towards him. A slight use of his new ability at the lowest setting, strangely costing him only a single Aura point to scan the entire horde, showed him Creeps and King Taijitus but no further info. Thankfully he could not see the telltale tail light of the Sulfur Fish, though he won't get his hopes up.
Understanding that he will have to fight his way through, Jaune brought out some fabric and string from what he managed to recover from his old clothes and tied his makeshift shield to his left arm. He did the same to Crocea Mors using his teeth. He could not afford to lose his grip on his weapons. "Why would they wait, though? Why not enter the tunnel and attack me while I was down? They didn't seem to have a problem earlier. Krystal?"
"This…This is freaking huge! How come no one ever realized this? Granted, Arcade doesn't get many, if any, Grimm attacks, but we always chalked that up to the happy mood we keep everyone in, along with the remote location. Could the Moon Rock be responsible instead?" Jaune absentmindedly turned on his Scroll's camera with his left hand; he could watch the recordings later. Learning from his fights was both entertaining and illuminating.
More snarls sounded outside, and Jaune could see some of the Grimm beginning to inch forward to attack. Jaune breathed heavily as he prepared for battle, fighting through his exhaustion. Before anything could happen though, a rumbling growl sounded from behind the Grimm, followed by the unmistakable sound of something large stamping on the ground. Jaune was shocked to see the Grimm falter in what appeared to be fear and immediately backed away as a large rumbling figure moved through their ranks towards him.
It was massive, easily twice the size of a Bullhead. It had four legs ending in massive paws with large dull claws that Jaune would guess were perfect for digging or crushing anything in its path. Its lizard-like head had six horns, four large eyes and a mouth full of dull fangs and a tongue-like tentacle that had its own set of teeth, though those were unmistakably razor-sharp. Its entire body was riddled with white armor and black hide. Jaune could feel sheer terror attempting to take hold of him as he gazed at the monstrosity before him.
The beast stopped within lunging distance of the tunnel exit and glared balefully at him. Jaune was frozen in place, and the beast seemed to enjoy the fear radiating out of him. When Jaune still made no move after a few moments, it roared in displeasure, the sound so powerful that Jaune felt his ears hurt and the cavern shake.
That roar did awaken Jaune from his stupor, though, "What the hell is this thing? It must be whatever dug that tunnel, but it's even larger than the tunnel itself!"
Jaune thought about his chances of facing that beast. It was old, very old. The way it stared at him in glee and didn't attack right away meant that it was intelligent enough to either assess his strength…
Or play with its food.
'Observe!'
Jaune had dumped nearly 300 AP to get all the information he could from the beast. Now he's down to 27% of his max Aura and facing what will arguably be his toughest fight yet. He honestly was not sure if he could prevail against such a formidable foe, not to mention the other Grimm that would surely join the attack if they got the chance. He couldn't even retreat to the chamber for fear the Grimm would flood it with Acid. In the back of his mind, he thanked the Creator that the information from Observe seemed to imprint in his mind and didn't block his vision with walls of text.
Panicking would not help him. Jaune remembered his training and took several deep breaths before staring at the Drake in defiance.
'Any advice, Krystal?'
Jaune smiled ruefully, 'Thanks, any last words of encouragement?'
Jaune snorted at Krystal's words. That truly did ease his worries slightly, despite the dig at his control. He slowly walked out of the tunnel while taking in as much information about his surroundings as possible. The cave was so massive that if it weren't for the abundance of Dust lining its walls, he wouldn't have been able to see the ends of it. It wasn't as bright as he hoped though, or that could be just the exhaustion affecting his vision. The ground itself didn't have as much Dust as the walls, but Jaune felt emboldened when he noticed most of the Dust on the ground was of the Earth variety. This had given him an inkling of an idea.
There were a lot more Grimm than he thought. Easily hundreds of them. Probably near a thousand. Nevertheless, their mere presence may be what saves him today. The undisciplined rabble would cause more damage to themselves than to him once they attacked. Jaune took another deep breath, trying to control the spasming of his muscles and sending a quick prayer to his family and ancestors.
And then, Jaune charged out of the tunnel. Ugur, the Drake Grimm, waited expectantly, only for Jaune to ignore it completely and turn immediately to its right, attacking the other Grimm, much to the Ancient Grimm's displeasure.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire for our budding hero.
I was so tempted to write the system as this sassy asshole, but it would defeat the purpose of it being, in essence, an AI.
There can be no gamer-like system without Observe. This time though, I have placed some restrictions.
The system does not have Health Points nor a level up feature. Instead, Jaune's own stats are a description of his overall health. As for level-ups, I never liked that. Too iffy to write in an actual story.
Comments? Criticisms? Leave a review. I read them all, even If I don't answer them.
On the bright side, excellent fight scenes and choreography. Makes my attempt at writing fight scenes seem dull and amateurish in comparison.
Warning: This chapter is full of exposition and an info dump. It's the system tutorial.
Edited by: Gladiusx. Check out his awesome works on Harry Potter and ASOIAF.
Pain… pain, pain and more pain. That was all of Jaune Arc's reality as he slowly and sluggishly regained consciousness. Every nerve in his body was tingling. Every muscle felt like it was stretched to its absolute limit and tore through those limits before getting shredded to bits. Even his bones felt frail and rattled.
But none of those were new to him. The worst was his throat. He tried to moan a curse out but only felt burning pain. His throat felt like it was ground to mush before it was drenched in acid. Even breathing was painful, the simple movement of his throat muscles as air flowed in and out was torture for the aspiring Huntsman.
He opened his eyes to see what he now recognized as Moon Rock. He didn't notice earlier when he found the pedestal and Krystal, but there was a hole in the ceiling that allowed pure white light into the chamber. Moonlight perhaps? He tried to stand, but every fiber of his being screamed in protest.
Jaune had never in his life felt so much pain all at once. Pain, in general, was a foreign feeling for him. For the first sixteen years of his life, he had enjoyed a comfortable and easy lifestyle. Despite his arguments with his mother about the lack of training, he was not foolish to not enjoy the high quality of living that his family provided. It was only after he started training with his grandfather that he truly learned the meaning of pain and suffering.
Thinking of his grandpa had Jaune remember his lessons. Aura had a passive healing factor, if left alone, it would eventually heal even broken bones and torn muscles. Maximilian, after discovering how high Jaune's reserves were, had abused that fact by literally breaking down Jaune's body to pieces before forcing him to use his Aura consciously to heal himself. The action of tearing his muscles and breaking his bones before healing them again and again for weeks on end had turned his body into a killing machine. It also had the side effect of him discovering a way to shorten his need to sleep through Aura, thinking he would be able to make more leisure time for himself. At least until his grandpa discovered it and added more time to his training.
Sometimes, he hated his grandfather. Other times, like now, he couldn't help but want to kiss the old fart. All that tortu-, no, training in a controlled environment had not gone to waste after all.
It was through his brutal training and this application of Aura that Jaune started fixing his body. He slowly cycled his Aura throughout his body, feeling out the places that were most injured. The idea of dumping all of his Aura into his body all at once was tempting, but doing so would risk complications if he suddenly ran out of Aura mid-healing. Jaune had to heal the most injured parts of his body first before he gradually moved to the less dangerous wounds.
Then again, his throat and vocal cords were certainly important enough to warrant priority, so… yeah.
It had taken longer than he thought it would, but Jaune was finally capable of moving. He felt his Aura had plummeted again after he finished treating himself. It took a few minutes, but Jaune managed to stand up and lean on the empty pedestal. He then took stock of his situation.
He was nearly naked. His clothes were shredded, and pieces of his armor were strewn around the chamber, their leather straps completely eroded. Even his boots didn't survive as they had holes from where he guessed lightning from the Dust had discharged. Looking down at his body, Jaune felt his breath hitch in his throat.
Scars. Angry red scars greeted him. It reminded him of pictures he saw of lightning strike survivors. The entire right side of his body, from halfway to his thigh all the way up to his liver, was covered in crimson, interconnected scars reminiscent of tree branches. Jaune was at least glad his family jewels were intact. There were lighter scars that stretched across his chest to his arms, all the way to his palms. The further they went from ground zero, his right pants pocket, the lighter they appeared until they were barely visible. He hoped that some of those scars would fade with time, but that brand right where the Dust crystal was, would most likely be permanent. The same Dust crystal that was lying innocently on the ground, completely devoid of power.
He also appeared to have lost some weight, not that he had any kind of fat on his body anymore. Though, the past few weeks of travel had not allowed him to diligently follow his training regimen, so it would be understandable that he had put on a few pounds. Yet, it seemed that he had lost those along with some of his muscle mass.
'Must be Krystal's doing from when it was draining me.'
Jaune grabbed his throat in discomfort as he tried to speak out loud. He might have already administered first aid with his Aura, but even Aura had its limits. Only time and actual medical attention would fully heal him. He will have to stay silent for now.
His bag and sword were still where he left them earlier. How long was he out anyway? His gaze dropped to his scroll attached to his bag, and he had a sudden thought.
'Was it still recording all this time?'
Jaune grabbed his scroll and turned off the recorder. He checked its battery and found that it was down to a fifth. A quick playback of the video showed him his discovery of the cave, the epic/desperate fight against the Sulfur Fish as well as the loss of his control to Krystal as it drained him dry. All in HD resolution. It then recorded nothing happening for nine hours, as he was on the opposite side of the pedestal, which at least told him how long he had been out.
'Might be best to delete the part involving Krystal. Too embarrassing and too risky for anyone to find out.'
A quick application of an editing app had the video split in two, ending with him defeating the Sulfur Fish. Jaune stared for a while at the second video, which featured his breakdown. He sighed and saved it. It might be useful later. Just in case, though, he placed it in a password-protected folder.
'Alright, how can I contact Krystal now?'
Just like that, Jaune.
Jaune flinched badly, nearly dropping his scroll. He placed it back in his bag and took a deep breath to calm himself. He tried speaking out loud again, but all that came out was a croak and a painful grunt. Shaking his head, he opted to speak in his mind instead.
'I take it you can hear my thoughts then?'
Indeed, I can. I am always with you. If you ever need to talk to me, you need only think about it and I will answer.
'This is both convenient and creepy. You don't actually hear all my thoughts, do you? Actually, don't answer that. I would rather not know. Before we discuss or do anything, though, I need a change of clothes and a large meal. Meanwhile, you could give me a breakdown of the system and its features.'
As you wish, Jaune.
"So to summarize my so-called physical stats; STR defines my muscle mass and explosive power, VIT is my stamina and overall health and, to an extent, the toughness of my bones, DEX is my motor skills and finesse, AGL is my reflexes and speed, while PER encompasses my five senses vision, hearing, smell, sense, and taste. Did I get everything?" Jaune busied himself with his portable stove as he spoke in a low tone. A bit of Aura to turn on the ground Fire Dust in the stove, then some water from his hydro flask and a gram of Water Dust to increase its volume.
Correct, although Perception also includes your budding ability to sense Aura as well as other sensing abilities you might attain. Furthermore, the numbers might not mean much without another person to compare, but allow me to elucidate on how the stat system works. 100 stat is the absolute limit of a human being. A healthy human, or faunus for that matter, could potentially reach 100 at any stat so long as they train themselves to the absolute limit while following a strict diet. It would take many years, but it is still possible. I will say right now that, yes, you are capable of exceeding that limit. In fact, many people are capable of doing so and many of the renowned warriors and great men in history, as well as the finest Huntsmen today, have exceeded their limits in at least one stat.
"I see," once the water started boiling, Jaune added a packet of noodles along with strips of jerky and some dried veggies. A meal fit for kings… or impoverished adventurers. "I take it that most of my stats were already over 100, but thanks to your… accident, they are the reason they are down now?"
Correct. Once again, I truly apologize for that happening, Jaune. Do not worry, though, you could still regain those lost stats and go beyond them once more. Although, do bear in mind that as you exhaust or overwork yourself, your physical stats shall decrease as well. For example, if you overexert your muscles, then your STR stat shall drop by a few points. Similar debuffs would happen to your other stats. Never fear, though, with your Aura recovery and excellent physical conditioning, it will be quickly recovered with a good night's sleep. As long as you do not overwork yourself, of course.
"… If you say so. I do not need to check a data sheet to know all my physical stats lost a good twenty percent of their total from yesterday. That, and the effects of the Weakened debuff, has me feeling like a wet towel. At least you didn't drain my brain as well."
You are surprisingly calm about this, Jaune. I figured you would have been furious at the loss of your progress. I have checked your memories, and I know the pain and suffering you endured with your grandfather to gain those physical capabilities.
"As I said, it wasn't your fault. You didn't do it intentionally, and it was my recklessness that caused this mess. What's done is done, any anger on my part would serve neither of us. I'm still angry, of course, but more at myself rather than you."
You are quite mature for your age, Jaune.
"Thank you. Anyway, you mentioned INT is not really how smart I am but rather my brain's capacity to learn and remember things. What about the special stats WIS and CHA?"
Special Stats are esoteric in nature and cannot truly be affected directly by the system. Wisdom is your application of the knowledge you have accrued in your daily life. The decisions you make and how smart or stupid they are. This is ultimately a matter of perspective though, since one could argue that it was incredibly unwise of you to travel on foot to Vale. Yet, the benefits so far in knowledge and experience as you beat back hordes of Grimm have been more than worth it, don't you think?
Jaune chuckled at that, "True enough."
Charisma is how people perceive you, especially on first impressions. It is dependent on your appearance, whether it's physical attractiveness or your fashion sense, the way you carry yourself, as well as your experience in speaking and dealing with people in general. Particularly people your own age.
Jaune swallowed a scowl at the last comment as he gulped his food in record time before reheating the pot and making another serving. It's not his fault that his parents, his mother more than his father, had refused to send him to any kind of school, and there weren't many people his age back in Arcade. Even when he moved to Massalia with his grandpa, he never really had the chance to socialize due to his training as well as helping his gramps with his work. At least he officially joined the Adventurer guild and rose through the ranks to become a D-ranked adventurer, so there's that.
He looked at his pot in silence as he vividly noticed that this was his last meal packet. All he had left were a couple of beef jerky sticks and an energy bar. Barely enough emergency food for two more days. He should have been in Thornfield yesterday if everything had gone according to plan, but you can't put the moon back together.
Unknowing of Jaune's thoughts, or perhaps purposefully ignoring them, Krystal carried on.
Both stats would fluctuate according to the situation, but ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, they are redundant and unnecessary aside from reference points. I would recommend ignoring them for now while focusing on the stats you can work on.
Jaune nodded as he turned off the stove and started on his second serving, "What about my Semblance? I finally discovered it, but I feel like I barely scratched the surface with it. What do you know about it?"
I cannot answer that question, Jaune. It is up to you to discover the limits of your Semblance and how best to use it.
"Fair enough. And Magic? It has to be something big, considering I only have three points of it. Two from you and one from my bloodline somehow."
Magic is essentially divine ability. They cannot be explained with science or rational. It is the most esoteric of powers as well as the rarest. Normally, you could only gain magic through the blessings, or curses, of a divine being. In this case, you did indeed gain two points of magic from the Creator, but you have also gained another point due to an ancient blessing on your bloodline. I cannot divulge what divine being blessed your family, as that conflicts with my neutral parameters with the divines of this world.
Jaune thought about the history of the Arc family. He wasn't that surprised about his family having some form of divine connection. Essentially, every noble family in Remnant with a long and celebrated history would claim to have some fairy tale like beginning to their bloodline. The Arcs were no different.
"It's the Moon, isn't it? Some kind of Moon Deity liked an ancestor of mine and blessed their entire line all the way down to little old me."
Correct. I should have known you would figure it out so easily. Despite your low WIS, you still have very high INT. I believe I can accept this answer as you acknowledging the Blessings of the Moon. I have added its benefits to your status screen, if you would like to peruse it?
"Later," Jaune finished the last of his meal and set aside the pot. He cleared his throat and tried his voice. It was better now, as he had been whispering this entire conversation with Krystal. He had really done a number on his vocal cords with his screams of agony, he probably would always have a bit of a rasp to his voice from now on.
He cleared his throat again and spoke aloud, "So, how can I use magic? How do I recover it? Is there a way to expand my meager reserves?"
Before you can use magic, you need to gain a magical ability first. Magical abilities could be compared to semblances in some cases, and fantastical powers in extreme cases. They could be powered by Aura, but they need to be gained first. How you gain them is, like I said, through the blessings of divine beings.
Jaune nodded his head along with Krystal's explanation as he moved tiredly to collect his armor bits and see which ones he could recover or reuse. His entire body still ached terribly, and he felt winded despite sleeping far more than he ever did in the past six months. So far, the only thing he could make use of was his breastplate which he turned into a make-shift buckler in place of his damaged shield. "And how exactly would I be able to do that if the Brother Gods are gone from this world? Are there other gods still in Remnant? I already have the Blessings of the Moon, but the moon is shattered, I doubt whatever god that governed it still exists." Jaune placed a hand on the Moon Rock. He could feel… something from the rocks. Or it could be a placebo effect from him learning about the Blessings of the Moon.
You forget my very existence, Jaune. The two points you received are from the Creator, rather than myself. For I am but a tool for the Creator, and while the Creator is not present in this realm, his Will does exist through the System.
Jaune froze at that, "what exactly are you trying to say, Krystal?"
I am saying that the Creator, through the System, can bless you with more magic points. However, they must be earned.
Jaune gulped at the tone that Krystal inflicted at the word "earned". He could guess that it would not be something as simple as praying daily to the Creator or singing a hymn to their praises. "What exactly do I need to do? Actually, no. Forget that for now. You haven't even answered the rest of my questions."
That is true. For every point of magic spent, you will recover one more every year. As you have three points of magic, then you will recover one point every four months. As for how you can use magic, you must purchase an ability from the System. I will give you a list of abilities that you could purchase with your available points, or you could test your luck and see if you could gain a random ability for one point instead. The random ability could be an extremely valuable one that would normally cost many Magic Points, or it could be quite mundane. What I can assure you, however, is that none of the abilities are useless.
Jaune thought deeply about this. Should he test his luck? Perhaps, but first, it would be prudent to check the catalog first, so to speak. "What are the ranks of abilities anyway?"
Abilities range from D-rank to S-rank. D-ranks cost one point of magic. C-rank cost five. B-rank cost ten. A-rank costs one hundred, and S-rank costs one thousand.
"Quite the jump in prices here, don't you think?"
Ranks D to B are abilities that could be replicated via semblances. Ranks A and S are Divine abilities that could shape or destroy an entire planet in extreme cases.
Jaune was shocked. Such insanity! And he could potentially gain such power? The very idea is utterly terrifying to him. He remembers his dad's words about how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Though dad was talking about Atlesian society at the time, but still… He would rather not be in such a position. Regardless, the simple fact is that it's extremely unlikely he would ever be able to gain any such power.
Additionally, you are now considered a conduit for magic. This means you may also bless another being or thing with a copy of an ability that you own. Naturally, it will cost you Magic Points per blessing.
"That's… quite insane, don't you think? I could start my own cult this way." Jaune chuckled at the sheer versatility of him empowering his loved ones with magical power.
It is up to you whether you choose to hoard your power or share it. Ultimately, I am but a guide. I am simply doing my duty to elaborate on how to make use of the System.
"Okay, back to the abilities thing. Will I be able to browse all the abilities I can buy? Maybe plan ahead to save up for the awesome powers?"
No. I will simply give you the choice between three random abilities that you could buy. Either buy all of them or just one of them, and you HAVE to buy something from that list, or else you will lose one point of magic automatically for accessing the store.
"…"
…
"… You're shitting me, right?"
I am not
"… HUUUHHHH?! Sentient Rock says what now? What kind of bullshit sales pitch is this? The hell you mean I have to buy whatever you're shoving down my throat?!! Who the hell decided on this kind of system?!"
The Creator
Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose and stared at the heavens, or the ceiling in this case, in defeat. "I take it the Creator has a wicked sense of humor? Or are they a sadist? A complete believer in making people's lives as interesting as possible?"
Yes
Jaune sighed tiredly, "Out of context question, but am I your first user, Krystal?"
Yes
"And you at least agree with me that this is just ridiculous, right?"
I am not at liberty to criticize the Creator's thought process
"You know what? Fuck it. Spin the wheel for me, Krystal. I never planned to depend on Magic to be strong in the first place. So let's see if Lady Luck will be on my side."
As you wish, Jaune
Suddenly, a holographic roulette appeared in front of Jaune. It was large, but Jaune could not make sense of anything of what was on it. It was absolutely filled to the brim with words on top of each other in such a haphazard way that he was unable to read any one of them due to how fast it spun. Not to mention, the spinner itself seemed to be shrinking to the base and expanding to the border of the roulette. It spun for about half a minute before it abruptly stopped on a tiny tile a third of the way from the base with a pinging sound.
Congratulations, Jaune. You have gained a new ability
"Observe" (D-Rank)
The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information gained depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature, to form a new and better ability.
"Observe" (D-Rank)
The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information gained depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature, to form a new and better ability.
"That's… actually pretty good? It's almost tailor-made for me with my low PER and massive Aura reserves. I take it back, that Creator fellow is a pretty chill dude."
Of course. The Creator is most generous. The status screen updated. Would you like to peruse it now?
"Yes, please."
Status
Profile:Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 3000/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr)
Strength (STR): 60/81 DEBUFF
Vitality (VIT): 73/98 DEBUFF
Dexterity (DEX): 63/85 DEBUFF
Agility (AGL): 47/62 DEBUFF
Perception (PER): 31/42 DEBUFF
Intelligence (INT): 93
"Remove the WIS and CHA from my status, please. They are distracting and unnecessary."
As you wish, Jaune
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG): 2/3
- Gained one point from awakening the System early.
- Gained one point from merging with the System.
- Gained one point from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
Arc Bloodline (inherent)----->Arc Moon Bloodline: The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the moon watch over you.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration.
Semblance (UNLOCKED): Your semblance allows you to instantly refill your Aura to the maximum once a day with unpredictable side effects. More testing is required. It might have more abilities that are waiting to be discovered.
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature, to form a new and better ability.
Status Effects:
Semblance Activated: Aura recovery halved.
Weakened: Some Stats are reduced.
"By the way, why is my height not set?"
Due to the awakening of the system, you have automatically been given a boost in your growth and potential, dependent on your age. At seventeen, you are almost done growing, but there is still room for more growth. This also includes your stats.
"So that means I can expect my height to grow to 6'3" eventually? And maybe raise my horrendous PER to something more respectable?"
Correct
"Hmm, I wonder what other effects I would have gained if I was younger? Ah nevermind, How do I use Observe then?"
To use the ability, simply think about it and mentally allocate the amount of Aura you would like to spend on it. You do not need to channel Aura nor speak the ability's name aloud.
Jaune didn't feel any different from gaining the ability. It is as Krystal had said, magic could not be felt nor analyzed through mundane means. He unsheathed Crocea Mors and held it before him. He decided to use the bare minimum of Aura for the ability to take hold, which after trial and error, he learned was 100 AP. At least for Crocea Mors.
'Observe'
Crocea Mors (? Rank)
The Arc Ancestral Sword. The Yellow Death. A hand-and-half double-edged sword, otherwise known as a bastard sword that could be used either one-handed with an offhand weapon/shield or two-handed for more power. On the larger side for bastard swords; the blade is 97 centimeters, or 38 inches for the Vale-folk, and the hilt is 20 centimeters or 8 inches. Insanely sharp and durable, the blade does not need to be sharpened. Highly sensitive to Aura. Highly compatible with Arc Bloodline.
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The Arc Ancestral Sword. The Yellow Death. A hand-and-half double-edged sword, otherwise known as a bastard sword that could be used either one-handed with an offhand weapon/shield or two-handed for more power. On the larger side for bastard swords; the blade is 97 centimeters, or 38 inches for the Vale-folk, and the hilt is 20 centimeters or 8 inches. Insanely sharp and durable, the blade does not need to be sharpened. Highly sensitive to Aura. Highly compatible with Arc Bloodline.
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"That didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know."
Might I suggest using more Aura for Observe?
"No," Jaune resheathed Crocea Mors before beginning to pack his meager belongings. He stared at the empty Dust crystal that was the source of so much of his pain before storing it in his bag. It would serve to remind him of the consequences of being reckless. "I am already low on Aura and just wasted an hour's worth of Aura regen to confirm information I already knew about my sword."
As you wish, Jaune.
He double-checked his attire, khaki pants and his last Pumpkin Pete's hoodie, along with a pair of black sneakers. Jaune had managed to reuse his armor parts and turned them into makeshift bracers and elbow guards instead of pauldrons. His breastplate was too dented and missing its straps, so it will have to do as a makeshift shield. "I can't afford to dawdle any more than necessary. Most of my food and supplies were in the saddlebags, and who knows where that old nag had run off to. The sooner I am out of this cave and make my way back to civilization, the better."
As Jaune moved towards his belongings, he nearly tripped as a wave of nausea hit him. He felt light-headed and tired. Even after rest and food, he had barely recovered. Nevertheless, he had no choice. He must persevere.
Jaune secured his bag on his shoulders, his flashlight, and Scroll on either strap. He also took out his unused Medkit and strapped it to the bag with a carabiner for ease of access. That kit was the reason he didn't have a gun, costing him a good 500 Lien, half of all his funds when he landed in Esmeralda.
Once he was done, Jaune placed his hand on the white walls of the Moon Rock. A pleasant feeling flowed through him, and he could almost feel someone smiling softly at him. He liked to imagine it was an ancestral spirit watching over him. After a moment of silent prayer, he finally moved away from the wall and made his way to the tunnel. Halfway through, he stopped and stared ahead at the many dark shapes waiting outside the tunnel exit, snarling and shifting around. The Grimm had been waiting for him, and as one, they all turned towards him. A slight use of his new ability at the lowest setting, strangely costing him only a single Aura point to scan the entire horde, showed him Creeps and King Taijitus but no further info. Thankfully he could not see the telltale tail light of the Sulfur Fish, though he won't get his hopes up.
Understanding that he will have to fight his way through, Jaune brought out some fabric and string from what he managed to recover from his old clothes and tied his makeshift shield to his left arm. He did the same to Crocea Mors using his teeth. He could not afford to lose his grip on his weapons. "Why would they wait, though? Why not enter the tunnel and attack me while I was down? They didn't seem to have a problem earlier. Krystal?"
I believe it was due to me absorbing the inherent power of the Moon Rock. It appears that Moon Rock has a repelling effect on the creatures of Grimm. Now that I have fully activated, the Moon Rock could once again release its passive aura that seems to disorient a Grimm's senses. It might have something to do with the fact the God of Darkness supposedly created both the Moon and the Grimm. Please bear in mind though, that it would not work on determined Grimm that have already decided you are a target, considering the way those Grimm are looking at you.
"This…This is freaking huge! How come no one ever realized this? Granted, Arcade doesn't get many, if any, Grimm attacks, but we always chalked that up to the happy mood we keep everyone in, along with the remote location. Could the Moon Rock be responsible instead?" Jaune absentmindedly turned on his Scroll's camera with his left hand; he could watch the recordings later. Learning from his fights was both entertaining and illuminating.
More snarls sounded outside, and Jaune could see some of the Grimm beginning to inch forward to attack. Jaune breathed heavily as he prepared for battle, fighting through his exhaustion. Before anything could happen though, a rumbling growl sounded from behind the Grimm, followed by the unmistakable sound of something large stamping on the ground. Jaune was shocked to see the Grimm falter in what appeared to be fear and immediately backed away as a large rumbling figure moved through their ranks towards him.
It was massive, easily twice the size of a Bullhead. It had four legs ending in massive paws with large dull claws that Jaune would guess were perfect for digging or crushing anything in its path. Its lizard-like head had six horns, four large eyes and a mouth full of dull fangs and a tongue-like tentacle that had its own set of teeth, though those were unmistakably razor-sharp. Its entire body was riddled with white armor and black hide. Jaune could feel sheer terror attempting to take hold of him as he gazed at the monstrosity before him.
The beast stopped within lunging distance of the tunnel exit and glared balefully at him. Jaune was frozen in place, and the beast seemed to enjoy the fear radiating out of him. When Jaune still made no move after a few moments, it roared in displeasure, the sound so powerful that Jaune felt his ears hurt and the cavern shake.
That roar did awaken Jaune from his stupor, though, "What the hell is this thing? It must be whatever dug that tunnel, but it's even larger than the tunnel itself!"
Jaune thought about his chances of facing that beast. It was old, very old. The way it stared at him in glee and didn't attack right away meant that it was intelligent enough to either assess his strength…
Or play with its food.
'Observe!'
Ugur, Drake Grimm
Age: 314 years old
Description: An evolution of an ancient King Taijitu that lost one of its heads but burrowed underground for safety. In time, and after absorbing and consuming other Grimm, it evolved to its current form.
Abilities: Retractable Tongue, Acid Spit, Tail Swipe.
Strengths: Immense Size, Extraordinary Physical Strength, Intelligent, Tough Armor.
Weaknesses: Poor Vision, Bright Light, Slow Movement, Arrogant.
Age: 314 years old
Description: An evolution of an ancient King Taijitu that lost one of its heads but burrowed underground for safety. In time, and after absorbing and consuming other Grimm, it evolved to its current form.
Abilities: Retractable Tongue, Acid Spit, Tail Swipe.
Strengths: Immense Size, Extraordinary Physical Strength, Intelligent, Tough Armor.
Weaknesses: Poor Vision, Bright Light, Slow Movement, Arrogant.
Jaune had dumped nearly 300 AP to get all the information he could from the beast. Now he's down to 27% of his max Aura and facing what will arguably be his toughest fight yet. He honestly was not sure if he could prevail against such a formidable foe, not to mention the other Grimm that would surely join the attack if they got the chance. He couldn't even retreat to the chamber for fear the Grimm would flood it with Acid. In the back of his mind, he thanked the Creator that the information from Observe seemed to imprint in his mind and didn't block his vision with walls of text.
Panicking would not help him. Jaune remembered his training and took several deep breaths before staring at the Drake in defiance.
'Any advice, Krystal?'
Beware its smaller tongue and aim for the obvious weak points, like the eyes and underbelly. Some parts of its armor appear to be cracked or damaged. I didn't have a chance to explain how to gain Magic Points, but this will do.
Challenge Received:
Defeat Ugur, the Ancient Drake Grimm
Rewards: One Magic Point.
Bonus objective: Defeat all regular Grimm on your way to freedom
Rewards: One Magic Point.
Challenge Received:
Defeat Ugur, the Ancient Drake Grimm
Rewards: One Magic Point.
Bonus objective: Defeat all regular Grimm on your way to freedom
Rewards: One Magic Point.
Jaune smiled ruefully, 'Thanks, any last words of encouragement?'
Do not forget that your Aura reserves have climbed dramatically. You might be at a quarter right now, but compare that to yesterday, and that would have been the equivalent of half of your reserves. Though the downside is that your Aura control is shot as well.
Jaune snorted at Krystal's words. That truly did ease his worries slightly, despite the dig at his control. He slowly walked out of the tunnel while taking in as much information about his surroundings as possible. The cave was so massive that if it weren't for the abundance of Dust lining its walls, he wouldn't have been able to see the ends of it. It wasn't as bright as he hoped though, or that could be just the exhaustion affecting his vision. The ground itself didn't have as much Dust as the walls, but Jaune felt emboldened when he noticed most of the Dust on the ground was of the Earth variety. This had given him an inkling of an idea.
There were a lot more Grimm than he thought. Easily hundreds of them. Probably near a thousand. Nevertheless, their mere presence may be what saves him today. The undisciplined rabble would cause more damage to themselves than to him once they attacked. Jaune took another deep breath, trying to control the spasming of his muscles and sending a quick prayer to his family and ancestors.
And then, Jaune charged out of the tunnel. Ugur, the Drake Grimm, waited expectantly, only for Jaune to ignore it completely and turn immediately to its right, attacking the other Grimm, much to the Ancient Grimm's displeasure.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire for our budding hero.
I was so tempted to write the system as this sassy asshole, but it would defeat the purpose of it being, in essence, an AI.
There can be no gamer-like system without Observe. This time though, I have placed some restrictions.
The system does not have Health Points nor a level up feature. Instead, Jaune's own stats are a description of his overall health. As for level-ups, I never liked that. Too iffy to write in an actual story.
Comments? Criticisms? Leave a review. I read them all, even If I don't answer them.
Chapter 3 (Overdrive!)
Edited by: Gladiusx. Check out his awesome works on Harry Potter and ASOIAF.
Jaune knew he could not afford to dawdle, especially with his weakened stats. He already noticed how much slower he was and how all his muscles were protesting any movement. It's why he didn't even think of fighting that behemoth head-on. He turned straight to the left from the tunnel, keeping the gigantic moon rock on his shield arm, and charged towards the nearest Grimm.
He was about to use his Aura to reinforce himself when something within him grabbed his attention. Time seemed to stop as he felt that elusive thread he found yesterday within him, connected to his Aura. His Semblance, the one that saved his life yesterday. One that sought redemption for hesitating to help him. Now, it demanded to be used.
Instinctively, Jaune knew exactly what he needed to do. He activated his Semblance, consuming 20% of his Aura reserves, bringing it down to 7%, but in return, it increased his stats exponentially. A lot more than his primitive way of Aura reinforcing could ever be capable of doing. Simple Aura reinforcement could, at the very most, increase his stats by half due to his less than stellar Aura control. What he felt from his Semblance, on the other hand, was absolutely insane. He instinctively knew he had 600% of stat allocations to distribute between his six main stats.
INT is unneeded so it will remain the same. Knowing that speed will be of the essence, Jaune directed his semblance to boost his AGL above all other stats. It might not be the wisest decision, but Jaune needed to be decisive and work with it regardless. With a quick thought, he observed his increased stats.
Aura Points: 700/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr)
Strength (STR): 60—>120/81 (+100%)
Vitality (VIT): 73—>146/98 (+100%)
Dexterity (DEX): 63—>95/85 (+50%)
Agility (AGL): 47—>165/62 (+250%)
Perception (PER): 31—>62/42 (+100%)
It didn't take more than a second for Jaune to process the stat increases, and he felt all his exhaustion evaporate. His muscles felt rejuvenated and bulged up considerably. His breathing settled and his nerve endings and synapses felt like they were on fire. He instinctively knew that this power-up would only last him for twenty minutes. Hopefully, enough to decimate the Grimm forces. He only needed to be careful and not lose focus because he was positive that afterward, his body would pay a heavy price.
Jaune took the first step after the power-up and completely overshot his destination, bowling over a dozen Creeps with how fast and powerful his leap was. Thankfully, he had his shield in front of him which absorbed most of the damage. Immediately, Jaune began hacking through the downed Creeps, his increased strength combined with Crocea Mors more than enough to slice through their armor like paper. It didn't take him long to gain better control over his speed and strength. Currently, his stats were higher than his maximum from before Krystal drained him except for his AGL. He's confident he never broke the 100 stat limit for his AGL before.
After clearing the way, Jaune glanced behind him to see Ugur the Drake had charged right behind him, getting in the way of the other Grimm. Jaune turned back forward, confident that he could outrun the Drake if it caught up with him and navigated his way around the moon rock. Jaune was tempted to grab some of the Dust crystals lying on the ground, but his low Aura reserves dissuaded him from it. He might need that Aura later on, and as he harshly learned, unrefined Dust is incredibly volatile. Not to mention, his experience in channeling Dust is limited to household items. He trusted in Crocea Mors being deadly enough to slice cleanly through his foes, though he will have to avoid using any of his Crescent Waves. Still, he kept a close eye for a specific Dust crystal that would be vital for his plan.
'Ugur the Drake was livid. How dare that puny human ignore his august presence!' Is what Jaune imagined the big ugly Grimm thought as it continued charging at his location, crushing the smaller Grimm that blocked its way underfoot. Jaune gave it a cheeky grin as he ran circles around the other Grimm, Crocea Mors living up to its name. A yellow arc of death wherever it went, every slice or cut or stab was fatal, the blade seemingly screaming in a blood fury. Though that could have been Jaune himself. The sheer speed of his movements did not allow Jaune any fancy sword strokes, just simple slices and slashes that reaped a heavy toll on the Grimm. His shield was smashing Creep skulls while his sword cut off Snake heads.
Slice. Bash. Dice. Slash. Crush. Dodge. Jump. Decapitate. Duck. Disembowel. Kick.
Jaune danced from Creep to Snake, leaving a path of carnage behind him. A large Creep attempted to headbutt him but Jaune directly kicked its head into its spine. Jaune had never felt so much power before, not even when his grandfather first unlocked his Aura. He continued circling the moon rock, making sure to keep it on his left side to better attack with his sword.
Meanwhile, Ugur the Drake continued chasing after him, creating as much damage or even more than Jaune himself. This game of cat and mouse continued on for a few minutes as Jaune continuously led the Drake in circles around the Moon Rock and through the Grimm hoard. Eventually, Jaune had to abandon the Rock when he found the Drake in front of him instead of behind. He must have run so fast that he caught up to it from behind. There was no option of turning around with hundreds of Grimm chasing him. Jaune noticed that the base of its tail was lacking in any armor and was about to attack the Ancient Grimm, when the Drake noticed him and immediately sent its tail careening at him.
Jaune jumped as far as possible to his right; which turned out to be much further than he planned as he shattered the ground under his feet and flew a dozen meters towards a cluster of Creeps and a few King Taijitus. A quick glance behind him showed the Drake had flattened at least fifty Creeps that were in his previous position. Jaune had noticed that most of the Creeps were on the younger side given their short stature and soft armor. He suspected the Drake culled any Grimm that reached a certain age. How very… human of it to treat its kind like cattle. Nevertheless, he shelved those thoughts and focused on his current situation as he continued his Knight's work against the Grimm.
Until another roar sounded from one of the tunnels, distracting Jaune for a second. That second of distraction was enough for a large King Taijitu to lunge at Jaune with a bite. It was only his currently insane AGL that allowed Jaune to block the snake's bite with his shield, only for its other head to lunge at his sword arm. A quick slice split its skull in half, but that allowed the first head to crush the shield under its fangs. It probably would have been capable of at least breaking his arm if not for the combination of his STR and VIT greatly increasing his muscle mass and bone density.
Nevertheless, Jaune had to abandon the shield and couldn't even finish the black snake head as more Grimm swarmed him and attempted to pile on him. At the same time, a massive figure burst out of one of the tunnels in the distance, but Jaune couldn't identify it from so far away and was a bit too busy fighting for his life. He pulled out his sheath yet failed to expand it to shield form. Still, it was tough enough to act as a bludgeoning weapon.
Jaune's nerves were starting to fray, but instead of fear or anxiety, Jaune felt two dominant emotions as the Grimm relentlessly attacked him. Anger and Hatred. The Drake was fast approaching, and there were too many Grimm around him. Easily over a hundred had begun to swarm and pile on him. Jaune felt a small King Taijitu try to constrict its body around his legs while a dozen Creeps lunged at him at the same time as he twisted his waist to slice as many of them as possible. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Jaune was forced to use an over-powered Crescent Wave to clear a way through the encirclement, dropping his Aura to near nothing due to his awkward control.
All the Grimm that were piling on him nearly disintegrated from the power of the Wave, and Jaune forced his way out to a relatively empty spot, surprised by the power of his attack. It seems his increased STR stat also helped amplify his Crescent Wave. Something to take a look at later on.
Jaune noticed the Drake had stopped chasing him then, presumably planning a better method of cornering its prey. Only for it to rear its ugly head and vomit a veritable deluge of Acid at him. It was like a gigantic green cloud of liquid death heading towards him fast. Jaune's eyes widened and looked at the hundreds of Grimm charging towards his position as well. He didn't think twice. He waited for the very last second as the Grimm approached his position before he jumped as far away as possible as the Acid cloud fell on the Grimm. The screams of the Grimm were horrifying yet oh so satisfying to hear. Jaune rolled on the ground and crashed into a protruding Earth Dust crystal the size of his entire body, dislodging it from the ground. He thanked the moon and the Creator that it didn't explode in his face as he noted its position.
As Jaune stood up, he could feel his anger and hatred rising again. It was the anger at his weakness that was driving him forward. Anger at not being better prepared. Anger at his recklessness in taking Krystal. Even misplaced anger at his parents for some reason that his tired mind couldn't explain. The hatred, though, was all solely reserved for the monstrosities before him. The more Crocea Mors vanquished his Grimm adversaries, the more hatred Jaune seemed to feel for these wretched creatures. The enemy of mankind. They who attack humanity unprovoked and for no reason. It is because Jaune had been fighting old and more intelligent Grimm for a while that his hatred had reached new heights. For those creatures could clearly understand him, especially that Drake. So, why? Why the hell do they keep attacking him?! Jaune felt Crocea Mors sing in his mind in agreement, how dare these filthy wretches think him prey?
Jaune's unstable emotional state gave him more strength and resolve to annihilate his adversaries. Yet, in the back of his mind, he could vaguely acknowledge that he was attracting more Grimm towards him this way. He just simply didn't care. The remaining Grimm had continued their mindless advance towards him, even as the Drake sat by in the rear watching. He crushed an advancing Creep with his shielth at the same time he cut a King Taijitu in half, then he flew to the next Grimm. Jaune had turned into a killing machine, created solely to slay the Grimm. His body was starting to feel the ache of his Semblance, forcing it to fight on and use a power that it was not accustomed to, yet he did not care.
After killing another young Creep, Jaune had to dodge out of the way of a large charging figure. An Alpha Creep. Before it could recover, Jaune jumped on its back and stabbed it in its brain. Before he could fall to the ground, he used the disintegrating corpse to do a backwards somersault to dodge another Alpha Creep that lunged head first into its dead kin. It turned its head stupidly looking for the human it was trying to kill, only for Jaune to land on its head and kill it the same way he killed the previous Creep. This confirmed Jaune's theory of Ugur the Drake culling the older Grimm as these two were the only real Alphas he had to face in the cave so far. Even the King Taijitus were strangely small for the most part, except for the first one he met in the tunnel.
Another stamping sound caught Jaune's attention. The Drake had begun to move. Jaune looked around and found that he was running out of regular Grimm to kill. It astounded him how he survived nearly a thousand Grimm, let alone defeated a good number of them. It was now time to take out the big baddie himself.
Jaune was about to charge the Drake when a black slithering figure lunged from within the disintegrating corpses of the many dead Grimm lying around. He agilely dodged the King Taijitu's bite, the same one from earlier that destroyed his shield, before cutting its remaining head off. He then continued his aborted charge towards the Drake, noticing that there were no more Grimm as far as he could see. The Drake let loose a roar that shook the ground before it charged right at him, extendable tongue hidden for the moment. Jaune had no doubt that it would be launched at him any second. He had a spot in mind for when they will both clash, a spot he had passed by several times now. A spot he literally crashed into earlier. He hoped the Drake would be too focused on him to notice it.
They were 10 meters away when the Drake fired its tongue at him. Jaune's eyes widened at the insane speed of the attack. Even expecting it, he was still mid-stride and knew he wouldn't be able to dodge it. Jaune blocked the attack with his Shielth, the tongue biting through the metal and getting stuck there, but he could smell its acid drenching it. Rage encompassed him at the potential loss of his faithful Shielth, and Jaune savagely cut off the tongue, which sprayed more acid on his melted Shielth and seeped into his bracers and left arm, but Jaune didn't care anymore.
He smirked viciously at the Drake's howl of pain and noticed it was right above where he wanted it. The very same Earth Dust crystal he crashed into early on. With it dislodged from the main Dust veins, Jaune believed that whatever happened to it would not cause a chain reaction… he hoped. Otherwise, he would probably cause the largest explosion Remnant had ever witnessed.
"One way or another, this will end with a bang!"
Jaune sprinted like the wind towards the crystal, channeling what remained of his Aura through Crocea Mors and aimed at the crystal. The Drake smartly realized its predicament and attempted to move away, but it was too slow, so it spat its torn tongue at Jaune in desperation. This time though, Jaune saw the attack coming and simply jumped over it. Then he aimed his sword at the distant crystal, the tip of the sword shining gold. The telltale sign of an Aura attack.
Something bright caught Jaune's attention in his peripheral vision, and he nearly cricked his neck as he quickly turned toward it.
Time seemed to completely stop for Jaune as he finally realized whatever had caused that earlier roar. A yellow stinger was on a direct course to his unprotected right side. A Deathstalker the size of a dump truck had It's very venomous stinger already on its way to him with its owner closer than he thought possible. How did he miss it? His Shielth was no better than iron sludge in his left hand with how deformed it was, so Jaune couldn't use it to block the attack coming from his right.
Jaune had a choice, his heightened adrenaline and stats seemingly allowing him to completely focus on his current precarious situation. He could abort his attack at the Drake and deflect the stinger instead, but he would never get a similar chance to kill the ancient Grimm. It's too smart to fall for the same trick twice, and then Jaune would have to fight two dangerous Grimm instead of one.
Or, he could carry on with the attack, thus most assuredly either neutralizing the Drake or at least incapacitating it. He could only hope he was fast enough to bring his sword back to block the stinger.
Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.
.
.
.
'Was there ever a doubt? When in a shitty position, Arcs FIGHT ON!'
Jaune grinned savagely at the Drake and stabbed Crocea Mors forward, sending a thin but volatile line of Aura at the Earth Dust crystal. Ugur the Drake had barely started to move away when the crystal exploded, releasing a powerful shockwave that obliterated the left hind leg of the Drake along with its tail. It was still alive, as evidenced by its consequent roars of pain, but the Earth Dust had also created a boulder around its blast radius that blocked the Drake's movement, imprisoning its front left leg and half of its body in solid rock.
None of this mattered to Jaune, though, as he turned as fast as he could toward the stinger. He tried to deflect it, Crocea Mors still shining with Aura residue, but he was too late. By sheer instinct, Jaune focused the dregs of his Aura to where the stinger would strike. It wasn't enough. The stinger had pierced into his stomach, shattering his Aura and injecting its volatile venom into his system.
Jaune opened his mouth to let out an anguished cry, but only a choked grunt came out. He instinctively sliced at the stinger, cutting it off, but the damage was already done. The venom was already in his system, coursing through his blood. He barely managed to land before he ripped the stinger out of his stomach and threw it away. Immediately, blood started flowing freely.
Jaune fought through the pain of the venom to remain standing on his feet. The Drake was still roaring in pain, but it was trapped and not going anywhere. The Deathstalker had retreated and was staring at him warily from distance. Waiting for him to drop before it would attack again. Jaune thanked his lucky stars that it was an old Grimm and thus was more cautious. If it had attacked him right now, he would have been a goner.
Jaune recalled from his studies on Grimm on what he knew about Deathstalkers. Unlike regular scorpions, the bigger they were, the more powerful their venom. Jaune had less than a minute to treat himself before the venom would do irreparable damage. Especially without Aura.
Jaune's Aura was already broken, but his buffs from his Semblance were still active for maybe ten more minutes. 'All that carnage had only lasted ten minutes?' He stabbed his sword and shielth on the ground and fumbled with his bag to get his Medkit. He never had to use it as his earlier injuries were mostly internal as well as simple exhaustion. Now though, he would gladly kiss his past self for listening to his gramps about preparing in case his Aura ever broke, no matter how unlikely such a situation seemed to his arrogant younger self.
Jaune ripped half of his shirt off and examined the puncture wound. It was large, it was deep, and it was bad. Yet, it could have been much worse if not for his increased stats that blunted the worst of the attack and made even his skin tougher than normal. Thankfully, it didn't pierce any vital organs nor reach the bones. He opened his kit and quickly brought out alcohol wipes to clean the wound. Then applied a packet of Dust Healing Gel that the salesman swore would seal any wound and stop bleeding in seconds. That same salesman tried to sell him a mix of Morphine and Methamphetamine that probably would have been useful here, but Jaune was no expert, nor did he have the funds for that poison/cure. Instead, Jaune munched on a handful of painkillers, as he noticed the gel completely sealed his wound, which was good else he would have haunted that salesman after he died. Finally, he whipped out an auto-injector of Vitranam's all-purpose antivenom and quickly used it directly over his heart. Jaune nearly facepalmed at his foolishness, he should have done that first thing, not last!
He's gonna blame the venom for that lapse of concentration. He knew the antivenom wouldn't completely nullify the powerful venom of the Deathstalker, but it will at least keep him functioning long enough to maybe, hopefully, get out of here and get proper medical attention. Deathstalker venom, despite being near fatal, was relatively common enough that it could be treated if he was brought to a hospital fast enough. Jaune closed his Medkit and hooked it back on the carabiner. All of this didn't take him more than thirty seconds of time before he was ready for combat. Grandpa would be proud.
Even as Jaune treated his wounds, he kept a watchful eye on his two opponents. There were no more Grimm aside from those two, as the Drake had done a good job killing its allies during the battle. Jaune could not afford to let his guard down, though, and continued to glare vicious murder at the Deathstalker, which had started to inch forward. Daring it to attack him. This stalemate could not go on forever as, he was the one on a time limit here. With no Aura, and the venom wreaking havoc on his body, he needed to kill those bastards quickly before his Semblance ran out in nine minutes.
With that in mind, Jaune grabbed his weapons again and charged at the Deathstalker. He could feel his movements were sluggish, and his vision blurred as blood loss and fatigue started to catch up with him. If that's how he felt with his Semblance's power-up, he shuddered to think how he would feel once he collapsed. Jaune could also feel his stats gradually dropping. It looked like the boost's time limit wasn't static. With half the time gone, he guessed that the boosts would start to drop gradually. Something to note for the future… if he survived that is.
Even without its stinger, the Deathstalker was still a dangerous opponent. Very thick armor, a large body and powerful pincers. He didn't need "Observe" to know how to defeat it, even if he had the Aura to spare, since it was such a common Grimm compared to the mutant that is the Drake.
The Deathstalker charged Jaune as well, and they met in a clash of sword against pincer. In a test of pure strength, Jaune would lose every time against the giant scorpion, even if he was fresh. Jaune didn't try for that, and instead aimed for fast yet weaker attacks at the tiny gaps between the chitin armor. But it didn't do much since he couldn't channel Aura through Crocea Mors, and the Scorpion had a tough exoskeleton in addition to its armor.
Jaune was getting angry and frustrated at the stalemate he found himself in. Against all the previous Grimm, Crocea Mors alone was enough to kill them due to the weakness of their armor as well as its sharp and unbreakable nature. The Deathstalker was proving to be an asshole to deal with, the more the minutes ticked by. Jaune remained unable to get close to its only visible weak point, the eyes. Whenever he got close, the Grimm would attack him with a pincer or quickly retreat. The damn thing was quicker than its size would suggest.
Jaune was already beginning to feel the strain of his Semblance, forcing his body to keep going. His muscles ached, and he could barely lift his sword, let alone move. The venom was also causing his breathing to become harder and more erratic. Every second that passed, Jaune could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. Boosting his stats more than their natural limit would naturally strain his body heavily, he realized with a grimace.
"This isn't working." Jaune disengaged from the giant scorpion, trying to rethink his strategy, when a triumphant roar sounded out in the distance and grabbed both his and the Deathstalker's attention. It looked like Ugur the Drake had finally managed to break free of its confines, though it looked heavily wounded. Much of its armor was shattered, and its left front leg looked bent at an odd angle.
Jaune moved to keep both the Drake and the Deathstalker in his line of sight. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to feel despair settling in. He could feel that he still had five minutes of his Semblance boosting him. But the exhaustion, both mental and physical, as well as the lack of Aura, was getting to him. The venom complicated things even further. It's why he did such a risky thing such as injecting himself in the heart instead of a muscle as recommended, yet even that wasn't enough. Still, Jaune felt confident that he could kill the Drake despite his initial assessment of its danger level. Who would have thought that the greater enemy would be a simple Deathstalker? Even if it was on the larger side and those Grimm are considered to be the most dangerous around.
The Deathstalker in question seemed to understand that it had the advantage in time as it looked at Jaune with its beady little eyes. Ugur was free but unable to move quickly with three legs. Jaune was out of options. He gripped his deformed shielth tightly in frustration.
'Well, Krystal. It was short, but it was fun while it lasted. You never did mention what would happen to you if I die.'
Jaune frowned at that. 'Easily? You call what I've endured being easy? I've done all I can, there's nothing more for me to do against my foes. I'm out of Aura, out of strength, out of time. What would you have me do?!'
Jaune was now scowling angrily. How dare it judge him so harshly when it had witnessed all he had done? Jaune took a deep shuddering breath. Anger won't serve him here. He thought about Krystal's words and looked at his surroundings, he was close to one of the tunnels. Very close. He could see the telltale sign of Lightning Dust crystals on the wall, very similar to that same crystal that gave him so much trouble earlier. There was no way he was going to channel it through his body again, even with his new Lightning Affinity. Still, that gave him an idea.
Jaune checked his status, his Aura was sitting at a measly 9, not even 0.1% of his max, having recovered a bit in the past few minutes. It was nowhere near enough for it to even form the passive shielding that Aura does, let alone charge it for a single attack with his atrocious control. His stats were slowly dwindling, as his Semblance was still–hang on.
Jaune checked on his Semblance and sent it a mental inquiry. After receiving a hesitant confirmation, Jaune grinned. 'You are right, Krystal. It's not like me to give up so easily.' Jaune noticed the Grimm twitch at his sudden shift in emotions. He was going to have to be quick before they decided to attack.
'I'm gonna die either way if I do nothing. Might as well do everything in my power and beyond to bring my enemies down with me!'
Jaune sprinted towards the Lightning Dust crystal, and at the same time, both Grimm chased after him, probably thinking he was escaping and their inherent hatred of humanity abhorred them of the idea of letting prey escape. The Deathstalker was in the lead, with the Drake crawling behind. Once Jaune ripped the crystal from the wall, he turned back to the Grimm and charged at them, screaming to his Semblance one single word that would encompass what he was about to do…
"OVERDRIVE!"
For the second time in twenty-four hours, golden light exploded out of Jaune as he activated the main feature of his Semblance. He felt his Aura rising exponentially, but at the same time, the sense of vertigo that came was much worse than he had imagined. Jaune could also feel his body starting to shake, a searing migraine in his head, and his muscles spasmed, despite his buffs still working if barely. A quick glance at his status told him what was wrong.
Aura Points: 2500/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 0/hr)
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused II: Aura recovery disabled. Body overloaded.
Nevertheless, Jaune soldiered through and charged at the highest priority, the Deathstalker. He ripped the bindings holding Crocea Mors with his teeth and placed it in his mouth. Then, he shoved the Lighting Dust into the hole the Drake made in his shielth and then primed it. It was unrefined so he had to time this right, or it might explode in his face. Jaune only hoped that his newly found Lightning Affinity would cover for this brutish method.
Once he was a few meters from the Deathstalker, he held Crocea Mors in his right hand and sent a Crescent Wave at the scorpion. The Deathstalker was too tough for the hasty attack to harm it, but that wasn't the purpose of it. Just as the Deathstalker had blocked the attack with its pincers, Jaune slid under them and shoved his Shielth into one of its mandibles. He then jumped away as with a thought, the Dust ignited.
A sound of thunder, a shriek of pain, then an explosion of yellow arcing light utterly annihilated the Deathstalker and everything within two meters around it. Jaune had barely been able to get away from the blast zone, all the hairs on his body standing up. His hair looked comically spiky like he had drenched it in hair gel.
Jaune had no time to celebrate, though. Only two minutes of his buff remained, and he needed to destroy that Drake. He could just ignore it and leave, but he had to destroy it If for no reason other than pure spite at the creature. He shakily ran towards the crippled Grimm, which snarled in impotent rage at him. Despite being free, the Grimm didn't try to retreat. Its pride had been questioned, it never once landed a single blow on Jaune. It must feel like it could still win if it lands just one blow.
Jaune would agree, but he was out of fucks to give.
Ugur tried to crush Jaune with its massive right hand, but Jaune simply vaulted over it and ran up its arm. With it basically grounded and with no means of attack, the Drake could only shake its body and head upwards, attempting to either shake off or skewer Jaune with one of its horns, but to no avail. Jaune dodged them easily enough using his heightened AGL, before making an acrobatic jump off the Grimm's shoulder to the top of its head, all the while channeling Aura into Crocea Mors…
And stabbed the Drake through one of its eyes and into its brain. The attack continued on to its neck and punctured the armor there as the beam blew apart the back of the Drake's head. The Grimm didn't even have time to give a death throe before it collapsed on the ground, its corpse disintegrating.
Jaune breathed heavily. He could feel his buff ending, and his stats crashing. He still needed to decide which tunnel to take to get out of this place. Jaune slowly and tiredly walked away from the disintegrating corpse of the Drake and headed toward the nearest tunnel, which was the one he got the Lightning Dust from. It was only through his newly found Aura that he was capable of moving at all.
Jaune nodded as he felt another wave of exhaustion hit him from the movement. 'Spin the roulette for me. I can barely think straight right now. I would need a miracle to get out of this place alive.'
'Yeah, yeah. Just hit me.' He was dragging his feet now, Crocea Mors pointing at the ground, its tip forming a line as he dragged it with him. Jaune started channeling his Aura to relieve him of the pain, exhaustion, and venom's effects. He was honestly surprised that he's still cognizant of himself. Deathstalker venom caused extreme fatigue that would eventually slow his heartbeat until it stopped. A side effect of that is not enough blood heading to his brain, thus lowering his thought process. Right now, Jaune was using his hard-earned Aura to keep his adrenaline high and forcibly pump his heart and keep his blood circulating. He wasn't even sure how he was doing it, and he was scared that any conscious thought into it would backfire.
The same holographic roulette from earlier appeared in front of Jaune, but he easily ignored it. It didn't obstruct his vision if he didn't concentrate on it, which he was thankful for as he had to navigate his way around Dust Crystals lying around and the dark miasma of over a thousand-dead Grimm. He heard the ping signifying the wheel had stopped.
'Sounds remarkable. Too bad, I don't think I can make much use of it.' Jaune reached out to his scroll and turned off the recorder, hoping to save its battery to send out a distress signal once he was out of these caves. He thought of storing his bag, but he had gotten so used to its weight that he feared he would lose his balance in his tired state. He was unsure if he would be able to stand if he fell. Instead, he absentmindedly started collecting the Dust Crystals lying around. He didn't care what kind he grabbed, he just took whatever caught his eye and didn't require him to kneel too much.
'Why thank you, Krystal. Are you perhaps going soft on me?'
Jaune snorted at how Krystal ignored him, 'By all means, spin the wheel, Krystal.' He continued walking towards the tunnel, was it always that far away? He heard the ping of the wheel and focused on Krystal.
'Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!' Jaune smiled as he finally hit the jackpot. Not only a C-rank ability that comes with a bonus ability, but also one that is well suited to his current predicament. He would have thought the Creator was watching over him, but if so, then he would have given him an instant recovery ability or something. Hell, Teleportation sounded like it would be handy right about now.
But what the hell could he even track? The ability doesn't allow him to actually search for any aura within the one-mile range. It only worked if he was familiar with the feeling of a target's Aura. The only people he was familiar with their Aura were his family, but they were thousands of miles away.
'Hang on, the target doesn't have to be human. Right, Krystal?'
Well, well, well. Looks like he's gonna get that reunion after all.
"Search; Arthur."
Immediately, Jaune could see miles away. He could feel his Aura slightly dropping, but it was a necessary sacrifice. He couldn't actually see the surrounding terrain, but he could see his old horse lazily grazing in a field. There appeared to be other shadowy figures around him, but Jaune couldn't Search them. Suddenly, the horse turned right towards him and neighed happily. Jaune smiled and turned on Pathfinder mode; a thin line of light drifted off towards another tunnel than the one he was aiming for.
Jaune shouldered his bag and changed directions. He sure was glad that he did unlock that keffel's Aura after all. He checked his status one last time before he headed out.
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 1200/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 0/hr)
Strength (STR): 32/81
Vitality (VIT): 29/98
Dexterity (DEX): 24/85
Agility (AGL): 20/62
Perception (PER): 15/42
Intelligence (INT): 57/93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG): 0/3
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration.
Semblance (UNLOCKED): Your semblance allows you to instantly refill your Aura to the maximum once a day. Side effects include reducing your Aura recovery. Forcibly refilling your Aura reserves within the cooldown period provides diminishing returns and disables Aura recovery. It might have more abilities that are waiting to be discovered.
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Search (C-Rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused II: Aura recovery disabled. Body overloaded. All Stats are reduced. Semblance Disabled.
Severely Weakened: All Stats are reduced.
Poisoned: Deathstalker venom. Antivenom applied. VIT and INT reduced. High risk of death If not treated within three days.
"Is that old horse at it again?"
Two figures sat by a campfire at the base of the Vale Mountains. The camp was off the road, yet the figures could see anyone coming from either direction. They stared as the horse in question tried to remove its leash from where it was tied to a log, stamping its hooves on the ground while snorting irritatedly. There were two other horses tied nearby, and they looked at the first horse in apparent bemusement.
"Seems like it. It's been running off the road every once in a while since we found it earlier today." The smaller and younger figure said in a monotone voice. Her eyes stared at the stubborn horse, "Strangely, it doesn't go too far and always heads near the mountains and looks back at us expectantly."
The older figure untied her cerise hair from its messy bun, letting it fall to her waist. She then turned her head as she took a better look at the horse, "Do you think he wants us to follow him? It's not every day we see an animal with an unlocked Aura. Whoever unlocked it must have had too much Aura than they knew what to do with, or they collapsed upon doing it, and now the horse ran off." She chuckled good-naturedly at the thought.
"That's not nice, Sara. It's more likely, there could have been a Grimm attack. The horse was saddled, its bags were full of supplies, but a sharp object cut its leash. Probably a knife or a sword. For all we know, the horse could be desperately searching for its master."
The now-named Sara sighed sadly at the thought, her amber eyes turning toward the night sky in contemplation. "I know what you mean, Fie. Animals that have their Aura unlocked instinctively bind themselves to the one who unlocked it for them. Nevertheless, don't think I know what you're thinking. We are on an urgent mission. If you let loose that horse in the hopes of an adventure…"
"I won't," Fie replied with a narrowing of her lime green eyes, "I just don't like the idea of someone out there in need of help. Not when we could possibly do something about it."
Sara smiled at her protégé, "Atta girl. So, what do you–"
A sudden explosion, followed by a pained screech, echoed out close by. Sara and Fie were instantly up with their weapons at the ready, staring above them and a bit beyond. They could see the after-effects of golden light blasting what appeared to be a giant Nevermore out of the sky. The broken moon seemed to shine brighter for a second as the clearly Aura-based attack matched colors to the moon for an instant before dissipating. The entire mountainside started dropping rocks and debris everywhere.
The horse used that distraction to unconsciously channel his Aura and with a mighty tug, released himself from the log before he galloped towards the site of the explosion.
Sara and Fie immediately chased after it, "Fie, what do you see?"
Fie's eyes glowed in the dark, her irises sharper than a human's. Almost like a cat's. "I saw a figure drop from that hole following the Nevermore. The Grimm lost one of its wings and crashed into the forest below. I think we found whoever unlocked that horse's Aura."
They both sprinted faster than any human could, nearly overtaking the horse, who only outpaced them thanks to his newly unlocked Aura. They could hear the thrashing sound of the large Grimm along with its pained screeches. Eventually, they reached the point of impact to find a tall young man with long messy blonde hair and wild blue eyes leaning heavily on a sword that was buried in the Nevermore's head.
The Grimm slowly disintegrated, and the man collapsed face-down on the ground, dragging the sword with him. The horse rushed towards him and bopped his head with its own as it snorted. Sara and Fie quickly approached, Sara retrieving the sword, her eyes widening at its unexpected weight, while Fie checked the man's wounds.
The man looked like a complete train wreck, with his torn clothes, burned left arm, spasming muscles, uncontrollable shaking, multiple lacerations, unhealed scars, and bruises throughout his body. And that's just the obvious injuries. The girl could also smell the familiar scent of venom reeking out of him. He appeared to be trying to say something, so she moved her head closer to his face as her eyes met his.
"...n-need a better landing strategy." Before he passed out.
I took a lot of liberty with Jaune's Semblance. It is certainly OP already in the show, but I felt like the writers were too on the nose about him being a support character and never allowing him a moment to truly shine. Here it will be a little different as Jaune discovers his Semblance in a life and death situation and has to channel it inwards instead of outwards. It will emphasize more on personal strength before he discovers its other canon uses.
If one thinks about gamer abilities, then Inventory and a mini-map are the absolute essentials. Notice that they are quite limited.
Arthur the horse makes a comeback! Guess he wasn't a scaredy horse after all.
Our first two OCs (not really, I just ripped them off from a JRPG). Shout out to anyone who recognizes what game they are from.
The system had been very kind to Jaune so far with its abilities. Almost as if someone is watching over him. Well, this is technically the tutorial for our budding huntsman, after all. I wouldn't want to make his life too difficult.
Please don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts and comments.
Jaune knew he could not afford to dawdle, especially with his weakened stats. He already noticed how much slower he was and how all his muscles were protesting any movement. It's why he didn't even think of fighting that behemoth head-on. He turned straight to the left from the tunnel, keeping the gigantic moon rock on his shield arm, and charged towards the nearest Grimm.
He was about to use his Aura to reinforce himself when something within him grabbed his attention. Time seemed to stop as he felt that elusive thread he found yesterday within him, connected to his Aura. His Semblance, the one that saved his life yesterday. One that sought redemption for hesitating to help him. Now, it demanded to be used.
Instinctively, Jaune knew exactly what he needed to do. He activated his Semblance, consuming 20% of his Aura reserves, bringing it down to 7%, but in return, it increased his stats exponentially. A lot more than his primitive way of Aura reinforcing could ever be capable of doing. Simple Aura reinforcement could, at the very most, increase his stats by half due to his less than stellar Aura control. What he felt from his Semblance, on the other hand, was absolutely insane. He instinctively knew he had 600% of stat allocations to distribute between his six main stats.
INT is unneeded so it will remain the same. Knowing that speed will be of the essence, Jaune directed his semblance to boost his AGL above all other stats. It might not be the wisest decision, but Jaune needed to be decisive and work with it regardless. With a quick thought, he observed his increased stats.
Aura Points: 700/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr)
Strength (STR): 60—>120/81 (+100%)
Vitality (VIT): 73—>146/98 (+100%)
Dexterity (DEX): 63—>95/85 (+50%)
Agility (AGL): 47—>165/62 (+250%)
Perception (PER): 31—>62/42 (+100%)
It didn't take more than a second for Jaune to process the stat increases, and he felt all his exhaustion evaporate. His muscles felt rejuvenated and bulged up considerably. His breathing settled and his nerve endings and synapses felt like they were on fire. He instinctively knew that this power-up would only last him for twenty minutes. Hopefully, enough to decimate the Grimm forces. He only needed to be careful and not lose focus because he was positive that afterward, his body would pay a heavy price.
Jaune took the first step after the power-up and completely overshot his destination, bowling over a dozen Creeps with how fast and powerful his leap was. Thankfully, he had his shield in front of him which absorbed most of the damage. Immediately, Jaune began hacking through the downed Creeps, his increased strength combined with Crocea Mors more than enough to slice through their armor like paper. It didn't take him long to gain better control over his speed and strength. Currently, his stats were higher than his maximum from before Krystal drained him except for his AGL. He's confident he never broke the 100 stat limit for his AGL before.
After clearing the way, Jaune glanced behind him to see Ugur the Drake had charged right behind him, getting in the way of the other Grimm. Jaune turned back forward, confident that he could outrun the Drake if it caught up with him and navigated his way around the moon rock. Jaune was tempted to grab some of the Dust crystals lying on the ground, but his low Aura reserves dissuaded him from it. He might need that Aura later on, and as he harshly learned, unrefined Dust is incredibly volatile. Not to mention, his experience in channeling Dust is limited to household items. He trusted in Crocea Mors being deadly enough to slice cleanly through his foes, though he will have to avoid using any of his Crescent Waves. Still, he kept a close eye for a specific Dust crystal that would be vital for his plan.
'Ugur the Drake was livid. How dare that puny human ignore his august presence!' Is what Jaune imagined the big ugly Grimm thought as it continued charging at his location, crushing the smaller Grimm that blocked its way underfoot. Jaune gave it a cheeky grin as he ran circles around the other Grimm, Crocea Mors living up to its name. A yellow arc of death wherever it went, every slice or cut or stab was fatal, the blade seemingly screaming in a blood fury. Though that could have been Jaune himself. The sheer speed of his movements did not allow Jaune any fancy sword strokes, just simple slices and slashes that reaped a heavy toll on the Grimm. His shield was smashing Creep skulls while his sword cut off Snake heads.
Slice. Bash. Dice. Slash. Crush. Dodge. Jump. Decapitate. Duck. Disembowel. Kick.
Jaune danced from Creep to Snake, leaving a path of carnage behind him. A large Creep attempted to headbutt him but Jaune directly kicked its head into its spine. Jaune had never felt so much power before, not even when his grandfather first unlocked his Aura. He continued circling the moon rock, making sure to keep it on his left side to better attack with his sword.
Meanwhile, Ugur the Drake continued chasing after him, creating as much damage or even more than Jaune himself. This game of cat and mouse continued on for a few minutes as Jaune continuously led the Drake in circles around the Moon Rock and through the Grimm hoard. Eventually, Jaune had to abandon the Rock when he found the Drake in front of him instead of behind. He must have run so fast that he caught up to it from behind. There was no option of turning around with hundreds of Grimm chasing him. Jaune noticed that the base of its tail was lacking in any armor and was about to attack the Ancient Grimm, when the Drake noticed him and immediately sent its tail careening at him.
Jaune jumped as far as possible to his right; which turned out to be much further than he planned as he shattered the ground under his feet and flew a dozen meters towards a cluster of Creeps and a few King Taijitus. A quick glance behind him showed the Drake had flattened at least fifty Creeps that were in his previous position. Jaune had noticed that most of the Creeps were on the younger side given their short stature and soft armor. He suspected the Drake culled any Grimm that reached a certain age. How very… human of it to treat its kind like cattle. Nevertheless, he shelved those thoughts and focused on his current situation as he continued his Knight's work against the Grimm.
Until another roar sounded from one of the tunnels, distracting Jaune for a second. That second of distraction was enough for a large King Taijitu to lunge at Jaune with a bite. It was only his currently insane AGL that allowed Jaune to block the snake's bite with his shield, only for its other head to lunge at his sword arm. A quick slice split its skull in half, but that allowed the first head to crush the shield under its fangs. It probably would have been capable of at least breaking his arm if not for the combination of his STR and VIT greatly increasing his muscle mass and bone density.
Nevertheless, Jaune had to abandon the shield and couldn't even finish the black snake head as more Grimm swarmed him and attempted to pile on him. At the same time, a massive figure burst out of one of the tunnels in the distance, but Jaune couldn't identify it from so far away and was a bit too busy fighting for his life. He pulled out his sheath yet failed to expand it to shield form. Still, it was tough enough to act as a bludgeoning weapon.
Jaune's nerves were starting to fray, but instead of fear or anxiety, Jaune felt two dominant emotions as the Grimm relentlessly attacked him. Anger and Hatred. The Drake was fast approaching, and there were too many Grimm around him. Easily over a hundred had begun to swarm and pile on him. Jaune felt a small King Taijitu try to constrict its body around his legs while a dozen Creeps lunged at him at the same time as he twisted his waist to slice as many of them as possible. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Jaune was forced to use an over-powered Crescent Wave to clear a way through the encirclement, dropping his Aura to near nothing due to his awkward control.
All the Grimm that were piling on him nearly disintegrated from the power of the Wave, and Jaune forced his way out to a relatively empty spot, surprised by the power of his attack. It seems his increased STR stat also helped amplify his Crescent Wave. Something to take a look at later on.
Jaune noticed the Drake had stopped chasing him then, presumably planning a better method of cornering its prey. Only for it to rear its ugly head and vomit a veritable deluge of Acid at him. It was like a gigantic green cloud of liquid death heading towards him fast. Jaune's eyes widened and looked at the hundreds of Grimm charging towards his position as well. He didn't think twice. He waited for the very last second as the Grimm approached his position before he jumped as far away as possible as the Acid cloud fell on the Grimm. The screams of the Grimm were horrifying yet oh so satisfying to hear. Jaune rolled on the ground and crashed into a protruding Earth Dust crystal the size of his entire body, dislodging it from the ground. He thanked the moon and the Creator that it didn't explode in his face as he noted its position.
As Jaune stood up, he could feel his anger and hatred rising again. It was the anger at his weakness that was driving him forward. Anger at not being better prepared. Anger at his recklessness in taking Krystal. Even misplaced anger at his parents for some reason that his tired mind couldn't explain. The hatred, though, was all solely reserved for the monstrosities before him. The more Crocea Mors vanquished his Grimm adversaries, the more hatred Jaune seemed to feel for these wretched creatures. The enemy of mankind. They who attack humanity unprovoked and for no reason. It is because Jaune had been fighting old and more intelligent Grimm for a while that his hatred had reached new heights. For those creatures could clearly understand him, especially that Drake. So, why? Why the hell do they keep attacking him?! Jaune felt Crocea Mors sing in his mind in agreement, how dare these filthy wretches think him prey?
Jaune's unstable emotional state gave him more strength and resolve to annihilate his adversaries. Yet, in the back of his mind, he could vaguely acknowledge that he was attracting more Grimm towards him this way. He just simply didn't care. The remaining Grimm had continued their mindless advance towards him, even as the Drake sat by in the rear watching. He crushed an advancing Creep with his shielth at the same time he cut a King Taijitu in half, then he flew to the next Grimm. Jaune had turned into a killing machine, created solely to slay the Grimm. His body was starting to feel the ache of his Semblance, forcing it to fight on and use a power that it was not accustomed to, yet he did not care.
After killing another young Creep, Jaune had to dodge out of the way of a large charging figure. An Alpha Creep. Before it could recover, Jaune jumped on its back and stabbed it in its brain. Before he could fall to the ground, he used the disintegrating corpse to do a backwards somersault to dodge another Alpha Creep that lunged head first into its dead kin. It turned its head stupidly looking for the human it was trying to kill, only for Jaune to land on its head and kill it the same way he killed the previous Creep. This confirmed Jaune's theory of Ugur the Drake culling the older Grimm as these two were the only real Alphas he had to face in the cave so far. Even the King Taijitus were strangely small for the most part, except for the first one he met in the tunnel.
Another stamping sound caught Jaune's attention. The Drake had begun to move. Jaune looked around and found that he was running out of regular Grimm to kill. It astounded him how he survived nearly a thousand Grimm, let alone defeated a good number of them. It was now time to take out the big baddie himself.
Jaune was about to charge the Drake when a black slithering figure lunged from within the disintegrating corpses of the many dead Grimm lying around. He agilely dodged the King Taijitu's bite, the same one from earlier that destroyed his shield, before cutting its remaining head off. He then continued his aborted charge towards the Drake, noticing that there were no more Grimm as far as he could see. The Drake let loose a roar that shook the ground before it charged right at him, extendable tongue hidden for the moment. Jaune had no doubt that it would be launched at him any second. He had a spot in mind for when they will both clash, a spot he had passed by several times now. A spot he literally crashed into earlier. He hoped the Drake would be too focused on him to notice it.
They were 10 meters away when the Drake fired its tongue at him. Jaune's eyes widened at the insane speed of the attack. Even expecting it, he was still mid-stride and knew he wouldn't be able to dodge it. Jaune blocked the attack with his Shielth, the tongue biting through the metal and getting stuck there, but he could smell its acid drenching it. Rage encompassed him at the potential loss of his faithful Shielth, and Jaune savagely cut off the tongue, which sprayed more acid on his melted Shielth and seeped into his bracers and left arm, but Jaune didn't care anymore.
He smirked viciously at the Drake's howl of pain and noticed it was right above where he wanted it. The very same Earth Dust crystal he crashed into early on. With it dislodged from the main Dust veins, Jaune believed that whatever happened to it would not cause a chain reaction… he hoped. Otherwise, he would probably cause the largest explosion Remnant had ever witnessed.
"One way or another, this will end with a bang!"
Jaune sprinted like the wind towards the crystal, channeling what remained of his Aura through Crocea Mors and aimed at the crystal. The Drake smartly realized its predicament and attempted to move away, but it was too slow, so it spat its torn tongue at Jaune in desperation. This time though, Jaune saw the attack coming and simply jumped over it. Then he aimed his sword at the distant crystal, the tip of the sword shining gold. The telltale sign of an Aura attack.
Something bright caught Jaune's attention in his peripheral vision, and he nearly cricked his neck as he quickly turned toward it.
Time seemed to completely stop for Jaune as he finally realized whatever had caused that earlier roar. A yellow stinger was on a direct course to his unprotected right side. A Deathstalker the size of a dump truck had It's very venomous stinger already on its way to him with its owner closer than he thought possible. How did he miss it? His Shielth was no better than iron sludge in his left hand with how deformed it was, so Jaune couldn't use it to block the attack coming from his right.
Jaune had a choice, his heightened adrenaline and stats seemingly allowing him to completely focus on his current precarious situation. He could abort his attack at the Drake and deflect the stinger instead, but he would never get a similar chance to kill the ancient Grimm. It's too smart to fall for the same trick twice, and then Jaune would have to fight two dangerous Grimm instead of one.
Or, he could carry on with the attack, thus most assuredly either neutralizing the Drake or at least incapacitating it. He could only hope he was fast enough to bring his sword back to block the stinger.
Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.
.
.
.
'Was there ever a doubt? When in a shitty position, Arcs FIGHT ON!'
Jaune grinned savagely at the Drake and stabbed Crocea Mors forward, sending a thin but volatile line of Aura at the Earth Dust crystal. Ugur the Drake had barely started to move away when the crystal exploded, releasing a powerful shockwave that obliterated the left hind leg of the Drake along with its tail. It was still alive, as evidenced by its consequent roars of pain, but the Earth Dust had also created a boulder around its blast radius that blocked the Drake's movement, imprisoning its front left leg and half of its body in solid rock.
None of this mattered to Jaune, though, as he turned as fast as he could toward the stinger. He tried to deflect it, Crocea Mors still shining with Aura residue, but he was too late. By sheer instinct, Jaune focused the dregs of his Aura to where the stinger would strike. It wasn't enough. The stinger had pierced into his stomach, shattering his Aura and injecting its volatile venom into his system.
Jaune opened his mouth to let out an anguished cry, but only a choked grunt came out. He instinctively sliced at the stinger, cutting it off, but the damage was already done. The venom was already in his system, coursing through his blood. He barely managed to land before he ripped the stinger out of his stomach and threw it away. Immediately, blood started flowing freely.
Jaune fought through the pain of the venom to remain standing on his feet. The Drake was still roaring in pain, but it was trapped and not going anywhere. The Deathstalker had retreated and was staring at him warily from distance. Waiting for him to drop before it would attack again. Jaune thanked his lucky stars that it was an old Grimm and thus was more cautious. If it had attacked him right now, he would have been a goner.
Jaune recalled from his studies on Grimm on what he knew about Deathstalkers. Unlike regular scorpions, the bigger they were, the more powerful their venom. Jaune had less than a minute to treat himself before the venom would do irreparable damage. Especially without Aura.
Jaune's Aura was already broken, but his buffs from his Semblance were still active for maybe ten more minutes. 'All that carnage had only lasted ten minutes?' He stabbed his sword and shielth on the ground and fumbled with his bag to get his Medkit. He never had to use it as his earlier injuries were mostly internal as well as simple exhaustion. Now though, he would gladly kiss his past self for listening to his gramps about preparing in case his Aura ever broke, no matter how unlikely such a situation seemed to his arrogant younger self.
Jaune ripped half of his shirt off and examined the puncture wound. It was large, it was deep, and it was bad. Yet, it could have been much worse if not for his increased stats that blunted the worst of the attack and made even his skin tougher than normal. Thankfully, it didn't pierce any vital organs nor reach the bones. He opened his kit and quickly brought out alcohol wipes to clean the wound. Then applied a packet of Dust Healing Gel that the salesman swore would seal any wound and stop bleeding in seconds. That same salesman tried to sell him a mix of Morphine and Methamphetamine that probably would have been useful here, but Jaune was no expert, nor did he have the funds for that poison/cure. Instead, Jaune munched on a handful of painkillers, as he noticed the gel completely sealed his wound, which was good else he would have haunted that salesman after he died. Finally, he whipped out an auto-injector of Vitranam's all-purpose antivenom and quickly used it directly over his heart. Jaune nearly facepalmed at his foolishness, he should have done that first thing, not last!
He's gonna blame the venom for that lapse of concentration. He knew the antivenom wouldn't completely nullify the powerful venom of the Deathstalker, but it will at least keep him functioning long enough to maybe, hopefully, get out of here and get proper medical attention. Deathstalker venom, despite being near fatal, was relatively common enough that it could be treated if he was brought to a hospital fast enough. Jaune closed his Medkit and hooked it back on the carabiner. All of this didn't take him more than thirty seconds of time before he was ready for combat. Grandpa would be proud.
Even as Jaune treated his wounds, he kept a watchful eye on his two opponents. There were no more Grimm aside from those two, as the Drake had done a good job killing its allies during the battle. Jaune could not afford to let his guard down, though, and continued to glare vicious murder at the Deathstalker, which had started to inch forward. Daring it to attack him. This stalemate could not go on forever as, he was the one on a time limit here. With no Aura, and the venom wreaking havoc on his body, he needed to kill those bastards quickly before his Semblance ran out in nine minutes.
With that in mind, Jaune grabbed his weapons again and charged at the Deathstalker. He could feel his movements were sluggish, and his vision blurred as blood loss and fatigue started to catch up with him. If that's how he felt with his Semblance's power-up, he shuddered to think how he would feel once he collapsed. Jaune could also feel his stats gradually dropping. It looked like the boost's time limit wasn't static. With half the time gone, he guessed that the boosts would start to drop gradually. Something to note for the future… if he survived that is.
Even without its stinger, the Deathstalker was still a dangerous opponent. Very thick armor, a large body and powerful pincers. He didn't need "Observe" to know how to defeat it, even if he had the Aura to spare, since it was such a common Grimm compared to the mutant that is the Drake.
The Deathstalker charged Jaune as well, and they met in a clash of sword against pincer. In a test of pure strength, Jaune would lose every time against the giant scorpion, even if he was fresh. Jaune didn't try for that, and instead aimed for fast yet weaker attacks at the tiny gaps between the chitin armor. But it didn't do much since he couldn't channel Aura through Crocea Mors, and the Scorpion had a tough exoskeleton in addition to its armor.
Jaune was getting angry and frustrated at the stalemate he found himself in. Against all the previous Grimm, Crocea Mors alone was enough to kill them due to the weakness of their armor as well as its sharp and unbreakable nature. The Deathstalker was proving to be an asshole to deal with, the more the minutes ticked by. Jaune remained unable to get close to its only visible weak point, the eyes. Whenever he got close, the Grimm would attack him with a pincer or quickly retreat. The damn thing was quicker than its size would suggest.
Jaune was already beginning to feel the strain of his Semblance, forcing his body to keep going. His muscles ached, and he could barely lift his sword, let alone move. The venom was also causing his breathing to become harder and more erratic. Every second that passed, Jaune could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. Boosting his stats more than their natural limit would naturally strain his body heavily, he realized with a grimace.
"This isn't working." Jaune disengaged from the giant scorpion, trying to rethink his strategy, when a triumphant roar sounded out in the distance and grabbed both his and the Deathstalker's attention. It looked like Ugur the Drake had finally managed to break free of its confines, though it looked heavily wounded. Much of its armor was shattered, and its left front leg looked bent at an odd angle.
Jaune moved to keep both the Drake and the Deathstalker in his line of sight. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to feel despair settling in. He could feel that he still had five minutes of his Semblance boosting him. But the exhaustion, both mental and physical, as well as the lack of Aura, was getting to him. The venom complicated things even further. It's why he did such a risky thing such as injecting himself in the heart instead of a muscle as recommended, yet even that wasn't enough. Still, Jaune felt confident that he could kill the Drake despite his initial assessment of its danger level. Who would have thought that the greater enemy would be a simple Deathstalker? Even if it was on the larger side and those Grimm are considered to be the most dangerous around.
The Deathstalker in question seemed to understand that it had the advantage in time as it looked at Jaune with its beady little eyes. Ugur was free but unable to move quickly with three legs. Jaune was out of options. He gripped his deformed shielth tightly in frustration.
'Well, Krystal. It was short, but it was fun while it lasted. You never did mention what would happen to you if I die.'
I simply go dormant once again in this world until I reawaken to another worthy user. I would have failed the Creator in my purpose, but that is a punishment I will have to exist with.
But I did not believe that you were the type to give up so easily, Jaune.
But I did not believe that you were the type to give up so easily, Jaune.
Jaune frowned at that. 'Easily? You call what I've endured being easy? I've done all I can, there's nothing more for me to do against my foes. I'm out of Aura, out of strength, out of time. What would you have me do?!'
Have you truly done everything that you could? Have you explored all of your available avenues of attack? Your surroundings? The environment and terrain? It is true that you are running out of time, but never did I think that you would be a quitter, Jaune Arc.
Jaune was now scowling angrily. How dare it judge him so harshly when it had witnessed all he had done? Jaune took a deep shuddering breath. Anger won't serve him here. He thought about Krystal's words and looked at his surroundings, he was close to one of the tunnels. Very close. He could see the telltale sign of Lightning Dust crystals on the wall, very similar to that same crystal that gave him so much trouble earlier. There was no way he was going to channel it through his body again, even with his new Lightning Affinity. Still, that gave him an idea.
Jaune checked his status, his Aura was sitting at a measly 9, not even 0.1% of his max, having recovered a bit in the past few minutes. It was nowhere near enough for it to even form the passive shielding that Aura does, let alone charge it for a single attack with his atrocious control. His stats were slowly dwindling, as his Semblance was still–hang on.
Jaune checked on his Semblance and sent it a mental inquiry. After receiving a hesitant confirmation, Jaune grinned. 'You are right, Krystal. It's not like me to give up so easily.' Jaune noticed the Grimm twitch at his sudden shift in emotions. He was going to have to be quick before they decided to attack.
Indeed, I have judged you well, Jaune. Are you sure about that avenue of attack, though? There is a significant chance that you will die even if you succeed.
'I'm gonna die either way if I do nothing. Might as well do everything in my power and beyond to bring my enemies down with me!'
Jaune sprinted towards the Lightning Dust crystal, and at the same time, both Grimm chased after him, probably thinking he was escaping and their inherent hatred of humanity abhorred them of the idea of letting prey escape. The Deathstalker was in the lead, with the Drake crawling behind. Once Jaune ripped the crystal from the wall, he turned back to the Grimm and charged at them, screaming to his Semblance one single word that would encompass what he was about to do…
"OVERDRIVE!"
For the second time in twenty-four hours, golden light exploded out of Jaune as he activated the main feature of his Semblance. He felt his Aura rising exponentially, but at the same time, the sense of vertigo that came was much worse than he had imagined. Jaune could also feel his body starting to shake, a searing migraine in his head, and his muscles spasmed, despite his buffs still working if barely. A quick glance at his status told him what was wrong.
Aura Points: 2500/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 0/hr)
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused II: Aura recovery disabled. Body overloaded.
Nevertheless, Jaune soldiered through and charged at the highest priority, the Deathstalker. He ripped the bindings holding Crocea Mors with his teeth and placed it in his mouth. Then, he shoved the Lighting Dust into the hole the Drake made in his shielth and then primed it. It was unrefined so he had to time this right, or it might explode in his face. Jaune only hoped that his newly found Lightning Affinity would cover for this brutish method.
Once he was a few meters from the Deathstalker, he held Crocea Mors in his right hand and sent a Crescent Wave at the scorpion. The Deathstalker was too tough for the hasty attack to harm it, but that wasn't the purpose of it. Just as the Deathstalker had blocked the attack with its pincers, Jaune slid under them and shoved his Shielth into one of its mandibles. He then jumped away as with a thought, the Dust ignited.
A sound of thunder, a shriek of pain, then an explosion of yellow arcing light utterly annihilated the Deathstalker and everything within two meters around it. Jaune had barely been able to get away from the blast zone, all the hairs on his body standing up. His hair looked comically spiky like he had drenched it in hair gel.
Jaune had no time to celebrate, though. Only two minutes of his buff remained, and he needed to destroy that Drake. He could just ignore it and leave, but he had to destroy it If for no reason other than pure spite at the creature. He shakily ran towards the crippled Grimm, which snarled in impotent rage at him. Despite being free, the Grimm didn't try to retreat. Its pride had been questioned, it never once landed a single blow on Jaune. It must feel like it could still win if it lands just one blow.
Jaune would agree, but he was out of fucks to give.
Ugur tried to crush Jaune with its massive right hand, but Jaune simply vaulted over it and ran up its arm. With it basically grounded and with no means of attack, the Drake could only shake its body and head upwards, attempting to either shake off or skewer Jaune with one of its horns, but to no avail. Jaune dodged them easily enough using his heightened AGL, before making an acrobatic jump off the Grimm's shoulder to the top of its head, all the while channeling Aura into Crocea Mors…
And stabbed the Drake through one of its eyes and into its brain. The attack continued on to its neck and punctured the armor there as the beam blew apart the back of the Drake's head. The Grimm didn't even have time to give a death throe before it collapsed on the ground, its corpse disintegrating.
Jaune breathed heavily. He could feel his buff ending, and his stats crashing. He still needed to decide which tunnel to take to get out of this place. Jaune slowly and tiredly walked away from the disintegrating corpse of the Drake and headed toward the nearest tunnel, which was the one he got the Lightning Dust from. It was only through his newly found Aura that he was capable of moving at all.
This might not seem like a good time, but would you like to try using your magic points, Jaune? You might have succeeded in defeating the Grimm, but you are still on your last legs and need to find a way out of this place. You might receive something useful for your situation?
Jaune nodded as he felt another wave of exhaustion hit him from the movement. 'Spin the roulette for me. I can barely think straight right now. I would need a miracle to get out of this place alive.'
Understood. Currently, you have two available Magic Points. You will only receive your challenge's reward once you escape to safety. I'm sorry if I seem callous, but those are the rules set by the Creator.
'Yeah, yeah. Just hit me.' He was dragging his feet now, Crocea Mors pointing at the ground, its tip forming a line as he dragged it with him. Jaune started channeling his Aura to relieve him of the pain, exhaustion, and venom's effects. He was honestly surprised that he's still cognizant of himself. Deathstalker venom caused extreme fatigue that would eventually slow his heartbeat until it stopped. A side effect of that is not enough blood heading to his brain, thus lowering his thought process. Right now, Jaune was using his hard-earned Aura to keep his adrenaline high and forcibly pump his heart and keep his blood circulating. He wasn't even sure how he was doing it, and he was scared that any conscious thought into it would backfire.
The same holographic roulette from earlier appeared in front of Jaune, but he easily ignored it. It didn't obstruct his vision if he didn't concentrate on it, which he was thankful for as he had to navigate his way around Dust Crystals lying around and the dark miasma of over a thousand-dead Grimm. He heard the ping signifying the wheel had stopped.
Congratulations, Jaune. You have gained a new ability
"Storage Space" (D-rank)
The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
"Storage Space" (D-rank)
The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
'Sounds remarkable. Too bad, I don't think I can make much use of it.' Jaune reached out to his scroll and turned off the recorder, hoping to save its battery to send out a distress signal once he was out of these caves. He thought of storing his bag, but he had gotten so used to its weight that he feared he would lose his balance in his tired state. He was unsure if he would be able to stand if he fell. Instead, he absentmindedly started collecting the Dust Crystals lying around. He didn't care what kind he grabbed, he just took whatever caught his eye and didn't require him to kneel too much.
I see you are already making use of the ability. As a bonus for not giving up when all hope seemed lost, one of the basic features of Storage Space is time dilation and stasis. Since it does not follow the same rules of space and time as this world, you could store food items or other perishables without fearing it rotting. Additionally, you could expand the size of the Storage Space at the cost of Aura.
'Why thank you, Krystal. Are you perhaps going soft on me?'
Would you like to spend your last magic point?
Jaune snorted at how Krystal ignored him, 'By all means, spin the wheel, Krystal.' He continued walking towards the tunnel, was it always that far away? He heard the ping of the wheel and focused on Krystal.
Congratulations, Jaune. You have gained a new ability
"Search" (C-Rank)
Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
"Search" (C-Rank)
Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
'Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!' Jaune smiled as he finally hit the jackpot. Not only a C-rank ability that comes with a bonus ability, but also one that is well suited to his current predicament. He would have thought the Creator was watching over him, but if so, then he would have given him an instant recovery ability or something. Hell, Teleportation sounded like it would be handy right about now.
But what the hell could he even track? The ability doesn't allow him to actually search for any aura within the one-mile range. It only worked if he was familiar with the feeling of a target's Aura. The only people he was familiar with their Aura were his family, but they were thousands of miles away.
'Hang on, the target doesn't have to be human. Right, Krystal?'
Correct. As long as it has an energy you are intimately familiar with, such as Aura or Magic, then you could attempt to Search for them.
Well, well, well. Looks like he's gonna get that reunion after all.
"Search; Arthur."
Immediately, Jaune could see miles away. He could feel his Aura slightly dropping, but it was a necessary sacrifice. He couldn't actually see the surrounding terrain, but he could see his old horse lazily grazing in a field. There appeared to be other shadowy figures around him, but Jaune couldn't Search them. Suddenly, the horse turned right towards him and neighed happily. Jaune smiled and turned on Pathfinder mode; a thin line of light drifted off towards another tunnel than the one he was aiming for.
Jaune shouldered his bag and changed directions. He sure was glad that he did unlock that keffel's Aura after all. He checked his status one last time before he headed out.
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 1200/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 0/hr)
Strength (STR): 32/81
Vitality (VIT): 29/98
Dexterity (DEX): 24/85
Agility (AGL): 20/62
Perception (PER): 15/42
Intelligence (INT): 57/93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG): 0/3
- Gained one point from awakening the System early.
- Gained one point from merging with the System.
- Gained one point from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration.
Semblance (UNLOCKED): Your semblance allows you to instantly refill your Aura to the maximum once a day. Side effects include reducing your Aura recovery. Forcibly refilling your Aura reserves within the cooldown period provides diminishing returns and disables Aura recovery. It might have more abilities that are waiting to be discovered.
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Search (C-Rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused II: Aura recovery disabled. Body overloaded. All Stats are reduced. Semblance Disabled.
Severely Weakened: All Stats are reduced.
Poisoned: Deathstalker venom. Antivenom applied. VIT and INT reduced. High risk of death If not treated within three days.
"Is that old horse at it again?"
Two figures sat by a campfire at the base of the Vale Mountains. The camp was off the road, yet the figures could see anyone coming from either direction. They stared as the horse in question tried to remove its leash from where it was tied to a log, stamping its hooves on the ground while snorting irritatedly. There were two other horses tied nearby, and they looked at the first horse in apparent bemusement.
"Seems like it. It's been running off the road every once in a while since we found it earlier today." The smaller and younger figure said in a monotone voice. Her eyes stared at the stubborn horse, "Strangely, it doesn't go too far and always heads near the mountains and looks back at us expectantly."
The older figure untied her cerise hair from its messy bun, letting it fall to her waist. She then turned her head as she took a better look at the horse, "Do you think he wants us to follow him? It's not every day we see an animal with an unlocked Aura. Whoever unlocked it must have had too much Aura than they knew what to do with, or they collapsed upon doing it, and now the horse ran off." She chuckled good-naturedly at the thought.
"That's not nice, Sara. It's more likely, there could have been a Grimm attack. The horse was saddled, its bags were full of supplies, but a sharp object cut its leash. Probably a knife or a sword. For all we know, the horse could be desperately searching for its master."
The now-named Sara sighed sadly at the thought, her amber eyes turning toward the night sky in contemplation. "I know what you mean, Fie. Animals that have their Aura unlocked instinctively bind themselves to the one who unlocked it for them. Nevertheless, don't think I know what you're thinking. We are on an urgent mission. If you let loose that horse in the hopes of an adventure…"
"I won't," Fie replied with a narrowing of her lime green eyes, "I just don't like the idea of someone out there in need of help. Not when we could possibly do something about it."
Sara smiled at her protégé, "Atta girl. So, what do you–"
A sudden explosion, followed by a pained screech, echoed out close by. Sara and Fie were instantly up with their weapons at the ready, staring above them and a bit beyond. They could see the after-effects of golden light blasting what appeared to be a giant Nevermore out of the sky. The broken moon seemed to shine brighter for a second as the clearly Aura-based attack matched colors to the moon for an instant before dissipating. The entire mountainside started dropping rocks and debris everywhere.
The horse used that distraction to unconsciously channel his Aura and with a mighty tug, released himself from the log before he galloped towards the site of the explosion.
Sara and Fie immediately chased after it, "Fie, what do you see?"
Fie's eyes glowed in the dark, her irises sharper than a human's. Almost like a cat's. "I saw a figure drop from that hole following the Nevermore. The Grimm lost one of its wings and crashed into the forest below. I think we found whoever unlocked that horse's Aura."
They both sprinted faster than any human could, nearly overtaking the horse, who only outpaced them thanks to his newly unlocked Aura. They could hear the thrashing sound of the large Grimm along with its pained screeches. Eventually, they reached the point of impact to find a tall young man with long messy blonde hair and wild blue eyes leaning heavily on a sword that was buried in the Nevermore's head.
The Grimm slowly disintegrated, and the man collapsed face-down on the ground, dragging the sword with him. The horse rushed towards him and bopped his head with its own as it snorted. Sara and Fie quickly approached, Sara retrieving the sword, her eyes widening at its unexpected weight, while Fie checked the man's wounds.
The man looked like a complete train wreck, with his torn clothes, burned left arm, spasming muscles, uncontrollable shaking, multiple lacerations, unhealed scars, and bruises throughout his body. And that's just the obvious injuries. The girl could also smell the familiar scent of venom reeking out of him. He appeared to be trying to say something, so she moved her head closer to his face as her eyes met his.
"...n-need a better landing strategy." Before he passed out.
I took a lot of liberty with Jaune's Semblance. It is certainly OP already in the show, but I felt like the writers were too on the nose about him being a support character and never allowing him a moment to truly shine. Here it will be a little different as Jaune discovers his Semblance in a life and death situation and has to channel it inwards instead of outwards. It will emphasize more on personal strength before he discovers its other canon uses.
If one thinks about gamer abilities, then Inventory and a mini-map are the absolute essentials. Notice that they are quite limited.
Arthur the horse makes a comeback! Guess he wasn't a scaredy horse after all.
Our first two OCs (not really, I just ripped them off from a JRPG). Shout out to anyone who recognizes what game they are from.
The system had been very kind to Jaune so far with its abilities. Almost as if someone is watching over him. Well, this is technically the tutorial for our budding huntsman, after all. I wouldn't want to make his life too difficult.
Please don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts and comments.
Chapter 4 (Memories of a Dream)
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx. Do check out his awesome works on ASOIAF and HP.
Enjoy!
One year ago,
Jaune lay naked, face down, in complete agony. Every muscle and tendon felt worn. Every bone felt like it was fragile glass. His breathing came hurriedly, and it took all his effort to remain focused on the task set on him.
Crack
"OW! Fuck me, that hurts."
"You wish I'd fuck you, boya," a grouchy yet melodic female voice said above him as the doctor continued her work.
"Keep dreaming, woman. Who would want to touch a vixen like—."
CRACK
Jaune did not shriek like a little girl at his doctor's less-than-tender touch. Any who said otherwise would be a lying little liar.
"You wanna try that tone again with me, boya? You have no idea what I can do to you!"
Jaune threw a scathing glare at the female fox faunus that worked as his gramps' personal physician… among other odd jobs that Jaune wasn't privy to.
"What else could you threaten me with? You are literally breaking every bone in my body so I can dump all my Aura into my marrow! Do you have any idea how annoying it is to make sure my Aura doesn't automatically heal me while enduring the pain of having my bones broken, muscles strained, and tendons torn?"
The doctor's scowl softened a little, "Point."
POP
"SON OF A BITCH!! Was that my kneecap? Did you just dislocate my kneecap? That was completely unnecessary!"
"Oh, don't be a baby. We've been doing this routine for the past six months, and we wouldn't have needed to do this at all if you had unlocked your Aura as a kid." Jaune grunted in annoyance and pain as she dislocated his other kneecap, "I know, I know, kid. It's not your fault. It's all your mommy's fault, eh? Quite the mother hen she is, she would rather keep her chicks under her wing than let them learn how to fly."
"Don't talk shit about my mother."
"I'm not, boya. I know Lianne well enough to cuss to her face, and we would both laugh it off over a drink. I am honestly surprised you still show up here for this procedure. Didn't you create an Aura technique to half the amount of sleep time you require? I would think by now, you would create something similar for this treatment. You still haven't taught me it yet." She added the last line with a sultry tone… before she broke his femur.
"It's not that simple." Jaune grunted through his clenched teeth. The doctor had extremely refined Aura control that allowed her to create precise shockwaves from her hands that broke his bones in the cleanest and least painful way possible, as long as he consciously held his Aura back. Still hurts like a bitch.
"I was just tinkering around with channeling Aura to my brain before sleep trying to make lucid dreams according to some book, and it just clicked. I would have to discover a way to reliably seep Aura deep into my bones and to my marrow. I could probably do it with time, but Aura is so freaking weird on where it originates. Like, it uses the blood vessels, and what was it you called? Meridians? Anyway, it uses those pathways to cycle itself in the body, but where does it originate? Is it the heart? Some completely ethereal organ that is not in the physical plane? It's too complicated."
"It speaks volumes about how arrogant you are that you speak of dumping Aura into your brain like it was a simple matter. Don't blame me if you one day fry something important up there. Regardless, the only reason this treatment works is due to the shock value of drowning your every cell with Aura. If your Aura reserves were low, it would never work. Okay, I'm done here. You can let go of your Aura now."
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Jaune gave an extremely satisfying groan as his body shined a brilliant gold. He could feel his Aura healing all the minute fractures and clean breaks of his bones. All his tendons and muscles rapidly healed as well. This was all necessary so that his Aura would seep into his marrow and all his muscles. He could cycle the Aura through his body, but he couldn't force his organs to consume it. The more his body absorbed Aura, the stronger and more durable it would be in general and especially if his Aura ever broke. This process was supposed to be a slow and natural one taken over years or even decades, but Jaune had wasted his opportunity, and now drastic measures were needed.
A few minutes later and Jaune felt well enough to move… except for his still dislocated kneecaps. He looked imploringly at the doctor, who huffed and reset them in place. Jaune took a sharp breath in pain as he noted that Aura wasn't perfect after all.
"I still don't understand why you insist on continuing this routine. You got the best gains from this treatment three months ago. I'm sure everything since then only gave diminishing returns and would eventually start to harm you instead of strengthening you."
Jaune eased his breathing as his Aura continued its work healing him. "It's as you said. I should be capable of replicating the treatment somehow. I'm hoping in time, I will be able to figure out a way to do this painlessly for myself or others who awaken their Aura late. Not to mention that your magical touch does soothe my after-training aches."
Jaune shot the doctor a cheeky grin as he swung from the table and put on his clothes as he turned to her, "Thanks for all the help as always, Kilika. And… I'm sorry for being rude earlier. I know I'm taking a lot of your time every night for this, and I lose control of myself sometimes." Jaune couldn't help but feel shy as Kilika was one of the few females he had interacted with closely who wasn't a family member. It didn't help that she was quite the beauty with her pale skin, knee-length straight black hair, aquamarine eyes, and voluptuous body that was hidden behind that Nipponese dress she favored. What was it called? Yutaka or something?
The now-named Kilika, a fox faunus with the rare condition of having two animal traits in her tail and ears rather than the standard one, smiled beatifically at the young man acting all meek after two hours of cussing.
"Don't worry about it, boya," she replied with her drawling accent from the islands of Nippon in the far east of Mistral as she took a seat and pulled out an intricate-looking smoking pipe. "At least now you have half of an idea of what women feel when they're giving birth. Hopefully, you would think twice before knocking a gal up, eh?"
Jaune chuckled awkwardly at that, "Anyway, thanks again, Kilika. I gotta go meet gramps now. Catch you later. And you owe me for my knees, I know that was completely unnecessary, you sadist!"
Kilika smirked at the young Arc fondly as he practically ran away from her office. She turned to the window from her seat and stared at the, for once, full moon over the night sky. She had a good view of the sprawling port city of Massalia from her third-floor office of the guild building situated over the hill. The largest city of Vytal, rivaled only by the predominantly Atlas-controlled city of Sidonia in the north, Massalia is also it's industrial heart, built in a natural harbor with deep waters. Protecting it is the largest naval base in the world, constructed and overseen by the Tyrant decades ago. The city had existed since the Hellenes of Northern Mistral colonized it thousands of years ago. Three million souls resided here, last she checked. With the Tyrant calling the city home, none had dared to question his authority or threaten the safety of the city or its people, aside from the occasional pirate king from the narrow sea. And now that Tyrant is grooming an heir.
She lit her pipe and took a deep drag, "This should certainly be interesting. The question is, will that boy decide to shackle himself to this island? Or will fate allow him to fly from this new nest he found?"
.
.
.
Jaune made his way to his grandfather's office for their nightly talk. Maximilian was a very busy man and usually instructed him for an hour every morning before he assigned training tasks for Jaune to do for the rest of the day. He trusted Jaune's desire to train enough to leave him unattended while he carried on with his duties. Occasionally, he would assign an instructor to Jaune, but that was sporadic as Max tried his best to free up his schedule to either personally train Jaune or take him on patrol. It was only late in the evening such as now, that they could both sit and talk over their day. Max had made it an important ritual to get close to his grandson as well as to be kept up to date regarding his training.
As usual, despite the late hour, tea and biscuits were served during these talks. Jaune knew that it was a habit Max picked up from Jaune's grandmother. The office was cozy, with a carpet made from the pelt of the (in)famous Vytal bear covering the wooden flooring. A massive desk that had neat piles of documents, a computer, and several scroll terminals occupied half of the wall from the door's right. Next to the door was a large bookcase that had some of Max's personal effects. Jaune could see various family photos as well as certificates and many honors that his grandfather gained in his long life. There was a glass door leading to a balcony across from Jaune and to the desk's right, where he could see the full moon in the distance. A fireplace was situated across the desk next to a fridge and counter. It would be necessary for the chilly weather that took over Vytal for a good half of the year.
The owner of the office himself was sitting on one of two comfortable guest chairs in front of the desk with the snack tray on a tea table. Maximilian was a giant of a man, easily two meters tall. He looked almost comedic sitting on the smallish chair, but he sat with a grace that would belay his immense strength.
Usually, every night they would discuss how Jaune's day had been. If he had any questions about his training. If Jaune was keeping up with his studies, which he sort of neglected in favor of physical conditioning and combat training. Tonight though, Jaune felt that there was something more that his grandfather wanted to discuss aside from his health and training. After they finished their snack and small talk, Maximilian brought up what had been on his mind for months now.
"So, you still insist on becoming a Huntsman? Is being an adventurer not enough? I can certainly write you a letter of recommendation for Vale's Officer Academy if you'd like to join the military."
Jaune took his time to form his reply. Vytal was a strange place politically. It was semi-autonomous yet technically under the umbrella of Vale, except for Sidonia in the north, which was controlled by Atlas the same way they controlled other city-states like Argus in Mistral. For all intents and purposes, Jaune and the Arcs, in general, were Vale citizens. Yet they had close ties with Atlas due to his father's family.
Regardless, He had his own reasons for being a Huntsman. He knew his grandfather would rather he stayed here in Massalia and be groomed for the position of Guild Master. Not to mention the other positions that he knew Max held but was keeping secret from him. Probably for his own safety, but regardless, Jaune wasn't interested. Massalia, despite being a large city, was too small for him, too… mediocre. Hell, Vytal was too small for him and his ambitions. And Jaune had no wish to be mediocre.
"Yes. Huntsmen academies provide training that is unequal anywhere else on Remnant. During my time there, I would be able to build connections from all over the world. After graduation, they get plenty of privileges and are basically guaranteed the best work contracts. Especially Beacon alumni."
"… And yet, none of that actually interests you. Am I right?"
Jaune chuckled, "I wasn't lying about the excellent training they provide and the connections I can make. But no, I'm not honestly overly concerned with work or wealth after graduation. Don't get me wrong, having money is nice, but at the end of the day, money is simply a means to an end to gain more power. I care more about the freedom it will provide me to help all who are in need. The ability to call on the resources of my Academy in order to help frontier towns prosper. Or to use those connections to form strike teams to clear locations that were overrun by Grimm and resettle them. To claim the wild open lands of Sanus and beyond for the good of humanity!" Jaune had stood up as he got more impassioned about his goals and ended his speech with a fist in the air and a wild grin on his face.
Maximilian stared at Jaune for a whole minute in silence, and Jaune started to feel awkward standing like a loon. Suddenly, Max smirked a little, "Are you certain you do not have any personal reasons, Jaune?"
Jaune, who had calmed down and resumed his seat, started fidgeting a little in embarrassment, "…I would also love to experience school life. Make friends, go have fun in the cities, do stupid shit… have a girlfriend or two."
Max sent his grandson a warm smile at that, happy to see a bit of the child who hid behind talks of duty and heroism. "There's nothing wrong at all in experiencing the good things in life, Jaune. Especially in your teenage years. Regardless, we are digressing. What of a potential career as an adventurer? I have an adventurer in mind who would be perfect as your mentor. She usually operates along the Narrow Sea, but I can ask her if she is willing to take an apprentice if you wish."
"I appreciate the offer grandpa, but I don't believe that would be needed. Adventurers do great work, but they are much more limited to towns and smaller cities. Not to mention, they have been losing a lot of influence within the kingdoms in the past few decades. Being an adventurer alone won't be enough for my ambition."
"And what is your ambition, Jaune? You always harped on about becoming a Huntsman, no matter what. Everyone just thought you wanted to live up to the Arc legacy, but that doesn't seem to be the full story."
Jaune had a distant look in his eyes, "The Arc legacy is very important to me. As you said, you and I are the last male Arcs alive right now, at least by name. None of my sisters are combat trained, even if the twins managed to convince Dad to unlock their Aura to better help him in his work. My ambition is simple, yet so very complicated. I wish to eradicate the Grimm, or at least limit their presence as much as possible, and claim the entirety of Remnant for mankind. To achieve this, I will need a lot of power. Both personal and positional power. For that, a career as a Huntsman is my best hope."
Maximilian stayed quiet for a moment as he gazed at his grandson. Jaune looked at his grandfather eagerly, waiting for him to hopefully pledge his full support.
"That is foolish. The Grimm cannot be eradicated. I blame your father and late uncle for such naive idealism."
Jaune felt his heart miss a beat. He expected his grandfather to argue or ask for more details, details that he would not be able to provide at the moment, sadly, but total rejection? He couldn't help but feel dejected at it. He wondered how he even knew it was his father who inspired him to seek this ambition.
"… However," Jaune perked up, "I admire your desire to help those in need. The Grimm may never be totally annihilated for reasons that you are not ready to learn, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't beat the utter shit out of them on sight. Am I wrong, grandson of mine?"
Jaune nodded enthusiastically, "So, will you help me become a Huntsman? I'm sure if you write me a letter of recommendation to any of the Academies, it would make things much easier for me."
Max rubbed his beard in thought, "I can certainly write a letter to that boy Theo in Vacuo. He is both Shade's Headmaster as well as the Guild Master of the adventurer guild there. The little tyke could teach you a thing or two about pugilism and Dust use. You have gotten brilliant with the blade, but you can't throw a punch to save your life boy. I have no doubt he would welcome you with open arms and probably make you team leader by virtue of your name alone."
Jaune was happy at that, but Shade? Not really his first choice. Too far. He also doubted he would like the weather there.
Max continued on, "I could also write to young Jimmy in Atlas. Either he will teach you proper discipline and military tactics, or he will dress you up in one of those fancy new mechs they have. Didn't they make one that runs on Aura? You could be the perfect battery for it, haha. Then again," Max looked directly at Jaune in the eyes and spoke in a conspirational tone, "I hear tells that a couple of years ago, Jimmy managed to poach the Schnee heiress right from under that Gelé punk's nose. She's older than you, but maybe you could win her heart over, eh? Bwhahaha"
Jaune stared at his laughing grandfather. It was rare for grandfather to laugh so easily, lately. Jaune thought he might have met a Schnee in their resort back in Arcade a few years ago, but that was a sad little boy with his troubled mother… Moreover, tyke? Young? He's pretty sure both men were at least in their thirties, if not forties, senile old fart. But wait. What about…
"What about Haven? It has the highest turnout for students. Or Beacon? It's the oldest and most prestigious academy of them all."
At that, Max's face adopted a grim look, his laughter completely forgotten. His eyes seemed to turn to ice, and his face was as if made from stone. When he spoke in his deep and baritone voice, Jaune couldn't help but gulp at the sheer intensity of the words coming out of his mouth.
"Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near Haven, let alone enroll there. Is that understood, Jaune?"
"O-of course, grandfather," the sudden shift in attitude regarding Haven freaked him out, but he knew and trusted Max enough to know he must have a good reason for his decision. Grandpa Max rarely stated his decisions easily, still… "May I ask why?"
His grandfather stared at a certain family picture on the shelf for a while. The picture had his uncle Adrian with his parents. He stood next to the perpetually youthful Maximilian and behind a seated elderly yet elegant lady with pure white hair, ice-blue eyes, and a haughty smile that he knew betrayed her kind and playful nature. Adrian's platinum blonde hair and ice blue eyes matched his mother, yet the face and build were all Max.
Jaune wondered why the sudden interest in his late uncle, but he held his tongue for now. His grandfather would only speak when he was ready. And soon enough, "You are not ready to know. I will ask you to trust me on this, Jaune. Haven, and Mistral for that matter, are not safe for Huntsmen, especially Arcs. I even warned your mother to avoid vacationing in Shion this summer. I promise to tell you when I believe the time is right. Until then, trust me on this Jaune."
Jaune wasn't exactly happy, but he believed in his grandfather and that he had the best in mind for the Arcs in general and for him in particular. "Okay then, gramps. So, what about Beacon? Anything wrong with Ozpin? It's supposed to be the best school of them all, after all."
Maximilian stood up from his seat and walked towards a decanter on the counter. He poured two glasses of wine, then turned to his grandson and placed one in front of him, "Don't tell your mother," he winked as he leisurely sipped on his drink. "I cannot help you with getting into Beacon. My problems with Ozpin are personal and ideological. You need not worry about them right now. I might have issues with him as a leader, but I can assure you that he is a good man and an excellent teacher. He comes with plenty of heavy baggage, and might coddle you to the point of patronizing, so you will have to be patient with him. You would do well under his tutelage as well as his exceptional staff, but do not expect my aid getting you into Beacon. I can still probably work something out for you if you insist, but Ozpin at heart, firmly believes in meritocracy. If you want to impress him, you would be better off making it into Beacon with your own strength."
Max continued on as he nursed his drink, "So what will it be? Shade or Atlas? Or will you forge your own path into Beacon?"
Jaune stared at his grandfather for a moment before he grabbed the small glass of wine and chugged its contents in one go. Naturally, he choked like the absolute chump that he was. The drink burned him heavily, with his eyes tearing up at the unexpectedly spicy wine. He expected something sweet. Jaune kept it all in and stood straight as he stared at his grandfather and role model and–
"On second thought, don't bother answering. You have a year for any of them. You turn seventeen in January, and Haven starts their semester in spring, but you aren't going there. Take your time and think about your options, Jaune. Oh, and you will still need to get your mother's permission. I am technically retired, and she is the current head of the Arc family. While you are now the heir, good luck using that angle with Lianne, heh. I only promised to train and turn you into a formidable force; everything else is on you."
Jaune groaned in disappointment, "It's unfair, gramps. When the twins made a tantrum about you unlocking my Aura, she acquiesced to let Dad unlock theirs easily enough, but me? I sometimes feel she would rather I live under her roof for the rest of my life as she spoils me rotten. I'm pretty sure before the year is out, all of my sisters will have their Aura unlocked as she conveniently forgets all that talk about safety or whatever."
Max leisurely sipped his wine as he stared in schadenfreude at his grandson, "if it makes you feel better, my own mother was the same with my siblings. Thankfully, my father had the final word on that. Your Dad, for all his intellect, is such a pushover when it comes to my Lianne. Bwahahaha"
Suddenly, the room turned foggy as a feeling of vertigo overtook Jaune…
Jaune opened his eyes to find himself back in his mindscape. He was sitting in the same armchair as last time and on the same veranda overlooking the eerily empty town of Arcade. It did not take a genius to realize that was another dream/memory he had experienced. He's starting to see a pattern on those, but he had more important things to think about. Such as that dull golden ball of light floating in front of him. It felt familiar, yet at the same time, it felt weak and exhausted.
Jaune looked at the ball of light, thinking it was Krystal, before disregarding it. He had an idea of what the light was but for now, 'Hello to you too, Krystal. I take it I'm still alive?'
'Hmm… It's a bit fuzzy, but I remember following a tunnel from the cave after Searching for Arthur. I don't recall how long I walked, only that it was upward. The next thing I remember was finding a cave opening to a flat mountain top outside. I remember seeing the Moon and feeling so elated and almost gaining a second wind… only for some asshole Nevermore to ruin the moment for me.'
'True. I was already on the mountain top, and did not think I could run, let alone fight the damn bird. Still, I had enough Aura in me for one final Crescent Wave. One final Fuck You so to speak. I think something happened then. My Aura turned white as it clashed with that Nevermore. Then again, that bird also attacked me at the same time, and I had to cling to its head or something. Last thing I remember was crashing with it to the ground and two orbs of green staring at me.'
'… Well, that was unexpected. That Nevermore was that old? Secret rewards?'
'Seems arbitrary. Tell me truthfully, Krystal. How much has the Creator helped me in that place? You made it sound like everything that occurred there was due to my own abilities, yet I find that harder to believe by the minute. The abilities that I got? They were tailor-made for my situation. You expect me to believe it was just luck? Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful. I just want to know how much the System and the Creator are in control of my fate.'
Jaune took his time as he processed that. That was a completely roundabout way of Krystal telling him that, yes, the Creator interfered slightly, but it was simply what was expected in the first place. At least he thought so, 'Then, should I expect more interferences? Or that's it with the freebies? Not that they were free, if you ask me, as I still spent three magic points on those abilities. I would also like to think that the whole fight was all me, yet I'm surprised the system attributed the kills that Drake made as mine. Thank you for the advice and encouragement, though, Krystal. Especially near the end.'
'Oh, I am sure I will. So is there a more stable method of gaining Magic?'
Jaune was speechless. He couldn't really bring himself to focus on the award points. Instead, he stared at the ages of the Grimm listed. 'T-this isn't possible! There are actual Grimm that old? How? How are we humans even surviving if so?! They could have wiped out humanity long ago!'
'That still doesn't explain how humanity yet survives!'
Jaune knew that he was panicking and letting his fears control him, but he couldn't help it. Then again, Krystal was right. So what if the Grimm threat never ends? He will just keep killing them over and over and over. Jaune was starting to believe that those memories were telling him something, as his grandfather said the same thing about how the Grimm cannot be eradicated for good.
Jaune as a human was immortal through his descendants. He will simply raise his sons and daughters, and their children and children's children, to kill the Grimm where they appear. No matter how long it took, whether it was thousands or even a million years, Jaune needed to believe that at some point in time, the Grimm will finally be eradicated.
'Yes, actually. So you showed me the reward for killing Grimm based on age. Is there one based on type? I'm sure killing an Alpha is more difficult than a regular Beowulf. Or a Goliath, even a young one, can cause a lot more devastation than an ancient Ursa Major.'
'Fair enough. Now to the elephant of the room.' Jaune turned towards the light ball that was still dull and lethargic, 'Is this my Semblance?'
Jaune thought about his Semblance. He was not sure if Semblances were supposed to be semi-sentient life forms, but he could appreciate how it had helped him greatly in his time of need. It deserves to have a name or two, though; calling it Semblance all the time is rude. He had just the name in mind.
'Please and thank you.' Jaune internally changed the status page to remove some of the extra and unnecessary information as well as refine it to be easier to read.
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 0/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 0/hr) (01:49)
Aura Control: 22%
Strength (STR): 35/81
Vitality (VIT): 39/98
Dexterity (DEX): 31/85
Agility (AGL): 26/62
Perception (PER): 42/52
Intelligence (INT): 93/93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG) [Recharges every 45 days]: 5/8 (42 days to regain one MP)
*Gained one point from awakening the System early.
*Gained one point from merging with the System.
*Gained one point from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
*Gained five points from challenges.
Perks (Stacks):
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration by a flat 100/hr.
*CRITICAL BOOST: Provides a 600% stat increase that can be either distributed evenly or focused on one or more stats. Costs 10 AP/hr for every 1% stat boost. Can only be activated in increments of twenty minutes. Increasing stats to 100 does not have adverse health effects. Increasing stats beyond 50% of your current maximum may cause adverse health effects. Incremental increases beyond that will cause adverse health effects.
Special Abilities
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Search (C-Rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused II: Aura recovery disabled (Time remaining: 1 hour, 49 minutes, 50 seconds). Body overloaded, all Stats are reduced.
Weakened: Body Stats are reduced.
'Huh, I guess someone cured me of the venom. And my max PER increased, I wonder why?'
'I see. Pun not intended. At least INT has fully recovered. A shame for Overdrive's limitations, It would have been very convenient if I could boost myself for a few seconds for an attack to save on Aura. Maybe with training, I will have more control over it? Nevertheless, I am very satisfied with my Semblance.' At that, Jaune stared at the light ball floating next to him in fondness. "You really tuckered yourself out, haven't you, boy?" Naturally, his semblance didn't answer.
'So I've already been asleep for nearly three days? Any idea where I am?'
'One last question. Aura Control? I didn't know you could quantify that. How does that work exactly?'
Jaune sighed as he remembered the moment when he was surrounded. 'Yeah. I seemed to overcharge it when I did not need to. My AC was never the best anyway, but it was acceptable for the short time I had Aura. At least according to gramps. I guess it will be back to meditation and control exercises.'
Jaune thought about his abilities. Observe seemed to have a strange range of costs when he used it on the Grimm and Crocea Mors. He can't wait to try it on humans next. He focused on Krystal again, 'If there's nothing else, I guess I'll wake up then. Let me know if something comes up.' Jaune felt eager to awaken and discover more about his situation. He had to thank his rescuers at least.
If you hadn't noticed, I detest RT's lackluster world-building. I'm trying to make sense of the logistics of having modern/futuristic megacities that most of humanity live in, yet no actual explanation of how all the resources and materials are distributed. IRL, globalization allows resources from all over the world to be transferred easily. In Remnant, it's a lot more vague. Thus me expanding on the world, more will be shown next chapter.
Vale, and to an extent Vacuo, use the Imperial measurement system. Atlas and Mistral use metric. Vytal is inspired by both France and Greece, at least in my headcanon, and despite technically being under the authority of Vale, they use the metric system as well due to their proximity and dealings with Atlas.
Northern Mistral shall be known as the Hellenes, based on how the Greeks call their lands Hellas. This will be relevant when Pyrrha is introduced. I have no idea why RT decided it was a good idea to have an entire continent the size of Asia be named after one country yet obviously have different cultures originate from there. Why not make it like Vale and Vacuo? One giant landmass but two different kingdoms. The same deal with Nippon, it's how the Japanese call their country. The islands in question are the four islands to the east of Mistral that you can see in the map. The map is unreliable, however, as Remnant does not have satellites to properly map their planet so there might be more islands than at first glance…
The moon rotates around itself here. So it would occasionally show a full moon with its shattered part becoming the dark side of the moon. Disregard any potential gravitational effects this may cause as I couldn't be bothered with coming up with any. This is just flavor, though it might come in handy later on.
The Grimm. I added a bit more background for them. I know that they appear out of Grimm Pools and were created by the God of Darkness, but that's too limited for my taste. Grimm Pools and the Portals are the same things btw. Naturally, ignore anything that comes out of Volume 9. This is already AU.
I would like to put a disclaimer that breaking your bones and tendons and then healing them again DOES NOT MAKE THEM STRONGER IRL!!! This is just Aura and Shōnen BS that I arbitrarily made up. Fracturing them does strengthen them, that's what Muay Thai practitioners do with their shins with micro-fracturing, but again, this is ANIME LOGIC at work here. DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME, OR ANYWHERE ELSE PERIOD!!! Can't believe I have to warn of that.
On a side note, Jaune's dreams and memories have a purpose. All I will say is that they are inspired by Joan of Arc, who was said to have revelations and warnings delivered to her in her dreams. This is my take on that with Jaune.
Enjoy!
One year ago,
Jaune lay naked, face down, in complete agony. Every muscle and tendon felt worn. Every bone felt like it was fragile glass. His breathing came hurriedly, and it took all his effort to remain focused on the task set on him.
Crack
"OW! Fuck me, that hurts."
"You wish I'd fuck you, boya," a grouchy yet melodic female voice said above him as the doctor continued her work.
"Keep dreaming, woman. Who would want to touch a vixen like—."
CRACK
Jaune did not shriek like a little girl at his doctor's less-than-tender touch. Any who said otherwise would be a lying little liar.
"You wanna try that tone again with me, boya? You have no idea what I can do to you!"
Jaune threw a scathing glare at the female fox faunus that worked as his gramps' personal physician… among other odd jobs that Jaune wasn't privy to.
"What else could you threaten me with? You are literally breaking every bone in my body so I can dump all my Aura into my marrow! Do you have any idea how annoying it is to make sure my Aura doesn't automatically heal me while enduring the pain of having my bones broken, muscles strained, and tendons torn?"
The doctor's scowl softened a little, "Point."
POP
"SON OF A BITCH!! Was that my kneecap? Did you just dislocate my kneecap? That was completely unnecessary!"
"Oh, don't be a baby. We've been doing this routine for the past six months, and we wouldn't have needed to do this at all if you had unlocked your Aura as a kid." Jaune grunted in annoyance and pain as she dislocated his other kneecap, "I know, I know, kid. It's not your fault. It's all your mommy's fault, eh? Quite the mother hen she is, she would rather keep her chicks under her wing than let them learn how to fly."
"Don't talk shit about my mother."
"I'm not, boya. I know Lianne well enough to cuss to her face, and we would both laugh it off over a drink. I am honestly surprised you still show up here for this procedure. Didn't you create an Aura technique to half the amount of sleep time you require? I would think by now, you would create something similar for this treatment. You still haven't taught me it yet." She added the last line with a sultry tone… before she broke his femur.
"It's not that simple." Jaune grunted through his clenched teeth. The doctor had extremely refined Aura control that allowed her to create precise shockwaves from her hands that broke his bones in the cleanest and least painful way possible, as long as he consciously held his Aura back. Still hurts like a bitch.
"I was just tinkering around with channeling Aura to my brain before sleep trying to make lucid dreams according to some book, and it just clicked. I would have to discover a way to reliably seep Aura deep into my bones and to my marrow. I could probably do it with time, but Aura is so freaking weird on where it originates. Like, it uses the blood vessels, and what was it you called? Meridians? Anyway, it uses those pathways to cycle itself in the body, but where does it originate? Is it the heart? Some completely ethereal organ that is not in the physical plane? It's too complicated."
"It speaks volumes about how arrogant you are that you speak of dumping Aura into your brain like it was a simple matter. Don't blame me if you one day fry something important up there. Regardless, the only reason this treatment works is due to the shock value of drowning your every cell with Aura. If your Aura reserves were low, it would never work. Okay, I'm done here. You can let go of your Aura now."
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Jaune gave an extremely satisfying groan as his body shined a brilliant gold. He could feel his Aura healing all the minute fractures and clean breaks of his bones. All his tendons and muscles rapidly healed as well. This was all necessary so that his Aura would seep into his marrow and all his muscles. He could cycle the Aura through his body, but he couldn't force his organs to consume it. The more his body absorbed Aura, the stronger and more durable it would be in general and especially if his Aura ever broke. This process was supposed to be a slow and natural one taken over years or even decades, but Jaune had wasted his opportunity, and now drastic measures were needed.
A few minutes later and Jaune felt well enough to move… except for his still dislocated kneecaps. He looked imploringly at the doctor, who huffed and reset them in place. Jaune took a sharp breath in pain as he noted that Aura wasn't perfect after all.
"I still don't understand why you insist on continuing this routine. You got the best gains from this treatment three months ago. I'm sure everything since then only gave diminishing returns and would eventually start to harm you instead of strengthening you."
Jaune eased his breathing as his Aura continued its work healing him. "It's as you said. I should be capable of replicating the treatment somehow. I'm hoping in time, I will be able to figure out a way to do this painlessly for myself or others who awaken their Aura late. Not to mention that your magical touch does soothe my after-training aches."
Jaune shot the doctor a cheeky grin as he swung from the table and put on his clothes as he turned to her, "Thanks for all the help as always, Kilika. And… I'm sorry for being rude earlier. I know I'm taking a lot of your time every night for this, and I lose control of myself sometimes." Jaune couldn't help but feel shy as Kilika was one of the few females he had interacted with closely who wasn't a family member. It didn't help that she was quite the beauty with her pale skin, knee-length straight black hair, aquamarine eyes, and voluptuous body that was hidden behind that Nipponese dress she favored. What was it called? Yutaka or something?
The now-named Kilika, a fox faunus with the rare condition of having two animal traits in her tail and ears rather than the standard one, smiled beatifically at the young man acting all meek after two hours of cussing.
"Don't worry about it, boya," she replied with her drawling accent from the islands of Nippon in the far east of Mistral as she took a seat and pulled out an intricate-looking smoking pipe. "At least now you have half of an idea of what women feel when they're giving birth. Hopefully, you would think twice before knocking a gal up, eh?"
Jaune chuckled awkwardly at that, "Anyway, thanks again, Kilika. I gotta go meet gramps now. Catch you later. And you owe me for my knees, I know that was completely unnecessary, you sadist!"
Kilika smirked at the young Arc fondly as he practically ran away from her office. She turned to the window from her seat and stared at the, for once, full moon over the night sky. She had a good view of the sprawling port city of Massalia from her third-floor office of the guild building situated over the hill. The largest city of Vytal, rivaled only by the predominantly Atlas-controlled city of Sidonia in the north, Massalia is also it's industrial heart, built in a natural harbor with deep waters. Protecting it is the largest naval base in the world, constructed and overseen by the Tyrant decades ago. The city had existed since the Hellenes of Northern Mistral colonized it thousands of years ago. Three million souls resided here, last she checked. With the Tyrant calling the city home, none had dared to question his authority or threaten the safety of the city or its people, aside from the occasional pirate king from the narrow sea. And now that Tyrant is grooming an heir.
She lit her pipe and took a deep drag, "This should certainly be interesting. The question is, will that boy decide to shackle himself to this island? Or will fate allow him to fly from this new nest he found?"
.
.
.
Jaune made his way to his grandfather's office for their nightly talk. Maximilian was a very busy man and usually instructed him for an hour every morning before he assigned training tasks for Jaune to do for the rest of the day. He trusted Jaune's desire to train enough to leave him unattended while he carried on with his duties. Occasionally, he would assign an instructor to Jaune, but that was sporadic as Max tried his best to free up his schedule to either personally train Jaune or take him on patrol. It was only late in the evening such as now, that they could both sit and talk over their day. Max had made it an important ritual to get close to his grandson as well as to be kept up to date regarding his training.
As usual, despite the late hour, tea and biscuits were served during these talks. Jaune knew that it was a habit Max picked up from Jaune's grandmother. The office was cozy, with a carpet made from the pelt of the (in)famous Vytal bear covering the wooden flooring. A massive desk that had neat piles of documents, a computer, and several scroll terminals occupied half of the wall from the door's right. Next to the door was a large bookcase that had some of Max's personal effects. Jaune could see various family photos as well as certificates and many honors that his grandfather gained in his long life. There was a glass door leading to a balcony across from Jaune and to the desk's right, where he could see the full moon in the distance. A fireplace was situated across the desk next to a fridge and counter. It would be necessary for the chilly weather that took over Vytal for a good half of the year.
The owner of the office himself was sitting on one of two comfortable guest chairs in front of the desk with the snack tray on a tea table. Maximilian was a giant of a man, easily two meters tall. He looked almost comedic sitting on the smallish chair, but he sat with a grace that would belay his immense strength.
Usually, every night they would discuss how Jaune's day had been. If he had any questions about his training. If Jaune was keeping up with his studies, which he sort of neglected in favor of physical conditioning and combat training. Tonight though, Jaune felt that there was something more that his grandfather wanted to discuss aside from his health and training. After they finished their snack and small talk, Maximilian brought up what had been on his mind for months now.
"So, you still insist on becoming a Huntsman? Is being an adventurer not enough? I can certainly write you a letter of recommendation for Vale's Officer Academy if you'd like to join the military."
Jaune took his time to form his reply. Vytal was a strange place politically. It was semi-autonomous yet technically under the umbrella of Vale, except for Sidonia in the north, which was controlled by Atlas the same way they controlled other city-states like Argus in Mistral. For all intents and purposes, Jaune and the Arcs, in general, were Vale citizens. Yet they had close ties with Atlas due to his father's family.
Regardless, He had his own reasons for being a Huntsman. He knew his grandfather would rather he stayed here in Massalia and be groomed for the position of Guild Master. Not to mention the other positions that he knew Max held but was keeping secret from him. Probably for his own safety, but regardless, Jaune wasn't interested. Massalia, despite being a large city, was too small for him, too… mediocre. Hell, Vytal was too small for him and his ambitions. And Jaune had no wish to be mediocre.
"Yes. Huntsmen academies provide training that is unequal anywhere else on Remnant. During my time there, I would be able to build connections from all over the world. After graduation, they get plenty of privileges and are basically guaranteed the best work contracts. Especially Beacon alumni."
"… And yet, none of that actually interests you. Am I right?"
Jaune chuckled, "I wasn't lying about the excellent training they provide and the connections I can make. But no, I'm not honestly overly concerned with work or wealth after graduation. Don't get me wrong, having money is nice, but at the end of the day, money is simply a means to an end to gain more power. I care more about the freedom it will provide me to help all who are in need. The ability to call on the resources of my Academy in order to help frontier towns prosper. Or to use those connections to form strike teams to clear locations that were overrun by Grimm and resettle them. To claim the wild open lands of Sanus and beyond for the good of humanity!" Jaune had stood up as he got more impassioned about his goals and ended his speech with a fist in the air and a wild grin on his face.
Maximilian stared at Jaune for a whole minute in silence, and Jaune started to feel awkward standing like a loon. Suddenly, Max smirked a little, "Are you certain you do not have any personal reasons, Jaune?"
Jaune, who had calmed down and resumed his seat, started fidgeting a little in embarrassment, "…I would also love to experience school life. Make friends, go have fun in the cities, do stupid shit… have a girlfriend or two."
Max sent his grandson a warm smile at that, happy to see a bit of the child who hid behind talks of duty and heroism. "There's nothing wrong at all in experiencing the good things in life, Jaune. Especially in your teenage years. Regardless, we are digressing. What of a potential career as an adventurer? I have an adventurer in mind who would be perfect as your mentor. She usually operates along the Narrow Sea, but I can ask her if she is willing to take an apprentice if you wish."
"I appreciate the offer grandpa, but I don't believe that would be needed. Adventurers do great work, but they are much more limited to towns and smaller cities. Not to mention, they have been losing a lot of influence within the kingdoms in the past few decades. Being an adventurer alone won't be enough for my ambition."
"And what is your ambition, Jaune? You always harped on about becoming a Huntsman, no matter what. Everyone just thought you wanted to live up to the Arc legacy, but that doesn't seem to be the full story."
Jaune had a distant look in his eyes, "The Arc legacy is very important to me. As you said, you and I are the last male Arcs alive right now, at least by name. None of my sisters are combat trained, even if the twins managed to convince Dad to unlock their Aura to better help him in his work. My ambition is simple, yet so very complicated. I wish to eradicate the Grimm, or at least limit their presence as much as possible, and claim the entirety of Remnant for mankind. To achieve this, I will need a lot of power. Both personal and positional power. For that, a career as a Huntsman is my best hope."
Maximilian stayed quiet for a moment as he gazed at his grandson. Jaune looked at his grandfather eagerly, waiting for him to hopefully pledge his full support.
"That is foolish. The Grimm cannot be eradicated. I blame your father and late uncle for such naive idealism."
Jaune felt his heart miss a beat. He expected his grandfather to argue or ask for more details, details that he would not be able to provide at the moment, sadly, but total rejection? He couldn't help but feel dejected at it. He wondered how he even knew it was his father who inspired him to seek this ambition.
"… However," Jaune perked up, "I admire your desire to help those in need. The Grimm may never be totally annihilated for reasons that you are not ready to learn, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't beat the utter shit out of them on sight. Am I wrong, grandson of mine?"
Jaune nodded enthusiastically, "So, will you help me become a Huntsman? I'm sure if you write me a letter of recommendation to any of the Academies, it would make things much easier for me."
Max rubbed his beard in thought, "I can certainly write a letter to that boy Theo in Vacuo. He is both Shade's Headmaster as well as the Guild Master of the adventurer guild there. The little tyke could teach you a thing or two about pugilism and Dust use. You have gotten brilliant with the blade, but you can't throw a punch to save your life boy. I have no doubt he would welcome you with open arms and probably make you team leader by virtue of your name alone."
Jaune was happy at that, but Shade? Not really his first choice. Too far. He also doubted he would like the weather there.
Max continued on, "I could also write to young Jimmy in Atlas. Either he will teach you proper discipline and military tactics, or he will dress you up in one of those fancy new mechs they have. Didn't they make one that runs on Aura? You could be the perfect battery for it, haha. Then again," Max looked directly at Jaune in the eyes and spoke in a conspirational tone, "I hear tells that a couple of years ago, Jimmy managed to poach the Schnee heiress right from under that Gelé punk's nose. She's older than you, but maybe you could win her heart over, eh? Bwhahaha"
Jaune stared at his laughing grandfather. It was rare for grandfather to laugh so easily, lately. Jaune thought he might have met a Schnee in their resort back in Arcade a few years ago, but that was a sad little boy with his troubled mother… Moreover, tyke? Young? He's pretty sure both men were at least in their thirties, if not forties, senile old fart. But wait. What about…
"What about Haven? It has the highest turnout for students. Or Beacon? It's the oldest and most prestigious academy of them all."
At that, Max's face adopted a grim look, his laughter completely forgotten. His eyes seemed to turn to ice, and his face was as if made from stone. When he spoke in his deep and baritone voice, Jaune couldn't help but gulp at the sheer intensity of the words coming out of his mouth.
"Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near Haven, let alone enroll there. Is that understood, Jaune?"
"O-of course, grandfather," the sudden shift in attitude regarding Haven freaked him out, but he knew and trusted Max enough to know he must have a good reason for his decision. Grandpa Max rarely stated his decisions easily, still… "May I ask why?"
His grandfather stared at a certain family picture on the shelf for a while. The picture had his uncle Adrian with his parents. He stood next to the perpetually youthful Maximilian and behind a seated elderly yet elegant lady with pure white hair, ice-blue eyes, and a haughty smile that he knew betrayed her kind and playful nature. Adrian's platinum blonde hair and ice blue eyes matched his mother, yet the face and build were all Max.
Jaune wondered why the sudden interest in his late uncle, but he held his tongue for now. His grandfather would only speak when he was ready. And soon enough, "You are not ready to know. I will ask you to trust me on this, Jaune. Haven, and Mistral for that matter, are not safe for Huntsmen, especially Arcs. I even warned your mother to avoid vacationing in Shion this summer. I promise to tell you when I believe the time is right. Until then, trust me on this Jaune."
Jaune wasn't exactly happy, but he believed in his grandfather and that he had the best in mind for the Arcs in general and for him in particular. "Okay then, gramps. So, what about Beacon? Anything wrong with Ozpin? It's supposed to be the best school of them all, after all."
Maximilian stood up from his seat and walked towards a decanter on the counter. He poured two glasses of wine, then turned to his grandson and placed one in front of him, "Don't tell your mother," he winked as he leisurely sipped on his drink. "I cannot help you with getting into Beacon. My problems with Ozpin are personal and ideological. You need not worry about them right now. I might have issues with him as a leader, but I can assure you that he is a good man and an excellent teacher. He comes with plenty of heavy baggage, and might coddle you to the point of patronizing, so you will have to be patient with him. You would do well under his tutelage as well as his exceptional staff, but do not expect my aid getting you into Beacon. I can still probably work something out for you if you insist, but Ozpin at heart, firmly believes in meritocracy. If you want to impress him, you would be better off making it into Beacon with your own strength."
Max continued on as he nursed his drink, "So what will it be? Shade or Atlas? Or will you forge your own path into Beacon?"
Jaune stared at his grandfather for a moment before he grabbed the small glass of wine and chugged its contents in one go. Naturally, he choked like the absolute chump that he was. The drink burned him heavily, with his eyes tearing up at the unexpectedly spicy wine. He expected something sweet. Jaune kept it all in and stood straight as he stared at his grandfather and role model and–
"On second thought, don't bother answering. You have a year for any of them. You turn seventeen in January, and Haven starts their semester in spring, but you aren't going there. Take your time and think about your options, Jaune. Oh, and you will still need to get your mother's permission. I am technically retired, and she is the current head of the Arc family. While you are now the heir, good luck using that angle with Lianne, heh. I only promised to train and turn you into a formidable force; everything else is on you."
Jaune groaned in disappointment, "It's unfair, gramps. When the twins made a tantrum about you unlocking my Aura, she acquiesced to let Dad unlock theirs easily enough, but me? I sometimes feel she would rather I live under her roof for the rest of my life as she spoils me rotten. I'm pretty sure before the year is out, all of my sisters will have their Aura unlocked as she conveniently forgets all that talk about safety or whatever."
Max leisurely sipped his wine as he stared in schadenfreude at his grandson, "if it makes you feel better, my own mother was the same with my siblings. Thankfully, my father had the final word on that. Your Dad, for all his intellect, is such a pushover when it comes to my Lianne. Bwahahaha"
Suddenly, the room turned foggy as a feeling of vertigo overtook Jaune…
Jaune opened his eyes to find himself back in his mindscape. He was sitting in the same armchair as last time and on the same veranda overlooking the eerily empty town of Arcade. It did not take a genius to realize that was another dream/memory he had experienced. He's starting to see a pattern on those, but he had more important things to think about. Such as that dull golden ball of light floating in front of him. It felt familiar, yet at the same time, it felt weak and exhausted.
Hello, Jaune. I am glad to see you back here.
Jaune looked at the ball of light, thinking it was Krystal, before disregarding it. He had an idea of what the light was but for now, 'Hello to you too, Krystal. I take it I'm still alive?'
Indeed you are. You have successfully made it to freedom and, as such, deserve the rewards of the Challenge. But first, what was the last thing you remember?
'Hmm… It's a bit fuzzy, but I remember following a tunnel from the cave after Searching for Arthur. I don't recall how long I walked, only that it was upward. The next thing I remember was finding a cave opening to a flat mountain top outside. I remember seeing the Moon and feeling so elated and almost gaining a second wind… only for some asshole Nevermore to ruin the moment for me.'
Indeed, it was quite the rude corvid, was it not? Then again, you did intrude on its nest.
'True. I was already on the mountain top, and did not think I could run, let alone fight the damn bird. Still, I had enough Aura in me for one final Crescent Wave. One final Fuck You so to speak. I think something happened then. My Aura turned white as it clashed with that Nevermore. Then again, that bird also attacked me at the same time, and I had to cling to its head or something. Last thing I remember was crashing with it to the ground and two orbs of green staring at me.'
Well, you will have to discover what happened afterward when you awaken. Now without further ado.
Challenge Completed!
You have defeated Ugur, the Ancient Drake Grimm
Rewards: One Magic Point.
You have defeated all regular Grimm on your way to freedom
Bonus Rewards: One Magic Point.
Secret Challenges Accomplished!
You have defeated over a thousand Grimm in a personal record time of twenty minutes.
You have defeated two Ancient Grimm in addition to Ugur.
Secret Challenge rewards: Three Magic Points.
Challenge Completed!
You have defeated Ugur, the Ancient Drake Grimm
Rewards: One Magic Point.
You have defeated all regular Grimm on your way to freedom
Bonus Rewards: One Magic Point.
Secret Challenges Accomplished!
You have defeated over a thousand Grimm in a personal record time of twenty minutes.
You have defeated two Ancient Grimm in addition to Ugur.
Secret Challenge rewards: Three Magic Points.
'… Well, that was unexpected. That Nevermore was that old? Secret rewards?'
Indeed. I did tell you that the Creator is generous. The Creator will reward great deeds even if they did not ask for them.
'Seems arbitrary. Tell me truthfully, Krystal. How much has the Creator helped me in that place? You made it sound like everything that occurred there was due to my own abilities, yet I find that harder to believe by the minute. The abilities that I got? They were tailor-made for my situation. You expect me to believe it was just luck? Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful. I just want to know how much the System and the Creator are in control of my fate.'
Truthfully? It is true that the System usually provides abilities tailored for the User upon activation. But please bear in mind, Jaune. The System was originally supposed to charge for at least a thousand years more before I would awaken into a newborn and truly guide them on their path. You, however, do not have that luxury. You are too old to fully benefit from the System. Too set in your ways to be flexible enough to truly exploit the System to its limits. I do not know whether the Creator can see the future or control the fates. They have not bestowed me with that ability, nor did they give me the answer to that question, but they are surely generous and understanding of the user's situation. The only purpose assigned to me is to guide you on your path. Considering I was not present from the very beginning to properly guide you, the Will of the Creator might have decided that you perhaps needed a few extra helping hands to make sure you do not waste away prematurely. Call it leveling the playing field if you will.
Jaune took his time as he processed that. That was a completely roundabout way of Krystal telling him that, yes, the Creator interfered slightly, but it was simply what was expected in the first place. At least he thought so, 'Then, should I expect more interferences? Or that's it with the freebies? Not that they were free, if you ask me, as I still spent three magic points on those abilities. I would also like to think that the whole fight was all me, yet I'm surprised the system attributed the kills that Drake made as mine. Thank you for the advice and encouragement, though, Krystal. Especially near the end.'
You are welcome, Jaune. And yes, for better or worse, that was all you in that battle. While you may not have been directly responsible for the deaths of those Grimm, you were still essential in their demise. You intentionally provoked the Drake into killing its own kin; thus you are entitled to claim their deaths for your own. The Creator is generous and understanding, after all. The Creator does not create hardship when there isn't any. And no, you should never expect any freebies in the first place. The Creator simply decided that those three abilities would be essential on your journey. You will occasionally be pleasantly surprised, I'm sure, with the secret challenges.
'Oh, I am sure I will. So is there a more stable method of gaining Magic?'
Indeed there is. There will always be an active Challenge to exterminate the Grimm. You might gain specific Challenges at certain points of your life, but those are up to the Creator. For now, here is a list of how to gain Magic reliably.
Continuous Challenge List:
Defeat 1,000 Grimm: Gain One Magic Point.
Defeat a Grimm over 100 years old: Gain One Magic Point.
Defeat a Grimm over 500 years old: Gain Five Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 1,000 years old: Gain Ten Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 2,000 years old: Gain Twenty Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 5,000 years old: Gain Fifty Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 10,000 years old: Gain One-Hundred Magic Points.
Continuous Challenge List:
Defeat 1,000 Grimm: Gain One Magic Point.
Defeat a Grimm over 100 years old: Gain One Magic Point.
Defeat a Grimm over 500 years old: Gain Five Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 1,000 years old: Gain Ten Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 2,000 years old: Gain Twenty Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 5,000 years old: Gain Fifty Magic Points.
Defeat a Grimm over 10,000 years old: Gain One-Hundred Magic Points.
Jaune was speechless. He couldn't really bring himself to focus on the award points. Instead, he stared at the ages of the Grimm listed. 'T-this isn't possible! There are actual Grimm that old? How? How are we humans even surviving if so?! They could have wiped out humanity long ago!'
You asked for a method to gain power, and I provided. This is also why I prefer not to inundate you with needless information. However, I do believe that you need to learn how Grimm are formed. I will not confuse you with the exact process, all you need to know is that Grimm are not creatures native to Remnant. They are creatures of chaos and destruction that are common throughout the universe and beyond but in different names and forms. They might even operate entirely differently from what you know of them. Some may even be controlled or exploited by humans through foul methods, yet that usually backfires most horrendously.
Regardless, The Grimm's main purpose is still the same. To cause chaos and destruction wherever they go. There are portals spread around Remnant that allow Grimm to travel here from whatever wretched abyss they originated from. Some of those Grimm that make it through are already quite old, thus why you might get the chance to slay one of them. Yet most of them are young Grimm that take time to grow and mature here in Remnant, as there seem to be limits on the scale of the monsters coming through the portals. Needless to say, while it is true to a certain extent that the older a Grimm is, the more dangerous they are, this does not automatically mean that they are more powerful than other variants. I'm sure your fight with the Deathstalker would tell you how dangerous the younger Grimm was compared to the Ancient Drake.
Regardless, The Grimm's main purpose is still the same. To cause chaos and destruction wherever they go. There are portals spread around Remnant that allow Grimm to travel here from whatever wretched abyss they originated from. Some of those Grimm that make it through are already quite old, thus why you might get the chance to slay one of them. Yet most of them are young Grimm that take time to grow and mature here in Remnant, as there seem to be limits on the scale of the monsters coming through the portals. Needless to say, while it is true to a certain extent that the older a Grimm is, the more dangerous they are, this does not automatically mean that they are more powerful than other variants. I'm sure your fight with the Deathstalker would tell you how dangerous the younger Grimm was compared to the Ancient Drake.
'That still doesn't explain how humanity yet survives!'
Calm yourself, Jaune Arc. Do not underestimate mankind's stubborn nature to survive and thrive. You have already decided to dedicate yourself to the eradication of the Grimm, have you not? What does it matter whether they are endless or not? All you need to do is to kill them on sight. For they will not give you and yours any mercy. So, why should you?
Jaune knew that he was panicking and letting his fears control him, but he couldn't help it. Then again, Krystal was right. So what if the Grimm threat never ends? He will just keep killing them over and over and over. Jaune was starting to believe that those memories were telling him something, as his grandfather said the same thing about how the Grimm cannot be eradicated for good.
Jaune as a human was immortal through his descendants. He will simply raise his sons and daughters, and their children and children's children, to kill the Grimm where they appear. No matter how long it took, whether it was thousands or even a million years, Jaune needed to believe that at some point in time, the Grimm will finally be eradicated.
I see you have hardened your resolve. That's good. Now are there any other questions regarding the System? We currently have all the time in the world considering your body is recovering in relative peace.
'Yes, actually. So you showed me the reward for killing Grimm based on age. Is there one based on type? I'm sure killing an Alpha is more difficult than a regular Beowulf. Or a Goliath, even a young one, can cause a lot more devastation than an ancient Ursa Major.'
Ah, but those kinds of Grimm are quite rare to appear. If you do have to fight them, you might just get a separate Challenge depending on how difficult the fight would be. Just like against the Drake.
'Fair enough. Now to the elephant of the room.' Jaune turned towards the light ball that was still dull and lethargic, 'Is this my Semblance?'
Indeed it is. You have greatly overused it in your fight, and you had only just unlocked it. Your experience, or lack of, in using it had unfortunately exhausted it, causing it to go dormant. You will not be able to use it reliably again for a few days at least. I have also analyzed your Semblance and other stats and updated your status screen. Would you like to peruse it?
Jaune thought about his Semblance. He was not sure if Semblances were supposed to be semi-sentient life forms, but he could appreciate how it had helped him greatly in his time of need. It deserves to have a name or two, though; calling it Semblance all the time is rude. He had just the name in mind.
'Please and thank you.' Jaune internally changed the status page to remove some of the extra and unnecessary information as well as refine it to be easier to read.
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Stats:
Aura Points: 0/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 0/hr) (01:49)
Aura Control: 22%
Strength (STR): 35/81
Vitality (VIT): 39/98
Dexterity (DEX): 31/85
Agility (AGL): 26/62
Perception (PER): 42/52
Intelligence (INT): 93/93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG) [Recharges every 45 days]: 5/8 (42 days to regain one MP)
*Gained one point from awakening the System early.
*Gained one point from merging with the System.
*Gained one point from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
*Gained five points from challenges.
Perks (Stacks):
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you.
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration by a flat 100/hr.
Semblance: OVERDRIVE
*SECOND WIND: Allows instant refilling of Aura to the maximum once every 24 hours at the cost of halving your Aura recovery for the same period. Using it again within the Cooldown period provides only 25% of your reserves as well as disabling Aura recovery for three days. After three days, Aura starts recovery at 25% on the first day, 50% on the second, and 100% on the third*CRITICAL BOOST: Provides a 600% stat increase that can be either distributed evenly or focused on one or more stats. Costs 10 AP/hr for every 1% stat boost. Can only be activated in increments of twenty minutes. Increasing stats to 100 does not have adverse health effects. Increasing stats beyond 50% of your current maximum may cause adverse health effects. Incremental increases beyond that will cause adverse health effects.
Special Abilities
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura. Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Search (C-Rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Can be supplemented by a similar ability of the same nature to form a new and better ability.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused II: Aura recovery disabled (Time remaining: 1 hour, 49 minutes, 50 seconds). Body overloaded, all Stats are reduced.
Weakened: Body Stats are reduced.
'Huh, I guess someone cured me of the venom. And my max PER increased, I wonder why?'
PER is your senses. I am sure you have noticed that your eyesight had not been the best during the fight? Or your hearing? All of that affects PER. However, you seem to have unlocked a sixth sense in the form of Aura Sense, during your ordeal in the Moon Rock. As you develop that skill, your PER shall rise as well to compensate for your other weaker senses. Do remember that your experience and intelligence could also compensate for a low PER.
'I see. Pun not intended. At least INT has fully recovered. A shame for Overdrive's limitations, It would have been very convenient if I could boost myself for a few seconds for an attack to save on Aura. Maybe with training, I will have more control over it? Nevertheless, I am very satisfied with my Semblance.' At that, Jaune stared at the light ball floating next to him in fondness. "You really tuckered yourself out, haven't you, boy?" Naturally, his semblance didn't answer.
'So I've already been asleep for nearly three days? Any idea where I am?'
Correct. You were completely out of commission at that time due to the poison, as you could not even appear here in your mindscape. I cannot answer where your current location is. You will have to wake up and investigate yourself. I am sure you would love to thank your rescuers. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?
'One last question. Aura Control? I didn't know you could quantify that. How does that work exactly?'
It took some time for me to accurately calculate how much Aura you waste as you use your techniques. Aura Control, or AC for short, is how efficient you are in using your Aura. For example, your Crescent Wave technique starts at a cost of 100 AP for a one-meter wide slash of Aura with a range of ten meters. I'm sure you have noticed that was not how it worked out in your fight, correct?
Jaune sighed as he remembered the moment when he was surrounded. 'Yeah. I seemed to overcharge it when I did not need to. My AC was never the best anyway, but it was acceptable for the short time I had Aura. At least according to gramps. I guess it will be back to meditation and control exercises.'
I am sure with perseverance, everything would be possible for you, Jaune. Incidentally, Abilities do not need AC. Their base Aura costs are static and do not change.
Jaune thought about his abilities. Observe seemed to have a strange range of costs when he used it on the Grimm and Crocea Mors. He can't wait to try it on humans next. He focused on Krystal again, 'If there's nothing else, I guess I'll wake up then. Let me know if something comes up.' Jaune felt eager to awaken and discover more about his situation. He had to thank his rescuers at least.
If you hadn't noticed, I detest RT's lackluster world-building. I'm trying to make sense of the logistics of having modern/futuristic megacities that most of humanity live in, yet no actual explanation of how all the resources and materials are distributed. IRL, globalization allows resources from all over the world to be transferred easily. In Remnant, it's a lot more vague. Thus me expanding on the world, more will be shown next chapter.
Vale, and to an extent Vacuo, use the Imperial measurement system. Atlas and Mistral use metric. Vytal is inspired by both France and Greece, at least in my headcanon, and despite technically being under the authority of Vale, they use the metric system as well due to their proximity and dealings with Atlas.
Northern Mistral shall be known as the Hellenes, based on how the Greeks call their lands Hellas. This will be relevant when Pyrrha is introduced. I have no idea why RT decided it was a good idea to have an entire continent the size of Asia be named after one country yet obviously have different cultures originate from there. Why not make it like Vale and Vacuo? One giant landmass but two different kingdoms. The same deal with Nippon, it's how the Japanese call their country. The islands in question are the four islands to the east of Mistral that you can see in the map. The map is unreliable, however, as Remnant does not have satellites to properly map their planet so there might be more islands than at first glance…
The moon rotates around itself here. So it would occasionally show a full moon with its shattered part becoming the dark side of the moon. Disregard any potential gravitational effects this may cause as I couldn't be bothered with coming up with any. This is just flavor, though it might come in handy later on.
The Grimm. I added a bit more background for them. I know that they appear out of Grimm Pools and were created by the God of Darkness, but that's too limited for my taste. Grimm Pools and the Portals are the same things btw. Naturally, ignore anything that comes out of Volume 9. This is already AU.
I would like to put a disclaimer that breaking your bones and tendons and then healing them again DOES NOT MAKE THEM STRONGER IRL!!! This is just Aura and Shōnen BS that I arbitrarily made up. Fracturing them does strengthen them, that's what Muay Thai practitioners do with their shins with micro-fracturing, but again, this is ANIME LOGIC at work here. DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME, OR ANYWHERE ELSE PERIOD!!! Can't believe I have to warn of that.
On a side note, Jaune's dreams and memories have a purpose. All I will say is that they are inspired by Joan of Arc, who was said to have revelations and warnings delivered to her in her dreams. This is my take on that with Jaune.
Chapter 5 (In the Weathercock Inn)
Enjoy!
Jaune opened his eyes to darkness. He was getting tired of waking up to pain and agony, but this time he just felt sluggish and drowsy. He was lying on a comfortable bed and covered in a bedsheet. He could tell that he was in some form of bedroom, but the darkness wasn't helping. Jaune stared at the ceiling for a moment before trying to move.
'Nope. Can't move a muscle.' Jaune sighed audibly at that. Movement from the side caught his attention. He moved his eyes slightly to the right to find a figure rising from another bed next to him. He couldn't tell much in the darkness, but the figure was on the shorter side, and as he watched them stretch their body with a feminine groan, Jaune guessed it was a girl. The girl finished stretching and moved closer to him, her lime green eyes shining in the dark, strangely familiar. She stared at him unblinkingly as he stared right back at her. After a whole minute of silent staring, Jaune decided to break the silence.
"Hello." He rasped out, his voice did gain a rasp and a bit of a baritone from his ordeal. Not using it for a few days made it slightly difficult to speak.
"… Hello." The girl replied in a soft voice that betrayed her youth.
"Were you the one who saved me?"
The girl nodded, her eyes shining in the dark, "Me and Sara. Your horse also helped."
Jaune chuckled at that, "Arthur helped, huh? That old nag did have some use after all."
"His name is Arthur, then? He's a very loyal horse. The day we found him, he kept trying to lead us toward the mountains. He could feel you, it seems."
The girl's voice was incredibly monotone, but Jaune felt a bit of emotion as she spoke of his horse. Almost respect. "Well, I owe you and your friend my life. May I know the name of my savior?"
"… Fie. And you are Jaune Arc." She stated simply. Jaune was confused about how she knew his name, but he was tired of talking to the darkness.
"Could you turn on the lights? I would like to see you properly." He saw the girl's head bobbing in another nod before she turned on the bedside lamp. It took Jaune a moment to get used to the sudden bright light, but he could now look at his savior.
She was a young girl with stark white neck-length hair and lime green eyes. At least two years younger than him. She was also short, at about five feet short, but he could be mistaken from his sleeping position. Fie was wearing a simple hot short and green sports bra as sleepwear, showing off a slender and toned body.
There was no denying at all that she was a fighter with the way she carried herself. Even as she stood in apparent nonchalance, her muscles were tense and ready for any sudden action. Then there was a knife tied around her right thigh, where her right hand was never too far away from it.
His fledgling Aura Sense told him of her emanating Aura which felt like the wind. Her flawless skin was proof that her Aura was strong enough to heal any scars or protect her from injuries, yet he could tell it was on the smaller side. Which wasn't saying much, when everyone's Aura was dwarfed by his own. Only his mother and grandfather could rival him and that was before he had his reserves expanded even more.
Regardless, despite Fie obviously screaming danger, Jaune felt a strange urge awaken inside him to hold this girl and protect her from the dangers of the world as he beheld her lithe form standing over him. He vaguely noticed her long white tail sticking out of her tailbone suspiciously close to another knife strapped to her left ankle, but only one thing came to his still sleep-addled mind as he looked at the girl.
"You're adorable."
She just stared at him at that declaration with a completely impassive face. "You're not too bad yourself." Came the monotone reply. Jaune wasn't sure if she was actually complimenting him or messing with him. He did notice her relaxing her muscles slightly.
"How long was I out?" He already knew, but it would be strange if he didn't ask.
"Three days now since we discovered you killing that Nevermore. You do need a better landing strategy, by the way."
Suddenly, Jaune remembered from where he saw those eyes, "You really were the one who saved me. I remember your eyes."
Fie nodded her head, "That's what I said."
Jaune waited for her to say more, but apparently, she was a girl of few words. "What time is it?"
"Nearly dawn."
"Date?"
"Monday, July 3rd, 1204."
Jaune didn't ask for the year, but he appreciated the concise answer nonetheless. He left home on the first of June and still had over a month before Beacon opened for its entrance exams.
He tried to move his body again with more success and decided he had stayed in bed long enough. If the day was just starting, then he might as well got up. As he slowly sat up from bed, his bedsheets fell off, exposing his naked body.
"…"
"… Why am I naked?" Jaune quickly bundled the sheets to cover himself. He wasn't some shy maiden who would freak out at someone seeing his privates. He had to rough it out a lot whenever his grandfather took him on patrol with other adventurers and huntsmen. Still, he wasn't an exhibitionist either.
"To better clean you." Came a voice from across the room, causing Jaune to flinch. He hadn't even noticed the other person sitting on an armchair by the window. She was probably sleeping, and the light, as well as their voices, woke her up.
She was a young woman, most likely in her twenties, with amber eyes and long cerise hair that fell to her waist. As she stood up and stretched, Jaune couldn't avert his eyes as he stared at her buxom body with half her cleavage nearly spilling from her long-sleeved yellow and black mini-dress with how large her chest was. Jaune idly noticed she was barefoot but could see a pair of brown thigh-high leather boots placed next to the chair. He didn't even know boots could go so high.
Her words caught up with him, "Clean me?"
"Yep," the woman replied as she stalked towards him, a sly grin on her face, "Fie here was responsible for taking care of you for the past two days, while I went on patrol. That included washing you, feeding you, and cleaning after your bowel movements."
Jaune blushed in extreme embarrassment at that. He turned towards the young girl, who continued to stare at him, but Jaune would like to imagine that her eyes shone a little brighter. She did not say a thing, but she pointedly stared at his abs, looked him straight in the eyes, then slowly dropped her eyes to his covered groin. Then, she gave him a thumbs-up in that blank face of hers. Jaune groaned in shame.
The woman stopped next to Fie, and Jaune could tell she was on the taller side for a woman. He guessed she was about 5'9", and just like Fie, she had a toned build and was gorgeous as hell with her hourglass figure. There were only two types of females in the world who would be both strong and beautiful.
"You are both either Huntresses or Adventurers. Considering Fie's young age, I would guess Adventurers. Am I right?"
"Correct. Sara Valestein, A-rank Adventurer at your service. This is Fie, my apprentice and protégé. C-ranked adventurer. And you, Jaune Arc, are a long way from home."
"Let me guess, you looked through my belongings and found my ID? Maybe my Adventurer Card?"
"Nah, those were destroyed from whatever situation you were in. We had to check your Scroll for other credentials. For future records, do not have your Scroll's security set to your fingerprints. It would be incredibly easy to access it if you are unconscious. Don't worry, though, I promise we only looked at your ID and Adventurer's Card. D-rank adventurer is not bad for someone your age, but knowing the Colonel, he probably worked you to the bone regardless considering the date you received the card. Smart of you to lock your files behind password-protected folders by the way. What wasn't smart is locking your contacts as well. If I didn't recognize your name we would have been lost on what to do if something happened to you." She pulled out his scroll from her cleavage and handed it to him.
Jaune huffed in bemusement as he held his still-warm Scroll. He checked the device, finding it fully charged. He might have been a bit miffed at them looking through his Scroll, but he could understand their need to know who he was, and decided to let it go.
"I'll keep in mind to have my emergency contacts available. Incidentally, you didn't call my family did you?"
"Nope. Didn't have a signal for the day it took us to get here. Apparently, the repeater tower nearby is undergoing repairs and your family is too far away to contact using Beacon's signal alone. Once we were sure you were on the way to recovery, we decided to wait until you woke up to question you first. Besides, I'm pretty sure the Colonel would Scold me for wasting his time when you were already getting better."
Jaune had a feeling she had another meaning when she said Scold, but he couldn't think of anything at that moment. He filed away the remark about the Colonel, figuring that as a high-ranking adventurer, Sara would be well acquainted with his grandfather.
Technically, Maximilian was retired from the military, but when you live as long as Arcs do, it's impossible to retire from anything due to the sheer boredom of doing nothing yet retaining the energy of your youth. His grandfather held the rank of Admiral in Vale and Atlas also granted him the rank of Colonel, though he was not sure about the specifics. Something to do with the Faunus War, and old borders if he had to guess. It at least gave him an idea on Sara's origins.
Fie, on the other hand… he turned his gaze to her, and she met his eyes unflinchingly. C-rank adventurer at what he guessed was fifteen was not unheard of but still incredibly rare. What sort of life did she grow up in to warrant such strength at a young age?
Adventurers range from F-Rank to A-Rank with S-Rank reserved for those special ones who were simply above and beyond the standard. There were less than ten S-Rank adventurers in the world but he only knew of two. His grandfather and Headmaster Theodore of Shade. Promotion to D-Rank can be easily gained with time and hard work, he should know as he managed it in a year completing many missions (read chores) and patrols.
To be promoted to C-Rank and beyond, however, required a higher ranked Adventurer to vouch for you. That was not easy, as any crime or mistake you commit would directly affect the adventurer who vouched for you, especially with adventurers losing influence in the kingdoms to Huntsmen in recent years. This prevented many powerful adventurers from advancing in the ranks, but it did stop corruption from spreading. The higher ranked missions paid very well but were also a lot more difficult. The guilds also provided services and discounts through the towns and cities they were affiliated with, the higher your rank the better the benefits.
The only way for lower ranked Adventurers to take higher ranked missions was to be part of a higher ranked Adventurer's team. Jaune knew that was intentional by design to encourage teams to be formed under a single high ranked adventurer. It was not a perfect system by any means, as usually the higher ranked adventurer would get the lion's share of the payments. In fact, Jaune believed it was deeply flawed and one of the reasons he opted to become a Huntsman in addition to being an Adventurer.
Jaune looked between Sara and Fie, accurately guessing how Fie gained her promotion. Still, as his gaze returned to Fie, his newly found brotherly instincts flared. As the youngest of eight siblings, he never got the joy (though he's sure his sisters would call it misery) of caring for a younger sibling, so he didn't really understand this strange feeling in him.
He broke eye contact with the young girl and looked around the small and cozy room. Two beds, a wardrobe, a clothes hanger that held two coats, a dining table by the wall with a mini fridge and microwave nearby, and an open door that led to a bathroom. There were two armchairs next to the window with a coffee table nearby. He belatedly figured out that he was occupying Sara's bed considering she had to sleep on the armchair.
He saw his damaged bag, and what remained of his belongings on the dining table with Crocea Mors set next to it, newly sheathed in a standard sword belt.
"Where am I anyway?" Jaune appreciated the patience both women gave him as he gathered his thoughts and took in his surroundings.
"You, young man, are enjoying the hospitality of the Weathercock Inn in the town of Celdic. The local doctor treated you for the Deathstalker venom and recommended you not do any strenuous activity for another week from the moment you awaken. That doesn't take Aura into account, however. If you can stand though, we will leave you to get dressed, and we can move downstairs for breakfast. Or I could have the proprietress bring food over instead. I'm sure you are starving, as we were only able to feed you water and honey for the past three days."
Jaune's stomach rumbled loudly at the mention of food. He and Sara chuckled while Fie had a tiny smile on her face. Barely an upturn of her lip. "I'll get dressed if you have any clothes. I fear I destroyed the last of my outfits."
"No worries." Fie moved to the wardrobe and brought him a change of clothes. Jaune could not help but notice how graceful and completely silent the girl was in her movements. 'Just like a cat,' he thought wryly, guessing what kind of Faunus she was.
Sara had moved back to her armchair and put on her socks and boots. "We'll wait for you downstairs, we have much to discuss." She strapped a utility belt around her dress that held an oversized pistol and sword that were the color of her hair, along with plenty of pouches. Then she put on a steel-blue overcoat, which was hanging on the hanger, that had many pockets with several white belts and left it open. Finally, she tied her hair in a messy bun before moving towards the door. "Fie. Give the kid some privacy but stay within earshot in case he needs help."
As Jaune was distracted ogling Sara, he didn't notice that Fie had already dressed. She wore a short black coat, the other one that was on the hanger, which she left unbuttoned over a green crop top that left her stomach bare and gray shorts along with olive boots and black socks. Fie also favored a long green scarf falling to her waist, that covered her neck with enough fabric to cover her mouth if needed. She wore a pair of goggles over her head and had utility belts around her waist and thighs, and her coat was also full of pockets. Girls must really love pockets.
Fie gave him a peace sign, as she turned towards the door. Her coat fluttered enough to show her tail swinging freely side to side. Jaune also noted the pair of what appeared to be a combination of a gun and a dagger (Gundaggers?) strapped to her back. He felt her attempts at levity endearing despite her impassive face. Or was that a resting bitch face? No, not with a face that adorable.
Once the door was closed, Jaune slowly got off the bed only to falter as his legs felt incredibly weak. 'Must be from overboosting my AGL'. He retrieved his underwear from his belongings and started dressing up. It took some time, but he finally managed to dress in a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt. His sneakers didn't survive his ordeal, unfortunately. He could vaguely remember them being destroyed when he dodged the Drake's tail, but the two women were kind enough to provide him with a pair of sandals. Which was nice.
Jaune made his way to the bathroom to wash up. It seemed Fie really did clean him up as he didn't feel dirty or sticky. He did NOT want to think about the fact that she probably washed him thoroughly considering he felt clean everywhere. After washing his face, he looked in the mirror to see himself for the first time in a long while.
His hair had gotten long, nearing his neck. Not long enough to tie it into a wolftail like his grandfather's, but still long enough to warrant a cut soon. He had a stubble, but he knew he had to shave it off. It looked more like dirt than a beard. His past attempts at growing a beard had been disastrous for him as well as hilarious… for others at least. He found a razor and shaved it away with soap.
With his face clean, his features were more visible. He looked more on the gaunt side, but Jaune wasn't sure if that was from traveling or his ordeal in the cave. Regardless, this was a chance for him to rest and recuperate.
He looked at his scars. Jaune lifted his shirt and looked at where the Deathstalker stabbed him. A small scar from the puncture wound was all the evidence of it right above his navel. He still had Aura at the time, and it must have healed him then. His left forearm had slight burn marks from the Drake's acid, but he was confident he would fully heal once he had access to his Aura. The same could be partially said for the scars on his right side. Already, his body's natural healing had hidden most of the scars on his right arm.
He was not too confident about the rest, however, as he checked his thigh and saw the brand from the Dust crystal on his skin. Jaune sighed before moving on. Once his Aura returned in a couple of hours, Jaune was certain he would fully recover his stats before the day ended. Aura really was a cheat, his especially.
'Chicks dig scars, Jaune. Just remember, be confident but not a showoff. Be smooth, but not slick.' Jaune huffed as he remembered his father's words. He shivered as he remembered the last time he tried to introduce himself with that catchphrase he came up with his Dad. Never again.
Jaune finished freshening up, and turned to the table holding his belongings. His tent and camping supplies were missing, and he couldn't recall where he lost them. Half his wallet was burned, and he could only recover 200 Lien from it. His Medkit was intact and so were his portable stove and flashlight. Nothing else survived it seemed, aside from a pair of white socks which he already wore. The inert crystal laid next to Crocea Mors and Jaune tried not to think about it. He couldn't understand how it still existed as Dust returns to dust once it's used. The crystal remained intact though, almost mocking him for his recklessness.
Focusing on the sword, Jaune did not believe he would need it, and by all rights, he should not have a reason to carry it in town. Yet seeing the two women geared for battle when they were simply going for breakfast made him want to do the same. He grabbed the sword and tied it around his waist, as usual, its weight was always perfect for him to easily carry despite how others would claim of its heavy weight. Jaune carefully made his way out of the room, his muscles aching terribly and his breathing already harsh from the small effort he made. Food sounded like bliss right now.
Jaune opened the door to the Inn proper to find Fie leaning on the guardrail waiting for him. Now that he was standing in front of her, he could tell he towered over the girl by an entire head and shoulders. He had to resist the urge to pat her head and nodded to her instead. She nodded back and locked the door behind him, as he moved next to her and took a look around him.
The Inn had a large main room on the ground floor with many tables in the middle. There were booths along one wall with windows overlooking the town outside. There was also a stage by another wall and a long bar right across from the entrance. He could even see a jukebox and a piano in one corner. The second floor was an open balcony with many doors that he guessed led to the rented rooms. The balcony went around the main room with two staircases next to the double doors of the Inn that led outside.
A large old-fashioned grandfather clock along the wall just struck six, making a melodic chime. Despite it being dawn, it was quite lively down there. He could see Sara talking to whom he assumed was the proprietress while gesticulating towards one of the large kegs of beer behind the bar. The proprietress simply shook her head with an amused smile while motioning towards a coffee pot on the stove in the large kitchen behind her, much to Sara's dismay.
All in all, the Inn looked exactly as he would imagine a frontier town's saloon would look like. All that was missing were gunslingers playing poker.
Spread around the barroom were plenty of what looked like farmers and laborers. He could also see the occasional merchant or businessman from Vale sticking out like sore thumbs with their more modern outfits compared to the locals dressed in rough clothing.
The Valemen threw cautious glances at Sara by the bar, glances that Jaune knew were common for the citizenry to throw at what were essentially superhumans who could rip a regular human apart with their bare hands. Despite how crucial they were to society, Huntsmen and Adventurers were generally treated with cautious respect at best and suspicious fear at worst by civilians due to their insane powers.
'As they should be, the weak should fear and respect the strong but the strong are obligated to protect and nurture the weak. For it is through that protection that the weak support the strong in the everlasting fight against the Grimm. And so, the cycle continues.' Jaune recalled his grandfather's philosophy and how he himself felt conflicted about it. He could have supported the strong, and there was absolutely no shame in that. But he refused to be weak and mediocre, and thus he was responsible for the protection of all these people.
'Or die trying.'
'Then again… They could simply be checking Sara's ass out,' Jaune thought with an inward chuckle, dispelling the dark thoughts that just plagued his mind. She was leaning along the bar quite provocatively and even through her coat, her glorious behind was a sight to behold. Despite only knowing her for a few minutes, Jaune could tell that Sara was a vivacious flirt. He held no illusion that she did not know the effect of what she was doing.
"Ready to go?"
Jaune nodded and Fie led the way down the stairs. She walked slowly as he followed her, leaning heavily on the guardrail in case he fell. It was a good thing she was in front of him as once they started going down the steps he lost his balance and would have fallen down the stairs if not for her surprisingly strong grip. Fie simply placed his left hand on her shoulder and gave him another nod.
"Thanks." Jaune didn't feel too macho right now, and gladly leaned heavily on her offered shoulder, noticing that her coat had what felt like metal plates sewn in them. 'Brigandine? Or maybe scale mail?' He wondered if Sara's coat was the same? It gave him a smidgen of an idea for his future armor.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sara had left the bar and headed to a booth with a cart of food. Eventually, they made it to Sara who had spread enough food for six people on the table, with more on the cart. The cart also had a portable stove where a coffee pot was kept warm.
"Hey, you made it. Good job Fie." Sara waved her hand as he sat down across from her while Fie agilely maneuvered herself to Sara's right, by the window. He and Sara unbuckled their main weapons and placed them within hand's reach. Fie did not, and sat ramrod straight as she kept an eye on her surroundings before turning to Sara with the first true smile Jaune had seen her make.
"Margot refused you beer, Sara?"
"I know, right? How dare she? The audacity of some people!" Sara slumped backwards in disappointment before she started filling her plate.
Jaune could barely hold himself as he beheld the food in front of him. There were eggs of different variety, soft fluffy omelettes, scrambled eggs and boiled eggs. Waffles and pancakes. Bacon, ham, cheese, yogurt, potatoes, sausages… there was even a river salmon in there and a jug of milk to the side. Fie had laid claim to the milk jug and poured herself a glass.
They all dug in without a word. None of them spoke as they focused on the food, Fie devouring her salmon quickly before moving to the waffles, 'How stereotypical.' He gathered that Sara was out on an assignment or something last night and was probably famished as well, noting how she devoured plate after plate. Not like he was one to talk, he must have eaten more than the two women combined. After a while, they were done eating, and they were both nursing their coffee while Fie was drinking her third glass of milk.
Eventually, Sara leaned forward, resting her heavy boobs on the table and placed her hands on her cheeks with her elbows on the table. She broke the silence and brought up the Goliath in the room.
"So, Jaune. What brings you so far away from home? Tell us your story. We would love to know how you ended up deep in the Vale mountains, got poisoned by a Deathstalker and blasted a giant Nevermore out of the sky."
Jaune slowly sipped on his coffee as he thought about his answer, not realizing his gaze was glued to Sara's cleavage nor did he notice her smirk. If he was more aware, he would never have dared to ogle a woman who could easily kick his ass in his weakened state. Next to her, Fie was paying close attention, as she finished the last of her milk, while slightly frowning at his gaze.
Jaune had no reason to hide that he was heading to Beacon, but what about the cave chock-full of Dust crystals and the Moon Rock? That was a very valuable secret, which reminded him that he needed to contact his Dad as soon as possible. Only through his family's company would they be able to make a fortune out of what could be the largest Dust discovery in history since Vacuo's.
If he told Sara about the Dust, there was a risk that it could be leaked and the last thing the Arc family needed were the Schnees, or as gramps would emphasize, the Gelé punk, breathing down their necks in an attempt to steal that mine from under their nose.
And yet, he does owe them his life. Not to mention the risk of leaving a potential horde in the making close to Celdic. Jaune might have killed over a thousand Grimm, but he did not delude himself into thinking that he cleared out the entire mountain range of them, especially as nearly the entire horde was composed of young fledglings. That was a task that would take weeks if not months by high-ranking Adventurers and Huntsmen supported by the military. Something that the Arc family might be capable of doing if grandpa pitched in.
Jaune did a brief look around to make sure no one was listening in. The main room was crowded and noisy. Any conversation they had would be easily drowned out. He saw Sara look at Fie and followed her gaze. Fie simply shook her head and gave a thumbs up, silently stating that no one was listening in.
Jaune placed his mug on the table and sighed, his decision made. "Well it all started a month ago when…"
Jaune becomes acquainted with a pair of interesting adventurers. His brotherly instincts awaken and he must now fight the urge to adopt Fie as a sister/pet. Meanwhile, weeks on the road in solitude had lowered his inhibitions. Will that cause any issues? That remains to be seen.
We get a glimpse of Jaune's worldview as a result of looking up to his grandfather. Harsh times breed harsh people, and when people literally have the power to build and destroy the world in their hands then you can bet that there will always be some sort of nobility caste around, regardless of what RT would want to espouse about democracy or liberty or whatever new BS people come up with these days. Violence almost always is the answer, the question is how much?
Noblesse Oblige is something Jaune will take very seriously.
The Celdic arc will be connected to the main plot. You will see a couple of characters from the show making an appearance soon.
Jaune opened his eyes to darkness. He was getting tired of waking up to pain and agony, but this time he just felt sluggish and drowsy. He was lying on a comfortable bed and covered in a bedsheet. He could tell that he was in some form of bedroom, but the darkness wasn't helping. Jaune stared at the ceiling for a moment before trying to move.
'Nope. Can't move a muscle.' Jaune sighed audibly at that. Movement from the side caught his attention. He moved his eyes slightly to the right to find a figure rising from another bed next to him. He couldn't tell much in the darkness, but the figure was on the shorter side, and as he watched them stretch their body with a feminine groan, Jaune guessed it was a girl. The girl finished stretching and moved closer to him, her lime green eyes shining in the dark, strangely familiar. She stared at him unblinkingly as he stared right back at her. After a whole minute of silent staring, Jaune decided to break the silence.
"Hello." He rasped out, his voice did gain a rasp and a bit of a baritone from his ordeal. Not using it for a few days made it slightly difficult to speak.
"… Hello." The girl replied in a soft voice that betrayed her youth.
"Were you the one who saved me?"
The girl nodded, her eyes shining in the dark, "Me and Sara. Your horse also helped."
Jaune chuckled at that, "Arthur helped, huh? That old nag did have some use after all."
"His name is Arthur, then? He's a very loyal horse. The day we found him, he kept trying to lead us toward the mountains. He could feel you, it seems."
The girl's voice was incredibly monotone, but Jaune felt a bit of emotion as she spoke of his horse. Almost respect. "Well, I owe you and your friend my life. May I know the name of my savior?"
"… Fie. And you are Jaune Arc." She stated simply. Jaune was confused about how she knew his name, but he was tired of talking to the darkness.
"Could you turn on the lights? I would like to see you properly." He saw the girl's head bobbing in another nod before she turned on the bedside lamp. It took Jaune a moment to get used to the sudden bright light, but he could now look at his savior.
She was a young girl with stark white neck-length hair and lime green eyes. At least two years younger than him. She was also short, at about five feet short, but he could be mistaken from his sleeping position. Fie was wearing a simple hot short and green sports bra as sleepwear, showing off a slender and toned body.
There was no denying at all that she was a fighter with the way she carried herself. Even as she stood in apparent nonchalance, her muscles were tense and ready for any sudden action. Then there was a knife tied around her right thigh, where her right hand was never too far away from it.
His fledgling Aura Sense told him of her emanating Aura which felt like the wind. Her flawless skin was proof that her Aura was strong enough to heal any scars or protect her from injuries, yet he could tell it was on the smaller side. Which wasn't saying much, when everyone's Aura was dwarfed by his own. Only his mother and grandfather could rival him and that was before he had his reserves expanded even more.
Regardless, despite Fie obviously screaming danger, Jaune felt a strange urge awaken inside him to hold this girl and protect her from the dangers of the world as he beheld her lithe form standing over him. He vaguely noticed her long white tail sticking out of her tailbone suspiciously close to another knife strapped to her left ankle, but only one thing came to his still sleep-addled mind as he looked at the girl.
"You're adorable."
She just stared at him at that declaration with a completely impassive face. "You're not too bad yourself." Came the monotone reply. Jaune wasn't sure if she was actually complimenting him or messing with him. He did notice her relaxing her muscles slightly.
"How long was I out?" He already knew, but it would be strange if he didn't ask.
"Three days now since we discovered you killing that Nevermore. You do need a better landing strategy, by the way."
Suddenly, Jaune remembered from where he saw those eyes, "You really were the one who saved me. I remember your eyes."
Fie nodded her head, "That's what I said."
Jaune waited for her to say more, but apparently, she was a girl of few words. "What time is it?"
"Nearly dawn."
"Date?"
"Monday, July 3rd, 1204."
Jaune didn't ask for the year, but he appreciated the concise answer nonetheless. He left home on the first of June and still had over a month before Beacon opened for its entrance exams.
He tried to move his body again with more success and decided he had stayed in bed long enough. If the day was just starting, then he might as well got up. As he slowly sat up from bed, his bedsheets fell off, exposing his naked body.
"…"
"… Why am I naked?" Jaune quickly bundled the sheets to cover himself. He wasn't some shy maiden who would freak out at someone seeing his privates. He had to rough it out a lot whenever his grandfather took him on patrol with other adventurers and huntsmen. Still, he wasn't an exhibitionist either.
"To better clean you." Came a voice from across the room, causing Jaune to flinch. He hadn't even noticed the other person sitting on an armchair by the window. She was probably sleeping, and the light, as well as their voices, woke her up.
She was a young woman, most likely in her twenties, with amber eyes and long cerise hair that fell to her waist. As she stood up and stretched, Jaune couldn't avert his eyes as he stared at her buxom body with half her cleavage nearly spilling from her long-sleeved yellow and black mini-dress with how large her chest was. Jaune idly noticed she was barefoot but could see a pair of brown thigh-high leather boots placed next to the chair. He didn't even know boots could go so high.
Her words caught up with him, "Clean me?"
"Yep," the woman replied as she stalked towards him, a sly grin on her face, "Fie here was responsible for taking care of you for the past two days, while I went on patrol. That included washing you, feeding you, and cleaning after your bowel movements."
Jaune blushed in extreme embarrassment at that. He turned towards the young girl, who continued to stare at him, but Jaune would like to imagine that her eyes shone a little brighter. She did not say a thing, but she pointedly stared at his abs, looked him straight in the eyes, then slowly dropped her eyes to his covered groin. Then, she gave him a thumbs-up in that blank face of hers. Jaune groaned in shame.
The woman stopped next to Fie, and Jaune could tell she was on the taller side for a woman. He guessed she was about 5'9", and just like Fie, she had a toned build and was gorgeous as hell with her hourglass figure. There were only two types of females in the world who would be both strong and beautiful.
"You are both either Huntresses or Adventurers. Considering Fie's young age, I would guess Adventurers. Am I right?"
"Correct. Sara Valestein, A-rank Adventurer at your service. This is Fie, my apprentice and protégé. C-ranked adventurer. And you, Jaune Arc, are a long way from home."
"Let me guess, you looked through my belongings and found my ID? Maybe my Adventurer Card?"
"Nah, those were destroyed from whatever situation you were in. We had to check your Scroll for other credentials. For future records, do not have your Scroll's security set to your fingerprints. It would be incredibly easy to access it if you are unconscious. Don't worry, though, I promise we only looked at your ID and Adventurer's Card. D-rank adventurer is not bad for someone your age, but knowing the Colonel, he probably worked you to the bone regardless considering the date you received the card. Smart of you to lock your files behind password-protected folders by the way. What wasn't smart is locking your contacts as well. If I didn't recognize your name we would have been lost on what to do if something happened to you." She pulled out his scroll from her cleavage and handed it to him.
Jaune huffed in bemusement as he held his still-warm Scroll. He checked the device, finding it fully charged. He might have been a bit miffed at them looking through his Scroll, but he could understand their need to know who he was, and decided to let it go.
"I'll keep in mind to have my emergency contacts available. Incidentally, you didn't call my family did you?"
"Nope. Didn't have a signal for the day it took us to get here. Apparently, the repeater tower nearby is undergoing repairs and your family is too far away to contact using Beacon's signal alone. Once we were sure you were on the way to recovery, we decided to wait until you woke up to question you first. Besides, I'm pretty sure the Colonel would Scold me for wasting his time when you were already getting better."
Jaune had a feeling she had another meaning when she said Scold, but he couldn't think of anything at that moment. He filed away the remark about the Colonel, figuring that as a high-ranking adventurer, Sara would be well acquainted with his grandfather.
Technically, Maximilian was retired from the military, but when you live as long as Arcs do, it's impossible to retire from anything due to the sheer boredom of doing nothing yet retaining the energy of your youth. His grandfather held the rank of Admiral in Vale and Atlas also granted him the rank of Colonel, though he was not sure about the specifics. Something to do with the Faunus War, and old borders if he had to guess. It at least gave him an idea on Sara's origins.
Fie, on the other hand… he turned his gaze to her, and she met his eyes unflinchingly. C-rank adventurer at what he guessed was fifteen was not unheard of but still incredibly rare. What sort of life did she grow up in to warrant such strength at a young age?
Adventurers range from F-Rank to A-Rank with S-Rank reserved for those special ones who were simply above and beyond the standard. There were less than ten S-Rank adventurers in the world but he only knew of two. His grandfather and Headmaster Theodore of Shade. Promotion to D-Rank can be easily gained with time and hard work, he should know as he managed it in a year completing many missions (read chores) and patrols.
To be promoted to C-Rank and beyond, however, required a higher ranked Adventurer to vouch for you. That was not easy, as any crime or mistake you commit would directly affect the adventurer who vouched for you, especially with adventurers losing influence in the kingdoms to Huntsmen in recent years. This prevented many powerful adventurers from advancing in the ranks, but it did stop corruption from spreading. The higher ranked missions paid very well but were also a lot more difficult. The guilds also provided services and discounts through the towns and cities they were affiliated with, the higher your rank the better the benefits.
The only way for lower ranked Adventurers to take higher ranked missions was to be part of a higher ranked Adventurer's team. Jaune knew that was intentional by design to encourage teams to be formed under a single high ranked adventurer. It was not a perfect system by any means, as usually the higher ranked adventurer would get the lion's share of the payments. In fact, Jaune believed it was deeply flawed and one of the reasons he opted to become a Huntsman in addition to being an Adventurer.
Jaune looked between Sara and Fie, accurately guessing how Fie gained her promotion. Still, as his gaze returned to Fie, his newly found brotherly instincts flared. As the youngest of eight siblings, he never got the joy (though he's sure his sisters would call it misery) of caring for a younger sibling, so he didn't really understand this strange feeling in him.
He broke eye contact with the young girl and looked around the small and cozy room. Two beds, a wardrobe, a clothes hanger that held two coats, a dining table by the wall with a mini fridge and microwave nearby, and an open door that led to a bathroom. There were two armchairs next to the window with a coffee table nearby. He belatedly figured out that he was occupying Sara's bed considering she had to sleep on the armchair.
He saw his damaged bag, and what remained of his belongings on the dining table with Crocea Mors set next to it, newly sheathed in a standard sword belt.
"Where am I anyway?" Jaune appreciated the patience both women gave him as he gathered his thoughts and took in his surroundings.
"You, young man, are enjoying the hospitality of the Weathercock Inn in the town of Celdic. The local doctor treated you for the Deathstalker venom and recommended you not do any strenuous activity for another week from the moment you awaken. That doesn't take Aura into account, however. If you can stand though, we will leave you to get dressed, and we can move downstairs for breakfast. Or I could have the proprietress bring food over instead. I'm sure you are starving, as we were only able to feed you water and honey for the past three days."
Jaune's stomach rumbled loudly at the mention of food. He and Sara chuckled while Fie had a tiny smile on her face. Barely an upturn of her lip. "I'll get dressed if you have any clothes. I fear I destroyed the last of my outfits."
"No worries." Fie moved to the wardrobe and brought him a change of clothes. Jaune could not help but notice how graceful and completely silent the girl was in her movements. 'Just like a cat,' he thought wryly, guessing what kind of Faunus she was.
Sara had moved back to her armchair and put on her socks and boots. "We'll wait for you downstairs, we have much to discuss." She strapped a utility belt around her dress that held an oversized pistol and sword that were the color of her hair, along with plenty of pouches. Then she put on a steel-blue overcoat, which was hanging on the hanger, that had many pockets with several white belts and left it open. Finally, she tied her hair in a messy bun before moving towards the door. "Fie. Give the kid some privacy but stay within earshot in case he needs help."
As Jaune was distracted ogling Sara, he didn't notice that Fie had already dressed. She wore a short black coat, the other one that was on the hanger, which she left unbuttoned over a green crop top that left her stomach bare and gray shorts along with olive boots and black socks. Fie also favored a long green scarf falling to her waist, that covered her neck with enough fabric to cover her mouth if needed. She wore a pair of goggles over her head and had utility belts around her waist and thighs, and her coat was also full of pockets. Girls must really love pockets.
Fie gave him a peace sign, as she turned towards the door. Her coat fluttered enough to show her tail swinging freely side to side. Jaune also noted the pair of what appeared to be a combination of a gun and a dagger (Gundaggers?) strapped to her back. He felt her attempts at levity endearing despite her impassive face. Or was that a resting bitch face? No, not with a face that adorable.
Once the door was closed, Jaune slowly got off the bed only to falter as his legs felt incredibly weak. 'Must be from overboosting my AGL'. He retrieved his underwear from his belongings and started dressing up. It took some time, but he finally managed to dress in a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt. His sneakers didn't survive his ordeal, unfortunately. He could vaguely remember them being destroyed when he dodged the Drake's tail, but the two women were kind enough to provide him with a pair of sandals. Which was nice.
Jaune made his way to the bathroom to wash up. It seemed Fie really did clean him up as he didn't feel dirty or sticky. He did NOT want to think about the fact that she probably washed him thoroughly considering he felt clean everywhere. After washing his face, he looked in the mirror to see himself for the first time in a long while.
His hair had gotten long, nearing his neck. Not long enough to tie it into a wolftail like his grandfather's, but still long enough to warrant a cut soon. He had a stubble, but he knew he had to shave it off. It looked more like dirt than a beard. His past attempts at growing a beard had been disastrous for him as well as hilarious… for others at least. He found a razor and shaved it away with soap.
With his face clean, his features were more visible. He looked more on the gaunt side, but Jaune wasn't sure if that was from traveling or his ordeal in the cave. Regardless, this was a chance for him to rest and recuperate.
He looked at his scars. Jaune lifted his shirt and looked at where the Deathstalker stabbed him. A small scar from the puncture wound was all the evidence of it right above his navel. He still had Aura at the time, and it must have healed him then. His left forearm had slight burn marks from the Drake's acid, but he was confident he would fully heal once he had access to his Aura. The same could be partially said for the scars on his right side. Already, his body's natural healing had hidden most of the scars on his right arm.
He was not too confident about the rest, however, as he checked his thigh and saw the brand from the Dust crystal on his skin. Jaune sighed before moving on. Once his Aura returned in a couple of hours, Jaune was certain he would fully recover his stats before the day ended. Aura really was a cheat, his especially.
'Chicks dig scars, Jaune. Just remember, be confident but not a showoff. Be smooth, but not slick.' Jaune huffed as he remembered his father's words. He shivered as he remembered the last time he tried to introduce himself with that catchphrase he came up with his Dad. Never again.
Jaune finished freshening up, and turned to the table holding his belongings. His tent and camping supplies were missing, and he couldn't recall where he lost them. Half his wallet was burned, and he could only recover 200 Lien from it. His Medkit was intact and so were his portable stove and flashlight. Nothing else survived it seemed, aside from a pair of white socks which he already wore. The inert crystal laid next to Crocea Mors and Jaune tried not to think about it. He couldn't understand how it still existed as Dust returns to dust once it's used. The crystal remained intact though, almost mocking him for his recklessness.
Focusing on the sword, Jaune did not believe he would need it, and by all rights, he should not have a reason to carry it in town. Yet seeing the two women geared for battle when they were simply going for breakfast made him want to do the same. He grabbed the sword and tied it around his waist, as usual, its weight was always perfect for him to easily carry despite how others would claim of its heavy weight. Jaune carefully made his way out of the room, his muscles aching terribly and his breathing already harsh from the small effort he made. Food sounded like bliss right now.
Jaune opened the door to the Inn proper to find Fie leaning on the guardrail waiting for him. Now that he was standing in front of her, he could tell he towered over the girl by an entire head and shoulders. He had to resist the urge to pat her head and nodded to her instead. She nodded back and locked the door behind him, as he moved next to her and took a look around him.
The Inn had a large main room on the ground floor with many tables in the middle. There were booths along one wall with windows overlooking the town outside. There was also a stage by another wall and a long bar right across from the entrance. He could even see a jukebox and a piano in one corner. The second floor was an open balcony with many doors that he guessed led to the rented rooms. The balcony went around the main room with two staircases next to the double doors of the Inn that led outside.
A large old-fashioned grandfather clock along the wall just struck six, making a melodic chime. Despite it being dawn, it was quite lively down there. He could see Sara talking to whom he assumed was the proprietress while gesticulating towards one of the large kegs of beer behind the bar. The proprietress simply shook her head with an amused smile while motioning towards a coffee pot on the stove in the large kitchen behind her, much to Sara's dismay.
All in all, the Inn looked exactly as he would imagine a frontier town's saloon would look like. All that was missing were gunslingers playing poker.
Spread around the barroom were plenty of what looked like farmers and laborers. He could also see the occasional merchant or businessman from Vale sticking out like sore thumbs with their more modern outfits compared to the locals dressed in rough clothing.
The Valemen threw cautious glances at Sara by the bar, glances that Jaune knew were common for the citizenry to throw at what were essentially superhumans who could rip a regular human apart with their bare hands. Despite how crucial they were to society, Huntsmen and Adventurers were generally treated with cautious respect at best and suspicious fear at worst by civilians due to their insane powers.
'As they should be, the weak should fear and respect the strong but the strong are obligated to protect and nurture the weak. For it is through that protection that the weak support the strong in the everlasting fight against the Grimm. And so, the cycle continues.' Jaune recalled his grandfather's philosophy and how he himself felt conflicted about it. He could have supported the strong, and there was absolutely no shame in that. But he refused to be weak and mediocre, and thus he was responsible for the protection of all these people.
'Or die trying.'
'Then again… They could simply be checking Sara's ass out,' Jaune thought with an inward chuckle, dispelling the dark thoughts that just plagued his mind. She was leaning along the bar quite provocatively and even through her coat, her glorious behind was a sight to behold. Despite only knowing her for a few minutes, Jaune could tell that Sara was a vivacious flirt. He held no illusion that she did not know the effect of what she was doing.
"Ready to go?"
Jaune nodded and Fie led the way down the stairs. She walked slowly as he followed her, leaning heavily on the guardrail in case he fell. It was a good thing she was in front of him as once they started going down the steps he lost his balance and would have fallen down the stairs if not for her surprisingly strong grip. Fie simply placed his left hand on her shoulder and gave him another nod.
"Thanks." Jaune didn't feel too macho right now, and gladly leaned heavily on her offered shoulder, noticing that her coat had what felt like metal plates sewn in them. 'Brigandine? Or maybe scale mail?' He wondered if Sara's coat was the same? It gave him a smidgen of an idea for his future armor.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sara had left the bar and headed to a booth with a cart of food. Eventually, they made it to Sara who had spread enough food for six people on the table, with more on the cart. The cart also had a portable stove where a coffee pot was kept warm.
"Hey, you made it. Good job Fie." Sara waved her hand as he sat down across from her while Fie agilely maneuvered herself to Sara's right, by the window. He and Sara unbuckled their main weapons and placed them within hand's reach. Fie did not, and sat ramrod straight as she kept an eye on her surroundings before turning to Sara with the first true smile Jaune had seen her make.
"Margot refused you beer, Sara?"
"I know, right? How dare she? The audacity of some people!" Sara slumped backwards in disappointment before she started filling her plate.
Jaune could barely hold himself as he beheld the food in front of him. There were eggs of different variety, soft fluffy omelettes, scrambled eggs and boiled eggs. Waffles and pancakes. Bacon, ham, cheese, yogurt, potatoes, sausages… there was even a river salmon in there and a jug of milk to the side. Fie had laid claim to the milk jug and poured herself a glass.
They all dug in without a word. None of them spoke as they focused on the food, Fie devouring her salmon quickly before moving to the waffles, 'How stereotypical.' He gathered that Sara was out on an assignment or something last night and was probably famished as well, noting how she devoured plate after plate. Not like he was one to talk, he must have eaten more than the two women combined. After a while, they were done eating, and they were both nursing their coffee while Fie was drinking her third glass of milk.
Eventually, Sara leaned forward, resting her heavy boobs on the table and placed her hands on her cheeks with her elbows on the table. She broke the silence and brought up the Goliath in the room.
"So, Jaune. What brings you so far away from home? Tell us your story. We would love to know how you ended up deep in the Vale mountains, got poisoned by a Deathstalker and blasted a giant Nevermore out of the sky."
Jaune slowly sipped on his coffee as he thought about his answer, not realizing his gaze was glued to Sara's cleavage nor did he notice her smirk. If he was more aware, he would never have dared to ogle a woman who could easily kick his ass in his weakened state. Next to her, Fie was paying close attention, as she finished the last of her milk, while slightly frowning at his gaze.
Jaune had no reason to hide that he was heading to Beacon, but what about the cave chock-full of Dust crystals and the Moon Rock? That was a very valuable secret, which reminded him that he needed to contact his Dad as soon as possible. Only through his family's company would they be able to make a fortune out of what could be the largest Dust discovery in history since Vacuo's.
If he told Sara about the Dust, there was a risk that it could be leaked and the last thing the Arc family needed were the Schnees, or as gramps would emphasize, the Gelé punk, breathing down their necks in an attempt to steal that mine from under their nose.
And yet, he does owe them his life. Not to mention the risk of leaving a potential horde in the making close to Celdic. Jaune might have killed over a thousand Grimm, but he did not delude himself into thinking that he cleared out the entire mountain range of them, especially as nearly the entire horde was composed of young fledglings. That was a task that would take weeks if not months by high-ranking Adventurers and Huntsmen supported by the military. Something that the Arc family might be capable of doing if grandpa pitched in.
Jaune did a brief look around to make sure no one was listening in. The main room was crowded and noisy. Any conversation they had would be easily drowned out. He saw Sara look at Fie and followed her gaze. Fie simply shook her head and gave a thumbs up, silently stating that no one was listening in.
Jaune placed his mug on the table and sighed, his decision made. "Well it all started a month ago when…"
Jaune becomes acquainted with a pair of interesting adventurers. His brotherly instincts awaken and he must now fight the urge to adopt Fie as a sister/pet. Meanwhile, weeks on the road in solitude had lowered his inhibitions. Will that cause any issues? That remains to be seen.
We get a glimpse of Jaune's worldview as a result of looking up to his grandfather. Harsh times breed harsh people, and when people literally have the power to build and destroy the world in their hands then you can bet that there will always be some sort of nobility caste around, regardless of what RT would want to espouse about democracy or liberty or whatever new BS people come up with these days. Violence almost always is the answer, the question is how much?
Noblesse Oblige is something Jaune will take very seriously.
The Celdic arc will be connected to the main plot. You will see a couple of characters from the show making an appearance soon.
Chapter 6 (Celdic I)
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx. Do check out his awesome works on ASOIAF and HP.
Enjoy!
"…And that's when you found me." A waitress had come a while ago and cleaned their table. As he talked, Jaune watched the two's features closely. Both women were good listeners, only interrupting him when they needed something clarified, which was rare. He also subtly felt out Fie and Sara's Aura levels as he trained his Aura Sense. Fie, he already knew, but Sara had more than twice the amount of Aura that Fie had, yet his own still dwarfed hers by at least five times. Sara's Aura also felt electrifying for some reason.
Both women were staring intently at him once he was done, slight shock on their faces. Jaune thought they believed him, all things considered, but they may yet ask for proof. Proof that he wasn't sure he trusted them enough to provide.
Still, he couldn't help the slight smugness he felt to have been able to impress the two skilled and pretty Adventurers. Who knows? Maybe he would–
"Were you out of your damn mind? Who in their right mind would walk all the way to Vale alone? And from Esmeralda? That's five hundred miles from here! And another five hundred miles through the Emerald Forest!!" Came Sara's instant rebuke.
"…dummy." Fie nodded her head along.
Jaune was speechless. Even you, kitty? Such betrayal! That's what grabbed their attention out of his story? That was an hour ago! "I had no choice, you know! I missed the last train, and the next one was delayed for who knows how long because the SDC was throwing a hissy fit about an unauthorized shipment or something regarding the Hyperion Corporation. Stupid corporate politics, I only had enough Lien on me to stay a few more days, and there was no way I would have been able to afford a flight to Vale. Airbuses aren't cheap, you know."
Sara shook her head in dismay, "You're a D-ranked Adventurer. It would have been beyond simple to take a few missions for a week until the train was ready. You're telling me that you couldn't have taken a sewer mission? Or even a fishing mission?"
Sewer was a designation for cleaning the sewers from Grimm infestations. Fishing was the same but for the docks from aquatic Grimm. Both of them were very common in a coastal city like Esmeralda. Jaune did not want to confess that he had thought of it but got lost in the large city trying to find the Adventurer's Guild. It didn't help that he had already made up his mind to go on an adventure.
"Alright, alright, you made your point. It was my mistake. I was just rushing to get to Vale and bored out of my mind. It all ended well enough anyway." Jaune crossed his arms and frowned petulantly.
Sara narrowed her eyes in a deadpan expression which looked weird on her normally expressive face. Combined with Fie's natural deadpan right next to her, it made for an amusing yet weird sight. Eventually, Sara sighed and slumped back in the booth, "Forget it, kid. It doesn't matter anymore. You did well surviving, all things considered. You Arcs always make life interesting, if nothing else. Makes me wonder if I should have taken up the Colonel's offer a year ago."
That caught Jaune's attention, "What offer?"
Sara waved her hand dismissively, "Yeah, about a year ago, I was in Massalia. Saw you get your ass handed to you by the Colonel in a spar, who later asked me to take you in as an apprentice. I refused because I had just taken in Fie and had all my hands busy raising one brat, let alone two. Despite my fears, Fie was a wonder to work with, weren't you, sweetie?" Sara smiled warmly at Fie and lovingly patted her head. For some reason, Jaune expected the girl to shy away from the touch, but surprisingly, she moved closer to Sara and appeared to enjoy her touch very much, if her glinting eyes and slight smile were any indication. It was obvious that both of them were very close to each other.
'Adorable. Give me a turn.'
Fie and Sara stared at him, and he suddenly realized he had said that out loud. "Hear that Fie? Wanna have him take a turn petting and caressing that fluffy hair of yours?"
The younger girl stared blankly at the older woman who had intensified her petting before she turned her gaze to the young man across from her. She kept gazing at Jaune for so long that he started fidgeting in his seat from embarrassment. The girl narrowed her eyes slightly at Jaune, as if honestly contemplating it and assessing the guy's ability to give good pets before she seemingly lost interest and turned to look out of the window.
Eventually, even Sara felt awkward and decided to change the topic. "You know, kid, I don't mind getting appreciative stares. I'm sexy, and I know it, I would have to be blind and dumb not to notice it. But many women would not be impressed with that attitude of yours."
Jaune flushed in shame and embarrassment, "S-sorry. I've been traveling alone for so long, I must have forgotten my manners. Please forgive me." The young man lowered his head in apology.
"It's alright, kiddo, I don't mind you staring. Really, I don't. I like to see confidence in men." She grinned slyly, "Just don't go around ogling every hot bird you see, cause not every gal is cool like me."
Jaune chuckled awkwardly, while cursing himself inwardly. Sara appeared cool about the whole thing but he wasn't naive nor dumb. He needs to watch himself from now on.
He perked up as he recalled Sara's earlier words. It brought up a memory from this morning. 'So she was the one gramps considered as a mentor?' If so, then all the more reason he could trust her. Still, there was one last thing he needed to confirm to fully trust her.
"Earlier, you claimed to have been offered a position as my mentor. Do you think you could have taught me better than my grandfather?" Jaune challenged back.
Sara frowned at that and looked deep in thought. "Probably not. I would have taken you to the Southlands where we adventurers are most active along the narrow sea. An entirely different experience from what you would have gotten in Vytal, where you learned how to deal with Grimm and civilized folks. The Southlands are not for the faint of heart, you would be dealing with more man-made problems than Grimm, for starters."
That confirmed it for Jaune. If she was the one whom Gramps was willing to have him apprentice under, there was no doubt in his mind he could trust her with his life. Maximilian Arc was slow to trust and befriend others, but when you gained his trust, you gained his friendship for life.
"Now, back to the topic at hand. You said you had to fight a mutant in the mountains. Did you get any pictures of it? As you know, any mutated Grimm is an extreme hazard that must be reported. Our greatest advantage against the Grimm is our knowledge of them, after all."
It was Jaune's turn to frown. He knew this was coming, and he had to make a choice now. He had avoided telling them about the Dust though he did allude to it. Jaune had also downplayed the amount of Grimm to avoid scrutiny. He didn't even tell them how he made his way out of the cave. Nevertheless, he had already confirmed Sara's trustworthiness. Fie clearly followed her lead in everything as well.
'Forget it. I won't hesitate. Trust it is, then.'
Jaune pulled out his scroll and asked them to give him theirs. Sara cocked an eyebrow but didn't hesitate to give him hers, with Fie following her lead. He transferred the two videos to both scrolls using the infrared feature and handed them back.
"Both videos are about an hour long combined. I would ask you to watch them in private, away from prying eyes or ears. They include everything that happened to me inside the mountains."
'Except for Krystal, obviously.'
"And I will warn you that what I found there is a big deal. Big enough that I need to contact Gramps or my father as soon as possible." Jaune informed them in a low voice and with as serious a look as he could muster. The Inn was slowly emptying as the farmers made their way to their fields and the merchants to their stalls. Their voices would easily echo in the emptier room.
Sara hummed noncommittally, "That might be a problem. The Repeater Tower is damaged, and I just escorted the repair crew yesterday. They aren't sure of the extent of the damage, but they are positive that it was man-made. In order to properly assess the damage, they had to set up camp there, with a large contingent of the garrison here assigned as guards. I didn't stay long enough to learn when they will finish, but I do know they will try to finish before the next train to Vale comes, so they can return home. Nevertheless, our only reliable means of long-distance communication is the ancient landline in the Barracks that is connected to Beacon, and it only delivers Morse codes. Beacon's CCT still delivers, but the static and low signal makes it unreliable. You can blame the surrounding mountains for that. Our only mode of local communication is the old radio tower by the train station, as well as the short-range communication feature of our Scrolls."
Jaune sighed in disappointment. He would have rather contacted his father as soon as he awoke, but fate had other plans, it seemed. There appeared to be more problems with this region than meets the eye.
He was brought out of his musings when Sara motioned for him to hand over his scroll. Jaune mirrored her earlier expression and cocked an eyebrow before acquiescing. She typed something on it, and took a selfie with a sultry smile and a wink, with Fie's surprised face in the background, before giving the scroll to Fie. Quicker than him on the uptake, Fie did the same, only her selfie was a peace sign with her usual impassive face, her mouth hidden behind her scarf. Sara mirrored Fie with another peace sign by her eye in the background. Jaune smiled at Fie as she handed his scroll back, seeing that they had both added their contacts to his scroll. He sent them a message with a greeting, only to flinch when a camera flash hit him. Jaune looked up to see both ladies with their Scrolls out and typing something on them. Probably saving his contacts.
'Yes. Scored two girls' numbers. And they're not even related to me!'
"We'll take a look at those videos later. For now, unless you are still hungry, I feel like a change of scenery would do nicely. I have an important meeting with the Guard Captain soon. It has to do with the patrols I mentioned." Sara stood up from her booth, Jaune and Fie following her. "I already paid for breakfast, but don't get too used to it, please. An adventurer's salary isn't the best." Sara joked as Jaune and Fie moved to stand next to her.
Jaune also stood up before he was reminded of something, "Oh yeah. I can't believe I forgot." He turned towards them both and stood firmly with his hands on his sides, much to their confusion. "I did not thank you for saving me. I owe you both my life and ask you to never hesitate if you ever need a favor from me in the future. From here on, you can always depend on me in your time of need."
Jaune gave them both a formal bow in the style of the Atlesian nobility that his grandmother taught him. His left foot was slightly bent and behind his right foot, his left hand forming a fist over his heart while his right hand held out palm open, with his head lowered but his eyes staring directly at theirs. If his guess was correct, and Sara was Atlesian, then she would take his hand into a handshake and thus acknowledging his debt to her. It also meant that he saw them as friends and expected the same from them.
It was quite tedious and formal if Jaune had to be honest, but it was the first thing that came to his mind. His honor demanded that he return the favor of saving him in any way possible. If it weren't for them, his journey would have been cut short before he could accomplish any of his ambitions.
On the other hand, It's likely that Sara could be from Mantle and has no idea what this is about.
Sara gently smiled, accepting his open palm with her hand and turning it into a firm handshake, much to Jaune's happiness. "Don't worry, kid. Just another day in the life of an adventurer. Your offering of favor does bring up something else I wanted to discuss. Let's move outside. I'm sure you want to check on your horse."
After letting go of his hand, Sara led the way out of the Inn. Jaune followed with Fie next to him. She looked ready to offer a shoulder again in case he needed help. Instead, the young man offered her a handshake, basically telling her that he also owed her. He was slightly surprised when she accepted, even giving him a slight smile. Barely an upturn of her lips, but her eyes twinkled in amusement.
"Will you need a hand?" She said softly, as she hadn't released his hand.
Jaune smiled at her offer and shook his head. He won't be needing her help as he could already feel energy trickling into his system.
His Aura was back!
"Celdic is a large town of five thousand residents. It's the only real town in the region and is considered a free-town. Meaning that it does not pay taxes to Vale nor owe its allegiance to any specific kingdom. At least on paper. In reality, however, they pay to have the Vale military station a base here, which makes them a colony of Vale in all but name."
Sara was explaining to him about the town he found himself in. They had just exited the Weathercock Inn, which was situated on the east side of town close to its large gates. In the distance from the open gates, Jaune could see the Vale mountains, which were quite close to the town, surrounding it from every direction except west. He noticed that the town had high stone walls to protect it from Grimm attacks, but Jaune felt the wooden gates were an obvious weakness. Especially with how wide they were and the lack of a moat or even gun turrets.
"Celdic itself has a militia, but they are specifically used for guarding the market and warehouses with the local Sheriff and his posse. They are rarely called upon for other reasons due to the decades of peacetime, as well as the presence of the military and Huntsmen."
That brought Jaune's attention, "If they're so close to Vale, then how come they called two Adventurers like yourselves for a mission?"
Sara smiled, "good question and the answer is simple. They didn't. Or rather, they hadn't intended to hire us, but Beacon was shorthanded and Celdic's original request for a Student Team plus a Veteran Huntsmen duo was rejected. Instead, Beacon promised two Huntsmen and forwarded the request for backup to the Guild in Esmeralda. Ozpin had been trying to foster better relations with the Guild in recent years, so this was a good opportunity for him."
Jaune nodded as Sara continued. "The entire region is sandwiched by the Vale Mountains and the Emerald forest. There are scores of homesteads, dozens of villages, and a few smaller towns in a fifty-mile radius from Celdic. They are all connected by road, and three times a year, they gather here for Celdic's Grand Market, where they trade their products and purchase finished goods from the visiting Vale merchants. Naturally, it turns into a festival that is essential for morale in this frontier town. It gets quite jam-packed as well, as you had noticed when we had to make do with a smaller bedroom. Such numbers are nothing compared to a city, of course, even one of the smaller ones; yet Celdic is vital for all those villages for it has something even more important than the market. A railway station."
They walked on the side pavement next to the dirt-packed road toward the other side of town, where the communal stables were. Celdic had fully adopted automobile laws, Sara was saying, so stables and horses have gone down in popularity. It had nothing to do with people driving cars, which were considered a luxury here, and everything to do with how modern the farming sector is here. Tractors, trucks, and harvesters drove up and down the wide main road in and out of town constantly.
There was only one stable in the entire town, and it was mostly used by the military base for their archaic cavalry unit, the Dragoons. It only takes twenty minutes to walk from the East gate to the West one, so the distance wasn't a real issue for Jaune.
"The Grand Market is a festival held every mid-spring, mid-summer, and mid-autumn. It should be ready to officially open in a couple of days, but there are plenty of open vendors already if you want to buy or sell something. Incidentally, Celdic is renowned for its many windmills and Rye beer. We can get a mug or three later tonight." Sara grinned at the prospect of beer, while Fie was not amused.
"Please don't get plastered again, Sara. I'm the one who has to carry you, and my nose can't stand it anymore."
"Oh, don't you worry, sweetie, I have a strong knight who I'm sure would gladly carry a lady to bed at night." Jaune groaned as Sara slapped his shoulder. Growing up with eight older women, he had his fair share of handling drunk women. They were a complete nightmare, suffice it to say.
He decided to ignore the woman as they approached a crossroads. To the south was the entrance to the Marketplace, while to the north led to the train station. The station and tracks themselves were constructed outside of town, with the entire building connected via a small gate that could be shut and sealed in case of an attack. It was a smart defensible option, although it left the station itself vulnerable to attack.
They stopped for a moment as they noticed the holo-screen show that the next and only train would be the SDC train heading to Vale from Esmeralda.
"Why aren't there more trains coming here? You would think they could have daily trains from Esmeralda to Vale."
"That's because there is a direct route already." Came Sara's reply as she moved on down the road, Jaune and Fie following her. Hecould see large warehouses with whom he assumed were militia guarding it as well as the entrance to the Market Square, where the festival was held, but they walked past it. "It's along the coast and passes by Forever Fall forest. Don't be upset that you didn't notice it, you wouldn't have been capable of affording it anyway. It's aimed at the rich who prefer the scenic route instead of flying. Much safer as well, with no Nevermores or other flying Grimm to worry about. The SDC uses that route as well for their Dust shipments, but they still make the trip through the Celdic line. Delays are common, and schedules are sporadic. The thousand-mile ride would only take a day with the only stop being Celdic, but the demand isn't enough for the SDC to fully commit a dedicated route through it."
There were plenty of residential houses along the road, but one of them caught his attention as it looked more like a mansion than a house. Fie told him that was Mayor Otto's house, who is also known as the Market Manager. Close to it was a large building with a sign "Odvin's Dust Factory", which Jaune assumed was the town's Dust shop. He might need to swing by it soon.
Jaune focused back on Sara, "There is only one train from Esmeralda to Vale that passes by Celdic, and it can usually be counted on to appear at least once a week. It already came by two days ago, if you're wondering, with most of the Vale merchants who would set up shop for the Market. The SDC train carries minerals and Dust shipments from the mines north of Esmeralda to Vale. Some of these Dust shipments are vital for the farming communities of Celdic as they provide the newly discovered fertilizer Dust that has become popular in the last decade. Once the Grand Market begins, you will find plenty of farmers and merchants trading it for their products to prepare for the next festival in Autumn. This new Dust is so effective that it quite literally cuts the growing season by half. The food sector in Vale has crashed as a result, and after plenty of complaints from Vale's own farmers as well as strikes and acts of violence, an agreement was reached with Celdic's farmers to switch to mostly cash crops instead. Thornfield is a prime example with its lavender fields. I know there is another village that grows cotton while another started growing grapes and other fruits for wine and jam. Celdic still retains the right to grow grains for their beer though and has kept an extensive system of windmills and farmlands for it."
"I've heard of that, actually. The Hyperion Corporation was the one to discover the manufacturing of Fertilizer Dust. They usually manufacture aircraft and weapons, but according to Dad, in recent years, they have begun dabbling in Dust mining and manufacturing. At first, they were trying to come up with a new kind of explosive munitions but discovered Fertilizer instead. Safe to say, the SDC was not amused, and considering the train and rail track from Esmeralda are owned by them, you can guess how convoluted the whole situation had become. At least both companies have their own docks in Esmeralda."
Sara turned her head back to Jaune as he talked, "Yeah, your dad would know all about that. The Lichter family were the founders of Hyperion. It was quite the scandal, and I wasn't even born back then when their heir Lucas eloped with the Lance Maiden, who was nine years his senior and abandoned his company duties. Do they still call him the White Knight?"
Jaune burst out laughing at his dad's old nickname, "Nah, that's ancient history. Dad had mended his relations with his family and now works closely with his younger brother. Also, call him that to his face for what he did, and he will spend two hours lecturing you about the wisdom of marrying a woman who will still look in her thirties when he is old and decrepit. That is, if he doesn't shoot you in the face, he's still an Atlas graduate and one of the finest marksmen I've ever met."
It was Sara's turn to laugh now, and they continued walking in companionable silence, though Jaune noticed Fie kept an alert eye on the people on the streets. It was only now that Jaune noticed the stares they were getting. Many of them were kind and in awe, especially as he noticed Sara greeting and waving at random townsfolk. But there was still the occasional wary look that he was worried about when the common person was confronted with monsters in human form. Jaune absentmindedly rested his hand on his sword, getting a side glance from Fie for his wariness.
"So, have you been here before, Sara? Adventurers don't usually operate so close to Vale anymore. I also couldn't help but notice the people knowing you."
Sara shot him a grin, "Nope, my first time here. I'm just a delight to be around. Who knows, kiddo? You might learn a thing or two if you stick with me."
Jaune stared at her before turning to Fie, who huffed at her partner. "First night here, while I was busy caring for you, she bought a round of beer for the whole Inn before challenging anyone who would dare to drink her under the table. Suffice to say, she made thrice what she paid in bet winnings and risked emptying the Inn's stockpile of beer before the festival could even start. People loved her for it. I hated how I had to carry her drunk ass upstairs."
This was the longest Jaune had heard Fie talk, and looked on in bemusement as Sara laughed even harder at Fie's complaints. He had a strong feeling that there was a lesson to be learned here.
As a future Huntsman, he must endure the suspicious and fearful stares he will get from civilians. This was essential due to the Grimm's ability to sense negative emotions. If the people you are trying to protect don't trust you and let fear control them, then you will have a hard time keeping the Grimm focused on you. What Sara did was quite ingenious, as she ingratiated herself with an unknown people who suddenly looked at her as a friend and reliable protector instead of a suspicious stranger. It does help that she had a fun and charming personality, not to mention her good looks. Jaune may yet learn from his once-possible mentor after all.
They passed by the town's hospital as they neared the West gate, and Jaune could see that this one looked more formidable than its eastern counterpart. It was still made from wood, probably from the Emerald Forest that he could see in the distance from the open gates. There were multiple guard towers with machine gun nests along the wall, and he could see soldiers patrolling along it with binoculars and radio sets nearby. Jaune assumed that the town invested most of its defense on the obvious threat coming from the west instead of spreading themselves thin protecting the entire wall. Whether that was wise or not remains to be seen.
Sara saw his gaze and answered his unasked question, "The Emerald Forest is considered Beacon's backyard, and they intentionally leave its Grimm population high for the students to train against. The downside of that is towns like Celdic, that are a throwing distance from the forest, have a constant Grimm threat. Especially during summer, when most of the students return to their homes and the Academy is shorthanded. It's why there is always a veteran Huntsman or a team of Trainee-Huntsmen here at all times, with more ready to be sent in emergencies according to their agreement with Beacon. Theoretically, the Huntsmen, in addition to the military base, should suffice for any Grimm attacks, but due to the long peace and over-reliance on Huntsmen, the garrison here had become lax and lazy. Their gear hasn't had an upgrade in a long time, either."
Just as Sara was saying that she stopped to stare at a barracks building. It… was not a very impressive sight. Its paint was coming off in places, there were cracks in the ground, and the vegetation was crawling up the walls, allowing any infiltrator an easy time sneaking in. The two guards by the gates did not inspire confidence with how lackadaisical they sat in their post, playing cards on a barrel. Jaune could even recognize the bolt-action rifles they were carrying to be over 120 years old! That was before Dust rounds were a thing.
All in all, he thought that, on first impression, the garrison lacked discipline. He could forgive the militia from earlier for that, as they were not career soldiers, but here? It would be simple to repaint the buildings, fix the cracks and clean the ivy. Yet, their unwillingness speaks of procrastination. At least their guns, at first glance, appeared to be in good condition and were well maintained. He didn't want to judge them too harshly, and he hoped there might be more than meets the eye.
There was an old man arguing with a younger yet still middle-aged soldier in the distance. They both dressed differently, possibly from different units, but were clearly high-ranking soldiers considering the surrounding troops saluted them both as they walked past them. Jaune also noted that the majority of the soldiers he saw were male, and the youngest couldn't be older than twenty. None of them had Aura except for the two officers who noticed Sara and waved her over.
"The stables are right around the corner. The only thing I could say is impressive about the garrison here is their cavalry unit. It might be archaic, but they do have an old tradition that they follow that is quite impressive. Too bad they only have thirty Dragoons in addition to the hundred Guards in service. Fie, take Jaune to see his horse. I need to discuss my assignments with the guard captain. I'll catch up to you shortly." Sara walked in without waiting for a reply. She didn't look too enthusiastic going in, and Jaune could probably guess why. Huntsmen don't necessarily get along with Military types. It would be much worse for Adventurers who were seen as mercenaries at best or, in some places, glorified bandits at worst. Jaune knew of certain Adventurers who had been accused of acts of banditry, but lack of proof allowed them to go free. He could understand the military's wariness but did not like it.
Fie motioned for him to follow down the street to a decently sized stable that could likely hold a hundred steeds comfortably. She waved to an old guard lounging on a rickety old rocking chair, who nodded and waved them in. The stench of horse and manure assaulted their noses. Jaune was alright with it, but a look at the Cat-Faunus next to him told him that Fie wasn't a fan as she moved her scarf to her nose. The scarf shone green for a moment, and Jaune was shocked to see it had Dust weaved into it. Probably Wind Dust from the color as well as what his senses were telling him. That was as impressive as it was extravagant, he had to reevaluate his views on Fie and likely Sara if they could afford to have dust weaved into their outfits. He had no clue how it was made, but he knew it was expensive and time-consuming. It also required the user to have excellent control over their Aura, or else they risked accidental discharges.
Fie led the way along the stalls, and Jaune could understand why Sara thought the Dragoons here were impressive. These were no ordinary horses. They were massive thoroughbreds made for war. There were fifty of the horses, and twenty of them had their Aura unlocked, matching the amount of active duty Dragoons, though he guessed ten of them must be on patrol. They would be a formidable force on a charge, whether it's against the Grimm or on a flanking maneuver against poorly equipped bandits. His inner Knight Nerd was screaming in joy, but his cynical Adventurer side told him that despite how impressive they were, these horses were obsolete. Even with full barding protecting them, it would not save them from the relentless staccato of machine gun fire. Yet, for their purposes against the Grimm?
They would do splendidly.
Out of curiosity, he checked the cost of Observe on them. The cost ranges from 1 AP for those without Aura to 5 AP for those with. He Observed an Aura-unlocked warhorse.
'Nice stats, but I take it they work differently for non-humanoids?'
Jaune hummed at Krystal's words and moved on. It seems Aura protects from his abilities to an extent. It would explain why it cost him almost nothing to Observe the Grimm horde. Then why did it cost so much to Observe Ugur the Drake? Could it be because of its age? Or maybe due to his panic as he just dumped Aura into the ability? Something to be careful of in the future.
Fie led him past stable boys brushing the horses down and the occasional Dragoon tending to his horse. This time, Jaune was impressed as the Dragoon carried himself well and with dignity compared to the guards he saw by the barracks and even had their Aura unlocked. Nevertheless, theirs were minuscule compared to even Fie, and Jaune was reminded how unfair Aura worked. He didn't bother Observing them with his Aura still in two digits.
Aura only grows with age, and no amount of training would increase it, only refine your control of it as well as improve your recovery. It never stopped growing, but the growth amount differs from person to person. In one of his lessons at home, His father taught him that Aura, and the soul for that matter, were very difficult to study, but the Arcs have managed to learn a few quirks of it over the centuries.
The average person grows their Aura by 1% every year of living, and it doesn't matter if you unlock your Aura at age five or fifty, it would still be the same amount with the same growth ratio. Yet, there are obvious outliers. Like the Arcs. The amount you have upon activating tells you how much you will potentially have in your lifetime. Considering Fie's young age, Jaune had no doubt that she would eventually grow in strength to match Sara in reserves. Yet, Sara will also keep growing in Aura. Ultimately, as his grandfather once told him, it's never about how much Aura you have, but rather how you use it that matters. His Dad, and Kilika, were good examples of that.
They nodded and greeted whoever noticed them, but they were left alone for the most part. Eventually, they made it to three adjoining stalls, and Jaune immediately made his way to Arthur.
"Hey, you old nag. I heard you helped save me." Arthur snorted as Jaune patted his head. Jaune felt out how much it would cost him to Observe the horse. To his surprise, it worked without any cost.
Jaune couldn't help but choke a gasp at what he read. He knew the horse was old, but even older than him? He must have been one tough sumbitch to reach his twenties as a draft horse.
Fie next to him seemed to sense his emotions, "Are you okay, Jaune? Is Arthur okay?"
Jaune turned to her and nodded, "Yeah, Arthur is just old. I just realized that he doesn't have long to live. If it wasn't for me unlocking his Aura, he probably would have been mercy killed."
Fie approached the horse and patted his nose, "He's a good horse." Arthur clearly understood her as he neighed happily at her touch. "I didn't unlock my horse's Aura because I know I won't be able to take him with me on my travels." Fie turned her gaze towards a gray-dappled horse in the next stall over, "We picked them up in a village a few days ago, but I like the idea of having a bonded animal on my side."
Jaune and Fie then proceeded to clean and tend to their respective horses before they exercised them in the pens. The stable boys were only responsible for the Dragoons' horses, after all. When Sara didn't show up after an hour, they tended to her horse as well before refilling their food and water.
Enjoy!
"…And that's when you found me." A waitress had come a while ago and cleaned their table. As he talked, Jaune watched the two's features closely. Both women were good listeners, only interrupting him when they needed something clarified, which was rare. He also subtly felt out Fie and Sara's Aura levels as he trained his Aura Sense. Fie, he already knew, but Sara had more than twice the amount of Aura that Fie had, yet his own still dwarfed hers by at least five times. Sara's Aura also felt electrifying for some reason.
Both women were staring intently at him once he was done, slight shock on their faces. Jaune thought they believed him, all things considered, but they may yet ask for proof. Proof that he wasn't sure he trusted them enough to provide.
Still, he couldn't help the slight smugness he felt to have been able to impress the two skilled and pretty Adventurers. Who knows? Maybe he would–
"Were you out of your damn mind? Who in their right mind would walk all the way to Vale alone? And from Esmeralda? That's five hundred miles from here! And another five hundred miles through the Emerald Forest!!" Came Sara's instant rebuke.
"…dummy." Fie nodded her head along.
Jaune was speechless. Even you, kitty? Such betrayal! That's what grabbed their attention out of his story? That was an hour ago! "I had no choice, you know! I missed the last train, and the next one was delayed for who knows how long because the SDC was throwing a hissy fit about an unauthorized shipment or something regarding the Hyperion Corporation. Stupid corporate politics, I only had enough Lien on me to stay a few more days, and there was no way I would have been able to afford a flight to Vale. Airbuses aren't cheap, you know."
Sara shook her head in dismay, "You're a D-ranked Adventurer. It would have been beyond simple to take a few missions for a week until the train was ready. You're telling me that you couldn't have taken a sewer mission? Or even a fishing mission?"
Sewer was a designation for cleaning the sewers from Grimm infestations. Fishing was the same but for the docks from aquatic Grimm. Both of them were very common in a coastal city like Esmeralda. Jaune did not want to confess that he had thought of it but got lost in the large city trying to find the Adventurer's Guild. It didn't help that he had already made up his mind to go on an adventure.
"Alright, alright, you made your point. It was my mistake. I was just rushing to get to Vale and bored out of my mind. It all ended well enough anyway." Jaune crossed his arms and frowned petulantly.
Sara narrowed her eyes in a deadpan expression which looked weird on her normally expressive face. Combined with Fie's natural deadpan right next to her, it made for an amusing yet weird sight. Eventually, Sara sighed and slumped back in the booth, "Forget it, kid. It doesn't matter anymore. You did well surviving, all things considered. You Arcs always make life interesting, if nothing else. Makes me wonder if I should have taken up the Colonel's offer a year ago."
That caught Jaune's attention, "What offer?"
Sara waved her hand dismissively, "Yeah, about a year ago, I was in Massalia. Saw you get your ass handed to you by the Colonel in a spar, who later asked me to take you in as an apprentice. I refused because I had just taken in Fie and had all my hands busy raising one brat, let alone two. Despite my fears, Fie was a wonder to work with, weren't you, sweetie?" Sara smiled warmly at Fie and lovingly patted her head. For some reason, Jaune expected the girl to shy away from the touch, but surprisingly, she moved closer to Sara and appeared to enjoy her touch very much, if her glinting eyes and slight smile were any indication. It was obvious that both of them were very close to each other.
'Adorable. Give me a turn.'
Fie and Sara stared at him, and he suddenly realized he had said that out loud. "Hear that Fie? Wanna have him take a turn petting and caressing that fluffy hair of yours?"
The younger girl stared blankly at the older woman who had intensified her petting before she turned her gaze to the young man across from her. She kept gazing at Jaune for so long that he started fidgeting in his seat from embarrassment. The girl narrowed her eyes slightly at Jaune, as if honestly contemplating it and assessing the guy's ability to give good pets before she seemingly lost interest and turned to look out of the window.
Eventually, even Sara felt awkward and decided to change the topic. "You know, kid, I don't mind getting appreciative stares. I'm sexy, and I know it, I would have to be blind and dumb not to notice it. But many women would not be impressed with that attitude of yours."
Jaune flushed in shame and embarrassment, "S-sorry. I've been traveling alone for so long, I must have forgotten my manners. Please forgive me." The young man lowered his head in apology.
"It's alright, kiddo, I don't mind you staring. Really, I don't. I like to see confidence in men." She grinned slyly, "Just don't go around ogling every hot bird you see, cause not every gal is cool like me."
Jaune chuckled awkwardly, while cursing himself inwardly. Sara appeared cool about the whole thing but he wasn't naive nor dumb. He needs to watch himself from now on.
He perked up as he recalled Sara's earlier words. It brought up a memory from this morning. 'So she was the one gramps considered as a mentor?' If so, then all the more reason he could trust her. Still, there was one last thing he needed to confirm to fully trust her.
"Earlier, you claimed to have been offered a position as my mentor. Do you think you could have taught me better than my grandfather?" Jaune challenged back.
Sara frowned at that and looked deep in thought. "Probably not. I would have taken you to the Southlands where we adventurers are most active along the narrow sea. An entirely different experience from what you would have gotten in Vytal, where you learned how to deal with Grimm and civilized folks. The Southlands are not for the faint of heart, you would be dealing with more man-made problems than Grimm, for starters."
That confirmed it for Jaune. If she was the one whom Gramps was willing to have him apprentice under, there was no doubt in his mind he could trust her with his life. Maximilian Arc was slow to trust and befriend others, but when you gained his trust, you gained his friendship for life.
"Now, back to the topic at hand. You said you had to fight a mutant in the mountains. Did you get any pictures of it? As you know, any mutated Grimm is an extreme hazard that must be reported. Our greatest advantage against the Grimm is our knowledge of them, after all."
It was Jaune's turn to frown. He knew this was coming, and he had to make a choice now. He had avoided telling them about the Dust though he did allude to it. Jaune had also downplayed the amount of Grimm to avoid scrutiny. He didn't even tell them how he made his way out of the cave. Nevertheless, he had already confirmed Sara's trustworthiness. Fie clearly followed her lead in everything as well.
'Forget it. I won't hesitate. Trust it is, then.'
Jaune pulled out his scroll and asked them to give him theirs. Sara cocked an eyebrow but didn't hesitate to give him hers, with Fie following her lead. He transferred the two videos to both scrolls using the infrared feature and handed them back.
"Both videos are about an hour long combined. I would ask you to watch them in private, away from prying eyes or ears. They include everything that happened to me inside the mountains."
'Except for Krystal, obviously.'
"And I will warn you that what I found there is a big deal. Big enough that I need to contact Gramps or my father as soon as possible." Jaune informed them in a low voice and with as serious a look as he could muster. The Inn was slowly emptying as the farmers made their way to their fields and the merchants to their stalls. Their voices would easily echo in the emptier room.
Sara hummed noncommittally, "That might be a problem. The Repeater Tower is damaged, and I just escorted the repair crew yesterday. They aren't sure of the extent of the damage, but they are positive that it was man-made. In order to properly assess the damage, they had to set up camp there, with a large contingent of the garrison here assigned as guards. I didn't stay long enough to learn when they will finish, but I do know they will try to finish before the next train to Vale comes, so they can return home. Nevertheless, our only reliable means of long-distance communication is the ancient landline in the Barracks that is connected to Beacon, and it only delivers Morse codes. Beacon's CCT still delivers, but the static and low signal makes it unreliable. You can blame the surrounding mountains for that. Our only mode of local communication is the old radio tower by the train station, as well as the short-range communication feature of our Scrolls."
Jaune sighed in disappointment. He would have rather contacted his father as soon as he awoke, but fate had other plans, it seemed. There appeared to be more problems with this region than meets the eye.
He was brought out of his musings when Sara motioned for him to hand over his scroll. Jaune mirrored her earlier expression and cocked an eyebrow before acquiescing. She typed something on it, and took a selfie with a sultry smile and a wink, with Fie's surprised face in the background, before giving the scroll to Fie. Quicker than him on the uptake, Fie did the same, only her selfie was a peace sign with her usual impassive face, her mouth hidden behind her scarf. Sara mirrored Fie with another peace sign by her eye in the background. Jaune smiled at Fie as she handed his scroll back, seeing that they had both added their contacts to his scroll. He sent them a message with a greeting, only to flinch when a camera flash hit him. Jaune looked up to see both ladies with their Scrolls out and typing something on them. Probably saving his contacts.
'Yes. Scored two girls' numbers. And they're not even related to me!'
"We'll take a look at those videos later. For now, unless you are still hungry, I feel like a change of scenery would do nicely. I have an important meeting with the Guard Captain soon. It has to do with the patrols I mentioned." Sara stood up from her booth, Jaune and Fie following her. "I already paid for breakfast, but don't get too used to it, please. An adventurer's salary isn't the best." Sara joked as Jaune and Fie moved to stand next to her.
Jaune also stood up before he was reminded of something, "Oh yeah. I can't believe I forgot." He turned towards them both and stood firmly with his hands on his sides, much to their confusion. "I did not thank you for saving me. I owe you both my life and ask you to never hesitate if you ever need a favor from me in the future. From here on, you can always depend on me in your time of need."
Jaune gave them both a formal bow in the style of the Atlesian nobility that his grandmother taught him. His left foot was slightly bent and behind his right foot, his left hand forming a fist over his heart while his right hand held out palm open, with his head lowered but his eyes staring directly at theirs. If his guess was correct, and Sara was Atlesian, then she would take his hand into a handshake and thus acknowledging his debt to her. It also meant that he saw them as friends and expected the same from them.
It was quite tedious and formal if Jaune had to be honest, but it was the first thing that came to his mind. His honor demanded that he return the favor of saving him in any way possible. If it weren't for them, his journey would have been cut short before he could accomplish any of his ambitions.
On the other hand, It's likely that Sara could be from Mantle and has no idea what this is about.
Sara gently smiled, accepting his open palm with her hand and turning it into a firm handshake, much to Jaune's happiness. "Don't worry, kid. Just another day in the life of an adventurer. Your offering of favor does bring up something else I wanted to discuss. Let's move outside. I'm sure you want to check on your horse."
After letting go of his hand, Sara led the way out of the Inn. Jaune followed with Fie next to him. She looked ready to offer a shoulder again in case he needed help. Instead, the young man offered her a handshake, basically telling her that he also owed her. He was slightly surprised when she accepted, even giving him a slight smile. Barely an upturn of her lips, but her eyes twinkled in amusement.
"Will you need a hand?" She said softly, as she hadn't released his hand.
Jaune smiled at her offer and shook his head. He won't be needing her help as he could already feel energy trickling into his system.
His Aura was back!
"Celdic is a large town of five thousand residents. It's the only real town in the region and is considered a free-town. Meaning that it does not pay taxes to Vale nor owe its allegiance to any specific kingdom. At least on paper. In reality, however, they pay to have the Vale military station a base here, which makes them a colony of Vale in all but name."
Sara was explaining to him about the town he found himself in. They had just exited the Weathercock Inn, which was situated on the east side of town close to its large gates. In the distance from the open gates, Jaune could see the Vale mountains, which were quite close to the town, surrounding it from every direction except west. He noticed that the town had high stone walls to protect it from Grimm attacks, but Jaune felt the wooden gates were an obvious weakness. Especially with how wide they were and the lack of a moat or even gun turrets.
"Celdic itself has a militia, but they are specifically used for guarding the market and warehouses with the local Sheriff and his posse. They are rarely called upon for other reasons due to the decades of peacetime, as well as the presence of the military and Huntsmen."
That brought Jaune's attention, "If they're so close to Vale, then how come they called two Adventurers like yourselves for a mission?"
Sara smiled, "good question and the answer is simple. They didn't. Or rather, they hadn't intended to hire us, but Beacon was shorthanded and Celdic's original request for a Student Team plus a Veteran Huntsmen duo was rejected. Instead, Beacon promised two Huntsmen and forwarded the request for backup to the Guild in Esmeralda. Ozpin had been trying to foster better relations with the Guild in recent years, so this was a good opportunity for him."
Jaune nodded as Sara continued. "The entire region is sandwiched by the Vale Mountains and the Emerald forest. There are scores of homesteads, dozens of villages, and a few smaller towns in a fifty-mile radius from Celdic. They are all connected by road, and three times a year, they gather here for Celdic's Grand Market, where they trade their products and purchase finished goods from the visiting Vale merchants. Naturally, it turns into a festival that is essential for morale in this frontier town. It gets quite jam-packed as well, as you had noticed when we had to make do with a smaller bedroom. Such numbers are nothing compared to a city, of course, even one of the smaller ones; yet Celdic is vital for all those villages for it has something even more important than the market. A railway station."
They walked on the side pavement next to the dirt-packed road toward the other side of town, where the communal stables were. Celdic had fully adopted automobile laws, Sara was saying, so stables and horses have gone down in popularity. It had nothing to do with people driving cars, which were considered a luxury here, and everything to do with how modern the farming sector is here. Tractors, trucks, and harvesters drove up and down the wide main road in and out of town constantly.
There was only one stable in the entire town, and it was mostly used by the military base for their archaic cavalry unit, the Dragoons. It only takes twenty minutes to walk from the East gate to the West one, so the distance wasn't a real issue for Jaune.
"The Grand Market is a festival held every mid-spring, mid-summer, and mid-autumn. It should be ready to officially open in a couple of days, but there are plenty of open vendors already if you want to buy or sell something. Incidentally, Celdic is renowned for its many windmills and Rye beer. We can get a mug or three later tonight." Sara grinned at the prospect of beer, while Fie was not amused.
"Please don't get plastered again, Sara. I'm the one who has to carry you, and my nose can't stand it anymore."
"Oh, don't you worry, sweetie, I have a strong knight who I'm sure would gladly carry a lady to bed at night." Jaune groaned as Sara slapped his shoulder. Growing up with eight older women, he had his fair share of handling drunk women. They were a complete nightmare, suffice it to say.
He decided to ignore the woman as they approached a crossroads. To the south was the entrance to the Marketplace, while to the north led to the train station. The station and tracks themselves were constructed outside of town, with the entire building connected via a small gate that could be shut and sealed in case of an attack. It was a smart defensible option, although it left the station itself vulnerable to attack.
They stopped for a moment as they noticed the holo-screen show that the next and only train would be the SDC train heading to Vale from Esmeralda.
"Why aren't there more trains coming here? You would think they could have daily trains from Esmeralda to Vale."
"That's because there is a direct route already." Came Sara's reply as she moved on down the road, Jaune and Fie following her. Hecould see large warehouses with whom he assumed were militia guarding it as well as the entrance to the Market Square, where the festival was held, but they walked past it. "It's along the coast and passes by Forever Fall forest. Don't be upset that you didn't notice it, you wouldn't have been capable of affording it anyway. It's aimed at the rich who prefer the scenic route instead of flying. Much safer as well, with no Nevermores or other flying Grimm to worry about. The SDC uses that route as well for their Dust shipments, but they still make the trip through the Celdic line. Delays are common, and schedules are sporadic. The thousand-mile ride would only take a day with the only stop being Celdic, but the demand isn't enough for the SDC to fully commit a dedicated route through it."
There were plenty of residential houses along the road, but one of them caught his attention as it looked more like a mansion than a house. Fie told him that was Mayor Otto's house, who is also known as the Market Manager. Close to it was a large building with a sign "Odvin's Dust Factory", which Jaune assumed was the town's Dust shop. He might need to swing by it soon.
Jaune focused back on Sara, "There is only one train from Esmeralda to Vale that passes by Celdic, and it can usually be counted on to appear at least once a week. It already came by two days ago, if you're wondering, with most of the Vale merchants who would set up shop for the Market. The SDC train carries minerals and Dust shipments from the mines north of Esmeralda to Vale. Some of these Dust shipments are vital for the farming communities of Celdic as they provide the newly discovered fertilizer Dust that has become popular in the last decade. Once the Grand Market begins, you will find plenty of farmers and merchants trading it for their products to prepare for the next festival in Autumn. This new Dust is so effective that it quite literally cuts the growing season by half. The food sector in Vale has crashed as a result, and after plenty of complaints from Vale's own farmers as well as strikes and acts of violence, an agreement was reached with Celdic's farmers to switch to mostly cash crops instead. Thornfield is a prime example with its lavender fields. I know there is another village that grows cotton while another started growing grapes and other fruits for wine and jam. Celdic still retains the right to grow grains for their beer though and has kept an extensive system of windmills and farmlands for it."
"I've heard of that, actually. The Hyperion Corporation was the one to discover the manufacturing of Fertilizer Dust. They usually manufacture aircraft and weapons, but according to Dad, in recent years, they have begun dabbling in Dust mining and manufacturing. At first, they were trying to come up with a new kind of explosive munitions but discovered Fertilizer instead. Safe to say, the SDC was not amused, and considering the train and rail track from Esmeralda are owned by them, you can guess how convoluted the whole situation had become. At least both companies have their own docks in Esmeralda."
Sara turned her head back to Jaune as he talked, "Yeah, your dad would know all about that. The Lichter family were the founders of Hyperion. It was quite the scandal, and I wasn't even born back then when their heir Lucas eloped with the Lance Maiden, who was nine years his senior and abandoned his company duties. Do they still call him the White Knight?"
Jaune burst out laughing at his dad's old nickname, "Nah, that's ancient history. Dad had mended his relations with his family and now works closely with his younger brother. Also, call him that to his face for what he did, and he will spend two hours lecturing you about the wisdom of marrying a woman who will still look in her thirties when he is old and decrepit. That is, if he doesn't shoot you in the face, he's still an Atlas graduate and one of the finest marksmen I've ever met."
It was Sara's turn to laugh now, and they continued walking in companionable silence, though Jaune noticed Fie kept an alert eye on the people on the streets. It was only now that Jaune noticed the stares they were getting. Many of them were kind and in awe, especially as he noticed Sara greeting and waving at random townsfolk. But there was still the occasional wary look that he was worried about when the common person was confronted with monsters in human form. Jaune absentmindedly rested his hand on his sword, getting a side glance from Fie for his wariness.
"So, have you been here before, Sara? Adventurers don't usually operate so close to Vale anymore. I also couldn't help but notice the people knowing you."
Sara shot him a grin, "Nope, my first time here. I'm just a delight to be around. Who knows, kiddo? You might learn a thing or two if you stick with me."
Jaune stared at her before turning to Fie, who huffed at her partner. "First night here, while I was busy caring for you, she bought a round of beer for the whole Inn before challenging anyone who would dare to drink her under the table. Suffice to say, she made thrice what she paid in bet winnings and risked emptying the Inn's stockpile of beer before the festival could even start. People loved her for it. I hated how I had to carry her drunk ass upstairs."
This was the longest Jaune had heard Fie talk, and looked on in bemusement as Sara laughed even harder at Fie's complaints. He had a strong feeling that there was a lesson to be learned here.
As a future Huntsman, he must endure the suspicious and fearful stares he will get from civilians. This was essential due to the Grimm's ability to sense negative emotions. If the people you are trying to protect don't trust you and let fear control them, then you will have a hard time keeping the Grimm focused on you. What Sara did was quite ingenious, as she ingratiated herself with an unknown people who suddenly looked at her as a friend and reliable protector instead of a suspicious stranger. It does help that she had a fun and charming personality, not to mention her good looks. Jaune may yet learn from his once-possible mentor after all.
They passed by the town's hospital as they neared the West gate, and Jaune could see that this one looked more formidable than its eastern counterpart. It was still made from wood, probably from the Emerald Forest that he could see in the distance from the open gates. There were multiple guard towers with machine gun nests along the wall, and he could see soldiers patrolling along it with binoculars and radio sets nearby. Jaune assumed that the town invested most of its defense on the obvious threat coming from the west instead of spreading themselves thin protecting the entire wall. Whether that was wise or not remains to be seen.
Sara saw his gaze and answered his unasked question, "The Emerald Forest is considered Beacon's backyard, and they intentionally leave its Grimm population high for the students to train against. The downside of that is towns like Celdic, that are a throwing distance from the forest, have a constant Grimm threat. Especially during summer, when most of the students return to their homes and the Academy is shorthanded. It's why there is always a veteran Huntsman or a team of Trainee-Huntsmen here at all times, with more ready to be sent in emergencies according to their agreement with Beacon. Theoretically, the Huntsmen, in addition to the military base, should suffice for any Grimm attacks, but due to the long peace and over-reliance on Huntsmen, the garrison here had become lax and lazy. Their gear hasn't had an upgrade in a long time, either."
Just as Sara was saying that she stopped to stare at a barracks building. It… was not a very impressive sight. Its paint was coming off in places, there were cracks in the ground, and the vegetation was crawling up the walls, allowing any infiltrator an easy time sneaking in. The two guards by the gates did not inspire confidence with how lackadaisical they sat in their post, playing cards on a barrel. Jaune could even recognize the bolt-action rifles they were carrying to be over 120 years old! That was before Dust rounds were a thing.
All in all, he thought that, on first impression, the garrison lacked discipline. He could forgive the militia from earlier for that, as they were not career soldiers, but here? It would be simple to repaint the buildings, fix the cracks and clean the ivy. Yet, their unwillingness speaks of procrastination. At least their guns, at first glance, appeared to be in good condition and were well maintained. He didn't want to judge them too harshly, and he hoped there might be more than meets the eye.
There was an old man arguing with a younger yet still middle-aged soldier in the distance. They both dressed differently, possibly from different units, but were clearly high-ranking soldiers considering the surrounding troops saluted them both as they walked past them. Jaune also noted that the majority of the soldiers he saw were male, and the youngest couldn't be older than twenty. None of them had Aura except for the two officers who noticed Sara and waved her over.
"The stables are right around the corner. The only thing I could say is impressive about the garrison here is their cavalry unit. It might be archaic, but they do have an old tradition that they follow that is quite impressive. Too bad they only have thirty Dragoons in addition to the hundred Guards in service. Fie, take Jaune to see his horse. I need to discuss my assignments with the guard captain. I'll catch up to you shortly." Sara walked in without waiting for a reply. She didn't look too enthusiastic going in, and Jaune could probably guess why. Huntsmen don't necessarily get along with Military types. It would be much worse for Adventurers who were seen as mercenaries at best or, in some places, glorified bandits at worst. Jaune knew of certain Adventurers who had been accused of acts of banditry, but lack of proof allowed them to go free. He could understand the military's wariness but did not like it.
Fie motioned for him to follow down the street to a decently sized stable that could likely hold a hundred steeds comfortably. She waved to an old guard lounging on a rickety old rocking chair, who nodded and waved them in. The stench of horse and manure assaulted their noses. Jaune was alright with it, but a look at the Cat-Faunus next to him told him that Fie wasn't a fan as she moved her scarf to her nose. The scarf shone green for a moment, and Jaune was shocked to see it had Dust weaved into it. Probably Wind Dust from the color as well as what his senses were telling him. That was as impressive as it was extravagant, he had to reevaluate his views on Fie and likely Sara if they could afford to have dust weaved into their outfits. He had no clue how it was made, but he knew it was expensive and time-consuming. It also required the user to have excellent control over their Aura, or else they risked accidental discharges.
Fie led the way along the stalls, and Jaune could understand why Sara thought the Dragoons here were impressive. These were no ordinary horses. They were massive thoroughbreds made for war. There were fifty of the horses, and twenty of them had their Aura unlocked, matching the amount of active duty Dragoons, though he guessed ten of them must be on patrol. They would be a formidable force on a charge, whether it's against the Grimm or on a flanking maneuver against poorly equipped bandits. His inner Knight Nerd was screaming in joy, but his cynical Adventurer side told him that despite how impressive they were, these horses were obsolete. Even with full barding protecting them, it would not save them from the relentless staccato of machine gun fire. Yet, for their purposes against the Grimm?
They would do splendidly.
Out of curiosity, he checked the cost of Observe on them. The cost ranges from 1 AP for those without Aura to 5 AP for those with. He Observed an Aura-unlocked warhorse.
Warhorse
Age: 4
Stats:
AP: 50/50
STR: 220
VIT: 180
DEX: 90
AGL: 110
PER: 60
INT: 40
Age: 4
Stats:
AP: 50/50
STR: 220
VIT: 180
DEX: 90
AGL: 110
PER: 60
INT: 40
'Nice stats, but I take it they work differently for non-humanoids?'
Correct. Do not compare them to a human's stats. VIT for a horse works differently than a human's. Humans are blessed with the ability to sweat and cool down. Horses take longer to recover their stamina and would eventually be caught by a stubborn human.
Jaune hummed at Krystal's words and moved on. It seems Aura protects from his abilities to an extent. It would explain why it cost him almost nothing to Observe the Grimm horde. Then why did it cost so much to Observe Ugur the Drake? Could it be because of its age? Or maybe due to his panic as he just dumped Aura into the ability? Something to be careful of in the future.
Fie led him past stable boys brushing the horses down and the occasional Dragoon tending to his horse. This time, Jaune was impressed as the Dragoon carried himself well and with dignity compared to the guards he saw by the barracks and even had their Aura unlocked. Nevertheless, theirs were minuscule compared to even Fie, and Jaune was reminded how unfair Aura worked. He didn't bother Observing them with his Aura still in two digits.
Aura only grows with age, and no amount of training would increase it, only refine your control of it as well as improve your recovery. It never stopped growing, but the growth amount differs from person to person. In one of his lessons at home, His father taught him that Aura, and the soul for that matter, were very difficult to study, but the Arcs have managed to learn a few quirks of it over the centuries.
The average person grows their Aura by 1% every year of living, and it doesn't matter if you unlock your Aura at age five or fifty, it would still be the same amount with the same growth ratio. Yet, there are obvious outliers. Like the Arcs. The amount you have upon activating tells you how much you will potentially have in your lifetime. Considering Fie's young age, Jaune had no doubt that she would eventually grow in strength to match Sara in reserves. Yet, Sara will also keep growing in Aura. Ultimately, as his grandfather once told him, it's never about how much Aura you have, but rather how you use it that matters. His Dad, and Kilika, were good examples of that.
They nodded and greeted whoever noticed them, but they were left alone for the most part. Eventually, they made it to three adjoining stalls, and Jaune immediately made his way to Arthur.
"Hey, you old nag. I heard you helped save me." Arthur snorted as Jaune patted his head. Jaune felt out how much it would cost him to Observe the horse. To his surprise, it worked without any cost.
Arthur, Clydesdale horse
Age: 22
Description: An old draft horse with a bad temper. Despite his power, he is not well-bred and unfit for war. Old age was getting to him until his Aura was unlocked by his new master, Jaune Arc. Even with Aura, the horse does not have long to live due to his harsh life. Understands his mortality but refuses to go down without a fight.
Stats:
AP: 60/60
STR: 177
VIT: 92
DEX: 71
AGL: 88
PER: 39
INT: 45
Age: 22
Description: An old draft horse with a bad temper. Despite his power, he is not well-bred and unfit for war. Old age was getting to him until his Aura was unlocked by his new master, Jaune Arc. Even with Aura, the horse does not have long to live due to his harsh life. Understands his mortality but refuses to go down without a fight.
Stats:
AP: 60/60
STR: 177
VIT: 92
DEX: 71
AGL: 88
PER: 39
INT: 45
Jaune couldn't help but choke a gasp at what he read. He knew the horse was old, but even older than him? He must have been one tough sumbitch to reach his twenties as a draft horse.
Fie next to him seemed to sense his emotions, "Are you okay, Jaune? Is Arthur okay?"
Jaune turned to her and nodded, "Yeah, Arthur is just old. I just realized that he doesn't have long to live. If it wasn't for me unlocking his Aura, he probably would have been mercy killed."
Fie approached the horse and patted his nose, "He's a good horse." Arthur clearly understood her as he neighed happily at her touch. "I didn't unlock my horse's Aura because I know I won't be able to take him with me on my travels." Fie turned her gaze towards a gray-dappled horse in the next stall over, "We picked them up in a village a few days ago, but I like the idea of having a bonded animal on my side."
Jaune and Fie then proceeded to clean and tend to their respective horses before they exercised them in the pens. The stable boys were only responsible for the Dragoons' horses, after all. When Sara didn't show up after an hour, they tended to her horse as well before refilling their food and water.
Chapter 7 (Celdic II)
I was a bit confused about how the currency worked in RWBY. I thought it was like Yen, but then the characters do mention cents and pennies. To make it simple, one Lien £ = one Dollar $
Some regular commodity prices; a burger meal would cost £2 compared to our world, where it would start at $10. The breakfast that the trio ate the last chapter would cost £20, keeping in mind they ate enough for six people. Food is cheap in this part of Vale, as was explained.
Disclaimer: I am NOT an economist. I WILL get some things wrong. I am not arrogant to believe myself all knowledgeable, but I will try to make things make sense and be grounded in reality while at the same time keeping the story fun and entertaining.
Our first different POV from Jaune's. Did I mention that Jaune is an unreliable narrator? So is everyone in general, actually.
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx. Do check out his awesome works on ASOIAF and HP.
Enjoy!
One day earlier (July 2nd)
It was a warm summer evening in a small hamlet on the outskirts of Celdic. The settlement was rustic and small in population but famous for their apple orchards. The sun had set and sank beyond the horizon, yet its dying light still illuminated the land. Two children, a boy and a girl, were on their way home from gathering fruits as they chatted happily about their day.
"These apples are so juicy!" The girl bit into one of the fruits in question.
"Hey, we aren't supposed to be eating them, Tuni. We need them for granny's pies."
"Oh, don't worry about it Jas. We still have a lot more left." She nodded at her basket filled with apples. "Go on, try some. I know you want to."
The boy, Jas, was hesitant. The wooden walls of the settlement were barely a couple of hundred feet ahead, and granny's pies were heavenly! But he was hungry. "Oh, alright. Just the one."
Just as he bit into an apple, something struck him in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground and spilling the contents of his basket everywhere. Jas heard his friend's scream get cut off as it turned into a pained groan.
Before he could even think to move, someone straddled his back and bound his limbs in a sticky substance.
"HELP! HE-"
Something smacked his head, causing him to bite his tongue, and before Jas knew it, his mouth was gagged, and all he could do was moan.
"Stupid brat. Nearly ruined everything," a female voice came from above, "Get the girl. We need to move before we're spotted."
"Hey, don't order me around bitch!" It was a man's voice, but it was high and sharp, like a squeal. "You're the one who took her time choosing the bait. Besides, there ain't no guards here. Without those Huntsmen, those losers from town won't know what hit'em. Gehahaha!"
Jas felt fear and terror get a hold of him. Was he getting kidnapped? And Tuni? Why? Was it because he was a Faunus? He hid his features, what else should he do? Who were these people? Bait for what?
So many questions ran through his mind, fueling his anxiety and fear. He looked around frantically for Tuni only to find her unconscious form bound up by a tall, lanky man with too many piercings and bright pink hair.
The man noticed him staring, "Hey, knock the brat out. We don't want Grimm swarming us on the way back."
Jas turned his head to see his kidnapper and only glimpsed gray hair before a sharp pain at the back of his head and then darkness.
Morning, July 3rd,
Sara was losing patience with the old dullard talking at her. Yep, at her. Not to her. The man hadn't bothered looking her in the eyes since the conversation started, preferring to stare at her cleavage instead. Normally, she would be flattered, especially since she flaunted her babies for a reason, but even she had her limits. And to think she scolded the young Arc for straying his eyes only twice. Yet, he was still a boy and showed impressive self-restraint.
It must have been half an hour since Sara arrived here, and the pompous sourpuss still hadn't gotten to the point of her assignment. Instead, he was too busy touting his horn, not so subtly insulting her profession, and at one point, implied heavily that she was nothing more than an immoral mercenary.
'Well, she was technically a mercenary, but immoral? Not in the ways he imagines, heh.'
The less he talked about his glorious family history, the better. When he started puffing up his elite troops; she pointedly looked at the Lieutenant of the Dragoons who accompanied them, much to the annoyance of the Captain.
"As I was saying, Valestein. My troops will be more than enough to assure the safety of Celdic, Grand Market or not. However, due to the insistence of my Dragoon Lieutenant," said Lieutenant, Donovan Brocket, stared straight ahead as they walked. Sara noticed him frowning at the Guard Captain, however, "You and your… pet will be allowed to accompany us on today's patrol. However, I must insist that you stay out of our way and let us do our jobs. You are only here because the mayor insisted on having a Huntsman for emergencies. It doesn't help that you aren't even a proper Huntress. We all know how you Adventurers make a living, now, don't we?"
Sara easily ignored the jab at her precious Fie, she had heard this song and dance dozens of times before and learned to ignore it to an extent. Instead, she gave the man a noncommittal shrug, "If you insist, Captain Montgomery, I am sure I will fit right in well with the Dragoons. Just give us a holler if you find yourself in a pickle; we will be sure to back you and your elite troops up." She threw a wink at Brocket, who kept a straight face, but she could have sworn his lips twitched a little.
Montgomery bristled at that, his white mustache twitching in annoyance, but she didn't say anything he himself hadn't already said. He harrumphed and walked away after a haphazard farewell.
"I apologize for Captain Montgomery's attitude. I assure you he did not mean to insult with his comments," Brocket motioned for her to follow him inside the barracks proper.
"I can recognize an insult and hot air, and he gave both. He's old and prideful. A bad combination for a military man, but that is just my opinion." Sara followed the man into the communication room. It was mostly empty, aside from a single comms officer who looked bored as he stared blankly at the silent communication system. He stood and saluted the Lieutenant once he saw them, a simple wave from the Dragoon had him at ease.
"Any news on our errant Huntsmen?"
"No sir, Beacon has only replied with 'Too busy. Await update'. This has never happened before, sir. What could possibly have caused an emergency that Beacon would be unable to reply with a status update?"
The Lieutenant sighed tiredly, "It's not our place to question higher command, soldier. You sent them another message this morning, correct? Good. Stand by until they reply." He waved the comm-man back to his duties.
"Yes, sir!"
They were still on blackout, and the garrison's only communication source with Vale was Morse code via a landline. Sara had learned that the garrison was promised a Bullhead months ago, but Vale had not delivered yet. At least then, they could just fly out of the mountains' interference zone and contact Beacon from the skies. Or even just fly to Vale in an hour to deliver their messages. They supposedly also had an ancient phone system as well, but it was neglected for too long and currently lay broken in storage. The Celdic region's geography of being in a massive valley is starting to bite them in the back.
Lieutenant Brocket turned back to Sara, "This is not good, Valestein. We were expecting two Huntsmen to help us prepare for the Grand Market for the better part of a week now. Beacon has never gone silent on us like this. Something big must have happened."
Sara offered a sympathetic smile to the clearly stressed-out officer. 'Older man, graying hair, fit and strong. Me likey~ so much~. Too bad he's married, and I'm no homewrecker.' She glanced at his left ring finger, where a wedding ring was worn.
"Regardless, you acquitted yourself well yesterday when you accompanied me escorting the repair crew. Today, we have two objectives for our patrol." He brought out a map of the surrounding area, and marked on it where the many settlements connected to Celdic, along with the Repeater Tower and other locations. "We will be escorting a supply truck to the tower. We received a rider during the night, chased by a pack of Beowolves. The repair crew estimates they will have the tower fully operational by noon tomorrow at the earliest, but the guards require more ammo and reinforcement as the Grimm have not given them a moment of respite. In addition to the truck, we will be escorting twenty guards to reinforce the twenty already on site. This will leave us thin here, and my Dragoons will be busy patrolling the roads. The settlements should be capable of defending themselves with their sheriffs and deputies, and I will ask the mayor to call in more minutemen. Hopefully, nothing else will happen, but it still leaves the town undermanned. If only the Huntsmen we were supposed to get were here…" The Lieutenant clenched his fist tightly on the table before relaxing with a sigh.
Sara nodded seriously, the situation wasn't too bad right now, but they could certainly have a worst-case scenario on their hands if the Grimm attacked Celdic itself while they were away. They still haven't found out who damaged the tower in the first place.
"You mentioned two objectives, the second one?"
Brocket rubbed his tired brown eyes, "Captain Montgomery has demanded that we find out where the Grimm are attacking the tower from. After we escort the reinforcements to the tower, you and your partner shall accompany me and nine of my Dragoons to scout out where the Grimm are concentrated in."
Sara stared at the man blankly, "He wants us to go on a wild goose chase? Is this some political power move between you two that I'm getting dragged into?"
Brocket chuckled, "Not at all. While we do have our issues, I can assure you that this has to do with the rider's report." His smile died out and his eyes hardened. "There was a kidnapping last night from a hamlet close to the tower. Two young adolescents, Jasper and Petunia, were last seen returning from gathering fruits from their settlement's orchards."
Sara mirrored his look, "The Grimm would kill on sight, if there are no remains, then it has to be human action. Bandits? Outlanders? No, the outlanders wouldn't dare raid across the Vale mountains lest they risk the full wrath of Beacon. Ozpin has no patience for their slaving ways. Besides, they are too busy killing each other in the Southlands anyway."
"There haven't been any blood or corpses. Just the sign of struggle and their dropped fruit baskets. The witness was an old farmer who was walking his dog and heard the disturbance but was too late to see the kidnappers. He managed to contact our nearby patrol, who returned this morning with the report."
Brocket paused for a moment as he pointed out where the hamlet was on the map and his patrol's route back to Celdic.
"Both children were orphans who were taken in by the settlement. The residents cared for them as a community and are all worried about them. I'm not sure of the specifics, but I was told that both kids are also Faunus, but their traits are easy to hide. Whether this is relevant to why they were kidnapped or not, I do not know." Brocket had a scowl on his face as he collected his thoughts, "What I do know is that whoever the kidnappers were, they had every opportunity to kidnap older people. Men for labor, or women for…"
Sara nodded her understanding, opting for the Lieutenant to carry on, "they specifically targeted young children. Children who would be terrified of their situation and unable to control their emotions."
Sara's blood froze at that before she nearly snarled two words that she detested with a passion. "Grimm Bait?!"
The Lieutenant nodded grimly, "It is certainly a possibility. It could even be the White Fang, for all we know. It is still more likely that the kidnappers are bandits who are replenishing their numbers by indoctrinating young impressionable children. I know of a few bandit groups operating within a hundred miles from here that have eluded our patrols. Their crimes were petty enough not to warrant attention from Vale, and unfortunately, most of them are run by former Adventurers, which explains the captain's animosity towards you."
Sara grimaced at that. It was the sad reality that anyone could become an Adventurer as it is a way to give people second chances. Some people tended to spit on that chance and return to their vile ways. Others simply become disillusioned with their stagnation in the lower ranks as well as the lackluster support from the Kingdoms. Regardless, It was a fact that some Adventurers and even Huntsmen turn to lives of crime.
Brocket continued, "It is distasteful to admit, but we have kept correspondence with some of the more… civilized bandit clans. They are not too dissimilar to the feudal lords of old, and they do offer protection to the remote villages outside of Celdic's influence. Villages and settlements that have been neglected by the kingdoms. I have not heard from them in a while, so I had a few of my Dragoons detour on their patrol routes to check on them. Better the evil you know and what not."
Sara shrugged, "You gotta do what you gotta do. I have met my fair share of bandits and civilized folks, and you would be surprised at how much they have in common. At the end of the day, we are all trying to survive against the Grimm. Even if some people can be worse than the most monstrous of Grimm." The Lieutenant grimaced at that, "Keep me updated on what your men find about those bandit groups, would you?"
Brocket nodded, "Of course. Regardless, with the increased Grimm activity, there are simply too many possibilities for us to guess from where the Grimm are attacking the tower. "
Sara sighed at that, "Do we at least have an idea of where to go? I would rather not go in the opposite direction and return to find the town burned down. With the kidnapping, we might need to scout out two locations instead of one as well."
Brocket nodded, "Point. One of my men found tracks that led deeper into the mountains. We shall be following those tracks today and see where they lead us. I know you will not like this, but we are not going to assault anything, as we are too shorthanded. Instead, it will be purely a scouting mission before we reconvene here to reassess. Do I make myself clear, Valestein?"
Sara was not pleased, oh no, not all. Nevertheless, she still understood where the Lieutenant was coming from and nodded, "Very well, but know that if there is an opportunity to save those kids, then I'm taking it. Whether you want to help or not, that will be up to you."
The Lieutenant frowned at this, but he ultimately acquiesced with a sigh, "Very well. We will need to–"
"Morse incoming!"
Beep-beep-bep-beeep-bep—
All three occupants in the room were silent. Sara and Donovan stared patiently at the comms officer as he deciphered the incoming message. Once he was done transcribing it, he handed the paper to the Lieutenant, who scowled as he read the response from Beacon.
"It seems we shall not be getting our Huntsmen after all." He handed Sara the paper to read it herself.
"Oh my, this is bad news." she raised her eyebrows at the details of why the Huntsmen will be absent, "It does say that they will send backup as soon as they can. On the other hand, we didn't really plan our moves with them in mind. If they weren't here days ago, then they were never gonna make it."
She laid the paper on the table and frowned in thought. "Fie would have been a godsend for any tracking mission, but I could have her stay in town for today, might as well give her a day off for a change." Sara thought out loud, "It's a good opportunity to brush up on my tracking skills, Atlas doesn't really cover that in class. I've been abusing that girl when it comes to that." She smiled slightly at the thought, "Besides, she seems to have taken a shine to that stray we picked up off the road." Sara chuckled, causing the Lieutenant to give a tight smile.
"Our mission remains the same. We depart once the supply truck and Montgomery's men are ready to go. Give it two or three more hours or so. I would have preferred we had left by dawn, but…"
Sara gave him a sympathetic look. Here was a competent and dutiful soldier who was cursed with a not-so-competent superior officer. At least she clearly had an ally in him, the alternative would not be fun at all.
Nevertheless, she was still a professional, and with the change in circumstances, she would need to bring up an unwelcome discussion. "With the absence of two Huntsmen, this mission has now exceeded the parameters that were agreed upon with the Adventurer's guild. My apprentice and I were supposed to provide backup to the Huntsmen duo, not take charge of the operation ourselves. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say here, Lieutenant Brocket."
"We will renegotiate your terms of employment." The older man replied curtly, "Meet me at the mayor's manor in an hour, and I'll bring Montgomery over." The Lieutenant stated with finality as he waited for her to acknowledge the unsaid dismissal.
"Will do." Sara left the building and made her way back to the street. Even with better pay, this mission is shaping up to be a clusterfudge waiting to happen. She will have to be on her A-game, especially with Fie staying behind today.
'There might be a different opportunity to be had,' her thoughts were on a certain blonde and his earlier offer.
"Oh, you cleaned my horse? You, kids, are so nice to me."
Jaune and Fie were storing the cleaning equipment when Sara called out behind them. "You sure took your time. Any problem with the troopers?"
Sara shook her head and motioned for them to follow her outside. "Don't worry about it. Just what you would expect from military types. That Dragoon Lieutenant was quite the charmer, though. More importantly, I notice you got your Aura back, you never explained what happened to it."
The younger duo washed their hands using a faucet before following Sara, "I overused my Semblance, and a side effect of it is disabling my Aura recovery. It's getting better now, and I expect a full recovery within a few days."
"That's good to hear. I was worried you hurt yourself or something. Would have defeated the purpose of asking for your help later on."
'Help?' Jaune wondered but decided to wait until Sara elaborated further. He already promised them his aid and would not go back on his word. An Arc held to his oath seriously. For good or evil, a broken oath shall follow you to the ends of the world.
They left the stables and headed back down the streets. Jaune noticed a training yard attached to the barracks where soldiers were practicing their marksmanship skills with their old bolt-action rifles. There was the occasional Dragoon using newer lever-action rifles, but even that style is old compared to the more common assault rifles, let alone Atlas' laser guns.
It reminded him of his plan to buy a gun, but if the guards couldn't afford any modern arms, he shouldn't get his hopes up. A visit to the Market could solve that problem. He still had all the Dust he had collected sitting in his Storage Space. A mental check assured him that he could access it without even needing Aura.
They were approaching the Mayor's mansion when a sudden thought struck Jaune.
"Hang on, shouldn't you have met with the Mayor first rather than the guard captain? Isn't he responsible for the Grand Market as its Market Manager? Yesterday, I mean." Jaune wasn't certain about the protocols and hierarchy structure here. He was too used to Vytal where an Arc's word was highly respected. He would have to acclimate better to his new environment.
"Already done, kiddo. First thing I did once we arrived here. Didn't say much really, other than to keep our noses clean and not make trouble in the market, that we are only here as support for the Huntsmen." For a moment, Sara stayed silent, and Jaune had the impression she wanted to say more before the moment passed. "You know, the usual stuff civvies like to talk about when they think they're in a position of power. I'm sure he will be changing his tune when we meet later."
Jaune was quick to notice the slight derision in her tone, which surprised him considering her usual bubbly and kind attitude. She probably didn't like authority figures a lot, it seemed, and for some reason, it felt like she was talking about someone else other than the Mayor.
"I see. On a side note, I need a few things to buy but I'm short on Lien. Would you happen to know someone here who would be interested in purchasing unrefined Dust? The highest quality, I assure you."
Both Sara and Fie stopped and stared at him bewildered, "What are you talking about? We checked your belongings, and only found that white crystal. While it looks beautiful, I have no idea who would want to buy it."
Jaune looked around and found an empty park. He made his way toward an empty bench under a large tree, waving for the other two to follow him. He did not take a seat, instead, he stood under the tree with his back to it, and both women covered him from the front. From an outsider's perspective, it would look like he was selling them drugs or something, Jaune nearly chuckled at the thought.
He gave one last discreet look around before he spoke in a low voice, "This is what I'm talking about."
The blonde flicked his hand, and a fist-sized Earth Dust crystal appeared on his palm, to the shock of both women.
Sara stared incredulously in silence. Jaune wore a short-sleeve shirt, so he couldn't have been hiding the crystal under his sleeves. She did not sense him using any kind of Aura technique to make her think if this was his Semblance either.
"… how?" Fie was similarly shocked but was quicker to recover than Sara.
Jaune gave a cheeky grin, "Magic!"
Sara chuckled at that, "All right then, keep your secrets."
Jaune was surprised at that, "That's it? No questions at all on how I did that? Not curious one bit?" He honestly expected an interrogation about this. Advertising his magical abilities was a huge risk, but Krystal never told him he shouldn't do it. On the contrary, by telling him he could bless others with magic, Krystal implied that Jaune shouldn't be shy about his powers. At least, he thought so, Krystal was incredibly neutral and vague about how Jaune did things.
'Appreciate the confidence, Krystal.'
He turned back to Sara as she began to speak, "Of course I'm curious, but everyone has their secrets, kiddo. You chose to trust me when you sent those recordings. I trust the Colonel, and considering you spent over a year under his tutelage, I have also decided to trust you. I'm sure you would tell me if I need to know, anyway."
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, that's good to hear. So, any idea if I can find a buyer?"
Sara thought for a moment as she held the crystal and felt it out. She passed it to Fie, who looked at it in concentration before shaking her head and handing it back to Jaune, who took it in confusion.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The crystal is too large, of high quality, and unrefined to boot. I doubt anyone would purchase it here when they could wait for the SDC train to deliver refined and cheaper Dust instead. Of course, it would be of lower quality, but it would satisfy their needs regardless. As you know, Dust crystals can be ground down to granules or sculpted into specific shapes. On the other hand, it's incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to turn ground Dust back to crystal form. A crystal this size could be very useful as a power source, but it's still more economical for most people to use ground Dust instead due to how rare crystals of this size are."
Jaune nodded along before Sara continued. "This crystal has small traces of Fire and Lightning Dust in it, despite it being clearly Earth Dust." She pointed out the slight discoloration in the crystal that signified the other elements that tainted the crystal. "It will need to be refined, and the other elements filtered out into ground dust form while the crystal would lose some of its mass. It's still very high quality, and the amount of energy in there is higher than any crystal I'd seen in a regular Dust shop. Unfortunately, while you could probably sell a piece like this for maybe £4,000, you will need either a specialty shop or find a private collector. Those two are difficult to find, especially in the boonies like Celdic. Don't take my word for it, though, Dust prices fluctuate all the time, and I'm no expert."
Jaune quickly caught on to what Sara was trying to say. There was potential for making money out of it but not here. Although, with the Grand Market opening soon and Valemen coming for business, he might just make a windfall out of it. He won't be hasty, four grand was a lot of money, and there's no doubt that any sale done here would cost him potential profits than Vale proper. Those merchants would need to return to Vale to make their own profit out of any Dust he sells them. He's already going there, so why not bypass the middleman?
Jaune would still search for a buyer, though. He only had £200 to his name, barely enough for the train ticket plus a meal, and he would rather not depend on the charity of others to survive the coming month in Vale until initiation. There was no way he would ask for money from his family either, his pride wouldn't let him. He deposited the crystal back into his Storage and frowned in thought, "I take it you wouldn't be interested in buying them off me?"
Sara stared at him, "Them? Just how many do you have on you?"
After a quick mental inquiry, Jaune answered, "A lot more. I got Fire and Lightning as well. Some Wind and Gravity among other kinds."
For the second time in the last few minutes, Sara was struck speechless, but Jaune continued on. "They are all unrefined, though, so the same problem. What do you think?"
"Wind?" Came Fie's question. Jaune brought out a few wind crystals for her to peruse. After focusing on them intently, she chose two of the purest crystals that were the size of his thumb and dumped a wad of £300 in his hands.
"Not pure enough for weaving, but good enough for my Chasers. Just have to grind them down to dust." Fie brandished her weapons, and Jaune could finally appreciate the lethal-looking pair of gun/dagger hybrids. The blades looked wickedly sharp and durable, while the gun was a short-barreled pistol clearly designed for suppression rather than lethality.
There was what appeared to be a glass capsule of green Wind Dust incorporated into each gun, though Jaune had no idea how they would be used as he wasn't much of a Dust user. Jaune also noted that both weapons had some kind of mechanism on the top of the barrels where he suspected they could be combined to turn into a much larger barrel. Combined with the fact there were two triggers, it may very well be a finishing move of some sort.
All in all, it was a badass pair of Gundaggers, and he couldn't wait to see them in action.
"I might need fire and lightning later when I replenish my babies." Fie nonchalantly opened a couple of pouches on her belt that showed…
Jaune just stared in shock, "Are these… Grenades? Bombs?"
Fie nodded seriously, "Portable high-powered explosives. Plasticity makes it handy for any espionage work. Every gal has some for emergencies."
"No, they don't! I've lived with eight gals, and none of them kept any bombs for emergencies!!" Jaune nearly shouted at the absurdity of this little girl being so bomb happy.
Fie cocked her head to the side, "Are you sure? Did you search their rooms thoroughly?" The way she asked the question so innocently was strangely endearing somehow, despite the weird topic. And now Jaune was beginning to doubt all he knew about women. Did his sisters and mother keep explosives in their makeup kits? The twins worked with Dad on his insane projects, and he had always obsessed with old-era fossil fuels, so maybe—
Sara's laughter brought him out of his thoughts as she brought out her own weapons, "My Fie is just full of surprises. I'm sure you will get used to it. Anywho, you have any lightning? Similar size to hers, please. For my Joker." She showed her oversized gun. It… was a strange design. It seemed to have both an oversized magazine that was longer than it was tall and a separate chamber feed. Perhaps it had an alternate fire for different rounds? It also had four Dust containers, two on each side of the barrel. Each container held a different Dust type. Fire, Wind, Water, and Gravity. There was also a much larger container where the gun's hammer would be. It clearly held Lightning Dust (LD), hence her request.
Overall, from first impressions, Jaune guessed Sara was a proficient Dust Caster, with emphasis on Lightning Dust, in addition to her more mundane combat skills.
"You sure do like Lightning, don't you, Sara?" Jaune pulled out a few Lightning Crystals for her to choose from. He idly noticed how the crystals buzzed in his hands energetically and wondered if it had to do with his newly discovered Lightning Affinity.
Sara hummed as she made her pick, "Here's a hint. I call my Semblance, Éclair. And no, it has nothing to do with the dessert."
Jaune chuckled, "I'm from Vytal, I know what it means. Flash, huh? So, it's electric-based? Nice. What kind is it, if you don't mind me asking? Control? Illusion? Movement? Reinforcement? Enhancement? Emission?"
"Primarily, Emission. I can generate and turn my aura into electricity and have a very high compatibility with Lightning Dust. I am very resistant to electric shocks, nearly to the point where it energizes me instead if I am careful using it. I can also enhance my body and reflexes, though it does make me sore afterward." She frowned as she placed a crystal down and checked another.
"What about your sword?" Jaune asked, having forgotten about Fie for the moment, who pouted slightly.
Sara waved her sword in lazy, distracted arcs with one hand as she checked the crystals with another, "Ace? Nah, he's been fed already." She showed him the lone Dust crystal shining a brilliant yellow of more LD. The sword was a bastard one, like Crocea Mors, but that's where the similarities ended. It looked more like a saber or a cutlass rather than his straight sword, and it had two sword-breakers by the hilt, one larger than the other, and was clearly customized for Sara's style. Then, she shocked Jaune when she flipped the blade to show the other crystal embedded in it. Hard-Light… that was quite rare.
"I'll take these two," Sara held two pieces the size of her forefinger. "£400 sounds fair?" Jaune nodded and accepted the payment. Suddenly, he was £700 richer, with more to come once he hit the market.
Seeing that Sara had explained her Semblance, Fie decided she should explain hers as well, "I call mine Sylphid. It's a combination of movement, speed, and stealth with high compatibility with Wind Dust. I am very sneaky and very fast."
Both Sara and Fie looked at Jaune expectantly. Jaune scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "I actually only just discovered my Semblance a few days ago in the mountains. I call it Overdrive. It's an enhancement, I think, but there's still a lot more about it that I have yet to discover. Primarily, It gives me an insane boost to my stats at a cost to my Aura." He decided he wouldn't explain Second Wind for now to avoid questions on why he's not using it. He was sure both women haven't told him all about their Semblances either.
Both girls nodded in understanding. Discovering one's Semblance was a major feat to be celebrated. Many people spend their entire lives never discovering it, and those who do, dedicate a lot of their time to figuring out how it works. Expecting someone to know all about his Semblance within a few days of discovering it was presumptuous to the extreme.
Jaune stored away the rest of the Dust before he thought of something, "So where would you grind them? Don't you need a special tool for it?"
Sara was storing away her crystal in a special vial before placing it in one of her belt's pouches. "I think Odvin's have the tool. They are the town's only Dust shop that doubles as a smithy. I'm sure we can rent it for our needs. Come, let's get this out of the way. I have a meeting with the Mayor in a bit."
"Well, that was disappointing."
Sara smiled at Jaune as they exited the store, "Tell me about it. Who knew Odvin's had a contract with the SDC that disallowed him to purchase any Dust except from them? Still, at least he was kind enough to allow us to use his Bullet Assembly Presses to make Dust Rounds (DR). I noticed he also appraised your Dust crystals. High quality indeed. You are essentially walking around with millions worth of Lien in your pockets. Just where did you come upon them anyway?"
Jaune sighed, swallowing his disappointment at failing to make Lien, "If you watch those videos I sent, you will have an idea."
Sara hummed in thought, "Well, I gotta go now, kiddos. Fie, I'm gonna ask you to stay with Jaune for today in case something happens. Keep an eye out for trouble while you're at it." She gave Fie a meaningful look.
Fie narrowed her eyes at Sara before nodding. Sara turned to him next, "Jaune… I know you are still recovering, so take it easy today and enjoy your time with Fie. She may not show it, but she loves all the fun things kids her age would enjoy. Could I ask you to watch over her on her first day off in forever?"
"Of course, Sara." Jaune answered without hesitation, "I will definitely make sure Fie and I have as much fun as possible. Isn't that right, Fie?"
Fie turned to Jaune and gave him her hand. He could literally see her eyes shining in excitement, and he simply could not deny her large kitty eyes. It appeared she was finally warming up to him. For the first time in his life, Jaune was beginning to feel like a big brother. It was certainly a surreal experience, and he wondered if any of his own sisters felt the same when he was young?
'Saphron maybe… Definitely not Chloé.' He nearly shuddered at the thought of his almost sadistic third sister.
Sara giggled at the sight, "Well, I guess there's no need for me to worry about you two getting along. Go have fun in the Market or whatever kids do for fun these days. I'll be late tonight, so don't bother waiting for me."
"Will do. Be safe, Sara. Let's go Fie, time to do some shopping."
They went their separate ways. Sara to the Mayor, while Jaune and Fie headed to the market, Jaune holding Fie's hand. He noticed she had an extra bounce to her steps, and he could have sworn he saw a smile behind that scarf of hers.
'Adorable.'
Dust casting and usage have been all over the place in the show. We have Weiss' seemingly endless supply of dust in her weapon, which allows her to continuously cast like no tomorrow, yet she always does the same thing with Ice or, rarely, time dilation.
Ruby also uses Dust Rounds in addition to her regular rounds, which I find fascinating and is something that I will definitely explore.
Suffice to say, I shall be taking some liberty in how Dust works in combat, in other ways than just priming it and using it like bombs.
If you haven't noticed, I have Beacon, Shade, and Atlas start in late August, and the Vytal tournament shall be held in early March. Haven is the only academy that begins in Spring as a nod to the Japanese schooling system.
Naturally, this conflicts with Volume 3, which is set in Autumn. To that, I say fuck it. The show writers were too on the nose to have the Fall Maiden reveal to happen in Fall. Considering the Maiden plot wasn't even a thing before Volume 3, I'm not going to let this constrain my writing.
We don't see Jaune interacting with younger characters much in the show, aside from Ruby. His relationship with Oscar in later seasons is basically non-existent aside from that tantrum in Argus that was never resolved. Fie offers the opportunity for me to see how he would behave around a younger sister like figure. Would he spoil her? Be stern and responsible with her? Shove a foot in his mouth? Find out next chapter.
Some regular commodity prices; a burger meal would cost £2 compared to our world, where it would start at $10. The breakfast that the trio ate the last chapter would cost £20, keeping in mind they ate enough for six people. Food is cheap in this part of Vale, as was explained.
Disclaimer: I am NOT an economist. I WILL get some things wrong. I am not arrogant to believe myself all knowledgeable, but I will try to make things make sense and be grounded in reality while at the same time keeping the story fun and entertaining.
Our first different POV from Jaune's. Did I mention that Jaune is an unreliable narrator? So is everyone in general, actually.
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx. Do check out his awesome works on ASOIAF and HP.
Enjoy!
One day earlier (July 2nd)
It was a warm summer evening in a small hamlet on the outskirts of Celdic. The settlement was rustic and small in population but famous for their apple orchards. The sun had set and sank beyond the horizon, yet its dying light still illuminated the land. Two children, a boy and a girl, were on their way home from gathering fruits as they chatted happily about their day.
"These apples are so juicy!" The girl bit into one of the fruits in question.
"Hey, we aren't supposed to be eating them, Tuni. We need them for granny's pies."
"Oh, don't worry about it Jas. We still have a lot more left." She nodded at her basket filled with apples. "Go on, try some. I know you want to."
The boy, Jas, was hesitant. The wooden walls of the settlement were barely a couple of hundred feet ahead, and granny's pies were heavenly! But he was hungry. "Oh, alright. Just the one."
Just as he bit into an apple, something struck him in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground and spilling the contents of his basket everywhere. Jas heard his friend's scream get cut off as it turned into a pained groan.
Before he could even think to move, someone straddled his back and bound his limbs in a sticky substance.
"HELP! HE-"
Something smacked his head, causing him to bite his tongue, and before Jas knew it, his mouth was gagged, and all he could do was moan.
"Stupid brat. Nearly ruined everything," a female voice came from above, "Get the girl. We need to move before we're spotted."
"Hey, don't order me around bitch!" It was a man's voice, but it was high and sharp, like a squeal. "You're the one who took her time choosing the bait. Besides, there ain't no guards here. Without those Huntsmen, those losers from town won't know what hit'em. Gehahaha!"
Jas felt fear and terror get a hold of him. Was he getting kidnapped? And Tuni? Why? Was it because he was a Faunus? He hid his features, what else should he do? Who were these people? Bait for what?
So many questions ran through his mind, fueling his anxiety and fear. He looked around frantically for Tuni only to find her unconscious form bound up by a tall, lanky man with too many piercings and bright pink hair.
The man noticed him staring, "Hey, knock the brat out. We don't want Grimm swarming us on the way back."
Jas turned his head to see his kidnapper and only glimpsed gray hair before a sharp pain at the back of his head and then darkness.
Morning, July 3rd,
Sara was losing patience with the old dullard talking at her. Yep, at her. Not to her. The man hadn't bothered looking her in the eyes since the conversation started, preferring to stare at her cleavage instead. Normally, she would be flattered, especially since she flaunted her babies for a reason, but even she had her limits. And to think she scolded the young Arc for straying his eyes only twice. Yet, he was still a boy and showed impressive self-restraint.
It must have been half an hour since Sara arrived here, and the pompous sourpuss still hadn't gotten to the point of her assignment. Instead, he was too busy touting his horn, not so subtly insulting her profession, and at one point, implied heavily that she was nothing more than an immoral mercenary.
'Well, she was technically a mercenary, but immoral? Not in the ways he imagines, heh.'
The less he talked about his glorious family history, the better. When he started puffing up his elite troops; she pointedly looked at the Lieutenant of the Dragoons who accompanied them, much to the annoyance of the Captain.
"As I was saying, Valestein. My troops will be more than enough to assure the safety of Celdic, Grand Market or not. However, due to the insistence of my Dragoon Lieutenant," said Lieutenant, Donovan Brocket, stared straight ahead as they walked. Sara noticed him frowning at the Guard Captain, however, "You and your… pet will be allowed to accompany us on today's patrol. However, I must insist that you stay out of our way and let us do our jobs. You are only here because the mayor insisted on having a Huntsman for emergencies. It doesn't help that you aren't even a proper Huntress. We all know how you Adventurers make a living, now, don't we?"
Sara easily ignored the jab at her precious Fie, she had heard this song and dance dozens of times before and learned to ignore it to an extent. Instead, she gave the man a noncommittal shrug, "If you insist, Captain Montgomery, I am sure I will fit right in well with the Dragoons. Just give us a holler if you find yourself in a pickle; we will be sure to back you and your elite troops up." She threw a wink at Brocket, who kept a straight face, but she could have sworn his lips twitched a little.
Montgomery bristled at that, his white mustache twitching in annoyance, but she didn't say anything he himself hadn't already said. He harrumphed and walked away after a haphazard farewell.
"I apologize for Captain Montgomery's attitude. I assure you he did not mean to insult with his comments," Brocket motioned for her to follow him inside the barracks proper.
"I can recognize an insult and hot air, and he gave both. He's old and prideful. A bad combination for a military man, but that is just my opinion." Sara followed the man into the communication room. It was mostly empty, aside from a single comms officer who looked bored as he stared blankly at the silent communication system. He stood and saluted the Lieutenant once he saw them, a simple wave from the Dragoon had him at ease.
"Any news on our errant Huntsmen?"
"No sir, Beacon has only replied with 'Too busy. Await update'. This has never happened before, sir. What could possibly have caused an emergency that Beacon would be unable to reply with a status update?"
The Lieutenant sighed tiredly, "It's not our place to question higher command, soldier. You sent them another message this morning, correct? Good. Stand by until they reply." He waved the comm-man back to his duties.
"Yes, sir!"
They were still on blackout, and the garrison's only communication source with Vale was Morse code via a landline. Sara had learned that the garrison was promised a Bullhead months ago, but Vale had not delivered yet. At least then, they could just fly out of the mountains' interference zone and contact Beacon from the skies. Or even just fly to Vale in an hour to deliver their messages. They supposedly also had an ancient phone system as well, but it was neglected for too long and currently lay broken in storage. The Celdic region's geography of being in a massive valley is starting to bite them in the back.
Lieutenant Brocket turned back to Sara, "This is not good, Valestein. We were expecting two Huntsmen to help us prepare for the Grand Market for the better part of a week now. Beacon has never gone silent on us like this. Something big must have happened."
Sara offered a sympathetic smile to the clearly stressed-out officer. 'Older man, graying hair, fit and strong. Me likey~ so much~. Too bad he's married, and I'm no homewrecker.' She glanced at his left ring finger, where a wedding ring was worn.
"Regardless, you acquitted yourself well yesterday when you accompanied me escorting the repair crew. Today, we have two objectives for our patrol." He brought out a map of the surrounding area, and marked on it where the many settlements connected to Celdic, along with the Repeater Tower and other locations. "We will be escorting a supply truck to the tower. We received a rider during the night, chased by a pack of Beowolves. The repair crew estimates they will have the tower fully operational by noon tomorrow at the earliest, but the guards require more ammo and reinforcement as the Grimm have not given them a moment of respite. In addition to the truck, we will be escorting twenty guards to reinforce the twenty already on site. This will leave us thin here, and my Dragoons will be busy patrolling the roads. The settlements should be capable of defending themselves with their sheriffs and deputies, and I will ask the mayor to call in more minutemen. Hopefully, nothing else will happen, but it still leaves the town undermanned. If only the Huntsmen we were supposed to get were here…" The Lieutenant clenched his fist tightly on the table before relaxing with a sigh.
Sara nodded seriously, the situation wasn't too bad right now, but they could certainly have a worst-case scenario on their hands if the Grimm attacked Celdic itself while they were away. They still haven't found out who damaged the tower in the first place.
"You mentioned two objectives, the second one?"
Brocket rubbed his tired brown eyes, "Captain Montgomery has demanded that we find out where the Grimm are attacking the tower from. After we escort the reinforcements to the tower, you and your partner shall accompany me and nine of my Dragoons to scout out where the Grimm are concentrated in."
Sara stared at the man blankly, "He wants us to go on a wild goose chase? Is this some political power move between you two that I'm getting dragged into?"
Brocket chuckled, "Not at all. While we do have our issues, I can assure you that this has to do with the rider's report." His smile died out and his eyes hardened. "There was a kidnapping last night from a hamlet close to the tower. Two young adolescents, Jasper and Petunia, were last seen returning from gathering fruits from their settlement's orchards."
Sara mirrored his look, "The Grimm would kill on sight, if there are no remains, then it has to be human action. Bandits? Outlanders? No, the outlanders wouldn't dare raid across the Vale mountains lest they risk the full wrath of Beacon. Ozpin has no patience for their slaving ways. Besides, they are too busy killing each other in the Southlands anyway."
"There haven't been any blood or corpses. Just the sign of struggle and their dropped fruit baskets. The witness was an old farmer who was walking his dog and heard the disturbance but was too late to see the kidnappers. He managed to contact our nearby patrol, who returned this morning with the report."
Brocket paused for a moment as he pointed out where the hamlet was on the map and his patrol's route back to Celdic.
"Both children were orphans who were taken in by the settlement. The residents cared for them as a community and are all worried about them. I'm not sure of the specifics, but I was told that both kids are also Faunus, but their traits are easy to hide. Whether this is relevant to why they were kidnapped or not, I do not know." Brocket had a scowl on his face as he collected his thoughts, "What I do know is that whoever the kidnappers were, they had every opportunity to kidnap older people. Men for labor, or women for…"
Sara nodded her understanding, opting for the Lieutenant to carry on, "they specifically targeted young children. Children who would be terrified of their situation and unable to control their emotions."
Sara's blood froze at that before she nearly snarled two words that she detested with a passion. "Grimm Bait?!"
The Lieutenant nodded grimly, "It is certainly a possibility. It could even be the White Fang, for all we know. It is still more likely that the kidnappers are bandits who are replenishing their numbers by indoctrinating young impressionable children. I know of a few bandit groups operating within a hundred miles from here that have eluded our patrols. Their crimes were petty enough not to warrant attention from Vale, and unfortunately, most of them are run by former Adventurers, which explains the captain's animosity towards you."
Sara grimaced at that. It was the sad reality that anyone could become an Adventurer as it is a way to give people second chances. Some people tended to spit on that chance and return to their vile ways. Others simply become disillusioned with their stagnation in the lower ranks as well as the lackluster support from the Kingdoms. Regardless, It was a fact that some Adventurers and even Huntsmen turn to lives of crime.
Brocket continued, "It is distasteful to admit, but we have kept correspondence with some of the more… civilized bandit clans. They are not too dissimilar to the feudal lords of old, and they do offer protection to the remote villages outside of Celdic's influence. Villages and settlements that have been neglected by the kingdoms. I have not heard from them in a while, so I had a few of my Dragoons detour on their patrol routes to check on them. Better the evil you know and what not."
Sara shrugged, "You gotta do what you gotta do. I have met my fair share of bandits and civilized folks, and you would be surprised at how much they have in common. At the end of the day, we are all trying to survive against the Grimm. Even if some people can be worse than the most monstrous of Grimm." The Lieutenant grimaced at that, "Keep me updated on what your men find about those bandit groups, would you?"
Brocket nodded, "Of course. Regardless, with the increased Grimm activity, there are simply too many possibilities for us to guess from where the Grimm are attacking the tower. "
Sara sighed at that, "Do we at least have an idea of where to go? I would rather not go in the opposite direction and return to find the town burned down. With the kidnapping, we might need to scout out two locations instead of one as well."
Brocket nodded, "Point. One of my men found tracks that led deeper into the mountains. We shall be following those tracks today and see where they lead us. I know you will not like this, but we are not going to assault anything, as we are too shorthanded. Instead, it will be purely a scouting mission before we reconvene here to reassess. Do I make myself clear, Valestein?"
Sara was not pleased, oh no, not all. Nevertheless, she still understood where the Lieutenant was coming from and nodded, "Very well, but know that if there is an opportunity to save those kids, then I'm taking it. Whether you want to help or not, that will be up to you."
The Lieutenant frowned at this, but he ultimately acquiesced with a sigh, "Very well. We will need to–"
"Morse incoming!"
Beep-beep-bep-beeep-bep—
All three occupants in the room were silent. Sara and Donovan stared patiently at the comms officer as he deciphered the incoming message. Once he was done transcribing it, he handed the paper to the Lieutenant, who scowled as he read the response from Beacon.
"It seems we shall not be getting our Huntsmen after all." He handed Sara the paper to read it herself.
"Oh my, this is bad news." she raised her eyebrows at the details of why the Huntsmen will be absent, "It does say that they will send backup as soon as they can. On the other hand, we didn't really plan our moves with them in mind. If they weren't here days ago, then they were never gonna make it."
She laid the paper on the table and frowned in thought. "Fie would have been a godsend for any tracking mission, but I could have her stay in town for today, might as well give her a day off for a change." Sara thought out loud, "It's a good opportunity to brush up on my tracking skills, Atlas doesn't really cover that in class. I've been abusing that girl when it comes to that." She smiled slightly at the thought, "Besides, she seems to have taken a shine to that stray we picked up off the road." Sara chuckled, causing the Lieutenant to give a tight smile.
"Our mission remains the same. We depart once the supply truck and Montgomery's men are ready to go. Give it two or three more hours or so. I would have preferred we had left by dawn, but…"
Sara gave him a sympathetic look. Here was a competent and dutiful soldier who was cursed with a not-so-competent superior officer. At least she clearly had an ally in him, the alternative would not be fun at all.
Nevertheless, she was still a professional, and with the change in circumstances, she would need to bring up an unwelcome discussion. "With the absence of two Huntsmen, this mission has now exceeded the parameters that were agreed upon with the Adventurer's guild. My apprentice and I were supposed to provide backup to the Huntsmen duo, not take charge of the operation ourselves. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say here, Lieutenant Brocket."
"We will renegotiate your terms of employment." The older man replied curtly, "Meet me at the mayor's manor in an hour, and I'll bring Montgomery over." The Lieutenant stated with finality as he waited for her to acknowledge the unsaid dismissal.
"Will do." Sara left the building and made her way back to the street. Even with better pay, this mission is shaping up to be a clusterfudge waiting to happen. She will have to be on her A-game, especially with Fie staying behind today.
'There might be a different opportunity to be had,' her thoughts were on a certain blonde and his earlier offer.
"Oh, you cleaned my horse? You, kids, are so nice to me."
Jaune and Fie were storing the cleaning equipment when Sara called out behind them. "You sure took your time. Any problem with the troopers?"
Sara shook her head and motioned for them to follow her outside. "Don't worry about it. Just what you would expect from military types. That Dragoon Lieutenant was quite the charmer, though. More importantly, I notice you got your Aura back, you never explained what happened to it."
The younger duo washed their hands using a faucet before following Sara, "I overused my Semblance, and a side effect of it is disabling my Aura recovery. It's getting better now, and I expect a full recovery within a few days."
"That's good to hear. I was worried you hurt yourself or something. Would have defeated the purpose of asking for your help later on."
'Help?' Jaune wondered but decided to wait until Sara elaborated further. He already promised them his aid and would not go back on his word. An Arc held to his oath seriously. For good or evil, a broken oath shall follow you to the ends of the world.
They left the stables and headed back down the streets. Jaune noticed a training yard attached to the barracks where soldiers were practicing their marksmanship skills with their old bolt-action rifles. There was the occasional Dragoon using newer lever-action rifles, but even that style is old compared to the more common assault rifles, let alone Atlas' laser guns.
It reminded him of his plan to buy a gun, but if the guards couldn't afford any modern arms, he shouldn't get his hopes up. A visit to the Market could solve that problem. He still had all the Dust he had collected sitting in his Storage Space. A mental check assured him that he could access it without even needing Aura.
They were approaching the Mayor's mansion when a sudden thought struck Jaune.
"Hang on, shouldn't you have met with the Mayor first rather than the guard captain? Isn't he responsible for the Grand Market as its Market Manager? Yesterday, I mean." Jaune wasn't certain about the protocols and hierarchy structure here. He was too used to Vytal where an Arc's word was highly respected. He would have to acclimate better to his new environment.
"Already done, kiddo. First thing I did once we arrived here. Didn't say much really, other than to keep our noses clean and not make trouble in the market, that we are only here as support for the Huntsmen." For a moment, Sara stayed silent, and Jaune had the impression she wanted to say more before the moment passed. "You know, the usual stuff civvies like to talk about when they think they're in a position of power. I'm sure he will be changing his tune when we meet later."
Jaune was quick to notice the slight derision in her tone, which surprised him considering her usual bubbly and kind attitude. She probably didn't like authority figures a lot, it seemed, and for some reason, it felt like she was talking about someone else other than the Mayor.
"I see. On a side note, I need a few things to buy but I'm short on Lien. Would you happen to know someone here who would be interested in purchasing unrefined Dust? The highest quality, I assure you."
Both Sara and Fie stopped and stared at him bewildered, "What are you talking about? We checked your belongings, and only found that white crystal. While it looks beautiful, I have no idea who would want to buy it."
Jaune looked around and found an empty park. He made his way toward an empty bench under a large tree, waving for the other two to follow him. He did not take a seat, instead, he stood under the tree with his back to it, and both women covered him from the front. From an outsider's perspective, it would look like he was selling them drugs or something, Jaune nearly chuckled at the thought.
He gave one last discreet look around before he spoke in a low voice, "This is what I'm talking about."
The blonde flicked his hand, and a fist-sized Earth Dust crystal appeared on his palm, to the shock of both women.
Sara stared incredulously in silence. Jaune wore a short-sleeve shirt, so he couldn't have been hiding the crystal under his sleeves. She did not sense him using any kind of Aura technique to make her think if this was his Semblance either.
"… how?" Fie was similarly shocked but was quicker to recover than Sara.
Jaune gave a cheeky grin, "Magic!"
Sara chuckled at that, "All right then, keep your secrets."
Jaune was surprised at that, "That's it? No questions at all on how I did that? Not curious one bit?" He honestly expected an interrogation about this. Advertising his magical abilities was a huge risk, but Krystal never told him he shouldn't do it. On the contrary, by telling him he could bless others with magic, Krystal implied that Jaune shouldn't be shy about his powers. At least, he thought so, Krystal was incredibly neutral and vague about how Jaune did things.
Correct. I did not once tell you how to live your life, Jaune. Only recommend actions. Everything you do is up to you, but remember to take heed of the potential consequences. I am, above all else, merely a guide, not a gospel.
'Appreciate the confidence, Krystal.'
He turned back to Sara as she began to speak, "Of course I'm curious, but everyone has their secrets, kiddo. You chose to trust me when you sent those recordings. I trust the Colonel, and considering you spent over a year under his tutelage, I have also decided to trust you. I'm sure you would tell me if I need to know, anyway."
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, that's good to hear. So, any idea if I can find a buyer?"
Sara thought for a moment as she held the crystal and felt it out. She passed it to Fie, who looked at it in concentration before shaking her head and handing it back to Jaune, who took it in confusion.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The crystal is too large, of high quality, and unrefined to boot. I doubt anyone would purchase it here when they could wait for the SDC train to deliver refined and cheaper Dust instead. Of course, it would be of lower quality, but it would satisfy their needs regardless. As you know, Dust crystals can be ground down to granules or sculpted into specific shapes. On the other hand, it's incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to turn ground Dust back to crystal form. A crystal this size could be very useful as a power source, but it's still more economical for most people to use ground Dust instead due to how rare crystals of this size are."
Jaune nodded along before Sara continued. "This crystal has small traces of Fire and Lightning Dust in it, despite it being clearly Earth Dust." She pointed out the slight discoloration in the crystal that signified the other elements that tainted the crystal. "It will need to be refined, and the other elements filtered out into ground dust form while the crystal would lose some of its mass. It's still very high quality, and the amount of energy in there is higher than any crystal I'd seen in a regular Dust shop. Unfortunately, while you could probably sell a piece like this for maybe £4,000, you will need either a specialty shop or find a private collector. Those two are difficult to find, especially in the boonies like Celdic. Don't take my word for it, though, Dust prices fluctuate all the time, and I'm no expert."
Jaune quickly caught on to what Sara was trying to say. There was potential for making money out of it but not here. Although, with the Grand Market opening soon and Valemen coming for business, he might just make a windfall out of it. He won't be hasty, four grand was a lot of money, and there's no doubt that any sale done here would cost him potential profits than Vale proper. Those merchants would need to return to Vale to make their own profit out of any Dust he sells them. He's already going there, so why not bypass the middleman?
Jaune would still search for a buyer, though. He only had £200 to his name, barely enough for the train ticket plus a meal, and he would rather not depend on the charity of others to survive the coming month in Vale until initiation. There was no way he would ask for money from his family either, his pride wouldn't let him. He deposited the crystal back into his Storage and frowned in thought, "I take it you wouldn't be interested in buying them off me?"
Sara stared at him, "Them? Just how many do you have on you?"
After a quick mental inquiry, Jaune answered, "A lot more. I got Fire and Lightning as well. Some Wind and Gravity among other kinds."
For the second time in the last few minutes, Sara was struck speechless, but Jaune continued on. "They are all unrefined, though, so the same problem. What do you think?"
"Wind?" Came Fie's question. Jaune brought out a few wind crystals for her to peruse. After focusing on them intently, she chose two of the purest crystals that were the size of his thumb and dumped a wad of £300 in his hands.
"Not pure enough for weaving, but good enough for my Chasers. Just have to grind them down to dust." Fie brandished her weapons, and Jaune could finally appreciate the lethal-looking pair of gun/dagger hybrids. The blades looked wickedly sharp and durable, while the gun was a short-barreled pistol clearly designed for suppression rather than lethality.
There was what appeared to be a glass capsule of green Wind Dust incorporated into each gun, though Jaune had no idea how they would be used as he wasn't much of a Dust user. Jaune also noted that both weapons had some kind of mechanism on the top of the barrels where he suspected they could be combined to turn into a much larger barrel. Combined with the fact there were two triggers, it may very well be a finishing move of some sort.
All in all, it was a badass pair of Gundaggers, and he couldn't wait to see them in action.
"I might need fire and lightning later when I replenish my babies." Fie nonchalantly opened a couple of pouches on her belt that showed…
Jaune just stared in shock, "Are these… Grenades? Bombs?"
Fie nodded seriously, "Portable high-powered explosives. Plasticity makes it handy for any espionage work. Every gal has some for emergencies."
"No, they don't! I've lived with eight gals, and none of them kept any bombs for emergencies!!" Jaune nearly shouted at the absurdity of this little girl being so bomb happy.
Fie cocked her head to the side, "Are you sure? Did you search their rooms thoroughly?" The way she asked the question so innocently was strangely endearing somehow, despite the weird topic. And now Jaune was beginning to doubt all he knew about women. Did his sisters and mother keep explosives in their makeup kits? The twins worked with Dad on his insane projects, and he had always obsessed with old-era fossil fuels, so maybe—
Sara's laughter brought him out of his thoughts as she brought out her own weapons, "My Fie is just full of surprises. I'm sure you will get used to it. Anywho, you have any lightning? Similar size to hers, please. For my Joker." She showed her oversized gun. It… was a strange design. It seemed to have both an oversized magazine that was longer than it was tall and a separate chamber feed. Perhaps it had an alternate fire for different rounds? It also had four Dust containers, two on each side of the barrel. Each container held a different Dust type. Fire, Wind, Water, and Gravity. There was also a much larger container where the gun's hammer would be. It clearly held Lightning Dust (LD), hence her request.
Overall, from first impressions, Jaune guessed Sara was a proficient Dust Caster, with emphasis on Lightning Dust, in addition to her more mundane combat skills.
"You sure do like Lightning, don't you, Sara?" Jaune pulled out a few Lightning Crystals for her to choose from. He idly noticed how the crystals buzzed in his hands energetically and wondered if it had to do with his newly discovered Lightning Affinity.
Sara hummed as she made her pick, "Here's a hint. I call my Semblance, Éclair. And no, it has nothing to do with the dessert."
Jaune chuckled, "I'm from Vytal, I know what it means. Flash, huh? So, it's electric-based? Nice. What kind is it, if you don't mind me asking? Control? Illusion? Movement? Reinforcement? Enhancement? Emission?"
"Primarily, Emission. I can generate and turn my aura into electricity and have a very high compatibility with Lightning Dust. I am very resistant to electric shocks, nearly to the point where it energizes me instead if I am careful using it. I can also enhance my body and reflexes, though it does make me sore afterward." She frowned as she placed a crystal down and checked another.
"What about your sword?" Jaune asked, having forgotten about Fie for the moment, who pouted slightly.
Sara waved her sword in lazy, distracted arcs with one hand as she checked the crystals with another, "Ace? Nah, he's been fed already." She showed him the lone Dust crystal shining a brilliant yellow of more LD. The sword was a bastard one, like Crocea Mors, but that's where the similarities ended. It looked more like a saber or a cutlass rather than his straight sword, and it had two sword-breakers by the hilt, one larger than the other, and was clearly customized for Sara's style. Then, she shocked Jaune when she flipped the blade to show the other crystal embedded in it. Hard-Light… that was quite rare.
"I'll take these two," Sara held two pieces the size of her forefinger. "£400 sounds fair?" Jaune nodded and accepted the payment. Suddenly, he was £700 richer, with more to come once he hit the market.
Seeing that Sara had explained her Semblance, Fie decided she should explain hers as well, "I call mine Sylphid. It's a combination of movement, speed, and stealth with high compatibility with Wind Dust. I am very sneaky and very fast."
Both Sara and Fie looked at Jaune expectantly. Jaune scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "I actually only just discovered my Semblance a few days ago in the mountains. I call it Overdrive. It's an enhancement, I think, but there's still a lot more about it that I have yet to discover. Primarily, It gives me an insane boost to my stats at a cost to my Aura." He decided he wouldn't explain Second Wind for now to avoid questions on why he's not using it. He was sure both women haven't told him all about their Semblances either.
Both girls nodded in understanding. Discovering one's Semblance was a major feat to be celebrated. Many people spend their entire lives never discovering it, and those who do, dedicate a lot of their time to figuring out how it works. Expecting someone to know all about his Semblance within a few days of discovering it was presumptuous to the extreme.
Jaune stored away the rest of the Dust before he thought of something, "So where would you grind them? Don't you need a special tool for it?"
Sara was storing away her crystal in a special vial before placing it in one of her belt's pouches. "I think Odvin's have the tool. They are the town's only Dust shop that doubles as a smithy. I'm sure we can rent it for our needs. Come, let's get this out of the way. I have a meeting with the Mayor in a bit."
"Well, that was disappointing."
Sara smiled at Jaune as they exited the store, "Tell me about it. Who knew Odvin's had a contract with the SDC that disallowed him to purchase any Dust except from them? Still, at least he was kind enough to allow us to use his Bullet Assembly Presses to make Dust Rounds (DR). I noticed he also appraised your Dust crystals. High quality indeed. You are essentially walking around with millions worth of Lien in your pockets. Just where did you come upon them anyway?"
Jaune sighed, swallowing his disappointment at failing to make Lien, "If you watch those videos I sent, you will have an idea."
Sara hummed in thought, "Well, I gotta go now, kiddos. Fie, I'm gonna ask you to stay with Jaune for today in case something happens. Keep an eye out for trouble while you're at it." She gave Fie a meaningful look.
Fie narrowed her eyes at Sara before nodding. Sara turned to him next, "Jaune… I know you are still recovering, so take it easy today and enjoy your time with Fie. She may not show it, but she loves all the fun things kids her age would enjoy. Could I ask you to watch over her on her first day off in forever?"
"Of course, Sara." Jaune answered without hesitation, "I will definitely make sure Fie and I have as much fun as possible. Isn't that right, Fie?"
Fie turned to Jaune and gave him her hand. He could literally see her eyes shining in excitement, and he simply could not deny her large kitty eyes. It appeared she was finally warming up to him. For the first time in his life, Jaune was beginning to feel like a big brother. It was certainly a surreal experience, and he wondered if any of his own sisters felt the same when he was young?
'Saphron maybe… Definitely not Chloé.' He nearly shuddered at the thought of his almost sadistic third sister.
Sara giggled at the sight, "Well, I guess there's no need for me to worry about you two getting along. Go have fun in the Market or whatever kids do for fun these days. I'll be late tonight, so don't bother waiting for me."
"Will do. Be safe, Sara. Let's go Fie, time to do some shopping."
They went their separate ways. Sara to the Mayor, while Jaune and Fie headed to the market, Jaune holding Fie's hand. He noticed she had an extra bounce to her steps, and he could have sworn he saw a smile behind that scarf of hers.
'Adorable.'
Dust casting and usage have been all over the place in the show. We have Weiss' seemingly endless supply of dust in her weapon, which allows her to continuously cast like no tomorrow, yet she always does the same thing with Ice or, rarely, time dilation.
Ruby also uses Dust Rounds in addition to her regular rounds, which I find fascinating and is something that I will definitely explore.
Suffice to say, I shall be taking some liberty in how Dust works in combat, in other ways than just priming it and using it like bombs.
If you haven't noticed, I have Beacon, Shade, and Atlas start in late August, and the Vytal tournament shall be held in early March. Haven is the only academy that begins in Spring as a nod to the Japanese schooling system.
Naturally, this conflicts with Volume 3, which is set in Autumn. To that, I say fuck it. The show writers were too on the nose to have the Fall Maiden reveal to happen in Fall. Considering the Maiden plot wasn't even a thing before Volume 3, I'm not going to let this constrain my writing.
We don't see Jaune interacting with younger characters much in the show, aside from Ruby. His relationship with Oscar in later seasons is basically non-existent aside from that tantrum in Argus that was never resolved. Fie offers the opportunity for me to see how he would behave around a younger sister like figure. Would he spoil her? Be stern and responsible with her? Shove a foot in his mouth? Find out next chapter.
Chapter 8 (Celdic III)
Disclaimer: I'm not a gun expert, but I think I did my research well enough. Also, bear in mind the fantasy element and the rule of cool at play here.
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx.
Enjoy!
The so-called Grand Market… wasn't really as grand as Jaune expected. It was nothing compared to the open markets of Massalia or the ancient Agora of Argus, but he could acknowledge that it had a novelty to it.
The road was wide enough to fit multiple cars or the large farming equipment that passed through. The vendors and stalls were bazaar style, but Jaune noticed that behind every stall were tents of various sizes. He knew that the merchants rented space in the warehouses to store most of their goods, but he wagered that many of them kept their most precious merchandise in the tents near at hand. Considering how crowded the town was, some merchants might also choose to sleep in those tents as well, close to their products.
He and Fie had barely made it into the market before they were accosted by a pair consisting of a young woman and a little girl who asked for their help. Well, technically, they were asking anyone for help, but no one seemed to want to be bothered. Jaune wanted to help but wasn't sure if Fie would want her day off to be cut short. A questioning glance at her gave him a shrug, so Jaune listened to their problem.
The woman, Lizzie, wanted them to help the girl, Anita, who was buying produce for her busy mother but lost her purse. It didn't take Jaune long for him to find it as he discovered a new way to use Search. By focusing on Anita's nearly non-existent Aura, which greatly tested the limits of his Aura Sense, he managed to use Pathfinder to track the purse through the rapidly disappearing Aura residue from the girl holding onto it. They found it underneath one of the stalls, probably kicked aside by walking pedestrians.
Thankfully, the whole thing didn't take more than a few minutes, and the Aura cost was also negligible due to the short distance. It also confirmed to him that he could still track people with locked Auras. His Aura Sense was vital as Search itself didn't sense the surrounding Aura, it had to be him that identified the Aura of his targets. By combining it with Aura Sense, he might have discovered a way to make up for his low PER. Too bad it's useless against Grimm.
They waved at Anita as she left for her errands, and talked a bit with Lizzie about her ceramics stall. They then walked off to explore the market, but Fie stared at him with that impassive face all the way. Jaune was starting to figure out her emotions by how bright her eyes were, though. "How did you find it so fast?"
"Just a magic trick I picked up."
Fie frowned, "That doesn't answer much. How does it work?"
Jaune thought for a moment, "How would you have found it?"
Fie replied immediately, "I would have followed the scent. Anita had a distinctive smell of rosemary. Probably because of her mother's food stall."
Jaune hummed, "I used a similar method but with Aura. The girl had a decent amount for a civilian, but it didn't help that it was locked. Still, even a locked Aura gives a residue that can be recognized; it's very minute, but It's how Grimm are still attracted to people with locked Aura, I reckon."
"… could you teach me?"
Jaune thought for a moment. Could he teach her Search? He most certainly could, but first, he needed to check something.
'Krystal, when I bequeath someone with a magical ability, do they just need a single point of magic? Or do they require the exact amount as the ability demands?'
'As I feared. I doubt Fie has a single point of Magic, so she can't use her own reserves for the ability.' Jaune continued walking, and Fie kept her glinting eyes on him, expectantly.
"Some other time, Fie." He patted her on the head as they continued walking. Jaune was glad she took it in stride and smiled as she didn't move his hand away. Guess she really was considering it during breakfast.
'Progress!'
.
.
.
"Hmmm, what do you think about this Fie?"
"They are both idiots"
Jaune and Fie had just arrived at the center of the market to find two foreign merchants arguing and nearly coming to blows about the stall spot allocated to them. After breaking the fight up, with Jaune taking point talking them down as he lazily rested his hand on Crocea Mors, while Fie nonchalantly bounced one of her throwing knives, the two merchants immediately calmed down and brought out their permission slips. Turns out they were both wrong as once Market Manager Otto arrived to figure out the disturbance, which indirectly told Fie and Jaune that Sara was already on her mission, he discovered that one merchant got the correct spot but the wrong day while the other merchant got the correct date but the wrong spot. The first merchant booked the spot in August instead of July. Apparently, he was a Mistrali merchant, and they used a different date system there.
It had something to do with different booking systems, like a day then month or month then day, and wrong use of military time, but Jaune couldn't care less as long as they avoided making a scene. No need to attract Grimm and cause a disturbance. The merchant was distraught, but the Market Manager promised to find him a spot regardless, but it would cost him. The end result was both merchants getting shamed yet satisfied, one of them hurrying to open his stall at his new spot while the other slinking off to wait for his turn in a couple of days.
Mayor Otto then made his way to them, "Thank you for the help, young man. I believe I recognize the young lady as Valestein's partner, but I do not believe we were introduced?"
"Jaune Arc, a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine." The old man laughed jovially as he shook Jaune's hand, "Between you and me, I'm glad you were the one who broke up the fight and not one of the guards. They can be a little… enthusiastic in enforcing the law."
Jaune frowned, "Wouldn't your militia or sheriff be the better option for dealing with this?"
The mayor shifted a little as he fiddled with his bowler hat, "Things have been hectic the last few days, and my minutemen are busy protecting the warehouses and the town. With the guards shorthanded and many of them off at the tower, we had to pick up most of their duties. My militia is not experienced in dealing with foreigners or tourists, unfortunately. Ah, I think I can see trouble brewing over there. If you'd excuse me," With that, the mayor hurried off towards another stall where a fruit peddler was arguing with a local.
"So, no chance of it being foul play?" He decided to err on the side of caution and asked the more experienced Fie on the matter.
Fie remained silent for a moment before shaking her head. "Could be. Most likely not. It's natural for humans to make errors. This could simply be an honest mistake. Yet, this could also have something to do with the damaged tower. Vale has completely adopted the Internet, with businesses offering all sorts of services and even drone deliveries through your Scroll. With no signal here in the boonies other than radio for the past week, it's possible both merchants simply had bad luck as they couldn't call ahead to confirm their bookings."
Jaune hummed in thought, "Oh well. I say we did well stopping the fight from escalating, even the Market Manager agreed to that. I saw a couple of stalls that had something of interest, and I really need a new pair of shoes."
Fie nodded and grabbed his hand as she dragged him to a specific stall, "Ice cream." She declared with eyes shining in excitement.
Jaune sweat dropped, "Don't you have your own money to use?"
Fie shook her head, "Gave you all I have for the Dust." She kept gazing at him with those kitty eyes of hers, her lips pursed, her white tail quivering in excitement, and with her short stature; Jaune could never have defended himself from the Cuteness Overload.
He sighed, "Fine, fine."
.
.
.
Jaune walked along the market in his battered sandals. He was starting to get itchy from them already, and he couldn't even use his Aura to help as he redirected it straight to his recovery. Next to him, Fie indulged in an entire tub of mint-flavored ice cream. She might not have the most expressive face, but Jaune could easily see that she was greatly enjoying herself, judging by her tail happily swinging. He wondered if she was actually a dog-faunus rather than a cat, but when he asked her, she confirmed she was a cat.
He had bought a few random essentials that he was sorely needing, including clothes, tools, and other sundries. Too bad he had yet to come upon a good pair of combat ready shoes in his size.
As they walked, they noticed a section of the Market dedicated to festival games. Fie stared out at the various games, but Jaune was distracted by a dull crashing sound from a closed stall nearby.
Worried that someone might be hurt, Jaune hurried over with Fie following, albeit slower. He called out for the owner, only to get a groan in response, which prompted him to barge into the stall's tent.
The tent had boxes neatly set in rows, probably in preparation for opening time, but in one spot, a pile of boxes had fallen on an older woman with brown hair and rabbit ears. She looked at Jaune with an awkward smile.
"Uhm, can you give me a hand, please?"
Jaune rushed and helped the lady out of her predicament, Fie putting her ice cream aside to help as well.
.
.
.
"Thank you so very much for your help, laddie."
The rabbit woman, whose name Jaune learned was Megan Scarlatina but asked them to call her Meg, was the owner of the stall "C&C's Dusty Trinkets" which was an actual store in Vale. According to Meg, they sold Dust and other assortments of gadgets and tools for both Huntsmen and civilians. He learned from Meg that the Cs stood for Cinnamon and Cassidy, which were her and her business partner's maiden names, respectively. They come here every summer to offload their unsold goods from the year.
Suffice to say, Jaune did not ask for any of that information and deduced that the woman was a huge chatterbox who couldn't handle a single minute passing without talking. Much to his dismay, Fie had noticed the signs earlier than him and managed to sneak off while he wasn't looking, that traitor.
"… and then I slipped and fell, and all those heavy boxes fell on top of poor old me." The woman was saying, and Jaune just nodded along absentmindedly as he helped her unbox. There was no need at all to be rude, and he had already decided to help her out as he carried an especially heavy box. Besides, she may call herself old, but she looked good for a middle-aged woman. He hadn't met a lot of older huntresses, but he had a hunch she unlocked her Aura, and a bit of concentration later, his hunch was proven true.
"Don't you have any helpers around? Seems like a lot of work for one person to handle."
"Oh, no. It's all me here. Sometimes my daughter would be around to help out; she's a student at Beacon, you see. She just finished her first year and is visiting her father in Atlas."
That intrigued him. So, she's the mother of a Huntress-in-training? "What a coincidence, I'm also heading to Beacon next month."
"Oh really? Well, I'll be sure to tell my Velvet to keep an eye out in case you need any help. Between you and me, my girl is super shy and has trouble making friends. What did you say your name was again, dear?"
"Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, the ladies love it." Jaune replied automatically before cringing so hard at the woman's replying snort that he dropped the box he was holding, spilling the contents on the ground. Why the hell did he say that? He thought he broke himself out of that horrible line. Damn you, Dad, for sticking it to his brain!
"Sorry about that."
"Oh my, are you alright, dear? I'm sorry the whole tent is a mess right now." Meg helped him collect the dropped trinkets. As Jaune was gathering the items, he found himself holding a large, heavy, and dusty old case with an intricate carving of the name THORS with the O looking like a revolver's cylinder. He turned to Meg to ask her about it.
"Oh, that dusty old thing? Yeah, it holds this old revolver made by Thors. They were an old weapon manufacturer originally from Vale but moved to Vacuo some ten or twenty years ago. My husband, William, swears that their revolvers were some of the most powerful handguns you would find. It could supposedly blow a Beowulf's head clean off in one shot using regular ammo. I made sure it was clean and maintained and had been trying to sell it for years now."
Jaune was skeptical, "If it's such a remarkable gun, then how come nobody ever bought it?"
Meg finished storing the rest of the boxes and wiped her hands on a towel, "Hmmm, it would have to do with its insane recoil and expensive ammo. I always warn potential buyers to try it out first before they buy it, and nearly everyone gets hurt from the recoil. The occasional Huntsmen who could handle the recoil preferred their fancy mecha-shifting weapons over changing their fighting style to accommodate the gun. It's too large of a pistol to function as a backup sidearm, yet not powerful enough to function as a main weapon. Thors had a reputation for making super strong firearms with their synthesized alloy Zemurium. No one could deny that metal is among the toughest and most durable things in the world. Heaviest too. The makers were too stubborn to change their ways to accommodate the market, as the alloy was expensive to make, and they insisted on supreme quality over cutting corners, which ultimately led to their financial woes. The guns were so well-made and durable that they rarely got repeat customers due to how long-lasting the weapons were. My husband won it in an auction and only used it once, nearly dislocating his shoulder as well." She finished with a giggle.
Jaune hummed in thought. He was in the market for a gun, and lo and behold, a gun fell into his hands. Somebody up there must be watching him, "Do you mind if I check it?"
Meg smiled brightly, "Sure, go ahead. Just don't load it in here, please."
She walked off to continue her work, and Jaune placed the case on a table and opened it to find its contents neatly placed in black polyurethane foam. There was a guide and catalog of all the things included, and Jaune placed it aside to check later. In the center was a large white and gold revolver with intricate carvings etched on it. In addition, there were four boxes of twenty FMJ .500 Magnum rounds each and six large speed loaders that told him the gun held ten rounds. Finally, there was a customized leather holster that he could attach to his sword belt to hold both the gun and three of the speed loaders. Not that it really mattered to Jaune, thanks to Storage Space.
Jaune lifted the gun and noticed its heavy weight. As Meg said, the metal felt tough and durable in his hands. He popped the cylinder, noticing that the gun was designed so that it could be used by both hands and the cylinder could be popped in either direction depending on which button he pressed. Jaune found the cylinder matched the speed loaders, ten rounds, before loading it back empty. The barrel was a little over ten inches, and ended with a muzzle break that extended the length to another two inches. He noticed the gun could be customized to install add-ons above or below the barrel.
A scope, perhaps? Or maybe he could install a Dust regulator and attach a Dust crystal like Sara's gun? Decisions, decisions.
Jaune continued inspecting the revolver, as well as the accessories provided, before he skimmed through the catalog. All in all, it was a very impressive and well-cared-for piece of art. Especially as he noticed the manufactured year, which was a good twenty years ago. He was very tempted to buy it. It checked all his needs for a gun. Strong, durable, and useful for short to medium range. A rifle would be a better option, especially for his lack of long-range options, but he couldn't see himself using a rifle with his sword. Gun and Sword, however…
Meg came back to find Jaune closing the case and looking at her with an excited gleam in his eyes, "How much?"
"Thank you for your business~. Do swing by when I officially open tomorrow, m'kay? I'm sure to have more things set up for you."
"Sure thing Meg, bye."
Jaune left the tent with a happy bounce in his step. He frowned when he couldn't find Fie and instinctively spread out his Aura Sense, trying to locate her.
Suddenly, he turned upwards, and his jaw nearly dropped. There was Fie hanging upside down a wooden beam that crossed the street overhead. Her feet appeared to be stuck to the wood with no leverage at all. His Aura Sense told him that it was an Aura technique of some kind, but he had never heard of something like that. He even noticed that her scarf wasn't dangling down, but was seemingly stuck to her body. It was as if Fie learned of gravity and decided it wasn't for her and completely disregarded its rules.
Jaune recollected himself, "There you are Ninja Kitty. Where did you disappear to?"
Fie flickered for an instant to appear in front of him in a gust of wind, 'Her Semblance?' her Aura forming a green halo around her as he kept his Aura Sense active.
"… around."
"Uh-huh, and you definitely didn't abandon me to the nice rabbit lady who couldn't stop talking, huh?"
Fie pretended to be busy checking the surroundings, though Jaune saw her eyes gleaming in mischief. Her Aura also fluctuated playfully as if it was… wait. Could he see her Aura?
"Forget it," he sighed before noticing the box she held, "What's that you have there?"
"Present." Fie held out a shoebox to Jaune, which he took in surprise. He opened it to find a pair of black steel-shodded boots, his eyes widening as he recognized the brand.
"Stregas? That must have cost a fortune! I thought you said you didn't have any money?" He looked at her in shock. Stregas was Atlas', and probably the world's, finest makers of sportswear and combat fatigues. Hell, even General Ironwood was known to prefer their boots. They were very expensive with some models reaching thousands of Lien.
Fie turned her gaze to the ground as she shuffled her feet. His Aura Sense was going haywire, and he could feel a slight drain on his AP. Fie's Aura shined in what he felt was shyness and expectation with a hint of… guilt?
Jaune's gaze narrowed, "Fie? You did pay for this, right? I really hope you didn't rob some poor fellow of his boots."
Fie turned back to him sharply, with a narrowing of her eyes, "I don't steal. Not anymore. I won it."
Jaune had to stop himself from gasping. Fie's Aura sharpened angrily at his accusation. It appears he just discovered a new feature of his Aura Sense. 'Not anymore?' He filed her slip for later.
Jaune thanked Krystal inwardly, "I'm sorry for doubting you, Fie. I believe you. Thank you so much for such an awesome gift." Jaune set the box on the ground as he changed out of his sandals, "How did you win it?"
Fie's Aura became serene, though sadly, it wasn't playful anymore.
"They had a carnival game back there," she pointed towards the area they passed by. "First prize for a shooting game was the Stregas, and I noticed your discomfort wearing the sandals. It was child's play for me to win it, even if the owner cheated by nailing the targets. Toy guns could still be enhanced with Aura to shoot deadly pellets. She probably only put such a valuable prize for a simple carnival game to attract customers, never actually believing she would lose them."
Now her Aura returned to playful again. That explained the slight guilt she felt, as she technically cheated, but there were no rules against Aura usage. He thought there weren't, at least, but that's not relevant, and the sleazy owner cheated first. What surprised Jaune was that throughout this conversation, she barely had a change in her facial expression aside from her eyes dimming and glowing with her emotions, along with the slight upturn of her lips. Such a poker face would be a godsend in a casino.
And, yet, her poker face was powerless against his newly found ability. This is bound to be extremely useful in the future.
He finished strapping the boots and walked around to test it, "Well, I am glad you won it. These are super comfy and would be very durable in a fight. Thanks again, Fie, I owe you one."
"Don't mention it." She looked at my new gun strapped opposite to my sword, "I see you found a new toy. Mind if I check it?"
"Sure," he handed her the gun and described its specs to her.
Fie inspected it for a minute before returning it, "How much did it cost you?"
Jaune holstered the gun, "£4,000."
Fie's eyes widened slightly for a second before narrowing, "The Earth Dust crystal?"
"Yep."
"It's a good gun and well worth the cost. I suggest you be frugal with its ammo. They are quite pricey, especially if you invest in Dust Rounds (DR)."
"Figures. We're burning daylight, let's finish shopping."
Jaune started walking along the market with Fie following him. He held out his hand and was glad when Fie held it. Her Aura felt safe and comfortable to him, showing that she held no ill will towards him.
'I have to be careful; else I might get drunk off this feeling.' He turned off his Aura Sense, noting his increased control of it. Before, it was instinctual and needed him to focus hard to feel someone's Aura. Now it felt more like an ability that he could toggle on and off.
His gaze fell on a specific stall that sold sports goods. Jaune grinned and turned to Fie.
"Ever went fishing?"
It was past midnight. Fie was sleeping in her bed while Jaune sat on an armchair and stared out at the moon, which was the only source of light in the room. On the dining table near him was a meal they had prepared for Sara that had long gone cold. All of Jaune's belongings were now sitting in his Storage Space, except for the White Crystal, which he tied around his neck as a lucky talisman.
He had just finished an enlightening conversation with Krystal about his perks and abilities. Krystal had reminded him of his magic points that were waiting to be used, but Jaune decided against buying new abilities when even now, he was still discovering the extent of the ones he gained.
After some thought, he rearranged his status screen and added more parameters that became relevant to his power.
'Status.'
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: TBD
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 600/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 75/hr) (07:09)
Aura Control: 22%—>23%
Strength (STR): 89/81
Vitality (VIT): 108/98
Dexterity (DEX): 93/85
Agility (AGL): 68/62
Perception (PER): 60/55
Intelligence (INT): 102/93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG) [Recharges every 45 days]: 5/8 (41 days to regain one MP)
*Gained one point from awakening the System early.
*Gained one point from merging with the System.
*Gained one point from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
*Gained five points from challenges.
Perks (Stacks):
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you. Moonlight boosts Aura Recovery by 50%. Moonlight boosts stats by 10%
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration by a flat 100/hr.
Eidetic memory (temporary): You have always had an excellent memory. By having your INT over 100, you have unlocked this perk.
*CRITICAL BOOST: Provides a 600% stat increase that can be either distributed evenly or focused on one or more stats. Costs 10 AP/hr for every 1% stat boost. Can only be activated in increments of twenty minutes. Increasing stats to 100 does not have adverse health effects. Increasing stats beyond 50% of your current maximum may cause adverse health effects. Incremental increases beyond that will cause adverse health effects.
*?-?-?
Special Abilities
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Aura Sense implemented into the ability; you can now view the target's emotions.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura.
Search (C-rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Skills:
Crescent Wave: Channel 100 AP to a compatible weapon and unleash a one-meter-wide Aura attack with a range of 10 meters. The speed of the attack depends on skill and power of the swing. Can channel more AP for more devastating effects.
Aura Sense: Can passively sense targets that have Aura. Can be actively used to sense targets within a certain range for their Aura and emotions. Costs 1 AP per second for every meter away from the user.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused I: Aura recovery reduced to 25% (Time remaining: 7 hours, 9 minutes). Ability [Second Wind] disabled until Aura recovery returns to 100%.
Blessings of the Moon: You are under direct moonlight. Aura recovery increased by 50%. Stats increased by 10%.
Class was something Jaune and Krystal came up with to extrapolate someone's stats and abilities and assign them a suitable class that compliments those stats and their style of fighting. He hasn't decided yet on his own, though he had to fight the urge not to go all geek-like and declare himself a Heroic Paladin. It's why Krystal was responsible for assigning classes, the neutral, responsible guy that he was.
It was a pleasant surprise when he discovered the boost he received from the moonlight. It only applied in direct exposure, and if he went indoors, or if a passing cloud blocked the moon, he would only get half the benefits. It was still a considerable benefit, nevertheless, considering the fact Grimm preferred to operate at night.
Then there's his new temporary perk, Eidetic memory. Jaune had always had an excellent memory, but with his INT breaking the 100 mark, it appeared to get even better. He could perfectly recall any scene he remembered today, although he couldn't remember all he heard. Jaune knows it's a step below the legendary Photographic memory, which he guessed would require him to get his PER up to 100 along with his INT. That was a major work in progress, although if he could boost his stat with Critical Boost…
Jaune dived into his mind for a minute, where he found his Semblance awake but still sluggish. A mental conversation with it had him sighing in exasperation. Those perks weren't magical power ups, just indicators that his stats have surpassed the human limit and as a consequence he had managed to develop a talent, or more like Krystal is encouraging him to develop a certain talent. Jaune's dominant hand was his right one, but he was confident in his ability to use his left hand for nearly anything his right hand could do. At least before Krystal, as now his left hand wasn't as dexterous. Maybe when his DEX reaches 100 it will be different?
On the bright side, he also learned that his Semblance was nowhere near done developing, considering the ?-?-? that was on his status screen. Jaune will need to reflect and explore more to figure out what else Overdrive can do.
On a side note, his AC went up by a single point, but he wasn't surprised. Jaune estimated that his pre-Krystal level was in the 40s or 50s, and he guessed that his AC would simply return to that level naturally. It's what comes after that he would have to train for.
His Aura recovery was going well, all things considered. Jaune had tried to get around the debuffs to his AR by using Second Wind but failed. Apparently, the ability was disabled until he fully recovers his AR, proving that Second Wind should be used sparingly and reserved for emergencies.
Jaune had wasted some Aura using some of his abilities throughout the day, as well as discovering new ways Observe and Search worked, but most importantly, he had completely recovered his stats just as he hoped. After using Observe on many different targets, Jaune had managed to get an idea on the average human's stats.
First, all his targets had their Aura locked. Even though he had the opportunity to Observe a target with unlocked Aura, he opted not to in order to save on Aura. Generally, it costs him 10% of the target's available Aura to Observe them, yet it only costs a single point to Observe someone without Aura.
Second, the least amount of Aura he found on a human target was 100 and that was a newborn. The person with the most Aura also happened to be the oldest person in town, an eighty-year-old grandma at 273 AP. Naturally, there were a few outliers here and there, but generally they all followed the formula of the older you were the more Aura you would have. Animals also had Aura, as Arthur and the Dragoon horses proved, but as a rule they were always lower than humans.
Lastly, civilians on average have stats ranging from 40 to 60, with INT being the generally highest stat. Makes sense, as humans were known for their intelligence in comparison to other mammals. Naturally, a craftsman like a carpenter would have above-average DEX, while a laborer usually has more VIT and STR than normal. AGL and PER appears to be the rarest stats Jaune found as nearly everyone had theirs below 60. The only outlier was a young Deer-Faunus, and Jaune guessed it was genetic rather than from training.
Then there was the difference between men and women. Men generally had higher stats than women, with the exception of INT where women generally have the advantage. Again, it's all about brain power, not actually how smart or wise a person is. On the other hand, women almost always had higher Aura than men. This might actually explain why it's more common to find female Adventurers and Huntsmen than male ones.
The moon hid behind a cloud and Jaune stifled a yawn. He wasn't particularly sleepy due to the moonlight energizing him even when hidden, but he knew he needed to sleep soon or else he would be lethargic for the rest of the day.
'As soon as Sara returns. Sleep could come after. I only need four hours to be well-rested.'
He looked back at Fie. The Cat-Faunus was dressed the same as when she woke up this morning, but even as she slept, she kept a knife tied to her thigh, and he knew she had another one under her pillow.
The aspiring Huntsman turned on his Aura Sense, as had become the norm since he discovered its true potential earlier in the day. He looked at Fie's serene yet sharp Aura as if coiled for action even when sleeping. Curiously, he wondered what kind of life did the girl endure to be always on guard like this.
He sighed at the thought, Jaune liked to imagine he had gotten close to the cat girl, but he doubted she would open up about such a subject when they had only known each other for a day. He turned towards the window, wishing he could cover the entire town with his senses, but he knew that would probably drain him of all the AP he recovered if he tried.
'Hang on. The skill forms a circle with me at the epicenter. What if I focus on a specific direction instead? Maybe like sonar?'
Eager to try out his theory, Jaune focused his senses towards the west, where he knew Sara would be returning from. He sent out a pulse of Aura that cost him ten AP. It did nothing besides Fie shifting in her sleep.
It… didn't return. Of-bloody course, it didn't return. He doesn't actually know how Sonar worked! Jaune sighed at his failure. He should have focused more on those classes his grandfather had him attend. Time to rethink his strategy. His current base range and cost was ten AP for a one-meter radius for one second. What if he manipulated that circle instead?
Jaune stood and walked towards the window. He tried again, but instead of letting the skill form around him, he aimed it down the street looking west. This time it was much better with visual confirmation, as he could see the very dim lights that signified the locked Auras of the townsfolk. Jaune easily ignored them as he narrowed his Senses further until he finally found his target. He couldn't see her, but he could guesstimate that she was exiting the Barracks. She was alone, so Jaune thought she must have just finished her after-mission report and caught her on the way out. Her Aura was like the sun when compared to the locked Aura of the residents.
He deactivated the skill and checked how much it cost him AP-wise. Jaune had used it for about four seconds, and it cost him 40 AP. Not bad at all. If his AC was higher, it would have cost even less. It might have even provided him with more information other than identifying the target.
'Might as well meet her downstairs.' It's a twenty-minute walk from the barracks to here, but Jaune doubted she would walk. She's a powerful adventurer and would probably sprint here to get something to eat. He chuckled at the thought.
"What's so funny?"
"Eeeekk–guh." Jaune did NOT jump so high he bumped his head on the windowsill and most certainly did NOT shriek like a little girl. He turned balefully at the now awake Cat-Faunus standing right behind him, who had a shit-eating grin on her face… or well, what could be considered one on her usually impassive face.
Jaune rubbed his head at the phantom pain, his active Aura having protected him from harm. "When did you wake up?"
The girl's eyes gleamed in the darkness with mischief, "When you did whatever it was with your Aura. So, what's up?"
Something pinged in his senses, and a quick glance out of the window had him moving out of the way of a flying Sara, who landed silently in the room.
She slowly rose to her feet before turning towards them with a large smile, "Hi, kids. What did I miss?"
"Oh, this rainbow trout tastes great. Who was it that caught it again?"
While Sara went for a shower, Fie heated her dinner in the kitchens downstairs as the microwave was not suitable for obvious reasons. The older Adventurer was enjoying her first solid meal since breakfast of the day prior.
Jaune pointed to Fie, who grinned at Sara with her customary peace sign, "Found some fishing gear in the market. Took her fishing in the nearby stream."
Fie nodded her head energetically, "I never got the chance to catch fish with a pole before. Usually, I would just grab them barehanded or knife them as they get close."
Sara hummed as she finished her meal and washed it down with a mug of beer that Fie had procured for her. Jaune didn't think it wise to drink alcohol so late at night, but she's a grown up, she could handle the consequences herself.
"That's great to hear, sweetie. I guess we could start going fishing just for the heck of it if you'd like. I'm glad you two had fun. Today was brutal enough as it is." Sara sighed as she gulped the last of her beer and stretched in her seat, causing Jaune to avert his eyes as the woman was only wearing a tank top over her underwear. He pretended not to see the sly smirk she threw at him.
"So what happened?"
"Apart from a wild goose chase? Found a Grimm nest a few clicks away from here. An abandoned quarry, the massive kind, chock-full of all sorts of Grimm. Beowolves, Ursas, Death Stalkers… the works."
Jaune frowned, "That doesn't sound good. Such a large gathering of different kinds of Grimm so close to town? They would sooner tear themselves apart than cooperate unless there was a much more powerful Grimm holding them to its will."
Fie nodded along, "Not like you to leave a nest like that undisturbed, Sara."
"Nothing I could do about it. I can't tell you anything more, Jaune, as currently you are just a civilian."
Jaune nearly scowled at that before pausing, "Currently?"
"Yep, currently. Before we continue, I would like you to answer a few questions for me if you don't mind."
Jaune frowned at the sudden change of topic before nodding for her to continue.
Sara expanded her Scroll to tablet mode and brought up his file from the Adventurer Hub. "You have already completed the required missions to be promoted to C-rank, yet you have not received a recommendation from a B-rank or higher Adventurer to advance. I can only assume that your grandfather decided against recommending you himself for fear of accusations of nepotism and favoritism. Am I correct?"
Jaune shook his head, "Not at all. Gramps would have done it in a heartbeat and slapped anyone who complained regardless." Sara snorted in amusement, "It's just that he had been very busy with his navy duties due to the increased raids by pirates from the south as well as a resurgence of aquatic Grimm. I couldn't afford to wait for a suitable Adventurer to take me on a C-rank or higher mission to evaluate me, as I had other familial commitments."
The older Adventurer nodded with a smirk, "Yeah, that sounds like the Colonel alright. But I'm surprised he didn't take you with him on those boat rides. I'd have thought you would relish the experience of fighting at sea."
Jaune folded his arms and looked away, "It just wasn't for me, I guess. Gramps took me on a few and I did adequate enough that he saw no more need to take me on a dangerous mission like that."
'There's no way in hell I will tell her that my motion sickness prevents me from getting on ships for too long. Oh gods, the rocking… how do they handle that stuff?!'
Jaune shivered involuntary at the thought, but thankfully, Sara just shrugged and moved to the coat hanger and tied her coat around her body, just enough to look decent.
"Fie, report on your observations of Adventurer Arc."
Jaune snapped to attention at the formal usage of his title. He turned to Fie, who had also dressed into her coat at some point, to find her throwing him a small smile before she stood straight and reported concisely.
"Jaune Arc has shown that he was observant of his surroundings when he woke up. He continued to prove his observant nature as we descended the stairs to the Inn, even when he was in pain. Moreover, during breakfast, he made sure there were no eavesdroppers on our conversation. Furthermore, as we travelled towards the barracks, he had his guard up in an unknown environment and kept a close eye on any potential threats. Throughout the day, in the market and outside of it, he practiced constant vigilance as much as he could and did not hesitate to identify potential threats or ask a more experienced adventurer for advice or opinions."
Jaune cocked an eyebrow at that. The only 'threats' they faced were the two angry merchants and a bad-tempered badger when they went fishing.
"He has also shown a kind and helpful side consistently. He did not hesitate to help a civilian find her purse, stop a fight between two foreign merchants, and saved another merchant from a predicament while continuing to help her, expecting no reward for his services."
Sara nodded along, "Have you watched the recordings he shared?" Sara continued at Fie's nod, "What are your thoughts on his combat abilities?"
"Adventurer Arc had shown high expertise in combat and strong willpower to defeat the creatures of Grimm as well as resourcefulness and skill to prevail against an overwhelming foe with extreme odds set against him. That alone is enough for me to recommend him to be promoted to a C-rank adventurer, but I shall reserve the final judgment in that matter to A-rank Adventurer Valestein."
Jaune gawked at the white-haired girl, finally understanding what was going on here. He looked at Sara expectantly only to find the older adventurer had set her Scroll on the table and only now noticed that it was recording. Thankfully, he had dressed into something besides his shorts and tank top when Sara was showering. It also explained why the older woman put on her coat.
"I, too, have perused Jaune Arc's evidence of his battle against the Grimm in the Vale Mountains and agree with Adventurer Fie's assessment of his fighting prowess. I have concluded that Jaune Arc has thus proven himself to be worthy of a nomination to be a C-ranked Adventurer pending his acceptance of the mission parameters I shall state shortly."
At that, both Adventurers looked at the blonde, and Sara continued, "Adventurer Arc. Do you wish to advance in the ranks of the Adventurer guild to reach the much-vaunted C-rank and beyond?"
"Of course I do." Even if he was going to be a Huntsman, becoming a C-ranked Adventurer would look good on his record.
The A-ranked Adventurer grinned at the instant response, "In that case, I hereby offer you a chance to be promoted to C-rank. You are to join this mission under my command, as well as Fie's, due to her higher rank. This was originally a C-rank mission, but due to extenuating circumstances, both the Mayor and Guard Captain have agreed to bump it to B-rank. I cannot divulge the parameters of this mission until your acceptance, however."
Jaune frowned at that, "Usually, it would be the other way around. I cannot accept a mission without knowing what it entails. For all I know, you could be tricking me into accepting an illegal mission."
The older woman smirked, "Smart. I see the Colonel has drilled in your head his Modus Operandi. 'Trust but Verify.'"
Jaune remained silent and resolute as he knew the woman was testing him. Or probably teasing him, as he could feel a large amount of playful energy emanating from her Aura.
Sara continued on, "Very well then, that is a fair condition. Before I give you the mission, I must first explain mine and Fie's original mission here. Originally, we were supposed to rendezvous with a Veteran Huntsman and his partner, some sort of priestess who occasionally visits these festivals to bless the fields and crops. Don't roll your eyes at me, young man," Sara rebuked, with her hands on her hips, at Jaune's unconscious act.
"I don't know about her religion, something to do with the Seasonal Maidens if I had to guess, but I was assured she's the real deal. It might be a Semblance or… magic," at that it was Sara's turn to roll her eyes, "but the power she exhibits is very real. The priestess has been around for decades and before Fertilizer Dust came around, she was the main reason this region was fertile enough to attract settlers from Vale and compete in the market. She still visits occasionally for tradition's sake and the people believe in her being a vessel for the gods or something of that tune. There is an old church on the opposite side of town dedicated to the four maidens that the townspeople care for, so this should give you an idea of how important the people of Celdic view this priestess."
Jaune shouldn't have been as surprised as he did, considering he himself had magic and Krystal had implied that there were others around who had magic. He wasn't expecting he would meet a magic user so soon. Jaune wondered what he would discover if he Observed her? Maybe they could discuss magic and learn from each other! Sara's next words shattered that hope.
"Unfortunately, they were supposed to be here days ago. I waited yesterday to no avail and Mayor Otto had no clue where they were. Finally, I just got a message straight from Beacon sent to the Garrison. The priestess was grievously wounded in an attack and the Huntsman was forced to escort her to safety. He did not know when he would make it here, only that he would do the best he could. This means that Fie and I will be responsible for town security, patrolling for Grimm, defending the repair crew on the Repeater Tower, raising the townfolks' morale, and finally investigating the rumors of bandits in the region. Rumors that were unfortunately proven to be true earlier today. Suffice to say, we are extremely understaffed for such an undertaking."
"What do you mean the rumors were proven to be true?"
Sara held up her hand, "Not yet, Arc. Let me finish." He nodded in apology, and the older woman continued, "After speaking with the authorities here, we have reached an agreement. Our mission has been bumped to B-rank, with the possibility of it even rising to A-rank if a catastrophe struck us unawares. Nonetheless, no matter how competent and powerful me and Fie are, there are only two of us. Which brings me to offering you a position in our team for this mission as well as an opportunity to be promoted to C-rank. Three birds in one stone if you will; you gain experience working with awesome Adventurers like us." Sara flamboyantly pointed to herself and Fie, with the younger girl flashing another one of her peace signs, "You get paid very handsomely indeed, and finally, you get that rare promotion that you can put in your pedigree."
Jaune smiled, it truly was an opportunity like no other, and he would be mad not to accept. He still had a few reservations though, "Before I accept I have a few questions of my own. First, what assignments should be expected of me?"
"You will be assigned tasks that include but are not limited to; security details, patrolling the Marketplace and guarding the warehouses. Wall patrols. Field patrols. Grimm extermination and finally investigation of potential criminal elements. The duration of this mission starts the moment you accept it and lasts until relief arrives from Beacon and we are no longer required to provide support. You are expected to provide at least eight hours of labor daily with no days off with the possibility of it extending indefinitely in the case of an emergency. It should not last longer than the end of the month, however."
The younger man nodded as that was all within expectation, "What would my mission payment be?
"Your cut of the pay is set at £100 an hour with potential bonuses for any problems solved, which is to be negotiated with the client upon the completion of the contract. Furthermore, I have spoken to the mayor and the Lieutenant, and they agreed to put in a good word for you to Beacon depending on your performance. If you do not have any other questions, will you accept this mission?"
Jaune thought at the offered pay. It was not bad at all for a D-rank adventurer, but for a B-rank mission the pay should have been higher. Then again, Celdic didn't appear to be overly rich, and they still had to pay for the Garrison here. Regardless, £800 a day as a base pay was not bad at all. Not to mention the extra bonus of Beacon learning of him through the town's endorsement, that's precisely what Gramps had told him Ozpin would look for. "I accept this mission, and humbly put myself under your command, Sara Valestein. Adventurer Fie."
Sara shut off the recorder as both She and Fie smiled at that, "Unfortunately, due to the busy nature of the festival, we are not provided with lodging or food expenses. That will have to come out of your pocket." Sara finished with a wink.
Jaune relaxed, "So we are done with the formalities? I didn't know you had to record it."
"Yeah, it's an obscure but necessary rule." Sara fiddled with the Hub app before Jaune's Scroll beeped. She then took off her coat and hanged it back on the hanger, "We aren't anywhere near a guild house for them to do the bookkeeping, so we have to keep records ourselves and submit them later. Accept the mission I sent you, and you are officially half-way to promotion. Due to the weak signal, we won't be capable of updating the records globally until the tower is repaired, but for our local needs this will do."
Jaune did as he was asked, after checking the mission parameters and finding them virtually the same as what Sara stated.
"So what was up with all the questions? I can understand needing to know my combat abilities, but that didn't seem to be as big a requirement for you as knowing my personality, it seemed."
Sara gave him a serious look, "Tell me Jaune, as an aspiring huntsman, what is your most important duty aside from killing Grimm?"
He refrained from blurting out the obvious answer of keeping the people safe and thought deeply about her question. Killing Grimm was always a good thing, and didn't require anyone to be Huntsmen or even Adventurer. A duty that is expected out of Huntsmen? He thought about his day so far and how Sara conducted herself, as well as Fie's observation of him, and he thought he found an answer.
"To make sure the people I am protecting feel safe and happy, for if they feel otherwise, they would attract more Grimm."
"…Good enough answer, I suppose. There is another reason, of course, and that is the fact that while Grimm are monsters, they are predictable monsters. Humans can be worse than Grimm in so many ways, and combine that with our intellect, a Huntsman will find that dealing with criminals is a lot more challenging than Grimm."
Jaune wanted to deny that. Why would humans fight among themselves when the threat of the Grimm was ever present? In his mind, he understood Sara's reasoning and that he was being unrealistically naive. And yet…
At Jaune's melancholic face, Sara gave him a sad smile. "You have never dealt with the bad elements of human society, Jaune. I pray that you never have to, but it's still a fact of life. As an aspiring Huntsman, you should prepare yourself for the inevitable."
Sara carried on once she was sure Jaune understood her words, "There is also the fact that Adventurers have a poor reputation. Too many Adventurers turn to crime, or were criminals looking for a second chance. The least I could do is make sure whomever I'm mentoring has the right attitude for the job and not drag down the Adventurer name even further."
Jaune put away his Scroll as he nodded to the older woman. It's not a perfect way to judge someone, but it's good enough for the situation.
"One last thing, Jaune. I specifically keep this off the records for everyone I work with, we are all entitled to our secrets after all. Is there any special ability that you would like to share that could prove helpful in this mission?"
Jaune thought deeply about what to share. He honestly wasn't bothered with telling them about his magic abilities. Semblances and Aura techniques were so esoteric and vague most of the time that he could pass magic off easily as an Aura ability. Heck, to this day, he was unsure what his grandfather's Semblance was and the way he uses it makes him think it's actual magic.
There was also the fact that it was simply irresponsible of him to not notify his leader of a power that could potentially save lives.
"Yes, I do. I have shown you my storage trick. I have two more abilities I would like to share that, I believe, would be helpful in the mission. I will keep it short; the first allows me to be very Observant of people. It costs Aura, but I could learn information from my targets that they would rather not share. Mostly related to their strengths and weaknesses, although it is untested on people with Aura. What I am confident in reliably learning, however, is the Aura levels of anyone I meet due to my Aura Sense, which is another ability I developed strong enough that I was able to find Fie when we separated for a while."
Sara looked at Fie to confirm and got a nod in return, "He found me quite quickly, actually. Your other senses need work, but I believe I can rely on your ability to sense Aura. I'm the opposite, I have keen senses of smell, hearing, taste, vision and touch, but I can barely sense Aura for some reason."
Jaune smiled at her endorsement, "We can work on that together later on, Fie." He turned back to Sara who had her eyes wide in surprise as he continued, "The second ability is a tracking one. It also costs Aura and requires me to be familiar with the target's Aura to track. It does not appear to work on targets without Aura, meaning I cannot track Grimm with it."
Sara nodded her head in thought, "That would be a good reason to keep you here in town. You would do a lot more good Observing people in case hostiles sneak into the town, then potentially tracking them back to their base. Something to keep in mind, but we have our first assignment in the morning, and it's clearing the nest I mentioned earlier from its Grimm inhabitants. Incidentally, can you display that ability of yours? Use it on me, for example."
"Probably not at the moment. I have still not recovered my Aura enough to spend it so frivolously."
Sara frowned slightly and approached the younger man. She raised her hand before remembering herself, "May I?" At Jaune's nod, she placed her hand on his shoulder. Jaune felt an intrusive yet electrifying feeling that lasted for a second before she let go of him and her frown deepened. "Kid, you have nearly as much Aura as Fie here. I am not good at sensing Aura by any means, certainly not as good as you appear to be, and I know you Arcs have monstrous Aura reserves, but you must have recovered at least a third of your Aura by now, right?"
Jaune looked away in embarrassment as he mumbled, "six percent, actually."
If Jaune thought Sara was surprised earlier, then now she looked utterly flabbergasted. Even Fie's impassive face had its jaw dropped in shock.
"S-six percent? How the hell? Not even the Colonel has so much Aura! And he and his daughter are the absolute extreme when it comes to Aura reserves that I know of in the world! You've also been recovering for four days now, how the hell?"
Jaune chuckled at Sara's shock, "I did tell you I overused my Semblance. I only started recovering my Aura after breakfast and it's been slow-going. As for how much Aura I have, I got an idea on that. Do you mind?" It was his turn to raise his hand to Sara, as he had gotten an idea on a different method to use Observe. So far, he had been using it on unwilling targets and from distance, but earlier it had cost nothing to observe Arthur. At first, he thought it had to do with his bond with him, but noticing how Sara first asked for his permission before measuring his Aura, it may not be so.
The older woman nodded her head, wanting to see where this was going. Jaune placed his hand on her shoulder with his Aura Sense active before concentrating with an Observe.
Profile:
Name: Sara Valestein
Class: Dust Warrior
Age: 25
Height: 5'9"
Build: Lean-Hourglass
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 612/1,853 (111/hr)
Aura Control: 105%
Strength (STR): 76
Vitality (VIT): 84
Dexterity (DEX): 117
Agility (AGL): 102
Perception (PER): 78
Intelligence (INT): 82
Perks:
Ambidextrous: High DEX combined with hard work has allowed Sara to use both hands with equal proficiency.
Semblance (Éclair): Provides a high Lightning affinity to the user. User can generate electricity by converting Aura to Lightning.
Lightspeed Flash: a combination of high AGL and constant usage of her Semblance as well as smart usage of her Lightning affinity to enhance her body has allowed Sara Valestein to have excellent reflexes and a quick mind.
???
Skills:
Lightning Charge: ???
Searing Flash: ???
Thunder Vortex: ???
Thoughts about you: Cute kid. Now if only he was twenty years older…
Sara gasped as she backed away from the blonde, looking at him cautiously, "What the heck was that?"
Jaune also had to catch his breath at the rush of information and other emotions he received from the older woman. He shook his head as he looked at Sara, "That was me Observing you. I usually use it from distance, though you are the first target with Aura that I used it on. I'm guessing those with Aura would be able to feel it when I used it on them."
The older woman nodded warily, "Guess so. It was a strange feeling, not necessary bad, but… I might be able to get used to it" She calmed down a little, before she smirked at the blonde. "So… what did you find?"
Jaune smirked back, "Plenty enough to be convinced that I'm in good hands. You have less than a fifth of my total Aura reserves by the way." He waited for her jaw to drop before teasing her, "And really? Twenty years older? You do realize that I will still look relatively the same thirty years from now, right?"
Her face took on a fiery blush as she stuttered out, "h-h-h-how t-the–"
"Magic." he grinned at the completely off balance woman as he heard a giggling noise next to him. Jaune turned to Fie to see her with a sassy grin, "Oh he got you good, Sara. Wanna try it on me next?"
She looked expectantly at him, and Jaune didn't need to be asked twice as he placed his hand on her head.
Observe
Profile:
Name: Fie
Class: Ninja Kitty
Age: 15
Height: 5'1"
Build: Lithe
Race: Cat-Faunus
Stats:
Aura Points: 837/837 (50/hr)
Aura Control: 88%
Strength (STR): 72
Vitality (VIT): 73
Dexterity (DEX): 103
Agility (AGL): 121
Perception (PER): 105
Intelligence (INT): 68
Perks:
Ambidextrous: High DEX combined with hard work has allowed Fie to use both hands with equal proficiency.
Flexible: High AGL combined with high DEX allows Fie to contort her body in unnatural ways yet still retain full control of her body functions.
Deadly premonition: High PER combined with Aura's innate danger sense allows Fie to sense dangerous situations and avoid otherwise fatal strikes.
Semblance (Sylphid): Provides a high Wind affinity to the user. High-speed movements and stealth. Provides a flat bonus to PER and AGL.
Faunus: Night vision. Receives a bonus to PER.
Sub-spieces (Cat): Receives a bonus to AGL, PER and DEX. Higher chance to survive falling from heights. Likes to take naps.
Skills:
Concealing Wind: ???
Cipher Edge: ???
Sylphid Dance: ???
Thoughts about you: Nice guy. Is this what having an older brother is like?
Fie quickly let go with a frown, "Yeah, it's a strange feeling. Felt like I somehow couldn't hide anything from you, and you were observing my soul."
Jaune nodded, "Makes sense as that was precisely what I was doing. And yes, Fie, you could consider me your big bro. I already took you fishing, after all. You are also very talented, and I can see that your strengths are also the result of hard work. I look forward to working alongside you." He gave her a head pat, and she returned it with a shy smile before she moved to Sara to tease her some more.
And Jaune truly was impressed with both women. While he believed he would eventually surpass both of them stat-wise, aside from AGL and PER, he knows he's an outlier. Sara clearly used her Lightning-based Semblance to enhance her body, similar to his Aura treatments with Kilika. His biggest shock, however, was the fact her AC was over 100. It seems he will need to reevaluate his goals, for if AC can go over 100, then he is very much behind. Her class of Dust Warrior was suitable, he guessed, for she was clearly a Dust Caster that was not afraid of going up and personal to get her point across. Whether with a sword strike or a bullet through the head.
Fie, however, really surprised him with her insane AGL and PER. This can't just be from her being a faunus as he had met other feline faunus Adventurers and none of them exhibited such extreme abilities, even if he couldn't Observe them back then. He would like to think that she was simply that talented, but it might also have to do with her mysterious past. Jaune could easily guess that Sara was from Atlas, probably an Academy dropout, but Fie was a complete blank to him.
He was joking earlier when he called Fie "Ninja Kitty", but it appears that Krystal seriously considered her to be as such. Kilika had regaled him with tales of her homeland and mentioned those shadow warriors a few times. Warriors who would do the dirty deeds of their lords in secret, such as assassinations and spywork, yet were supremely loyal to their lord and had a strong code of honor. Unlike the warrior caste of Nippon itself. Fie did mention something about espionage work, didn't she?
Sara had recovered by now and clapped her hands to grab his attention, "Alright, enough. We've established that you kids are awful meanies." She still had a slight blush of embarrassment on her, but Fie had apparently decided to give her a break.
"We need to go over tomorrow's assignment and I do want to have at least five hours of sleep tonight." She glanced at the clock to show it was nearly three in the morning, "Ugh, make that four."
They all laughed genially and went over what to expect tomorrow, from going on a quick visit to Odvin's to get some DRs before heading out to the barracks. Things got solemn when she explained about the kidnappings, however, and Jaune worried about Fie as her Aura had gotten ice-cold when Sara mentioned the targets were children.
There was more regarding Grimm Bait, but Jaune had never heard of the term. Sara promised to explain more in the morning, but for now, it was time to sleep.
Our first actual canon character in the story (Saphron and Terra don't count as they were in a flashback kek). Meg(an) Scarlatina is a fringe character that could barely be considered canon as she was only mentioned in the novels, not the show. I decided to make something out of her and Velvet who will have an important role later on.
I was watching Puss in Boots: The Last Wish when I wrote the kitty eyes scene. Considering I own two cats, I can assure you that cats can have either a mean glare or the aforementioned pleading eyes.
Jaune's gun is loosely based on the S&W 500 magnum but naturally with a sci-fi twist. Its oversized, colorfully themed to Jaune, can hold more ammo than it should, and can seemingly increase the power of its rounds. Rule of cool and all that shit.
It's obvious who the veteran Huntsman and his partner are. We were shown the Maidens in their destructive elements, but I am sure that many of them would instead use their powers for more peaceful matters in their free time. Not everyone is a psychopath like Raven, or a sociopath like Cinder.
Amber uses her powers for that. We never get how old she is, aside from Pyrrha calling her a girl. In my headcanon, she is in her early thirties and was apprenticed to the previous Maiden as well. She would also look young regardless due to Aura and Maiden power bullshit. Then again, I would guess Glynda to be in her thirties or forties yet she looks to be in her twenties. I guess the Arcs aren't the only ones that can remain looking youthful. Aura is hacks like that.
Some may question how people seem to know about the Maidens. Pyrrha asked a similar question to Ozpin in the show and his reply works well for me. People have always believed in the Maidens' existence but the Maidens themselves have been hidden away.
I know the timeline does not match canon. Cinder attempted to recruit the White Fang first but failed, then the next day the Black Trailer happened. Here, there is a gap of a few weeks between Cinder's recruitment attempt and the Black trailer. At least it would explain how Cinder grew her hair so quickly, and managed to find Amber.
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx.
Enjoy!
The so-called Grand Market… wasn't really as grand as Jaune expected. It was nothing compared to the open markets of Massalia or the ancient Agora of Argus, but he could acknowledge that it had a novelty to it.
The road was wide enough to fit multiple cars or the large farming equipment that passed through. The vendors and stalls were bazaar style, but Jaune noticed that behind every stall were tents of various sizes. He knew that the merchants rented space in the warehouses to store most of their goods, but he wagered that many of them kept their most precious merchandise in the tents near at hand. Considering how crowded the town was, some merchants might also choose to sleep in those tents as well, close to their products.
He and Fie had barely made it into the market before they were accosted by a pair consisting of a young woman and a little girl who asked for their help. Well, technically, they were asking anyone for help, but no one seemed to want to be bothered. Jaune wanted to help but wasn't sure if Fie would want her day off to be cut short. A questioning glance at her gave him a shrug, so Jaune listened to their problem.
The woman, Lizzie, wanted them to help the girl, Anita, who was buying produce for her busy mother but lost her purse. It didn't take Jaune long for him to find it as he discovered a new way to use Search. By focusing on Anita's nearly non-existent Aura, which greatly tested the limits of his Aura Sense, he managed to use Pathfinder to track the purse through the rapidly disappearing Aura residue from the girl holding onto it. They found it underneath one of the stalls, probably kicked aside by walking pedestrians.
Thankfully, the whole thing didn't take more than a few minutes, and the Aura cost was also negligible due to the short distance. It also confirmed to him that he could still track people with locked Auras. His Aura Sense was vital as Search itself didn't sense the surrounding Aura, it had to be him that identified the Aura of his targets. By combining it with Aura Sense, he might have discovered a way to make up for his low PER. Too bad it's useless against Grimm.
They waved at Anita as she left for her errands, and talked a bit with Lizzie about her ceramics stall. They then walked off to explore the market, but Fie stared at him with that impassive face all the way. Jaune was starting to figure out her emotions by how bright her eyes were, though. "How did you find it so fast?"
"Just a magic trick I picked up."
Fie frowned, "That doesn't answer much. How does it work?"
Jaune thought for a moment, "How would you have found it?"
Fie replied immediately, "I would have followed the scent. Anita had a distinctive smell of rosemary. Probably because of her mother's food stall."
Jaune hummed, "I used a similar method but with Aura. The girl had a decent amount for a civilian, but it didn't help that it was locked. Still, even a locked Aura gives a residue that can be recognized; it's very minute, but It's how Grimm are still attracted to people with locked Aura, I reckon."
"… could you teach me?"
Jaune thought for a moment. Could he teach her Search? He most certainly could, but first, he needed to check something.
'Krystal, when I bequeath someone with a magical ability, do they just need a single point of magic? Or do they require the exact amount as the ability demands?'
It is the latter, Jaune. If you are planning to bless the girl with Search, which is a C-ranked ability with a cost of five MP, then you will also need to bless her with five MP along with the ability. You could certainly give her the ability still, but she will be nothing more than a vessel, holding onto a useless ability. Something that I'm sure you would rather avoid in case other magicals sense the ability in her and use her for their own nefarious reasons.
'As I feared. I doubt Fie has a single point of Magic, so she can't use her own reserves for the ability.' Jaune continued walking, and Fie kept her glinting eyes on him, expectantly.
"Some other time, Fie." He patted her on the head as they continued walking. Jaune was glad she took it in stride and smiled as she didn't move his hand away. Guess she really was considering it during breakfast.
'Progress!'
.
.
.
"Hmmm, what do you think about this Fie?"
"They are both idiots"
Jaune and Fie had just arrived at the center of the market to find two foreign merchants arguing and nearly coming to blows about the stall spot allocated to them. After breaking the fight up, with Jaune taking point talking them down as he lazily rested his hand on Crocea Mors, while Fie nonchalantly bounced one of her throwing knives, the two merchants immediately calmed down and brought out their permission slips. Turns out they were both wrong as once Market Manager Otto arrived to figure out the disturbance, which indirectly told Fie and Jaune that Sara was already on her mission, he discovered that one merchant got the correct spot but the wrong day while the other merchant got the correct date but the wrong spot. The first merchant booked the spot in August instead of July. Apparently, he was a Mistrali merchant, and they used a different date system there.
It had something to do with different booking systems, like a day then month or month then day, and wrong use of military time, but Jaune couldn't care less as long as they avoided making a scene. No need to attract Grimm and cause a disturbance. The merchant was distraught, but the Market Manager promised to find him a spot regardless, but it would cost him. The end result was both merchants getting shamed yet satisfied, one of them hurrying to open his stall at his new spot while the other slinking off to wait for his turn in a couple of days.
Mayor Otto then made his way to them, "Thank you for the help, young man. I believe I recognize the young lady as Valestein's partner, but I do not believe we were introduced?"
"Jaune Arc, a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine." The old man laughed jovially as he shook Jaune's hand, "Between you and me, I'm glad you were the one who broke up the fight and not one of the guards. They can be a little… enthusiastic in enforcing the law."
Jaune frowned, "Wouldn't your militia or sheriff be the better option for dealing with this?"
The mayor shifted a little as he fiddled with his bowler hat, "Things have been hectic the last few days, and my minutemen are busy protecting the warehouses and the town. With the guards shorthanded and many of them off at the tower, we had to pick up most of their duties. My militia is not experienced in dealing with foreigners or tourists, unfortunately. Ah, I think I can see trouble brewing over there. If you'd excuse me," With that, the mayor hurried off towards another stall where a fruit peddler was arguing with a local.
"So, no chance of it being foul play?" He decided to err on the side of caution and asked the more experienced Fie on the matter.
Fie remained silent for a moment before shaking her head. "Could be. Most likely not. It's natural for humans to make errors. This could simply be an honest mistake. Yet, this could also have something to do with the damaged tower. Vale has completely adopted the Internet, with businesses offering all sorts of services and even drone deliveries through your Scroll. With no signal here in the boonies other than radio for the past week, it's possible both merchants simply had bad luck as they couldn't call ahead to confirm their bookings."
Jaune hummed in thought, "Oh well. I say we did well stopping the fight from escalating, even the Market Manager agreed to that. I saw a couple of stalls that had something of interest, and I really need a new pair of shoes."
Fie nodded and grabbed his hand as she dragged him to a specific stall, "Ice cream." She declared with eyes shining in excitement.
Jaune sweat dropped, "Don't you have your own money to use?"
Fie shook her head, "Gave you all I have for the Dust." She kept gazing at him with those kitty eyes of hers, her lips pursed, her white tail quivering in excitement, and with her short stature; Jaune could never have defended himself from the Cuteness Overload.
He sighed, "Fine, fine."
.
.
.
Jaune walked along the market in his battered sandals. He was starting to get itchy from them already, and he couldn't even use his Aura to help as he redirected it straight to his recovery. Next to him, Fie indulged in an entire tub of mint-flavored ice cream. She might not have the most expressive face, but Jaune could easily see that she was greatly enjoying herself, judging by her tail happily swinging. He wondered if she was actually a dog-faunus rather than a cat, but when he asked her, she confirmed she was a cat.
He had bought a few random essentials that he was sorely needing, including clothes, tools, and other sundries. Too bad he had yet to come upon a good pair of combat ready shoes in his size.
As they walked, they noticed a section of the Market dedicated to festival games. Fie stared out at the various games, but Jaune was distracted by a dull crashing sound from a closed stall nearby.
Worried that someone might be hurt, Jaune hurried over with Fie following, albeit slower. He called out for the owner, only to get a groan in response, which prompted him to barge into the stall's tent.
The tent had boxes neatly set in rows, probably in preparation for opening time, but in one spot, a pile of boxes had fallen on an older woman with brown hair and rabbit ears. She looked at Jaune with an awkward smile.
"Uhm, can you give me a hand, please?"
Jaune rushed and helped the lady out of her predicament, Fie putting her ice cream aside to help as well.
.
.
.
"Thank you so very much for your help, laddie."
The rabbit woman, whose name Jaune learned was Megan Scarlatina but asked them to call her Meg, was the owner of the stall "C&C's Dusty Trinkets" which was an actual store in Vale. According to Meg, they sold Dust and other assortments of gadgets and tools for both Huntsmen and civilians. He learned from Meg that the Cs stood for Cinnamon and Cassidy, which were her and her business partner's maiden names, respectively. They come here every summer to offload their unsold goods from the year.
Suffice to say, Jaune did not ask for any of that information and deduced that the woman was a huge chatterbox who couldn't handle a single minute passing without talking. Much to his dismay, Fie had noticed the signs earlier than him and managed to sneak off while he wasn't looking, that traitor.
"… and then I slipped and fell, and all those heavy boxes fell on top of poor old me." The woman was saying, and Jaune just nodded along absentmindedly as he helped her unbox. There was no need at all to be rude, and he had already decided to help her out as he carried an especially heavy box. Besides, she may call herself old, but she looked good for a middle-aged woman. He hadn't met a lot of older huntresses, but he had a hunch she unlocked her Aura, and a bit of concentration later, his hunch was proven true.
"Don't you have any helpers around? Seems like a lot of work for one person to handle."
"Oh, no. It's all me here. Sometimes my daughter would be around to help out; she's a student at Beacon, you see. She just finished her first year and is visiting her father in Atlas."
That intrigued him. So, she's the mother of a Huntress-in-training? "What a coincidence, I'm also heading to Beacon next month."
"Oh really? Well, I'll be sure to tell my Velvet to keep an eye out in case you need any help. Between you and me, my girl is super shy and has trouble making friends. What did you say your name was again, dear?"
"Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, the ladies love it." Jaune replied automatically before cringing so hard at the woman's replying snort that he dropped the box he was holding, spilling the contents on the ground. Why the hell did he say that? He thought he broke himself out of that horrible line. Damn you, Dad, for sticking it to his brain!
"Sorry about that."
"Oh my, are you alright, dear? I'm sorry the whole tent is a mess right now." Meg helped him collect the dropped trinkets. As Jaune was gathering the items, he found himself holding a large, heavy, and dusty old case with an intricate carving of the name THORS with the O looking like a revolver's cylinder. He turned to Meg to ask her about it.
"Oh, that dusty old thing? Yeah, it holds this old revolver made by Thors. They were an old weapon manufacturer originally from Vale but moved to Vacuo some ten or twenty years ago. My husband, William, swears that their revolvers were some of the most powerful handguns you would find. It could supposedly blow a Beowulf's head clean off in one shot using regular ammo. I made sure it was clean and maintained and had been trying to sell it for years now."
Jaune was skeptical, "If it's such a remarkable gun, then how come nobody ever bought it?"
Meg finished storing the rest of the boxes and wiped her hands on a towel, "Hmmm, it would have to do with its insane recoil and expensive ammo. I always warn potential buyers to try it out first before they buy it, and nearly everyone gets hurt from the recoil. The occasional Huntsmen who could handle the recoil preferred their fancy mecha-shifting weapons over changing their fighting style to accommodate the gun. It's too large of a pistol to function as a backup sidearm, yet not powerful enough to function as a main weapon. Thors had a reputation for making super strong firearms with their synthesized alloy Zemurium. No one could deny that metal is among the toughest and most durable things in the world. Heaviest too. The makers were too stubborn to change their ways to accommodate the market, as the alloy was expensive to make, and they insisted on supreme quality over cutting corners, which ultimately led to their financial woes. The guns were so well-made and durable that they rarely got repeat customers due to how long-lasting the weapons were. My husband won it in an auction and only used it once, nearly dislocating his shoulder as well." She finished with a giggle.
Jaune hummed in thought. He was in the market for a gun, and lo and behold, a gun fell into his hands. Somebody up there must be watching him, "Do you mind if I check it?"
Meg smiled brightly, "Sure, go ahead. Just don't load it in here, please."
She walked off to continue her work, and Jaune placed the case on a table and opened it to find its contents neatly placed in black polyurethane foam. There was a guide and catalog of all the things included, and Jaune placed it aside to check later. In the center was a large white and gold revolver with intricate carvings etched on it. In addition, there were four boxes of twenty FMJ .500 Magnum rounds each and six large speed loaders that told him the gun held ten rounds. Finally, there was a customized leather holster that he could attach to his sword belt to hold both the gun and three of the speed loaders. Not that it really mattered to Jaune, thanks to Storage Space.
Jaune lifted the gun and noticed its heavy weight. As Meg said, the metal felt tough and durable in his hands. He popped the cylinder, noticing that the gun was designed so that it could be used by both hands and the cylinder could be popped in either direction depending on which button he pressed. Jaune found the cylinder matched the speed loaders, ten rounds, before loading it back empty. The barrel was a little over ten inches, and ended with a muzzle break that extended the length to another two inches. He noticed the gun could be customized to install add-ons above or below the barrel.
A scope, perhaps? Or maybe he could install a Dust regulator and attach a Dust crystal like Sara's gun? Decisions, decisions.
Jaune continued inspecting the revolver, as well as the accessories provided, before he skimmed through the catalog. All in all, it was a very impressive and well-cared-for piece of art. Especially as he noticed the manufactured year, which was a good twenty years ago. He was very tempted to buy it. It checked all his needs for a gun. Strong, durable, and useful for short to medium range. A rifle would be a better option, especially for his lack of long-range options, but he couldn't see himself using a rifle with his sword. Gun and Sword, however…
Meg came back to find Jaune closing the case and looking at her with an excited gleam in his eyes, "How much?"
"Thank you for your business~. Do swing by when I officially open tomorrow, m'kay? I'm sure to have more things set up for you."
"Sure thing Meg, bye."
Jaune left the tent with a happy bounce in his step. He frowned when he couldn't find Fie and instinctively spread out his Aura Sense, trying to locate her.
Suddenly, he turned upwards, and his jaw nearly dropped. There was Fie hanging upside down a wooden beam that crossed the street overhead. Her feet appeared to be stuck to the wood with no leverage at all. His Aura Sense told him that it was an Aura technique of some kind, but he had never heard of something like that. He even noticed that her scarf wasn't dangling down, but was seemingly stuck to her body. It was as if Fie learned of gravity and decided it wasn't for her and completely disregarded its rules.
Jaune recollected himself, "There you are Ninja Kitty. Where did you disappear to?"
Fie flickered for an instant to appear in front of him in a gust of wind, 'Her Semblance?' her Aura forming a green halo around her as he kept his Aura Sense active.
"… around."
"Uh-huh, and you definitely didn't abandon me to the nice rabbit lady who couldn't stop talking, huh?"
Fie pretended to be busy checking the surroundings, though Jaune saw her eyes gleaming in mischief. Her Aura also fluctuated playfully as if it was… wait. Could he see her Aura?
"Forget it," he sighed before noticing the box she held, "What's that you have there?"
"Present." Fie held out a shoebox to Jaune, which he took in surprise. He opened it to find a pair of black steel-shodded boots, his eyes widening as he recognized the brand.
"Stregas? That must have cost a fortune! I thought you said you didn't have any money?" He looked at her in shock. Stregas was Atlas', and probably the world's, finest makers of sportswear and combat fatigues. Hell, even General Ironwood was known to prefer their boots. They were very expensive with some models reaching thousands of Lien.
Fie turned her gaze to the ground as she shuffled her feet. His Aura Sense was going haywire, and he could feel a slight drain on his AP. Fie's Aura shined in what he felt was shyness and expectation with a hint of… guilt?
Jaune's gaze narrowed, "Fie? You did pay for this, right? I really hope you didn't rob some poor fellow of his boots."
Fie turned back to him sharply, with a narrowing of her eyes, "I don't steal. Not anymore. I won it."
Jaune had to stop himself from gasping. Fie's Aura sharpened angrily at his accusation. It appears he just discovered a new feature of his Aura Sense. 'Not anymore?' He filed her slip for later.
I will implement this in Observe. For now, I recommend placating the angry cat girl.
Jaune thanked Krystal inwardly, "I'm sorry for doubting you, Fie. I believe you. Thank you so much for such an awesome gift." Jaune set the box on the ground as he changed out of his sandals, "How did you win it?"
Fie's Aura became serene, though sadly, it wasn't playful anymore.
"They had a carnival game back there," she pointed towards the area they passed by. "First prize for a shooting game was the Stregas, and I noticed your discomfort wearing the sandals. It was child's play for me to win it, even if the owner cheated by nailing the targets. Toy guns could still be enhanced with Aura to shoot deadly pellets. She probably only put such a valuable prize for a simple carnival game to attract customers, never actually believing she would lose them."
Now her Aura returned to playful again. That explained the slight guilt she felt, as she technically cheated, but there were no rules against Aura usage. He thought there weren't, at least, but that's not relevant, and the sleazy owner cheated first. What surprised Jaune was that throughout this conversation, she barely had a change in her facial expression aside from her eyes dimming and glowing with her emotions, along with the slight upturn of her lips. Such a poker face would be a godsend in a casino.
And, yet, her poker face was powerless against his newly found ability. This is bound to be extremely useful in the future.
He finished strapping the boots and walked around to test it, "Well, I am glad you won it. These are super comfy and would be very durable in a fight. Thanks again, Fie, I owe you one."
"Don't mention it." She looked at my new gun strapped opposite to my sword, "I see you found a new toy. Mind if I check it?"
"Sure," he handed her the gun and described its specs to her.
Fie inspected it for a minute before returning it, "How much did it cost you?"
Jaune holstered the gun, "£4,000."
Fie's eyes widened slightly for a second before narrowing, "The Earth Dust crystal?"
"Yep."
"It's a good gun and well worth the cost. I suggest you be frugal with its ammo. They are quite pricey, especially if you invest in Dust Rounds (DR)."
"Figures. We're burning daylight, let's finish shopping."
Jaune started walking along the market with Fie following him. He held out his hand and was glad when Fie held it. Her Aura felt safe and comfortable to him, showing that she held no ill will towards him.
'I have to be careful; else I might get drunk off this feeling.' He turned off his Aura Sense, noting his increased control of it. Before, it was instinctual and needed him to focus hard to feel someone's Aura. Now it felt more like an ability that he could toggle on and off.
His gaze fell on a specific stall that sold sports goods. Jaune grinned and turned to Fie.
"Ever went fishing?"
It was past midnight. Fie was sleeping in her bed while Jaune sat on an armchair and stared out at the moon, which was the only source of light in the room. On the dining table near him was a meal they had prepared for Sara that had long gone cold. All of Jaune's belongings were now sitting in his Storage Space, except for the White Crystal, which he tied around his neck as a lucky talisman.
He had just finished an enlightening conversation with Krystal about his perks and abilities. Krystal had reminded him of his magic points that were waiting to be used, but Jaune decided against buying new abilities when even now, he was still discovering the extent of the ones he gained.
After some thought, he rearranged his status screen and added more parameters that became relevant to his power.
'Status.'
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: TBD
Age: 17
Height: 6'1"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 600/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 75/hr) (07:09)
Aura Control: 22%—>23%
Strength (STR): 89/81
Vitality (VIT): 108/98
Dexterity (DEX): 93/85
Agility (AGL): 68/62
Perception (PER): 60/55
Intelligence (INT): 102/93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG) [Recharges every 45 days]: 5/8 (41 days to regain one MP)
*Gained one point from awakening the System early.
*Gained one point from merging with the System.
*Gained one point from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
*Gained five points from challenges.
Perks (Stacks):
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you. Moonlight boosts Aura Recovery by 50%. Moonlight boosts stats by 10%
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration by a flat 100/hr.
Eidetic memory (temporary): You have always had an excellent memory. By having your INT over 100, you have unlocked this perk.
Semblance: OVERDRIVE
*SECOND WIND: Allows instant refilling of Aura to the maximum once every 24 hours at the cost of halving your Aura recovery for the same period. Using it again within the Cooldown period provides only 25% of your reserves as well as disabling Aura recovery for three days. After three days, Aura starts recovery at 25% on the first day, 50% on the second, and 100% on the third. Can not be used again until AR fully recovers.*CRITICAL BOOST: Provides a 600% stat increase that can be either distributed evenly or focused on one or more stats. Costs 10 AP/hr for every 1% stat boost. Can only be activated in increments of twenty minutes. Increasing stats to 100 does not have adverse health effects. Increasing stats beyond 50% of your current maximum may cause adverse health effects. Incremental increases beyond that will cause adverse health effects.
*?-?-?
Special Abilities
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Aura Sense implemented into the ability; you can now view the target's emotions.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura.
Search (C-rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder; Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Skills:
Crescent Wave: Channel 100 AP to a compatible weapon and unleash a one-meter-wide Aura attack with a range of 10 meters. The speed of the attack depends on skill and power of the swing. Can channel more AP for more devastating effects.
Aura Sense: Can passively sense targets that have Aura. Can be actively used to sense targets within a certain range for their Aura and emotions. Costs 1 AP per second for every meter away from the user.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused I: Aura recovery reduced to 25% (Time remaining: 7 hours, 9 minutes). Ability [Second Wind] disabled until Aura recovery returns to 100%.
Blessings of the Moon: You are under direct moonlight. Aura recovery increased by 50%. Stats increased by 10%.
Class was something Jaune and Krystal came up with to extrapolate someone's stats and abilities and assign them a suitable class that compliments those stats and their style of fighting. He hasn't decided yet on his own, though he had to fight the urge not to go all geek-like and declare himself a Heroic Paladin. It's why Krystal was responsible for assigning classes, the neutral, responsible guy that he was.
It was a pleasant surprise when he discovered the boost he received from the moonlight. It only applied in direct exposure, and if he went indoors, or if a passing cloud blocked the moon, he would only get half the benefits. It was still a considerable benefit, nevertheless, considering the fact Grimm preferred to operate at night.
Then there's his new temporary perk, Eidetic memory. Jaune had always had an excellent memory, but with his INT breaking the 100 mark, it appeared to get even better. He could perfectly recall any scene he remembered today, although he couldn't remember all he heard. Jaune knows it's a step below the legendary Photographic memory, which he guessed would require him to get his PER up to 100 along with his INT. That was a major work in progress, although if he could boost his stat with Critical Boost…
Jaune dived into his mind for a minute, where he found his Semblance awake but still sluggish. A mental conversation with it had him sighing in exasperation. Those perks weren't magical power ups, just indicators that his stats have surpassed the human limit and as a consequence he had managed to develop a talent, or more like Krystal is encouraging him to develop a certain talent. Jaune's dominant hand was his right one, but he was confident in his ability to use his left hand for nearly anything his right hand could do. At least before Krystal, as now his left hand wasn't as dexterous. Maybe when his DEX reaches 100 it will be different?
On the bright side, he also learned that his Semblance was nowhere near done developing, considering the ?-?-? that was on his status screen. Jaune will need to reflect and explore more to figure out what else Overdrive can do.
On a side note, his AC went up by a single point, but he wasn't surprised. Jaune estimated that his pre-Krystal level was in the 40s or 50s, and he guessed that his AC would simply return to that level naturally. It's what comes after that he would have to train for.
His Aura recovery was going well, all things considered. Jaune had tried to get around the debuffs to his AR by using Second Wind but failed. Apparently, the ability was disabled until he fully recovers his AR, proving that Second Wind should be used sparingly and reserved for emergencies.
Jaune had wasted some Aura using some of his abilities throughout the day, as well as discovering new ways Observe and Search worked, but most importantly, he had completely recovered his stats just as he hoped. After using Observe on many different targets, Jaune had managed to get an idea on the average human's stats.
First, all his targets had their Aura locked. Even though he had the opportunity to Observe a target with unlocked Aura, he opted not to in order to save on Aura. Generally, it costs him 10% of the target's available Aura to Observe them, yet it only costs a single point to Observe someone without Aura.
Second, the least amount of Aura he found on a human target was 100 and that was a newborn. The person with the most Aura also happened to be the oldest person in town, an eighty-year-old grandma at 273 AP. Naturally, there were a few outliers here and there, but generally they all followed the formula of the older you were the more Aura you would have. Animals also had Aura, as Arthur and the Dragoon horses proved, but as a rule they were always lower than humans.
Lastly, civilians on average have stats ranging from 40 to 60, with INT being the generally highest stat. Makes sense, as humans were known for their intelligence in comparison to other mammals. Naturally, a craftsman like a carpenter would have above-average DEX, while a laborer usually has more VIT and STR than normal. AGL and PER appears to be the rarest stats Jaune found as nearly everyone had theirs below 60. The only outlier was a young Deer-Faunus, and Jaune guessed it was genetic rather than from training.
Then there was the difference between men and women. Men generally had higher stats than women, with the exception of INT where women generally have the advantage. Again, it's all about brain power, not actually how smart or wise a person is. On the other hand, women almost always had higher Aura than men. This might actually explain why it's more common to find female Adventurers and Huntsmen than male ones.
The moon hid behind a cloud and Jaune stifled a yawn. He wasn't particularly sleepy due to the moonlight energizing him even when hidden, but he knew he needed to sleep soon or else he would be lethargic for the rest of the day.
'As soon as Sara returns. Sleep could come after. I only need four hours to be well-rested.'
He looked back at Fie. The Cat-Faunus was dressed the same as when she woke up this morning, but even as she slept, she kept a knife tied to her thigh, and he knew she had another one under her pillow.
The aspiring Huntsman turned on his Aura Sense, as had become the norm since he discovered its true potential earlier in the day. He looked at Fie's serene yet sharp Aura as if coiled for action even when sleeping. Curiously, he wondered what kind of life did the girl endure to be always on guard like this.
He sighed at the thought, Jaune liked to imagine he had gotten close to the cat girl, but he doubted she would open up about such a subject when they had only known each other for a day. He turned towards the window, wishing he could cover the entire town with his senses, but he knew that would probably drain him of all the AP he recovered if he tried.
'Hang on. The skill forms a circle with me at the epicenter. What if I focus on a specific direction instead? Maybe like sonar?'
Eager to try out his theory, Jaune focused his senses towards the west, where he knew Sara would be returning from. He sent out a pulse of Aura that cost him ten AP. It did nothing besides Fie shifting in her sleep.
It… didn't return. Of-bloody course, it didn't return. He doesn't actually know how Sonar worked! Jaune sighed at his failure. He should have focused more on those classes his grandfather had him attend. Time to rethink his strategy. His current base range and cost was ten AP for a one-meter radius for one second. What if he manipulated that circle instead?
Jaune stood and walked towards the window. He tried again, but instead of letting the skill form around him, he aimed it down the street looking west. This time it was much better with visual confirmation, as he could see the very dim lights that signified the locked Auras of the townsfolk. Jaune easily ignored them as he narrowed his Senses further until he finally found his target. He couldn't see her, but he could guesstimate that she was exiting the Barracks. She was alone, so Jaune thought she must have just finished her after-mission report and caught her on the way out. Her Aura was like the sun when compared to the locked Aura of the residents.
He deactivated the skill and checked how much it cost him AP-wise. Jaune had used it for about four seconds, and it cost him 40 AP. Not bad at all. If his AC was higher, it would have cost even less. It might have even provided him with more information other than identifying the target.
'Might as well meet her downstairs.' It's a twenty-minute walk from the barracks to here, but Jaune doubted she would walk. She's a powerful adventurer and would probably sprint here to get something to eat. He chuckled at the thought.
"What's so funny?"
"Eeeekk–guh." Jaune did NOT jump so high he bumped his head on the windowsill and most certainly did NOT shriek like a little girl. He turned balefully at the now awake Cat-Faunus standing right behind him, who had a shit-eating grin on her face… or well, what could be considered one on her usually impassive face.
Jaune rubbed his head at the phantom pain, his active Aura having protected him from harm. "When did you wake up?"
The girl's eyes gleamed in the darkness with mischief, "When you did whatever it was with your Aura. So, what's up?"
Something pinged in his senses, and a quick glance out of the window had him moving out of the way of a flying Sara, who landed silently in the room.
She slowly rose to her feet before turning towards them with a large smile, "Hi, kids. What did I miss?"
"Oh, this rainbow trout tastes great. Who was it that caught it again?"
While Sara went for a shower, Fie heated her dinner in the kitchens downstairs as the microwave was not suitable for obvious reasons. The older Adventurer was enjoying her first solid meal since breakfast of the day prior.
Jaune pointed to Fie, who grinned at Sara with her customary peace sign, "Found some fishing gear in the market. Took her fishing in the nearby stream."
Fie nodded her head energetically, "I never got the chance to catch fish with a pole before. Usually, I would just grab them barehanded or knife them as they get close."
Sara hummed as she finished her meal and washed it down with a mug of beer that Fie had procured for her. Jaune didn't think it wise to drink alcohol so late at night, but she's a grown up, she could handle the consequences herself.
"That's great to hear, sweetie. I guess we could start going fishing just for the heck of it if you'd like. I'm glad you two had fun. Today was brutal enough as it is." Sara sighed as she gulped the last of her beer and stretched in her seat, causing Jaune to avert his eyes as the woman was only wearing a tank top over her underwear. He pretended not to see the sly smirk she threw at him.
"So what happened?"
"Apart from a wild goose chase? Found a Grimm nest a few clicks away from here. An abandoned quarry, the massive kind, chock-full of all sorts of Grimm. Beowolves, Ursas, Death Stalkers… the works."
Jaune frowned, "That doesn't sound good. Such a large gathering of different kinds of Grimm so close to town? They would sooner tear themselves apart than cooperate unless there was a much more powerful Grimm holding them to its will."
Fie nodded along, "Not like you to leave a nest like that undisturbed, Sara."
"Nothing I could do about it. I can't tell you anything more, Jaune, as currently you are just a civilian."
Jaune nearly scowled at that before pausing, "Currently?"
"Yep, currently. Before we continue, I would like you to answer a few questions for me if you don't mind."
Jaune frowned at the sudden change of topic before nodding for her to continue.
Sara expanded her Scroll to tablet mode and brought up his file from the Adventurer Hub. "You have already completed the required missions to be promoted to C-rank, yet you have not received a recommendation from a B-rank or higher Adventurer to advance. I can only assume that your grandfather decided against recommending you himself for fear of accusations of nepotism and favoritism. Am I correct?"
Jaune shook his head, "Not at all. Gramps would have done it in a heartbeat and slapped anyone who complained regardless." Sara snorted in amusement, "It's just that he had been very busy with his navy duties due to the increased raids by pirates from the south as well as a resurgence of aquatic Grimm. I couldn't afford to wait for a suitable Adventurer to take me on a C-rank or higher mission to evaluate me, as I had other familial commitments."
The older Adventurer nodded with a smirk, "Yeah, that sounds like the Colonel alright. But I'm surprised he didn't take you with him on those boat rides. I'd have thought you would relish the experience of fighting at sea."
Jaune folded his arms and looked away, "It just wasn't for me, I guess. Gramps took me on a few and I did adequate enough that he saw no more need to take me on a dangerous mission like that."
'There's no way in hell I will tell her that my motion sickness prevents me from getting on ships for too long. Oh gods, the rocking… how do they handle that stuff?!'
Jaune shivered involuntary at the thought, but thankfully, Sara just shrugged and moved to the coat hanger and tied her coat around her body, just enough to look decent.
"Fie, report on your observations of Adventurer Arc."
Jaune snapped to attention at the formal usage of his title. He turned to Fie, who had also dressed into her coat at some point, to find her throwing him a small smile before she stood straight and reported concisely.
"Jaune Arc has shown that he was observant of his surroundings when he woke up. He continued to prove his observant nature as we descended the stairs to the Inn, even when he was in pain. Moreover, during breakfast, he made sure there were no eavesdroppers on our conversation. Furthermore, as we travelled towards the barracks, he had his guard up in an unknown environment and kept a close eye on any potential threats. Throughout the day, in the market and outside of it, he practiced constant vigilance as much as he could and did not hesitate to identify potential threats or ask a more experienced adventurer for advice or opinions."
Jaune cocked an eyebrow at that. The only 'threats' they faced were the two angry merchants and a bad-tempered badger when they went fishing.
"He has also shown a kind and helpful side consistently. He did not hesitate to help a civilian find her purse, stop a fight between two foreign merchants, and saved another merchant from a predicament while continuing to help her, expecting no reward for his services."
Sara nodded along, "Have you watched the recordings he shared?" Sara continued at Fie's nod, "What are your thoughts on his combat abilities?"
"Adventurer Arc had shown high expertise in combat and strong willpower to defeat the creatures of Grimm as well as resourcefulness and skill to prevail against an overwhelming foe with extreme odds set against him. That alone is enough for me to recommend him to be promoted to a C-rank adventurer, but I shall reserve the final judgment in that matter to A-rank Adventurer Valestein."
Jaune gawked at the white-haired girl, finally understanding what was going on here. He looked at Sara expectantly only to find the older adventurer had set her Scroll on the table and only now noticed that it was recording. Thankfully, he had dressed into something besides his shorts and tank top when Sara was showering. It also explained why the older woman put on her coat.
"I, too, have perused Jaune Arc's evidence of his battle against the Grimm in the Vale Mountains and agree with Adventurer Fie's assessment of his fighting prowess. I have concluded that Jaune Arc has thus proven himself to be worthy of a nomination to be a C-ranked Adventurer pending his acceptance of the mission parameters I shall state shortly."
At that, both Adventurers looked at the blonde, and Sara continued, "Adventurer Arc. Do you wish to advance in the ranks of the Adventurer guild to reach the much-vaunted C-rank and beyond?"
"Of course I do." Even if he was going to be a Huntsman, becoming a C-ranked Adventurer would look good on his record.
The A-ranked Adventurer grinned at the instant response, "In that case, I hereby offer you a chance to be promoted to C-rank. You are to join this mission under my command, as well as Fie's, due to her higher rank. This was originally a C-rank mission, but due to extenuating circumstances, both the Mayor and Guard Captain have agreed to bump it to B-rank. I cannot divulge the parameters of this mission until your acceptance, however."
Jaune frowned at that, "Usually, it would be the other way around. I cannot accept a mission without knowing what it entails. For all I know, you could be tricking me into accepting an illegal mission."
The older woman smirked, "Smart. I see the Colonel has drilled in your head his Modus Operandi. 'Trust but Verify.'"
Jaune remained silent and resolute as he knew the woman was testing him. Or probably teasing him, as he could feel a large amount of playful energy emanating from her Aura.
Sara continued on, "Very well then, that is a fair condition. Before I give you the mission, I must first explain mine and Fie's original mission here. Originally, we were supposed to rendezvous with a Veteran Huntsman and his partner, some sort of priestess who occasionally visits these festivals to bless the fields and crops. Don't roll your eyes at me, young man," Sara rebuked, with her hands on her hips, at Jaune's unconscious act.
"I don't know about her religion, something to do with the Seasonal Maidens if I had to guess, but I was assured she's the real deal. It might be a Semblance or… magic," at that it was Sara's turn to roll her eyes, "but the power she exhibits is very real. The priestess has been around for decades and before Fertilizer Dust came around, she was the main reason this region was fertile enough to attract settlers from Vale and compete in the market. She still visits occasionally for tradition's sake and the people believe in her being a vessel for the gods or something of that tune. There is an old church on the opposite side of town dedicated to the four maidens that the townspeople care for, so this should give you an idea of how important the people of Celdic view this priestess."
Jaune shouldn't have been as surprised as he did, considering he himself had magic and Krystal had implied that there were others around who had magic. He wasn't expecting he would meet a magic user so soon. Jaune wondered what he would discover if he Observed her? Maybe they could discuss magic and learn from each other! Sara's next words shattered that hope.
"Unfortunately, they were supposed to be here days ago. I waited yesterday to no avail and Mayor Otto had no clue where they were. Finally, I just got a message straight from Beacon sent to the Garrison. The priestess was grievously wounded in an attack and the Huntsman was forced to escort her to safety. He did not know when he would make it here, only that he would do the best he could. This means that Fie and I will be responsible for town security, patrolling for Grimm, defending the repair crew on the Repeater Tower, raising the townfolks' morale, and finally investigating the rumors of bandits in the region. Rumors that were unfortunately proven to be true earlier today. Suffice to say, we are extremely understaffed for such an undertaking."
"What do you mean the rumors were proven to be true?"
Sara held up her hand, "Not yet, Arc. Let me finish." He nodded in apology, and the older woman continued, "After speaking with the authorities here, we have reached an agreement. Our mission has been bumped to B-rank, with the possibility of it even rising to A-rank if a catastrophe struck us unawares. Nonetheless, no matter how competent and powerful me and Fie are, there are only two of us. Which brings me to offering you a position in our team for this mission as well as an opportunity to be promoted to C-rank. Three birds in one stone if you will; you gain experience working with awesome Adventurers like us." Sara flamboyantly pointed to herself and Fie, with the younger girl flashing another one of her peace signs, "You get paid very handsomely indeed, and finally, you get that rare promotion that you can put in your pedigree."
Jaune smiled, it truly was an opportunity like no other, and he would be mad not to accept. He still had a few reservations though, "Before I accept I have a few questions of my own. First, what assignments should be expected of me?"
"You will be assigned tasks that include but are not limited to; security details, patrolling the Marketplace and guarding the warehouses. Wall patrols. Field patrols. Grimm extermination and finally investigation of potential criminal elements. The duration of this mission starts the moment you accept it and lasts until relief arrives from Beacon and we are no longer required to provide support. You are expected to provide at least eight hours of labor daily with no days off with the possibility of it extending indefinitely in the case of an emergency. It should not last longer than the end of the month, however."
The younger man nodded as that was all within expectation, "What would my mission payment be?
"Your cut of the pay is set at £100 an hour with potential bonuses for any problems solved, which is to be negotiated with the client upon the completion of the contract. Furthermore, I have spoken to the mayor and the Lieutenant, and they agreed to put in a good word for you to Beacon depending on your performance. If you do not have any other questions, will you accept this mission?"
Jaune thought at the offered pay. It was not bad at all for a D-rank adventurer, but for a B-rank mission the pay should have been higher. Then again, Celdic didn't appear to be overly rich, and they still had to pay for the Garrison here. Regardless, £800 a day as a base pay was not bad at all. Not to mention the extra bonus of Beacon learning of him through the town's endorsement, that's precisely what Gramps had told him Ozpin would look for. "I accept this mission, and humbly put myself under your command, Sara Valestein. Adventurer Fie."
Sara shut off the recorder as both She and Fie smiled at that, "Unfortunately, due to the busy nature of the festival, we are not provided with lodging or food expenses. That will have to come out of your pocket." Sara finished with a wink.
Jaune relaxed, "So we are done with the formalities? I didn't know you had to record it."
"Yeah, it's an obscure but necessary rule." Sara fiddled with the Hub app before Jaune's Scroll beeped. She then took off her coat and hanged it back on the hanger, "We aren't anywhere near a guild house for them to do the bookkeeping, so we have to keep records ourselves and submit them later. Accept the mission I sent you, and you are officially half-way to promotion. Due to the weak signal, we won't be capable of updating the records globally until the tower is repaired, but for our local needs this will do."
Jaune did as he was asked, after checking the mission parameters and finding them virtually the same as what Sara stated.
"So what was up with all the questions? I can understand needing to know my combat abilities, but that didn't seem to be as big a requirement for you as knowing my personality, it seemed."
Sara gave him a serious look, "Tell me Jaune, as an aspiring huntsman, what is your most important duty aside from killing Grimm?"
He refrained from blurting out the obvious answer of keeping the people safe and thought deeply about her question. Killing Grimm was always a good thing, and didn't require anyone to be Huntsmen or even Adventurer. A duty that is expected out of Huntsmen? He thought about his day so far and how Sara conducted herself, as well as Fie's observation of him, and he thought he found an answer.
"To make sure the people I am protecting feel safe and happy, for if they feel otherwise, they would attract more Grimm."
"…Good enough answer, I suppose. There is another reason, of course, and that is the fact that while Grimm are monsters, they are predictable monsters. Humans can be worse than Grimm in so many ways, and combine that with our intellect, a Huntsman will find that dealing with criminals is a lot more challenging than Grimm."
Jaune wanted to deny that. Why would humans fight among themselves when the threat of the Grimm was ever present? In his mind, he understood Sara's reasoning and that he was being unrealistically naive. And yet…
At Jaune's melancholic face, Sara gave him a sad smile. "You have never dealt with the bad elements of human society, Jaune. I pray that you never have to, but it's still a fact of life. As an aspiring Huntsman, you should prepare yourself for the inevitable."
Sara carried on once she was sure Jaune understood her words, "There is also the fact that Adventurers have a poor reputation. Too many Adventurers turn to crime, or were criminals looking for a second chance. The least I could do is make sure whomever I'm mentoring has the right attitude for the job and not drag down the Adventurer name even further."
Jaune put away his Scroll as he nodded to the older woman. It's not a perfect way to judge someone, but it's good enough for the situation.
"One last thing, Jaune. I specifically keep this off the records for everyone I work with, we are all entitled to our secrets after all. Is there any special ability that you would like to share that could prove helpful in this mission?"
Jaune thought deeply about what to share. He honestly wasn't bothered with telling them about his magic abilities. Semblances and Aura techniques were so esoteric and vague most of the time that he could pass magic off easily as an Aura ability. Heck, to this day, he was unsure what his grandfather's Semblance was and the way he uses it makes him think it's actual magic.
There was also the fact that it was simply irresponsible of him to not notify his leader of a power that could potentially save lives.
"Yes, I do. I have shown you my storage trick. I have two more abilities I would like to share that, I believe, would be helpful in the mission. I will keep it short; the first allows me to be very Observant of people. It costs Aura, but I could learn information from my targets that they would rather not share. Mostly related to their strengths and weaknesses, although it is untested on people with Aura. What I am confident in reliably learning, however, is the Aura levels of anyone I meet due to my Aura Sense, which is another ability I developed strong enough that I was able to find Fie when we separated for a while."
Sara looked at Fie to confirm and got a nod in return, "He found me quite quickly, actually. Your other senses need work, but I believe I can rely on your ability to sense Aura. I'm the opposite, I have keen senses of smell, hearing, taste, vision and touch, but I can barely sense Aura for some reason."
Jaune smiled at her endorsement, "We can work on that together later on, Fie." He turned back to Sara who had her eyes wide in surprise as he continued, "The second ability is a tracking one. It also costs Aura and requires me to be familiar with the target's Aura to track. It does not appear to work on targets without Aura, meaning I cannot track Grimm with it."
Sara nodded her head in thought, "That would be a good reason to keep you here in town. You would do a lot more good Observing people in case hostiles sneak into the town, then potentially tracking them back to their base. Something to keep in mind, but we have our first assignment in the morning, and it's clearing the nest I mentioned earlier from its Grimm inhabitants. Incidentally, can you display that ability of yours? Use it on me, for example."
"Probably not at the moment. I have still not recovered my Aura enough to spend it so frivolously."
Sara frowned slightly and approached the younger man. She raised her hand before remembering herself, "May I?" At Jaune's nod, she placed her hand on his shoulder. Jaune felt an intrusive yet electrifying feeling that lasted for a second before she let go of him and her frown deepened. "Kid, you have nearly as much Aura as Fie here. I am not good at sensing Aura by any means, certainly not as good as you appear to be, and I know you Arcs have monstrous Aura reserves, but you must have recovered at least a third of your Aura by now, right?"
Jaune looked away in embarrassment as he mumbled, "six percent, actually."
If Jaune thought Sara was surprised earlier, then now she looked utterly flabbergasted. Even Fie's impassive face had its jaw dropped in shock.
"S-six percent? How the hell? Not even the Colonel has so much Aura! And he and his daughter are the absolute extreme when it comes to Aura reserves that I know of in the world! You've also been recovering for four days now, how the hell?"
Jaune chuckled at Sara's shock, "I did tell you I overused my Semblance. I only started recovering my Aura after breakfast and it's been slow-going. As for how much Aura I have, I got an idea on that. Do you mind?" It was his turn to raise his hand to Sara, as he had gotten an idea on a different method to use Observe. So far, he had been using it on unwilling targets and from distance, but earlier it had cost nothing to observe Arthur. At first, he thought it had to do with his bond with him, but noticing how Sara first asked for his permission before measuring his Aura, it may not be so.
The older woman nodded her head, wanting to see where this was going. Jaune placed his hand on her shoulder with his Aura Sense active before concentrating with an Observe.
Profile:
Name: Sara Valestein
Class: Dust Warrior
Age: 25
Height: 5'9"
Build: Lean-Hourglass
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 612/1,853 (111/hr)
Aura Control: 105%
Strength (STR): 76
Vitality (VIT): 84
Dexterity (DEX): 117
Agility (AGL): 102
Perception (PER): 78
Intelligence (INT): 82
Perks:
Ambidextrous: High DEX combined with hard work has allowed Sara to use both hands with equal proficiency.
Semblance (Éclair): Provides a high Lightning affinity to the user. User can generate electricity by converting Aura to Lightning.
Lightspeed Flash: a combination of high AGL and constant usage of her Semblance as well as smart usage of her Lightning affinity to enhance her body has allowed Sara Valestein to have excellent reflexes and a quick mind.
???
Skills:
Lightning Charge: ???
Searing Flash: ???
Thunder Vortex: ???
Thoughts about you: Cute kid. Now if only he was twenty years older…
Sara gasped as she backed away from the blonde, looking at him cautiously, "What the heck was that?"
Jaune also had to catch his breath at the rush of information and other emotions he received from the older woman. He shook his head as he looked at Sara, "That was me Observing you. I usually use it from distance, though you are the first target with Aura that I used it on. I'm guessing those with Aura would be able to feel it when I used it on them."
The older woman nodded warily, "Guess so. It was a strange feeling, not necessary bad, but… I might be able to get used to it" She calmed down a little, before she smirked at the blonde. "So… what did you find?"
Jaune smirked back, "Plenty enough to be convinced that I'm in good hands. You have less than a fifth of my total Aura reserves by the way." He waited for her jaw to drop before teasing her, "And really? Twenty years older? You do realize that I will still look relatively the same thirty years from now, right?"
Her face took on a fiery blush as she stuttered out, "h-h-h-how t-the–"
"Magic." he grinned at the completely off balance woman as he heard a giggling noise next to him. Jaune turned to Fie to see her with a sassy grin, "Oh he got you good, Sara. Wanna try it on me next?"
She looked expectantly at him, and Jaune didn't need to be asked twice as he placed his hand on her head.
Observe
Profile:
Name: Fie
Class: Ninja Kitty
Age: 15
Height: 5'1"
Build: Lithe
Race: Cat-Faunus
Stats:
Aura Points: 837/837 (50/hr)
Aura Control: 88%
Strength (STR): 72
Vitality (VIT): 73
Dexterity (DEX): 103
Agility (AGL): 121
Perception (PER): 105
Intelligence (INT): 68
Perks:
Ambidextrous: High DEX combined with hard work has allowed Fie to use both hands with equal proficiency.
Flexible: High AGL combined with high DEX allows Fie to contort her body in unnatural ways yet still retain full control of her body functions.
Deadly premonition: High PER combined with Aura's innate danger sense allows Fie to sense dangerous situations and avoid otherwise fatal strikes.
Semblance (Sylphid): Provides a high Wind affinity to the user. High-speed movements and stealth. Provides a flat bonus to PER and AGL.
Faunus: Night vision. Receives a bonus to PER.
Sub-spieces (Cat): Receives a bonus to AGL, PER and DEX. Higher chance to survive falling from heights. Likes to take naps.
Skills:
Concealing Wind: ???
Cipher Edge: ???
Sylphid Dance: ???
Thoughts about you: Nice guy. Is this what having an older brother is like?
Fie quickly let go with a frown, "Yeah, it's a strange feeling. Felt like I somehow couldn't hide anything from you, and you were observing my soul."
Jaune nodded, "Makes sense as that was precisely what I was doing. And yes, Fie, you could consider me your big bro. I already took you fishing, after all. You are also very talented, and I can see that your strengths are also the result of hard work. I look forward to working alongside you." He gave her a head pat, and she returned it with a shy smile before she moved to Sara to tease her some more.
And Jaune truly was impressed with both women. While he believed he would eventually surpass both of them stat-wise, aside from AGL and PER, he knows he's an outlier. Sara clearly used her Lightning-based Semblance to enhance her body, similar to his Aura treatments with Kilika. His biggest shock, however, was the fact her AC was over 100. It seems he will need to reevaluate his goals, for if AC can go over 100, then he is very much behind. Her class of Dust Warrior was suitable, he guessed, for she was clearly a Dust Caster that was not afraid of going up and personal to get her point across. Whether with a sword strike or a bullet through the head.
Fie, however, really surprised him with her insane AGL and PER. This can't just be from her being a faunus as he had met other feline faunus Adventurers and none of them exhibited such extreme abilities, even if he couldn't Observe them back then. He would like to think that she was simply that talented, but it might also have to do with her mysterious past. Jaune could easily guess that Sara was from Atlas, probably an Academy dropout, but Fie was a complete blank to him.
He was joking earlier when he called Fie "Ninja Kitty", but it appears that Krystal seriously considered her to be as such. Kilika had regaled him with tales of her homeland and mentioned those shadow warriors a few times. Warriors who would do the dirty deeds of their lords in secret, such as assassinations and spywork, yet were supremely loyal to their lord and had a strong code of honor. Unlike the warrior caste of Nippon itself. Fie did mention something about espionage work, didn't she?
Sara had recovered by now and clapped her hands to grab his attention, "Alright, enough. We've established that you kids are awful meanies." She still had a slight blush of embarrassment on her, but Fie had apparently decided to give her a break.
"We need to go over tomorrow's assignment and I do want to have at least five hours of sleep tonight." She glanced at the clock to show it was nearly three in the morning, "Ugh, make that four."
They all laughed genially and went over what to expect tomorrow, from going on a quick visit to Odvin's to get some DRs before heading out to the barracks. Things got solemn when she explained about the kidnappings, however, and Jaune worried about Fie as her Aura had gotten ice-cold when Sara mentioned the targets were children.
There was more regarding Grimm Bait, but Jaune had never heard of the term. Sara promised to explain more in the morning, but for now, it was time to sleep.
Our first actual canon character in the story (Saphron and Terra don't count as they were in a flashback kek). Meg(an) Scarlatina is a fringe character that could barely be considered canon as she was only mentioned in the novels, not the show. I decided to make something out of her and Velvet who will have an important role later on.
I was watching Puss in Boots: The Last Wish when I wrote the kitty eyes scene. Considering I own two cats, I can assure you that cats can have either a mean glare or the aforementioned pleading eyes.
Jaune's gun is loosely based on the S&W 500 magnum but naturally with a sci-fi twist. Its oversized, colorfully themed to Jaune, can hold more ammo than it should, and can seemingly increase the power of its rounds. Rule of cool and all that shit.
It's obvious who the veteran Huntsman and his partner are. We were shown the Maidens in their destructive elements, but I am sure that many of them would instead use their powers for more peaceful matters in their free time. Not everyone is a psychopath like Raven, or a sociopath like Cinder.
Amber uses her powers for that. We never get how old she is, aside from Pyrrha calling her a girl. In my headcanon, she is in her early thirties and was apprenticed to the previous Maiden as well. She would also look young regardless due to Aura and Maiden power bullshit. Then again, I would guess Glynda to be in her thirties or forties yet she looks to be in her twenties. I guess the Arcs aren't the only ones that can remain looking youthful. Aura is hacks like that.
Some may question how people seem to know about the Maidens. Pyrrha asked a similar question to Ozpin in the show and his reply works well for me. People have always believed in the Maidens' existence but the Maidens themselves have been hidden away.
I know the timeline does not match canon. Cinder attempted to recruit the White Fang first but failed, then the next day the Black Trailer happened. Here, there is a gap of a few weeks between Cinder's recruitment attempt and the Black trailer. At least it would explain how Cinder grew her hair so quickly, and managed to find Amber.
Chapter 9 (Tower Calls)
Edited by: Gladiusx ; B. Reader: NoirsLament
Three horsemen slowly made their way along a rough beaten road surrounded by hills. Two of them had lever-action rifles slung on their horse's flank along with a standard issue revolver and a saber on their hips, while the third had an oversized revolver and a bastard sword on his. They observed the rocky terrain warily as they searched for Grimm. The road to the Repeater Tower went through small forested hills that bordered the Emerald Forest, and it was infested with Grimm. Far enough away from the mountains to not affect the signal as well as high enough elevation to give it a good boost.
Unfortunately, it was also a suitable place for an ambush.
Suddenly, a howl sounded out from on top of one of the hills, and a pack of Beowulfs charged out of the woods. Almost as soon as the first Grimm appeared, a sound of thunder reverberated and the Grimm's head was blown to smithereens. Three more Beowulfs charged out, unconcerned with their fallen kin, only for two simultaneous shots to stagger two of them as they were struck in the chest. The third Grimm continued its charge, but it didn't take more than three strides before another thundering roar sounded out and its chest caved in from the force of the round that hit it.
The two other Grimm had recovered by now, only to each receive another rifle round, this time punching through the thin armor in their necks and downing them for good.
The three horsemen kept a wary eye out for the treeline in case more Grimm appeared, which proved to be prudent as a loud growl could be heard as something large bumbled its way through the trees. A quick glance between two of the riders had them change something in the mechanism of their rifles before they aimed at the treeline. All three riders could see tree tops shaking, birds flying away and the sound of broken wood as they waited for their enemy to appear.
Soon enough, a massive bear like Grimm charged out of the tree line with a bone rattling roar. It was three times as large as the largest horse of the trio, and almost entirely armored in thick bone plate, showing its old age. Its crimson evil eyes barely locked on the three horsemen before a cacophony of gunfire rained upon it.
Two shots landed on its shoulders, setting it on fire and making the Ursa Major howl in pain as its armor melted from the flash heat. It started to charge at its attackers only for another thundering roar to sound out and a round to hit one of its weakened shoulder armor causing it to shatter. The Grimm was relentless, however and continued its mad charge at the three riders who continued unloading Fire Dust Rounds and regular rounds at the beast until it collapsed barely halfway to its potential prey. One final thundering roar sounded out, and its head was blasted apart, putting it down for good.
The riders checked their surroundings for more targets, but after a minute with nothing happening, they allowed themselves to slightly relax. The youngest among them was a blonde young man wearing a brown leather vest over a tan hoodie and a mix of green and brown camouflage cargo pants. He looked at the disintegrating corpse of the Ursa Major with an annoyed gaze as he reloaded his gun before holstering it.
"So close to a hundred years." He muttered under his breath.
The two other riders wore similar cargo pants as the younger man along with tactical green shirts under a bulletproof vest that held many pockets. They also wore metal bracers and chausses over their forearms and legs respectively as well as an ammo belt. They finished their uniform with a metal helmet over a dark three-pointed leather hat in addition to neck gaiters.
One of the riders, a brown haired man in his early thirties, turned to the blonde youth with them. "Great work there, Jaune. Excellent reflexes and you nailed that first one right in the nogging from nearly a hundred yards away." The mirth was obvious in the man's voice as he too reloaded his rifle, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one.
The young man gave a slight shrug, refusing an offered smoke. "Honestly, it wasn't much. I was actually aiming for the chest. This gun's got one hell of a kick, it was almost too much for me to aim properly with my left hand. I'm more impressed with how you both knew exactly where to shoot. You barely had a split second to decide. First, against the two Beowulfs and then against the Ursa? That ain't luck, you Dragoons are good. Very good."
The other dragoon, an older man but still in his thirties with black hair that just started to gray along with blue eyes, gave a light chuckle as he accepted an offered smoke from his companion. He holstered his own reloaded rifle, "Flattery will get you everywhere laddie. When you've been in the profession as long as us, you realize that nothing is more important than teamwork and giving good calls. You don't need to shout them at your partner to deliver your intent. Rory and I have been partners for nearly six years. We could almost read each other's mind when it comes to rules of engagement."
The now named Rory grinned at his senior partner, his brown eyes full of mirth. "Aww you're gonna make me blush Duncan. Anita would be distraught if she knew her daddy had the hots for me."
Duncan sighed at his partner's antics, and took a long drag from his cigarette. "And I'm sure Lizzie would be saddened to learn her man decided to spontaneously swing for the home team. Would you propose to her already? You both aren't getting any younger, you know. It was cute to see you both dancing around each other's toes two years ago, but now it's just sad."
"Hey, we're just not ready yet, okay? I'm aiming for that early retirement, and we're saving up to buy that ranch that old Baha is selling."
Jaune smiled as the two Dragoons bantered along and patted Arthur's flank. The first time they did it, he worried that they would be too distracted to react to a threat. He need not have worried, as he later learned that they do this to purposely keep their spirits high and take the Grimm by surprise rather than the other way around.
He checked the time on his newly purchased wristwatch to find it was nearly noon. Jaune sighed in annoyance as he remembered why they were delayed so much.
They had arrived at the Barracks at eight in the morning as was agreed, only to discover that the garrison wasn't ready yet. The Guard Captain, in all his wisdom, had insisted on taking nearly half the men along with four mortars and two field cannons to clear out the quarry. Sara and Lieutenant Brocket tried to dissuade him from it as it would leave the town undermanned, but the Captain was adamant on the necessity of being over prepared rather than under prepared. While there was no denying that such firepower would be a great asset against a Grimm horde, it was a logistical nightmare to bring it to field.
The garrison only had two armored vehicles and they weren't designed to drag heavy artillery, so they had to repurpose some trucks to do the heavy workload. Those trucks couldn't go over twenty miles an hour in the rough terrain, which drastically slowed their progress. What should have been a two-hour journey along the winding paths to the tower, had now stretched to three hours and they were barely past the half-way point! To be fair, the mortars were simple to pack and stow in the trucks. The cannons, however, each needed to be dragged by those same trucks. This unfortunately left little room for the soldiers to ride, with half of them switching places between riders and walkers. The officers had their own horses.
At least the extra time allowed them to do some last-minute shopping. A trip to Meg's and Jaune got his watch and another to Odvin's had him buy extra FDRs just in case. Turns out the Dragoons live up to their name and utilize Fire Dust heavily in their armaments, as his companions had shown to excellent effect. He himself needed to figure out a more practical way to switch to FDR mid-fight instead of reloading after each round.
"Let's head back to the convoy, we have made sure that the road is clear for three miles now. The next group to relieve us should meet us halfway through." Duncan decided after a few more minutes of checking the surroundings for Grimm.
Jaune and Rory nodded to the senior Dragoon and turned their horses back along the road.
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They met with three other Dragoons along the way and quickly briefed them on their day before they continued to the convoy. Once they arrived, Jaune stifled a groan as he saw that one of the trucks dragging the cannons had one of its tires Hydroplaning. It had rained in this part of Vale overnight, and the dirt road was still muddy in some places despite the sun doing its best to dry it out.
He waved to his two companions as he quickly made his way to Fie sitting atop her horse, who gazed disinterestedly at the troops trying to dislodge the truck from the mud. She perked up once she saw him and immediately motioned her hands to him with an expectant gaze. Jaune sighed at the girl, before he produced an ice cream cone from his storage space, much to the younger girl's delight. He really needs to stop spoiling the girl so much, but he was glad she was at least in a better mood now compared to this morning. Besides, he couldn't deny that her suggestion of buying as much perishable food as possible to store in his Storage Space was practical. It didn't rot, and for some reason, none of the stuff stored in the space interacted or conflicted with each other. So long as they were less than one meter long, he could fit them in the space. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn't fit his sword in it.
"So…" Fie raised an eyebrow at his hesitant tone, and motioned for him to continue. Jaune cleared his throat, knowing that this would be an awkward topic for both of them, "I noticed your reaction when Sara was explaining to me about Grimm Bait." Fie stiffened for a second before continuing her meal.
"Do you want to talk about it, Fie? I have a hunch that this affects you personally, but know that I am here for you."
The young adventurer slouched her shoulders a bit, and that's the most vulnerable he had ever seen the girl. "I'm okay, Jaune. Later perhaps, but I'm okay." She returned to her snack, closing off the conversation.
She did not sound okay at all to him, but he respected her wishes.
"Is Sara with the rear guard again?" The girl nodded, too busy munching on her ice cream to reply verbally.
"Gun it!"
They both quickly turned at the shout and the subsequent roar of revving engines. The truck was finally dislodged and the whole convoy cheered.
"Excellent! Now everyone, back to your positions and get moving. Chop, chop. I want to get to that tower before lunchtime. And try not to get stuck again, would you?"
Captain Montgomery's annoyingly patronizing voice sounded out as he got out of his APC. The dullard had decided to ride inside one of the air-conditioned armored vehicles instead of roughing it out with his troops. That would have been fine, if he did not come out every time something happened to berate the men. Jaune could see plenty of resentment among the common soldiery who had to trudge on foot directed at him, especially as the captain had a sandwich in his hand and a cigar in his mouth, yet complained about missing lunch? Did he have a personal fridge in that car? Montgomery barely finished talking before moving back in, and Jaune swore he heard him calling for a drink and laughing with his sycophants.
Jaune looked around for the Lieutenant, at least he was a reliable fellow, and found him speaking to the troops. Probably keeping them in order as well as keeping morale up.
"At least the rest of the road is dry, from what I saw."
Fie looked at him as she finished her snack, "Yeah, maybe we really will make it to the tower before lunchtime."
They both stared at each other for a moment before laughing as they continued on their way.
It took them another hour before they finally arrived. They were able to see the tower for over an hour now and even communicated with the garrison there once they figured out the repairs were done. Now Jaune looked at the hundreds of feet tall tower and its makeshift fortifications.
"Finally! This just sucked," Rory groaned out. He had joined him and Fie for the rest of the journey, and they hit it off well considering he was one of the youngest Dragoons. Fie didn't like his smoking habits, however, but Rory was polite enough not to smoke near them again after her first complaint.
"Tell me about it. Is it normal for the Guard Captain to even attend missions like this?"
Rory glanced back at the APC where the Captain had the window open and shouting commands at Lieutenant Brocket and some of his sergeants. "Ever since he was assigned here nearly four years ago? Just twice, I think. This is the third time he ever bothered to join on an assignment. Usually, he is content doing administrative work."
The Dragoon pointed with his chin at an assortment of troops on horseback walking near both APCs, "Those are the good Captain's most loyal men. They have the best gear and training, and would do whatever shit he asks. The ones in the other APC are his best men, elites from Vale's academy. Nothing on the Dragoons, obviously, but we Dragoons are all Celdic natives, so the stakes are much higher for us to be better than them. Those guys? Vale military men doing their service time. Tell me an easier place to serve your time than Celdic? None of the dangers of the other frontier lands, hot women, good food, nice weather, brilliant view of the mountains, relatively close to Vale, hot women, decent internet connection when the tower is working… you get the idea."
The disdain was easy to make out in the Dragoon's words, and Jaune frowned at that. It's clear that things were not as simple as he hoped they would be. Turns out military politics are a thing. Hopefully, this wouldn't affect their progress later on.
"Don't let Lizzie hear you talk about Celdic's hot women."
Rory barked out a laugh, "Who else would I be talking about?"
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They did not have a lot of time before they would depart. From what he saw, there were forty men guarding the tower right now, in addition to the thirty that Montgomery brought with him. Then, there were the sixteen Dragoons including the Lieutenant. That left Celdic grossly undermanned, with only thirty of the garrison to protect it, most of whom were non-combatants. The other Dragoons have their own missions and patrols, so the mayor was forced to call up more militia but hardly anymore could be called upon. It was to his understanding that the Tower contingent would escort the repair crew back while they continued on towards the Quarry, which was a few hours from here.
Sara waved him off to connect to the terminal at the base of the tower to contact his father. Fie had wandered off to scout the perimeter, though Jaune figured she was just giving him space, and he appreciated that. Unfortunately, his Scroll was an older model that did not allow video calls wirelessly, unlike Sara's and Fie's. It was his hope he would be able to upgrade it once he got to Vale, or maybe Beacon would have better models?
Once he was connected, Jaune dialed his Dad's number and waited… and waited… and waited. Until finally, an annoyed face appeared on the screen. With her lipstick and eyeshadow that matched her eyes' blue color, along with her shoulder-length blonde hair tied into two messy twin tails; one would mistake the girl on the screen for a punk, but the signs of grease and oil on her face and clothes told a different story.
"You have reached Lucas Lichter's personal number, he currently cannot take your call due to him puking his guts out. If this is a sales call, then we ain't interested in any of your products. If this is a Brother's Witness, we already paid our tithe so buzz off… also, why the hell would anyone make a video call without turning on their camera? Is anyone there? Is this a prank call? I swear if that's you Angel, Imma whoop your ass so hard your daddy is gonna feel it."
Jaune winced at his sister's rapid fire spiel and quickly turned on the terminal's camera. Why would it be turned off by default was anyone's guess, "Hey, Maya. It's me, Jaune."
The face on the screen blinked, "Jaune?! Is that really you? Where the hell are you? Ooohhh you are in so much trouble mister! Do you have any idea how pissed mom was when you disappeared the morning of our planned trip to Shion? Are you alright? Did you lose weight? Mom was so looking forward to that trip, ya know? Especially after gramps made her sit out last year. She ended up taking Dad for a three-day emergency vacation. Poor pops still has weak knees from it."
Jaune smiled genially at his sister. She was always a chatterbox, with a lot of energy and no filter on her mouth. Ever since Dad unlocked her and her twin's Aura last year, it had gotten worse. "Yeah, it's me. Good to see you too, sis."
"…Good to see you too, I guess." Maya bashfully replied, "Don't try to change the topic, mister. Explain!"
"Haha, well, to answer your questions, I'm in the Celdic Region on the eastern outskirts of the Emerald Forest. I'm fine, I guess, lost some weight going on a hike. Anyway, how's Dad? Why are you answering his phone? Where's Bleue? You're always attached at the hip. Where are you anyway?" It looked like the insides of an airship if he had to guess.
"Dad took Bleue and I to Vacuo, and Bleue's using this chance to get flight experience. Got some urgent business with one of those old oil refineries over there. Dad was ecstatic about a breakthrough, or something, you won't get it. We had to detour all the way to Patch to avoid Vale. Unfortunately, in his hurry, Dad forgot to take his motion sickness medicine and is indisposed."
Jaune grimaced at that. He could totally understand Dad's woes. Of all the Arc family, only Jaune inherited his Dad's problem with motion sickness.
"So what's up, little bro? It's nice to get a status update on our cute little runaway, but what's the occasion? Don't ask us for a lift, you're exactly two hours too late." Maya had a cheeky grin on her face as she turned away to tinker with something he couldn't see.
"I got some very important information for Dad. Stuff that could potentially affect our family, including Dad's family, in an existential way." Jaune stated seriously, and Maya quickly turned back to the screen.
"That serious, huh? You were never one for overplaying stuff, Jauney. Alright, give me a minute. Let me get Dad, I'm sure his stomach can handle talking for a few minutes."
Jaune stared at the empty room from the screen as he waited for Maya to return. He occasionally spread his Aura Sense to make sure no one was eavesdropping, but the closest person near him was Fie, who had decided to climb the tower apparently to just chill and enjoy the view.
As he waited, he wondered how the twins were doing. Maya and Bleue were his closest friends in the family, mostly due to their very close age. Then again, they also fought the most amongst each other for the same reason. Both twins really got into the whole scientific life of Dad's, with Bleue preferring the practical and delicate aspects of it. Maya on the other hand, got Dad's mad scientist side. He shuddered as he thought of what monstrosity she's tinkering on lately.
Eventually, he heard noises coming from the terminal and saw Maya had returned, leading an older man towards a seat. Jaune smiled as his Dad appeared on the screen; his light-brown hair had started to gray on the sides, his normally jovial face was a bit gaunt and green from sickness, and his hazel eyes looked tired behind his glasses.
"Hey, Dad. You look like crap."
"…Cheeky little shit." Jaune and Maya chuckled at that, Lucas just looked constipated. "You're gonna fill me in on what you're doing in Celdic later, but first what's so important that you had to drag me away from the toilet?"
"Oh nothing much. Just stumbled onto perhaps the largest Dust deposit to be discovered since Sweet Spice in Vacuo. I had to fight off a Grimm Horde in the process, and managed to pilfer a few samples. Got them appraised at the Dust shop in Celdic, all of them are high quality and of different elemental variety. I have video evidence that I can send if you'd like, but I'm sure Uncle John would be very interested in this."
Lucas and Maya had ludicrous faces as they listened to Jaune, and remained silent for a whole minute to process what he said.
"…Tell me everything!"
"You're done speaking with your family?"
Jaune had barely left the terminal room before Fie dropped down from above. "Yeah, I–BWFFFFTTT," He tried, oh he tried not to burst out laughing as he beheld her appearance, but he just couldn't.
Fie's hair had gotten extremely spiky and was standing up nearly a foot in the air. She did not look amused.
"W-what happened to your freaking hair? Is this your way of trying to reach my height? You're a couple of inches too short though."
"…yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Make fun of the poor girl who got brutally assaulted."
"By what? The tower waves?" Fie crossed her arms and looked sideways with a pout. "No, seriously? I noticed you climbing the tower, but you let the static get to you? At least you aren't hurt, yeah?"
Jaune started patting the girl's head as he tried to get her hair under control. He noticed that even her tail didn't come out unscathed and pointed straight upwards.
"I'm okay. Hmm, Just wanted to enjoy the view. Mmhm, I like heights." Fie replied as she let the older boy fix her hair and enjoyed his ministrations. At least Sara wasn't—
"Hey kids, we have a problem. Meet me in–Pfft, by the Maidens! What happened to your freaking hair?"
Fie sighed.
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"Now, what did we learn sweetie?"
"Do not climb communication towers without protection?"
"No, no. You already knew that. To always have someone record you when you are about to do something fun like that."
The young girl attempted to glare at the older woman, but it really just came out as an adorable pout. The subsequent squeal from the older woman before she glomped her confirmed it.
"So what's wrong, Sara?" They were on their way to the courtyard where Montgomery was arguing loudly with Brocket and another man he recognized as part of the repair crew.
"Did you check the news? We finally know why Beacon couldn't send backup."
That certainly caught Jaune and Fie's attention. "What is it?"
Sara had a grim look on her face, "a Grimm invasion is underway. All of Beacon's attention is set on the south-west right now."
Both youngsters eyes widened in shock. "A Grimm…invasion? Not a swarm or horde, but an all out invasion? This hasn't happened since–"
"Since the Faunus war, yeah. Regardless of why this is happening now, a state of emergency has been declared in Vale and its entire military has been mobilized. Beacon has recalled all of its hunters, mobilized the retired ones and even any of the available students have been asked to volunteer. It's an all out war, all hands on deck sort of situation, and it's been going on for a week now."
There were many thoughts going through Jaune's mind right now, a few of them concerning how bad of a timing this was. His grandfather had just taken most of the fleet to clear out the Narrow Sea, and suddenly, an invasion the likes of which wasn't seen in decades happens? Maya's words about detouring away from Vale made a lot more sense now. Vale was probably a no-fly-zone.
"Guess we shouldn't expect that backup at all then."
They finally made it to the arguing trio and Jaune caught the tail end of the argument.
"—will not be dragged around this Brothers Forsaken land so that you could watch shit blow up, Montgomery! Our deal with you and the mayor was clear. You escort us to the tower. We fix the damn tower, and you escort us back to town and provide a train ride for me and my men back to Vale. Now you want to drag the men promised to us to some hellhole infested with Grimm? Just because you took your sweet time getting here and caused your own delays? Hell to the fucking no! My men and I are not moving from this spot till you provide us with an escort to Celdic and that's final."
Montgomery's face had gotten tomato red and his mouth flapped like a fish. It appeared he never got shouted down enough in his life. "Then good luck getting back to town on your own, you chicken-hearted, cow-handed dunder-headed cad!" He finally blustered out and waddled back to his car.
Sara groaned beside him. Jaune had a feeling that the Guard Captain had just discovered a way to make their lives more interesting. Joy.
I know I promised action this chapter, but it will have to be another time. This chapter introduces new OCs; from Jaune's family to his Dragoon friends. All of them are from my own creation.
Three horsemen slowly made their way along a rough beaten road surrounded by hills. Two of them had lever-action rifles slung on their horse's flank along with a standard issue revolver and a saber on their hips, while the third had an oversized revolver and a bastard sword on his. They observed the rocky terrain warily as they searched for Grimm. The road to the Repeater Tower went through small forested hills that bordered the Emerald Forest, and it was infested with Grimm. Far enough away from the mountains to not affect the signal as well as high enough elevation to give it a good boost.
Unfortunately, it was also a suitable place for an ambush.
Suddenly, a howl sounded out from on top of one of the hills, and a pack of Beowulfs charged out of the woods. Almost as soon as the first Grimm appeared, a sound of thunder reverberated and the Grimm's head was blown to smithereens. Three more Beowulfs charged out, unconcerned with their fallen kin, only for two simultaneous shots to stagger two of them as they were struck in the chest. The third Grimm continued its charge, but it didn't take more than three strides before another thundering roar sounded out and its chest caved in from the force of the round that hit it.
The two other Grimm had recovered by now, only to each receive another rifle round, this time punching through the thin armor in their necks and downing them for good.
The three horsemen kept a wary eye out for the treeline in case more Grimm appeared, which proved to be prudent as a loud growl could be heard as something large bumbled its way through the trees. A quick glance between two of the riders had them change something in the mechanism of their rifles before they aimed at the treeline. All three riders could see tree tops shaking, birds flying away and the sound of broken wood as they waited for their enemy to appear.
Soon enough, a massive bear like Grimm charged out of the tree line with a bone rattling roar. It was three times as large as the largest horse of the trio, and almost entirely armored in thick bone plate, showing its old age. Its crimson evil eyes barely locked on the three horsemen before a cacophony of gunfire rained upon it.
Two shots landed on its shoulders, setting it on fire and making the Ursa Major howl in pain as its armor melted from the flash heat. It started to charge at its attackers only for another thundering roar to sound out and a round to hit one of its weakened shoulder armor causing it to shatter. The Grimm was relentless, however and continued its mad charge at the three riders who continued unloading Fire Dust Rounds and regular rounds at the beast until it collapsed barely halfway to its potential prey. One final thundering roar sounded out, and its head was blasted apart, putting it down for good.
The riders checked their surroundings for more targets, but after a minute with nothing happening, they allowed themselves to slightly relax. The youngest among them was a blonde young man wearing a brown leather vest over a tan hoodie and a mix of green and brown camouflage cargo pants. He looked at the disintegrating corpse of the Ursa Major with an annoyed gaze as he reloaded his gun before holstering it.
"So close to a hundred years." He muttered under his breath.
The two other riders wore similar cargo pants as the younger man along with tactical green shirts under a bulletproof vest that held many pockets. They also wore metal bracers and chausses over their forearms and legs respectively as well as an ammo belt. They finished their uniform with a metal helmet over a dark three-pointed leather hat in addition to neck gaiters.
One of the riders, a brown haired man in his early thirties, turned to the blonde youth with them. "Great work there, Jaune. Excellent reflexes and you nailed that first one right in the nogging from nearly a hundred yards away." The mirth was obvious in the man's voice as he too reloaded his rifle, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one.
The young man gave a slight shrug, refusing an offered smoke. "Honestly, it wasn't much. I was actually aiming for the chest. This gun's got one hell of a kick, it was almost too much for me to aim properly with my left hand. I'm more impressed with how you both knew exactly where to shoot. You barely had a split second to decide. First, against the two Beowulfs and then against the Ursa? That ain't luck, you Dragoons are good. Very good."
The other dragoon, an older man but still in his thirties with black hair that just started to gray along with blue eyes, gave a light chuckle as he accepted an offered smoke from his companion. He holstered his own reloaded rifle, "Flattery will get you everywhere laddie. When you've been in the profession as long as us, you realize that nothing is more important than teamwork and giving good calls. You don't need to shout them at your partner to deliver your intent. Rory and I have been partners for nearly six years. We could almost read each other's mind when it comes to rules of engagement."
The now named Rory grinned at his senior partner, his brown eyes full of mirth. "Aww you're gonna make me blush Duncan. Anita would be distraught if she knew her daddy had the hots for me."
Duncan sighed at his partner's antics, and took a long drag from his cigarette. "And I'm sure Lizzie would be saddened to learn her man decided to spontaneously swing for the home team. Would you propose to her already? You both aren't getting any younger, you know. It was cute to see you both dancing around each other's toes two years ago, but now it's just sad."
"Hey, we're just not ready yet, okay? I'm aiming for that early retirement, and we're saving up to buy that ranch that old Baha is selling."
Jaune smiled as the two Dragoons bantered along and patted Arthur's flank. The first time they did it, he worried that they would be too distracted to react to a threat. He need not have worried, as he later learned that they do this to purposely keep their spirits high and take the Grimm by surprise rather than the other way around.
He checked the time on his newly purchased wristwatch to find it was nearly noon. Jaune sighed in annoyance as he remembered why they were delayed so much.
They had arrived at the Barracks at eight in the morning as was agreed, only to discover that the garrison wasn't ready yet. The Guard Captain, in all his wisdom, had insisted on taking nearly half the men along with four mortars and two field cannons to clear out the quarry. Sara and Lieutenant Brocket tried to dissuade him from it as it would leave the town undermanned, but the Captain was adamant on the necessity of being over prepared rather than under prepared. While there was no denying that such firepower would be a great asset against a Grimm horde, it was a logistical nightmare to bring it to field.
The garrison only had two armored vehicles and they weren't designed to drag heavy artillery, so they had to repurpose some trucks to do the heavy workload. Those trucks couldn't go over twenty miles an hour in the rough terrain, which drastically slowed their progress. What should have been a two-hour journey along the winding paths to the tower, had now stretched to three hours and they were barely past the half-way point! To be fair, the mortars were simple to pack and stow in the trucks. The cannons, however, each needed to be dragged by those same trucks. This unfortunately left little room for the soldiers to ride, with half of them switching places between riders and walkers. The officers had their own horses.
At least the extra time allowed them to do some last-minute shopping. A trip to Meg's and Jaune got his watch and another to Odvin's had him buy extra FDRs just in case. Turns out the Dragoons live up to their name and utilize Fire Dust heavily in their armaments, as his companions had shown to excellent effect. He himself needed to figure out a more practical way to switch to FDR mid-fight instead of reloading after each round.
"Let's head back to the convoy, we have made sure that the road is clear for three miles now. The next group to relieve us should meet us halfway through." Duncan decided after a few more minutes of checking the surroundings for Grimm.
Jaune and Rory nodded to the senior Dragoon and turned their horses back along the road.
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They met with three other Dragoons along the way and quickly briefed them on their day before they continued to the convoy. Once they arrived, Jaune stifled a groan as he saw that one of the trucks dragging the cannons had one of its tires Hydroplaning. It had rained in this part of Vale overnight, and the dirt road was still muddy in some places despite the sun doing its best to dry it out.
He waved to his two companions as he quickly made his way to Fie sitting atop her horse, who gazed disinterestedly at the troops trying to dislodge the truck from the mud. She perked up once she saw him and immediately motioned her hands to him with an expectant gaze. Jaune sighed at the girl, before he produced an ice cream cone from his storage space, much to the younger girl's delight. He really needs to stop spoiling the girl so much, but he was glad she was at least in a better mood now compared to this morning. Besides, he couldn't deny that her suggestion of buying as much perishable food as possible to store in his Storage Space was practical. It didn't rot, and for some reason, none of the stuff stored in the space interacted or conflicted with each other. So long as they were less than one meter long, he could fit them in the space. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn't fit his sword in it.
"So…" Fie raised an eyebrow at his hesitant tone, and motioned for him to continue. Jaune cleared his throat, knowing that this would be an awkward topic for both of them, "I noticed your reaction when Sara was explaining to me about Grimm Bait." Fie stiffened for a second before continuing her meal.
"Do you want to talk about it, Fie? I have a hunch that this affects you personally, but know that I am here for you."
The young adventurer slouched her shoulders a bit, and that's the most vulnerable he had ever seen the girl. "I'm okay, Jaune. Later perhaps, but I'm okay." She returned to her snack, closing off the conversation.
She did not sound okay at all to him, but he respected her wishes.
"Is Sara with the rear guard again?" The girl nodded, too busy munching on her ice cream to reply verbally.
"Gun it!"
They both quickly turned at the shout and the subsequent roar of revving engines. The truck was finally dislodged and the whole convoy cheered.
"Excellent! Now everyone, back to your positions and get moving. Chop, chop. I want to get to that tower before lunchtime. And try not to get stuck again, would you?"
Captain Montgomery's annoyingly patronizing voice sounded out as he got out of his APC. The dullard had decided to ride inside one of the air-conditioned armored vehicles instead of roughing it out with his troops. That would have been fine, if he did not come out every time something happened to berate the men. Jaune could see plenty of resentment among the common soldiery who had to trudge on foot directed at him, especially as the captain had a sandwich in his hand and a cigar in his mouth, yet complained about missing lunch? Did he have a personal fridge in that car? Montgomery barely finished talking before moving back in, and Jaune swore he heard him calling for a drink and laughing with his sycophants.
Jaune looked around for the Lieutenant, at least he was a reliable fellow, and found him speaking to the troops. Probably keeping them in order as well as keeping morale up.
"At least the rest of the road is dry, from what I saw."
Fie looked at him as she finished her snack, "Yeah, maybe we really will make it to the tower before lunchtime."
They both stared at each other for a moment before laughing as they continued on their way.
It took them another hour before they finally arrived. They were able to see the tower for over an hour now and even communicated with the garrison there once they figured out the repairs were done. Now Jaune looked at the hundreds of feet tall tower and its makeshift fortifications.
"Finally! This just sucked," Rory groaned out. He had joined him and Fie for the rest of the journey, and they hit it off well considering he was one of the youngest Dragoons. Fie didn't like his smoking habits, however, but Rory was polite enough not to smoke near them again after her first complaint.
"Tell me about it. Is it normal for the Guard Captain to even attend missions like this?"
Rory glanced back at the APC where the Captain had the window open and shouting commands at Lieutenant Brocket and some of his sergeants. "Ever since he was assigned here nearly four years ago? Just twice, I think. This is the third time he ever bothered to join on an assignment. Usually, he is content doing administrative work."
The Dragoon pointed with his chin at an assortment of troops on horseback walking near both APCs, "Those are the good Captain's most loyal men. They have the best gear and training, and would do whatever shit he asks. The ones in the other APC are his best men, elites from Vale's academy. Nothing on the Dragoons, obviously, but we Dragoons are all Celdic natives, so the stakes are much higher for us to be better than them. Those guys? Vale military men doing their service time. Tell me an easier place to serve your time than Celdic? None of the dangers of the other frontier lands, hot women, good food, nice weather, brilliant view of the mountains, relatively close to Vale, hot women, decent internet connection when the tower is working… you get the idea."
The disdain was easy to make out in the Dragoon's words, and Jaune frowned at that. It's clear that things were not as simple as he hoped they would be. Turns out military politics are a thing. Hopefully, this wouldn't affect their progress later on.
"Don't let Lizzie hear you talk about Celdic's hot women."
Rory barked out a laugh, "Who else would I be talking about?"
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They did not have a lot of time before they would depart. From what he saw, there were forty men guarding the tower right now, in addition to the thirty that Montgomery brought with him. Then, there were the sixteen Dragoons including the Lieutenant. That left Celdic grossly undermanned, with only thirty of the garrison to protect it, most of whom were non-combatants. The other Dragoons have their own missions and patrols, so the mayor was forced to call up more militia but hardly anymore could be called upon. It was to his understanding that the Tower contingent would escort the repair crew back while they continued on towards the Quarry, which was a few hours from here.
Sara waved him off to connect to the terminal at the base of the tower to contact his father. Fie had wandered off to scout the perimeter, though Jaune figured she was just giving him space, and he appreciated that. Unfortunately, his Scroll was an older model that did not allow video calls wirelessly, unlike Sara's and Fie's. It was his hope he would be able to upgrade it once he got to Vale, or maybe Beacon would have better models?
Once he was connected, Jaune dialed his Dad's number and waited… and waited… and waited. Until finally, an annoyed face appeared on the screen. With her lipstick and eyeshadow that matched her eyes' blue color, along with her shoulder-length blonde hair tied into two messy twin tails; one would mistake the girl on the screen for a punk, but the signs of grease and oil on her face and clothes told a different story.
"You have reached Lucas Lichter's personal number, he currently cannot take your call due to him puking his guts out. If this is a sales call, then we ain't interested in any of your products. If this is a Brother's Witness, we already paid our tithe so buzz off… also, why the hell would anyone make a video call without turning on their camera? Is anyone there? Is this a prank call? I swear if that's you Angel, Imma whoop your ass so hard your daddy is gonna feel it."
Jaune winced at his sister's rapid fire spiel and quickly turned on the terminal's camera. Why would it be turned off by default was anyone's guess, "Hey, Maya. It's me, Jaune."
The face on the screen blinked, "Jaune?! Is that really you? Where the hell are you? Ooohhh you are in so much trouble mister! Do you have any idea how pissed mom was when you disappeared the morning of our planned trip to Shion? Are you alright? Did you lose weight? Mom was so looking forward to that trip, ya know? Especially after gramps made her sit out last year. She ended up taking Dad for a three-day emergency vacation. Poor pops still has weak knees from it."
Jaune smiled genially at his sister. She was always a chatterbox, with a lot of energy and no filter on her mouth. Ever since Dad unlocked her and her twin's Aura last year, it had gotten worse. "Yeah, it's me. Good to see you too, sis."
"…Good to see you too, I guess." Maya bashfully replied, "Don't try to change the topic, mister. Explain!"
"Haha, well, to answer your questions, I'm in the Celdic Region on the eastern outskirts of the Emerald Forest. I'm fine, I guess, lost some weight going on a hike. Anyway, how's Dad? Why are you answering his phone? Where's Bleue? You're always attached at the hip. Where are you anyway?" It looked like the insides of an airship if he had to guess.
"Dad took Bleue and I to Vacuo, and Bleue's using this chance to get flight experience. Got some urgent business with one of those old oil refineries over there. Dad was ecstatic about a breakthrough, or something, you won't get it. We had to detour all the way to Patch to avoid Vale. Unfortunately, in his hurry, Dad forgot to take his motion sickness medicine and is indisposed."
Jaune grimaced at that. He could totally understand Dad's woes. Of all the Arc family, only Jaune inherited his Dad's problem with motion sickness.
"So what's up, little bro? It's nice to get a status update on our cute little runaway, but what's the occasion? Don't ask us for a lift, you're exactly two hours too late." Maya had a cheeky grin on her face as she turned away to tinker with something he couldn't see.
"I got some very important information for Dad. Stuff that could potentially affect our family, including Dad's family, in an existential way." Jaune stated seriously, and Maya quickly turned back to the screen.
"That serious, huh? You were never one for overplaying stuff, Jauney. Alright, give me a minute. Let me get Dad, I'm sure his stomach can handle talking for a few minutes."
Jaune stared at the empty room from the screen as he waited for Maya to return. He occasionally spread his Aura Sense to make sure no one was eavesdropping, but the closest person near him was Fie, who had decided to climb the tower apparently to just chill and enjoy the view.
As he waited, he wondered how the twins were doing. Maya and Bleue were his closest friends in the family, mostly due to their very close age. Then again, they also fought the most amongst each other for the same reason. Both twins really got into the whole scientific life of Dad's, with Bleue preferring the practical and delicate aspects of it. Maya on the other hand, got Dad's mad scientist side. He shuddered as he thought of what monstrosity she's tinkering on lately.
Eventually, he heard noises coming from the terminal and saw Maya had returned, leading an older man towards a seat. Jaune smiled as his Dad appeared on the screen; his light-brown hair had started to gray on the sides, his normally jovial face was a bit gaunt and green from sickness, and his hazel eyes looked tired behind his glasses.
"Hey, Dad. You look like crap."
"…Cheeky little shit." Jaune and Maya chuckled at that, Lucas just looked constipated. "You're gonna fill me in on what you're doing in Celdic later, but first what's so important that you had to drag me away from the toilet?"
"Oh nothing much. Just stumbled onto perhaps the largest Dust deposit to be discovered since Sweet Spice in Vacuo. I had to fight off a Grimm Horde in the process, and managed to pilfer a few samples. Got them appraised at the Dust shop in Celdic, all of them are high quality and of different elemental variety. I have video evidence that I can send if you'd like, but I'm sure Uncle John would be very interested in this."
Lucas and Maya had ludicrous faces as they listened to Jaune, and remained silent for a whole minute to process what he said.
"…Tell me everything!"
"You're done speaking with your family?"
Jaune had barely left the terminal room before Fie dropped down from above. "Yeah, I–BWFFFFTTT," He tried, oh he tried not to burst out laughing as he beheld her appearance, but he just couldn't.
Fie's hair had gotten extremely spiky and was standing up nearly a foot in the air. She did not look amused.
"W-what happened to your freaking hair? Is this your way of trying to reach my height? You're a couple of inches too short though."
"…yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Make fun of the poor girl who got brutally assaulted."
"By what? The tower waves?" Fie crossed her arms and looked sideways with a pout. "No, seriously? I noticed you climbing the tower, but you let the static get to you? At least you aren't hurt, yeah?"
Jaune started patting the girl's head as he tried to get her hair under control. He noticed that even her tail didn't come out unscathed and pointed straight upwards.
"I'm okay. Hmm, Just wanted to enjoy the view. Mmhm, I like heights." Fie replied as she let the older boy fix her hair and enjoyed his ministrations. At least Sara wasn't—
"Hey kids, we have a problem. Meet me in–Pfft, by the Maidens! What happened to your freaking hair?"
Fie sighed.
.
.
.
"Now, what did we learn sweetie?"
"Do not climb communication towers without protection?"
"No, no. You already knew that. To always have someone record you when you are about to do something fun like that."
The young girl attempted to glare at the older woman, but it really just came out as an adorable pout. The subsequent squeal from the older woman before she glomped her confirmed it.
"So what's wrong, Sara?" They were on their way to the courtyard where Montgomery was arguing loudly with Brocket and another man he recognized as part of the repair crew.
"Did you check the news? We finally know why Beacon couldn't send backup."
That certainly caught Jaune and Fie's attention. "What is it?"
Sara had a grim look on her face, "a Grimm invasion is underway. All of Beacon's attention is set on the south-west right now."
Both youngsters eyes widened in shock. "A Grimm…invasion? Not a swarm or horde, but an all out invasion? This hasn't happened since–"
"Since the Faunus war, yeah. Regardless of why this is happening now, a state of emergency has been declared in Vale and its entire military has been mobilized. Beacon has recalled all of its hunters, mobilized the retired ones and even any of the available students have been asked to volunteer. It's an all out war, all hands on deck sort of situation, and it's been going on for a week now."
There were many thoughts going through Jaune's mind right now, a few of them concerning how bad of a timing this was. His grandfather had just taken most of the fleet to clear out the Narrow Sea, and suddenly, an invasion the likes of which wasn't seen in decades happens? Maya's words about detouring away from Vale made a lot more sense now. Vale was probably a no-fly-zone.
"Guess we shouldn't expect that backup at all then."
They finally made it to the arguing trio and Jaune caught the tail end of the argument.
"—will not be dragged around this Brothers Forsaken land so that you could watch shit blow up, Montgomery! Our deal with you and the mayor was clear. You escort us to the tower. We fix the damn tower, and you escort us back to town and provide a train ride for me and my men back to Vale. Now you want to drag the men promised to us to some hellhole infested with Grimm? Just because you took your sweet time getting here and caused your own delays? Hell to the fucking no! My men and I are not moving from this spot till you provide us with an escort to Celdic and that's final."
Montgomery's face had gotten tomato red and his mouth flapped like a fish. It appeared he never got shouted down enough in his life. "Then good luck getting back to town on your own, you chicken-hearted, cow-handed dunder-headed cad!" He finally blustered out and waddled back to his car.
Sara groaned beside him. Jaune had a feeling that the Guard Captain had just discovered a way to make their lives more interesting. Joy.
I know I promised action this chapter, but it will have to be another time. This chapter introduces new OCs; from Jaune's family to his Dragoon friends. All of them are from my own creation.
Chapter 10 (Duty and Politics)
Enjoy!
Evening of the same day (July 4th), hundreds of miles to the southwest;
The Infinite Man,
"—need to accept their offer, Ozpin! We're lucky we managed to get an early warning of the invasion and managed to evacuate most of the vulnerable towns and villages along the Grimm's route, but there are still vital settlements that can be attacked! Who knows how long they will last? We need to accept Atlas' proposal and–"
"I assure you, councilman, that will not be necessary. We have already fully mobilized Vale's army and I have teams of Huntsmen in strategic locations ready to take down the Grimm where they appear. Most of the vulnerable settlements have plenty of retired Huntsmen and the occasional Adventurer residing there. Not to mention their own militia force, which thanks to the current impasse on that gun control legislation that has been on filibuster for sixteen years now, has allowed them to retain their modern armament to fight off the Grimm."
Several members of the Vale council bristled at that, "It is a matter of national security that we limit the availability of guns and other arms in Vale. Criminal elements have turned some parts of the city into a war zone a few years ago! Surely, the average citizen does not need to own a pistol, let alone an assault rifle?"
"In a world where the Grimm are an ever present threat, how would you recommend the people defend themselves if you restrict their access to vital armaments?"
"They would report their concerns to the police force, and if it's an outside settlement, then they should employ the Vale military!"
"The police that has recently been defunded? Did you forget, councilman, that in the last census eight years ago, the city of Vale had a population of fifty-eight million? Yet, the police force only numbered a measly eighty-thousand? Well below the recommended one-hundred and fifty thousand that the chief of police has asked for? Add to that the recent legislation that defunded the police even further, and how do you expect them to protect the citizens when they could barely protect and arm themselves?"
Ozpin easily and acutely shot down the councilman's complaints, but knowing that someone like that would argue for the sake of arguing, he decided to move on before he recovers.
"As was shown in the report our generals have sent us, all the settlements in danger of attack have all been contacted and mobilized. They have agreed to coordinate with our forces in repelling the Grimm and placed themselves under my authority."
"But we don't have an air force, Ozpin! Atlas could easily spare us a squadron or two. We could carpet bomb hordes of them with their help." Another councilman complained.
Ozpin took a moment to sip his hot cocoa before he returned his gaze to the screen, "And whose fault was it that disregarded the need for our own air force?" Several of the councilmen and women shifted uncomfortably at that. "Even then, that would not have been a problem as we do have our glorious armada….which the council had insisted to fully muster and had Fleet Admiral Arc take it to the Narrow Sea." Ozpin's voice was cool and measured. If someone accused him that he enjoyed seeing the Vale council shift in their seats like children getting scolded, he would tell them that, yes, he did enjoy that a lot.
One councilwoman finally mustered her courage to retort, "You know as well as we do, Ozpin, that was a necessary measure. Our shipping lanes from the southern cities of Vacuo and Mistral were getting raided. Commodity prices were skyrocketing, and the people demanded action. We had to be seen doing something!"
Ozpin smiled slightly at the petulant woman. He took another sip only to find his mug empty and frowned. He muttered an excuse me, much to the council's chagrin, as he simply walked to his cocoa station, yes he had an entire part of his office dedicated solely to his precious cocoa, and poured himself another mug. Glynda looked on disapprovingly, but let it go as he returned back to his seat and audibly enjoyed another sip of hot cocoa.
The Vale council, which numbered in the hundreds, were nearly all in attendance in the former Royal Palace of the King of Vale. His former palace. In fact, they still retained the curtains and dressings he chose when he first built the place. Yet, Ozpin, as well as the military's commanders on the frontlines, were present online. They all had to patiently wait until the Headmaster of Beacon finished sipping his drink before he spoke.
"You are of course correct, councilwoman. The audacity of those pirates to attack our convoys, they surely had to answer for their crimes. However, was it truly necessary to send the Admiral with basically the entire fleet when he himself stated he only needed a fifth of it?"
More uncomfortable silence, "we had to make a show of force to instill the fear of Vale onto those pirates. It's bad enough that some of our coastal cities on the Narrow Sea have gone rogue, refusing to pay their taxes and creating their own league. The rest aren't any better as they don't seem to bother clearing those pirates themselves, we had to show them that Vale is mighty and not to be underestimated."
"And yet, you are so willing to go to Atlas and beg them for aid. How do you think we would be looked upon if under the first significant danger we face, we run to our neighbors for aid? All of Remnant is watching us right now, councilman. Probably in high definition with popcorn and soda, thanks to the media exposure. How do you think our cities would react if they feel that Vale cannot guarantee their safety? Atlas has always coveted Vytal, and they already have a foothold there. All it takes, is for Atlas to offer safety and security as well as reduced tariffs, especially on Dust, and Vale could lose a dozen cities before the year ends."
A lot of murmuring could be heard from the council as plenty of the members agreed with the headmaster, but there were still more reluctance. Ozpin understood them to an extent. Atlas offered them aid for seemingly no gain, purely out of the goodness of their hearts to fight the good fight against the evil hordes of Grimm, and Vale already had a close relationship with Atlas, so why not? Ozpin knew better, though. Just as Vale had its council, Atlas too, had its own council. Unlike Vale's diverse council that represented the poorest and the richest regardless of its many flaws, Atlas' was only reserved for the nobility and the powerful corporations, which usually went hand in hand. Those vultures would take any chance to maximize their profits and influence. Schnee, Atlas the origin, Chrono-tech, Hyperion, even Strega and their comfy slippers… Give them an inch now, and they will demand a mile tomorrow.
If only they were as straightforward as James…
Regardless, this meeting had gone on long enough. "It's too late now to recall our Armada. By the time they sail all the way here, the conflict would well be over. Do not let fear and worry consume you, for that is how the Grimm win. Trust in your soldiers and your Huntsmen, trust in your fellow Valemen, and if that is not enough, then trust in me. Rest assured that if the situation looks dire, I shall take to the field myself."
This time, a vast majority of the council looked relieved. Ozpin took another sip of cacao, "If that would be all, I believe that our generals and I shall be needed soon. Best of luck to our brave men and women on the frontlines." A few more pleasantries and courtesies were observed before Ozpin conversed with the generals on reports and plans. Once the meeting was called to a close and Ozpin turned off the monitor, he muted all incoming calls that were not from the military. He turned to face his two closest friends and advisors.
"That went better than expected."
"True, but did you really have to make them feel so—"
"Stupid?"
"I was going to say uninformed." Glynda adjusted her glasses as she threw a look at the man who interrupted her. The man lounged on a comfy recliner as he drank from his hip flask and simply gave her a wink, his red eyes gleaming with mischief.
"So, Oz. Any updates on Amber?"
"None, I'm afraid. She is stable, at least thanks to James' quick action. I owe him for his help in delivering the life support so quickly, but it complicates matters when a few days later, the Atlas council offered their aid so publicly. Regardless, Amber isn't recovering her powers." Ozpin replied sadly. He could feel the anguish from the Maiden even as he stood here, that extremely faint connection that he still had with their powers transferred some of her pain and suffering. Probably due to their close proximity, for he never noticed that connection before. He could not shut it off, and he would not even if he could. It was his fault that Amber had gotten this way, the least he could do was to share her pain.
'And what is one more, to the thousands or even millions he had failed?'
He shook his head to clear the sudden melancholy, "It is a shame we were unable to track down Amber's attackers due to the invasion, but at least we have confirmed that the invasion was her doing."
"It would be a safe conjecture to rationalize the invasion as a massive distraction for us while the attack happened. It wasn't a coincidence that the first sign of the invasion appeared at the same time as the attack."
"Correct, Glynda. Yet, we still need to know who the attackers were. While Amber didn't like fighting, she was still a Maiden and proficient enough in combat. Taking her on in a fight would be a challenge even for me. Defeating her then somehow stealing her powers? We will have to assume that we have a rogue Maiden gallivanting around somewhere. Assuming through conjecture alone, could prove fatal. Nevertheless, assume is what we shall do, until further evidence surfaces."
Ozpin turned to his most reliable agent, "Qrow, I know I've been running you ragged these past ten days, and you have just returned. I'm sorry, but it might be longer before you could get that break you deservedly requested."
Qrow waved away the apology, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure my nieces can wait a few more weeks. First though, how's the situation in the east? Did we send anyone to Celdic? I know the Admiral requested we work with his Adventurers in return for mobilizing the fleet. Two Adventurers can't be enough to cover all that area. I hate breaking off a contract, especially one that I specifically volunteered for."
Glynda sighed, "I had wondered why you were so gun-ho about going there. I hadn't realized until Valestein contacted us earlier, and she let slip how much she enjoyed the Rye Beer there."
The older man grinned, "Oh shucks. You found me out." He sat a bit straighter then, "Valestein, you say? That name rings a bell." He frowned then, "Reminds me of Jimmy for some reason."
"That's because she was James' protégé, until a specific incident forced her to resign from the Atlas Academy. She was almost ready to graduate as well, a shame. She plies her trade in the Adventurer's Guild now." Ozpin sipped on his drink only to find it empty again. Naturally, he went for a refill.
A bark of laughter sounded behind him, "Ah, I remember her now. Followed Ironwood like a lost puppy. Jimmy was so damn proud of her too. Top of her class, very talented Dust User. Good attitude all around. I almost thought they were hooking up, but Jimmy's more tin than human." Qrow took a sip from his flask, "Her partner was the one who got her in that mess, right?"
"Correct. Regardless, we are digressing. The repair crew in Celdic have finished their assignment earlier today. The head engineer contacted us with Valestein about an altercation with Captain Montgomery of Celdic's garrison, but it appears they managed to reach a compromise. With the absence of an active guild branch in Vale, Valestien has declared that as you are the highest authority on matters such as this, that you now bear the responsibility of reports and debriefs, Ozpin."
Qrow laughed again at Glynda's words, while Ozpin sighed. 'Great, more work.'
"Fine, what does she report? Short of going there ourselves, we really have nothing but a skeleton crew here in Beacon at the moment."
Glynda adjusted her glasses as she pulled out her Scroll and checked her notes, "She and her partner have agreed to carry on the contract but have recruited another adventurer who happened to be in town. You would be surprised who it was, Ozpin, for he was a high priority on your list. It was none other than–"
Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring
All the occupants in the room stiffened at the sound. They turned to one of the office's Scroll Terminals that had emitted that ringing noise. It wasn't strange to get calls through it, but what was strange was that Ozpin had muted all calls earlier and the caller ID was certainly not the military.
Ozpin hesitantly accepted the call, and a bespectacled brown-haired middle-aged man appeared on the screen. He could see daylight coming out of an open window in the background and the room he was in had Vacuoan style furniture and dressings. To say Ozpin was surprised to get a call from him would be an understatement.
"Mr Lichter. A pleasant surprise to receive a call from you. Could you have not gone through the normal channels?"
The man gave a sardonic smile, "What do you think I've been trying to do for the past two hours? It's been a while Ozpin, Glynda. And is that Branwen in the back?" Qrow gave a careless wave, "Anyway, I apologize for hacking your systems. But you were busy with that council meeting, then you turned off communications. Took me a few minutes to get in, you might want to buff up your security by the way."
Glynda scowled at the audacity of the man, but before she could retort, Ozpin raised a hand. "I apologize for leaving you hanging then, Lucas. I assure you I was not aware of you calling. May I know the reason for your call, however? We do have a war to fight, and while a pleasure, I'm sure you haven't called us to show off your interesting hacking skills."
Lucas Lichter grinned, "Well, let's just say I have a business proposition for you. In my capacity as a Hyperion executive, of course, as well as the consort to the Arc matriarch. Something that would greatly affect Vale as a whole, nay the whole world!"
Ozpin stared at the man on the screen. He did not know Lucas Lichter very well, but he knew that he was a recluse who usually left all matters of business to his brother and any political shenanigans to his wife or father-in-law. He was a scientist first, a huntsman second and everything else a distant third. For him to claim to have such a proposition? Not to mention the invoking of both the Hyperion and Arc names…
"You had my interest, and now you have my attention."
18:00 hours, July 4th. The Quarry.
The Dutiful Man,
"We are in position. Awaiting attack call. Over."
"Roger that. Standby for Sylphid. Over."
"10-4. Out."
Lieutenant Brocket placed down the radio and stifled a sigh. He's been doing that a lot lately, but it would not do to have the men see him like this. They were already disgruntled as it was, and there was only so much he could do for men who were technically not under his command. Not for the first time, he cursed Herbert Montgomery and his band of sycophants.
They had set up a base camp and triage a mile outside the quarry proper, with the few noncombatants as well as the trucks ready to take in the injured. He gave them three of his Dragoons and a dozen men to guard them, and ordered them to start constructing fortifications for when they inevitably have to camp overnight. They only had two hours of daylight left, and an extra hour of twilight before complete darkness sets in. In this small timeframe, they needed to destroy an entire horde of Grimm. Once again, he cursed his superior officer, for the delays. He was forced to send nearly half his Dragoons with twenty of the most injured or exhausted soldiers of the garrison protecting the tower as escorts for the engineers back to Celdic. At least they had their own trucks, so they won't take as long as they did.
Perhaps he wasn't very fair to Montgomery, as while he was incompetent, he does have his heart in the right place. The last time he was here, the quarry was clear of Grimm aside from the local Deathstalkers. Now, his scouts tell him there was an army of the abominations just sitting there. Waiting. For what, he does not know, but he shall not wait for them to rampage in his lands.
He sighed inwardly as he gazed upon the entrance to the Quarry. The place itself was huge, and even from here he could see one of the large excavators that was abandoned who knows how many decades ago once Vale had finished building their massive walls and abandoned the site. The entrance to the quarry formed a sloped gorge that acted as a funnel that opened up to thousands of acres of rocky terrain, split into four equally large quadrants connected to each other by more gorges.
They had decided to turn the main gorge into a veritable death trap, with their two APC on the flanks with mounted grenade launchers ready to rain literal fire on the Grimm. Barricades were strategically placed to stall the charging Grimm, while the men set up machine gun nests, turning the place into a kill zone. Behind them, the mortars were set up at the ready and aimed as far away from the troops as possible, equipped with volatile Fire Dust munitions combined with white phosphorus that would surely melt whatever it hits. Finally, the two field cannons were placed on the high ground they were on where they could have a clear view of their targets. They will only be used in the case of a massive Grimm like a Goliath was seen approaching, but he doubted they would be very useful with their limited ammo.
Donovan's gaze turned towards the scowling Guard Captain. The fool had wanted them to place their troops inside the quarry and systematically clear the quadrants from the Grimm. Disregarding the fact they did not have the men nor the time for such an endeavor, this could only be done with veteran Huntsmen teams who could rely on their versatility and lethality to be constantly on the move. Their army, was not built for that. The moment they attacked one quadrant, the rest of the Grimm would converge on them and it would be a slaughter.
Thankfully, Montgomery was able to see reason and agreed to his defensive plan instead. He also managed to leverage the fact that he had sent many of his Dragoons to escort the repair crew, instead of the garrison's own troops, to take command of the men during the battle. It helped that the men simply trusted him more than their own officers, but who knows what may happen once battle commences.
He turned towards the Adventurers who had joined them in this mission. Donovan would easily confess that things would have been a lot harder without them, despite their young age, they had proven to be both competent and efficient. Valestein and Arc stood still staring at the entrance to the quarry with barely hidden concern on their faces as they awaited their third member who had proven crucial for their plan to lure the Grimm here to work.
And wasn't that a surprise on its own that the venerable Admiral's heir happened to be in the area and agreed to help them. He hadn't seen much from him, but his men reported that he was a reliable crackshot if nothing else. Valestein did vouch for his abilities, so he hoped that would be enough to make a difference.
Donovan pulled out his old pocket watch out of habit and gazed at his deceased wife's picture with their daughter Elizabeth. She's been in a relationship with one of his Dragoons for a while now. He looked at Rory who sat attentively on horseback with the rest of the Dragoons who would act as reserve. The young man had already asked his permission to court his daughter long ago, and Donovan gave his blessings. Time would tell when they both would finally decide to marry.
Suddenly, he could hear multiple roars coming from the quarry. He pocketed his watch and pulled out his binoculars to focus on the lone rider galloping towards them while the literal hounds of hell chased her. Beowulfs, Boarbatusks and other pack-type Grimm chased her, but Brocket could see further in the back the more dangerous of Grimm in hot pursuit. Ursas, Deathstalkers and even a few Goliaths among others.
The Lieutenant grabbed his radio, "Steady, men. Wait for Sylphid to get behind the lines then open fire. Base, be advised we are preparing for combat. Stay vigilant."
"Yes, Sir!"
It pained him to rely on a young girl, basically a child, for such a dangerous assignment, especially one that was integral to their plan. Valestein had explained to him that Sylphid was a survivor of a Grimm Bait incident, so she would know exactly how to drag the Grimm towards her. Not to mention, the girl herself had volunteered even against her partner's wishes.
He could see that the girl's normally impassive face was twisted into a furious scowl as she allowed her repressed emotions to skyrocket, essentially acting as a beacon for the hordes of Grimm chasing her. She would occasionally throw a grenade at a cluster of Grimm that would detonate to devastating effect. Finally, she approached the halfway point of the mortars' effective range,
at which point he gave the order for the mortars to fire.
The cacophony of FDR munitions striking the Grimm horde was glorious to witness, as the Grimm's cries of pain were like music to his ears. It was a risk to use the mortars like this, but it was worth it considering the gorge created a wind tunnel into the quarry, so there was no risk of the fire spreading back to them. Sylphid didn't even blink at the destruction behind her as she urged her horse to gallop behind their lines, his men making way for her, before she dismounted and rejoined her team. Brocket could see Arc grabbing her and checking her for injuries, but he had more important things to focus on.
"What are you men waiting for? Don't wait for the smoke to clear, open fire, damn you!"
.
.
.
They had been shooting and fighting for an hour now. The machine gunners had fired in bursts to conserve ammo and not let their guns overheat. The mortars, however, had long exhausted their munitions, and were already packed and on their way back to base. The ACPs had taken over the shelling with their grenade launchers, but he had ordered them to husband their rounds. The Lieutenant had yet to use the cannons, much to the Captain's chagrin, opting to keep them for emergencies. They only had so many shells for them, after all. The gorge had become a smokey hell from the constant machine gun fire and explosive munitions. He could still see the fires from the mortars raging on in some places in the distance, forcing the Grimm to funnel themselves even more into a narrow line. His men had done well, so far, but they had only been killing fodder, and he wagered they had wasted a third of their ammunition, yet the more dangerous Grimm had yet to appear.
After another minute of shooting and not hearing any returning screams, Brocket signaled for the men to cease fire. The men immediately used this opportunity to cool down their guns and take a water break.
"Why did we stop firing, Lieutenant?"
Brocket turned towards the speaker, "Do you see any targets, Captain?"
"No, which is why we should advance and finish them off! They are weakened and disarrayed, even the Grimm would falter at such a barrage of constant fire."
"I will not have my men attack blindly when we have the high ground and the defensive perimeter we established. I will not abandon this advantage unless we have no choice. Not to mention, we need to conserve as much ammo as possible. We will need to camp for the night and might need the extra ammunition on the way back to Celdic."
"Your men?! Need I remind you, Lieutenant, that these are my men and that I have only agreed to give you the honor of command simply as a favor for your help with that grease monkey!"
Donovan sighed audibly, knowing yet another tirade of the captain's was approaching. He looked for a quick distraction, "Valestein! Over here."
That shut the captain up for a bit. The Adventurers had not done much during the attack, and neither did his Dragoons for that matter. Yet, they were integral in taking down the occasional Grimm that made it through the kill zone and stopped them before they would wreak havoc on the men. They were understandably bored, but he needed to get the soldiers blooded and busy, while saving the heavy hitters for the bigger targets. She approached him quickly, "What is it?"
"How's Sylphid? Is she combat ready?"
The A-Rank Adventurer smiled, "Ready and bored according to her. Good thing Jaune brought her out of her funk with ice cream."
"Good." Donovan replied loudly, talking over whatever the captain was about to comment. He did not have the patience to entertain him now, especially as the smoke had started to clear from the gorge, and he could see the large forms of Grimm staying just out of range. He gave her his binoculars, "What do you see and what do you suggest?"
Valestein took a moment as she observed the distant Grimm, while he took this chance to visually check on his men. They appeared to be a bit tired, but there was a good cheer to them for what appeared to be a job well done. It shall remain to be seen if they will maintain their cheer once they see the behemoths waiting for them.
Sara clucked her tongue, "Well, the good news is they are not blindly charging, giving us a chance to rest and recover. The bad news is, they are not blindly charging, meaning these are the old and experienced Grimm." She handed back his binoculars and frowned as she looked at the sky before checking her scroll, "we have at most two more hours of daylight before it gets too dark to properly fight. Dusk is in an hour, I would rather we would be done and in bed by then. I'm sure plenty of the men would agree as well, considering half of them had to walk all the way here from Celdic."
At that, she looked pointedly at the captain, who bristled. "Is there something you would like to say, Adventurer?" Montgomery's loud voice attracted some attention from the men, and Brocket could see his Dragoons looking at him, but he waved them away. The same could not be said for the captain's officers who approached and stood behind him. He had to stifle a chuckle as if it wasn't for their uniform, they would look like alley thugs backing up each other.
Donovan interrupted whatever Sara was going to say, "Agreed, Valestein. Which is why I would like you to take your partners and move ahead. Aside from the cannons, we have no effective method of bringing down a Goliath aside from emptying all of our ammunition and hoping it falls before it reaches us. It is now time for you to shine, and I am sure the men could learn a thing or two about how Huntsmen and Adventurers operate."
Valestein had an excited gleam in her eyes, but Montgomery looked baffled, "Do you honestly expect me to believe that this woman and her little pet could bring down those monstrosities?" He had produced his own binoculars and could now see the massive Grimm in the distance, cautiously avoiding the remaining fire from their barrage. The captain didn't look that confident anymore.
"Of course we could." Came a voice behind Valestein, and Brocket could see the young Arc approaching with Sylphid by his side. "We are Adventurers. The progenitors of the Huntsmen system. We've been hunting those monstrosities you see since before Dust was even used. We might not be as prevalent as Huntsmen, but do not for one moment think that we are any lesser." The young man finally stood in front of Montgomery, and it was only now that the Lieutenant noticed that Jaune Arc was a tall man, easily towering over the captain, with a presence about him of assured confidence with a hint of subdued arrogance.
Herbert Montgomery unconsciously took a step back before he gathered himself. "Now, listen here you! I do not care who your grandfather is, I will not allow—"
"Allow? I am not yours to command, Captain. Also…" Montgomery visibly shuddered as he looked up at the young man only to freeze at the chilling look of his eyes. Even Brocket, who wasn't the target of the glare, felt its effects. It felt like the man was looking directly at poor Herbert's soul and found him…lacking. "I would appreciate it if you would not insult Fie. She is very dear to me, and I find it unbecoming that you would undermine her contribution to this mission. I'm sure we will not need to have this conversation again, yeah?"
Donovan had to give it to the lad, he had balls. He highly doubted that Herbert would–
"O-o-of-f c-c-course. I wouldn't even d-dream of it. I meant to say, that surely even you would have trouble taking on those giant monsters?" The guard captain nodded his head rapidly like a clucking chicken and to Donovan Brocket, this was nothing short of a miracle. This had to be some sort of Aura technique, and he had to learn it.
Jaune Arc nodded his head, "Have you ever seen a Huntsman in action, Captain? I mean against Grimm of that size, not the fodder we've been mowing down for the past hour?" At the Captain's hesitant shake of his head, the young Arc smiled genially, "Well, there is always a first time for everything."
Arc turned to Valestein, who had an exasperated smile on her face as she turned to him, "Well, Lieutenant. We have received your orders and shall bid you adieu. Let's go you two, we're burning daylight."
All three adventurers sprinted off towards the quarry's entrance, not even bothering to take their steeds. It didn't take a minute before they were witnessing a scene of carnage as the Grimm saw their challengers and charged at them. The three adventurers systematically demolished their giant adversaries like they were born to do it. Which frankly, they probably were, as he saw the young Arc grab a Deathstalker's tail and smash an Ursa with the giant scorpion. How the heck was he that strong?
Unfortuneatley, they didn't get to enjoy the show as much as they hoped as one of his Dragoons approached him with radio in hand.
"Sir! The base is under attack by Grimm."
Donovan Brocket sighed, he must have jinxed himself. "Duncan, Rory. To me. Captain, I trust that the Adventurers have the Grimm at hand, but just in case, keep the men at the ready in case a stray one breaks through. And keep an eye on the skies, there is a suspicious lack of avian Grimm today."
Montgomery had seemingly recovered from whatever spell Arc had put him on, "You don't need to order me around, Lieutenant. Take what men you need and make sure our base remains intact. I will handle it from here."
Donovan gave the captain a look before he nodded and got on his horse and turned to Duncan. "Load the ACPs with six men each. Have them follow us as swiftly as they can." He didn't wait for the other Dragoon to reply, trusting him to do his job before he galloped off with the rest of the Dragoons.
Ozpin is one of the most complicated characters in the series. The show writers, for some reason, want us to believe he is secretly evil or some shit. All I see, is a tired old man who single-handedly protected mankind from an insane immortal witch and gets shit from entitled brats for it. If he had to dirty his hands occasionally to do it, who the fuck are we to judge him for it? This is like the whole Dumbledore is evil narrative again.
I hope I did him justice, as I find him to be a compassionate yet eccentric man.
Poor Donovan. This is my attempt at a mix of the competent soldier vs the hedonistic one. It's not that Montgomery is evil or anything, he's simply incompetent and got too used to cruising through ranks from the decades of peaces that Vale enjoyed. Basically, what happens when a child is never told no and grows up firmly believing that he is always right. Unfortunately, I see many people like that lately. The whole "good times breeding weak men who in turn create bad times only for strong men to take over, thus creating good times" narrative is also at play here.
Evening of the same day (July 4th), hundreds of miles to the southwest;
The Infinite Man,
"—need to accept their offer, Ozpin! We're lucky we managed to get an early warning of the invasion and managed to evacuate most of the vulnerable towns and villages along the Grimm's route, but there are still vital settlements that can be attacked! Who knows how long they will last? We need to accept Atlas' proposal and–"
"I assure you, councilman, that will not be necessary. We have already fully mobilized Vale's army and I have teams of Huntsmen in strategic locations ready to take down the Grimm where they appear. Most of the vulnerable settlements have plenty of retired Huntsmen and the occasional Adventurer residing there. Not to mention their own militia force, which thanks to the current impasse on that gun control legislation that has been on filibuster for sixteen years now, has allowed them to retain their modern armament to fight off the Grimm."
Several members of the Vale council bristled at that, "It is a matter of national security that we limit the availability of guns and other arms in Vale. Criminal elements have turned some parts of the city into a war zone a few years ago! Surely, the average citizen does not need to own a pistol, let alone an assault rifle?"
"In a world where the Grimm are an ever present threat, how would you recommend the people defend themselves if you restrict their access to vital armaments?"
"They would report their concerns to the police force, and if it's an outside settlement, then they should employ the Vale military!"
"The police that has recently been defunded? Did you forget, councilman, that in the last census eight years ago, the city of Vale had a population of fifty-eight million? Yet, the police force only numbered a measly eighty-thousand? Well below the recommended one-hundred and fifty thousand that the chief of police has asked for? Add to that the recent legislation that defunded the police even further, and how do you expect them to protect the citizens when they could barely protect and arm themselves?"
Ozpin easily and acutely shot down the councilman's complaints, but knowing that someone like that would argue for the sake of arguing, he decided to move on before he recovers.
"As was shown in the report our generals have sent us, all the settlements in danger of attack have all been contacted and mobilized. They have agreed to coordinate with our forces in repelling the Grimm and placed themselves under my authority."
"But we don't have an air force, Ozpin! Atlas could easily spare us a squadron or two. We could carpet bomb hordes of them with their help." Another councilman complained.
Ozpin took a moment to sip his hot cocoa before he returned his gaze to the screen, "And whose fault was it that disregarded the need for our own air force?" Several of the councilmen and women shifted uncomfortably at that. "Even then, that would not have been a problem as we do have our glorious armada….which the council had insisted to fully muster and had Fleet Admiral Arc take it to the Narrow Sea." Ozpin's voice was cool and measured. If someone accused him that he enjoyed seeing the Vale council shift in their seats like children getting scolded, he would tell them that, yes, he did enjoy that a lot.
One councilwoman finally mustered her courage to retort, "You know as well as we do, Ozpin, that was a necessary measure. Our shipping lanes from the southern cities of Vacuo and Mistral were getting raided. Commodity prices were skyrocketing, and the people demanded action. We had to be seen doing something!"
Ozpin smiled slightly at the petulant woman. He took another sip only to find his mug empty and frowned. He muttered an excuse me, much to the council's chagrin, as he simply walked to his cocoa station, yes he had an entire part of his office dedicated solely to his precious cocoa, and poured himself another mug. Glynda looked on disapprovingly, but let it go as he returned back to his seat and audibly enjoyed another sip of hot cocoa.
The Vale council, which numbered in the hundreds, were nearly all in attendance in the former Royal Palace of the King of Vale. His former palace. In fact, they still retained the curtains and dressings he chose when he first built the place. Yet, Ozpin, as well as the military's commanders on the frontlines, were present online. They all had to patiently wait until the Headmaster of Beacon finished sipping his drink before he spoke.
"You are of course correct, councilwoman. The audacity of those pirates to attack our convoys, they surely had to answer for their crimes. However, was it truly necessary to send the Admiral with basically the entire fleet when he himself stated he only needed a fifth of it?"
More uncomfortable silence, "we had to make a show of force to instill the fear of Vale onto those pirates. It's bad enough that some of our coastal cities on the Narrow Sea have gone rogue, refusing to pay their taxes and creating their own league. The rest aren't any better as they don't seem to bother clearing those pirates themselves, we had to show them that Vale is mighty and not to be underestimated."
"And yet, you are so willing to go to Atlas and beg them for aid. How do you think we would be looked upon if under the first significant danger we face, we run to our neighbors for aid? All of Remnant is watching us right now, councilman. Probably in high definition with popcorn and soda, thanks to the media exposure. How do you think our cities would react if they feel that Vale cannot guarantee their safety? Atlas has always coveted Vytal, and they already have a foothold there. All it takes, is for Atlas to offer safety and security as well as reduced tariffs, especially on Dust, and Vale could lose a dozen cities before the year ends."
A lot of murmuring could be heard from the council as plenty of the members agreed with the headmaster, but there were still more reluctance. Ozpin understood them to an extent. Atlas offered them aid for seemingly no gain, purely out of the goodness of their hearts to fight the good fight against the evil hordes of Grimm, and Vale already had a close relationship with Atlas, so why not? Ozpin knew better, though. Just as Vale had its council, Atlas too, had its own council. Unlike Vale's diverse council that represented the poorest and the richest regardless of its many flaws, Atlas' was only reserved for the nobility and the powerful corporations, which usually went hand in hand. Those vultures would take any chance to maximize their profits and influence. Schnee, Atlas the origin, Chrono-tech, Hyperion, even Strega and their comfy slippers… Give them an inch now, and they will demand a mile tomorrow.
If only they were as straightforward as James…
Regardless, this meeting had gone on long enough. "It's too late now to recall our Armada. By the time they sail all the way here, the conflict would well be over. Do not let fear and worry consume you, for that is how the Grimm win. Trust in your soldiers and your Huntsmen, trust in your fellow Valemen, and if that is not enough, then trust in me. Rest assured that if the situation looks dire, I shall take to the field myself."
This time, a vast majority of the council looked relieved. Ozpin took another sip of cacao, "If that would be all, I believe that our generals and I shall be needed soon. Best of luck to our brave men and women on the frontlines." A few more pleasantries and courtesies were observed before Ozpin conversed with the generals on reports and plans. Once the meeting was called to a close and Ozpin turned off the monitor, he muted all incoming calls that were not from the military. He turned to face his two closest friends and advisors.
"That went better than expected."
"True, but did you really have to make them feel so—"
"Stupid?"
"I was going to say uninformed." Glynda adjusted her glasses as she threw a look at the man who interrupted her. The man lounged on a comfy recliner as he drank from his hip flask and simply gave her a wink, his red eyes gleaming with mischief.
"So, Oz. Any updates on Amber?"
"None, I'm afraid. She is stable, at least thanks to James' quick action. I owe him for his help in delivering the life support so quickly, but it complicates matters when a few days later, the Atlas council offered their aid so publicly. Regardless, Amber isn't recovering her powers." Ozpin replied sadly. He could feel the anguish from the Maiden even as he stood here, that extremely faint connection that he still had with their powers transferred some of her pain and suffering. Probably due to their close proximity, for he never noticed that connection before. He could not shut it off, and he would not even if he could. It was his fault that Amber had gotten this way, the least he could do was to share her pain.
'And what is one more, to the thousands or even millions he had failed?'
He shook his head to clear the sudden melancholy, "It is a shame we were unable to track down Amber's attackers due to the invasion, but at least we have confirmed that the invasion was her doing."
"It would be a safe conjecture to rationalize the invasion as a massive distraction for us while the attack happened. It wasn't a coincidence that the first sign of the invasion appeared at the same time as the attack."
"Correct, Glynda. Yet, we still need to know who the attackers were. While Amber didn't like fighting, she was still a Maiden and proficient enough in combat. Taking her on in a fight would be a challenge even for me. Defeating her then somehow stealing her powers? We will have to assume that we have a rogue Maiden gallivanting around somewhere. Assuming through conjecture alone, could prove fatal. Nevertheless, assume is what we shall do, until further evidence surfaces."
Ozpin turned to his most reliable agent, "Qrow, I know I've been running you ragged these past ten days, and you have just returned. I'm sorry, but it might be longer before you could get that break you deservedly requested."
Qrow waved away the apology, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure my nieces can wait a few more weeks. First though, how's the situation in the east? Did we send anyone to Celdic? I know the Admiral requested we work with his Adventurers in return for mobilizing the fleet. Two Adventurers can't be enough to cover all that area. I hate breaking off a contract, especially one that I specifically volunteered for."
Glynda sighed, "I had wondered why you were so gun-ho about going there. I hadn't realized until Valestein contacted us earlier, and she let slip how much she enjoyed the Rye Beer there."
The older man grinned, "Oh shucks. You found me out." He sat a bit straighter then, "Valestein, you say? That name rings a bell." He frowned then, "Reminds me of Jimmy for some reason."
"That's because she was James' protégé, until a specific incident forced her to resign from the Atlas Academy. She was almost ready to graduate as well, a shame. She plies her trade in the Adventurer's Guild now." Ozpin sipped on his drink only to find it empty again. Naturally, he went for a refill.
A bark of laughter sounded behind him, "Ah, I remember her now. Followed Ironwood like a lost puppy. Jimmy was so damn proud of her too. Top of her class, very talented Dust User. Good attitude all around. I almost thought they were hooking up, but Jimmy's more tin than human." Qrow took a sip from his flask, "Her partner was the one who got her in that mess, right?"
"Correct. Regardless, we are digressing. The repair crew in Celdic have finished their assignment earlier today. The head engineer contacted us with Valestein about an altercation with Captain Montgomery of Celdic's garrison, but it appears they managed to reach a compromise. With the absence of an active guild branch in Vale, Valestien has declared that as you are the highest authority on matters such as this, that you now bear the responsibility of reports and debriefs, Ozpin."
Qrow laughed again at Glynda's words, while Ozpin sighed. 'Great, more work.'
"Fine, what does she report? Short of going there ourselves, we really have nothing but a skeleton crew here in Beacon at the moment."
Glynda adjusted her glasses as she pulled out her Scroll and checked her notes, "She and her partner have agreed to carry on the contract but have recruited another adventurer who happened to be in town. You would be surprised who it was, Ozpin, for he was a high priority on your list. It was none other than–"
Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring
All the occupants in the room stiffened at the sound. They turned to one of the office's Scroll Terminals that had emitted that ringing noise. It wasn't strange to get calls through it, but what was strange was that Ozpin had muted all calls earlier and the caller ID was certainly not the military.
Ozpin hesitantly accepted the call, and a bespectacled brown-haired middle-aged man appeared on the screen. He could see daylight coming out of an open window in the background and the room he was in had Vacuoan style furniture and dressings. To say Ozpin was surprised to get a call from him would be an understatement.
"Mr Lichter. A pleasant surprise to receive a call from you. Could you have not gone through the normal channels?"
The man gave a sardonic smile, "What do you think I've been trying to do for the past two hours? It's been a while Ozpin, Glynda. And is that Branwen in the back?" Qrow gave a careless wave, "Anyway, I apologize for hacking your systems. But you were busy with that council meeting, then you turned off communications. Took me a few minutes to get in, you might want to buff up your security by the way."
Glynda scowled at the audacity of the man, but before she could retort, Ozpin raised a hand. "I apologize for leaving you hanging then, Lucas. I assure you I was not aware of you calling. May I know the reason for your call, however? We do have a war to fight, and while a pleasure, I'm sure you haven't called us to show off your interesting hacking skills."
Lucas Lichter grinned, "Well, let's just say I have a business proposition for you. In my capacity as a Hyperion executive, of course, as well as the consort to the Arc matriarch. Something that would greatly affect Vale as a whole, nay the whole world!"
Ozpin stared at the man on the screen. He did not know Lucas Lichter very well, but he knew that he was a recluse who usually left all matters of business to his brother and any political shenanigans to his wife or father-in-law. He was a scientist first, a huntsman second and everything else a distant third. For him to claim to have such a proposition? Not to mention the invoking of both the Hyperion and Arc names…
"You had my interest, and now you have my attention."
18:00 hours, July 4th. The Quarry.
The Dutiful Man,
"We are in position. Awaiting attack call. Over."
"Roger that. Standby for Sylphid. Over."
"10-4. Out."
Lieutenant Brocket placed down the radio and stifled a sigh. He's been doing that a lot lately, but it would not do to have the men see him like this. They were already disgruntled as it was, and there was only so much he could do for men who were technically not under his command. Not for the first time, he cursed Herbert Montgomery and his band of sycophants.
They had set up a base camp and triage a mile outside the quarry proper, with the few noncombatants as well as the trucks ready to take in the injured. He gave them three of his Dragoons and a dozen men to guard them, and ordered them to start constructing fortifications for when they inevitably have to camp overnight. They only had two hours of daylight left, and an extra hour of twilight before complete darkness sets in. In this small timeframe, they needed to destroy an entire horde of Grimm. Once again, he cursed his superior officer, for the delays. He was forced to send nearly half his Dragoons with twenty of the most injured or exhausted soldiers of the garrison protecting the tower as escorts for the engineers back to Celdic. At least they had their own trucks, so they won't take as long as they did.
Perhaps he wasn't very fair to Montgomery, as while he was incompetent, he does have his heart in the right place. The last time he was here, the quarry was clear of Grimm aside from the local Deathstalkers. Now, his scouts tell him there was an army of the abominations just sitting there. Waiting. For what, he does not know, but he shall not wait for them to rampage in his lands.
He sighed inwardly as he gazed upon the entrance to the Quarry. The place itself was huge, and even from here he could see one of the large excavators that was abandoned who knows how many decades ago once Vale had finished building their massive walls and abandoned the site. The entrance to the quarry formed a sloped gorge that acted as a funnel that opened up to thousands of acres of rocky terrain, split into four equally large quadrants connected to each other by more gorges.
They had decided to turn the main gorge into a veritable death trap, with their two APC on the flanks with mounted grenade launchers ready to rain literal fire on the Grimm. Barricades were strategically placed to stall the charging Grimm, while the men set up machine gun nests, turning the place into a kill zone. Behind them, the mortars were set up at the ready and aimed as far away from the troops as possible, equipped with volatile Fire Dust munitions combined with white phosphorus that would surely melt whatever it hits. Finally, the two field cannons were placed on the high ground they were on where they could have a clear view of their targets. They will only be used in the case of a massive Grimm like a Goliath was seen approaching, but he doubted they would be very useful with their limited ammo.
Donovan's gaze turned towards the scowling Guard Captain. The fool had wanted them to place their troops inside the quarry and systematically clear the quadrants from the Grimm. Disregarding the fact they did not have the men nor the time for such an endeavor, this could only be done with veteran Huntsmen teams who could rely on their versatility and lethality to be constantly on the move. Their army, was not built for that. The moment they attacked one quadrant, the rest of the Grimm would converge on them and it would be a slaughter.
Thankfully, Montgomery was able to see reason and agreed to his defensive plan instead. He also managed to leverage the fact that he had sent many of his Dragoons to escort the repair crew, instead of the garrison's own troops, to take command of the men during the battle. It helped that the men simply trusted him more than their own officers, but who knows what may happen once battle commences.
He turned towards the Adventurers who had joined them in this mission. Donovan would easily confess that things would have been a lot harder without them, despite their young age, they had proven to be both competent and efficient. Valestein and Arc stood still staring at the entrance to the quarry with barely hidden concern on their faces as they awaited their third member who had proven crucial for their plan to lure the Grimm here to work.
And wasn't that a surprise on its own that the venerable Admiral's heir happened to be in the area and agreed to help them. He hadn't seen much from him, but his men reported that he was a reliable crackshot if nothing else. Valestein did vouch for his abilities, so he hoped that would be enough to make a difference.
Donovan pulled out his old pocket watch out of habit and gazed at his deceased wife's picture with their daughter Elizabeth. She's been in a relationship with one of his Dragoons for a while now. He looked at Rory who sat attentively on horseback with the rest of the Dragoons who would act as reserve. The young man had already asked his permission to court his daughter long ago, and Donovan gave his blessings. Time would tell when they both would finally decide to marry.
Suddenly, he could hear multiple roars coming from the quarry. He pocketed his watch and pulled out his binoculars to focus on the lone rider galloping towards them while the literal hounds of hell chased her. Beowulfs, Boarbatusks and other pack-type Grimm chased her, but Brocket could see further in the back the more dangerous of Grimm in hot pursuit. Ursas, Deathstalkers and even a few Goliaths among others.
The Lieutenant grabbed his radio, "Steady, men. Wait for Sylphid to get behind the lines then open fire. Base, be advised we are preparing for combat. Stay vigilant."
"Yes, Sir!"
It pained him to rely on a young girl, basically a child, for such a dangerous assignment, especially one that was integral to their plan. Valestein had explained to him that Sylphid was a survivor of a Grimm Bait incident, so she would know exactly how to drag the Grimm towards her. Not to mention, the girl herself had volunteered even against her partner's wishes.
He could see that the girl's normally impassive face was twisted into a furious scowl as she allowed her repressed emotions to skyrocket, essentially acting as a beacon for the hordes of Grimm chasing her. She would occasionally throw a grenade at a cluster of Grimm that would detonate to devastating effect. Finally, she approached the halfway point of the mortars' effective range,
at which point he gave the order for the mortars to fire.
The cacophony of FDR munitions striking the Grimm horde was glorious to witness, as the Grimm's cries of pain were like music to his ears. It was a risk to use the mortars like this, but it was worth it considering the gorge created a wind tunnel into the quarry, so there was no risk of the fire spreading back to them. Sylphid didn't even blink at the destruction behind her as she urged her horse to gallop behind their lines, his men making way for her, before she dismounted and rejoined her team. Brocket could see Arc grabbing her and checking her for injuries, but he had more important things to focus on.
"What are you men waiting for? Don't wait for the smoke to clear, open fire, damn you!"
.
.
.
They had been shooting and fighting for an hour now. The machine gunners had fired in bursts to conserve ammo and not let their guns overheat. The mortars, however, had long exhausted their munitions, and were already packed and on their way back to base. The ACPs had taken over the shelling with their grenade launchers, but he had ordered them to husband their rounds. The Lieutenant had yet to use the cannons, much to the Captain's chagrin, opting to keep them for emergencies. They only had so many shells for them, after all. The gorge had become a smokey hell from the constant machine gun fire and explosive munitions. He could still see the fires from the mortars raging on in some places in the distance, forcing the Grimm to funnel themselves even more into a narrow line. His men had done well, so far, but they had only been killing fodder, and he wagered they had wasted a third of their ammunition, yet the more dangerous Grimm had yet to appear.
After another minute of shooting and not hearing any returning screams, Brocket signaled for the men to cease fire. The men immediately used this opportunity to cool down their guns and take a water break.
"Why did we stop firing, Lieutenant?"
Brocket turned towards the speaker, "Do you see any targets, Captain?"
"No, which is why we should advance and finish them off! They are weakened and disarrayed, even the Grimm would falter at such a barrage of constant fire."
"I will not have my men attack blindly when we have the high ground and the defensive perimeter we established. I will not abandon this advantage unless we have no choice. Not to mention, we need to conserve as much ammo as possible. We will need to camp for the night and might need the extra ammunition on the way back to Celdic."
"Your men?! Need I remind you, Lieutenant, that these are my men and that I have only agreed to give you the honor of command simply as a favor for your help with that grease monkey!"
Donovan sighed audibly, knowing yet another tirade of the captain's was approaching. He looked for a quick distraction, "Valestein! Over here."
That shut the captain up for a bit. The Adventurers had not done much during the attack, and neither did his Dragoons for that matter. Yet, they were integral in taking down the occasional Grimm that made it through the kill zone and stopped them before they would wreak havoc on the men. They were understandably bored, but he needed to get the soldiers blooded and busy, while saving the heavy hitters for the bigger targets. She approached him quickly, "What is it?"
"How's Sylphid? Is she combat ready?"
The A-Rank Adventurer smiled, "Ready and bored according to her. Good thing Jaune brought her out of her funk with ice cream."
"Good." Donovan replied loudly, talking over whatever the captain was about to comment. He did not have the patience to entertain him now, especially as the smoke had started to clear from the gorge, and he could see the large forms of Grimm staying just out of range. He gave her his binoculars, "What do you see and what do you suggest?"
Valestein took a moment as she observed the distant Grimm, while he took this chance to visually check on his men. They appeared to be a bit tired, but there was a good cheer to them for what appeared to be a job well done. It shall remain to be seen if they will maintain their cheer once they see the behemoths waiting for them.
Sara clucked her tongue, "Well, the good news is they are not blindly charging, giving us a chance to rest and recover. The bad news is, they are not blindly charging, meaning these are the old and experienced Grimm." She handed back his binoculars and frowned as she looked at the sky before checking her scroll, "we have at most two more hours of daylight before it gets too dark to properly fight. Dusk is in an hour, I would rather we would be done and in bed by then. I'm sure plenty of the men would agree as well, considering half of them had to walk all the way here from Celdic."
At that, she looked pointedly at the captain, who bristled. "Is there something you would like to say, Adventurer?" Montgomery's loud voice attracted some attention from the men, and Brocket could see his Dragoons looking at him, but he waved them away. The same could not be said for the captain's officers who approached and stood behind him. He had to stifle a chuckle as if it wasn't for their uniform, they would look like alley thugs backing up each other.
Donovan interrupted whatever Sara was going to say, "Agreed, Valestein. Which is why I would like you to take your partners and move ahead. Aside from the cannons, we have no effective method of bringing down a Goliath aside from emptying all of our ammunition and hoping it falls before it reaches us. It is now time for you to shine, and I am sure the men could learn a thing or two about how Huntsmen and Adventurers operate."
Valestein had an excited gleam in her eyes, but Montgomery looked baffled, "Do you honestly expect me to believe that this woman and her little pet could bring down those monstrosities?" He had produced his own binoculars and could now see the massive Grimm in the distance, cautiously avoiding the remaining fire from their barrage. The captain didn't look that confident anymore.
"Of course we could." Came a voice behind Valestein, and Brocket could see the young Arc approaching with Sylphid by his side. "We are Adventurers. The progenitors of the Huntsmen system. We've been hunting those monstrosities you see since before Dust was even used. We might not be as prevalent as Huntsmen, but do not for one moment think that we are any lesser." The young man finally stood in front of Montgomery, and it was only now that the Lieutenant noticed that Jaune Arc was a tall man, easily towering over the captain, with a presence about him of assured confidence with a hint of subdued arrogance.
Herbert Montgomery unconsciously took a step back before he gathered himself. "Now, listen here you! I do not care who your grandfather is, I will not allow—"
"Allow? I am not yours to command, Captain. Also…" Montgomery visibly shuddered as he looked up at the young man only to freeze at the chilling look of his eyes. Even Brocket, who wasn't the target of the glare, felt its effects. It felt like the man was looking directly at poor Herbert's soul and found him…lacking. "I would appreciate it if you would not insult Fie. She is very dear to me, and I find it unbecoming that you would undermine her contribution to this mission. I'm sure we will not need to have this conversation again, yeah?"
Donovan had to give it to the lad, he had balls. He highly doubted that Herbert would–
"O-o-of-f c-c-course. I wouldn't even d-dream of it. I meant to say, that surely even you would have trouble taking on those giant monsters?" The guard captain nodded his head rapidly like a clucking chicken and to Donovan Brocket, this was nothing short of a miracle. This had to be some sort of Aura technique, and he had to learn it.
Jaune Arc nodded his head, "Have you ever seen a Huntsman in action, Captain? I mean against Grimm of that size, not the fodder we've been mowing down for the past hour?" At the Captain's hesitant shake of his head, the young Arc smiled genially, "Well, there is always a first time for everything."
Arc turned to Valestein, who had an exasperated smile on her face as she turned to him, "Well, Lieutenant. We have received your orders and shall bid you adieu. Let's go you two, we're burning daylight."
All three adventurers sprinted off towards the quarry's entrance, not even bothering to take their steeds. It didn't take a minute before they were witnessing a scene of carnage as the Grimm saw their challengers and charged at them. The three adventurers systematically demolished their giant adversaries like they were born to do it. Which frankly, they probably were, as he saw the young Arc grab a Deathstalker's tail and smash an Ursa with the giant scorpion. How the heck was he that strong?
Unfortuneatley, they didn't get to enjoy the show as much as they hoped as one of his Dragoons approached him with radio in hand.
"Sir! The base is under attack by Grimm."
Donovan Brocket sighed, he must have jinxed himself. "Duncan, Rory. To me. Captain, I trust that the Adventurers have the Grimm at hand, but just in case, keep the men at the ready in case a stray one breaks through. And keep an eye on the skies, there is a suspicious lack of avian Grimm today."
Montgomery had seemingly recovered from whatever spell Arc had put him on, "You don't need to order me around, Lieutenant. Take what men you need and make sure our base remains intact. I will handle it from here."
Donovan gave the captain a look before he nodded and got on his horse and turned to Duncan. "Load the ACPs with six men each. Have them follow us as swiftly as they can." He didn't wait for the other Dragoon to reply, trusting him to do his job before he galloped off with the rest of the Dragoons.
Ozpin is one of the most complicated characters in the series. The show writers, for some reason, want us to believe he is secretly evil or some shit. All I see, is a tired old man who single-handedly protected mankind from an insane immortal witch and gets shit from entitled brats for it. If he had to dirty his hands occasionally to do it, who the fuck are we to judge him for it? This is like the whole Dumbledore is evil narrative again.
I hope I did him justice, as I find him to be a compassionate yet eccentric man.
Poor Donovan. This is my attempt at a mix of the competent soldier vs the hedonistic one. It's not that Montgomery is evil or anything, he's simply incompetent and got too used to cruising through ranks from the decades of peaces that Vale enjoyed. Basically, what happens when a child is never told no and grows up firmly believing that he is always right. Unfortunately, I see many people like that lately. The whole "good times breeding weak men who in turn create bad times only for strong men to take over, thus creating good times" narrative is also at play here.
Chapter 11 (Hunter and Hunted)
Did I mention that this will be AU? Well, you will find that I have changed something from canon regarding a certain family of Snow heads up north. You're gonna have to trust me on that, its gonna be awesome.
Editor: Gladiusx — Beta Reader: NoirsLament
Feel free to join me on Discord. I had just discovered the wonders of Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, and I might be posting some pics relevant to the story soon. Discord code is rvxqmhqnqh
Thank you all for your support and encouragement. Do check out my other works as well, I'm sure you will like them.
The adventurer trio ran along the gorge towards the awaiting Grimm. The narrow pass had potholes from the bombardment by the troops, and the last of the white phosphorous was sputtering out as they ran past it. The smell of burned chemicals and dead Grimm had Fie wrinkle her nose, but she forged on.
In the distance, Jaune could see the massive and armored forms of a dozen Ursa Major, a score of Alpha Beowulfs, a handful of Deathstalkers, more Alpha Creeps, and other lesser Grimm that were held back by their older kin. Any one of those Grimm could be a catastrophe in the making, capable of flattening out an entire village by their lonesome. Jaune wasn't worried, though; while his Aura at a little over 20%, he had faith in his abilities and, more importantly, Fie and Sara. His concern, however, lies in the most dangerous of the Grimm in the very back.
A trio of Goliaths, a couple of Beringels, and a lone Centinel. He scowled; this was the second time he had encountered a Grimm native to Solitas here in Sanus. That Centinel needs to be their highest priority, or else they risk it evolving into a Cenitaur. None of the Goliaths were over a hundred years old; the damn creatures were simply born that dangerous. He hit the jackpot with the rest of the Grimm, however, as most of them were easily over a hundred. He hoped the Creator would still be generous if they fell to Sara or Fie instead of him.
Speaking of… Jaune attached a line of Aura to his companions to keep an eye on them during the coming fight with Search. The aspiring huntsman noticed that the adventurer duo were not going as fast as they should have, and he huffed at how they were slowing down for his sake. Running in a straight line relied more on his STR rather than his AGL, so he sped up to be on Sara's right while Fie was on her left.
"What's the plan, Sara?"
"Hit them hard with enough firepower to warrant a war crime hearing." He snorted but then coughed from the bad chemical smell, reminding him that white phosphorus was illegal in many places, "The terrain should work to our advantage, but we've never fought together before. Both of us can take care of ourselves, so don't worry trying to match up or down to us. I'll take point, Fie will do her own thing. You just take potshots with your gun, but if you see an opportunity, go for it."
Fie piped up, "If you can aggro that Centinel so we can finish it quickly, that would be nice. Fighting a Cenitaur is… not fun."
"Heh, will do, Kitty. Let's go!"
'Time to go Overdrive! I think a 50% boost in AGL should be more than enough to handle this. Maybe another 27% in PER, just in case? Hmm, why not go for another 23% in STR and round it all up to 100%? I got the Aura to spare.'
Stats:
Aura Points: 1900/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr, 10:52 hours remaining)
Strength (STR): 100/81
Vitality (VIT): 98/98
Dexterity (DEX): 85/85
Agility (AGL): 93/62
Perception (PER): 70/55
Intelligence (INT): 93/93
Jaune could feel his Aura infusing with his joints and tendons, his nerves were giddy, and all of his movements simply seemed smoother. His muscles bulged, not to the point where he himself got bulky, but their very nature hardened. His vision sharpened, his hearing intensified, and so did his sense of smell…which made the stench of chemicals almost overwhelming. He idly wondered how Fie could handle everyday life with her insane PER. There were a dozen other senses that were also improved, such as his balance, but the sheer clarity of everything…It made it so tempting to keep his PER permanently boosted.
Boosting his stats to the safe limit didn't have any adverse effects, and it felt completely natural compared to when he was in the cave. Most importantly, he could still enhance his abilities and power with Aura in addition to his Semblance boost.
"Jump!"
The warning barely came from Fie before all three of them instantly jumped up high, avoiding a mole-like-Grimm emerging from the ground. Jaune blanched as he had never seen one of those before. They could only see its head, and It was the size of a truck, making him think that it must be the size of the Drake he killed! It looked like a giant mole rat with huge burrowing claws trying to free itself from the rocky ground.
It screamed in frustration at the loss of its prey, but for some reason, it was unable to move. Jaune found out why as he saw a brown sludge-like Glyph holding it in place. All of this happened in the span of a single second, his enhanced stats allowing him to swiftly notice his surroundings and process what happened. Even then, what happened next still took him by surprise.
Sara aimed her gun, Joker, at the Mole Grimm and used her Lightning Dust to launch something metal at it. The gun barely made a fizzling sound, and whatever was shot nailed the Grimm in its plate-covered head. It was a six-inch steel spike. The Grimm barely felt the ordinance hitting it, as its armor was too thick to be penetrated so easily. Jaune didn't have time to comment before the woman next to him burst out into purple lightning, yellow lines of LD coursing through her coat and dress. She aimed her electrifying sword downwards, and gave him a cheeky grin before disappearing from his sight with a flash and loud thunderclap.
Jaune landed and turned to the crashing sound from where the Mole Grimm was. At first, he thought Sara would use her gun as an overpowered railgun with the help of Dust, but she certainly beat his expectations. The A-Rank Adventurer had somehow used her Semblance to turn herself into lightning, and using the steel rod she launched as a lightning rod, became a Thunderbolt that blasted the Grimm to smithereens. The thing didn't even know it was dead, as Jaune could see its head was completely gone and what remained of its body twitching before disintegrating. All the while, Sara looked unscathed from the insane attack. Heck, her Aura barely dropped by less than a hundred.
He was willing to bet that her Dust reserves would be another story.
Jaune stared bewilderedly at the older woman as she aimed her gun at him. Small glyphs formed near the tip before shooting a veritable red laser storm that split like a spider web when it approached him and struck a trio of Beowulfs that attempted to sneak on him, shredding them to burned pieces.
"Get your head back in the game, Blondie. That was just the overture."
The Mole's death seemed to be the signal that the Grimm were waiting for as they all charged. Jaune instantly drew his gun and fired at the nearest Grimm, an Ursa Major, trying to hide the embarrassment of losing track of the fight. The bear Grimm was a tough one, over a hundred years old, and the regular metal round barely made a crack in its skull. It tried to swipe at him, but Jaune dodged its telegraphed attacks easily before unloading his entire cylinder in the same spot as it finally succumbed to the last bullet and had its nonexistent brains blown up.
'This is taking too long.'
The blonde adventurer emptied his gun, storing the spent cases, and, using a trick he practiced on the road, reloaded it through his storage. This time, it was all FDRs.
Something pinged his senses as it approached him, but he knew who it was. Fie landed on his right shoulder; he noticed that she had her goggles on and barely felt her weight, then she jumped back into the sky. She maneuvered herself in midair by firing short bursts of wind from her guns and then regular rounds at the various Grimm nearby, dragging their attention towards her and practically forming a train of them as they chased her. She would barely land for a split second before she would be back in the air again.
One of the Grimm, another Ursa Major, ignored Fie in favor of striking at the one that killed its kin. Jaune aimed his gun to meet it, only for the slightest tremor behind him to have him dodge sideways. A Death Stalker tried to stab him in the back, but he was having none of that. Suffice it to say, Jaune had grown a great distaste for the scorpion Grimm. He didn't even bother using his weapons, depositing his gun in Storage, before he grabbed the offending tail and used his prodigious strength to break off its stinger that was stuck in the ground.
The Death Stalker hissed in pain but didn't get a chance to recover before Jaune lifted the Grimm from the ground and smashed it at the charging Ursa, flattening it. Tail still in hand, Jaune again lifted the Death Stalker and smashed it on the ground before lifting it once more and smashing it one final time at the recovering Ursa, finally killing them both.
A roar of thunder followed by a searing cold grabbed his attention as he saw Sara had frozen the train of Grimm following Fie before blasting them with Lightning. The younger girl threw a grenade at the surviving Grimm to finish them off. Jaune focused back on his fight as a loud trumpeting sound erupted. The Goliaths had started their charge, and one of them was heading right for him.
The massive beast was…well, massive! It was easily the biggest Grimm he had ever seen, twice the size of the Drake. It was sluggish in its movements, but its large form allowed it to cover the distance toward him swiftly enough.
Jaune aimed his gun at the beast and unleashed a hail of fire at its chest. His small stature, in comparison to the beast, allowed him a perfect angle to shoot under its trunk and tusks. The FDRs caused devastating damage, melting through the armor plating of the Grimm, but the sheer size of the Goliath made it endure them well enough as it approached. Eventually, Jaune ran out and had to reload, but he noticed a noticeable gap in its armor. A glance at his foot found that the Death Stalker's stinger was still there and shining gold from venom. A wicked idea formed in his mind.
The Goliath was barely a few seconds away from trampling him before Jaune stored his gun, grabbed the stinger, and charged at it. He deftly dodged a swing from its trunk and jumped to the gap he made before stabbing the beast with the venomous stinger.
Honestly, Jaune wasn't even sure if Grimm venom would work on other Grimm, but considering that he was the recipient of this particular type of venom, he had high hopes that it would work. Regardless, he watched with satisfaction as the stinger injected its venom and disintegrated in his hands. As close as he was to the beast's metaphorical heart, as he honestly had no idea how Grimm anatomy worked, it was only a matter of time before the beast would collapse.
The Goliath blasted a pained trumpet from the stab and tried to wack him away. With no stinger to hold onto, Jaune agilely scaled its cracked armor while avoiding its trunk. The elephant-like- Grimm's movements were already slowing, and its pained trumpets were getting weaker, clearly, the venom was doing its job. It was still dangerous, however, and with it unable to see its prey, it switched targets to the nearby Sara, who was fighting her own Goliath. Jaune had managed to climb to the beast's back, and he could feel through the link he established with Sara that she saw the other Goliath coming but was hesitant to shoot it with him on its back.
Not wasting any time, Jaune moved quickly to its head, pulled out his gun, this time loaded with regular rounds to not get burned by his own FDRs, and fired at the weakest part of the skull he could find until its armor broke. The beast was getting even slower, and he could almost imagine it moaning pitifully from pain, but its inherent nature to abhor humans kept it going. Jaune had no pity for it, however; he stored his gun and drew his sword for the first time that day. Without hesitation, he stabbed the Goliath in its exposed neck.
No matter how sharp or tough Crocea Mors was, however, it was too small to do any significant damage to a beast of that size. Jaune could channel Aura into the blade and easily kill the Goliath the same way he killed the Drake, but he had a better idea to conserve his Aura as he felt Sara was about to finish her own opponent. A quick glance showed that her Goliath was utterly wrecked from the prodigious use of Dust it suffered, with nearly its entire half facing him burned out and missing most of its armor. He looked at Sara, and somehow through the Aura link they had, she understood his intentions and ran towards him, thus luring her own Goliath after her, which ran with a noticeable limp.
Jaune waited for the last possible moment when both beasts were close enough and twisted the blade in the Goliath's spine, forcing it to turn at the last second towards its kin. Sara easily jumped away as both beasts collided with each other, and out of pure luck, Jaune's unwilling steed impaled its kin with one of its tusks through its unprotected flesh. He withdrew his sword and jumped away just as they both collapsed to their deaths.
Landing next to Sara, he warily looked around for any more attackers, noticing that the Beringels were smashing the ground like angry monkeys. Jaune stared at them, confused, before ignoring them in favor of searching for the Centinel. The area they were fighting in was right where the gorge spilled into a large courtyard, and several paths could be seen in the distance that led to the different quadrants of the quarry. Right in the center of the courtyard was the huge excavator they saw from the entrance.
Jaune clicked his tongue in annoyance as he couldn't find the Centinel, and there were more of the lesser Grimm heading their way. He glanced at Sara, who using this lull in the fighting to top off the Dust vials on her gun.
"So… You're pretty good using Glyphs."
Sara hummed as she finished reloading her gun, magazine in the hilt holding regular ammo and the strange compartment under the barrel that held the metal spikes. Instead of relying on Dust Rounds, she was clearly talented enough in Dust Casting to coat the regular rounds with elemental Dust.
She took off her coat and a vial of ground Lightning Dust and another of Earth Dust, then sat on the ground. Jaune stared at her in disbelief as the woman had the audacity to weave Dust into her coat right in the middle of a warzone. "I'll have you know I was top of my class back in Atlas. I may never be on the level of a Schnee, with their natural affinity towards Glyphs, but I am pretty confident in my Dust Casting. You're doing quite well, too. Quite the strong young man, aren't you?"
Jaune smiled wryly as the older adventurer coated her hand in Aura and levitated the Dust from the vials and into her coat. She had stopped flirting with him since last night, probably still embarrassed about how he literally saw right through her thoughts.
He took aim at an advancing Creep and lazily blew its head off, "Perks of having an enhancement Semblance. Aside from increasing my physical abilities, I can still enhance myself with Aura like normal. I just wish I had more time to recover my Aura, I could have cleaned up this entire canyon with one good swing of my sword."
Sara finally finished her weaving and stood back up, putting on her coat and drawing her weapons. "That's a bold claim. Any eye on that Centinel yet?"
The blonde man shook his head in annoyance, "Nope. Do you think we should help Fie?" He pointed to where Fie was running circles around the last Goliath. Somehow, she had her scarf stretching around and through the Grimm's hind and front legs in a zigzag pattern. How the scarf could stretch so much, he attributed to Dust Weaving bullshittery.
"Nah, she got it handled. Oh look, it's almost gonna trip."
Sure enough, the Goliath, after turning around itself for so long, finally appeared to have dazed itself and was gradually losing balance with its feet entangled. Fie, who had been taking potshots at it with her Chasers but to little effect, suddenly stopped as the Grimm trumpeted in anger and tried to charge her… only to face fault stupidly. The cat-faunus rummaged in one of her pockets and produced some sort of package that Jaune couldn't recognize. Then, she bounded off towards the massive head of the Grimm, dodging its flailing trunk, planted the package right between its eyes, fiddled with some kind of device in her hands, then jumped back on the ground.
She grabbed her scarf, and this time Jaune could see her channeling Aura for a technique that caused the whole thing to rapidly shrink to its normal size and wore it around her neck like normal. Fie looked over to them and seemingly teleported by how quickly she moved to their side, her face as impassive as normal with nary a sweat as she returned her goggles over her hair.
"Sup."
Jaune chuckled at her as he shot another lesser Grimm dead, "You looked like you were having fun."
Fie nodded her head rapidly with a small smile on her face while Sara sighed exaggeratedly. "Fie, aren't you forgetting something?"
The young girl tilted her head cutely, yet Jaune could feel amusement emanating from her.
"Ah yes," She turned to the now recovered Goliath and aimed the device in her hand at its head before pressing a comically large red button.
"Boom."
And Boom indeed, as the Goliath's head was blown to smithereens. It must have been two hundred feet away from them, yet Jaune could feel the heat and wind of the explosive the girl planted.
'Portable high-powered explosives…Every gal has some for emergencies'
"Every gal, right Fie?" He looked at the girl as she pocketed her detonator and gave him a peace sign. He noticed that despite her bravado, her Aura was over a third gone. He filed away the contrast between both adventurers; one of them seemed to consume Dust a lot while the other relied heavily on Aura. He patted the girl on the head for a job well done.
"Need a break?"
The younger girl shook her head before stilling as she looked around the field. She turned this way and that as if looking for something before frowning as she noticed something. Sara, trusting her apprentice's senses, looked warily as well.
"What is it, sweetie?"
"Centinel is underground. It's very sneaky, probably because it knows It's alone here, and they usually hunt in swarms." Fie turned to Sara, "We have a bigger problem, though. I think the soldiers are under attack. I heard an explosion then screams."
Both Sara and Jaune stilled. To be fair, they had been hearing gunfire for a while as the acoustics of the quarry allowed loud sounds like guns to travel for miles. They were too absorbed in their fights, however, and simply assumed the guards could handle whatever was thrown at them. They turned back to where they came from, but the entrance was too far away to be seen as they had rounded a bend. They were nearly two miles in from the entrance, and men screaming would not be heard at this distance; however, if Jaune strained his senses, he could almost hear something, though it could simply be his imagination.
"Are you certain, Kitty?" Jaune looked warily at the two Beringels that finally stopped making a racket smashing the ground, and seemed to be collecting the destroyed rocks. He had a bad feeling about them.
Fie nodded and looked to Sara for guidance. Sara bit her bottom lip as she thought before sighing, "We don't have a choice. Fie, you are the fastest one of us. Return to the guards and provide aid. We'll finish here quickly and back you up."
Fie nodded, "Take care," and she was gone like the wind the way they came from. With his increased PER, Jaune could see that the girl was incredibly fast when running in straight lines but needed to stop to turn. Within a few seconds, she was beyond the bend.
Sara glanced at the setting sun and clicked her tongue, "Well then, Jaune, we really are burning daylight here. Let's clean this place up, or else we'll miss dinner. Eyes on the ground, the Centinel could come out any–"
A slight tremor was all the warning he got before Jaune grabbed Sara and jumped as far as he could. The Centinel tore out of the ground, biting at thin air. It hissed angrily at missing them, but Sara was already firing Joker at it, sticking another steel spike into its carapace. It dug deeply, but the Grimm frantically dove down into the ground. Clearly, it had seen what had happened to the Mole Grimm earlier.
Jaune and Sara did not have the luxury to even land as one of the Beringels threw a massive boulder at their airborne figures. Jaune had a split second to watch the boulder rapidly approach them and he didn't even have time to acknowledge that there was nothing he could do to block it. Sara didn't agree. Without hesitation, the experienced adventurer kicked the young man out of the boulder's path before channeling Aura through Ace, and a large Hard-Light shield formed in front of her.
All of this happened in a heartbeat, with barely any time for either of them to shout a warning or do anything else against the surprisingly coordinated attack of the Grimm. Jaune could only watch in horror as the boulder crashed into the shield Sara created, sending her tumbling dozens of feet away and only stopping when she crashed into the canyon wall with the boulder burying her under rubble.
"SARA!"
He barely got up before another tremor in the ground had him jumping backward just as the Centinel emerged. This time, Jaune was ready and emptied all ten rounds of his revolver at it in the span of two seconds, Aura-coating the gun to stabilize it as its double-action nature came into full effect. Sadly, he was using the standard .500 FMJ, which, although penetrated deeply into the Grimm, did not damage it as much as he hoped due to its larger-than-normal size.
The Centinel hissed in pain before it dove underground again. Jaune quickly turned to Sara but could not see her under the boulder. He hesitated, wanting to dig her out, and was about to check on her through their link but was distracted by the sound of tumbling boulders. He risked a glance towards the Beringels in case they were flinging more shit at him and nearly dropped his gun in shock at what he saw.
The boulders and rocks the two Grimm have been collecting were floating in the air. It was almost as if he was watching an enormous robot made of stone mechashifting from a pile of rubble into a massive humanoid. It was easily thirty feet tall but extremely fat and bulky, yet lacking a head. For just a second, he could see the face of what he now recognized as a Geist Grimm, leering at him from its massive torso before it retreated inwards, and only its mask was shown with a single red eye.
"Observe," came his instinctual command.
The aspiring huntsman gulped nervously, especially as he noticed the two Beringels on each side of the golem as if they were bodyguards to their king. With a calm that he did not honestly feel, Jaune reloaded his revolver with FDRs though he highly doubted it would be very effective against the Geist.
'At least I will get five magic points if I kill the thing'
Just as he was about to make a plan of attack, the ground rumbled again. Jaune prepared for the Centinel to emerge, but this time it wasn't being stealthy as it erupted near the Golem, and its shape was entirely different. Gone was the centipede look of the Grimm, and instead was a massive creature that looked like it had eaten a huge batch of rotten food with its bloated green belly. Jaune could still see the spike that Sara shot sticking out of its head.
"Of-fucking-course. Why not? Anyone else wants to join this party?"
"…and things were going so damn well too. You better be alive, Sara, or else I'm fucked."
Some may ask why I had Sara be capable of using glyphs despite not being a Schnee. My answer to that is that it's never explicitly shown in the show that glyphs are unique to the Schnees, at least to my interpretation, although the wiki states otherwise. In the very first episode of the show, we see Glynda use glyphs against Roman and his Bullhead. Now this could simply be an aftereffect of her semblance or the writers still undecided on where to take the story, but I decided that's too limiting.
Instead, Glyphs can be learned by anyone who is willing to put the effort into it, for they are simple to learn but extremely difficult to master. HOWEVER, just as the Arcs have hereditary massive Aura reserves, the Schnees have a hereditary affinity to Glyphs, making them natural Dust Casters as Glyphs complement Dust Casting. Don't worry, though; our favorite Snow Angel and her family still have their hereditary semblance, which I will expand upon in later chapters.
Suffice it to say, Weiss is one of my favorite characters in the show and shall feature heavily later on. In fact, I've already left some serious hints in previous chapters on how Jaune has a connection with the Schnees, and no, it's not that joke about him seducing Winter.
Editor: Gladiusx — Beta Reader: NoirsLament
Feel free to join me on Discord. I had just discovered the wonders of Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, and I might be posting some pics relevant to the story soon. Discord code is rvxqmhqnqh
Thank you all for your support and encouragement. Do check out my other works as well, I'm sure you will like them.
The adventurer trio ran along the gorge towards the awaiting Grimm. The narrow pass had potholes from the bombardment by the troops, and the last of the white phosphorous was sputtering out as they ran past it. The smell of burned chemicals and dead Grimm had Fie wrinkle her nose, but she forged on.
In the distance, Jaune could see the massive and armored forms of a dozen Ursa Major, a score of Alpha Beowulfs, a handful of Deathstalkers, more Alpha Creeps, and other lesser Grimm that were held back by their older kin. Any one of those Grimm could be a catastrophe in the making, capable of flattening out an entire village by their lonesome. Jaune wasn't worried, though; while his Aura at a little over 20%, he had faith in his abilities and, more importantly, Fie and Sara. His concern, however, lies in the most dangerous of the Grimm in the very back.
A trio of Goliaths, a couple of Beringels, and a lone Centinel. He scowled; this was the second time he had encountered a Grimm native to Solitas here in Sanus. That Centinel needs to be their highest priority, or else they risk it evolving into a Cenitaur. None of the Goliaths were over a hundred years old; the damn creatures were simply born that dangerous. He hit the jackpot with the rest of the Grimm, however, as most of them were easily over a hundred. He hoped the Creator would still be generous if they fell to Sara or Fie instead of him.
Speaking of… Jaune attached a line of Aura to his companions to keep an eye on them during the coming fight with Search. The aspiring huntsman noticed that the adventurer duo were not going as fast as they should have, and he huffed at how they were slowing down for his sake. Running in a straight line relied more on his STR rather than his AGL, so he sped up to be on Sara's right while Fie was on her left.
"What's the plan, Sara?"
"Hit them hard with enough firepower to warrant a war crime hearing." He snorted but then coughed from the bad chemical smell, reminding him that white phosphorus was illegal in many places, "The terrain should work to our advantage, but we've never fought together before. Both of us can take care of ourselves, so don't worry trying to match up or down to us. I'll take point, Fie will do her own thing. You just take potshots with your gun, but if you see an opportunity, go for it."
Fie piped up, "If you can aggro that Centinel so we can finish it quickly, that would be nice. Fighting a Cenitaur is… not fun."
"Heh, will do, Kitty. Let's go!"
'Time to go Overdrive! I think a 50% boost in AGL should be more than enough to handle this. Maybe another 27% in PER, just in case? Hmm, why not go for another 23% in STR and round it all up to 100%? I got the Aura to spare.'
Stats:
Aura Points: 1900/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 100/hr, 10:52 hours remaining)
Strength (STR): 100/81
Vitality (VIT): 98/98
Dexterity (DEX): 85/85
Agility (AGL): 93/62
Perception (PER): 70/55
Intelligence (INT): 93/93
Temporary Perk gained!
Juggernaut: Unlocked at 100 STR. Whether you bowl over weaklings or throw them like rag dolls, your strength shall prevail over all. Muscle Power!!Jaune could feel his Aura infusing with his joints and tendons, his nerves were giddy, and all of his movements simply seemed smoother. His muscles bulged, not to the point where he himself got bulky, but their very nature hardened. His vision sharpened, his hearing intensified, and so did his sense of smell…which made the stench of chemicals almost overwhelming. He idly wondered how Fie could handle everyday life with her insane PER. There were a dozen other senses that were also improved, such as his balance, but the sheer clarity of everything…It made it so tempting to keep his PER permanently boosted.
Boosting his stats to the safe limit didn't have any adverse effects, and it felt completely natural compared to when he was in the cave. Most importantly, he could still enhance his abilities and power with Aura in addition to his Semblance boost.
Challenges issued!
Slay a Goliath with style
Reward: One magic point.
Slay the hidden leader of the Grimm
Reward: One magic point
Bonus Challenge!
Slay the Centinel before it evolves
Reward: One magic point
Slay a Goliath with style
Reward: One magic point.
Slay the hidden leader of the Grimm
Reward: One magic point
Bonus Challenge!
Slay the Centinel before it evolves
Reward: One magic point
"Jump!"
The warning barely came from Fie before all three of them instantly jumped up high, avoiding a mole-like-Grimm emerging from the ground. Jaune blanched as he had never seen one of those before. They could only see its head, and It was the size of a truck, making him think that it must be the size of the Drake he killed! It looked like a giant mole rat with huge burrowing claws trying to free itself from the rocky ground.
It screamed in frustration at the loss of its prey, but for some reason, it was unable to move. Jaune found out why as he saw a brown sludge-like Glyph holding it in place. All of this happened in the span of a single second, his enhanced stats allowing him to swiftly notice his surroundings and process what happened. Even then, what happened next still took him by surprise.
Sara aimed her gun, Joker, at the Mole Grimm and used her Lightning Dust to launch something metal at it. The gun barely made a fizzling sound, and whatever was shot nailed the Grimm in its plate-covered head. It was a six-inch steel spike. The Grimm barely felt the ordinance hitting it, as its armor was too thick to be penetrated so easily. Jaune didn't have time to comment before the woman next to him burst out into purple lightning, yellow lines of LD coursing through her coat and dress. She aimed her electrifying sword downwards, and gave him a cheeky grin before disappearing from his sight with a flash and loud thunderclap.
Jaune landed and turned to the crashing sound from where the Mole Grimm was. At first, he thought Sara would use her gun as an overpowered railgun with the help of Dust, but she certainly beat his expectations. The A-Rank Adventurer had somehow used her Semblance to turn herself into lightning, and using the steel rod she launched as a lightning rod, became a Thunderbolt that blasted the Grimm to smithereens. The thing didn't even know it was dead, as Jaune could see its head was completely gone and what remained of its body twitching before disintegrating. All the while, Sara looked unscathed from the insane attack. Heck, her Aura barely dropped by less than a hundred.
He was willing to bet that her Dust reserves would be another story.
Jaune stared bewilderedly at the older woman as she aimed her gun at him. Small glyphs formed near the tip before shooting a veritable red laser storm that split like a spider web when it approached him and struck a trio of Beowulfs that attempted to sneak on him, shredding them to burned pieces.
"Get your head back in the game, Blondie. That was just the overture."
The Mole's death seemed to be the signal that the Grimm were waiting for as they all charged. Jaune instantly drew his gun and fired at the nearest Grimm, an Ursa Major, trying to hide the embarrassment of losing track of the fight. The bear Grimm was a tough one, over a hundred years old, and the regular metal round barely made a crack in its skull. It tried to swipe at him, but Jaune dodged its telegraphed attacks easily before unloading his entire cylinder in the same spot as it finally succumbed to the last bullet and had its nonexistent brains blown up.
'This is taking too long.'
The blonde adventurer emptied his gun, storing the spent cases, and, using a trick he practiced on the road, reloaded it through his storage. This time, it was all FDRs.
Something pinged his senses as it approached him, but he knew who it was. Fie landed on his right shoulder; he noticed that she had her goggles on and barely felt her weight, then she jumped back into the sky. She maneuvered herself in midair by firing short bursts of wind from her guns and then regular rounds at the various Grimm nearby, dragging their attention towards her and practically forming a train of them as they chased her. She would barely land for a split second before she would be back in the air again.
One of the Grimm, another Ursa Major, ignored Fie in favor of striking at the one that killed its kin. Jaune aimed his gun to meet it, only for the slightest tremor behind him to have him dodge sideways. A Death Stalker tried to stab him in the back, but he was having none of that. Suffice it to say, Jaune had grown a great distaste for the scorpion Grimm. He didn't even bother using his weapons, depositing his gun in Storage, before he grabbed the offending tail and used his prodigious strength to break off its stinger that was stuck in the ground.
The Death Stalker hissed in pain but didn't get a chance to recover before Jaune lifted the Grimm from the ground and smashed it at the charging Ursa, flattening it. Tail still in hand, Jaune again lifted the Death Stalker and smashed it on the ground before lifting it once more and smashing it one final time at the recovering Ursa, finally killing them both.
A roar of thunder followed by a searing cold grabbed his attention as he saw Sara had frozen the train of Grimm following Fie before blasting them with Lightning. The younger girl threw a grenade at the surviving Grimm to finish them off. Jaune focused back on his fight as a loud trumpeting sound erupted. The Goliaths had started their charge, and one of them was heading right for him.
The massive beast was…well, massive! It was easily the biggest Grimm he had ever seen, twice the size of the Drake. It was sluggish in its movements, but its large form allowed it to cover the distance toward him swiftly enough.
Jaune aimed his gun at the beast and unleashed a hail of fire at its chest. His small stature, in comparison to the beast, allowed him a perfect angle to shoot under its trunk and tusks. The FDRs caused devastating damage, melting through the armor plating of the Grimm, but the sheer size of the Goliath made it endure them well enough as it approached. Eventually, Jaune ran out and had to reload, but he noticed a noticeable gap in its armor. A glance at his foot found that the Death Stalker's stinger was still there and shining gold from venom. A wicked idea formed in his mind.
The Goliath was barely a few seconds away from trampling him before Jaune stored his gun, grabbed the stinger, and charged at it. He deftly dodged a swing from its trunk and jumped to the gap he made before stabbing the beast with the venomous stinger.
Honestly, Jaune wasn't even sure if Grimm venom would work on other Grimm, but considering that he was the recipient of this particular type of venom, he had high hopes that it would work. Regardless, he watched with satisfaction as the stinger injected its venom and disintegrated in his hands. As close as he was to the beast's metaphorical heart, as he honestly had no idea how Grimm anatomy worked, it was only a matter of time before the beast would collapse.
The Goliath blasted a pained trumpet from the stab and tried to wack him away. With no stinger to hold onto, Jaune agilely scaled its cracked armor while avoiding its trunk. The elephant-like- Grimm's movements were already slowing, and its pained trumpets were getting weaker, clearly, the venom was doing its job. It was still dangerous, however, and with it unable to see its prey, it switched targets to the nearby Sara, who was fighting her own Goliath. Jaune had managed to climb to the beast's back, and he could feel through the link he established with Sara that she saw the other Goliath coming but was hesitant to shoot it with him on its back.
Not wasting any time, Jaune moved quickly to its head, pulled out his gun, this time loaded with regular rounds to not get burned by his own FDRs, and fired at the weakest part of the skull he could find until its armor broke. The beast was getting even slower, and he could almost imagine it moaning pitifully from pain, but its inherent nature to abhor humans kept it going. Jaune had no pity for it, however; he stored his gun and drew his sword for the first time that day. Without hesitation, he stabbed the Goliath in its exposed neck.
No matter how sharp or tough Crocea Mors was, however, it was too small to do any significant damage to a beast of that size. Jaune could channel Aura into the blade and easily kill the Goliath the same way he killed the Drake, but he had a better idea to conserve his Aura as he felt Sara was about to finish her own opponent. A quick glance showed that her Goliath was utterly wrecked from the prodigious use of Dust it suffered, with nearly its entire half facing him burned out and missing most of its armor. He looked at Sara, and somehow through the Aura link they had, she understood his intentions and ran towards him, thus luring her own Goliath after her, which ran with a noticeable limp.
Jaune waited for the last possible moment when both beasts were close enough and twisted the blade in the Goliath's spine, forcing it to turn at the last second towards its kin. Sara easily jumped away as both beasts collided with each other, and out of pure luck, Jaune's unwilling steed impaled its kin with one of its tusks through its unprotected flesh. He withdrew his sword and jumped away just as they both collapsed to their deaths.
Landing next to Sara, he warily looked around for any more attackers, noticing that the Beringels were smashing the ground like angry monkeys. Jaune stared at them, confused, before ignoring them in favor of searching for the Centinel. The area they were fighting in was right where the gorge spilled into a large courtyard, and several paths could be seen in the distance that led to the different quadrants of the quarry. Right in the center of the courtyard was the huge excavator they saw from the entrance.
Jaune clicked his tongue in annoyance as he couldn't find the Centinel, and there were more of the lesser Grimm heading their way. He glanced at Sara, who using this lull in the fighting to top off the Dust vials on her gun.
"So… You're pretty good using Glyphs."
Sara hummed as she finished reloading her gun, magazine in the hilt holding regular ammo and the strange compartment under the barrel that held the metal spikes. Instead of relying on Dust Rounds, she was clearly talented enough in Dust Casting to coat the regular rounds with elemental Dust.
She took off her coat and a vial of ground Lightning Dust and another of Earth Dust, then sat on the ground. Jaune stared at her in disbelief as the woman had the audacity to weave Dust into her coat right in the middle of a warzone. "I'll have you know I was top of my class back in Atlas. I may never be on the level of a Schnee, with their natural affinity towards Glyphs, but I am pretty confident in my Dust Casting. You're doing quite well, too. Quite the strong young man, aren't you?"
Jaune smiled wryly as the older adventurer coated her hand in Aura and levitated the Dust from the vials and into her coat. She had stopped flirting with him since last night, probably still embarrassed about how he literally saw right through her thoughts.
He took aim at an advancing Creep and lazily blew its head off, "Perks of having an enhancement Semblance. Aside from increasing my physical abilities, I can still enhance myself with Aura like normal. I just wish I had more time to recover my Aura, I could have cleaned up this entire canyon with one good swing of my sword."
Sara finally finished her weaving and stood back up, putting on her coat and drawing her weapons. "That's a bold claim. Any eye on that Centinel yet?"
The blonde man shook his head in annoyance, "Nope. Do you think we should help Fie?" He pointed to where Fie was running circles around the last Goliath. Somehow, she had her scarf stretching around and through the Grimm's hind and front legs in a zigzag pattern. How the scarf could stretch so much, he attributed to Dust Weaving bullshittery.
"Nah, she got it handled. Oh look, it's almost gonna trip."
Sure enough, the Goliath, after turning around itself for so long, finally appeared to have dazed itself and was gradually losing balance with its feet entangled. Fie, who had been taking potshots at it with her Chasers but to little effect, suddenly stopped as the Grimm trumpeted in anger and tried to charge her… only to face fault stupidly. The cat-faunus rummaged in one of her pockets and produced some sort of package that Jaune couldn't recognize. Then, she bounded off towards the massive head of the Grimm, dodging its flailing trunk, planted the package right between its eyes, fiddled with some kind of device in her hands, then jumped back on the ground.
She grabbed her scarf, and this time Jaune could see her channeling Aura for a technique that caused the whole thing to rapidly shrink to its normal size and wore it around her neck like normal. Fie looked over to them and seemingly teleported by how quickly she moved to their side, her face as impassive as normal with nary a sweat as she returned her goggles over her hair.
"Sup."
Jaune chuckled at her as he shot another lesser Grimm dead, "You looked like you were having fun."
Fie nodded her head rapidly with a small smile on her face while Sara sighed exaggeratedly. "Fie, aren't you forgetting something?"
The young girl tilted her head cutely, yet Jaune could feel amusement emanating from her.
"Ah yes," She turned to the now recovered Goliath and aimed the device in her hand at its head before pressing a comically large red button.
"Boom."
And Boom indeed, as the Goliath's head was blown to smithereens. It must have been two hundred feet away from them, yet Jaune could feel the heat and wind of the explosive the girl planted.
'Portable high-powered explosives…Every gal has some for emergencies'
"Every gal, right Fie?" He looked at the girl as she pocketed her detonator and gave him a peace sign. He noticed that despite her bravado, her Aura was over a third gone. He filed away the contrast between both adventurers; one of them seemed to consume Dust a lot while the other relied heavily on Aura. He patted the girl on the head for a job well done.
"Need a break?"
The younger girl shook her head before stilling as she looked around the field. She turned this way and that as if looking for something before frowning as she noticed something. Sara, trusting her apprentice's senses, looked warily as well.
"What is it, sweetie?"
"Centinel is underground. It's very sneaky, probably because it knows It's alone here, and they usually hunt in swarms." Fie turned to Sara, "We have a bigger problem, though. I think the soldiers are under attack. I heard an explosion then screams."
Both Sara and Jaune stilled. To be fair, they had been hearing gunfire for a while as the acoustics of the quarry allowed loud sounds like guns to travel for miles. They were too absorbed in their fights, however, and simply assumed the guards could handle whatever was thrown at them. They turned back to where they came from, but the entrance was too far away to be seen as they had rounded a bend. They were nearly two miles in from the entrance, and men screaming would not be heard at this distance; however, if Jaune strained his senses, he could almost hear something, though it could simply be his imagination.
"Are you certain, Kitty?" Jaune looked warily at the two Beringels that finally stopped making a racket smashing the ground, and seemed to be collecting the destroyed rocks. He had a bad feeling about them.
Fie nodded and looked to Sara for guidance. Sara bit her bottom lip as she thought before sighing, "We don't have a choice. Fie, you are the fastest one of us. Return to the guards and provide aid. We'll finish here quickly and back you up."
Fie nodded, "Take care," and she was gone like the wind the way they came from. With his increased PER, Jaune could see that the girl was incredibly fast when running in straight lines but needed to stop to turn. Within a few seconds, she was beyond the bend.
Sara glanced at the setting sun and clicked her tongue, "Well then, Jaune, we really are burning daylight here. Let's clean this place up, or else we'll miss dinner. Eyes on the ground, the Centinel could come out any–"
A slight tremor was all the warning he got before Jaune grabbed Sara and jumped as far as he could. The Centinel tore out of the ground, biting at thin air. It hissed angrily at missing them, but Sara was already firing Joker at it, sticking another steel spike into its carapace. It dug deeply, but the Grimm frantically dove down into the ground. Clearly, it had seen what had happened to the Mole Grimm earlier.
Jaune and Sara did not have the luxury to even land as one of the Beringels threw a massive boulder at their airborne figures. Jaune had a split second to watch the boulder rapidly approach them and he didn't even have time to acknowledge that there was nothing he could do to block it. Sara didn't agree. Without hesitation, the experienced adventurer kicked the young man out of the boulder's path before channeling Aura through Ace, and a large Hard-Light shield formed in front of her.
All of this happened in a heartbeat, with barely any time for either of them to shout a warning or do anything else against the surprisingly coordinated attack of the Grimm. Jaune could only watch in horror as the boulder crashed into the shield Sara created, sending her tumbling dozens of feet away and only stopping when she crashed into the canyon wall with the boulder burying her under rubble.
"SARA!"
He barely got up before another tremor in the ground had him jumping backward just as the Centinel emerged. This time, Jaune was ready and emptied all ten rounds of his revolver at it in the span of two seconds, Aura-coating the gun to stabilize it as its double-action nature came into full effect. Sadly, he was using the standard .500 FMJ, which, although penetrated deeply into the Grimm, did not damage it as much as he hoped due to its larger-than-normal size.
The Centinel hissed in pain before it dove underground again. Jaune quickly turned to Sara but could not see her under the boulder. He hesitated, wanting to dig her out, and was about to check on her through their link but was distracted by the sound of tumbling boulders. He risked a glance towards the Beringels in case they were flinging more shit at him and nearly dropped his gun in shock at what he saw.
The boulders and rocks the two Grimm have been collecting were floating in the air. It was almost as if he was watching an enormous robot made of stone mechashifting from a pile of rubble into a massive humanoid. It was easily thirty feet tall but extremely fat and bulky, yet lacking a head. For just a second, he could see the face of what he now recognized as a Geist Grimm, leering at him from its massive torso before it retreated inwards, and only its mask was shown with a single red eye.
"Observe," came his instinctual command.
Klu'Nci, Geist Grimm (Rock Golem Form)
Age: 513 years old
Description: The secret leader of this Grimm Horde, a Geist, is an ancient Grimm full of cunning and spite. It hides, biding its time as it commanded its minions to attack the humans who dare trespass on its lair.
Strengths: Practically invincible, can regenerate any limbs with surrounding debris
Weaknesses: Heavy body and lack of joins make it less agile
Age: 513 years old
Description: The secret leader of this Grimm Horde, a Geist, is an ancient Grimm full of cunning and spite. It hides, biding its time as it commanded its minions to attack the humans who dare trespass on its lair.
Strengths: Practically invincible, can regenerate any limbs with surrounding debris
Weaknesses: Heavy body and lack of joins make it less agile
The aspiring huntsman gulped nervously, especially as he noticed the two Beringels on each side of the golem as if they were bodyguards to their king. With a calm that he did not honestly feel, Jaune reloaded his revolver with FDRs though he highly doubted it would be very effective against the Geist.
'At least I will get five magic points if I kill the thing'
Just as he was about to make a plan of attack, the ground rumbled again. Jaune prepared for the Centinel to emerge, but this time it wasn't being stealthy as it erupted near the Golem, and its shape was entirely different. Gone was the centipede look of the Grimm, and instead was a massive creature that looked like it had eaten a huge batch of rotten food with its bloated green belly. Jaune could still see the spike that Sara shot sticking out of its head.
"Of-fucking-course. Why not? Anyone else wants to join this party?"
Bonus Challenge Failed.
Secret Challenge Issued!
Slay the Cenitaur
Reward: One magic point.
Secret Challenge Issued!
Slay the Cenitaur
Reward: One magic point.
"…and things were going so damn well too. You better be alive, Sara, or else I'm fucked."
Some may ask why I had Sara be capable of using glyphs despite not being a Schnee. My answer to that is that it's never explicitly shown in the show that glyphs are unique to the Schnees, at least to my interpretation, although the wiki states otherwise. In the very first episode of the show, we see Glynda use glyphs against Roman and his Bullhead. Now this could simply be an aftereffect of her semblance or the writers still undecided on where to take the story, but I decided that's too limiting.
Instead, Glyphs can be learned by anyone who is willing to put the effort into it, for they are simple to learn but extremely difficult to master. HOWEVER, just as the Arcs have hereditary massive Aura reserves, the Schnees have a hereditary affinity to Glyphs, making them natural Dust Casters as Glyphs complement Dust Casting. Don't worry, though; our favorite Snow Angel and her family still have their hereditary semblance, which I will expand upon in later chapters.
Suffice it to say, Weiss is one of my favorite characters in the show and shall feature heavily later on. In fact, I've already left some serious hints in previous chapters on how Jaune has a connection with the Schnees, and no, it's not that joke about him seducing Winter.
Chapter 12 (Searing Flash)
Fun fact: This story was originally envisioned to be a Jon Snow insert into Jaune Arc. Instead, I saved that theme for my other fic, Lament of Snow and Magic, and opted for a lite system instead. I still have the original outline, and who knows? Maybe that plot bunny can turn into something sometime in the future. Far into the future, hopefully.
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx.
Earlier,
Herbert Montgomery had lived a good life. He might not have been as successful in his career as the rest of his peers or his brothers, but he succeeded enough in life nevertheless. True, his family life might not be the best, as out of two failed marriages, he only had one estranged daughter whom he had not seen in years, nor did he even get to meet his grandchildren. Yet, he did manage to land the cushy job of babysitting his friends' up-and-coming officers in the rich and peaceful region of Celdic. That it was due to him kissing ass with many of those friends and inflating his family's contributions and achievements to his own benefit was left unsaid. Even then, what was wrong with using every tool at your disposal to get what you want? Celdic even had its own military from when it was a fief of some nameless noble house that had long since gone extinct, and the Dragoons have shown they were superb at doing all the work for him, despite them being so few in number.
In his fifty-eight years alive, he had never been wrong in the way he did things, nor did he truly regret his life choices, even if, in hindsight, some of them may not have been the best. His mother always told him to be confident, and people will have to listen to you, especially if you were in a position of authority. It is why he craved such roles and always made sure to be placed in a leadership position, even if he was a big fish in a small pond like Celdic. Everyone had to accept his decisions, and he always made sure not to push too far to avoid needless backlash.
'Until today,' he thought glumly as he stared at the three adventurers destroying some of the most dangerous Grimm he had ever seen. This was not what he thought would happen when he heard a Grimm horde forming here! He thought it would just be the random fodder Beowulf or Creeps, maybe the occasional Ursa and Deathstalker. A perfect opportunity to show off his leadership and smarts to the officers assigned to him, so they would put in a good word for him just as he will be doing for them. For so many of the Grimm to be the Major or Alpha variant? Inconceivable.
Herbert was silently glad that Brocket convinced him of making a stand here at the entrance instead of his original plan of taking the fight to the Grimm. Why should they go chasing after those monstrosities? Let them come to us instead, come to their doom.
Speaking of the good Lieutenant, he had to leave to protect their base, and inwardly, Herbert didn't want him to go. He had proven to be good at his job, and suddenly, Herbert found himself in sole command of the first true conflict he had ever faced.
"Who the hell does that brat think he is? I don't care if his grandfather was some famous chump; he's an old fossil by now. How dare he speak to you like that? Are you seriously gonna let him get away with that, Bert?"
Herbert stared at one of the young fools he was forced to babysit. Henry Winchester was an egotist like most of his family. After failing Beacon's initiation, he used his family's influence to fast-track his enrollment to Vale's officer academy. Five years later, he barely graduated, and Herbert was forced to take him in as one of many favors he owed his father, Major Winchester. He so wanted to slap the fool for calling him so familiarly; he was older than his father, dammit!
The rest of his officer friends also looked at him disdainfully at his supposed meekness.
Herbert sighed helplessly as he thought about Jaune Arc, who so blatantly humiliated him in front of his men. He should be enraged and spitting fire at the young upstart. He should have shouted and berated him in front of everybody, just like he did to that nincompoop engineer from earlier; but… that look. The way he could seemingly see right through his soul as if he knew his darkest secrets and biggest fears. Herbert couldn't even bring himself to feel anger at the young man, for he was technically right. He didn't really mean to disparage Sylphid and could at least acknowledge that the faunus girl did her job well enough. Despite being part animal, the girl maintained a professional and polite demeanor and clearly knew how to behave around her betters, so maybe he could just let it go?
"…Well, Bert? Nothing to say for yourself?"
The Guard Captain was about to rebuke the young man for his rudeness; hedonistic comrades or not, they were in the middle of a combat zone, and he should know better than to question his superior like that, especially in front of the foot soldiers.
"Captain!"
A worried shout came from one of the men as he pointed upwards. Herbert and his band of sycophants stared at the massive avian figure that somehow evaded all their senses and was perched on the cliff glaring balefully at them. It was one of the largest Nevermores he had ever seen, almost as large as an Airbus! The avian Grimm flexed its wings as it seemingly feasted on the feelings of fear and worry emanating from them.
Herbert could feel his stomach drop at the sight of the creature, "Everyone, get to cover!" He didn't wait to see if the men followed his command as he hid under the metal shielding of the cannon near him.
The Nevermore screeched at them in rage at his warning and unleashed a hail of dark pinions at them. Herbert looked in horror as the hardened feathers impaled some men who couldn't find cover in time. Many died instantly with the feathers decapitating or bifurcating them; others screamed in agony as they lost a limb and would bleed out if no aid was administered.
"W-w-w-what should we do? T-This was s-supposed to be a cakewalk, Bert! You assured me that it was gonna be an easy day. M-my father will hear about this, do you hear me?!"
Herbert ignored his ramblings as he tried to galvanize the men, "What are you waiting for? Shoot that damn thing!"
The surviving men fired their rifles at the beast, but the bullets barely seemed to annoy it. Naturally, he stuck to cover and peeked from a small gap in the shield.
The Grimm screeched angrily again and unleashed another hail of feathers. This time, the men were ready and quickly got to cover behind sandbags and other fortifications. There were still some injuries, but at least no one died this time.
"Don't ignore me, Bert!"
Herbert Montgomery was reminded of his cover mates, and turned angrily at the whinging man, "Would you shut up, Winchester? I'm trying to figure out how to save our behinds here!"
Another officer piped up, "That thing seemed impervious to rifle fire. How will we kill it?"
Herbert silently contemplated as the men tried to shoot the Nevermore, and it, in return, continued to fire pinions at them. He sneaked a glance at it and noticed the damn bird hadn't moved a spot from where they first discovered it. It was slightly ahead of them in the gorge but too high up for the machine guns to get a good angle. Maybe if the men could dismount the guns, it might have worked, but they were in the middle of a break, and the wretched Grimm had targeted the few men by the machine gun nests in its first volley.
It scared him. It scared him a lot, this terrible situation they found themselves in. Will they be stuck here as target practice for a clearly intelligent and cruel Grimm? Why did that Nevermore decide to attack now of all times? Did it intentionally wait for this moment? Right when the Adventurers moved in to attack some of the most dangerous Grimm he had ever seen and when Brocket and his Dragoons returned to secure the base.
He was confident that a single one of the adventurers could destroy that Grimm easily; his mind went to that glorious Lightning Bolt thing that Valestein did. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to ogle the young lady's knockers so much? Hell, he would rather Brocket or his dragoons were here as they were actually trained to kill beasts like that, unlike him, whose major was in administration, and the troops were usually used to discourage bandits and the stray Grimm.
Something of that size? That needed a Huntsman!
There was no putting the moon back. He had to do something, or else the men, his men, will die. He stared in anguish as one reckless –brave– soldier led two of his mates in an attempt to retrieve a machine gun, only for him to get impaled by a pinion. At least his friends managed to escape.
The bullets did nothing to the thing. Machine guns were out, and he had generously – foolishly– given away the two ACPs to Brocket. Those grenade launchers could have made a difference. He leaned against the metal surface of his hiding spot as he tried to control the shaking of his limbs and to think of how to save himself and his men. There was no retreat. They were extremely lucky so far, the Nevermore had not targeted their horses, but there were only a few of them and dozens of the men, and he couldn't bear leaving them behind.
Suddenly, his eyes fell to a closed box of ordnance, seemingly staring at him. 'The cannons!'
He turned to the officers hiding with him. There were only three of them, and none would know how to use that damn thing. He needed his actual men, the few elites who were trained to operate these cannons provided by Vale HQ, not the little shits he was forced to babysit.
He turned towards the battle. His men were entrenched now, and the Grimm had been unable to kill or wound any more of them. Herbert looked around until he found the team he was looking for, they were staring right at him, and he suddenly noticed that they were not the only ones. He was their sole commanding officer, and it was to him that they would look for guidance in a situation like this.
This both pleased and scared him.
It didn't take long to get the men to understand what he wanted without shouting and drawing the Grimm's attention. The soldiers continued to fire at it to distract it, while the gunners sprinted as fast they could toward him once they saw the Nevermore spraying pinions at another group in vain.
"Good job, men! Quickly load the cannon. If that stupid bird doesn't move from its perch, we won't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"What rounds should we use, captain?" The gunner pointed towards several boxes of different shells.
"The strongest one, obviously! Let's kill that thing before it kills us all." Herbert was starting to lose patience; what difference did it make?
In less than a minute, they had the cannon loaded and pointed right at the Nevermore. The beast still arrogantly remained on its perch on top of the cliff as the men's bullets did nothing to it, if they even hit at that distance. Herbert Montgomery moved next to the gun barrel as he pointed his hand at their target and called in a loud voice that attracted the attention of the surrounding men.
"Keep firing at the bird, men. Gunners, Open Fire!"
He instantly regretted that order as a humungous boom erupted right next to him and knocked him off his feet. He moaned in pain and felt blood trickle from his ears as he had forgotten to cover his ears, and a loud pinging noise was the entirety of his world. He could feel his meager amount of Aura healing him and someone holding him up.
Even if he went deaf, he could still see their aim was true. The Nevermore had lost a wing and a leg, but it was still alive. Nevertheless, it was harmless now and would probably retreat. His main focus was on the fact that an entire section of the cliff was blown apart. Maybe their aim wasn't that true after all?
Herbert noticed someone grabbing one of the gunners and shaking them as he pointed first at the cannon and then at the cliff. He was still recovering from the shockwave; just what kind of round did they use for the cannon to be so loud?
He felt whoever held him place earmuffs over his head, which instantly made him understand what they wanted as he noticed the one urging the gunners to shoot was Henry Winchester.
"No…don't–"
Another powerful shockwave from the cannon nearly swept him off his feet again, and the entire part of the cliff that the Nevermore was on was blown apart. The Grimm was no more, but a gaping hole could be seen in the cliff. Henry Winchester removed his earmuffs and whopped like a moron at a job well done. Herbert could only stare at the hole as the dust cleared, from where he could see several ominous red glows slowly moving out of it. The hole had opened a tunnel to a cavern, and its inhabitants were none too pleased with the wake-up call.
He threw away his earmuffs and shouted to the men, yet he could barely hear his own voice. The men looked confusingly at him, so he gestured wildly at the hole where the red glows revealed themselves to be Sulfur Fish. Hundreds, if not thousands, were flowing out of the hole and would swarm them if nothing was done. The men stared blankly at the insect-like Grimm, as if they couldn't believe they weren't out of danger yet.
Herbert dragged the nearest man and shoved him towards the machine gun nests. That finally got the men out of their stupor, and some started firing at the encroaching Grimm. Those who managed to get to the machine guns immediately tried firing only to face the same problem as earlier. Montgomery was glad that the men at least had the wherewithal to dismount the machine guns, grab the ammo boxes, then retreat to where the cannons were.
He was starting to hear better now, his Aura thankfully doing its job, though he felt like he had lost a good half of it. Not that it would make much of a difference, for he barely had any in the first place. It was a miracle when he managed to unlock his Aura as a cadet.
"Form a defensive line around the cannons. Gunners, get that other cannon operational, and by the Maidens, don't use the explosive rounds! See if we have shrapnel or cluster munitions."
If someone had asked Herbert how he could lead a good defense against an insurmountable enemy with troops that hated his guts, he would not know how to answer. It took some urging and cajoling, but he managed to get even his pampered officers to grab a gun and start shooting at the damn things. The vermin like Grimm appeared to be endless, and they had already managed to destroy some machine guns that couldn't be dismounted fast enough. The men had let the horses flee from the battle, hopefully, they would be recovered by Brocket later. Then, they quickly formed a perimeter with sandbags and other debris as fortifications around the cannons, which were used to devastating effects, though thankfully not as loud as earlier.
Yet…it was not enough. Herbert had never been so terrified in his life. The stench of death and the screams of the dying were getting to him. The Grimm did not care about their own casualties and continued to climb over the disintegrating corpses of their dead to try to reach them. His men fought bravely, and he truly felt proud of them, but there were simply too many.
Was this…was this all his fault? He was the one who insisted on attacking this place. Brocket's dragoons had warned him that it was a dangerous endeavor, and the lieutenant himself advised waiting for Beacon to send a proper team. He couldn't let that chance go, though. The chance to show off to his officers, who would then report to their fathers and friends; then maybe, maybe, he would finally get that promotion and the accolades he deserved and stick it to his brothers. He couldn't even use the fact that Vale and Beacon were busy with a Grimm Invasion, as he hadn't known about it when he insisted on coming here.
Herbert continued to shoot his standard-issue revolver at the encroaching Grimm, their small size would normally make them hard to hit, but their large numbers rendered that issue mute. One of the Sulfur Fish jumped over the men in front of him in a suicide rush. Unfortunately for Herbert, it landed right in front of him and lashed out with one of its tails, destroying his gun and breaking his hand.
He yelled in pain as his Aura was shattered. Herbert would have died in a follow-up attack if not for one of the younger gunners stabbing the vermin Grimm with his dagger.
"Hold on, Captain! We'll get you to cover."
Hebert could only moan in pain as the young man called for another soldier to help him to where they had set up an impromptu triage. To his annoyance, he found Winchester and his two stooges acting as medics instead of fighting despite having access to their Aura. He was about to shame them into combat when a sudden lull in the fighting occurred.
He turned around, holding his injured hand close to his body. Herbert blinked, then blinked again, rubbing his eyes with his good hand. The entire Grimm swarm had seemingly stopped attacking, and as one turned towards the Gorge where a figure seemingly appeared out of nowhere and flew like the wind through their lines. With one slice of her gunswords, a dozen of the Sulfur Fish were sliced apart. Before the other Grimm could retaliate, she would be a dozen feet away, slicing at another group, leaving a grenade in her previous spot to explode in their faces. She danced like the wind, like the mischievous fay of olden, her deceptively small size hiding deadly precision. With every jump, a gust of wind would knock the Grimm on their backs, their small sizes becoming a disadvantage. The Grimm had gone utterly mad in their rush to get to her, to kill her, yet she was always several steps ahead, seemingly made for this type of combat against endless swarms of relatively weak Grimm.
"…a Maiden." To the end of his days, Herbert would deny the word that slipped from his lips at the scene. Yet, many of his men would insist that he was right as they too had thought the same; Sylphid truly appeared when they needed her most and killed their hated enemy using the elements, just as the Maidens of old were said to be capable of.
Herbert had no idea how she managed to grab all of the Grimm's attention, probably the same way she dragged the entire horde earlier in the day, but he won't waste this chance.
"Are you all going to watch as a little girl takes all the glory? Kill the damn vermin! Shoot, shoot, SHOOT!"
With Jaune,
He dodged yet another boulder thrown by one of the Beringels. They'd been relentless since he opened up from distance with a full cylinder of FDR at one of them, thoroughly ignoring the Geist and Cenitaur. He didn't manage to kill it, but considering the terrible smell and screams of agony, it was a close thing.
Fire Dust was amazing! He just needed to shoot it at the Grimm and hit the fleshy part, and it will keep burning for minutes on end. Now, having shot the ape-like Grimm ten times with FDRs in each limb, torso, and head, it certainly wasn't having a good day, and its partner was adamant on its revenge.
He intended to provoke the other Beringel to chase him before taking it down with Crocea Mors. Unfortunately, the Geist had dominated its lesser kin and had it throw rocks and boulders at him instead. Meanwhile, the Cenitaur had apparently lost its burrowing ability and started spraying clouds of acid at him. Flashbacks of the acid cloud the Drake spewed at him had him running as far away from it as possible, only to dodge another boulder thrown by the Geist this time.
It's been a few minutes since the Cenitaur had emerged from the ground, and Jaune had managed to check on Sara. She was alive, thankfully, but obviously hurt. He could feel pain and annoyance from their link, yet also an inkling of mischief as she had somehow burrowed underground and slowly made her way toward the Geist. He wasn't certain how they both could seemingly communicate with each other through the link he created, even if it was just vague feelings and basic thoughts, but he didn't care. He will take any advantage he could get against an essentially invincible enemy.
He could tell that Sara wanted him to get the Cenitaur close to the Geist for some reason, but that's the extent of her plan that he could gleam. The only way for him to do so was to attack the Geist directly, but that would be suicide! He doubted anything less than putting half his current Aura into Crocea Mors for a Crescent Wave would harm that thing.
The Cenitaur had seemingly gotten tired of spewing acid and charged at him. At the same time, both the Beringel and the Geist had thrown the last of the available boulders that the two ape Grimm had prepared. He dodged the boulders by counter-charging the Cenitaur, drawing Crocea Mors in the process, and stabbed at its bulging green abdomen. The Cenitaur hurriedly lowered its bladed hands to block, only for Jaune to feint and stomp hard on the ground, switching directions to charge at the Geist instead. The Cenitaur hissed in anger at being played the fool and charged after him while the Geist was caught flatfooted as it was in the process of smashing more rocks with the Beringel. Jaune knew there was a slim chance of taking down the Geist, even as he fired a testing shot at its exposed eye, only for it to near instantly shift inside as he pulled the trigger.
That was fine, though, as it had confirmed to him that the Geist needed to actually see to properly attack and that the eye was an obvious weak point. He used its blindness to target the Beringel instead, firing the rest of his cylinder at its torso. Its agonizing screams as it was set on fire were music to his ears, especially as he noticed the other Beringel had finally died from its wounds.
The sound of splitting air as something heavy moved at high speeds was his only warning before he jumped as high as he could, barely dodging the Geist blindly swinging a massive arm made of rock that would have sent him flying to the cliffs. Jaune cursed as his higher STR had caused him to jump much higher than he would have preferred. His airtime allowed him to reload his revolver, but it also allowed the Cenitaur to stop next to the Geist below him. He was stuck, and they knew it. In a matter of seconds, he would be—
'Right about there.'
Suddenly, a massive earthquake erupted, and the ground for hundreds of feet under both Grimm collapsed under their weight, both Grimm falling for about fifty feet in a giant cave-in. The aspiring Huntsman could hear the Cenitaur hissing in annoyance; clearly, the fall barely did any damage to it. Jaune didn't have long to watch before he fired his gun sideways, the recoil propelling him away from the huge crater to land on its edge.
Looking back into the crater, he could tell who the culprit was from the Aura residue and Jaune could feel both satisfaction and wary determination coming from his link with Sara. He had to dodge another spray of acid from the Cenitaur, to which he replied with a few rounds of FDR to its bulging belly causing it to hiss in pain. The Geist, however, simply looked around warily as if expecting a trap.
It was right to be wary as a metal spike impaled itself on its back. The Geist didn't actually feel the impact due to its massive size, but Jaune instantly knew what would happen a second before it did. A humongous amount of Lightning was discharged from a small cave where Jaune could barely see a flash of purple then a massive thunderbolt blasted out. It first struck the metal spike still embedded in the Cenitaur when it was just a Centinel, instantly annihilating half its body, and then continued to the other spike embedded in the huge rock golem.
The resulting explosion was so bright it caused Jaune to cover his eyes, yet he felt something smash into the ledge near him and then a groan of pain. He quickly turned to find an utterly spent Sara on the ground with her Aura flashing before shattering like glass, her coat in tatters, and half her dress burned, exposing her stomach and parts of her cleavage. None of that even registered to him as he instead focused on her clearly dislocated shoulder and bleeding head, where her hair had fallen off her bun and was in disarray. He hurried to her, his med-kit easily appearing from Storage, and administered first aid.
Jaune first had to ease her grip on her weapons, for, despite the terrible shape she was in, she never let go of them, and they were in surprisingly excellent condition for the punishment they had to endure. They must have been made from some superb material, though he noticed the Earth and Lightning vials in the gun were completely empty while everything else was also almost depleted. With care, Jaune deposited them in his Storage, though he had to spend some Aura to fit the sword in. He then carefully turned her on her back and examined her wounds.
"Sara, if you can hear me, make some noise." A groan came from her mouth that sounded like Ace and Joker, and he nodded, "Don't worry, I've stored them away. I'm going to try to treat your wounds now. Bear with me for a moment."
Most of her injuries were internal; he could feel two broken ribs, and a few more were bruised. Her shoulder needed to be set, and after a murmured apology, he quickly set it back in its joint, causing Sara to flinch silently.
'Tough girl'
A bit of cleaning and gauze over her head injury, and that was all Jaune could do for now as he wasn't a trained medic. What he was sure of, was that Sara wasn't in any real danger; her main issue was she had used up all of her remaining Aura in that massive attack, though he suspected it was a case of her crash landing and her Aura absorbing the damage. He did coax her to swallow some painkillers with water but refrained from giving her anything stronger as they were still in a combat zone.
Speaking of, he turned towards the crater only to find molten rock everywhere with no sign of Grimm. He unconsciously whistled at the apocalyptic scene, barely believing that the woman on the ground was responsible for it.
"That was the most badass yet reckless thing I've ever seen in my life. I can't believe I'm the one scolding you for this, Miss older-and-more-responsible Adventurer. How much Dust did you spend to do that? Are those spikes stored in your gun? Does any metal spike work, or does it have to be specially treated? How did you even come up with that cave-in? Is that why you weaved Earth Dust in your coat earlier?"
A pained chuckle came from the older woman's mouth, but it was accompanied by a wet cough and a spit of blood. "At least it was epic, yeah? Also, too many questions, this ain't a school, and I ain't a teacher, dammit. The world would end if I took a job teaching brats how to be responsible adults." She giggled uncontrollably at the thought, even through the pain of her broken ribs, "I'm just glad I didn't lose a tooth or something. Or a few brain cells. At least, I hope I didn't."
Jaune shook his head in disbelief, "Nah, Somehow your injuries are relatively light… A miracle I would say. You just need to rest and recover your Aura, and then you would be good as new in a couple of days."
Sara snorted, "a couple? Maybe you, Mr-I-have-more-Aura-than-any-living-being-should-ever-have, but us mere mortals would need at least a week to heal the broken bones alone even with Aura." She tried moving her limbs, only to falter, "Yep. Hairline fractures on my shins, a sprained ankle, and too many bruises to count. And I might have cracked some of my fingers." She lifted her left hand to show her pinky had gone blue. "You're a terrible medic, by the way."
Jaune sighed as the woman cackled painfully at his expense. Despite not having any Aura, he could still sense her emotions and there was nothing malicious about her comments. Just good humor. Speaking of, "Humor me though, since you are sort of my mentor here, was that your Semblance?"
"Ugh, so persistent, why can't a lady keep her mystique?" She complained petulantly as she stopped laughing, only to be met with a raised eyebrow. "Fine, fine. It was all Dust. Like, literally all of my Dust. Four thousand Lien worth of High-Quality Lightning Dust, just POOF. Gone. Sure, my Semblance helped, and I was damn lucky to find all those tunnels underground. Probably made by that mole Grimm from earlier. All it took was some clever use of Earth Dust to soften the rocks into sand, then some glyphs here and there to stop them from collapsing prematurely. The Earth Dust in my coat was for emergency defense. It helped protect my back when I smashed into the cliff with that boulder. Thanks for the save by the way, I should have been more careful of that Centinel, especially right after Fie's warning."
Jaune nodded as his eyes unconsciously wandered over her half-naked body, "Don't mention it. Thanks for saving me as well. Now what about that Lightning Bolt thing? You said your Semblance turns your Aura to Lightning, you didn't mention it turns your whole body into it."
Sara grinned at his almost accusatory tone, "I would be a fool to tell anyone the full extent of my abilities. You're mistaken though, I didn't exactly turn into lightning. Using all the Lightning Dust I weaved into my clothes, along with a few of my spare crystals and the one in Joker, I generated so much of it that you couldn't see me underneath it. A special Propulsion-type Glyph, that is an original creation of mine based off the standard Propulsion Glyph and enhanced by my Semblance, launches me at near Lightning Speed, pun intended, towards those Spikes that I had treated with my Aura. I'm basically blind or at best get severe tunnel vision in that state, so those spikes are my beacons, as even with my terrible Aura sensing, Its enough to home into them. I gotta be careful not to impale myself on them, which is why they are blunt on one side. All of that Lightning is then channeled through Ace and explodes out through a stab. Considering how hot Lightning is, it has proven to be extremely potent against anything I've used this move on. Unfortunately, I had too much momentum and ended up blasting right through the Golem and into the crater's ledge, shattering my Aura. Does this answer your question, my nosey apprentice?"
To say that Jaune was impressed would be an understatement. He had never had the time to learn Dust Casting or Glyphs, but then again, these kinds of skills are almost exclusively taught in Huntsmen academies and Gramps had never shown him any. He did remember when he was a kid, that his grandmother would show off her skills when she visited, but his memories were vague. Regardless, This was even more reason for him to enroll in Beacon and learn more about the stuff to compliment his skills.
"Nope, thank you for the impromptu lesson. By the way, did you notice that we could sort of read our thoughts during the fight?"
"Hmm, could be. I did know exactly where you were, and that couldn't have been my Aura sense. You tell me, did you do something before the fight?"
Jaune wondered if the Aura link he established was the reason. Was it part of Search? Or could it be another aspect of his Semblance? Something to discover later. A wave of weakness hit him, but it passed quickly. His boosts had ended.
"Not sure. Anyway, can you stand?"
"Let's see." Sara struggled to stand and waved away a helping hand as she gritted her teeth and forced herself to her knees before standing straight. Jaune finally acknowledged that even bloody and beaten, the woman was still incredibly beautiful with her waist-length hair flowing in the wind; the slight trickle of drying blood from her smirking lips to her chin gave her a feral sort of charm. Especially with how alert her eyes were despite the pain she must be in. That was all disregarding the fact that she was practically half-naked with how little of her clothes survived. You could almost believe that she was all ok, and ready to continue fighting.
Yet, Observe was telling him a different story.
Aura Points: 0/1,853 (111/hr) DEBUFF (37/hr)
Aura Control: 105%
Strength (STR): 32/76
Vitality (VIT): 26/84
Dexterity (DEX): 67/117
Agility (AGL): 56/102
Perception (PER): 68/78
Intelligence (INT): 73/82
Skills:
Searing Flash: Shoots an Aura treated metal spike at a target before channeling lightning through her body, clothes and into her sword to turn herself into a woman sized Lightning Bolt. Can use Dust to greatly amplify the power of her attack. Can channel as much Aura and Dust as she can handle for greater effects. Needs the Sword Ace to be charged with Lightning Dust.
Status Effects:
Aura Exhaustion: Aura recovery reduced to a third (12 hours)
Slightly Dazed: "I'm seeing stars…and a tweety bird….is that a black cat?" Slight reduction in INT and PER (3 hours)
"Here." Jaune produced the shirt he wore yesterday from his Storage. Sara chuckled, yet winced as her ribs poking her lings reminding her that, yep, they were still broken.
"Took your fill of this hot bod? Especially after you touched me in such intimate places." She joked even as she accepted the large shirt that fell down to her thighs and gingerly put it on.
Jaune huffed at the older woman, "Well, you're clearly in much better shape than I thought if you are lively enough to flirt."
The injured woman giggled again before she gingerly moved toward the ledge to take a look at the destruction she caused. She frowned before slowly turned towards the young man near her.
"Uh, Jaune? We have a problem."
"What is it?"
"That Geist isn't dead."
Jaune quickly turned to the crater to find that, yep, the Geist was somehow still alive and had somehow hid from him earlier. It was in the process of rebuilding its body from the debris lying around. As they stared at it, it formed a smaller yet still massive body made from molten rock and roared in their general direction. Its red eye, placed on a rocky head this time, balefully shining in hatred and malevolence.
"…well, fuck."
"Language! Although, I do agree that the situation does, indeed, appear to be fucked, my dear Wunderkind."
"…Plan?"
Sara hummed, "Seeing that I am all out of Aura and Dust, and can barely stand on my feet… Carry me like a princess and run away with our tails between our legs?"
Jaune sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He still had about 1500 AP, but with no way to destroy such an irksome enemy, aside from draining all of his AP in an all out attack hoping he would nail its real body; All he would be able to do was delay the inevitable. He could tell that Sara was putting up a strong front; his senses told him that she was worried and slightly afraid in her moment of weakness. He could relate, as his mind drifted to his time in the cave.
He inwardly shuddered before sighing again. Jaune moved behind the older woman and carried her in his arms, smirking at her surprised yelp, "As good a plan as any."
The Geist roared again as it finished reforming and lumbered towards the edge of the crater, clumsily climbing to the ledge only to see its hated enemy running as fast they could back towards the entrance of the Quarry. It rationally knew it should take this as a chance to rest and recuperate, but the sheer hatred it held for humans, especially that purple-haired one for making it feel such unimaginable pain, overcame its rational thought. It roared in rage and ran off in pursuit.
I bet none of you expected a Montgomery pov, right? I hope you enjoy how contradicting he is. People are a lot more complex to simply paint them in black and white.
Fie comes to the rescue. You will notice that she isn't really good against powerful enemies, boss monsters so to speak, but she is excellent in crowd control and against swarms of fodder. Let's just hope the Sulfur Fish don't combine or something (GASP! Did I just spoil it?)
I subtly explained in earlier chapters why people in a world like Remnant need to always keep an upbeat attitude. Sara embodies that ideal even as she is a complete train wreck. Jaune unconsciously finds himself emulating her, as she is his mentor and role model during this arc. When he found himself alone last chapter, he started panicking. Once he reconnected with Sara, he calmed down and brought out his A-game.
Bear in mind that he is still weakened from his Semblance overuse. If you remember from chapter eight, his Aura recovery is at 50% right now, so he can't afford to waste Aura on attacks or boosts that won't help him against a specific enemy. Retreat is always an option.
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx.
Earlier,
Herbert Montgomery had lived a good life. He might not have been as successful in his career as the rest of his peers or his brothers, but he succeeded enough in life nevertheless. True, his family life might not be the best, as out of two failed marriages, he only had one estranged daughter whom he had not seen in years, nor did he even get to meet his grandchildren. Yet, he did manage to land the cushy job of babysitting his friends' up-and-coming officers in the rich and peaceful region of Celdic. That it was due to him kissing ass with many of those friends and inflating his family's contributions and achievements to his own benefit was left unsaid. Even then, what was wrong with using every tool at your disposal to get what you want? Celdic even had its own military from when it was a fief of some nameless noble house that had long since gone extinct, and the Dragoons have shown they were superb at doing all the work for him, despite them being so few in number.
In his fifty-eight years alive, he had never been wrong in the way he did things, nor did he truly regret his life choices, even if, in hindsight, some of them may not have been the best. His mother always told him to be confident, and people will have to listen to you, especially if you were in a position of authority. It is why he craved such roles and always made sure to be placed in a leadership position, even if he was a big fish in a small pond like Celdic. Everyone had to accept his decisions, and he always made sure not to push too far to avoid needless backlash.
'Until today,' he thought glumly as he stared at the three adventurers destroying some of the most dangerous Grimm he had ever seen. This was not what he thought would happen when he heard a Grimm horde forming here! He thought it would just be the random fodder Beowulf or Creeps, maybe the occasional Ursa and Deathstalker. A perfect opportunity to show off his leadership and smarts to the officers assigned to him, so they would put in a good word for him just as he will be doing for them. For so many of the Grimm to be the Major or Alpha variant? Inconceivable.
Herbert was silently glad that Brocket convinced him of making a stand here at the entrance instead of his original plan of taking the fight to the Grimm. Why should they go chasing after those monstrosities? Let them come to us instead, come to their doom.
Speaking of the good Lieutenant, he had to leave to protect their base, and inwardly, Herbert didn't want him to go. He had proven to be good at his job, and suddenly, Herbert found himself in sole command of the first true conflict he had ever faced.
"Who the hell does that brat think he is? I don't care if his grandfather was some famous chump; he's an old fossil by now. How dare he speak to you like that? Are you seriously gonna let him get away with that, Bert?"
Herbert stared at one of the young fools he was forced to babysit. Henry Winchester was an egotist like most of his family. After failing Beacon's initiation, he used his family's influence to fast-track his enrollment to Vale's officer academy. Five years later, he barely graduated, and Herbert was forced to take him in as one of many favors he owed his father, Major Winchester. He so wanted to slap the fool for calling him so familiarly; he was older than his father, dammit!
The rest of his officer friends also looked at him disdainfully at his supposed meekness.
Herbert sighed helplessly as he thought about Jaune Arc, who so blatantly humiliated him in front of his men. He should be enraged and spitting fire at the young upstart. He should have shouted and berated him in front of everybody, just like he did to that nincompoop engineer from earlier; but… that look. The way he could seemingly see right through his soul as if he knew his darkest secrets and biggest fears. Herbert couldn't even bring himself to feel anger at the young man, for he was technically right. He didn't really mean to disparage Sylphid and could at least acknowledge that the faunus girl did her job well enough. Despite being part animal, the girl maintained a professional and polite demeanor and clearly knew how to behave around her betters, so maybe he could just let it go?
"…Well, Bert? Nothing to say for yourself?"
The Guard Captain was about to rebuke the young man for his rudeness; hedonistic comrades or not, they were in the middle of a combat zone, and he should know better than to question his superior like that, especially in front of the foot soldiers.
"Captain!"
A worried shout came from one of the men as he pointed upwards. Herbert and his band of sycophants stared at the massive avian figure that somehow evaded all their senses and was perched on the cliff glaring balefully at them. It was one of the largest Nevermores he had ever seen, almost as large as an Airbus! The avian Grimm flexed its wings as it seemingly feasted on the feelings of fear and worry emanating from them.
Herbert could feel his stomach drop at the sight of the creature, "Everyone, get to cover!" He didn't wait to see if the men followed his command as he hid under the metal shielding of the cannon near him.
The Nevermore screeched at them in rage at his warning and unleashed a hail of dark pinions at them. Herbert looked in horror as the hardened feathers impaled some men who couldn't find cover in time. Many died instantly with the feathers decapitating or bifurcating them; others screamed in agony as they lost a limb and would bleed out if no aid was administered.
"W-w-w-what should we do? T-This was s-supposed to be a cakewalk, Bert! You assured me that it was gonna be an easy day. M-my father will hear about this, do you hear me?!"
Herbert ignored his ramblings as he tried to galvanize the men, "What are you waiting for? Shoot that damn thing!"
The surviving men fired their rifles at the beast, but the bullets barely seemed to annoy it. Naturally, he stuck to cover and peeked from a small gap in the shield.
The Grimm screeched angrily again and unleashed another hail of feathers. This time, the men were ready and quickly got to cover behind sandbags and other fortifications. There were still some injuries, but at least no one died this time.
"Don't ignore me, Bert!"
Herbert Montgomery was reminded of his cover mates, and turned angrily at the whinging man, "Would you shut up, Winchester? I'm trying to figure out how to save our behinds here!"
Another officer piped up, "That thing seemed impervious to rifle fire. How will we kill it?"
Herbert silently contemplated as the men tried to shoot the Nevermore, and it, in return, continued to fire pinions at them. He sneaked a glance at it and noticed the damn bird hadn't moved a spot from where they first discovered it. It was slightly ahead of them in the gorge but too high up for the machine guns to get a good angle. Maybe if the men could dismount the guns, it might have worked, but they were in the middle of a break, and the wretched Grimm had targeted the few men by the machine gun nests in its first volley.
It scared him. It scared him a lot, this terrible situation they found themselves in. Will they be stuck here as target practice for a clearly intelligent and cruel Grimm? Why did that Nevermore decide to attack now of all times? Did it intentionally wait for this moment? Right when the Adventurers moved in to attack some of the most dangerous Grimm he had ever seen and when Brocket and his Dragoons returned to secure the base.
He was confident that a single one of the adventurers could destroy that Grimm easily; his mind went to that glorious Lightning Bolt thing that Valestein did. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to ogle the young lady's knockers so much? Hell, he would rather Brocket or his dragoons were here as they were actually trained to kill beasts like that, unlike him, whose major was in administration, and the troops were usually used to discourage bandits and the stray Grimm.
Something of that size? That needed a Huntsman!
There was no putting the moon back. He had to do something, or else the men, his men, will die. He stared in anguish as one reckless –brave– soldier led two of his mates in an attempt to retrieve a machine gun, only for him to get impaled by a pinion. At least his friends managed to escape.
The bullets did nothing to the thing. Machine guns were out, and he had generously – foolishly– given away the two ACPs to Brocket. Those grenade launchers could have made a difference. He leaned against the metal surface of his hiding spot as he tried to control the shaking of his limbs and to think of how to save himself and his men. There was no retreat. They were extremely lucky so far, the Nevermore had not targeted their horses, but there were only a few of them and dozens of the men, and he couldn't bear leaving them behind.
Suddenly, his eyes fell to a closed box of ordnance, seemingly staring at him. 'The cannons!'
He turned to the officers hiding with him. There were only three of them, and none would know how to use that damn thing. He needed his actual men, the few elites who were trained to operate these cannons provided by Vale HQ, not the little shits he was forced to babysit.
He turned towards the battle. His men were entrenched now, and the Grimm had been unable to kill or wound any more of them. Herbert looked around until he found the team he was looking for, they were staring right at him, and he suddenly noticed that they were not the only ones. He was their sole commanding officer, and it was to him that they would look for guidance in a situation like this.
This both pleased and scared him.
It didn't take long to get the men to understand what he wanted without shouting and drawing the Grimm's attention. The soldiers continued to fire at it to distract it, while the gunners sprinted as fast they could toward him once they saw the Nevermore spraying pinions at another group in vain.
"Good job, men! Quickly load the cannon. If that stupid bird doesn't move from its perch, we won't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"What rounds should we use, captain?" The gunner pointed towards several boxes of different shells.
"The strongest one, obviously! Let's kill that thing before it kills us all." Herbert was starting to lose patience; what difference did it make?
In less than a minute, they had the cannon loaded and pointed right at the Nevermore. The beast still arrogantly remained on its perch on top of the cliff as the men's bullets did nothing to it, if they even hit at that distance. Herbert Montgomery moved next to the gun barrel as he pointed his hand at their target and called in a loud voice that attracted the attention of the surrounding men.
"Keep firing at the bird, men. Gunners, Open Fire!"
He instantly regretted that order as a humungous boom erupted right next to him and knocked him off his feet. He moaned in pain and felt blood trickle from his ears as he had forgotten to cover his ears, and a loud pinging noise was the entirety of his world. He could feel his meager amount of Aura healing him and someone holding him up.
Even if he went deaf, he could still see their aim was true. The Nevermore had lost a wing and a leg, but it was still alive. Nevertheless, it was harmless now and would probably retreat. His main focus was on the fact that an entire section of the cliff was blown apart. Maybe their aim wasn't that true after all?
Herbert noticed someone grabbing one of the gunners and shaking them as he pointed first at the cannon and then at the cliff. He was still recovering from the shockwave; just what kind of round did they use for the cannon to be so loud?
He felt whoever held him place earmuffs over his head, which instantly made him understand what they wanted as he noticed the one urging the gunners to shoot was Henry Winchester.
"No…don't–"
Another powerful shockwave from the cannon nearly swept him off his feet again, and the entire part of the cliff that the Nevermore was on was blown apart. The Grimm was no more, but a gaping hole could be seen in the cliff. Henry Winchester removed his earmuffs and whopped like a moron at a job well done. Herbert could only stare at the hole as the dust cleared, from where he could see several ominous red glows slowly moving out of it. The hole had opened a tunnel to a cavern, and its inhabitants were none too pleased with the wake-up call.
He threw away his earmuffs and shouted to the men, yet he could barely hear his own voice. The men looked confusingly at him, so he gestured wildly at the hole where the red glows revealed themselves to be Sulfur Fish. Hundreds, if not thousands, were flowing out of the hole and would swarm them if nothing was done. The men stared blankly at the insect-like Grimm, as if they couldn't believe they weren't out of danger yet.
Herbert dragged the nearest man and shoved him towards the machine gun nests. That finally got the men out of their stupor, and some started firing at the encroaching Grimm. Those who managed to get to the machine guns immediately tried firing only to face the same problem as earlier. Montgomery was glad that the men at least had the wherewithal to dismount the machine guns, grab the ammo boxes, then retreat to where the cannons were.
He was starting to hear better now, his Aura thankfully doing its job, though he felt like he had lost a good half of it. Not that it would make much of a difference, for he barely had any in the first place. It was a miracle when he managed to unlock his Aura as a cadet.
"Form a defensive line around the cannons. Gunners, get that other cannon operational, and by the Maidens, don't use the explosive rounds! See if we have shrapnel or cluster munitions."
If someone had asked Herbert how he could lead a good defense against an insurmountable enemy with troops that hated his guts, he would not know how to answer. It took some urging and cajoling, but he managed to get even his pampered officers to grab a gun and start shooting at the damn things. The vermin like Grimm appeared to be endless, and they had already managed to destroy some machine guns that couldn't be dismounted fast enough. The men had let the horses flee from the battle, hopefully, they would be recovered by Brocket later. Then, they quickly formed a perimeter with sandbags and other debris as fortifications around the cannons, which were used to devastating effects, though thankfully not as loud as earlier.
Yet…it was not enough. Herbert had never been so terrified in his life. The stench of death and the screams of the dying were getting to him. The Grimm did not care about their own casualties and continued to climb over the disintegrating corpses of their dead to try to reach them. His men fought bravely, and he truly felt proud of them, but there were simply too many.
Was this…was this all his fault? He was the one who insisted on attacking this place. Brocket's dragoons had warned him that it was a dangerous endeavor, and the lieutenant himself advised waiting for Beacon to send a proper team. He couldn't let that chance go, though. The chance to show off to his officers, who would then report to their fathers and friends; then maybe, maybe, he would finally get that promotion and the accolades he deserved and stick it to his brothers. He couldn't even use the fact that Vale and Beacon were busy with a Grimm Invasion, as he hadn't known about it when he insisted on coming here.
Herbert continued to shoot his standard-issue revolver at the encroaching Grimm, their small size would normally make them hard to hit, but their large numbers rendered that issue mute. One of the Sulfur Fish jumped over the men in front of him in a suicide rush. Unfortunately for Herbert, it landed right in front of him and lashed out with one of its tails, destroying his gun and breaking his hand.
He yelled in pain as his Aura was shattered. Herbert would have died in a follow-up attack if not for one of the younger gunners stabbing the vermin Grimm with his dagger.
"Hold on, Captain! We'll get you to cover."
Hebert could only moan in pain as the young man called for another soldier to help him to where they had set up an impromptu triage. To his annoyance, he found Winchester and his two stooges acting as medics instead of fighting despite having access to their Aura. He was about to shame them into combat when a sudden lull in the fighting occurred.
He turned around, holding his injured hand close to his body. Herbert blinked, then blinked again, rubbing his eyes with his good hand. The entire Grimm swarm had seemingly stopped attacking, and as one turned towards the Gorge where a figure seemingly appeared out of nowhere and flew like the wind through their lines. With one slice of her gunswords, a dozen of the Sulfur Fish were sliced apart. Before the other Grimm could retaliate, she would be a dozen feet away, slicing at another group, leaving a grenade in her previous spot to explode in their faces. She danced like the wind, like the mischievous fay of olden, her deceptively small size hiding deadly precision. With every jump, a gust of wind would knock the Grimm on their backs, their small sizes becoming a disadvantage. The Grimm had gone utterly mad in their rush to get to her, to kill her, yet she was always several steps ahead, seemingly made for this type of combat against endless swarms of relatively weak Grimm.
"…a Maiden." To the end of his days, Herbert would deny the word that slipped from his lips at the scene. Yet, many of his men would insist that he was right as they too had thought the same; Sylphid truly appeared when they needed her most and killed their hated enemy using the elements, just as the Maidens of old were said to be capable of.
Herbert had no idea how she managed to grab all of the Grimm's attention, probably the same way she dragged the entire horde earlier in the day, but he won't waste this chance.
"Are you all going to watch as a little girl takes all the glory? Kill the damn vermin! Shoot, shoot, SHOOT!"
With Jaune,
He dodged yet another boulder thrown by one of the Beringels. They'd been relentless since he opened up from distance with a full cylinder of FDR at one of them, thoroughly ignoring the Geist and Cenitaur. He didn't manage to kill it, but considering the terrible smell and screams of agony, it was a close thing.
Fire Dust was amazing! He just needed to shoot it at the Grimm and hit the fleshy part, and it will keep burning for minutes on end. Now, having shot the ape-like Grimm ten times with FDRs in each limb, torso, and head, it certainly wasn't having a good day, and its partner was adamant on its revenge.
He intended to provoke the other Beringel to chase him before taking it down with Crocea Mors. Unfortunately, the Geist had dominated its lesser kin and had it throw rocks and boulders at him instead. Meanwhile, the Cenitaur had apparently lost its burrowing ability and started spraying clouds of acid at him. Flashbacks of the acid cloud the Drake spewed at him had him running as far away from it as possible, only to dodge another boulder thrown by the Geist this time.
It's been a few minutes since the Cenitaur had emerged from the ground, and Jaune had managed to check on Sara. She was alive, thankfully, but obviously hurt. He could feel pain and annoyance from their link, yet also an inkling of mischief as she had somehow burrowed underground and slowly made her way toward the Geist. He wasn't certain how they both could seemingly communicate with each other through the link he created, even if it was just vague feelings and basic thoughts, but he didn't care. He will take any advantage he could get against an essentially invincible enemy.
He could tell that Sara wanted him to get the Cenitaur close to the Geist for some reason, but that's the extent of her plan that he could gleam. The only way for him to do so was to attack the Geist directly, but that would be suicide! He doubted anything less than putting half his current Aura into Crocea Mors for a Crescent Wave would harm that thing.
The Cenitaur had seemingly gotten tired of spewing acid and charged at him. At the same time, both the Beringel and the Geist had thrown the last of the available boulders that the two ape Grimm had prepared. He dodged the boulders by counter-charging the Cenitaur, drawing Crocea Mors in the process, and stabbed at its bulging green abdomen. The Cenitaur hurriedly lowered its bladed hands to block, only for Jaune to feint and stomp hard on the ground, switching directions to charge at the Geist instead. The Cenitaur hissed in anger at being played the fool and charged after him while the Geist was caught flatfooted as it was in the process of smashing more rocks with the Beringel. Jaune knew there was a slim chance of taking down the Geist, even as he fired a testing shot at its exposed eye, only for it to near instantly shift inside as he pulled the trigger.
That was fine, though, as it had confirmed to him that the Geist needed to actually see to properly attack and that the eye was an obvious weak point. He used its blindness to target the Beringel instead, firing the rest of his cylinder at its torso. Its agonizing screams as it was set on fire were music to his ears, especially as he noticed the other Beringel had finally died from its wounds.
The sound of splitting air as something heavy moved at high speeds was his only warning before he jumped as high as he could, barely dodging the Geist blindly swinging a massive arm made of rock that would have sent him flying to the cliffs. Jaune cursed as his higher STR had caused him to jump much higher than he would have preferred. His airtime allowed him to reload his revolver, but it also allowed the Cenitaur to stop next to the Geist below him. He was stuck, and they knew it. In a matter of seconds, he would be—
'Right about there.'
Suddenly, a massive earthquake erupted, and the ground for hundreds of feet under both Grimm collapsed under their weight, both Grimm falling for about fifty feet in a giant cave-in. The aspiring Huntsman could hear the Cenitaur hissing in annoyance; clearly, the fall barely did any damage to it. Jaune didn't have long to watch before he fired his gun sideways, the recoil propelling him away from the huge crater to land on its edge.
Looking back into the crater, he could tell who the culprit was from the Aura residue and Jaune could feel both satisfaction and wary determination coming from his link with Sara. He had to dodge another spray of acid from the Cenitaur, to which he replied with a few rounds of FDR to its bulging belly causing it to hiss in pain. The Geist, however, simply looked around warily as if expecting a trap.
It was right to be wary as a metal spike impaled itself on its back. The Geist didn't actually feel the impact due to its massive size, but Jaune instantly knew what would happen a second before it did. A humongous amount of Lightning was discharged from a small cave where Jaune could barely see a flash of purple then a massive thunderbolt blasted out. It first struck the metal spike still embedded in the Cenitaur when it was just a Centinel, instantly annihilating half its body, and then continued to the other spike embedded in the huge rock golem.
The resulting explosion was so bright it caused Jaune to cover his eyes, yet he felt something smash into the ledge near him and then a groan of pain. He quickly turned to find an utterly spent Sara on the ground with her Aura flashing before shattering like glass, her coat in tatters, and half her dress burned, exposing her stomach and parts of her cleavage. None of that even registered to him as he instead focused on her clearly dislocated shoulder and bleeding head, where her hair had fallen off her bun and was in disarray. He hurried to her, his med-kit easily appearing from Storage, and administered first aid.
Jaune first had to ease her grip on her weapons, for, despite the terrible shape she was in, she never let go of them, and they were in surprisingly excellent condition for the punishment they had to endure. They must have been made from some superb material, though he noticed the Earth and Lightning vials in the gun were completely empty while everything else was also almost depleted. With care, Jaune deposited them in his Storage, though he had to spend some Aura to fit the sword in. He then carefully turned her on her back and examined her wounds.
"Sara, if you can hear me, make some noise." A groan came from her mouth that sounded like Ace and Joker, and he nodded, "Don't worry, I've stored them away. I'm going to try to treat your wounds now. Bear with me for a moment."
Most of her injuries were internal; he could feel two broken ribs, and a few more were bruised. Her shoulder needed to be set, and after a murmured apology, he quickly set it back in its joint, causing Sara to flinch silently.
'Tough girl'
A bit of cleaning and gauze over her head injury, and that was all Jaune could do for now as he wasn't a trained medic. What he was sure of, was that Sara wasn't in any real danger; her main issue was she had used up all of her remaining Aura in that massive attack, though he suspected it was a case of her crash landing and her Aura absorbing the damage. He did coax her to swallow some painkillers with water but refrained from giving her anything stronger as they were still in a combat zone.
Speaking of, he turned towards the crater only to find molten rock everywhere with no sign of Grimm. He unconsciously whistled at the apocalyptic scene, barely believing that the woman on the ground was responsible for it.
"That was the most badass yet reckless thing I've ever seen in my life. I can't believe I'm the one scolding you for this, Miss older-and-more-responsible Adventurer. How much Dust did you spend to do that? Are those spikes stored in your gun? Does any metal spike work, or does it have to be specially treated? How did you even come up with that cave-in? Is that why you weaved Earth Dust in your coat earlier?"
A pained chuckle came from the older woman's mouth, but it was accompanied by a wet cough and a spit of blood. "At least it was epic, yeah? Also, too many questions, this ain't a school, and I ain't a teacher, dammit. The world would end if I took a job teaching brats how to be responsible adults." She giggled uncontrollably at the thought, even through the pain of her broken ribs, "I'm just glad I didn't lose a tooth or something. Or a few brain cells. At least, I hope I didn't."
Jaune shook his head in disbelief, "Nah, Somehow your injuries are relatively light… A miracle I would say. You just need to rest and recover your Aura, and then you would be good as new in a couple of days."
Sara snorted, "a couple? Maybe you, Mr-I-have-more-Aura-than-any-living-being-should-ever-have, but us mere mortals would need at least a week to heal the broken bones alone even with Aura." She tried moving her limbs, only to falter, "Yep. Hairline fractures on my shins, a sprained ankle, and too many bruises to count. And I might have cracked some of my fingers." She lifted her left hand to show her pinky had gone blue. "You're a terrible medic, by the way."
Jaune sighed as the woman cackled painfully at his expense. Despite not having any Aura, he could still sense her emotions and there was nothing malicious about her comments. Just good humor. Speaking of, "Humor me though, since you are sort of my mentor here, was that your Semblance?"
"Ugh, so persistent, why can't a lady keep her mystique?" She complained petulantly as she stopped laughing, only to be met with a raised eyebrow. "Fine, fine. It was all Dust. Like, literally all of my Dust. Four thousand Lien worth of High-Quality Lightning Dust, just POOF. Gone. Sure, my Semblance helped, and I was damn lucky to find all those tunnels underground. Probably made by that mole Grimm from earlier. All it took was some clever use of Earth Dust to soften the rocks into sand, then some glyphs here and there to stop them from collapsing prematurely. The Earth Dust in my coat was for emergency defense. It helped protect my back when I smashed into the cliff with that boulder. Thanks for the save by the way, I should have been more careful of that Centinel, especially right after Fie's warning."
Jaune nodded as his eyes unconsciously wandered over her half-naked body, "Don't mention it. Thanks for saving me as well. Now what about that Lightning Bolt thing? You said your Semblance turns your Aura to Lightning, you didn't mention it turns your whole body into it."
Sara grinned at his almost accusatory tone, "I would be a fool to tell anyone the full extent of my abilities. You're mistaken though, I didn't exactly turn into lightning. Using all the Lightning Dust I weaved into my clothes, along with a few of my spare crystals and the one in Joker, I generated so much of it that you couldn't see me underneath it. A special Propulsion-type Glyph, that is an original creation of mine based off the standard Propulsion Glyph and enhanced by my Semblance, launches me at near Lightning Speed, pun intended, towards those Spikes that I had treated with my Aura. I'm basically blind or at best get severe tunnel vision in that state, so those spikes are my beacons, as even with my terrible Aura sensing, Its enough to home into them. I gotta be careful not to impale myself on them, which is why they are blunt on one side. All of that Lightning is then channeled through Ace and explodes out through a stab. Considering how hot Lightning is, it has proven to be extremely potent against anything I've used this move on. Unfortunately, I had too much momentum and ended up blasting right through the Golem and into the crater's ledge, shattering my Aura. Does this answer your question, my nosey apprentice?"
To say that Jaune was impressed would be an understatement. He had never had the time to learn Dust Casting or Glyphs, but then again, these kinds of skills are almost exclusively taught in Huntsmen academies and Gramps had never shown him any. He did remember when he was a kid, that his grandmother would show off her skills when she visited, but his memories were vague. Regardless, This was even more reason for him to enroll in Beacon and learn more about the stuff to compliment his skills.
"Nope, thank you for the impromptu lesson. By the way, did you notice that we could sort of read our thoughts during the fight?"
"Hmm, could be. I did know exactly where you were, and that couldn't have been my Aura sense. You tell me, did you do something before the fight?"
Jaune wondered if the Aura link he established was the reason. Was it part of Search? Or could it be another aspect of his Semblance? Something to discover later. A wave of weakness hit him, but it passed quickly. His boosts had ended.
"Not sure. Anyway, can you stand?"
"Let's see." Sara struggled to stand and waved away a helping hand as she gritted her teeth and forced herself to her knees before standing straight. Jaune finally acknowledged that even bloody and beaten, the woman was still incredibly beautiful with her waist-length hair flowing in the wind; the slight trickle of drying blood from her smirking lips to her chin gave her a feral sort of charm. Especially with how alert her eyes were despite the pain she must be in. That was all disregarding the fact that she was practically half-naked with how little of her clothes survived. You could almost believe that she was all ok, and ready to continue fighting.
Yet, Observe was telling him a different story.
Sara Valestein
Stats:Aura Points: 0/1,853 (111/hr) DEBUFF (37/hr)
Aura Control: 105%
Strength (STR): 32/76
Vitality (VIT): 26/84
Dexterity (DEX): 67/117
Agility (AGL): 56/102
Perception (PER): 68/78
Intelligence (INT): 73/82
Skills:
Searing Flash: Shoots an Aura treated metal spike at a target before channeling lightning through her body, clothes and into her sword to turn herself into a woman sized Lightning Bolt. Can use Dust to greatly amplify the power of her attack. Can channel as much Aura and Dust as she can handle for greater effects. Needs the Sword Ace to be charged with Lightning Dust.
Status Effects:
Aura Exhaustion: Aura recovery reduced to a third (12 hours)
Slightly Dazed: "I'm seeing stars…and a tweety bird….is that a black cat?" Slight reduction in INT and PER (3 hours)
"Here." Jaune produced the shirt he wore yesterday from his Storage. Sara chuckled, yet winced as her ribs poking her lings reminding her that, yep, they were still broken.
"Took your fill of this hot bod? Especially after you touched me in such intimate places." She joked even as she accepted the large shirt that fell down to her thighs and gingerly put it on.
Jaune huffed at the older woman, "Well, you're clearly in much better shape than I thought if you are lively enough to flirt."
The injured woman giggled again before she gingerly moved toward the ledge to take a look at the destruction she caused. She frowned before slowly turned towards the young man near her.
"Uh, Jaune? We have a problem."
"What is it?"
"That Geist isn't dead."
Jaune quickly turned to the crater to find that, yep, the Geist was somehow still alive and had somehow hid from him earlier. It was in the process of rebuilding its body from the debris lying around. As they stared at it, it formed a smaller yet still massive body made from molten rock and roared in their general direction. Its red eye, placed on a rocky head this time, balefully shining in hatred and malevolence.
"…well, fuck."
"Language! Although, I do agree that the situation does, indeed, appear to be fucked, my dear Wunderkind."
"…Plan?"
Sara hummed, "Seeing that I am all out of Aura and Dust, and can barely stand on my feet… Carry me like a princess and run away with our tails between our legs?"
Jaune sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He still had about 1500 AP, but with no way to destroy such an irksome enemy, aside from draining all of his AP in an all out attack hoping he would nail its real body; All he would be able to do was delay the inevitable. He could tell that Sara was putting up a strong front; his senses told him that she was worried and slightly afraid in her moment of weakness. He could relate, as his mind drifted to his time in the cave.
He inwardly shuddered before sighing again. Jaune moved behind the older woman and carried her in his arms, smirking at her surprised yelp, "As good a plan as any."
The Geist roared again as it finished reforming and lumbered towards the edge of the crater, clumsily climbing to the ledge only to see its hated enemy running as fast they could back towards the entrance of the Quarry. It rationally knew it should take this as a chance to rest and recuperate, but the sheer hatred it held for humans, especially that purple-haired one for making it feel such unimaginable pain, overcame its rational thought. It roared in rage and ran off in pursuit.
I bet none of you expected a Montgomery pov, right? I hope you enjoy how contradicting he is. People are a lot more complex to simply paint them in black and white.
Fie comes to the rescue. You will notice that she isn't really good against powerful enemies, boss monsters so to speak, but she is excellent in crowd control and against swarms of fodder. Let's just hope the Sulfur Fish don't combine or something (GASP! Did I just spoil it?)
I subtly explained in earlier chapters why people in a world like Remnant need to always keep an upbeat attitude. Sara embodies that ideal even as she is a complete train wreck. Jaune unconsciously finds himself emulating her, as she is his mentor and role model during this arc. When he found himself alone last chapter, he started panicking. Once he reconnected with Sara, he calmed down and brought out his A-game.
Bear in mind that he is still weakened from his Semblance overuse. If you remember from chapter eight, his Aura recovery is at 50% right now, so he can't afford to waste Aura on attacks or boosts that won't help him against a specific enemy. Retreat is always an option.
Chapter 13 (Sylphid)
I never described the cannons, did I? Think of them as the WWI field cannons used by the French. Specifically, the Howitzer, although a bit bigger and with a sci-fi twist as it uses Dust shells.
WARNING: Implied child torture is in this chapter.
The Fairy of Wind and Sass,
She was in her element. The wind her ally, the Grimm her enemy. Once she saw the swarm of Sulfur Fish attacking the soldiers, she didn't hesitate to drag their attention by removing all semblance of control over her raging emotions. With an explosive burst of movement, Fie lunged into the midst of the swarm. Her every step was a testament to her deadly skill and precise control – she was a blur of motion, a phantom blade that struck and retreated before her adversaries could react. Her daggers danced like a whirlwind, slashing through the air with a symphony of deadly grace; Even as she dodged flaming tails and deadly pincers with an almost supernatural agility, her body a blur as she evaded each attack by the narrowest of margins.
Her Semblance was not strong in the traditional sense. She could control the wind, that's true to an extent, but she couldn't summon storms, or change the weather. At most, she could barely create a breeze with it, let alone a gust of wind strong enough to knock down an assailant. Instead, she could move extremely fast by negating the effect of wind friction, or even hide her presence by eliminating her scent and hiding behind a mirage. Using the same method, she was able to create a sort of vacuum of space around her blades, or limbs, for extra damage when attacking.
Hers was a subtle Semblance. High affinity with Wind Dust, brutal training, and sheer ingenuity combined with her lithe and agile form had always been enough to get her through most combat situations. Sylphid provided other uses for her, but mostly utilitarian in nature. For pure combat, however, she was proud to say that it was all grit and skill from her part… and other things that inflamed the negativity she consciously exuded to drag the Grimm's attention.
The Grimm fell with each heartbeat, their bodies quickly disintegrating leaving nothing but the smell of death and decay. Fie's attacks were a choreography of calculated strikes, each one delivered with a surgical precision that left no room for error. Any time she risked being swarmed, she retreated while leaving a primed grenade as a parting gift. Her reserve of bombs was running low, but nothing created a distraction better than an explosion.
As the sun set in the sky, its last lights cast a gleam upon her blades, turning them into twin flashes of brilliance. Fie's movements became more fluid, more intuitive, as if she and the wind were inextricably intertwined. She moved like a gust of air, appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a trail of fallen foes.
Finally, with a slice of her dagger, she finished off the last of the Sulfur Fish in this sector of the battlefield. The rest of the swarm was getting mowed down by the troops, with many of them confused on whether to attack the troops or the one who was releasing so much negativity.
Fie was getting close to her limit. Her Aura was down to a fifth and her breathing was harsh. It took a lot out of her to maintain this trance she was in; where she drowns herself in those negative feelings when she was just a little girl trying to survive the depredations of those scum, without losing control and breaking down into hysterics.
Even the mere mention of the term Grimm Bait was enough to fill her with Fear. Anger. Hatred!
She shook her head, and emptied her guns at a crowd of Grimm. It was a good thing the Sulfur Fish were so weak, as even her low caliber guns could kill them in one shot. As she reloaded, she noticed that the surviving swarm were combining into one mass of darkness. It was too late to stop them now, and she curiously wondered; what form will they take?
She looked back to beyond the gorge as she saw a flash of light then heard the crashing of thunder, Sara must be going all out.
Regardless, there wasn't any other Grimm nearby, so she carefully controlled her emotions. Speaking of Sara, she had told her multiple times that shoving all those bad memories into the back of her mind wasn't a practical solution to her problem, but it had worked for her so far.
Fie felt her body relax, as her scowling face slowly lost all tension and returned to her normal impassive look, and silently contemplated on her life.
She didn't have many friends. In fact, the list of people she liked was tiny, with Sara being on the top of that list. She liked Sara, loved her even, for she was the big sister she never had, but she wasn't her mother. Fie didn't even remember her own mother, nor her last name. She didn't remember much of her early life, before that incident at least. Sara would never understand what Fie had endured, yet she loved the attention and pampering the older adventurer gave her, even if Sara kept insisting on her making more friends and having fun.
She did have fun; Killing Grimm was fun, helping people was fun, shooting bandits was fun, teasing authority figures was fun, blowing stuff up was the most fun! And she did make a new friend; Jaune was kind, smelled nice, and getting up on that list of people she liked, despite only knowing him for barely two days. Fie could have even sworn that they formed some sort of connection when they were fighting, as she could instinctively know where he was as well as his thoughts during the fight earlier. She must have imagined it, though, as she couldn't feel a thing now.
A quick dash and she was next to the troops, who had stopped firing as they stared at the forming mass in morbid fascination. She noticed the Guard Captain staring at her while having his wounded hand treated. Deciding to have some fun, she flashed a peace sign while raising her voice.
"You guys do know that you could still hurt that thing before it finishes forming, right? I can see limbs bursting out, so it's probably the golem form."
The soldiers jumped at her voice, not even noticing her presence. When they didn't do anything but stare, Fie stared back impassively at the nearest man, one of the gunners if she wasn't mistaken, "Oh no. The tiny little monsters are going to turn into big bad monsters, what are we going to do? If only we had a big cannon that went boom on them."
The men flinched heavily at the extremely bland tone she used. Montgomery was the first to react, "Cannons! Fire the damn guns, curse you."
Fie stared out impassively as the last of the Sulfur Fish succumbed to the unrelenting salvos of the machine guns and cannons. No matter how tough a Grimm was, nor how large, you can always count on the explosive option to get rid of them. The soldiers did well enough, she supposed. She looked on as the men recovered the bodies of their fallen comrades and tuned out the moans of the wounded and the dying. The casualties were disheartening, but she had seen and heard worse. Far worse. They should be glad, she thought with an internal shrug; they could all have been slaughtered to a man.
She could hear galloping horses from behind them, and turned to see a squad of battered Dragoons rushing towards their position, leading a dozen horses. She recognized Rory, who had befriended Jaune, along with that other older man. What was his name? Dinkley?
Hey, that's her horse! She moved swiftly to take his reins from one of the Dragoons, who seemingly didn't even notice her. Looks like her horse had made a friend, she thought, as she looked at the sparrow perched on her horse's head.
"Seems we missed most of the action." The older Dragoon was saying as he beheld the carnage of the previous half-hour.
"Sergeant. How is the camp?" The guard captain greeted from his seat on a crate of munitions. Ah, she remembered his name now, Duncan.
"Secure, for now. It was the classical Wolfbird onslaught. Packs of Beowulfs supported by a flock of Nevermores. We managed to beat them off, but not without casualties of our own."
The men stayed silent as they acknowledged the losses they have both suffered, "anyway, we heard plenty of explosions, so the Lieutenant bid me to check on you. He will be sending an ACP with medical personnel shortly. I also believe these horses are yours."
It was then that he finally noticed her sitting on her horse while also taking hold of Jaune's and Sara's horses. If he was surprised, he hid it well. Rory stifled a laugh as the rest of his squad jerked at her presence.
"…Sup."
Before more could be said, Fie felt something from the quarry. She nudged her horse forward to get a better look, and it seemed the Dragoons had also noticed something as they looked straight ahead. Duncan brought out a pair of binoculars and looked through them.
There was a figure running towards them at high speed and with her superior vision, Fie could tell it was Jaune, but she felt a spike of worry as she noticed a clearly injured Sara in his arms. At the same time, that imaginary connection from earlier reconnected, and she could tell that Jaune was annoyed by something and only had his mind on one thing right now.
Cannons.
"What the devil is that?"
Surprised by the sergeant's shout, Fie looked behind Jaune to find a golem made of cooling molten rock chasing them in a fury. It was quite far behind them, and clearly slow on its feet, but even she could feel the sheer malice and hatred it emitted from its being. That explains it.
"Captain, maybe we should load the cannons and have the gunners aim for that thing? If Jaune and Sara are running from it, then clearly they needed a lot more firepower to take it down."
Montgomery didn't need to be told twice and quickly called for the gunners to load the cannons with the high-explosive munitions. At the same time, Jaune had arrived with Sara and gingerly set her down on an empty cot where the triage was set. Fie took one look at Sara's condition, and her ruined attire, and sighed.
"How much?"
Sara giggled, "Is that the first thing you could think about?"
At her bland expression, Sara shrugged, "A few thousand Lien, no biggie."
Before Fie could give a scathing reply about how money was tight and that Sara needed to be serious about their funds, the gunners gave warning shouts for everyone to cover their ears. Being a faunus, Fie would definitely take that warning extra seriously as she produced a pair of ear plugs from her pocket and put them on, and put another pair on Sara's ears. Soldiers were covering their ears with their hands, but curiously, Jaune unsheathed his sword instead and moved to the frontline all the while it gradually shined to a brilliant sheen. She might not be able to sense Aura, at least normally she couldn't, but from that vague…link… she had with Jaune, Fie could sense an absurd amount of Aura being channeled to that sword. More than what she has right now.
It certainly put into perspective how she was touted out to be this once in a generation genius due to her Aura reserves. To think Jaune still hadn't even recovered his full strength yet.
The Geist, for that's what the golem was, was still blindly charging at them. It was staring right at Sara, and Fie curiously looked back at her friend only to see her struggling to sit upright as one of the medics treated her wounds. She cheekily winked and stuck her tongue out at the Grimm, causing it to unleash a roar of rage that sounded like a rock slide.
The cannons roared back in reply. The twenty-foot tall walking rock formation was blown to smithereens, barely a hundred yards from their position…an ignoble end to such a dangerous threat. Fie kept a close eye on the dust and smoke, for there was a chance the Geist could survive such damage.
Her vigilance proved justified as a black cloaked figure dazedly flew away from the explosion. Before Fie could move to intercept it, a shout from Jaune caught her attention.
"Not this time!"
With a twist of his arms, he unleashed a spiraling bolt of pure Aura from his blade, in the form of a thrust, at the airborne Grimm. It was so fast that the Geist didn't even know what killed it when it hit it in an explosion.
Everyone around them looked at Jaune in awe, especially the Aura using Dragoons. The mere idea that someone had so much Aura that they could channel it into a sword and waste it in a flashy but devastating attack like this was anathema to them. Fie could understand their shock, even she wouldn't dare waste her Aura like this.
As the dust settled, Jaune resheathed his sword and released a sigh. "I think that's it."
"Looks like it." Fie stared at the darkening skies, "We should start packing up and head back to base."
The troops around her continued their earlier chores, while Jaune moved around helping them. She, however, stared curiously at the sparrow that flew off her horse's head. Shame, she thought she had made a new friend.
It was late evening and Fie had just finished a debrief with the Captain and the Lieutenant. The camp was surrounded by makeshift barricades to deter wild animals and act as warning to any approaching Grimm, but there were also many sentries on watch. She carried a bucket of water and towels as she made her way back to the small enclosure where she, Sara and Jaune had pitched one large tent to sleep in. Fie couldn't find Jaune, so she checked on Sara's sleeping form. She had lost consciousness shortly after the Geist was defeated, but the medics stated it was simply exhaustion from the restless past few days combined with her injuries and shattered Aura.
Jaune had briefed her on what happened after she left, and felt a little bad for not being there to help. Then again, without her, the soldiers would have been overrun. Fie used a wet towel to wipe Sara down, making sure she was clean by removing the dried blood and grime on her. It was more for her, as Fie would rather sleep in a clean tent with no smell of death from her sister in all by blood.
After making sure Sara was comfy, Fie stretched her arms and thought about going to sleep herself. She hummed, but then decided to find Jaune first. Tracking his scent was doable, but she could still feel him through that connection they had. Making her way to a solitary campfire where she could hear low voices and chuckles sounding out, she twitched her nose as the smell of tobacco and other lung killers permeated the air.
Jaune was sitting with his Dragoon friends, who had managed to convince him to try a cigar. Before he could take a drag from it, however, she intervened and grabbed it from his hands.
"No smoking for you."
A bark of laughter sounded out from one of the Dragoons, "Oh man, you are so whipped Jauney boy."
Jaune scowled at the men's ribbing, "Give me a break, Fie. I've had a long day, and it's all recreational stuff. All the negatives are negated by Aura, you know. Gotta keep morale high and all that jazz, ain't that right guys?"
"Hear, hear. Its only tobacco, Sylphid. I haven't even brought out my supply of weed. I might even have some catnip if you want?"
She mock glared at Rory, not even sure if he was joking or not. Although, catnip sounds like a good– she shook her head fervently and seriously glared at the man this time, only for him to burst out laughing. Even Jaune joined in the fun, the traitor. She threw the cigar right at Rory's forehead, the lit tip causing him to flinch even through his Aura and fall off his log, much to the laughter of the other Dragoons.
"Fine, fine. I won't smoke, but only because I don't want my bedmate to murder me in my sleep. Come here, Fie." Jaune finally stopped laughing and made space for her to sit next to him on the large rock he used as a seat. Fie ignored him, and feeling mischievous, plopped on his lap instead, much to his shock and the Dragoons amusement.
"Uh, Fie? What are you doing?"
"… Don't mind me, just claiming the comfiest seat."
Jaune tried to object, but she was having none of it. This close to him, that link they had was much stronger, and she thought she could feel something that she attributed to be his Aura. She was never Aura sensitive, but if that's how it was to feel the Aura of others, then she wouldn't mind maintaining that connection for longer. She could tell he was flustered, yet ultimately resigned as he held her waist and allowed her to lean back on his chest, her tail sneaking behind his back to hold onto him.
Duncan, the oldest one among their little group, took a deep drag from his cigar before blowing the smoke out into smokey circles. "You did well today, both of you. I hear that if it wasn't for you, the good captain would have had a rout on his hand. We owe you a debt for keeping everyone safe, Sylphid. While most of the soldiers are deployed here from Vale proper, there are still quite a few of them who hailed from Celdic."
Fie looked impassively at the fire, "I wasn't fast enough to save those who died though." Her reminder brought a somber mood around the campfire. Jaune held her closer for comfort, and she appreciated it but, really, it was unnecessary. Death and destruction are old friends of hers.
"It was tragic, but they knew what they signed up for. What's important is that they didn't die in vain. We will honor them for the brave and stout men that they were in life, and their families shall be told how they died in the line of duty fighting against the enemy of mankind and protecting their comrades. Thank you for helping with their burial, Arc."
"It was no problem. All that Aura I have could always be put to better use. If it means digging a hole through solid rock with my sword, then so be it. Will you send someone to retrieve the bodies for their families?"
"It depends on what their families want. It's become common for soldiers to be buried where they fall, from a purely pragmatic view as well as spiritual. They deserve to occupy the spot they fought and died in. However, if their kin request it, then we shall send an escort."
Rory took this chance to change the subject as the mood was not to his taste, "Say, Sylphid. Or should I call you Fie? Nah, Sylphid sounds cooler. Anyway, I've always wondered about this, but you are quite young to be in this line of business, aren't you? How old are you again? Fourteen?"
Normally, Fie would have clammed up at such a discussion and even thought Rory was provoking her or something. Yet, for some reason, she could feel his intent through his Aura, and he was just curious and maybe a little bored.
"I'll have you know I'm almost sixteen and will be of age next month."
He guffawed, "almost? Well, I guess you're old enough to make your own decisions at least. How did you become so strong though?"
This time, Fie really did clam up and refused to answer, causing an awkward silence to permeate the clearing. Jaune, sensing her reluctance to speak, changed the topic instead.
"I'm more interested in any news from Celdic. Didn't Brocket mention that he had his people scouting out the neighboring bandit clans?"
"He did. Last we've heard was that none of them could be found. It was like they all packed up and left, although there were the occasional signs of combat near their bases."
From there they all engaged in some more small talk, before one by one, the Dragoons excused themselves to sleep or for watch duty. Fie stayed with Jaune, as they enjoyed the comfortable silence between them. Eventually, her curiosity got the better of her, and she asked him about that link they had.
"You noticed, huh? Remember when I mentioned my Searching ability?" She nodded, "It has a sub ability called Pathfinder that allows me to keep track of people I know through their Aura. Although, I'm surprised that you could feel the link. I thought you said that you couldn't feel Aura?"
Fie shrugged, "I can feel your Aura now. If I had to put how it feels into words, it would be strong and stalwart with a hint of tingling that reminds me of static."
Jaune hummed in contemplation, "Must be due to my lightning affinity."
They stared silently at the fire for a few more minutes.
"I promised to teach you that ability, didn't I?"
Fie perked up in surprise. She had forgotten that he did, she nodded her head enthusiastically as she turned around his lap to face him better, "You will?"
"Sure, but are you sure you don't want Storage instead? Think about it, you could store a lot of ammo and explosives in your own personal space. Who knows? If you're skilled enough, you might incorporate it in your fighting style."
Fie bit her lip as she thought deeply about his proposal. Search was certainly tempting, but she was already an excellent tracker. That, combined with her senses, allowed her to easily find any of her quarry. It would be nice, to be able to track targets like Jaune, but from her understanding, she needed to be able to sense Aura to use it the same way as him. Presently, she could feel Aura, but she wasn't sure if it will be gone once Jaune severs that link.
Storage, on the other hand, would be extremely useful to her. Just the thought of the number of explosions she could travel with and unleash in one go caused her to nearly drool in excitement.
Still…she clutched his shirt in embarrassment and bit her lips while she hid her face on his chest.
"…both."
"Sorry?"
Fie looked at him abruptly, "Both! I want both. Could you give me both? Please? I'll do anything!"
Jaune burst out laughing at her pleading look, "Greedy, aren't you? Why would you want both anyway? I mean, that was quite audacious of you, Fie. What would you even offer me?"
"I can teach you stuff. How to make booby traps, or how to use explosions properly, or maybe tracking and woodcraft? You mentioned the ability only works on those with Aura, so tracking Grimm for you would have to be the old-fashioned way. What do you think?"
"Hmm that all sounds good. I'm not bad at tracking Grimm, but I could use a touch up. I'm more interested in Dust weaving and that Aura technique you used to defy gravity. Still, explosions? You really do love blowing stuff up, huh?"
Fie pouted, and jokingly pinched his sides, feeling satisfied at the pained grunt from the blonde man.
"Okay, okay. I give. Sheesh, you're a violent one. Ow!" Another pinch, this time on his thigh.
"What's wrong with being violent? I wouldn't be in this profession if I didn't like killing monsters, shooting bad guys and blowing stuff up."
"True that. Okay, seriously, though," Fie could feel the sudden shift in Jaune's tone. No more joking around, "If there's one thing I want from you, it is to know more about you. Rory asked that same question earlier, but I figured you wouldn't be too comfortable speaking about your past in front of so many people. You know just about everything about me anyway, so why not indulge me?"
Fie clammed up as she buried her face in his chest again. Her past? She would rather not tell anyone about it, let alone someone like Jaune. He was so kind and nice to her, she would rather not ruin what they had. She shook her head violently, this wasn't like her! She would never have acted so spoiled and clingy to anyone. So…weak and vulnerable! Maybe with Sara, but certainly not with someone she had only known for two days. Regardless of how nice Jaune is, and how much she likes him, she had been acting extremely weird around him lately. Is it because she could feel his intentions so clearly? His emotions towards her? That he held no malice or any kind of bad intentions towards her? Heck, he didn't even lust after her, which seriously hurt her ego.
"Fie? Are you alright?"
At his worried soft tone, she froze up and reverted to what she knew best in these situations. She completely withdrew inwards, bottling up her emotions and all her worries behind a powerful mental barrier, right where she keeps those memories of her past. Adopting a completely impassive face, she turned to him and–
"I can feel your emotions, you know? Talk to me, Fie. Tell me what's wrong?" Jaune held her cheeks and looked deeply into her eyes, "What happened to you, Fie?"
Suddenly, all of her mental walls and barriers were shattered by that simple question. What happened to her? She nearly screamed in rage at that question, and had to bite her lips to avoid that knee-jerk reaction, instead allowing a choked sob to leave her mouth.
"…what didn't happen to me? It's not a nice story… Are you sure you want to hear it?"
Jaune nodded his head, "I hope to understand you better. Knowing your past seems like an important step towards that goal."
She lowered her head to his chest as she took a deep shuddering breath, before letting it out. Then, the dam seemingly broke as she shared a past she wanted to forget.
Sorry for the cliffhanger. The crux of the conversation will be in the next chapter.
No matter how dangerous a Grimm could be, it could never withstand the nemesis of all big and ugly monsters. Big guns and even bigger explosions. This ain't an anime where the characters have to moronically fight monsters themselves. When there's an alternative, they will take it.
Fans of the games would realize the significance of the link Fie and Jaune mentioned. Yep, its the Arcus link. I wonder what Jaune will call it? ARC-US? badum-tsss
Keep in mind that Jaune just had the jackpot in the for of Magic Points. It was always my plan for him to focus on spreading the magic rather than hoarding it with the gacha system.
WARNING: Implied child torture is in this chapter.
The Fairy of Wind and Sass,
She was in her element. The wind her ally, the Grimm her enemy. Once she saw the swarm of Sulfur Fish attacking the soldiers, she didn't hesitate to drag their attention by removing all semblance of control over her raging emotions. With an explosive burst of movement, Fie lunged into the midst of the swarm. Her every step was a testament to her deadly skill and precise control – she was a blur of motion, a phantom blade that struck and retreated before her adversaries could react. Her daggers danced like a whirlwind, slashing through the air with a symphony of deadly grace; Even as she dodged flaming tails and deadly pincers with an almost supernatural agility, her body a blur as she evaded each attack by the narrowest of margins.
Her Semblance was not strong in the traditional sense. She could control the wind, that's true to an extent, but she couldn't summon storms, or change the weather. At most, she could barely create a breeze with it, let alone a gust of wind strong enough to knock down an assailant. Instead, she could move extremely fast by negating the effect of wind friction, or even hide her presence by eliminating her scent and hiding behind a mirage. Using the same method, she was able to create a sort of vacuum of space around her blades, or limbs, for extra damage when attacking.
Hers was a subtle Semblance. High affinity with Wind Dust, brutal training, and sheer ingenuity combined with her lithe and agile form had always been enough to get her through most combat situations. Sylphid provided other uses for her, but mostly utilitarian in nature. For pure combat, however, she was proud to say that it was all grit and skill from her part… and other things that inflamed the negativity she consciously exuded to drag the Grimm's attention.
The Grimm fell with each heartbeat, their bodies quickly disintegrating leaving nothing but the smell of death and decay. Fie's attacks were a choreography of calculated strikes, each one delivered with a surgical precision that left no room for error. Any time she risked being swarmed, she retreated while leaving a primed grenade as a parting gift. Her reserve of bombs was running low, but nothing created a distraction better than an explosion.
As the sun set in the sky, its last lights cast a gleam upon her blades, turning them into twin flashes of brilliance. Fie's movements became more fluid, more intuitive, as if she and the wind were inextricably intertwined. She moved like a gust of air, appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a trail of fallen foes.
Finally, with a slice of her dagger, she finished off the last of the Sulfur Fish in this sector of the battlefield. The rest of the swarm was getting mowed down by the troops, with many of them confused on whether to attack the troops or the one who was releasing so much negativity.
Fie was getting close to her limit. Her Aura was down to a fifth and her breathing was harsh. It took a lot out of her to maintain this trance she was in; where she drowns herself in those negative feelings when she was just a little girl trying to survive the depredations of those scum, without losing control and breaking down into hysterics.
Even the mere mention of the term Grimm Bait was enough to fill her with Fear. Anger. Hatred!
She shook her head, and emptied her guns at a crowd of Grimm. It was a good thing the Sulfur Fish were so weak, as even her low caliber guns could kill them in one shot. As she reloaded, she noticed that the surviving swarm were combining into one mass of darkness. It was too late to stop them now, and she curiously wondered; what form will they take?
She looked back to beyond the gorge as she saw a flash of light then heard the crashing of thunder, Sara must be going all out.
Regardless, there wasn't any other Grimm nearby, so she carefully controlled her emotions. Speaking of Sara, she had told her multiple times that shoving all those bad memories into the back of her mind wasn't a practical solution to her problem, but it had worked for her so far.
Fie felt her body relax, as her scowling face slowly lost all tension and returned to her normal impassive look, and silently contemplated on her life.
She didn't have many friends. In fact, the list of people she liked was tiny, with Sara being on the top of that list. She liked Sara, loved her even, for she was the big sister she never had, but she wasn't her mother. Fie didn't even remember her own mother, nor her last name. She didn't remember much of her early life, before that incident at least. Sara would never understand what Fie had endured, yet she loved the attention and pampering the older adventurer gave her, even if Sara kept insisting on her making more friends and having fun.
She did have fun; Killing Grimm was fun, helping people was fun, shooting bandits was fun, teasing authority figures was fun, blowing stuff up was the most fun! And she did make a new friend; Jaune was kind, smelled nice, and getting up on that list of people she liked, despite only knowing him for barely two days. Fie could have even sworn that they formed some sort of connection when they were fighting, as she could instinctively know where he was as well as his thoughts during the fight earlier. She must have imagined it, though, as she couldn't feel a thing now.
A quick dash and she was next to the troops, who had stopped firing as they stared at the forming mass in morbid fascination. She noticed the Guard Captain staring at her while having his wounded hand treated. Deciding to have some fun, she flashed a peace sign while raising her voice.
"You guys do know that you could still hurt that thing before it finishes forming, right? I can see limbs bursting out, so it's probably the golem form."
The soldiers jumped at her voice, not even noticing her presence. When they didn't do anything but stare, Fie stared back impassively at the nearest man, one of the gunners if she wasn't mistaken, "Oh no. The tiny little monsters are going to turn into big bad monsters, what are we going to do? If only we had a big cannon that went boom on them."
The men flinched heavily at the extremely bland tone she used. Montgomery was the first to react, "Cannons! Fire the damn guns, curse you."
T*A*M*S
Fie stared out impassively as the last of the Sulfur Fish succumbed to the unrelenting salvos of the machine guns and cannons. No matter how tough a Grimm was, nor how large, you can always count on the explosive option to get rid of them. The soldiers did well enough, she supposed. She looked on as the men recovered the bodies of their fallen comrades and tuned out the moans of the wounded and the dying. The casualties were disheartening, but she had seen and heard worse. Far worse. They should be glad, she thought with an internal shrug; they could all have been slaughtered to a man.
She could hear galloping horses from behind them, and turned to see a squad of battered Dragoons rushing towards their position, leading a dozen horses. She recognized Rory, who had befriended Jaune, along with that other older man. What was his name? Dinkley?
Hey, that's her horse! She moved swiftly to take his reins from one of the Dragoons, who seemingly didn't even notice her. Looks like her horse had made a friend, she thought, as she looked at the sparrow perched on her horse's head.
"Seems we missed most of the action." The older Dragoon was saying as he beheld the carnage of the previous half-hour.
"Sergeant. How is the camp?" The guard captain greeted from his seat on a crate of munitions. Ah, she remembered his name now, Duncan.
"Secure, for now. It was the classical Wolfbird onslaught. Packs of Beowulfs supported by a flock of Nevermores. We managed to beat them off, but not without casualties of our own."
The men stayed silent as they acknowledged the losses they have both suffered, "anyway, we heard plenty of explosions, so the Lieutenant bid me to check on you. He will be sending an ACP with medical personnel shortly. I also believe these horses are yours."
It was then that he finally noticed her sitting on her horse while also taking hold of Jaune's and Sara's horses. If he was surprised, he hid it well. Rory stifled a laugh as the rest of his squad jerked at her presence.
"…Sup."
Before more could be said, Fie felt something from the quarry. She nudged her horse forward to get a better look, and it seemed the Dragoons had also noticed something as they looked straight ahead. Duncan brought out a pair of binoculars and looked through them.
There was a figure running towards them at high speed and with her superior vision, Fie could tell it was Jaune, but she felt a spike of worry as she noticed a clearly injured Sara in his arms. At the same time, that imaginary connection from earlier reconnected, and she could tell that Jaune was annoyed by something and only had his mind on one thing right now.
Cannons.
"What the devil is that?"
Surprised by the sergeant's shout, Fie looked behind Jaune to find a golem made of cooling molten rock chasing them in a fury. It was quite far behind them, and clearly slow on its feet, but even she could feel the sheer malice and hatred it emitted from its being. That explains it.
"Captain, maybe we should load the cannons and have the gunners aim for that thing? If Jaune and Sara are running from it, then clearly they needed a lot more firepower to take it down."
Montgomery didn't need to be told twice and quickly called for the gunners to load the cannons with the high-explosive munitions. At the same time, Jaune had arrived with Sara and gingerly set her down on an empty cot where the triage was set. Fie took one look at Sara's condition, and her ruined attire, and sighed.
"How much?"
Sara giggled, "Is that the first thing you could think about?"
At her bland expression, Sara shrugged, "A few thousand Lien, no biggie."
Before Fie could give a scathing reply about how money was tight and that Sara needed to be serious about their funds, the gunners gave warning shouts for everyone to cover their ears. Being a faunus, Fie would definitely take that warning extra seriously as she produced a pair of ear plugs from her pocket and put them on, and put another pair on Sara's ears. Soldiers were covering their ears with their hands, but curiously, Jaune unsheathed his sword instead and moved to the frontline all the while it gradually shined to a brilliant sheen. She might not be able to sense Aura, at least normally she couldn't, but from that vague…link… she had with Jaune, Fie could sense an absurd amount of Aura being channeled to that sword. More than what she has right now.
It certainly put into perspective how she was touted out to be this once in a generation genius due to her Aura reserves. To think Jaune still hadn't even recovered his full strength yet.
The Geist, for that's what the golem was, was still blindly charging at them. It was staring right at Sara, and Fie curiously looked back at her friend only to see her struggling to sit upright as one of the medics treated her wounds. She cheekily winked and stuck her tongue out at the Grimm, causing it to unleash a roar of rage that sounded like a rock slide.
The cannons roared back in reply. The twenty-foot tall walking rock formation was blown to smithereens, barely a hundred yards from their position…an ignoble end to such a dangerous threat. Fie kept a close eye on the dust and smoke, for there was a chance the Geist could survive such damage.
Her vigilance proved justified as a black cloaked figure dazedly flew away from the explosion. Before Fie could move to intercept it, a shout from Jaune caught her attention.
"Not this time!"
With a twist of his arms, he unleashed a spiraling bolt of pure Aura from his blade, in the form of a thrust, at the airborne Grimm. It was so fast that the Geist didn't even know what killed it when it hit it in an explosion.
Everyone around them looked at Jaune in awe, especially the Aura using Dragoons. The mere idea that someone had so much Aura that they could channel it into a sword and waste it in a flashy but devastating attack like this was anathema to them. Fie could understand their shock, even she wouldn't dare waste her Aura like this.
As the dust settled, Jaune resheathed his sword and released a sigh. "I think that's it."
"Looks like it." Fie stared at the darkening skies, "We should start packing up and head back to base."
The troops around her continued their earlier chores, while Jaune moved around helping them. She, however, stared curiously at the sparrow that flew off her horse's head. Shame, she thought she had made a new friend.
T*A*M*S
It was late evening and Fie had just finished a debrief with the Captain and the Lieutenant. The camp was surrounded by makeshift barricades to deter wild animals and act as warning to any approaching Grimm, but there were also many sentries on watch. She carried a bucket of water and towels as she made her way back to the small enclosure where she, Sara and Jaune had pitched one large tent to sleep in. Fie couldn't find Jaune, so she checked on Sara's sleeping form. She had lost consciousness shortly after the Geist was defeated, but the medics stated it was simply exhaustion from the restless past few days combined with her injuries and shattered Aura.
Jaune had briefed her on what happened after she left, and felt a little bad for not being there to help. Then again, without her, the soldiers would have been overrun. Fie used a wet towel to wipe Sara down, making sure she was clean by removing the dried blood and grime on her. It was more for her, as Fie would rather sleep in a clean tent with no smell of death from her sister in all by blood.
After making sure Sara was comfy, Fie stretched her arms and thought about going to sleep herself. She hummed, but then decided to find Jaune first. Tracking his scent was doable, but she could still feel him through that connection they had. Making her way to a solitary campfire where she could hear low voices and chuckles sounding out, she twitched her nose as the smell of tobacco and other lung killers permeated the air.
Jaune was sitting with his Dragoon friends, who had managed to convince him to try a cigar. Before he could take a drag from it, however, she intervened and grabbed it from his hands.
"No smoking for you."
A bark of laughter sounded out from one of the Dragoons, "Oh man, you are so whipped Jauney boy."
Jaune scowled at the men's ribbing, "Give me a break, Fie. I've had a long day, and it's all recreational stuff. All the negatives are negated by Aura, you know. Gotta keep morale high and all that jazz, ain't that right guys?"
"Hear, hear. Its only tobacco, Sylphid. I haven't even brought out my supply of weed. I might even have some catnip if you want?"
She mock glared at Rory, not even sure if he was joking or not. Although, catnip sounds like a good– she shook her head fervently and seriously glared at the man this time, only for him to burst out laughing. Even Jaune joined in the fun, the traitor. She threw the cigar right at Rory's forehead, the lit tip causing him to flinch even through his Aura and fall off his log, much to the laughter of the other Dragoons.
"Fine, fine. I won't smoke, but only because I don't want my bedmate to murder me in my sleep. Come here, Fie." Jaune finally stopped laughing and made space for her to sit next to him on the large rock he used as a seat. Fie ignored him, and feeling mischievous, plopped on his lap instead, much to his shock and the Dragoons amusement.
"Uh, Fie? What are you doing?"
"… Don't mind me, just claiming the comfiest seat."
Jaune tried to object, but she was having none of it. This close to him, that link they had was much stronger, and she thought she could feel something that she attributed to be his Aura. She was never Aura sensitive, but if that's how it was to feel the Aura of others, then she wouldn't mind maintaining that connection for longer. She could tell he was flustered, yet ultimately resigned as he held her waist and allowed her to lean back on his chest, her tail sneaking behind his back to hold onto him.
Duncan, the oldest one among their little group, took a deep drag from his cigar before blowing the smoke out into smokey circles. "You did well today, both of you. I hear that if it wasn't for you, the good captain would have had a rout on his hand. We owe you a debt for keeping everyone safe, Sylphid. While most of the soldiers are deployed here from Vale proper, there are still quite a few of them who hailed from Celdic."
Fie looked impassively at the fire, "I wasn't fast enough to save those who died though." Her reminder brought a somber mood around the campfire. Jaune held her closer for comfort, and she appreciated it but, really, it was unnecessary. Death and destruction are old friends of hers.
"It was tragic, but they knew what they signed up for. What's important is that they didn't die in vain. We will honor them for the brave and stout men that they were in life, and their families shall be told how they died in the line of duty fighting against the enemy of mankind and protecting their comrades. Thank you for helping with their burial, Arc."
"It was no problem. All that Aura I have could always be put to better use. If it means digging a hole through solid rock with my sword, then so be it. Will you send someone to retrieve the bodies for their families?"
"It depends on what their families want. It's become common for soldiers to be buried where they fall, from a purely pragmatic view as well as spiritual. They deserve to occupy the spot they fought and died in. However, if their kin request it, then we shall send an escort."
Rory took this chance to change the subject as the mood was not to his taste, "Say, Sylphid. Or should I call you Fie? Nah, Sylphid sounds cooler. Anyway, I've always wondered about this, but you are quite young to be in this line of business, aren't you? How old are you again? Fourteen?"
Normally, Fie would have clammed up at such a discussion and even thought Rory was provoking her or something. Yet, for some reason, she could feel his intent through his Aura, and he was just curious and maybe a little bored.
"I'll have you know I'm almost sixteen and will be of age next month."
He guffawed, "almost? Well, I guess you're old enough to make your own decisions at least. How did you become so strong though?"
This time, Fie really did clam up and refused to answer, causing an awkward silence to permeate the clearing. Jaune, sensing her reluctance to speak, changed the topic instead.
"I'm more interested in any news from Celdic. Didn't Brocket mention that he had his people scouting out the neighboring bandit clans?"
"He did. Last we've heard was that none of them could be found. It was like they all packed up and left, although there were the occasional signs of combat near their bases."
From there they all engaged in some more small talk, before one by one, the Dragoons excused themselves to sleep or for watch duty. Fie stayed with Jaune, as they enjoyed the comfortable silence between them. Eventually, her curiosity got the better of her, and she asked him about that link they had.
"You noticed, huh? Remember when I mentioned my Searching ability?" She nodded, "It has a sub ability called Pathfinder that allows me to keep track of people I know through their Aura. Although, I'm surprised that you could feel the link. I thought you said that you couldn't feel Aura?"
Fie shrugged, "I can feel your Aura now. If I had to put how it feels into words, it would be strong and stalwart with a hint of tingling that reminds me of static."
Jaune hummed in contemplation, "Must be due to my lightning affinity."
They stared silently at the fire for a few more minutes.
"I promised to teach you that ability, didn't I?"
Fie perked up in surprise. She had forgotten that he did, she nodded her head enthusiastically as she turned around his lap to face him better, "You will?"
"Sure, but are you sure you don't want Storage instead? Think about it, you could store a lot of ammo and explosives in your own personal space. Who knows? If you're skilled enough, you might incorporate it in your fighting style."
Fie bit her lip as she thought deeply about his proposal. Search was certainly tempting, but she was already an excellent tracker. That, combined with her senses, allowed her to easily find any of her quarry. It would be nice, to be able to track targets like Jaune, but from her understanding, she needed to be able to sense Aura to use it the same way as him. Presently, she could feel Aura, but she wasn't sure if it will be gone once Jaune severs that link.
Storage, on the other hand, would be extremely useful to her. Just the thought of the number of explosions she could travel with and unleash in one go caused her to nearly drool in excitement.
Still…she clutched his shirt in embarrassment and bit her lips while she hid her face on his chest.
"…both."
"Sorry?"
Fie looked at him abruptly, "Both! I want both. Could you give me both? Please? I'll do anything!"
Jaune burst out laughing at her pleading look, "Greedy, aren't you? Why would you want both anyway? I mean, that was quite audacious of you, Fie. What would you even offer me?"
"I can teach you stuff. How to make booby traps, or how to use explosions properly, or maybe tracking and woodcraft? You mentioned the ability only works on those with Aura, so tracking Grimm for you would have to be the old-fashioned way. What do you think?"
"Hmm that all sounds good. I'm not bad at tracking Grimm, but I could use a touch up. I'm more interested in Dust weaving and that Aura technique you used to defy gravity. Still, explosions? You really do love blowing stuff up, huh?"
Fie pouted, and jokingly pinched his sides, feeling satisfied at the pained grunt from the blonde man.
"Okay, okay. I give. Sheesh, you're a violent one. Ow!" Another pinch, this time on his thigh.
"What's wrong with being violent? I wouldn't be in this profession if I didn't like killing monsters, shooting bad guys and blowing stuff up."
"True that. Okay, seriously, though," Fie could feel the sudden shift in Jaune's tone. No more joking around, "If there's one thing I want from you, it is to know more about you. Rory asked that same question earlier, but I figured you wouldn't be too comfortable speaking about your past in front of so many people. You know just about everything about me anyway, so why not indulge me?"
Fie clammed up as she buried her face in his chest again. Her past? She would rather not tell anyone about it, let alone someone like Jaune. He was so kind and nice to her, she would rather not ruin what they had. She shook her head violently, this wasn't like her! She would never have acted so spoiled and clingy to anyone. So…weak and vulnerable! Maybe with Sara, but certainly not with someone she had only known for two days. Regardless of how nice Jaune is, and how much she likes him, she had been acting extremely weird around him lately. Is it because she could feel his intentions so clearly? His emotions towards her? That he held no malice or any kind of bad intentions towards her? Heck, he didn't even lust after her, which seriously hurt her ego.
"Fie? Are you alright?"
At his worried soft tone, she froze up and reverted to what she knew best in these situations. She completely withdrew inwards, bottling up her emotions and all her worries behind a powerful mental barrier, right where she keeps those memories of her past. Adopting a completely impassive face, she turned to him and–
"I can feel your emotions, you know? Talk to me, Fie. Tell me what's wrong?" Jaune held her cheeks and looked deeply into her eyes, "What happened to you, Fie?"
Suddenly, all of her mental walls and barriers were shattered by that simple question. What happened to her? She nearly screamed in rage at that question, and had to bite her lips to avoid that knee-jerk reaction, instead allowing a choked sob to leave her mouth.
"…what didn't happen to me? It's not a nice story… Are you sure you want to hear it?"
Jaune nodded his head, "I hope to understand you better. Knowing your past seems like an important step towards that goal."
She lowered her head to his chest as she took a deep shuddering breath, before letting it out. Then, the dam seemingly broke as she shared a past she wanted to forget.
Sorry for the cliffhanger. The crux of the conversation will be in the next chapter.
No matter how dangerous a Grimm could be, it could never withstand the nemesis of all big and ugly monsters. Big guns and even bigger explosions. This ain't an anime where the characters have to moronically fight monsters themselves. When there's an alternative, they will take it.
Fans of the games would realize the significance of the link Fie and Jaune mentioned. Yep, its the Arcus link. I wonder what Jaune will call it? ARC-US? badum-tsss
Keep in mind that Jaune just had the jackpot in the for of Magic Points. It was always my plan for him to focus on spreading the magic rather than hoarding it with the gacha system.
Chapter 14 (Grimm Bait)
Warning: Descriptive scenes of child torture. I am sure you've read worse, at least I did, but the M rating for this fic is there for a reason.
This chapter has been edited by Gladiusx. Yes I managed to convince him to work on this dumpster fire. Go check his works on HP and ASOIAF.
Fie
"I was born in the northernmost part of the Hellenes, north of Mistral and well beyond Argus. I couldn't tell you where - all I remember from my childhood was a mining village in the mountains and the cold air. I didn't have any family. I couldn't tell you if I even had parents or if I spontaneously appeared out of the wilderness, yet the villagers treated me well enough when I showed up suddenly. I remember an old man teaching me how to read and write and be kind and polite. I remember exploring the mines with the other kids. It wasn't a happy childhood, yet being an orphan, If I could feel a smidgen of the love the other parents gave their children, I was content."
Even though she couldn't even remember the faces or names of those people from long ago, she still felt a smile on her face as she thought about them. About the mere idea of friends and family. Oh, how she still yearned for a family of her own.
"Yet, that all changed. The village was being forced to pay tribute to a certain bandit tribe in gold and other precious metals from the mines, but they had seemingly decided that our payments weren't enough anymore. It was a poor village, and the mines produced purely conventional metals. No Dust, otherwise, the Kingdoms would have gladly provided aid. Why would Mistral or Atlas bother with a backwater village in the middle of nowhere? I don't know if the village elders decided to be defiant or if the mines had run dry. Whatever the reason, the bandits attacked the village, killing the men and enslaving the women and children, myself included."
Fie could feel Jaune's emotions spiking, but she continued with her tale so as to be done with it as soon as possible.
"Sara already explained the concept of Grimm Bait, right?"
She could feel Jaune nodding, "In the simplest of terms, It's a despicable method that bandits and their ilk use to turn a person, usually a child for their pliable nature, into an unhinged mass of fear, hatred, pain, and all sorts of other negative emotions to cause a Grimm horde to form around them. Sometimes, they would try to unlock the child's Aura as well, but considering not all people have the potential to unlock it. Even then, there are certain conditions to do so, and failures happen more often than not. Should they succeed, however, that child becomes a beacon for every Grimm for miles around them. All the bandits need now is to lure the Grimm and drop the… bait in the middle of a town, and people's first instinct would naturally be to help the poor child…not realizing that they are holding a ticking bomb. By the time the Grimm are done with them and moved on, the bandits would swoop in and loot the town for all it's worth."
He placed his head over Fie's and hugged her tightly, "What did they do to make a Grimm Bait, Fie? Sara never explained how… What did they do to you?"
"…How would they ensure that a child would know nothing but fear, anger, and hatred? They would make sure they never feel safe, that they are always wronged, and instill in their minds that they are weak. That there's nothing in life for them. It was almost a science how they were careful with their torture; rarely would they resort to physical torture as they wouldn't want to break their precious bait after all. A broken bait is apathetic and wouldn't care about anything anymore, so the Grimm would ignore them, thus making them worthless. They would always keep a sliver of either hope or defiance for the child to cling to, no matter how bad the torture would get…"
Jaune hugged her tighter, and she could feel his emotions were in turmoil. Rage, sadness, and anger at her situation, although he was careful not to lose control.
"You survived, though."
"…I did. Although, I wonder at times if I'm just dreaming and one day, I will wake up and be back in that cell." She huffed humorously.
"They were getting desperate as they were pressured by a rival tribe and took extreme measures to create their secret weapon. Usually, it would take days or weeks to create a Grimm Bait. There were a dozen of us at first, all of us under ten years old - all of them were kids I knew. Yet, I was the only one who survived in the end. It was so, so horrible, Jaune."
She hiccuped a sob as she recollected the faces of her dead friends and the terror they all felt. She felt tears gathering in her eyes, but she felt Jaune would not judge her for mourning her childhood.
"They resorted to such painful methods, especially with me, since I managed to unlock my Aura. It was a lot more than they expected, but that was a boon for them. 'She could just heal from whatever we do to her,' they would say, 'We're wasting time, just flay her skin or whip her bloody, and it will grow back.' It hurt so much. Pain was my constant companion during those days. They knew that with my Aura, it would be difficult for them to instill fear or hopelessness in me, so they tried their best to make me hate them instead. And how I hated them with every fiber of my being. Something must have broken inside me from the sheer hate or stress, I don't know. One day, I noticed my hair lost its brown color and became bone white."
Fie could feel that Jaune was getting very close to losing control. He was unconsciously leaking Aura, and she could feel the malice and rage from it. She should be worried about him losing control and attracting the Grimm, and she idly thought that the middle of the forest wasn't the best place to have a heart-to-heart. Yet, the fact that Jaune was losing control for her sake was strangely heartening.
It was proof that he cared.
"For what it's worth," Jaune gritted out before releasing a breath, "I like your white hair. I even thought you might be a secret Schnee or something."
She let out a wet giggle at that. Her? A Schnee? A Cat-faunus being mistaken for a Schnee?
"How did you escape?"
"They never expected me to discover my Semblance. What were the odds of someone unlocking their Aura in the first place? If it is not done by a close family member or someone they feel utterly safe and ambivalent around, it's nearly impossible to unlock Aura unless you are a child in a stressful situation. With the minuscule chance of unlocking Aura in mind, what are the chances of someone discovering their Semblance shortly after unlocking their Aura?"
Jaune remained silent for a moment, "Astronomical, to say the least."
She nodded, "They thought I was under their control, that while I hated them, I was powerless to do anything to them. They were wrong, and they paid the price for their arrogance. I managed to kill my torturer by shoving my wind-infused hand into his eye and through his brain. That was my first kill, and it was cathartic as hell. I knew I needed to escape now. The wind was on my side, and I could seemingly hide from their patrols, even when I was right in front of them. I didn't make it far before I was out of Aura. Then… I was caught by that other tribe."
Fie stayed silent for a while, though she appreciated Jaune rubbing her back soothingly.
"Then what?"
She sighed, idly running her hand on Jaune's back.
"The other tribe took me in, but don't think it was out of benevolence or sympathy. They saw potential in me and trained me to be the opposite of what the first tribe desired. I'm sure you noticed, but Grimm Baits are not really that practical. In the bluntest of terms, they are a one-use-only trick that is extremely dangerous to keep around. The tribe that kidnapped me needed to use me quickly before I dragged a Grimm horde on their heads. They had planned to drop me in the middle of a large town similar to Celdic, which was under the protection of their rivals. My new tribe…They expected more from me. They wanted me to be their hidden weapon, an assassin. It took years of brutal training to control my urges and emotions to consciously lure Grimm instead of being a shining beacon all the time. Not to mention the physical conditioning and combat training they put me through. I never complained, though, for I had sworn that never again will I ever be weak. I shall never allow anyone to make me feel weak again. Suffice to say, they got their weapon."
An ominous silence followed her statement, and Fie lost herself to the soothing caresses of Jaune's hand on her head and back. Yet, she didn't believe she deserved such treatment.
"I killed people, Jaune." His hands paused for a second before he resumed comforting her, which encouraged her to carry on. "Men and women, some even innocent people who refused to pay tribute or bow down to tyranny. Those who trained me were still vicious bandits and marauders. I didn't care, not at first, for they purposely weaned me into the killing business by having me solely target that old tribe who turned me into what I am before they had me kill other rivals and detractors. I will not lie, Jaune. I relished in killing them, in avenging myself from the pain and misery they inflicted upon me. I would even convince myself that I was doing it for the greater good, for they wouldn't be able to harm anyone anymore. If I occasionally ended up mixing an innocent with my tormentors' face, then it was worth it! Eventually, we wiped them all out, and then…then I was lost. I didn't know what to do now. Aside from constantly getting better and gaining the strength to never be in that situation again, I had no more goals in life. And then…the weight of my actions crashed onto me."
"How old were you when you wiped out those monsters?"
"…Twelve, I think. Maybe thirteen? I was never sure when my birthday was, although I think it was late August, when my Aura usually matured the most. Anyway, with my tormentors dead, I could finally take time to contemplate my actions. I finally acknowledged the innocent blood on my hands. That realization nearly broke me. I didn't have anyone to talk to or confide in. I had no one to console me. All I could do was rely on my training and shove everything into the back of my head."
"I will not claim to understand what you were going through, Fie, but for what it's worth, you were not at fault. You were a victim of circumstances completely out of your control."
She smiled wanly, "…I know. Sara told me the same thing. I didn't have any friends or confidants in the tribe who trained me, for they never truly accepted me as one of their own. They feared what they had created, and they hated that I never lowered myself to their level of sadism and debauchery. With how they trained me, I could lead entire hordes of Grimm to their doorstep, and they would be none the wiser. They never trusted me, especially after we wiped out my tormentors, for I had the habit of sparing some of their targets that I didn't believe deserved to die. Time and again, they tried to have me join in their raiding and pillaging, killing people for sport or torturing them for fun. They wanted me to be as bad as them, to have the same morality or lack of, in order to be accepted in their ranks. I refused. I even killed one of their own when they tried to rape a kid younger than me. I was even responsible for a slave revolt once. They really didn't like that, but there was nothing they could really do. I had become too strong for them to control, and they knew I wanted to be free of them, so they gave me one last mission, and then they promised to let me go. To never hunt me down or put a bounty on my head. Assassinate a powerful adventurer hired by a rebelling town for protection."
"I guess it was a setup? They never expected you to survive?"
Fie chuckled, "No, they didn't. The adventurer was powerful, one of the toughest fights of my life. She was new to the profession, but she was a Huntsmen-in-Training before that. I waited until she was out of town, then decided to kill her in her sleep. I snuck into her tent, preparing for the killing blow. I would like to say that I hesitated or had second thoughts, but I didn't even have the time to doubt myself before the adventurer somehow sensed me, and the fight was on. I won't bore you with the details, but I was outmatched. I was faster, maybe even more skilled with my blades, but she had stamina and sheer power in spades and a lot more experience. Her usage of Dust was also devastating. Dust users are incredibly rare, and I don't think my tribe even realized how strong she was. I was losing stamina and Aura, yet the adventurer only got faster as she shook off the grogginess of being suddenly awoken… or her hangover, I could never tell at the time."
"Why do I feel like I should know that adventurer?" Jaune gave a strained chuckle, and she even managed a small grin.
"Eventually, we called a truce when my tribe, thinking we were weakened, attacked us mid-fight. After we took them down, one thing led to another, and the adventurer took me in as an apprentice. With the help of some other adventurers and huntsmen she knew, we wiped out that bandit tribe. And that wass how I met Sara."
"Called it," Jaune sighed in exasperation. "Figured it would be an insane first meeting between you two."
She giggled in turn. They remained silent for a few minutes, Fie hugging Jaune and listening to his beating heart. Considering how fast and powerful it beat, he was clearly affected by her tale. Opening up to Jaune was a relief. She felt like a heavy weight was off her shoulders, though she couldn't remember why they started this conversation. Worryingly, she could tell Jaune was still trying to rein in his emotions.
She wasn't worth getting so worked up on.
"Fie?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you for telling me your past. I have one last question before I let you go to sleep."
The mention of sleep had her yawning. She was still a growing girl and needed her beauty sleep.
"Go on."
"Did Sara never offer to adopt you? To give you her name?"
Fie giggled, "I'm sure she would make a fuss about being too young to have kids. But no, she did not. Mostly because she had no real name to give me. Valestein was simply the name of the Mantle orphanage she grew up in."
"I see."
Suddenly, she felt…something… flowing through her, removing all her drowsiness. She had no idea what it was, and it was definitely not Aura. She looked up quickly at Jaune, only to see his eyes closed in concentration. This continued for a few seconds before he let out a breath and looked at her.
"How do you feel?"
Fie inspected herself, but she didn't really feel any different. Maybe she could feel the wind better?
"What did you do? What am I looking for, exactly?"
"Hmm, try to think of Sara and her location for now."
Fie focused for a moment before gasping as she could feel Sara's slowly recovering Aura mending her wounds a short distance away.
"I-I can feel it. I can tell exactly where she is! Was that Search?"
"Yep. Cool, huh?"
Fie smiled happily, "It is! But… I don't actually have Aura sense, Jaune. I hope you didn't waste this on me."
"Don't worry about it, and It works solely on your thoughts. Aura sense helps, but it's not a requirement. Besides, I have a feeling that you will develop your own Aura sense so long as you practice and remember that feeling. It's like a new muscle, and it needs time and practice for it to get stronger."
She nodded her head rapidly, even as she felt Jaune slowly severing the link they had. Fie worried a bit that she would lose that connection to him as well as her newly found abilities, but she needn't have worried. It was much weaker, but she could still sense Jaune in front of her. Although she could barely feel Sara, she had hopes that she would be able to train her Search.
"Now, how about you store your Chasers away? They have been digging uncomfortably into my thighs for a while now."
Fie blushed in embarrassment before acknowledging his words.
"Storage?"
At his nod, she instantly tried it out, and to her surprise, her gunswords were gone, yet she instinctively felt that she could still access them. Suffice it to say, Fie's first order of business once they were back in Celdic was stocking up on ice cream and a ton of explosives…literally.
A few minutes later, Fie had finally calmed down and hopped to her feet. She twirled in place and gave a brilliant smile to the man who had opened a new way for her to view the world.
"How did you even do this, Jaune? It's nothing like Aura."
Jaune hummed, "I guess I can tell you a bit. To put it simply…Magic!"
Jaune gazed at the sleeping form of the young girl he had come to cherish so much. Despite only knowing her for a few days, he could not help but feel that Fie was the younger sister he had never had. He bemusedly thought what the rest of his family would think of her.
It was past midnight, and the girl had exhausted herself to sleep as she practiced her Aura sense. He took a deep breath and did his best to shove what he learned today to the back of his mind. There were a few things he needed to do before he lost control.
First among them, who would have thought that the third aspect of his Semblance would be so…broken!
He thought about the Challenges that Krystal gave him and the magic points he had earned. He got one point for slaying the Goliath and a bonus one for killing another one at the same time. Krystal said something about style points and that it was a double kill or whatever. One point for the Cenitaur, despite Sara being the one to kill it, and another for it being over one hundred years old. One more for the Geist as well as five points for its age. Twenty-two points for slaying Grimm over one hundred years in that first charge, with help from Sara and Fie, and finally eight points for Fie's demolishing of the Sulfur Fish and the kills the troops had made on the horde. This all combined to give him forty extra magic points plus the eight he originally had, for a total of forty-eight. Subtract the six points for granting Fie both Search and Storage, and his current available magic points would be thirty-nine.
'Status'
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: TBD
Age: 17
Height: 6'2"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 1700/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 150/hr) (07:39)
Aura Control: 23%—>31%
Strength (STR): 81—>82
Vitality (VIT): 98
Dexterity (DEX): 85—>86
Agility (AGL): 62—>63
Perception (PER): 55—>57
Intelligence (INT): 93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG) [Recharges every 9 days]: 39/42 (8 days to regain one MP)
*Gained one permanent point from awakening the System early, merging with the System, and from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
Perks (Stacks):
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you. Moonlight boosts Aura Recovery by 50%. Moonlight boosts stats by 10%
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration by a flat 100/hr.
*CRITICAL BOOST: Provides a 600% stat increase that can be distributed evenly or focused on one or more stats. Costs 10 AP/hr for every 1% stat boost. Can only be activated in increments of twenty minutes. Increasing stats to 100 does not have adverse health effects. Increasing stats beyond 50% of your current maximum may cause adverse health effects. Incremental increases beyond that will cause adverse health effects.
*EMPOWER: Allows you to transfer the effects of an ability to a target with an Aura link. ?-?-?
Special Abilities
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Aura Sense implemented into the ability; you can now view the target's emotions.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura.
Search (C-rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder: Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Skills:
Crescent Wave: Channel 100 AP to a compatible weapon and unleash a one-meter-wide Aura attack with a range of 10 meters. The speed of the attack depends on the skill and power of the swing. Can channel more AP for more devastating effects.
Aura Sense: Can passively sense targets that have Aura. Can be actively used to sense targets within a certain range for their Aura and emotions—costs 1 AP per second for every meter away from the user.
Arc-Us: Create an Aura link and attach it to a target for up-to-date thoughts and intentions. The target must be friendly and trust you. Allows you to use abilities that require physical touch through the link.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused I: Aura recovery reduced to 50% (Time remaining: 7 hours, 39 minutes). Ability [Second Wind] disabled until Aura recovery returns to 100%.
Blessings of the Moon: You are under direct moonlight. Aura recovery increased by 50%. Stats increased by 10%.
His stats had marginally increased across the board, and his AC improved exponentially. As expected, however, granting someone Magic completely removed it from his pool. He would have had forty-eight MP without granting Search and Storage to Fie. It was still an insanely large amount that he had, and considering his chosen profession, he would be drowning in MP soon enough. Though perhaps he should save the points for the higher-ranked abilities.
He would rather use it to help people, especially those he cherished and trusted, instead of hoarding it in the hopes of getting good abilities. Jaune would rather trust in himself and his Semblance to win the day over a random power that he may or may not get.
Speaking of his Semblance, Empower was the reason both Sara and Fie could sense him. He had unconsciously allowed them access to Aura sense when he placed the link on them, and looking at Fie's status, she had managed to develop the ability to sense Aura from a bleeding effect. Sara already had the ability, but it was quite primitive. Maybe she could train it up later on?
Arc-Us was a basic skill, in his opinion, but Jaune had a strong feeling that it would be invaluable when he got his own team.
'But what's up with the names, Krystal?'
'So it would seem. I might have an idea or two on how to use it. But, Arc-Us? Really?'
'Lame.'
'…Never mind, Arc-Us sounds good. Anyway, will you explain why you didn't let me grant Observe to Fie, now?'
'…Damn. Didn't think of that. Thanks, Krystal'
Jaune moved to Sara's side of the tent. The woman was grimacing in her sleep, clearly in great pain. The medics have done all they could for her, even injecting her with Morphine to ease her pain, but she would need proper medical assistance once they return to Celdic. Time to see what Empower could do.
The young man placed his palm over Sara's head and focused. He tried to use Second Wind on her, but it appears the cooldown included using it on others. Jaune hoped that the ability wouldn't time out after using it on one target — a ping from his soul — and never mind. Overdrive assured him he could use it on multiple people so long as he didn't overuse it on himself or others.
With SW having to wait a few more hours, Jaune was at a loss. He was tempted to boost her VIT with Critical Boost, but that would only be a temporary measure. A stop-gap at best. He entertained the idea of using CB on something more esoteric rather than stats, like her healing ability itself, but again, without Aura to fuel her healing, he could do more harm than good.
'This is getting annoying.' Unknowingly, Jaune had channeled Aura into his hands, and with Empower technically active because he had Arc-Us on Sara, his Aura flowed through his hand… and into Sara, causing her to release a small gasp.
"What?"
Jaune stared in shock as Sara's body greedily drank in his Aura. He never expected this! He had never heard of a way to transfer Aura to others. Empower really did live up to its name, he thought, as he channeled more Aura into Sara, and he could even hear faint popping sounds as her bones mended and the slight scars and tiny blemishes on her body disappeared. He could see her AP rising, but it was slower than he was transferring as her body went into high gear, using all that extra Aura to repair the damage. It was soon approaching half-–
The blonde jerked in surprise at the sudden shout in his mind and removed his hands from his patient. He had never heard Krystal speak in anything apart from a calm and cultured voice. Now, he could detect a hint of worry from him.
'What is it? What's wrong? Sara is still injured, and her Aura is depleting even now to heal the damage.'
'Mine? But, I can clearly see in her status that it's hers.'
'Okay, I sort of already knew that I'm awesome. What of it? My family always healed easily even when our Aura was locked. What does that have to do with anything?'
At that, Jaune quickly checked the woman's body and noticed that Krystal was correct. Her face had an unhealthy blush as if she was drunk, and she was breathing easier now that her ribs were mended; however, her breathing was also quicker, and her body was hot and sweating like crazy. Panic started to take over.
'What the hell?'
Jaune quickly grabbed several wet towels, produced an Ice Dust Crystal, and placed it in one of the towels before slowly channeling a minuscule amount of Aura into it to cool the wet towels even further. He placed a towel on Sara's forehead while he wiped her body with the rest. It was a good thing that Krystal had stopped him in time, as even as he watched, Sara's breathing slowed, and her temperature gradually returned to normal.
'Thanks for the save, Krystal. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if I didn't stop.'
'You're right, but before that.'
Jaune had a choice, and he easily made it. He trusted Sara and felt that they had formed a bond of camaraderie when they fought together. He placed his hand on her head once more, and after a moment of focus, he was down six more MP.
Jaune thought about her weapons, Ace and Joker, and imagined transferring them from his Storage to hers. It surprisingly worked, though he was unsure if it was due to the link he had yet to sever or because Sara was unconscious and unable to reject the trade, so to speak.
Regardless, Jaune stood up and silently made his way out of the tent and to the edge of camp. He was excited about what his Semblance had to offer and was a bit jumpy from nearly accidentally killing Sara. He hoped she would be cool with it in the morning and maybe follow Krystal's advice to explore more with Empower?
All of these, however, were just random intrusive thoughts that Jaune engrossed himself in so he would not lose control over the hurricane of emotions brewing in his chest. His repressed thoughts and emotions about what Fie had told him erupted like a volcano.
'Why? Why the fuck would people do shit like that?!'
He punched a tree with all of his strength to vent his rage. He glared at the innocent tree as he withdrew his arm, leaving a gaping hole in it. Jaune knew that people could be terrible but to that extreme? It made no sense! The entire concept of Grimm Bait was incredibly inefficient, yet some insane lunatics still did it? Was it just an excuse to sate their sickening lusts for inflicting pain and misery?
Jaune could understand to an extent the fact that warlords and bandits existed, even accepting them as a necessary evil in some cases. With the constant threat of the Grimm, as well as the fact that the kingdoms could not protect everyone, especially those in the frontier lands, strong men would appear and assume the position of protectors for those towns. Conflicts over resources would be natural, and a few fights here and there were understandable. But to essentially ally with the Grimm?! The enemies of mankind?
He remembered how Grandpa Max had once told him that the worst enemy of man was his fellow man. The Grimm, despite their savage and monstrous nature, were predictable. Humans, on the other hand, and Faunus for that matter, were unpredictable, and despite being the only creatures on the planet capable of empathy, mercy, and compassion, they were also capable of the greatest of atrocities.
Inadvertently, Jaune's thoughts went back to how vulnerable Fie was. Her shaking body, and her shimmering eyes, angered him so much that someone would do shit like that to her.
…And then he imagined that same thing happening to one of his sisters.
An enraged growl burst out of his mouth as he stifled the urge to scream in rage. A snapping twig grabbed his attention, and he turned to see a lone Ursa approaching, clearly attracted by the turmoil in him.
A savage grin overcame Jaune as he found a vent for his frustrations. Before the bear-like Grimm could attack or growl in challenge, Jaune was upon it, his fist coated in Aura shattering its throat, causing it to gag and be unable to make any noise.
"Fucking filth!"
Jaune allowed his rage to consume him as he flooded his body with Aura, not bothering to use Critical Boost but relishing in the primal power that recklessly flooded his being. He punched the Grimm in its armored chest several times until its armor broke, ignoring the easier and softer targets, craving to unleash wanton destruction. He tanked a panicky swipe of its claws, feeling his Aura dwindling, but grabbed the offending arm and broke it in half at the elbow. The Ursa fell to its knees and squealed in pain, its busted throat not allowing it to scream properly. Jaune grabbed its throat, shutting it up, as something Fie said came to him in his bloodlust, and shoved his other Aura-infused hand through its eye and into its brain. With a savage heave, he dislodged the entire thing's head from its body and beat the Grimm's headless corpse with its own head.
Jaune couldn't tell how long it took for him to vent his rage. He only stopped when the Grimm disintegrated, its head trying to evaporate as well, but as he unconsciously fed it his Aura, it remained solid in his hands. It would make a good trophy, the first-ever Grimm trophy, but Jaune couldn't bring himself to care.
He remembered Sara mentioning the child abductions that had happened recently. He vowed to himself right then and there, with the shattered moon as his witness, that if he ever caught the peopl– no, the monsters responsible, he would kill them.
Kill them all!
The moon seemed to shine brighter at his vow.
Some may think Jaune wasted his magic points on people he barely knew. That might be true, but he had always planned to spread his magic to others over wasting it on gacha which might lead to nothing. Besides, with this act of kindness, he had guaranteed the eternal loyalty of a ninja-cat. That's more important than any power up
Jokes aside, he is still experimenting with his abilities, and gaining magic isn't really that hard for him, as you have seen.
As mentioned several times, Grimm are attracted to negative energy. It stands to reason that normal folks would be taught how to control their emotions when young, whether through meditation or something similar to the Pavlov Effect, to train themselves to be happy. So, what happens when that ability is weaponized? The answer is Grimm Bait, for humans are very creative in weaponizing things.
The bandit tribes that Fie describes are inconsequential as they are both dead and destroyed. They share no similarities with two rival groups from the game that Fie is from. Nope, not at all. It had nothing to do with my personal grievances over the fact they created a child soldier and are proud of it.
This chapter has been edited by Gladiusx. Yes I managed to convince him to work on this dumpster fire. Go check his works on HP and ASOIAF.
Fie
"I was born in the northernmost part of the Hellenes, north of Mistral and well beyond Argus. I couldn't tell you where - all I remember from my childhood was a mining village in the mountains and the cold air. I didn't have any family. I couldn't tell you if I even had parents or if I spontaneously appeared out of the wilderness, yet the villagers treated me well enough when I showed up suddenly. I remember an old man teaching me how to read and write and be kind and polite. I remember exploring the mines with the other kids. It wasn't a happy childhood, yet being an orphan, If I could feel a smidgen of the love the other parents gave their children, I was content."
Even though she couldn't even remember the faces or names of those people from long ago, she still felt a smile on her face as she thought about them. About the mere idea of friends and family. Oh, how she still yearned for a family of her own.
"Yet, that all changed. The village was being forced to pay tribute to a certain bandit tribe in gold and other precious metals from the mines, but they had seemingly decided that our payments weren't enough anymore. It was a poor village, and the mines produced purely conventional metals. No Dust, otherwise, the Kingdoms would have gladly provided aid. Why would Mistral or Atlas bother with a backwater village in the middle of nowhere? I don't know if the village elders decided to be defiant or if the mines had run dry. Whatever the reason, the bandits attacked the village, killing the men and enslaving the women and children, myself included."
Fie could feel Jaune's emotions spiking, but she continued with her tale so as to be done with it as soon as possible.
"Sara already explained the concept of Grimm Bait, right?"
She could feel Jaune nodding, "In the simplest of terms, It's a despicable method that bandits and their ilk use to turn a person, usually a child for their pliable nature, into an unhinged mass of fear, hatred, pain, and all sorts of other negative emotions to cause a Grimm horde to form around them. Sometimes, they would try to unlock the child's Aura as well, but considering not all people have the potential to unlock it. Even then, there are certain conditions to do so, and failures happen more often than not. Should they succeed, however, that child becomes a beacon for every Grimm for miles around them. All the bandits need now is to lure the Grimm and drop the… bait in the middle of a town, and people's first instinct would naturally be to help the poor child…not realizing that they are holding a ticking bomb. By the time the Grimm are done with them and moved on, the bandits would swoop in and loot the town for all it's worth."
He placed his head over Fie's and hugged her tightly, "What did they do to make a Grimm Bait, Fie? Sara never explained how… What did they do to you?"
"…How would they ensure that a child would know nothing but fear, anger, and hatred? They would make sure they never feel safe, that they are always wronged, and instill in their minds that they are weak. That there's nothing in life for them. It was almost a science how they were careful with their torture; rarely would they resort to physical torture as they wouldn't want to break their precious bait after all. A broken bait is apathetic and wouldn't care about anything anymore, so the Grimm would ignore them, thus making them worthless. They would always keep a sliver of either hope or defiance for the child to cling to, no matter how bad the torture would get…"
Jaune hugged her tighter, and she could feel his emotions were in turmoil. Rage, sadness, and anger at her situation, although he was careful not to lose control.
"You survived, though."
"…I did. Although, I wonder at times if I'm just dreaming and one day, I will wake up and be back in that cell." She huffed humorously.
"They were getting desperate as they were pressured by a rival tribe and took extreme measures to create their secret weapon. Usually, it would take days or weeks to create a Grimm Bait. There were a dozen of us at first, all of us under ten years old - all of them were kids I knew. Yet, I was the only one who survived in the end. It was so, so horrible, Jaune."
She hiccuped a sob as she recollected the faces of her dead friends and the terror they all felt. She felt tears gathering in her eyes, but she felt Jaune would not judge her for mourning her childhood.
"They resorted to such painful methods, especially with me, since I managed to unlock my Aura. It was a lot more than they expected, but that was a boon for them. 'She could just heal from whatever we do to her,' they would say, 'We're wasting time, just flay her skin or whip her bloody, and it will grow back.' It hurt so much. Pain was my constant companion during those days. They knew that with my Aura, it would be difficult for them to instill fear or hopelessness in me, so they tried their best to make me hate them instead. And how I hated them with every fiber of my being. Something must have broken inside me from the sheer hate or stress, I don't know. One day, I noticed my hair lost its brown color and became bone white."
Fie could feel that Jaune was getting very close to losing control. He was unconsciously leaking Aura, and she could feel the malice and rage from it. She should be worried about him losing control and attracting the Grimm, and she idly thought that the middle of the forest wasn't the best place to have a heart-to-heart. Yet, the fact that Jaune was losing control for her sake was strangely heartening.
It was proof that he cared.
"For what it's worth," Jaune gritted out before releasing a breath, "I like your white hair. I even thought you might be a secret Schnee or something."
She let out a wet giggle at that. Her? A Schnee? A Cat-faunus being mistaken for a Schnee?
"How did you escape?"
"They never expected me to discover my Semblance. What were the odds of someone unlocking their Aura in the first place? If it is not done by a close family member or someone they feel utterly safe and ambivalent around, it's nearly impossible to unlock Aura unless you are a child in a stressful situation. With the minuscule chance of unlocking Aura in mind, what are the chances of someone discovering their Semblance shortly after unlocking their Aura?"
Jaune remained silent for a moment, "Astronomical, to say the least."
She nodded, "They thought I was under their control, that while I hated them, I was powerless to do anything to them. They were wrong, and they paid the price for their arrogance. I managed to kill my torturer by shoving my wind-infused hand into his eye and through his brain. That was my first kill, and it was cathartic as hell. I knew I needed to escape now. The wind was on my side, and I could seemingly hide from their patrols, even when I was right in front of them. I didn't make it far before I was out of Aura. Then… I was caught by that other tribe."
Fie stayed silent for a while, though she appreciated Jaune rubbing her back soothingly.
"Then what?"
She sighed, idly running her hand on Jaune's back.
"The other tribe took me in, but don't think it was out of benevolence or sympathy. They saw potential in me and trained me to be the opposite of what the first tribe desired. I'm sure you noticed, but Grimm Baits are not really that practical. In the bluntest of terms, they are a one-use-only trick that is extremely dangerous to keep around. The tribe that kidnapped me needed to use me quickly before I dragged a Grimm horde on their heads. They had planned to drop me in the middle of a large town similar to Celdic, which was under the protection of their rivals. My new tribe…They expected more from me. They wanted me to be their hidden weapon, an assassin. It took years of brutal training to control my urges and emotions to consciously lure Grimm instead of being a shining beacon all the time. Not to mention the physical conditioning and combat training they put me through. I never complained, though, for I had sworn that never again will I ever be weak. I shall never allow anyone to make me feel weak again. Suffice to say, they got their weapon."
An ominous silence followed her statement, and Fie lost herself to the soothing caresses of Jaune's hand on her head and back. Yet, she didn't believe she deserved such treatment.
"I killed people, Jaune." His hands paused for a second before he resumed comforting her, which encouraged her to carry on. "Men and women, some even innocent people who refused to pay tribute or bow down to tyranny. Those who trained me were still vicious bandits and marauders. I didn't care, not at first, for they purposely weaned me into the killing business by having me solely target that old tribe who turned me into what I am before they had me kill other rivals and detractors. I will not lie, Jaune. I relished in killing them, in avenging myself from the pain and misery they inflicted upon me. I would even convince myself that I was doing it for the greater good, for they wouldn't be able to harm anyone anymore. If I occasionally ended up mixing an innocent with my tormentors' face, then it was worth it! Eventually, we wiped them all out, and then…then I was lost. I didn't know what to do now. Aside from constantly getting better and gaining the strength to never be in that situation again, I had no more goals in life. And then…the weight of my actions crashed onto me."
"How old were you when you wiped out those monsters?"
"…Twelve, I think. Maybe thirteen? I was never sure when my birthday was, although I think it was late August, when my Aura usually matured the most. Anyway, with my tormentors dead, I could finally take time to contemplate my actions. I finally acknowledged the innocent blood on my hands. That realization nearly broke me. I didn't have anyone to talk to or confide in. I had no one to console me. All I could do was rely on my training and shove everything into the back of my head."
"I will not claim to understand what you were going through, Fie, but for what it's worth, you were not at fault. You were a victim of circumstances completely out of your control."
She smiled wanly, "…I know. Sara told me the same thing. I didn't have any friends or confidants in the tribe who trained me, for they never truly accepted me as one of their own. They feared what they had created, and they hated that I never lowered myself to their level of sadism and debauchery. With how they trained me, I could lead entire hordes of Grimm to their doorstep, and they would be none the wiser. They never trusted me, especially after we wiped out my tormentors, for I had the habit of sparing some of their targets that I didn't believe deserved to die. Time and again, they tried to have me join in their raiding and pillaging, killing people for sport or torturing them for fun. They wanted me to be as bad as them, to have the same morality or lack of, in order to be accepted in their ranks. I refused. I even killed one of their own when they tried to rape a kid younger than me. I was even responsible for a slave revolt once. They really didn't like that, but there was nothing they could really do. I had become too strong for them to control, and they knew I wanted to be free of them, so they gave me one last mission, and then they promised to let me go. To never hunt me down or put a bounty on my head. Assassinate a powerful adventurer hired by a rebelling town for protection."
"I guess it was a setup? They never expected you to survive?"
Fie chuckled, "No, they didn't. The adventurer was powerful, one of the toughest fights of my life. She was new to the profession, but she was a Huntsmen-in-Training before that. I waited until she was out of town, then decided to kill her in her sleep. I snuck into her tent, preparing for the killing blow. I would like to say that I hesitated or had second thoughts, but I didn't even have the time to doubt myself before the adventurer somehow sensed me, and the fight was on. I won't bore you with the details, but I was outmatched. I was faster, maybe even more skilled with my blades, but she had stamina and sheer power in spades and a lot more experience. Her usage of Dust was also devastating. Dust users are incredibly rare, and I don't think my tribe even realized how strong she was. I was losing stamina and Aura, yet the adventurer only got faster as she shook off the grogginess of being suddenly awoken… or her hangover, I could never tell at the time."
"Why do I feel like I should know that adventurer?" Jaune gave a strained chuckle, and she even managed a small grin.
"Eventually, we called a truce when my tribe, thinking we were weakened, attacked us mid-fight. After we took them down, one thing led to another, and the adventurer took me in as an apprentice. With the help of some other adventurers and huntsmen she knew, we wiped out that bandit tribe. And that wass how I met Sara."
"Called it," Jaune sighed in exasperation. "Figured it would be an insane first meeting between you two."
She giggled in turn. They remained silent for a few minutes, Fie hugging Jaune and listening to his beating heart. Considering how fast and powerful it beat, he was clearly affected by her tale. Opening up to Jaune was a relief. She felt like a heavy weight was off her shoulders, though she couldn't remember why they started this conversation. Worryingly, she could tell Jaune was still trying to rein in his emotions.
She wasn't worth getting so worked up on.
"Fie?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you for telling me your past. I have one last question before I let you go to sleep."
The mention of sleep had her yawning. She was still a growing girl and needed her beauty sleep.
"Go on."
"Did Sara never offer to adopt you? To give you her name?"
Fie giggled, "I'm sure she would make a fuss about being too young to have kids. But no, she did not. Mostly because she had no real name to give me. Valestein was simply the name of the Mantle orphanage she grew up in."
"I see."
Suddenly, she felt…something… flowing through her, removing all her drowsiness. She had no idea what it was, and it was definitely not Aura. She looked up quickly at Jaune, only to see his eyes closed in concentration. This continued for a few seconds before he let out a breath and looked at her.
"How do you feel?"
Fie inspected herself, but she didn't really feel any different. Maybe she could feel the wind better?
"What did you do? What am I looking for, exactly?"
"Hmm, try to think of Sara and her location for now."
Fie focused for a moment before gasping as she could feel Sara's slowly recovering Aura mending her wounds a short distance away.
"I-I can feel it. I can tell exactly where she is! Was that Search?"
"Yep. Cool, huh?"
Fie smiled happily, "It is! But… I don't actually have Aura sense, Jaune. I hope you didn't waste this on me."
"Don't worry about it, and It works solely on your thoughts. Aura sense helps, but it's not a requirement. Besides, I have a feeling that you will develop your own Aura sense so long as you practice and remember that feeling. It's like a new muscle, and it needs time and practice for it to get stronger."
She nodded her head rapidly, even as she felt Jaune slowly severing the link they had. Fie worried a bit that she would lose that connection to him as well as her newly found abilities, but she needn't have worried. It was much weaker, but she could still sense Jaune in front of her. Although she could barely feel Sara, she had hopes that she would be able to train her Search.
"Now, how about you store your Chasers away? They have been digging uncomfortably into my thighs for a while now."
Fie blushed in embarrassment before acknowledging his words.
"Storage?"
At his nod, she instantly tried it out, and to her surprise, her gunswords were gone, yet she instinctively felt that she could still access them. Suffice it to say, Fie's first order of business once they were back in Celdic was stocking up on ice cream and a ton of explosives…literally.
A few minutes later, Fie had finally calmed down and hopped to her feet. She twirled in place and gave a brilliant smile to the man who had opened a new way for her to view the world.
"How did you even do this, Jaune? It's nothing like Aura."
Jaune hummed, "I guess I can tell you a bit. To put it simply…Magic!"
T*A*M*S
Jaune gazed at the sleeping form of the young girl he had come to cherish so much. Despite only knowing her for a few days, he could not help but feel that Fie was the younger sister he had never had. He bemusedly thought what the rest of his family would think of her.
It was past midnight, and the girl had exhausted herself to sleep as she practiced her Aura sense. He took a deep breath and did his best to shove what he learned today to the back of his mind. There were a few things he needed to do before he lost control.
First among them, who would have thought that the third aspect of his Semblance would be so…broken!
He thought about the Challenges that Krystal gave him and the magic points he had earned. He got one point for slaying the Goliath and a bonus one for killing another one at the same time. Krystal said something about style points and that it was a double kill or whatever. One point for the Cenitaur, despite Sara being the one to kill it, and another for it being over one hundred years old. One more for the Geist as well as five points for its age. Twenty-two points for slaying Grimm over one hundred years in that first charge, with help from Sara and Fie, and finally eight points for Fie's demolishing of the Sulfur Fish and the kills the troops had made on the horde. This all combined to give him forty extra magic points plus the eight he originally had, for a total of forty-eight. Subtract the six points for granting Fie both Search and Storage, and his current available magic points would be thirty-nine.
'Status'
Profile:
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: TBD
Age: 17
Height: 6'2"—6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 1700/10,000 (200/hr) (DEBUFF to 150/hr) (07:39)
Aura Control: 23%—>31%
Strength (STR): 81—>82
Vitality (VIT): 98
Dexterity (DEX): 85—>86
Agility (AGL): 62—>63
Perception (PER): 55—>57
Intelligence (INT): 93
Special Stats:
Magic (MAG) [Recharges every 9 days]: 39/42 (8 days to regain one MP)
*Gained one permanent point from awakening the System early, merging with the System, and from the Arc Moon Bloodline perk.
Perks (Stacks):
Arc Moon Bloodline (inherent): The god of the moon has blessed your bloodline in ancient times. Grants bonuses to Vitality and Aura. May the light of the Moon watch over you. Moonlight boosts Aura Recovery by 50%. Moonlight boosts stats by 10%
Savant (inherent): Increased battle instincts and tactical awareness. Allows the user an easier time in learning skills and understanding concepts.
Lightning affinity: Your reckless absorption of a raw and unrefined high-quality Lightning Dust gave you a high affinity for Lightning. Makes Lightning Dust/Abilities easier to use.
Aura Battery: You have survived forcibly expanding your Aura reserves. Increased Aura regeneration by a flat 100/hr.
Semblance: OVERDRIVE
*SECOND WIND: Allows instant refilling of Aura to the maximum once every 24 hours at the cost of halving your Aura recovery for the same period. Using it again within the Cooldown period provides only 25% of your reserves, as well as disabling Aura recovery for three days. After three days, Aura starts recovery at 25% on the first day, 50% on the second, and 100% on the third. Can not be used again until AR fully recovers.*CRITICAL BOOST: Provides a 600% stat increase that can be distributed evenly or focused on one or more stats. Costs 10 AP/hr for every 1% stat boost. Can only be activated in increments of twenty minutes. Increasing stats to 100 does not have adverse health effects. Increasing stats beyond 50% of your current maximum may cause adverse health effects. Incremental increases beyond that will cause adverse health effects.
*EMPOWER: Allows you to transfer the effects of an ability to a target with an Aura link. ?-?-?
Special Abilities
Observe (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Extrasensory Perception" ability tree. Allows you to view information on a target within your sight. Must have visual confirmation on the target. Range depends on Aura usage. Information depends on Aura usage. Aura Sense implemented into the ability; you can now view the target's emotions.
Storage Space (D-rank): The most basic ability of the "Pocket Dimension" ability tree. Provides you with one cubic meter of space where you can store non-living things inside it. Must be touching the item to store it. Does not require Aura to use but could have additional features through the application of Aura.
Search (C-rank): Allows you to track and monitor a target through their energy. Current energies that can be tracked are Aura and Magic. The base range limit is one mile, but can be expanded through Aura. Can use more Aura to track more than one target at the same time.
Sub-Ability: Pathfinder: Can use Aura to visualize the most direct route to your target.
Skills:
Crescent Wave: Channel 100 AP to a compatible weapon and unleash a one-meter-wide Aura attack with a range of 10 meters. The speed of the attack depends on the skill and power of the swing. Can channel more AP for more devastating effects.
Aura Sense: Can passively sense targets that have Aura. Can be actively used to sense targets within a certain range for their Aura and emotions—costs 1 AP per second for every meter away from the user.
Arc-Us: Create an Aura link and attach it to a target for up-to-date thoughts and intentions. The target must be friendly and trust you. Allows you to use abilities that require physical touch through the link.
Status Effects:
Semblance Overused I: Aura recovery reduced to 50% (Time remaining: 7 hours, 39 minutes). Ability [Second Wind] disabled until Aura recovery returns to 100%.
Blessings of the Moon: You are under direct moonlight. Aura recovery increased by 50%. Stats increased by 10%.
His stats had marginally increased across the board, and his AC improved exponentially. As expected, however, granting someone Magic completely removed it from his pool. He would have had forty-eight MP without granting Search and Storage to Fie. It was still an insanely large amount that he had, and considering his chosen profession, he would be drowning in MP soon enough. Though perhaps he should save the points for the higher-ranked abilities.
He would rather use it to help people, especially those he cherished and trusted, instead of hoarding it in the hopes of getting good abilities. Jaune would rather trust in himself and his Semblance to win the day over a random power that he may or may not get.
Speaking of his Semblance, Empower was the reason both Sara and Fie could sense him. He had unconsciously allowed them access to Aura sense when he placed the link on them, and looking at Fie's status, she had managed to develop the ability to sense Aura from a bleeding effect. Sara already had the ability, but it was quite primitive. Maybe she could train it up later on?
Arc-Us was a basic skill, in his opinion, but Jaune had a strong feeling that it would be invaluable when he got his own team.
'But what's up with the names, Krystal?'
It suits you. Empower because you are granting power to your targets. I would advise exploring it more, by the way, as it seems to be a very beneficial power.
'So it would seem. I might have an idea or two on how to use it. But, Arc-Us? Really?'
Arc-Us…well, you are an Arc, and you are bringing us, the people, together…thus, Arc-Us.
'Lame.'
If you hate it so much, you could rename it if you wish. I'm sure you would be able to come up with a more apt name for the ability.
'…Never mind, Arc-Us sounds good. Anyway, will you explain why you didn't let me grant Observe to Fie, now?'
Certainly, an ability like Observe requires a system to translate what it sees. I am the one who translates its results into numbers and words you can understand. If you had granted her that ability, she would have seen the information about her targets in the rawest and most primal way, which could have driven her insane.
'…Damn. Didn't think of that. Thanks, Krystal'
Anytime.
Jaune moved to Sara's side of the tent. The woman was grimacing in her sleep, clearly in great pain. The medics have done all they could for her, even injecting her with Morphine to ease her pain, but she would need proper medical assistance once they return to Celdic. Time to see what Empower could do.
The young man placed his palm over Sara's head and focused. He tried to use Second Wind on her, but it appears the cooldown included using it on others. Jaune hoped that the ability wouldn't time out after using it on one target — a ping from his soul — and never mind. Overdrive assured him he could use it on multiple people so long as he didn't overuse it on himself or others.
With SW having to wait a few more hours, Jaune was at a loss. He was tempted to boost her VIT with Critical Boost, but that would only be a temporary measure. A stop-gap at best. He entertained the idea of using CB on something more esoteric rather than stats, like her healing ability itself, but again, without Aura to fuel her healing, he could do more harm than good.
'This is getting annoying.' Unknowingly, Jaune had channeled Aura into his hands, and with Empower technically active because he had Arc-Us on Sara, his Aura flowed through his hand… and into Sara, causing her to release a small gasp.
"What?"
Jaune stared in shock as Sara's body greedily drank in his Aura. He never expected this! He had never heard of a way to transfer Aura to others. Empower really did live up to its name, he thought, as he channeled more Aura into Sara, and he could even hear faint popping sounds as her bones mended and the slight scars and tiny blemishes on her body disappeared. He could see her AP rising, but it was slower than he was transferring as her body went into high gear, using all that extra Aura to repair the damage. It was soon approaching half-–
STOP, JAUNE!
The blonde jerked in surprise at the sudden shout in his mind and removed his hands from his patient. He had never heard Krystal speak in anything apart from a calm and cultured voice. Now, he could detect a hint of worry from him.
'What is it? What's wrong? Sara is still injured, and her Aura is depleting even now to heal the damage.'
No, Jaune. That is not her Aura healing her, rather, it's yours.
'Mine? But, I can clearly see in her status that it's hers.'
I did not expect your Semblance to be able to transfer Aura as well. On a healthy human that would normally not be a problem so long as their Aura reserves were low to take in your own. Your friend, however, was severely injured and does not have any Aura of her own. Your Aura is incredibly potent, Jaune. I'm not speaking of its amount, although that is another matter, but rather of its quality. It has an inherent healing aspect, and it has served you well during your training with your grandfather and in your fights.
'Okay, I sort of already knew that I'm awesome. What of it? My family always healed easily even when our Aura was locked. What does that have to do with anything?'
The issue is that Ms Valestein is not your blood. Her body is not acclimated to your incredibly potent Aura. Can you not see how she is burning up? Your Aura was both healing her yet also killing her.
At that, Jaune quickly checked the woman's body and noticed that Krystal was correct. Her face had an unhealthy blush as if she was drunk, and she was breathing easier now that her ribs were mended; however, her breathing was also quicker, and her body was hot and sweating like crazy. Panic started to take over.
'What the hell?'
You will need to cool her down, Jaune. Quickly, the water bucket and towel.
Jaune quickly grabbed several wet towels, produced an Ice Dust Crystal, and placed it in one of the towels before slowly channeling a minuscule amount of Aura into it to cool the wet towels even further. He placed a towel on Sara's forehead while he wiped her body with the rest. It was a good thing that Krystal had stopped him in time, as even as he watched, Sara's breathing slowed, and her temperature gradually returned to normal.
You have done enough for her for now, Jaune. With the amount of Aura you transferred, it should be enough for her to fully heal by morning. Once she's awake, you could explain what happened and see if she is willing to test more Aura infusions. It might work better if the recipient is conscious and channels the Aura properly rather than instinctively.
'Thanks for the save, Krystal. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if I didn't stop.'
Anytime. I recommend you take a walk outside and get some fresh air. You are still worked up from your conversation with Ms Fie, and I believe it affected you when you were treating Ms Valestein. Some venting would do you good.
'You're right, but before that.'
Jaune had a choice, and he easily made it. He trusted Sara and felt that they had formed a bond of camaraderie when they fought together. He placed his hand on her head once more, and after a moment of focus, he was down six more MP.
Jaune thought about her weapons, Ace and Joker, and imagined transferring them from his Storage to hers. It surprisingly worked, though he was unsure if it was due to the link he had yet to sever or because Sara was unconscious and unable to reject the trade, so to speak.
Regardless, Jaune stood up and silently made his way out of the tent and to the edge of camp. He was excited about what his Semblance had to offer and was a bit jumpy from nearly accidentally killing Sara. He hoped she would be cool with it in the morning and maybe follow Krystal's advice to explore more with Empower?
All of these, however, were just random intrusive thoughts that Jaune engrossed himself in so he would not lose control over the hurricane of emotions brewing in his chest. His repressed thoughts and emotions about what Fie had told him erupted like a volcano.
'Why? Why the fuck would people do shit like that?!'
He punched a tree with all of his strength to vent his rage. He glared at the innocent tree as he withdrew his arm, leaving a gaping hole in it. Jaune knew that people could be terrible but to that extreme? It made no sense! The entire concept of Grimm Bait was incredibly inefficient, yet some insane lunatics still did it? Was it just an excuse to sate their sickening lusts for inflicting pain and misery?
Jaune could understand to an extent the fact that warlords and bandits existed, even accepting them as a necessary evil in some cases. With the constant threat of the Grimm, as well as the fact that the kingdoms could not protect everyone, especially those in the frontier lands, strong men would appear and assume the position of protectors for those towns. Conflicts over resources would be natural, and a few fights here and there were understandable. But to essentially ally with the Grimm?! The enemies of mankind?
He remembered how Grandpa Max had once told him that the worst enemy of man was his fellow man. The Grimm, despite their savage and monstrous nature, were predictable. Humans, on the other hand, and Faunus for that matter, were unpredictable, and despite being the only creatures on the planet capable of empathy, mercy, and compassion, they were also capable of the greatest of atrocities.
Inadvertently, Jaune's thoughts went back to how vulnerable Fie was. Her shaking body, and her shimmering eyes, angered him so much that someone would do shit like that to her.
…And then he imagined that same thing happening to one of his sisters.
An enraged growl burst out of his mouth as he stifled the urge to scream in rage. A snapping twig grabbed his attention, and he turned to see a lone Ursa approaching, clearly attracted by the turmoil in him.
A savage grin overcame Jaune as he found a vent for his frustrations. Before the bear-like Grimm could attack or growl in challenge, Jaune was upon it, his fist coated in Aura shattering its throat, causing it to gag and be unable to make any noise.
"Fucking filth!"
Jaune allowed his rage to consume him as he flooded his body with Aura, not bothering to use Critical Boost but relishing in the primal power that recklessly flooded his being. He punched the Grimm in its armored chest several times until its armor broke, ignoring the easier and softer targets, craving to unleash wanton destruction. He tanked a panicky swipe of its claws, feeling his Aura dwindling, but grabbed the offending arm and broke it in half at the elbow. The Ursa fell to its knees and squealed in pain, its busted throat not allowing it to scream properly. Jaune grabbed its throat, shutting it up, as something Fie said came to him in his bloodlust, and shoved his other Aura-infused hand through its eye and into its brain. With a savage heave, he dislodged the entire thing's head from its body and beat the Grimm's headless corpse with its own head.
Jaune couldn't tell how long it took for him to vent his rage. He only stopped when the Grimm disintegrated, its head trying to evaporate as well, but as he unconsciously fed it his Aura, it remained solid in his hands. It would make a good trophy, the first-ever Grimm trophy, but Jaune couldn't bring himself to care.
He remembered Sara mentioning the child abductions that had happened recently. He vowed to himself right then and there, with the shattered moon as his witness, that if he ever caught the peopl– no, the monsters responsible, he would kill them.
Kill them all!
The moon seemed to shine brighter at his vow.
Some may think Jaune wasted his magic points on people he barely knew. That might be true, but he had always planned to spread his magic to others over wasting it on gacha which might lead to nothing. Besides, with this act of kindness, he had guaranteed the eternal loyalty of a ninja-cat. That's more important than any power up
Jokes aside, he is still experimenting with his abilities, and gaining magic isn't really that hard for him, as you have seen.
As mentioned several times, Grimm are attracted to negative energy. It stands to reason that normal folks would be taught how to control their emotions when young, whether through meditation or something similar to the Pavlov Effect, to train themselves to be happy. So, what happens when that ability is weaponized? The answer is Grimm Bait, for humans are very creative in weaponizing things.
The bandit tribes that Fie describes are inconsequential as they are both dead and destroyed. They share no similarities with two rival groups from the game that Fie is from. Nope, not at all. It had nothing to do with my personal grievances over the fact they created a child soldier and are proud of it.
Chapter 15 (Return to Celdic)
Fair warning, this chapter goes into some dark shit
This chapter is edited by yours truly. I'm sad to say that I'm not the best editor ;p
"Been a while since I've been here."
Jaune looked around at the familiar view of Arcade. He hadn't visited his mindscape for a couple of days now, but it seemed something had changed. Something felt… different. He looked around until he found the anomaly bothering him. A large stone bowl attached to a waist-high pillar. It almost looked like a fountain, but instead of water, it contained some sort of material made from mist and fog.
"What is it?"
Not seeing the harm of exploring something in his mind, Jaune reached out and touched the white fog…
And his vision exploded.
He could see thousands of images rushing through his mind. All of them seemed random and haphazard, and trying to focus on any one of them gave Jaune a headache. After a moment, he figured something they all had in common. The aspiring huntsman removed his hands and the vision abruptly halted.
"It's some sort of monitoring system."
"The images were too fast," Jaune frowned in thought. "But I did notice it was always nighttime."
Jaune's eyebrows rose. "I did? Ah," he remembered his vow to the moon and how it shined brighter for a second. "I guess I did."
"Interesting." Was this why he was able to have such vivid dreams the past few days?
"Perhaps it works like Search and I need to focus on my target?" Jaune thought for a moment, and since he had just talked to him earlier in the day, he decided to check on his father.
Once he placed his hands on the bowl, his vision was inundated with random images. After waiting for a moment to no avail, he gave up on finding his father, so he focused on Maya or Bleue instead.
Instantly, his vision jumped thousands of miles to Vacuo. It was barely evening, as the last of the setting sun's light could be seen on the horizon. Jaune found the twins leaning against a wall behind his father, who appeared to be on a video call.
Maya was her usual messy self, while Bleue was the complete opposite of her twin with her clean clothes and short blonde hair in a ponytail that reached her shoulders. Looking out of the window, Jaune realized they were in one of the Hyperion military bases scattered all over Vacuo. This one was built next to an old complex containing an oil rig and refinery which even at nighttime were operational, turning crude oil to refined fuel. Jaune never understood his father's obsession with the material as it was completely made obsolete with the advent of Dust.
"Your bombers have done well, Mr Lichter. All along the western coast, the Grimm are in disarray and easy pickings for our Huntsmen and the army."
Jaune turned to the screen and was shocked to find that it was Ozpin whom his dad was talking to.
"I did have to convince my brother to approve of this operation on short notice, so I'm glad to hear they have done their job well. His pride and joy, state-of-the-art bombers and fighters did need a test run, so it all worked out. And, Ozpin? I already asked you to call me Lucas."
Ozpin smiled through the screen, a steaming mug in his hand. "Very well, Lucas. How soon could you scramble another squadron."
Lucas sighed, "The bombing runs were neither cheap in material nor in lives, Ozpin. Nevermore and other avian Grimm swarms greatly inhibited our efforts, and we lost a few fighters and a couple of bombers already. I swear, it's like every flock of Nevermore and Griffon in Sanus had decided to target my squadrons. Not to mention the hordes of Ravagers here on Vacuo, I'm hoping your huntsmen will be able to rescue my pilots. Aircraft can be replaced, but John hates wasting his precious personal. There is only so much I can do to convince my brother that their sacrifices will be worth it in the end."
"And I sincerely thank you for your efforts in the war and assure you that my Huntsmen are already recovering your pilots as we speak. Still, I'm surprised you were able to scramble so many squadrons within hours of first contact. It was almost as if you already had those squadrons at the ready for something."
"What can I say?" Jaune's father shrugged. "It always pays to be vigilant. Back to your question, we should be able to scramble the next squadron in a couple of hours. Once they are in the air, give them three hours for them to arrive to Sumire. I pray for your men to be able to hold until then."
"Thank you. I'm sure I can count on Mr Caspian to lead the militia there for a few more hours. Hopefully, things will go well enough that Qrow can head east soon to meet your representative and their survey team. He will have my full authority for that matter we discussed."
Jaune raised an eyebrow. Who's Qrow? Suddenly, Ozpin frowned in his direction from the screen and he felt a headache approaching. He instinctively looked to the skies. A cloud had covered the moon, and his surroundings were fading to static. Jaune couldn't maintain his focus as he felt himself getting ejected from the scrying bowl.
"Damn. What a rush." Jaune noticed that the white mist-like material in the bowl was depleted enough to show the base of the bowl. What was that, though? Did Ozpin notice his presence? Or was that his imagination?
"Well," Jaune rubbed his head as the aching gradually disappeared, he filed the matter with Ozpin for later. "I couldn't track Dad, but my sisters were much easier to track. I'm guessing It works better on those with Arc blood? Moreover, moonlight is necessary for it to work. It's a nifty but limited tool, all around."
"Really?" Jaune felt a smile bloom on his face. He would certainly love to meet his patron and thank them properly for their help, so long as they don't expect him to do something ridiculous like preaching for his greatness.
"What is it?"
"…Why couldn't it have been something as simple as preaching…"
Unknown location, early morning, July 5th
Three figures walked into a dimly lit cave. They were greeted by a pair of guards, though to call them as such would imply some sort of organization or discipline. They were merely bandit goons who were foisted with the ungrateful job of the night sentries.
"Who's there?"
The leader of the trio, a well-dressed man with brown hair, a goatee, and a pair of bat wings sticking from his back, stepped forward. "It's Yuma, your boss expects us. Tell him that Adam sends his regards."
"Uhh, yeah. I think he mentioned something like that. Spider bitch is also here, she's with you, right? Give me a mo' and don't move a muscle."
"Bitch?" A frown graced the bat-faunus' face.
The goon shrugged carelessly as he entered the cave. "That's what Boss man calls her, and she seemed to like it."
The goon moved further in while the other fiddled nervously with the gun in his hands. Eventually, the first goon returned, "A'ight, you can follow me. The boss lady is busy, but the boss man will see you."
Yuma, exchanged glances with his two companions, a brown haired woman with an apprehensive look on her face, and a towering man with short cropped hair and a face hidden by a white mask.
They followed the goon deeper inside, which opened up to a large cavern with multiple tunnels. There was plenty of activity going on despite the late hour; some bandits were playing a game of dice, others were shooting needles up their arms with whatever narcotics they could find. Some were drinking vile liquor that Yuma could smell its stench from here, while more were fornicating in some corner; whether some of them were actually bandits or captives he didn't care. Still, there were a fair few who were doing some actual work as they moved weapons and supplies to and from the tunnels.
There were easily a hundred bandits just in this cavern alone, humans and faunus alike. A surprising sort of camaraderie had blossomed between both races in their mutual love of chaos and villainy. With the weapons and supplies gathered, one could easily guess the purpose of gathering so many unhinged and unstable people in one place.
They were led deeper into the tunnels where they started hearing screaming and moans of pain, as well as the occasional deranged cackling followed by the unmistakable slapping sound of flesh against flesh. The walked past a particular room where an adolescent's sobs could be heard and Yuma noticed his female companion shudder terribly as it turned into a loud scream.
"Something on your mind, Ilia?"
The woman looked at him uncertainly with her blue eyes, "It's just – those screams. There are children here!"
Yuma calmly nodded, "Indeed, those are certainly children. What the bandits do to them is none of our concern. Only our mission matters. You know that Trifa helped capture a couple of them. What bothers you?"
"They are children!" Ilia repeated in shock. "They did nothing to us, how could our mission even be connected to the torture of innocents like this? Especially when the two Trifa captured were Faunus! Aren't we supposed to be fighting for the freedom and betterment of our kind?"
Yuma sighed tiredly, already having had this conversation a dozen times with a dozen different people. "Sacrifices need to be made for the good of our cause. If a couple of nameless Faunus kids die in the process of bettering a hundred other Faunus' lives, then that's a fair price to pay."
The chameleon-faunus woman looked shocked at his monotone reply. Ilia was very talented and resourceful but too soft at times to the point it might cause others to question her commitment to the cause.
She turned to her other companion, but he interrupted her before she could even speak.
"Leave it, Ilia. Focus on the mission, and keep them off your mind. They have chosen to live among the humans, they have already made their choice." As expected of Walter, cold-hearted and efficient. Exactly why Yuma liked him.
"Here."
Before they could argue more, their guide pointed to a cavern where they could see a slender pink-haired man with piercings sitting behind a glass table with several lines of white powder on it. He took a deep snort of one line as he leaned back with a satisfied moan, his green eyes dilating.
He looked at his visitors in disdain.
"Finally, you retards sure took your time. Oi, Trifa. Your buddies are here."
They turned to a side room where their last companion strutted out half-naked to join them. They could hear further sobbing and moaning from the room, combined with the woman's bloody fingernails, it did not take a genius to figure what that room was for.
Trifa sat on the couch beside the man instead of joining them, causing Yuma to frown at the disrespect.
"Hey guys. What took you so long?"
The pink haired man guffawed, "I just said the same. Ya know, I keep calling you a bitch, Trifa, but you can be just as fun as any of us filthy bandits. If you get bored of those chumps playing victims, you can always join us instead."
The white haired spider faunus giggled and sniffed heavily. Yuma frowned as he could smell alcohol and who knows what else she had consumed.
"How drunk and high are you? Don't you know we have an important mission here, Trifa?"
"Yes!" She gave a throaty moan as she sniffed one of the remaining lines on the table.
"Bitch! That was mine." Pink-hair slapped her butt only for her to start giggling uncontrollably.
Yuma scowled at them both. While it was common for people in the frontiers to rely on recreational drugs and narcotics to ward away the Grimm, he expected better from Trifa. He decided to ignore her and get to the matter at hand, if she decided to abandon their cause, then she knew the consequences.
He stepped forward and looked around, "I was under the impression that I would be speaking to a fellow faunus, your boss—"
"Boss Boering is away at the moment. You had taken too long, and she needed to check on something. I'm afraid you are gonna have to settle with me, good old Shiro. So, what's the situation with Taurus?"
Yuma frowned again before sighing inwardly, "the plan remains the same. It was unfortunate that you couldn't control your men trying out their new toys, which resulted in the relay tower getting damaged and blocking all communication."
At that, it was Shiro's turn to scowl at the reminder. "Don't worry, the ones responsible have been fed to the pigs." His scowl abruptly turned into a deranged grin as he giggled. "Some of you animals are capable of eating anything, it was quite the damn show."
Yuma could feel Ilia shift uneasily next to him, her face going green, and even Walter narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth.
"Regardless, this has caused us to have to report in person, yet everything remains the same. The train should leave Esmeralda in twenty-four hours or so, packed to the brim with Dust and supplies as well as a contingent of Atlasian Droids for protection. Once we hijack the train, we expect you to fulfill your part of the plan."
"Yeah, yeah. Our Bait is nearly ready, along with four Grimm hordes we managed to lure in several strategic locations. Celdic will have one hell of a finale to their festival thing, in addition to the other surprise we left for them earlier."
Yuma arched his brow, "Oh? Did I miss something?"
"Gehahaha, apparently those fools nearly emptied their garrison to escort the engineers back from the tower. I'm not sure about the details, but only twenty men returned. The boss lady is out checking what happened to them. It would be hilarious if they all got lost or were annihilated by the Grimm."
The three white-fang members exchanged glances, life couldn't truly be that easy, right?
"Three."
A voice shrilled from behind them, and they all turned to the entrance of the room to see a massive woman making her way through the cave entrance. She was tall, incredibly tall. At least eight feet tall, and obese to an unhealthy degree, yet one could see bulging muscles underneath the layers of fat. She had short messy brown hair, two boar tusks jutting out of her mouth, a pug nose and small beady eyes. It was easy for Yuma to guess she was a Boar-Faunus.
Curiously, she had a sparrow nesting on her head.
At first glance, one would think that she should not be able to walk, let alone fight. Yet, Yuma could see she carried herself easily, as she walked in like she owned the place and took an entire couch for herself.
"Boss lady! You're finally back." Shiro's previous rude and flippant attitude quickly shifted at the woman's appearance. "Listen up, fuckers. I might be cool and tolerate insults, but this is Ravena Boering, the greatest bandit queen this side of the Vale mountains. You would do well to be respectful to her."
So this was the other leader of this bandit alliance, and considering Shiro's attitude, the true leader of the bandits. He recognized the name from wanted posters but those were issued by the free cities beyond the Vale Mountains, along the Narrow Sea. What would such a famous bandit be doing so far away from her base of operations?
Regardless, when Yuma was sent to Sanus by Sienna Khan to monitor Taurus' increasingly violent operations, he was asked to support him instead by his friend Corsac. People thought the White Fang was one unified front, but it couldn't be further from the truth. He had wondered how several bandit groups had suddenly allied with each other under one banner, and it seemed this woman was the answer.
"What did you mean by three?"
His companion Walter was as blunt as always. The bandit queen didn't seem to mind.
"Three hordes. Those are the ones that remain." Her voice was surprisingly high-pitched for a woman of her size, "The Adventurers and garrison wiped out the one in the quarry." She glared at Shiro. "Our benefactors might have distracted the Huntsmen away from this region, but that does not mean that we should underestimate Celdic."
The pink haired man gulped and rubbed one of the piercings on his face uneasily. "Of course we won't, Ravena. By any chance, did your friend discover more on those adventurers?"
The massive woman lifted her hand and the sparrow on her head landed on a stubby finger. "My friend here was not able to spy on all the adventurers, though it did manage to gain insight on one of them."
The bandit boss gazed at the bird softly for a moment… only to crush it to a pulp and gulp it like a snack. The act of violence was so sudden that it made Ilia flinch heavily beside him.
Ravena chewed on the sparrow's remains for a moment before swallowing. "I always hated that part of my Semblance, I'll keep coughing out feathers till morning." She grumbled loudly. "One of the adventurers was called Sylphid. Short girl, green eyes, white hair and a cat-faunus. Does it ring a bell for any of you?"
They all looked confused at the name and warily shook their heads.
"Nevermind then, she looked like such a tasty morsel with an interesting Semblance of her own." She licked her chops as she stood from the couch and walked to the same room Trifa had come from. "Continue your chatter, I'm getting something to eat. Then, we will have planning to do."
They watched in silence as she left and Shiro released a breath he unconsciously held.
"Well, that was interesting. Anyway, with the comms back online, we will need to be extra careful not to cause the town to call for further aid. Vale is busy at the moment, but who knows what they could cook up. Which is when this comes into the picture."
Shiro placed some sort of strange device shaped like a large black orb but with a flat bottom on the table. "Once we get confirmation that your pals have the train, we will be using this baby that was donated by our patrons to render communications useless in the region."
Yuma's eyes widened in shock, "You expect me to believe such a device exists?"
"You will have to trust me on that." The pink-haired druggie smirked, "I can't exactly test it for you or else it will shut down all communication devices, and it has some sort of cooldown on it. We're gonna have to count on you with the timing when you attack the train. Too early and we go blind. Too late, and Celdic, and through them Vale, would be warned."
Yuma gulped at the idea of having such a device at their beck and call. It would make their operations so much easier, even if it shuts their comms as well. "Just who are your patrons?"
Shiro's green eyes gleamed with malice, "Trust me, you don't wanna know. Now, which one of you will be staying here for liaison?"
Yuma turned to Trifa and scowled inwardly. She was supposed to be the liaison, but considering her attitude, and the fact the bandit asked for another one, the spider-faunus was clearly compromised. There was no way he could convince Elder Walter to remain here, for he was sent specifically by Taurus to keep an eye on him.
That only left one choice, as his eyes settled on Ilia's paling face.
Morning, July 5th
Outside the quarry
"Are you absolutely sure you are not hurting anywhere?"
"Oh, yeah! I feel so damn good, I could probably run all the way to Celdic."
The medic gawped in absolute shock at the woman whom everyone could tell was at death's door last night. Except now, she was in tip-top shape, as evidenced by how she bounced around the medical tent in her new outfit consisting of a denim corset and long slit skirt as well as a yellow long-sleeved shirt.
"T-this…this just makes no sense at all! Even with Aura, your injuries were so severe we worried how we would even move you."
Sara looked at him with a wide grin, "Don't sweat the small details. My Aura reserves are still low, so I'll be taking it easy. Anyway, am I free to go? Me and my dear protégés gotta get going now." She winked at Fie and Jaune who had accompanied her for the check-up.
Fie sighed as she glanced at her blonde friend. Jaune was keeping mum about it, but she was willing to bet her Chasers that he was responsible for her sleep getting cut short by the usually morning-hating Sara.
After finishing her check-up, Sara motioned for them to follow her. As they walked through the quickly dismantling camp, Fie noticed the troops were in good spirits. Some of them greeted them jovially, while some of the older ones gave nods of respect.
All of them, however, made a double take at the sight of the healed Sara who waved energetically at Montgomery who gaped at her in shock. Eventually, they made their way to their saddled horses and mounted up.
"Okay, kids. I already spoke with Brocket first thing in the morning. Heh, you should have seen the look on his face." Fie smiled slightly, but she noticed Jaune maintaining a stoic look. "We will be departing first to act as vanguard and scout ahead. You two have all your belongings, right?"
Jaune nodded, as he idly rolled that crystal necklace of his in his hand, while Fie just patted her horse's neck. Within a few minutes, they left the camp behind. It was a few miles away when Sara beamed at their blonde companion.
"So, Jaune. What did you do to me last night?"
Jaune gazed at the older adventurer for a moment before sighing. "Don't make it sound weird, woman. I discovered another aspect of my Semblance." Fie perked up, "among other things, it allows me to transfer Aura to others. I just shared some of mine."
"Among other things, huh." Sara hummed thoughtfully for a moment before giving him a mock glare. "You know, your entire existence is an insult to all hardworking Aura users in the world."
"What the hell?" The boy nearly dropped his necklace and placed it back around his neck.
The older Adventurer chortled.
"Hear me out; First, your huge amount of Aura. At first, I thought it was countered by your slow recovery, but then your Semblance is an absolute cheat that can somehow replenish all of your Aura instantly! Don't try to deny it, young man." She interrupted him before he could, "I can feel your Aura is at maximum, and it is obscenely large. I'm shocked that no Grimm have attacked us yet with how radiant you must be. Is that why you adopted the Stoic face? Moreover, what kind of Semblance has multiple different abilities, each one of them more useful than the other?"
Jaune rubbed his head awkwardly, "Nothing I can do about it, Sara. No one gets to decide their Semblance and Aura reserves."
"That's not entirely true." Fie piped in, "it's been proven that Huntsmen couples with high Aura reserves tend to have children with similarly high Aura reserves. While everyone's Semblance is unique to a certain degree, Aura is certainly hereditary."
"Exactly." Sara nodded her head before grinning coyly at the blonde. "You better watch your back around pompous nobles or greasy tycoons throwing their daughters at you. Especially if they are Huntresses in training when you eventually get to Beacon. Some of those minxes would not even care about marriage, and would attack you in your sleep to get your seed, if you get my meaning."
Jaune blushed slightly, "does that mean I don't have to worry about you assaulting me in my sleep? Since Fie tells me you have an aversion to having kids?"
"Hey!" How could he betray her so cheaply, she pouted at his apologetic smile.
"Haha, nice try kid, but no cigar. Too young for my tastes, and we'll be having talks about what can be shared about us, Fie." Sara's grin turned flinty at the younger girl who pretended to be busy examining the horizon.
The older woman turned back to the blonde, "But you know all about my tastes now, don't you?"
Jaune grimaced and patted his horse's neck absentmindedly. "I miss when you were a blushing and shy mess. Are you sure you're alright, Sara? That's a bit too bold even for you."
Sara froze for a moment before thinking deeply on it. "You know, I think you're right. I'm feeling too good at the moment. Almost as good as when I'm completely plastered but without the pounding headache or upset stomach. Are you sure you only transferred Aura to me?"
Fie frowned as she had an idea what Jaune had done and gazed deadpan at him. "What did you do, Jaune?"
"Nothing I haven't done to you."
"Wow, I didn't realize you two were so close already. Still, does that mean you got handsy while I was unconscious, Jauney boy?" Sara whistled in amusement.
"Nothing of the sort." Jaune denied instantly, "You already know about my magic, right?"
"Somewhat. You haven't been fully candid with me, and I respect that."
"Well, this now affects you both so listen closely."
Jaune explained how he got his magic and what it meant for them to have those abilities. While Fie had heard most of it yesterday, there were a few things she didn't know such as him gaining magic by killing Grimm. He was still hiding something, but Fie didn't care. She trusted Jaune, and if he didn't feel like they needed to know about whatever it was, then so be it.
Once he was done, Sara immediately focused for a second before both her weapons appeared in her hands. "So that's where they were. This is gonna be very handy indeed."
"Don't forget about Search. This would make any tracking mission effortless." Fie added her two cents.
"Yeah…" Sara fell silent for a moment before turning to Jaune. "I just don't get it, kid. This is an insane boon you just gave us and for what? We haven't done anything worth this kind of gift. Don't get me wrong, I'm super flattered and grateful for this. But – what I'm trying to say is…"
Fie could understand Sara's confusion, but she simply didn't know Jaune as well as her. "How could we repay him? I think that's what you're trying to say, Sara."
"Exactly!"
They both turned to the blonde who shrugged, "honestly? I haven't thought about it. I have the ability to give you a power-up, so I used it. It's up to you how you use this power, and in your line of work, you will have the opportunity to help many people with it. That's all I can ask for, I guess."
Silence followed that statement. Fie looked at Sara who stared back at her before they both huffed in exasperation.
"That's just not fair, Jaune. I frankly expected you to want to sleep with me or something in return."
The boy spluttered indignantly, "What? No, I would never!"
"Huuuuh?" Sara glared. "You would never want to sleep with me? What's wrong with me? Is it cuz I'm old? Am I not hot enough for you?"
Fie sighed inwardly. If Sara hoped to make Jaune fluster and blush, then she had better luck flashing him her boobs instead. Jaune's face quickly became stone-faced as he gazed woodenly at the older woman.
After a whole minute of silence and suffering Jaune's judgmental gaze, Sara awkwardly looked away with a muttered, "never mind."
"You really don't know Jaune enough, Sara." Fie giggled. "He probably had to deal with his seven sisters teasing him on a daily basis and didn't he mention that his mother tried to pair him up with girls from his town hoping he would forget about becoming a Huntsman?"
"Clearly." Sara huffed as Jaune gave a slight smile. "Still, you're quite the cheater, you know? Now I'll have to really think of a proper way to repay you. The more you deny payment, the more I will insist."
Fie nodded vehemently, "Yep. You're a cheater, Jaune. First thing we will do once we reach Celdic is buy out all of Odvin's stock. Then, it will be training time. It's the least I can do."
Jaune looked surprised at them both, which caused Fie to frown. Did he truly not expect them to want to repay him in the slightest?
It was a few minutes later as they traveled in silence along the beautiful, and strangely peaceful, countryside when Jaune sighed loudly.
"Alright. If you want to repay me, then I won't hold back. I'll be counting on you two to teach me your tricks and help me out when I need it."
"Sure thing."
"Not you Sara. You still need to recover your Aura."
"Why can't you just transfer more?"
"Because your body would reject it and…"
They both turned on their saddles to see why the blonde went silent all of a sudden. He had a deeply contemplative look on his face before nodding to himself.
"Okay, we can try an experiment if you'd like."
"What kind of experiment?" Amusedly, Sara's voice had a hint of wariness.
"I'll transfer my Aura, and you have to consciously accept it and circulate it in your body."
"Sounds simple enough," Sara nodded. "Hit me."
Fie felt a haze in the air and she quickly focused on her budding Aura sense. The haze transformed into a line of golden light emanating from Jaune's forehead and latched onto Sara's. It pulsed as if something was being transferred through the connection.
Immediately, Sara gasped. Even as she watched, Fie noticed her mentor get even more lively, and her face gained a healthy flush. It was a minute later when Sara waved for Jaune to stop and the line ceased to exist.
"Damn, that felt good." She hugged herself tightly, "too good. I could get drunk out of your Aura, Jaune."
The blonde boy snickered, "If my Aura is wine, then you just drank a seventeen-year-old vintage straight from the tap."
Sara burst out laughing, causing her horse to trot uneasily. "When I woke up this morning, I could tell I barely had a tenth of my Aura. Now I easily have over two thirds. I tried to absorb more, but it just gave me shivers and I could feel it dissipating into the air. I'm sure with time, and practice, my body will adapt to accept your Aura even mid-battle."
"Well, I guess we can declare that this experiment was a success. Thank you for accepting to be my guinea pig, Sara."
The older woman mock-scowled. "Happy to be of service, though I might ask you for a refill later on. I could use you when I'm craving a drink."
Jaune just smiled before moving on, Fie took this chance to ask him something.
"So how much of your Aura did you transfer to her?"
"About ten percent." Jaune hummed, and both Fie and Sara sighed exasperatedly at how insane that was.
They rode on in a comfortable silence for a few more hours, backtracking every once in a while to make sure the garrison was following them. Brocket had attempted to contact Celdic but only received static. It was unknown whether it was interference from the mountains or if something had happened. Needless to say, the Lieutenant had refrained from telling the men so as to not affect their high spirits, but warned them to stay on their toes.
As they entered the main roads to Celdic, however, they could see signs of devastation as well as many tracks heading to Celdic. There had been plenty of fighting nearby, evidenced by the burned foliage and the trampled trees that must have been done by Grimm. The three of them readied their weapons and proceeded to the town, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
It was noon when they turned a corner around a hill and could finally see Celdic a few miles ahead; it did not bode well. There were a couple of small smoke trails, but the real worry was the horde of people waiting by the gates to enter, all of them looking haggard and distraught.
"My eyesight isn't the best, what do you see, Fie?"
"Refugees." She answered swiftly. "Easily over two thousand, maybe three. Looks like they left their homes in a hurry with little to no luggage or supplies, though I see the occasional wagon and truck."
"There's also the signs of devastation inside Celdic itself. Sara, are we still unable to contact the garrison inside town?"
Sara pulled out her scroll and tried to communicate with Celdic proper, only to receive static. She contacted Brocket instead.
"Valestein, report."
"Celdic has lost comms. I see signs of an attack. More importantly, there are thousands of refugees trying to enter the town, but the garrison is not opening the gates. Orders?"
There was some silence, before the Lieutenant replied.
"We are an hour behind you. Proceed to the gate and attempt to get one of the guards on the line to report on what's happening. Meanwhile, try to help those refugees as best you can. I will trust your judgment."
"Will do." She disconnected the call before turning to them, "You heard the man. Let's see what the hell happened while we were gone."
This chapter is edited by yours truly. I'm sad to say that I'm not the best editor ;p
"Been a while since I've been here."
Jaune looked around at the familiar view of Arcade. He hadn't visited his mindscape for a couple of days now, but it seemed something had changed. Something felt… different. He looked around until he found the anomaly bothering him. A large stone bowl attached to a waist-high pillar. It almost looked like a fountain, but instead of water, it contained some sort of material made from mist and fog.
You have noticed.
"What is it?"
It would be best if you touch it and find out.
Not seeing the harm of exploring something in his mind, Jaune reached out and touched the white fog…
And his vision exploded.
He could see thousands of images rushing through his mind. All of them seemed random and haphazard, and trying to focus on any one of them gave Jaune a headache. After a moment, he figured something they all had in common. The aspiring huntsman removed his hands and the vision abruptly halted.
"It's some sort of monitoring system."
Close. Did you discover something interesting about it?
"The images were too fast," Jaune frowned in thought. "But I did notice it was always nighttime."
Indeed. This is a boon from the Moon Deity whom you have invoked last night.
Jaune's eyebrows rose. "I did? Ah," he remembered his vow to the moon and how it shined brighter for a second. "I guess I did."
This is a scrying bowl that allows you to view anything the light of the moon touches. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the broken moon, it might be hard to control and could give you unexpected results.
"Interesting." Was this why he was able to have such vivid dreams the past few days?
"Perhaps it works like Search and I need to focus on my target?" Jaune thought for a moment, and since he had just talked to him earlier in the day, he decided to check on his father.
Once he placed his hands on the bowl, his vision was inundated with random images. After waiting for a moment to no avail, he gave up on finding his father, so he focused on Maya or Bleue instead.
Instantly, his vision jumped thousands of miles to Vacuo. It was barely evening, as the last of the setting sun's light could be seen on the horizon. Jaune found the twins leaning against a wall behind his father, who appeared to be on a video call.
Maya was her usual messy self, while Bleue was the complete opposite of her twin with her clean clothes and short blonde hair in a ponytail that reached her shoulders. Looking out of the window, Jaune realized they were in one of the Hyperion military bases scattered all over Vacuo. This one was built next to an old complex containing an oil rig and refinery which even at nighttime were operational, turning crude oil to refined fuel. Jaune never understood his father's obsession with the material as it was completely made obsolete with the advent of Dust.
"Your bombers have done well, Mr Lichter. All along the western coast, the Grimm are in disarray and easy pickings for our Huntsmen and the army."
Jaune turned to the screen and was shocked to find that it was Ozpin whom his dad was talking to.
"I did have to convince my brother to approve of this operation on short notice, so I'm glad to hear they have done their job well. His pride and joy, state-of-the-art bombers and fighters did need a test run, so it all worked out. And, Ozpin? I already asked you to call me Lucas."
Ozpin smiled through the screen, a steaming mug in his hand. "Very well, Lucas. How soon could you scramble another squadron."
Lucas sighed, "The bombing runs were neither cheap in material nor in lives, Ozpin. Nevermore and other avian Grimm swarms greatly inhibited our efforts, and we lost a few fighters and a couple of bombers already. I swear, it's like every flock of Nevermore and Griffon in Sanus had decided to target my squadrons. Not to mention the hordes of Ravagers here on Vacuo, I'm hoping your huntsmen will be able to rescue my pilots. Aircraft can be replaced, but John hates wasting his precious personal. There is only so much I can do to convince my brother that their sacrifices will be worth it in the end."
"And I sincerely thank you for your efforts in the war and assure you that my Huntsmen are already recovering your pilots as we speak. Still, I'm surprised you were able to scramble so many squadrons within hours of first contact. It was almost as if you already had those squadrons at the ready for something."
"What can I say?" Jaune's father shrugged. "It always pays to be vigilant. Back to your question, we should be able to scramble the next squadron in a couple of hours. Once they are in the air, give them three hours for them to arrive to Sumire. I pray for your men to be able to hold until then."
"Thank you. I'm sure I can count on Mr Caspian to lead the militia there for a few more hours. Hopefully, things will go well enough that Qrow can head east soon to meet your representative and their survey team. He will have my full authority for that matter we discussed."
Jaune raised an eyebrow. Who's Qrow? Suddenly, Ozpin frowned in his direction from the screen and he felt a headache approaching. He instinctively looked to the skies. A cloud had covered the moon, and his surroundings were fading to static. Jaune couldn't maintain his focus as he felt himself getting ejected from the scrying bowl.
"Damn. What a rush." Jaune noticed that the white mist-like material in the bowl was depleted enough to show the base of the bowl. What was that, though? Did Ozpin notice his presence? Or was that his imagination?
Indeed. It seems the bowl is limited in its usage and looks to be in need of recharging. What have you learned about its usage?
"Well," Jaune rubbed his head as the aching gradually disappeared, he filed the matter with Ozpin for later. "I couldn't track Dad, but my sisters were much easier to track. I'm guessing It works better on those with Arc blood? Moreover, moonlight is necessary for it to work. It's a nifty but limited tool, all around."
So it would seem. Regardless, I had attempted to communicate with the Moon Deity on your behalf.
"Really?" Jaune felt a smile bloom on his face. He would certainly love to meet his patron and thank them properly for their help, so long as they don't expect him to do something ridiculous like preaching for his greatness.
Unfortunately, I suspect that due to the broken nature of the moon, the Deity will not be able to communicate directly with you. I could barely understand them myself but I did manage to figure out a request of theirs.
"What is it?"
Foremost, it gave you that bowl with that understanding in mind. The Deity only repeated this line whenever I asked how we could repay it.
"Put me back together."
"Put me back together."
"…Why couldn't it have been something as simple as preaching…"
T*A*M*S
Unknown location, early morning, July 5th
Three figures walked into a dimly lit cave. They were greeted by a pair of guards, though to call them as such would imply some sort of organization or discipline. They were merely bandit goons who were foisted with the ungrateful job of the night sentries.
"Who's there?"
The leader of the trio, a well-dressed man with brown hair, a goatee, and a pair of bat wings sticking from his back, stepped forward. "It's Yuma, your boss expects us. Tell him that Adam sends his regards."
"Uhh, yeah. I think he mentioned something like that. Spider bitch is also here, she's with you, right? Give me a mo' and don't move a muscle."
"Bitch?" A frown graced the bat-faunus' face.
The goon shrugged carelessly as he entered the cave. "That's what Boss man calls her, and she seemed to like it."
The goon moved further in while the other fiddled nervously with the gun in his hands. Eventually, the first goon returned, "A'ight, you can follow me. The boss lady is busy, but the boss man will see you."
Yuma, exchanged glances with his two companions, a brown haired woman with an apprehensive look on her face, and a towering man with short cropped hair and a face hidden by a white mask.
They followed the goon deeper inside, which opened up to a large cavern with multiple tunnels. There was plenty of activity going on despite the late hour; some bandits were playing a game of dice, others were shooting needles up their arms with whatever narcotics they could find. Some were drinking vile liquor that Yuma could smell its stench from here, while more were fornicating in some corner; whether some of them were actually bandits or captives he didn't care. Still, there were a fair few who were doing some actual work as they moved weapons and supplies to and from the tunnels.
There were easily a hundred bandits just in this cavern alone, humans and faunus alike. A surprising sort of camaraderie had blossomed between both races in their mutual love of chaos and villainy. With the weapons and supplies gathered, one could easily guess the purpose of gathering so many unhinged and unstable people in one place.
They were led deeper into the tunnels where they started hearing screaming and moans of pain, as well as the occasional deranged cackling followed by the unmistakable slapping sound of flesh against flesh. The walked past a particular room where an adolescent's sobs could be heard and Yuma noticed his female companion shudder terribly as it turned into a loud scream.
"Something on your mind, Ilia?"
The woman looked at him uncertainly with her blue eyes, "It's just – those screams. There are children here!"
Yuma calmly nodded, "Indeed, those are certainly children. What the bandits do to them is none of our concern. Only our mission matters. You know that Trifa helped capture a couple of them. What bothers you?"
"They are children!" Ilia repeated in shock. "They did nothing to us, how could our mission even be connected to the torture of innocents like this? Especially when the two Trifa captured were Faunus! Aren't we supposed to be fighting for the freedom and betterment of our kind?"
Yuma sighed tiredly, already having had this conversation a dozen times with a dozen different people. "Sacrifices need to be made for the good of our cause. If a couple of nameless Faunus kids die in the process of bettering a hundred other Faunus' lives, then that's a fair price to pay."
The chameleon-faunus woman looked shocked at his monotone reply. Ilia was very talented and resourceful but too soft at times to the point it might cause others to question her commitment to the cause.
She turned to her other companion, but he interrupted her before she could even speak.
"Leave it, Ilia. Focus on the mission, and keep them off your mind. They have chosen to live among the humans, they have already made their choice." As expected of Walter, cold-hearted and efficient. Exactly why Yuma liked him.
"Here."
Before they could argue more, their guide pointed to a cavern where they could see a slender pink-haired man with piercings sitting behind a glass table with several lines of white powder on it. He took a deep snort of one line as he leaned back with a satisfied moan, his green eyes dilating.
He looked at his visitors in disdain.
"Finally, you retards sure took your time. Oi, Trifa. Your buddies are here."
They turned to a side room where their last companion strutted out half-naked to join them. They could hear further sobbing and moaning from the room, combined with the woman's bloody fingernails, it did not take a genius to figure what that room was for.
Trifa sat on the couch beside the man instead of joining them, causing Yuma to frown at the disrespect.
"Hey guys. What took you so long?"
The pink haired man guffawed, "I just said the same. Ya know, I keep calling you a bitch, Trifa, but you can be just as fun as any of us filthy bandits. If you get bored of those chumps playing victims, you can always join us instead."
The white haired spider faunus giggled and sniffed heavily. Yuma frowned as he could smell alcohol and who knows what else she had consumed.
"How drunk and high are you? Don't you know we have an important mission here, Trifa?"
"Yes!" She gave a throaty moan as she sniffed one of the remaining lines on the table.
"Bitch! That was mine." Pink-hair slapped her butt only for her to start giggling uncontrollably.
Yuma scowled at them both. While it was common for people in the frontiers to rely on recreational drugs and narcotics to ward away the Grimm, he expected better from Trifa. He decided to ignore her and get to the matter at hand, if she decided to abandon their cause, then she knew the consequences.
He stepped forward and looked around, "I was under the impression that I would be speaking to a fellow faunus, your boss—"
"Boss Boering is away at the moment. You had taken too long, and she needed to check on something. I'm afraid you are gonna have to settle with me, good old Shiro. So, what's the situation with Taurus?"
Yuma frowned again before sighing inwardly, "the plan remains the same. It was unfortunate that you couldn't control your men trying out their new toys, which resulted in the relay tower getting damaged and blocking all communication."
At that, it was Shiro's turn to scowl at the reminder. "Don't worry, the ones responsible have been fed to the pigs." His scowl abruptly turned into a deranged grin as he giggled. "Some of you animals are capable of eating anything, it was quite the damn show."
Yuma could feel Ilia shift uneasily next to him, her face going green, and even Walter narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth.
"Regardless, this has caused us to have to report in person, yet everything remains the same. The train should leave Esmeralda in twenty-four hours or so, packed to the brim with Dust and supplies as well as a contingent of Atlasian Droids for protection. Once we hijack the train, we expect you to fulfill your part of the plan."
"Yeah, yeah. Our Bait is nearly ready, along with four Grimm hordes we managed to lure in several strategic locations. Celdic will have one hell of a finale to their festival thing, in addition to the other surprise we left for them earlier."
Yuma arched his brow, "Oh? Did I miss something?"
"Gehahaha, apparently those fools nearly emptied their garrison to escort the engineers back from the tower. I'm not sure about the details, but only twenty men returned. The boss lady is out checking what happened to them. It would be hilarious if they all got lost or were annihilated by the Grimm."
The three white-fang members exchanged glances, life couldn't truly be that easy, right?
"Three."
A voice shrilled from behind them, and they all turned to the entrance of the room to see a massive woman making her way through the cave entrance. She was tall, incredibly tall. At least eight feet tall, and obese to an unhealthy degree, yet one could see bulging muscles underneath the layers of fat. She had short messy brown hair, two boar tusks jutting out of her mouth, a pug nose and small beady eyes. It was easy for Yuma to guess she was a Boar-Faunus.
Curiously, she had a sparrow nesting on her head.
At first glance, one would think that she should not be able to walk, let alone fight. Yet, Yuma could see she carried herself easily, as she walked in like she owned the place and took an entire couch for herself.
"Boss lady! You're finally back." Shiro's previous rude and flippant attitude quickly shifted at the woman's appearance. "Listen up, fuckers. I might be cool and tolerate insults, but this is Ravena Boering, the greatest bandit queen this side of the Vale mountains. You would do well to be respectful to her."
So this was the other leader of this bandit alliance, and considering Shiro's attitude, the true leader of the bandits. He recognized the name from wanted posters but those were issued by the free cities beyond the Vale Mountains, along the Narrow Sea. What would such a famous bandit be doing so far away from her base of operations?
Regardless, when Yuma was sent to Sanus by Sienna Khan to monitor Taurus' increasingly violent operations, he was asked to support him instead by his friend Corsac. People thought the White Fang was one unified front, but it couldn't be further from the truth. He had wondered how several bandit groups had suddenly allied with each other under one banner, and it seemed this woman was the answer.
"What did you mean by three?"
His companion Walter was as blunt as always. The bandit queen didn't seem to mind.
"Three hordes. Those are the ones that remain." Her voice was surprisingly high-pitched for a woman of her size, "The Adventurers and garrison wiped out the one in the quarry." She glared at Shiro. "Our benefactors might have distracted the Huntsmen away from this region, but that does not mean that we should underestimate Celdic."
The pink haired man gulped and rubbed one of the piercings on his face uneasily. "Of course we won't, Ravena. By any chance, did your friend discover more on those adventurers?"
The massive woman lifted her hand and the sparrow on her head landed on a stubby finger. "My friend here was not able to spy on all the adventurers, though it did manage to gain insight on one of them."
The bandit boss gazed at the bird softly for a moment… only to crush it to a pulp and gulp it like a snack. The act of violence was so sudden that it made Ilia flinch heavily beside him.
Ravena chewed on the sparrow's remains for a moment before swallowing. "I always hated that part of my Semblance, I'll keep coughing out feathers till morning." She grumbled loudly. "One of the adventurers was called Sylphid. Short girl, green eyes, white hair and a cat-faunus. Does it ring a bell for any of you?"
They all looked confused at the name and warily shook their heads.
"Nevermind then, she looked like such a tasty morsel with an interesting Semblance of her own." She licked her chops as she stood from the couch and walked to the same room Trifa had come from. "Continue your chatter, I'm getting something to eat. Then, we will have planning to do."
They watched in silence as she left and Shiro released a breath he unconsciously held.
"Well, that was interesting. Anyway, with the comms back online, we will need to be extra careful not to cause the town to call for further aid. Vale is busy at the moment, but who knows what they could cook up. Which is when this comes into the picture."
Shiro placed some sort of strange device shaped like a large black orb but with a flat bottom on the table. "Once we get confirmation that your pals have the train, we will be using this baby that was donated by our patrons to render communications useless in the region."
Yuma's eyes widened in shock, "You expect me to believe such a device exists?"
"You will have to trust me on that." The pink-haired druggie smirked, "I can't exactly test it for you or else it will shut down all communication devices, and it has some sort of cooldown on it. We're gonna have to count on you with the timing when you attack the train. Too early and we go blind. Too late, and Celdic, and through them Vale, would be warned."
Yuma gulped at the idea of having such a device at their beck and call. It would make their operations so much easier, even if it shuts their comms as well. "Just who are your patrons?"
Shiro's green eyes gleamed with malice, "Trust me, you don't wanna know. Now, which one of you will be staying here for liaison?"
Yuma turned to Trifa and scowled inwardly. She was supposed to be the liaison, but considering her attitude, and the fact the bandit asked for another one, the spider-faunus was clearly compromised. There was no way he could convince Elder Walter to remain here, for he was sent specifically by Taurus to keep an eye on him.
That only left one choice, as his eyes settled on Ilia's paling face.
T*A*M*S
Morning, July 5th
Outside the quarry
"Are you absolutely sure you are not hurting anywhere?"
"Oh, yeah! I feel so damn good, I could probably run all the way to Celdic."
The medic gawped in absolute shock at the woman whom everyone could tell was at death's door last night. Except now, she was in tip-top shape, as evidenced by how she bounced around the medical tent in her new outfit consisting of a denim corset and long slit skirt as well as a yellow long-sleeved shirt.
"T-this…this just makes no sense at all! Even with Aura, your injuries were so severe we worried how we would even move you."
Sara looked at him with a wide grin, "Don't sweat the small details. My Aura reserves are still low, so I'll be taking it easy. Anyway, am I free to go? Me and my dear protégés gotta get going now." She winked at Fie and Jaune who had accompanied her for the check-up.
Fie sighed as she glanced at her blonde friend. Jaune was keeping mum about it, but she was willing to bet her Chasers that he was responsible for her sleep getting cut short by the usually morning-hating Sara.
After finishing her check-up, Sara motioned for them to follow her. As they walked through the quickly dismantling camp, Fie noticed the troops were in good spirits. Some of them greeted them jovially, while some of the older ones gave nods of respect.
All of them, however, made a double take at the sight of the healed Sara who waved energetically at Montgomery who gaped at her in shock. Eventually, they made their way to their saddled horses and mounted up.
"Okay, kids. I already spoke with Brocket first thing in the morning. Heh, you should have seen the look on his face." Fie smiled slightly, but she noticed Jaune maintaining a stoic look. "We will be departing first to act as vanguard and scout ahead. You two have all your belongings, right?"
Jaune nodded, as he idly rolled that crystal necklace of his in his hand, while Fie just patted her horse's neck. Within a few minutes, they left the camp behind. It was a few miles away when Sara beamed at their blonde companion.
"So, Jaune. What did you do to me last night?"
Jaune gazed at the older adventurer for a moment before sighing. "Don't make it sound weird, woman. I discovered another aspect of my Semblance." Fie perked up, "among other things, it allows me to transfer Aura to others. I just shared some of mine."
"Among other things, huh." Sara hummed thoughtfully for a moment before giving him a mock glare. "You know, your entire existence is an insult to all hardworking Aura users in the world."
"What the hell?" The boy nearly dropped his necklace and placed it back around his neck.
The older Adventurer chortled.
"Hear me out; First, your huge amount of Aura. At first, I thought it was countered by your slow recovery, but then your Semblance is an absolute cheat that can somehow replenish all of your Aura instantly! Don't try to deny it, young man." She interrupted him before he could, "I can feel your Aura is at maximum, and it is obscenely large. I'm shocked that no Grimm have attacked us yet with how radiant you must be. Is that why you adopted the Stoic face? Moreover, what kind of Semblance has multiple different abilities, each one of them more useful than the other?"
Jaune rubbed his head awkwardly, "Nothing I can do about it, Sara. No one gets to decide their Semblance and Aura reserves."
"That's not entirely true." Fie piped in, "it's been proven that Huntsmen couples with high Aura reserves tend to have children with similarly high Aura reserves. While everyone's Semblance is unique to a certain degree, Aura is certainly hereditary."
"Exactly." Sara nodded her head before grinning coyly at the blonde. "You better watch your back around pompous nobles or greasy tycoons throwing their daughters at you. Especially if they are Huntresses in training when you eventually get to Beacon. Some of those minxes would not even care about marriage, and would attack you in your sleep to get your seed, if you get my meaning."
Jaune blushed slightly, "does that mean I don't have to worry about you assaulting me in my sleep? Since Fie tells me you have an aversion to having kids?"
"Hey!" How could he betray her so cheaply, she pouted at his apologetic smile.
"Haha, nice try kid, but no cigar. Too young for my tastes, and we'll be having talks about what can be shared about us, Fie." Sara's grin turned flinty at the younger girl who pretended to be busy examining the horizon.
The older woman turned back to the blonde, "But you know all about my tastes now, don't you?"
Jaune grimaced and patted his horse's neck absentmindedly. "I miss when you were a blushing and shy mess. Are you sure you're alright, Sara? That's a bit too bold even for you."
Sara froze for a moment before thinking deeply on it. "You know, I think you're right. I'm feeling too good at the moment. Almost as good as when I'm completely plastered but without the pounding headache or upset stomach. Are you sure you only transferred Aura to me?"
Fie frowned as she had an idea what Jaune had done and gazed deadpan at him. "What did you do, Jaune?"
"Nothing I haven't done to you."
"Wow, I didn't realize you two were so close already. Still, does that mean you got handsy while I was unconscious, Jauney boy?" Sara whistled in amusement.
"Nothing of the sort." Jaune denied instantly, "You already know about my magic, right?"
"Somewhat. You haven't been fully candid with me, and I respect that."
"Well, this now affects you both so listen closely."
Jaune explained how he got his magic and what it meant for them to have those abilities. While Fie had heard most of it yesterday, there were a few things she didn't know such as him gaining magic by killing Grimm. He was still hiding something, but Fie didn't care. She trusted Jaune, and if he didn't feel like they needed to know about whatever it was, then so be it.
Once he was done, Sara immediately focused for a second before both her weapons appeared in her hands. "So that's where they were. This is gonna be very handy indeed."
"Don't forget about Search. This would make any tracking mission effortless." Fie added her two cents.
"Yeah…" Sara fell silent for a moment before turning to Jaune. "I just don't get it, kid. This is an insane boon you just gave us and for what? We haven't done anything worth this kind of gift. Don't get me wrong, I'm super flattered and grateful for this. But – what I'm trying to say is…"
Fie could understand Sara's confusion, but she simply didn't know Jaune as well as her. "How could we repay him? I think that's what you're trying to say, Sara."
"Exactly!"
They both turned to the blonde who shrugged, "honestly? I haven't thought about it. I have the ability to give you a power-up, so I used it. It's up to you how you use this power, and in your line of work, you will have the opportunity to help many people with it. That's all I can ask for, I guess."
Silence followed that statement. Fie looked at Sara who stared back at her before they both huffed in exasperation.
"That's just not fair, Jaune. I frankly expected you to want to sleep with me or something in return."
The boy spluttered indignantly, "What? No, I would never!"
"Huuuuh?" Sara glared. "You would never want to sleep with me? What's wrong with me? Is it cuz I'm old? Am I not hot enough for you?"
Fie sighed inwardly. If Sara hoped to make Jaune fluster and blush, then she had better luck flashing him her boobs instead. Jaune's face quickly became stone-faced as he gazed woodenly at the older woman.
After a whole minute of silence and suffering Jaune's judgmental gaze, Sara awkwardly looked away with a muttered, "never mind."
"You really don't know Jaune enough, Sara." Fie giggled. "He probably had to deal with his seven sisters teasing him on a daily basis and didn't he mention that his mother tried to pair him up with girls from his town hoping he would forget about becoming a Huntsman?"
"Clearly." Sara huffed as Jaune gave a slight smile. "Still, you're quite the cheater, you know? Now I'll have to really think of a proper way to repay you. The more you deny payment, the more I will insist."
Fie nodded vehemently, "Yep. You're a cheater, Jaune. First thing we will do once we reach Celdic is buy out all of Odvin's stock. Then, it will be training time. It's the least I can do."
Jaune looked surprised at them both, which caused Fie to frown. Did he truly not expect them to want to repay him in the slightest?
It was a few minutes later as they traveled in silence along the beautiful, and strangely peaceful, countryside when Jaune sighed loudly.
"Alright. If you want to repay me, then I won't hold back. I'll be counting on you two to teach me your tricks and help me out when I need it."
"Sure thing."
"Not you Sara. You still need to recover your Aura."
"Why can't you just transfer more?"
"Because your body would reject it and…"
They both turned on their saddles to see why the blonde went silent all of a sudden. He had a deeply contemplative look on his face before nodding to himself.
"Okay, we can try an experiment if you'd like."
"What kind of experiment?" Amusedly, Sara's voice had a hint of wariness.
"I'll transfer my Aura, and you have to consciously accept it and circulate it in your body."
"Sounds simple enough," Sara nodded. "Hit me."
Fie felt a haze in the air and she quickly focused on her budding Aura sense. The haze transformed into a line of golden light emanating from Jaune's forehead and latched onto Sara's. It pulsed as if something was being transferred through the connection.
Immediately, Sara gasped. Even as she watched, Fie noticed her mentor get even more lively, and her face gained a healthy flush. It was a minute later when Sara waved for Jaune to stop and the line ceased to exist.
"Damn, that felt good." She hugged herself tightly, "too good. I could get drunk out of your Aura, Jaune."
The blonde boy snickered, "If my Aura is wine, then you just drank a seventeen-year-old vintage straight from the tap."
Sara burst out laughing, causing her horse to trot uneasily. "When I woke up this morning, I could tell I barely had a tenth of my Aura. Now I easily have over two thirds. I tried to absorb more, but it just gave me shivers and I could feel it dissipating into the air. I'm sure with time, and practice, my body will adapt to accept your Aura even mid-battle."
"Well, I guess we can declare that this experiment was a success. Thank you for accepting to be my guinea pig, Sara."
The older woman mock-scowled. "Happy to be of service, though I might ask you for a refill later on. I could use you when I'm craving a drink."
Jaune just smiled before moving on, Fie took this chance to ask him something.
"So how much of your Aura did you transfer to her?"
"About ten percent." Jaune hummed, and both Fie and Sara sighed exasperatedly at how insane that was.
They rode on in a comfortable silence for a few more hours, backtracking every once in a while to make sure the garrison was following them. Brocket had attempted to contact Celdic but only received static. It was unknown whether it was interference from the mountains or if something had happened. Needless to say, the Lieutenant had refrained from telling the men so as to not affect their high spirits, but warned them to stay on their toes.
As they entered the main roads to Celdic, however, they could see signs of devastation as well as many tracks heading to Celdic. There had been plenty of fighting nearby, evidenced by the burned foliage and the trampled trees that must have been done by Grimm. The three of them readied their weapons and proceeded to the town, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
It was noon when they turned a corner around a hill and could finally see Celdic a few miles ahead; it did not bode well. There were a couple of small smoke trails, but the real worry was the horde of people waiting by the gates to enter, all of them looking haggard and distraught.
"My eyesight isn't the best, what do you see, Fie?"
"Refugees." She answered swiftly. "Easily over two thousand, maybe three. Looks like they left their homes in a hurry with little to no luggage or supplies, though I see the occasional wagon and truck."
"There's also the signs of devastation inside Celdic itself. Sara, are we still unable to contact the garrison inside town?"
Sara pulled out her scroll and tried to communicate with Celdic proper, only to receive static. She contacted Brocket instead.
"Valestein, report."
"Celdic has lost comms. I see signs of an attack. More importantly, there are thousands of refugees trying to enter the town, but the garrison is not opening the gates. Orders?"
There was some silence, before the Lieutenant replied.
"We are an hour behind you. Proceed to the gate and attempt to get one of the guards on the line to report on what's happening. Meanwhile, try to help those refugees as best you can. I will trust your judgment."
"Will do." She disconnected the call before turning to them, "You heard the man. Let's see what the hell happened while we were gone."
Chapter 16 (Calm before the Storm)
Thank you for your patience and support. We are entering the last stages of this arc.
Midday, July 5th.
"I told you, no! I can not allow anyone inside the town until the investigation is over. Sheriff's orders."
"Don't give me that horseshit, Stebens. We've been hauling ass since yesterday to get here. We got folks out here starvin' and scared, and you're sittin' on your behind like a toad in a puddle! The whole darned countryside is overrun by Grimm."
"And the town would soon be overrun by the wretched things if I let you all in, Emmett! We've already been attacked and that pompous clown Montgomery emptied the garrison for some fucking adventure. You will stay put until the investigation is over, and the Sheriff can screen you."
Emmet scowled and looked around at his fellow Sheriffs and deputies from the many settlements in the region. They had agreed to nominate him as their speaker as he was the eldest and most experienced, but they didn't expect for them to be stranded at the town's entrance like this.
He looked behind him to find the nearly three thousand refugees, all the men, and even some women and children, were armed with small arms and carrying their meager belongings. He fingered his rifle uneasily, "Get the damn Sheriff here, then. Yer just a deputy, get him or the mayor or anyone else of import to screen us before the damn Grimm show up, if yer too worried to hold responsibility."
Stebens flushed angrily from his position on top of the gates, "Go suck on a lemon, Emmet. Sheriff's orders are to hold those gates and that's what I'll do. Isn't that right, boys?"
The men on the walls, all of them militia, looked hesitant and uncertain. One of them boldly spoke up, "Maybe we should send for Sheriff Greaves? I'm sure he would–"
"I didn't ask for your opinion, boy. I already sent for the Sheriff and he didn't deign to reply. If his orders are to hold the gates, then we hold the damn gates!"
The refugees on the ground had mutinous looks and even the men on the wall were having severe doubts.
Stebens sighed loudly, "Look, Emmet. It's not that I don't understand your position, but we have to wait until at least the Garrison returns. We got some of them wounded folks from the tower yesterday, and if yeh can't trust Montgomery, which I don't blame yah, then at least trust in our fellow born and bred Celdician dragoons. The town's already crowded enough as it is, adding another three thousand without the full garrison is asking for a disaster."
"I don't care about Brocket or his dragoons, they had become dogs of Vale long ago and forgot their roots." Emmet angrily retorted, yet that caused the wavering militia on the walls to get angry as well at the insult to their local heroes.
"I'm afraid we will have to get through those gates one way or another, deputy. All these people are my responsibility and I ain't gonna risk having them stranded out here in the open when we could be of more use inside the town and manning the damn walls for you."
"Deputy! Look over yonder."
Before Stebens could give another acerbic reply, one of his men pointed at three figures riding for the gates. The refugees had also seen them and parted way for the three riders to trot towards them.
"Valestein! Yer back."
"Lo there folks," The attractive woman called out with a smile. "What's the hold up here?"
Stebens explained the situation, while noticing the two youths trotting over the refugees and their leaders, seemingly inspecting them.
"I see," Valestein nodded. "You heard all of that, Lieutenant?"
"That I did. Good work on keeping the town safe, deputy. I'm giving authority for Valestein to act in my stead. Captain Montgomery also sends his blessings."
Stebens was surprised by the sound that came out of the device in the woman's hand. He easily recognized Lieutenant Brocket's voice.
The adventurer didn't wait for him to reply before turning to one of her companions. "Jaune, did you find anything suspicious."
The blonde man moved beside her and shook his head, "Surprisingly no. I honestly expected someone to try to sneak in with such a large crowd."
"Heh, you would think so, but no. That's an amateur mistake as all the people here know each other very well."
Valestein turned to the refugees, ignoring how some of them had their guns out but pointed to the ground.
"Hear me, people of the Celdic region. My name is Sara Valestein, and I am an A-rank adventurer in the employ of the town of Celdic. With me are C-ranked adventurers Jaune Arc and Fie. You can consider us Huntsmen if you would like." She added hastily as a few of the younger people looked confused at the term.
"Anyway, we understand your predicament, but know that your safety is our number one priority." She turned back to Stebens, "We have successfully eradicated the Grimm horde at the old quarry and the rest of the expedition should be here in less than an hour. I have orders from the Captain of the Guards for the garrison to open the gates and let the refugees in. I shall be responsible for the screening process."
A lot of murmuring sounded out at that, many of it jubilant and ecstatic. Stebens sighed as he had no choice but to comply.
"Open the gates."
Early evening, July 5th
Stables,
"Man, who would have thought shit could go down that bad?" A voice spoke from the next stall over.
"I know, right? Dammit, we should have listened to Valestein when she warned against throwing numbers at the Grimm. I knew it, man. I just knew it that emptying the garrison for an expedition while the Grand Market was underway would be a bad idea." Another replied from the opposite stall.
"From a purely strategic position, it wasn't a wrong decision. That horde would have attacked us in the open if we left it alone. We had the terrain advantage and it needed to be destroyed ASAP." An older voice interjected.
"Yet, the issue was that Montgomery had left the defense of the town in the hands of amateur militia. For them, It's bad enough that they were forced to stay long hours after their own hard day of work to protect the town from what they believe to be a non-existent threat. When was the last time Celdic saw any action?"
"It must have been a decade or something." That was Rory, "I had just joined and we suffered a Grimm horde. Must have been similar in size to the one in the quarry, but we had two professional Huntsmen each leading a Beacon team, so it was a complete wipe out."
Another voice piped up. "Still, Grimm attacks on the outlying villages and then the saboteur attacks? The Dust shop, the barracks, and the communication building; No Dust, no sleeping quarters, and no comms… Again! It's a miracle that Odvin had decided to close shop early and that most of the remaining troops were either in the hospital or celebrating in the market, thus missing the explosions. This was very well planned, and me thinks that whoever did it must have had inside help."
Jaune was busy brushing down Arthur as he listened to the Dragoons tend their horses and gossip over the events of the day. "It's not at all difficult to slip in a spy or two in during the Grand Market. Too many visitors and tourists. Besides, we can still contact Beacon through our Scrolls. Do we have an estimate on when the comms will be replaced?" He asked his stall neighbor.
"We will have to wait for supplies from Vale, and considering the last we heard was that Martial Law was still in place, we shouldn't expect any until at least the end of the month." Duncan scratched his chin thoughtfully. "On the bright side, we know an SDC train should be here by dawn. The tower repair crew have been itching to return for a while now."
"Oh? What's it carrying?"
"The usual. Dust, supplies, ammo. Its destination is Vale, but it stops here to pick up whoever is done with their business, unload a shipment of Dust to Odvin's, then continue on their route. Let's just hope they don't panic when they contact the station and receive static instead. Not like they can turn around anyway." He added with a wry chuckle that was echoed by his friends.
Jaune brushed the last strand of loose hair from his equine companion, patted him on the neck, then moved to Fie's horse.
"I thought the Grand Market would last a couple more days?"
"Usually, it would," Rory answered as he was done with his horse. "I could help you with Valestien's horse if you would like?"
"Please and thank you." Jaune smiled at the affable man and they worked in silence for a moment before Rory continued.
"As I was saying, the current situation of the region, what with reports of attacked villages and towns, as well as the war in Vale, must have scared off most of the visitors. Many of the merchants have packed up and nearly all the tourists are waiting for the train to return to Vale. I hear some fools pooled their money to buy Old Baha's truck to drive all the way there. That senile old coot; he promised to reserve that rust-bucket for me."
"I see." Jaune snickered at his friend's annoyance, "Well, I'm glad I volunteered to tend the horses for Sara and Fie. Let them deal with the mayor and the thousands of people trying to cram into town."
They chuckled and worked in a comfortable mood for a while, engaging in small talk, teasing Rory about delaying his wedding with Lizzie again, or the other dragoons what they think will happen to Montgomery after this debacle.
"He might have led the defense well against the Sulfur Fish swarm, but it does not negate the fact that this entire expedition was due to those fools he keeps around goading him into action."
Many of the dragoons murmured in agreement. Jaune patted Fie's horse once he was done, just as Rory finished tending to Sara's horse.
"Hey Arc." He turned to Duncan, who had another dragoon help him carry a large wooden box.
"Yeah?"
"This is a little something that the men decided to gift their Radiant Blademaster."
"Oh, come on, you're still calling me that?" Jaune scratched his head in embarrassment. Ever since they had seen him take out the Geist with an Aura strike, and then help dig a trench into the bedrock to bury their dead comrades, they had been calling him that. He wouldn't have minded if it was a nod to his sword skills, but it was mostly a joke on how he used Crocea Mors to shape the Aura he imbued in it into practical tools.
Like a shovel.
"What can I say, Arc? Even to blind rats like us when it comes to Aura sensing, we could just feel your existence somehow. You might need to look into proper ways to conceal yourself, or else you would be a shining beacon once you leave town. I'm surprised you weren't attacked at all on the way here."
"Must be because the roads were already cleared." He nodded to Duncan as he helped them lower the box.
"So what's this?"
"This," Rory spoke from behind him as he held a crowbar and jammed it at one end of the box, "is something we had in storage and decided your horse might need it soon."
With a grunt, he opened the box, revealing a full barding set. There was a shaffron, a crinet, a peytral, flanchards, and a crupper. It was bland and steely gray, and there were a few old dents and rusts all over it.
It was brilliant!
"This is amazing!" Jaune's eyes shined at the equipment. "Thanks guys."
"Don't sweat it. We stopped arming our horses with those once we fully adopted our guns into our combat style. Their Aura alone should be enough, most of the time. We also got you a breastplate, greaves, and bracers just like the ones we wear, but you'll have to pick it up from the armory."
The aspiring huntsman turned to the gathered crowd of dragoons. All of them had witnessed him fighting alongside them on the road, and even if they missed his performance in the quarry itself, they had seen its aftereffects. They all nodded approvingly, eyes full of respect, and Jaune felt something he had never known he had craved before.
Acknowledgement, of his skills, at least, instead of his name.
"I will make sure to put it to good use. You hear that, Arthur? We'll make a warhorse out of you yet."
The horse snorted, causing them all to laugh.
Evening
Jaune stretched as he left the stables, the swinging of the empty Dust crystal around his neck grabbing his attention. He held the crystal with a frown, once again noticing the energy within it. Ever since his Aura fully recovered this morning, the crystal had slowly been feeding off the excess Aura he had.
An Observe told him all he needed.
Jaune sent an Aura thread into it and found he could easily use the Aura within. That made sense, as it was his Aura the crystal was hoarding.
He shrugged as he placed it back under his shirt, more Aura was never a bad thing. He looked at the surrounding town, Celdic had turned into a refugee camp once all the troops returned. Montgomery had seemed like a changed man as he took charge of the situation with the backing of Brocket and Sara. It would have been easy to blame him for the mess, but it would have left a bad taste in his mouth. The man understood his mistake and endeavored to redeem himself. They also needed to provide a unified front for the people of Celdic, especially in these hard times.
Jaune walked towards the Grand Market, its location easily seen from distance thanks to the tall water tower next to it. Idly, he noticed the many tents that had sprung up in the formerly empty parks. The festival had to be closed prematurely but it was still considered a success… for the most part. Some of the merchants who had rented out for the rest of the week will have lost many potential profits, and he wagered Celdic itself will have difficulty inviting foreign merchants again.
For tonight, however, the festival was in full swing as the final day closed. Many people celebrated their lives and the coming harvest, despite the hardships they faced. Jaune thought the people of Celdic were a hardy folk who would not let themselves succumb to adversity.
If he wanted to buy any gifts for his family, now would be the best chance. Perhaps he should see if he could call them again later tonight? The aspiring huntsman looked at the half moon in the cloudy skies. He frowned as he wondered what kind of omen would that be.
He greeted the familiar form of Lizzie and her ceramics shop, who was playing patty cake with Anita, Duncan's daughter. Jaune stopped and spoke to them for a while, and was shocked to learn that Elizabeth was Lieutenant Brocket's daughter. Considering he saw him speaking amiable with Rory, he assumed the Lieutenant was supporting of their relationship. So why weren't they married yet?
"We're just waiting for the right time. Celdic is dear to my heart, and I know we're getting up in the years, but I hoped Rory would move with me to Vale." Lizzie answered with a wan smile.
"Looking for the safety of the big city, huh?" Jaune gave her a knowing look, as he held Anita on his shoulders. The little tyke might have acted like a proper lady when he first met her, but she quickly showed her true self once she got used to him. He didn't mind, he had always wanted younger siblings and Fie was nowhere in sight to pout at him.
"Yep, even if it must be even more crowded than Celdic right now, with the refugees and displaced people from the war." The older woman giggled lightly as she threw a rubber ball to Anita who missed, causing it to bounce on Jaune's head.
"Sorry, uncle!"
"U-uncle?" Jaune spluttered as he placed the girl down. Did he look that old? A glance at the giggling girl had him narrowing his eyes at the cheek.
"Are you heading over to Meg's?"
"Oh? I didn't know you two were friends?"
"She always makes sure to visit every season and brings interesting things to sell." Lizzie shrugged and Jaune scratched his chin in thought.
They spoke for a couple of more minutes before Lizzie had to close shop and take Anita back to her father. Jaune waved farewell and then continued his stroll, stopped by a fruit stall and bought himself a bag of oranges to snack on before he made his way to Meg's. On the way, he found Fie staring in wonder at a cotton candy stall.
"Hey Fie," her tail twitched as she turned to him with pleading eyes. Jaune chuckled as he had a sense of déjà vu.
"Still broke? I thought you mentioned you had an emergency fund in your room." Jaune thanked the vendor as he paid him for a few sticks of cotton candy.
The cat girl grabbed two and munched on the first in delight as they walked, while he peeled his orange. "Mhmm, had to replenish my ammo and bomb supplies. Dust is an important ingredient for most explosives, but there are plenty of other materials involved."
"I see. Good thing I still have some Dust on me, now that Odvin's a bust, eh?" Fie nodded, her cheeks full of candy, causing him to chortle. "Where's Sara, by the way?"
"Still overseeing the defenses with the garrison. She sent me away a while ago and said to meet her in the Inn in the evening. Something about me needing to have fun or something."
Jaune hummed as the girl finished the first stick and quickly moved onto the next.
"So, explosives." He looked pointedly at Fie, who was engrossed in her snack, waiting for her to say something.
The white-haired cat-faunus quickly gulped her treat before turning to him with one finger raised, "Lesson one when handling bombs; safety."
Jaune had to hold in a chuckle as he watched her serious face flecked with blue cotton candy. He silently produced a handkerchief from Storage and wiped her face clean, much to her chagrin.
"With my Aura reserves, I doubt I'll need to worry about safety."
Fie shook her head vehemently, "And what if you don't have Aura but still need to work on explosives? Did you forget how you spent the last few days as Auraless as a gnat? You have to take this seriously, Jaune. If you want me to teach you, then listen closely."
The blonde man was taken aback, and grimaced inwardly at the blunt truth. Jaune was allowing his arrogance to seep back into his thoughts, and that would not do. He nodded genially to the girl, "You got it, Fie. Let's finish our shopping and head back to the inn for our lessons."
They first visited Meg's where they found her on a laptop connected to a video camera. A glance showed that she had most of her merchandise packed, but Jaune's gaze fell on a disassembled machine gun on a table but didn't have the chance to look closer when the older woman noticed them.
"Oh, howdy! I heard you were back. How was your mission, Jaune? Did you test the gun?"
"It went well. The gun was helpful, but I miss having a shield." Jaune looked strangely at what she was doing. He was knowledgeable enough with tech to know that she was doing video editing, but he wasn't as much of a tech whiz as his sisters. "So, what are you up to?"
"Oh, this? I've been taking videos of the Grand Market to show to a magazine back in Vale. The mayor loved the idea of more exposure for the town and allowed me to take as many shots as possible." The rabbit-woman then pointed to the back of the tent, where some strange device with rotary blades and another camera was strapped to. "I even got to use my drone for an aerial shot. It's a shame what's going to happen, though."
Drone? Jaune filed it for later and looked around at the emptying store, "Planning to leave early?"
Meg gave a wan smile, "Unfortunately yes. While I did enjoy my time here and earned a tidy profit, I can tell that something big will happen to this town soon. I'll be taking the SDC train in the morning back to Vale."
"I see. Well, hopefully I'll see you safe in Vale once I'm done here. Could we still browse what you have in stock right now?"
"Sure! Tell me what you or your friend need, but my gun isn't for sale." She pointed at the disassembled gun before smiling warmly at Fie who was browsing a shelf of powdered substances, "Careful sweetie. That thing can blow your fingers off."
Fie gave her a peace sign and a not so innocent smile, "I'll take all you have. Jaune's paying."
He should have known.
.
.
.
They made their way back to the Inn, heavily laden with supplies, though thankfully, it was all stored in Storage. Jaune may have jokingly grumbled about having to pay for most of it, but he didn't really mind as whatever he managed to make would be his, as Fie still had her own explosives stored in the inn room.
He really hoped the proprietress didn't do random checks and if she did, she wouldn't be stupid enough to mess with bombs.
They entered the inn to see it jam-packed with people. There were the regular guests, of course, but there were also a large crowd of morose people. Those who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and probably friends and families to the Grimm. It made Jaune's blood boil, and he felt restless knowing that the Grimm were out there. Most likely, congregating around a more experienced Grimm, or getting baited by those mysterious bandits, before they made their next move.
At least, the residents of Celdic had easily taken them in, imbibing them with bitter ale and good food to lighten the mood – some of the refugees appeared to be feeling better as they joked and laughed lightly with the locals. Jaune also noticed that everyone had a gun on their hip.
They were surprised to find Sara sitting by an empty side of the bar, a mug of beer in hand. She waved them over, and Jaune noticed she had her scroll expanded to tablet mode. It seemed the older Adventurer was waiting for a call, as the screen had connecting written over it.
"There you are, kids. Come over, and grab a drink."
"No, thanks. We'll be playing with explosives in the room, Sara. I'd rather keep Jaune sober for that."
"Excuse me? Explosives? What are you teaching those kids, Valestein?"
Jaune frowned at the open scroll, slightly annoyed at the patronizing tone. He was greeted by a pretty yet severe-looking blonde woman with green eyes and spectacles. He thought the woman would have been beautiful if not for her stern look.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, Glynda. You finally answered. So, introductions." Sara moved away from the counter to give them full view of the Scroll, "Fie, Jaune. Meet Glynda Goodwitch. Combat instructor in Beacon academy and the Deputy Headmistress. She is also technically our employer."
"Is that so. A pleasure to meet you, then, Professor. I will be in your care in a few weeks when I enroll." Jaune's frown disappeared, yet he maintained a stoic look and inclined his head politely.
The blonde woman kept her stern look, though Jaune was starting to think that was her normal face.
"Don't worry, Glynda. Fie is a pro, and Jaune can handle himself quite well. I should know, things would have gotten sticky if not for him."
The woman finally nodded, "It is not my place to warn you to be careful, I suppose. Not yet, at least." She gave a slight smirk at Jaune who raised an eyebrow. "Regardless, I need a full report of what has happened in the past twenty-four hours, Sara."
"Do you need us here, Sara?" Fie was stealing glances at the upper floor where their room was.
"Nah, you can go have your fun, Kiddos. Don't blow the up inn, though."
***
Fie dragged him off to their room and quickly cleared up the table before covering it with a tarp and placing vials of substances from her Storage.
"I'm really liking this ability."
Jaune smirked before having a sudden thought.
"You know, my sister Maya is quite the savant when it comes to tinkering and creating things. Wanna meet her?"
Fie froze hesitantly, "If she's cool like you…"
"Don't worry." He patted her head, preening inwardly at being called cool. "You'll love her."
He set up his scroll and called his sister. It was unfortunate that his scroll didn't have a video call feature, but at least he could show Fie his sister through her camera.
It took a few minutes, in which Jaune helped Fie finish setting up her stuff, before the call connected.
"Hello? Who keeps calling without their camera on? Is that you, Jaune?"
"Hey, Maya." Jaune laughed as he looked at his sister. She looked cleaner and more organized than yesterday, though he could see a small smidgen of oil on her brow. "Yeah, it's me. Where are you?"
"On my way to Celdic, believe it or not."
"Really? Whatever for?" Jaune would have been shocked if he hadn't used the scrying bowl to spy on them. Although, he's surprised Dad would send the twins, instead of an executive of the company.
"Hyperion and Arc family business. You of all people should know about it." She intoned knowingly, "Bleue says hi, by the way."
"Hello, Jaune." Another, more cultured, voice spoke, though no less warm. "It's been a while since we've spoken. Sorry, I can't move into the camera at the moment, I'm a little busy flying this behemoth."
"That it has, Bleue. Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. Fie, say hello to my sisters Maya and Bleue. They're one year older than me, but I consider them to be my best friends."
"…hello."
"Oh my Gosh!! Did you hear that, Bleue? Jaune has made a friend! A friend who is a girl!! Mom will be so ecstatic."
Maya certainly looked a little too happy, and Jaune shuddered as he watched the wide grin appearing on her face. He wasn't sure if not having a camera was a good thing or not.
"Oh my, Jaune. You certainly have been busy. And such a cute sounding girl as well."
Fie shifted awkwardly as a blush formed on her face.
"Come on, girls. Knock it off, you're making Fie uncomfortable."
"Sorry/My apologies."
"Don't worry about it." Fie shook her head and then remained silent. Jaune gave her a light bump with his waist as she stood next to him and mouthed for her to say something. The girl pouted before turning to the Scroll, "What's that you mentioned about a behemoth?"
"Oh yeah, Dad sent us along with a survey team, and an executive of Uncle John's with a couple of Sparrow escorts to Celdic for some business with the town and Vale. Uncle had us take one of his newest aircraft for a test run."
"Uncle?" Fie questioned as she set the last of her equipment.
"Johannes Lichter is my Dad's younger brother. Full-time CEO of Hyperion corporation, and part-time mad scientist."
"Unlike our father, who is a full-time mad scientist."
They chuckled at Bleue's remark. She might be the calm and polite twin, but Jaune could easily confess that she had the best timing for jokes among his sisters, especially her dry sense of humor.
"Well, I'm glad you are on the way. The situation in Celdic had changed drastically, since we last talked."
"What happened, Jaune?"
The mood seemed to fall as Maya asked in concern.
"A lot of things. Might as well get comfy. Oh, and Fie? Work on the bombs. I'll watch and learn."
Fie nodded and busied herself with her toys.
"Oh, explosives? Girl, you're gonna fit right in with us. Now I have to meet you."
"Wait… you're also into explosives?"
"What do you mean, Jaune?" Bleue's smooth voice sounded from offscreen. "Every gal has a few explosives hidden somewhere on her person. One can never be too careful with Grimm and outlaws, after all."
The youngest Arc facepalmed as Fie beamed with two peace signs instead of her usual one. "You were right, Jaune. Your sisters are super cool."
Unknown location, late evening.
A sleek gray Bullhead flew at a low altitude over the hills. Its destination was a hidden valley, which at any other time would look beautiful and serene. Now, however, it looked anything but that, with thousands of Grimm coloring the normally green valley black.
Inside the Bullhead, a pink-haired man in the pilot seat had a nervous grin on his face as he approached the valley. Beside him, in the co-pilot seat, was a short mousy man fiddling with a strange black device.
"Hey, Shiro." The now named Shiro grunted without looking at his co-pilot. "Just to confirm, we just need to activate this once we are near the town, right?"
"Yes, you idiot." Shiro growled, "and leave the damn thing! Who told you to touch it?"
The mousy man flinched and nearly dropped the black device on the ground, if not for Shiro's quick reflexes. The pink-haired man stopped the VTOL aircraft right before the entrance of the valley, and slowly glared at the man.
"Do you wanna die, bitch? Is that it, Bors? You have any idea how fucked we would be if we turned this shit on too soon? Or worse, broke it?"
"N-no, Shi– I mean, boss."
"Then be fucking careful, you retard. I'll kill you and cut you into sashimi for the boss lady to feast on!" The ill-tempered man roared as he placed the device back on the dashboard where his shifty co-pilot had taken it.
"Kid is waking up." A voice sounded from deeper inside the aircraft. "Might want to get a move on before the Grimm start chasing us."
Shiro turned to the formerly sleeping Grimm bait, to find the boy he kidnapped with Trifa tied up and gagged in spider silk, glaring murderously at him.
"What's this? Did sleeping beauty finally awaken?" The pink haired man left his seat and squatted in front of the brown haired youth, grabbing him by the head and smirking at him. "Yer angry, eh? That's good, that's good. Who would have thought you would unlock your Aura so quickly."
Shiro squeezed the brat's head harshly as he stared right into his slitted pupils, "Who would have thought the quiet little snake would be the tough one, eh?" A deranged cackle sounded out from him as the boy struggled futilely against his bonds, "Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. You might have Aura now, but you're only fucking ten. Or was it twelve?"
"Thirteen actually."
"I don't fucking care, he's still a runt."
The boy's captors cackled. Unbeknownst to Shiro, his co-pilot, Bors, took that opportunity to fiddle with the black device again.
"Your only purpose is to be angry, to hate me, to detest me. The more you do, the better, for that's all you can do as you struggle pathetically against your fate."
Tears started forming around the boy's eyes, yet his struggles never ceased. Muffled grunts and growls could be heard from his gagged mouth, his snake eyes, glaring so evilly that if looks could kill, Shiro would be dead a thousand times over. Unfortunately, It only drove his captors to laugh further at the useless effort.
"You are a cowardly weakling, Jasper." It was Trifa who whispered softly in his ears, which caused the boy to freeze in terror. "Poor, poor, Petunia. She oh so desperately wanted her friend to save her. Alas, you couldn't even look her in the eye, could you, Jasper? Not after what we did to her. You are a snake in the grass hiding from danger, yet you could do nothing but writhe like a worm once you are caught."
The growling and grunts from earlier quickly turned into sobs and mewls of despair. Trifa giggled like a girl in a candy shop, her eyes widening and her irises dilating, while Shiro mock-scowled.
"How come he's terrified of you, and only angry at me?"
"What can I say? A spider knows how to toy with its prey."
Before they could continue their banter, the Bullhead shook violently all of a sudden, causing Shiro and Trifa to hold onto the walls. There was a clattering sound and Shiro felt static in the air as his hair slightly stood up.
"What the fuck?" He turned to the co-pilot, only to find him looking terrified at the ground… Where the Black Device had an ominous red light glowing from its single bulb.
"What did you do, you fucking moron!" The pink haired man grabbed the co-pilot and threw him away from the controls before jumping into his seat. It only took him a second to realize what caused the Bullhead to shake.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! This is too early." Thousands of Grimm were funneling out of the valley and glared murderously at the aircraft. One of them, a Beringel, had a large rock in its hand as it prepared to launch it at them. Shiro quickly evaded and flew away, dragging the entire horde behind them. He tried to use his comms but not even static would sound, causing him to slam the mic in frustration.
"I-I'm s-sorry, I couldn't help it." The whimpering co-pilot sniffed, and Shiro saw the remains of white powder on his whiskered upper lip.
"You son of a BITCH!" He drew his gun and shot the fool who had snorted coke during such an important mission. The rat-faunus squealed in pain, as his Aura flickered, unable to fully protect him, and a large bruise formed on his shoulder.
"I should kill you, Bors. But with how fucked up the situation is, we're gonna need every moron with Aura on hand. Bring me that damn thing, and get out of my face!"
Bors nodded fearfully, and hurried to follow orders before scampering to the small cargo hold.
"Can't we turn it off?" Trifa asked as she made sure Jasper was bound.
"No. We're fucked. 'No comms for a hundred miles of where the device is active' is what that fucker told us. The thing is a relic given to us by that fucker Watts. He doesn't even know how it works, claiming to have found it in some ruin and got bored with it."
"What does this mean to the operation?"
"It means that we won't know if your retard friend you call Elder, or Walter, or whatever the fuck his name is, will be able to tell us whether they managed to hijack the train or not." Shiro's manic grin returned, "Nothing to do about it, we're still committed to the plan. Whether the White Fang succeeded or not was always just a bonus to us. It was part of the deal we had with Watts, make your bullheaded friend feel ingratiated for some reason as a favor to another of his band of loonies. The problem is that everyone in the entire region will know something is wrong once communication is down."
Shiro gulped heavily, "Including Ravena."
A nervous mood settled in the Bullhead as it flew towards the town of Celdic, thousands of Grimm hot on its tail.
At the same time, in Celdic.
Sara hurried up the steps of the Weathercock Inn and opened the door to their inn room.
"Hey, did you lose connection, too?"
Jaune was fiddling with the scroll as it went blank with a No Connection typed on the screen in red.
"Yeah. We were speaking with my sisters when the connection died. Were you still talking to that lady all that time?"
"I was talking to Kilika actually," Sara shook her head. "Standard bookkeeping stuff and reports. Fie? Your scroll?"
The girl, who was packing the results of the past few hours of work into a pile for Jaune to store, whipped out her Scroll and tried a call. After a couple of tries, she shook her head.
"Nothing, huh? Damn. I can't even connect to the short wave frequency and call Brocket."
Sara bit on her thumb in thought before coming to a decision. "Alright kids, I hope you weren't getting ready for a nap because it looks like we might have a long night ahead of us. Gear up, and follow me."
Jaune quickly equipped his new armor set through clever use of Storage, to the appreciation of Sara.
"You gotta teach me how to do that."
"Practice. Tell me if you need Dust."
Somewhere far to the northeast.
Hundreds of men and women in black and white uniforms murmured to each other as they gathered in front of a large platform. They all had a red canine head with three vertical lines over it printed on the back of their shirts. It was late evening, and many of them were restless for the night to come. They knew there was a big operation to be had tonight, but not the details. Rumors abounded, from sacking a village, to attacking Vale itself.
A man, no, a Faunus, walked onto the platform. He was tall, muscular and had short cropped black hair, and wore a white Grimm mask with red paint. The murmurs increased as he made his way to the center and faced the crowd.
"It's Elder Walter."
"Attention!" Once everyone was silent, Walter continued. "Everyone, our leader, Adam Taurus."
Another man walked onto the platform. He was also tall, with bullhorns peeking out of crimson red hair, and also wore a white Grimm mask with red markings.
"My fellow faunus, today is a day that will be etched in the annals of our history! We stand united, unwavering, as proud defenders of our race and our revolution. Our cause is just, our resolve unyielding, and our hearts aflame with hatred at our human oppressors. Long have we suffered at their hands, and long we shall suffer so long as we remain meek and pliant to their whims. But, no longer."
The crowd seemed to be holding their breaths.
"Today, my fellow faunus, we'll show the humans what we're made of! For too long have they oppressed us, trampled on our rights, and treated us as animals. But no more! We are not their pets, we are not their playthings – we are warriors, and we will fight for our rightful place in the world! And if any of those filthy humans get in our way, then they'll learn the hard way that we cannot be stopped. So raise your arms, my brothers and sisters, and let's show them our defiance!"
Men and women roared their defiance.
"Our resolve."
Men and women roared their resolve.
"OUR HATRED!"
The cacophony and the sheer hatred that was embedded into the crowd would have attracted many Grimm if they had not cleared the area beforehand.
It took a while for the crowd to calm down before Taurus spoke again.
"Tonight, our first major mission in Vale shall commence. A train, owned by the vilest of our oppressors, the Schnees, is bound for the city of Vale. Our patriotic comrades risked their lives and livelihoods to get us this information. That train is full of weapons and supplies; of Dust mined by enslaved Faunus to be spent frivolously for the Human scum of Vale. We shall reclaim the contents of that train, as our rightful reparation for all that we suffered. We shall properly arm ourselves, and have enough supplies to thrive in the wilderness of Vale as we continue our just war against the oppressors."
More roars of glee and support sounded out, causing Taurus to grin.
"Once we take that train, we shall continue onwards to the first target of our hatred. A human town called Celdic is along the route to Vale. I hear it is rich and its residents have grown fat and lazy. No doubt through the exploitation of our fellow faunus. We shall sack the town for what it's worth, and then, the humans shall learn to fear us."
"Kill the humans!"
"We shall drink their wine and feast over their corpses."
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
In a corner of a tent, a black haired cat-faunus looked forlorn at the scene in front of her, a piece of paper clenched tightly in her hand. Her amber eyes looked burdened and heavy with guilt. Her cat ears flopped in sadness.
The Bandit's plan was complicated, and we all know how the plans of mice and men go.
Yes, I am hijacking the Black Trailer. Blake will not just get a sudden change of heart, as if she had not seen the atrocities Adam committed over the past few years.
Midday, July 5th.
"I told you, no! I can not allow anyone inside the town until the investigation is over. Sheriff's orders."
"Don't give me that horseshit, Stebens. We've been hauling ass since yesterday to get here. We got folks out here starvin' and scared, and you're sittin' on your behind like a toad in a puddle! The whole darned countryside is overrun by Grimm."
"And the town would soon be overrun by the wretched things if I let you all in, Emmett! We've already been attacked and that pompous clown Montgomery emptied the garrison for some fucking adventure. You will stay put until the investigation is over, and the Sheriff can screen you."
Emmet scowled and looked around at his fellow Sheriffs and deputies from the many settlements in the region. They had agreed to nominate him as their speaker as he was the eldest and most experienced, but they didn't expect for them to be stranded at the town's entrance like this.
He looked behind him to find the nearly three thousand refugees, all the men, and even some women and children, were armed with small arms and carrying their meager belongings. He fingered his rifle uneasily, "Get the damn Sheriff here, then. Yer just a deputy, get him or the mayor or anyone else of import to screen us before the damn Grimm show up, if yer too worried to hold responsibility."
Stebens flushed angrily from his position on top of the gates, "Go suck on a lemon, Emmet. Sheriff's orders are to hold those gates and that's what I'll do. Isn't that right, boys?"
The men on the walls, all of them militia, looked hesitant and uncertain. One of them boldly spoke up, "Maybe we should send for Sheriff Greaves? I'm sure he would–"
"I didn't ask for your opinion, boy. I already sent for the Sheriff and he didn't deign to reply. If his orders are to hold the gates, then we hold the damn gates!"
The refugees on the ground had mutinous looks and even the men on the wall were having severe doubts.
Stebens sighed loudly, "Look, Emmet. It's not that I don't understand your position, but we have to wait until at least the Garrison returns. We got some of them wounded folks from the tower yesterday, and if yeh can't trust Montgomery, which I don't blame yah, then at least trust in our fellow born and bred Celdician dragoons. The town's already crowded enough as it is, adding another three thousand without the full garrison is asking for a disaster."
"I don't care about Brocket or his dragoons, they had become dogs of Vale long ago and forgot their roots." Emmet angrily retorted, yet that caused the wavering militia on the walls to get angry as well at the insult to their local heroes.
"I'm afraid we will have to get through those gates one way or another, deputy. All these people are my responsibility and I ain't gonna risk having them stranded out here in the open when we could be of more use inside the town and manning the damn walls for you."
"Deputy! Look over yonder."
Before Stebens could give another acerbic reply, one of his men pointed at three figures riding for the gates. The refugees had also seen them and parted way for the three riders to trot towards them.
"Valestein! Yer back."
"Lo there folks," The attractive woman called out with a smile. "What's the hold up here?"
Stebens explained the situation, while noticing the two youths trotting over the refugees and their leaders, seemingly inspecting them.
"I see," Valestein nodded. "You heard all of that, Lieutenant?"
"That I did. Good work on keeping the town safe, deputy. I'm giving authority for Valestein to act in my stead. Captain Montgomery also sends his blessings."
Stebens was surprised by the sound that came out of the device in the woman's hand. He easily recognized Lieutenant Brocket's voice.
The adventurer didn't wait for him to reply before turning to one of her companions. "Jaune, did you find anything suspicious."
The blonde man moved beside her and shook his head, "Surprisingly no. I honestly expected someone to try to sneak in with such a large crowd."
"Heh, you would think so, but no. That's an amateur mistake as all the people here know each other very well."
Valestein turned to the refugees, ignoring how some of them had their guns out but pointed to the ground.
"Hear me, people of the Celdic region. My name is Sara Valestein, and I am an A-rank adventurer in the employ of the town of Celdic. With me are C-ranked adventurers Jaune Arc and Fie. You can consider us Huntsmen if you would like." She added hastily as a few of the younger people looked confused at the term.
"Anyway, we understand your predicament, but know that your safety is our number one priority." She turned back to Stebens, "We have successfully eradicated the Grimm horde at the old quarry and the rest of the expedition should be here in less than an hour. I have orders from the Captain of the Guards for the garrison to open the gates and let the refugees in. I shall be responsible for the screening process."
A lot of murmuring sounded out at that, many of it jubilant and ecstatic. Stebens sighed as he had no choice but to comply.
"Open the gates."
T*A*M*S
Early evening, July 5th
Stables,
"Man, who would have thought shit could go down that bad?" A voice spoke from the next stall over.
"I know, right? Dammit, we should have listened to Valestein when she warned against throwing numbers at the Grimm. I knew it, man. I just knew it that emptying the garrison for an expedition while the Grand Market was underway would be a bad idea." Another replied from the opposite stall.
"From a purely strategic position, it wasn't a wrong decision. That horde would have attacked us in the open if we left it alone. We had the terrain advantage and it needed to be destroyed ASAP." An older voice interjected.
"Yet, the issue was that Montgomery had left the defense of the town in the hands of amateur militia. For them, It's bad enough that they were forced to stay long hours after their own hard day of work to protect the town from what they believe to be a non-existent threat. When was the last time Celdic saw any action?"
"It must have been a decade or something." That was Rory, "I had just joined and we suffered a Grimm horde. Must have been similar in size to the one in the quarry, but we had two professional Huntsmen each leading a Beacon team, so it was a complete wipe out."
Another voice piped up. "Still, Grimm attacks on the outlying villages and then the saboteur attacks? The Dust shop, the barracks, and the communication building; No Dust, no sleeping quarters, and no comms… Again! It's a miracle that Odvin had decided to close shop early and that most of the remaining troops were either in the hospital or celebrating in the market, thus missing the explosions. This was very well planned, and me thinks that whoever did it must have had inside help."
Jaune was busy brushing down Arthur as he listened to the Dragoons tend their horses and gossip over the events of the day. "It's not at all difficult to slip in a spy or two in during the Grand Market. Too many visitors and tourists. Besides, we can still contact Beacon through our Scrolls. Do we have an estimate on when the comms will be replaced?" He asked his stall neighbor.
"We will have to wait for supplies from Vale, and considering the last we heard was that Martial Law was still in place, we shouldn't expect any until at least the end of the month." Duncan scratched his chin thoughtfully. "On the bright side, we know an SDC train should be here by dawn. The tower repair crew have been itching to return for a while now."
"Oh? What's it carrying?"
"The usual. Dust, supplies, ammo. Its destination is Vale, but it stops here to pick up whoever is done with their business, unload a shipment of Dust to Odvin's, then continue on their route. Let's just hope they don't panic when they contact the station and receive static instead. Not like they can turn around anyway." He added with a wry chuckle that was echoed by his friends.
Jaune brushed the last strand of loose hair from his equine companion, patted him on the neck, then moved to Fie's horse.
"I thought the Grand Market would last a couple more days?"
"Usually, it would," Rory answered as he was done with his horse. "I could help you with Valestien's horse if you would like?"
"Please and thank you." Jaune smiled at the affable man and they worked in silence for a moment before Rory continued.
"As I was saying, the current situation of the region, what with reports of attacked villages and towns, as well as the war in Vale, must have scared off most of the visitors. Many of the merchants have packed up and nearly all the tourists are waiting for the train to return to Vale. I hear some fools pooled their money to buy Old Baha's truck to drive all the way there. That senile old coot; he promised to reserve that rust-bucket for me."
"I see." Jaune snickered at his friend's annoyance, "Well, I'm glad I volunteered to tend the horses for Sara and Fie. Let them deal with the mayor and the thousands of people trying to cram into town."
They chuckled and worked in a comfortable mood for a while, engaging in small talk, teasing Rory about delaying his wedding with Lizzie again, or the other dragoons what they think will happen to Montgomery after this debacle.
"He might have led the defense well against the Sulfur Fish swarm, but it does not negate the fact that this entire expedition was due to those fools he keeps around goading him into action."
Many of the dragoons murmured in agreement. Jaune patted Fie's horse once he was done, just as Rory finished tending to Sara's horse.
"Hey Arc." He turned to Duncan, who had another dragoon help him carry a large wooden box.
"Yeah?"
"This is a little something that the men decided to gift their Radiant Blademaster."
"Oh, come on, you're still calling me that?" Jaune scratched his head in embarrassment. Ever since they had seen him take out the Geist with an Aura strike, and then help dig a trench into the bedrock to bury their dead comrades, they had been calling him that. He wouldn't have minded if it was a nod to his sword skills, but it was mostly a joke on how he used Crocea Mors to shape the Aura he imbued in it into practical tools.
Like a shovel.
"What can I say, Arc? Even to blind rats like us when it comes to Aura sensing, we could just feel your existence somehow. You might need to look into proper ways to conceal yourself, or else you would be a shining beacon once you leave town. I'm surprised you weren't attacked at all on the way here."
"Must be because the roads were already cleared." He nodded to Duncan as he helped them lower the box.
"So what's this?"
"This," Rory spoke from behind him as he held a crowbar and jammed it at one end of the box, "is something we had in storage and decided your horse might need it soon."
With a grunt, he opened the box, revealing a full barding set. There was a shaffron, a crinet, a peytral, flanchards, and a crupper. It was bland and steely gray, and there were a few old dents and rusts all over it.
It was brilliant!
"This is amazing!" Jaune's eyes shined at the equipment. "Thanks guys."
"Don't sweat it. We stopped arming our horses with those once we fully adopted our guns into our combat style. Their Aura alone should be enough, most of the time. We also got you a breastplate, greaves, and bracers just like the ones we wear, but you'll have to pick it up from the armory."
The aspiring huntsman turned to the gathered crowd of dragoons. All of them had witnessed him fighting alongside them on the road, and even if they missed his performance in the quarry itself, they had seen its aftereffects. They all nodded approvingly, eyes full of respect, and Jaune felt something he had never known he had craved before.
Acknowledgement, of his skills, at least, instead of his name.
"I will make sure to put it to good use. You hear that, Arthur? We'll make a warhorse out of you yet."
The horse snorted, causing them all to laugh.
T*A*M*S
Evening
Jaune stretched as he left the stables, the swinging of the empty Dust crystal around his neck grabbing his attention. He held the crystal with a frown, once again noticing the energy within it. Ever since his Aura fully recovered this morning, the crystal had slowly been feeding off the excess Aura he had.
An Observe told him all he needed.
Dust Crystal?
AP:2400/?
?
AP:2400/?
?
Jaune sent an Aura thread into it and found he could easily use the Aura within. That made sense, as it was his Aura the crystal was hoarding.
He shrugged as he placed it back under his shirt, more Aura was never a bad thing. He looked at the surrounding town, Celdic had turned into a refugee camp once all the troops returned. Montgomery had seemed like a changed man as he took charge of the situation with the backing of Brocket and Sara. It would have been easy to blame him for the mess, but it would have left a bad taste in his mouth. The man understood his mistake and endeavored to redeem himself. They also needed to provide a unified front for the people of Celdic, especially in these hard times.
Jaune walked towards the Grand Market, its location easily seen from distance thanks to the tall water tower next to it. Idly, he noticed the many tents that had sprung up in the formerly empty parks. The festival had to be closed prematurely but it was still considered a success… for the most part. Some of the merchants who had rented out for the rest of the week will have lost many potential profits, and he wagered Celdic itself will have difficulty inviting foreign merchants again.
For tonight, however, the festival was in full swing as the final day closed. Many people celebrated their lives and the coming harvest, despite the hardships they faced. Jaune thought the people of Celdic were a hardy folk who would not let themselves succumb to adversity.
If he wanted to buy any gifts for his family, now would be the best chance. Perhaps he should see if he could call them again later tonight? The aspiring huntsman looked at the half moon in the cloudy skies. He frowned as he wondered what kind of omen would that be.
He greeted the familiar form of Lizzie and her ceramics shop, who was playing patty cake with Anita, Duncan's daughter. Jaune stopped and spoke to them for a while, and was shocked to learn that Elizabeth was Lieutenant Brocket's daughter. Considering he saw him speaking amiable with Rory, he assumed the Lieutenant was supporting of their relationship. So why weren't they married yet?
"We're just waiting for the right time. Celdic is dear to my heart, and I know we're getting up in the years, but I hoped Rory would move with me to Vale." Lizzie answered with a wan smile.
"Looking for the safety of the big city, huh?" Jaune gave her a knowing look, as he held Anita on his shoulders. The little tyke might have acted like a proper lady when he first met her, but she quickly showed her true self once she got used to him. He didn't mind, he had always wanted younger siblings and Fie was nowhere in sight to pout at him.
"Yep, even if it must be even more crowded than Celdic right now, with the refugees and displaced people from the war." The older woman giggled lightly as she threw a rubber ball to Anita who missed, causing it to bounce on Jaune's head.
"Sorry, uncle!"
"U-uncle?" Jaune spluttered as he placed the girl down. Did he look that old? A glance at the giggling girl had him narrowing his eyes at the cheek.
"Are you heading over to Meg's?"
"Oh? I didn't know you two were friends?"
"She always makes sure to visit every season and brings interesting things to sell." Lizzie shrugged and Jaune scratched his chin in thought.
They spoke for a couple of more minutes before Lizzie had to close shop and take Anita back to her father. Jaune waved farewell and then continued his stroll, stopped by a fruit stall and bought himself a bag of oranges to snack on before he made his way to Meg's. On the way, he found Fie staring in wonder at a cotton candy stall.
"Hey Fie," her tail twitched as she turned to him with pleading eyes. Jaune chuckled as he had a sense of déjà vu.
"Still broke? I thought you mentioned you had an emergency fund in your room." Jaune thanked the vendor as he paid him for a few sticks of cotton candy.
The cat girl grabbed two and munched on the first in delight as they walked, while he peeled his orange. "Mhmm, had to replenish my ammo and bomb supplies. Dust is an important ingredient for most explosives, but there are plenty of other materials involved."
"I see. Good thing I still have some Dust on me, now that Odvin's a bust, eh?" Fie nodded, her cheeks full of candy, causing him to chortle. "Where's Sara, by the way?"
"Still overseeing the defenses with the garrison. She sent me away a while ago and said to meet her in the Inn in the evening. Something about me needing to have fun or something."
Jaune hummed as the girl finished the first stick and quickly moved onto the next.
"So, explosives." He looked pointedly at Fie, who was engrossed in her snack, waiting for her to say something.
The white-haired cat-faunus quickly gulped her treat before turning to him with one finger raised, "Lesson one when handling bombs; safety."
Jaune had to hold in a chuckle as he watched her serious face flecked with blue cotton candy. He silently produced a handkerchief from Storage and wiped her face clean, much to her chagrin.
"With my Aura reserves, I doubt I'll need to worry about safety."
Fie shook her head vehemently, "And what if you don't have Aura but still need to work on explosives? Did you forget how you spent the last few days as Auraless as a gnat? You have to take this seriously, Jaune. If you want me to teach you, then listen closely."
The blonde man was taken aback, and grimaced inwardly at the blunt truth. Jaune was allowing his arrogance to seep back into his thoughts, and that would not do. He nodded genially to the girl, "You got it, Fie. Let's finish our shopping and head back to the inn for our lessons."
They first visited Meg's where they found her on a laptop connected to a video camera. A glance showed that she had most of her merchandise packed, but Jaune's gaze fell on a disassembled machine gun on a table but didn't have the chance to look closer when the older woman noticed them.
"Oh, howdy! I heard you were back. How was your mission, Jaune? Did you test the gun?"
"It went well. The gun was helpful, but I miss having a shield." Jaune looked strangely at what she was doing. He was knowledgeable enough with tech to know that she was doing video editing, but he wasn't as much of a tech whiz as his sisters. "So, what are you up to?"
"Oh, this? I've been taking videos of the Grand Market to show to a magazine back in Vale. The mayor loved the idea of more exposure for the town and allowed me to take as many shots as possible." The rabbit-woman then pointed to the back of the tent, where some strange device with rotary blades and another camera was strapped to. "I even got to use my drone for an aerial shot. It's a shame what's going to happen, though."
Drone? Jaune filed it for later and looked around at the emptying store, "Planning to leave early?"
Meg gave a wan smile, "Unfortunately yes. While I did enjoy my time here and earned a tidy profit, I can tell that something big will happen to this town soon. I'll be taking the SDC train in the morning back to Vale."
"I see. Well, hopefully I'll see you safe in Vale once I'm done here. Could we still browse what you have in stock right now?"
"Sure! Tell me what you or your friend need, but my gun isn't for sale." She pointed at the disassembled gun before smiling warmly at Fie who was browsing a shelf of powdered substances, "Careful sweetie. That thing can blow your fingers off."
Fie gave her a peace sign and a not so innocent smile, "I'll take all you have. Jaune's paying."
He should have known.
.
.
.
They made their way back to the Inn, heavily laden with supplies, though thankfully, it was all stored in Storage. Jaune may have jokingly grumbled about having to pay for most of it, but he didn't really mind as whatever he managed to make would be his, as Fie still had her own explosives stored in the inn room.
He really hoped the proprietress didn't do random checks and if she did, she wouldn't be stupid enough to mess with bombs.
They entered the inn to see it jam-packed with people. There were the regular guests, of course, but there were also a large crowd of morose people. Those who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and probably friends and families to the Grimm. It made Jaune's blood boil, and he felt restless knowing that the Grimm were out there. Most likely, congregating around a more experienced Grimm, or getting baited by those mysterious bandits, before they made their next move.
At least, the residents of Celdic had easily taken them in, imbibing them with bitter ale and good food to lighten the mood – some of the refugees appeared to be feeling better as they joked and laughed lightly with the locals. Jaune also noticed that everyone had a gun on their hip.
They were surprised to find Sara sitting by an empty side of the bar, a mug of beer in hand. She waved them over, and Jaune noticed she had her scroll expanded to tablet mode. It seemed the older Adventurer was waiting for a call, as the screen had connecting written over it.
"There you are, kids. Come over, and grab a drink."
"No, thanks. We'll be playing with explosives in the room, Sara. I'd rather keep Jaune sober for that."
"Excuse me? Explosives? What are you teaching those kids, Valestein?"
Jaune frowned at the open scroll, slightly annoyed at the patronizing tone. He was greeted by a pretty yet severe-looking blonde woman with green eyes and spectacles. He thought the woman would have been beautiful if not for her stern look.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, Glynda. You finally answered. So, introductions." Sara moved away from the counter to give them full view of the Scroll, "Fie, Jaune. Meet Glynda Goodwitch. Combat instructor in Beacon academy and the Deputy Headmistress. She is also technically our employer."
"Is that so. A pleasure to meet you, then, Professor. I will be in your care in a few weeks when I enroll." Jaune's frown disappeared, yet he maintained a stoic look and inclined his head politely.
The blonde woman kept her stern look, though Jaune was starting to think that was her normal face.
"Don't worry, Glynda. Fie is a pro, and Jaune can handle himself quite well. I should know, things would have gotten sticky if not for him."
The woman finally nodded, "It is not my place to warn you to be careful, I suppose. Not yet, at least." She gave a slight smirk at Jaune who raised an eyebrow. "Regardless, I need a full report of what has happened in the past twenty-four hours, Sara."
"Do you need us here, Sara?" Fie was stealing glances at the upper floor where their room was.
"Nah, you can go have your fun, Kiddos. Don't blow the up inn, though."
***
Fie dragged him off to their room and quickly cleared up the table before covering it with a tarp and placing vials of substances from her Storage.
"I'm really liking this ability."
Jaune smirked before having a sudden thought.
"You know, my sister Maya is quite the savant when it comes to tinkering and creating things. Wanna meet her?"
Fie froze hesitantly, "If she's cool like you…"
"Don't worry." He patted her head, preening inwardly at being called cool. "You'll love her."
He set up his scroll and called his sister. It was unfortunate that his scroll didn't have a video call feature, but at least he could show Fie his sister through her camera.
It took a few minutes, in which Jaune helped Fie finish setting up her stuff, before the call connected.
"Hello? Who keeps calling without their camera on? Is that you, Jaune?"
"Hey, Maya." Jaune laughed as he looked at his sister. She looked cleaner and more organized than yesterday, though he could see a small smidgen of oil on her brow. "Yeah, it's me. Where are you?"
"On my way to Celdic, believe it or not."
"Really? Whatever for?" Jaune would have been shocked if he hadn't used the scrying bowl to spy on them. Although, he's surprised Dad would send the twins, instead of an executive of the company.
"Hyperion and Arc family business. You of all people should know about it." She intoned knowingly, "Bleue says hi, by the way."
"Hello, Jaune." Another, more cultured, voice spoke, though no less warm. "It's been a while since we've spoken. Sorry, I can't move into the camera at the moment, I'm a little busy flying this behemoth."
"That it has, Bleue. Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. Fie, say hello to my sisters Maya and Bleue. They're one year older than me, but I consider them to be my best friends."
"…hello."
"Oh my Gosh!! Did you hear that, Bleue? Jaune has made a friend! A friend who is a girl!! Mom will be so ecstatic."
Maya certainly looked a little too happy, and Jaune shuddered as he watched the wide grin appearing on her face. He wasn't sure if not having a camera was a good thing or not.
"Oh my, Jaune. You certainly have been busy. And such a cute sounding girl as well."
Fie shifted awkwardly as a blush formed on her face.
"Come on, girls. Knock it off, you're making Fie uncomfortable."
"Sorry/My apologies."
"Don't worry about it." Fie shook her head and then remained silent. Jaune gave her a light bump with his waist as she stood next to him and mouthed for her to say something. The girl pouted before turning to the Scroll, "What's that you mentioned about a behemoth?"
"Oh yeah, Dad sent us along with a survey team, and an executive of Uncle John's with a couple of Sparrow escorts to Celdic for some business with the town and Vale. Uncle had us take one of his newest aircraft for a test run."
"Uncle?" Fie questioned as she set the last of her equipment.
"Johannes Lichter is my Dad's younger brother. Full-time CEO of Hyperion corporation, and part-time mad scientist."
"Unlike our father, who is a full-time mad scientist."
They chuckled at Bleue's remark. She might be the calm and polite twin, but Jaune could easily confess that she had the best timing for jokes among his sisters, especially her dry sense of humor.
"Well, I'm glad you are on the way. The situation in Celdic had changed drastically, since we last talked."
"What happened, Jaune?"
The mood seemed to fall as Maya asked in concern.
"A lot of things. Might as well get comfy. Oh, and Fie? Work on the bombs. I'll watch and learn."
Fie nodded and busied herself with her toys.
"Oh, explosives? Girl, you're gonna fit right in with us. Now I have to meet you."
"Wait… you're also into explosives?"
"What do you mean, Jaune?" Bleue's smooth voice sounded from offscreen. "Every gal has a few explosives hidden somewhere on her person. One can never be too careful with Grimm and outlaws, after all."
The youngest Arc facepalmed as Fie beamed with two peace signs instead of her usual one. "You were right, Jaune. Your sisters are super cool."
T*A*M*S
Unknown location, late evening.
A sleek gray Bullhead flew at a low altitude over the hills. Its destination was a hidden valley, which at any other time would look beautiful and serene. Now, however, it looked anything but that, with thousands of Grimm coloring the normally green valley black.
Inside the Bullhead, a pink-haired man in the pilot seat had a nervous grin on his face as he approached the valley. Beside him, in the co-pilot seat, was a short mousy man fiddling with a strange black device.
"Hey, Shiro." The now named Shiro grunted without looking at his co-pilot. "Just to confirm, we just need to activate this once we are near the town, right?"
"Yes, you idiot." Shiro growled, "and leave the damn thing! Who told you to touch it?"
The mousy man flinched and nearly dropped the black device on the ground, if not for Shiro's quick reflexes. The pink-haired man stopped the VTOL aircraft right before the entrance of the valley, and slowly glared at the man.
"Do you wanna die, bitch? Is that it, Bors? You have any idea how fucked we would be if we turned this shit on too soon? Or worse, broke it?"
"N-no, Shi– I mean, boss."
"Then be fucking careful, you retard. I'll kill you and cut you into sashimi for the boss lady to feast on!" The ill-tempered man roared as he placed the device back on the dashboard where his shifty co-pilot had taken it.
"Kid is waking up." A voice sounded from deeper inside the aircraft. "Might want to get a move on before the Grimm start chasing us."
Shiro turned to the formerly sleeping Grimm bait, to find the boy he kidnapped with Trifa tied up and gagged in spider silk, glaring murderously at him.
"What's this? Did sleeping beauty finally awaken?" The pink haired man left his seat and squatted in front of the brown haired youth, grabbing him by the head and smirking at him. "Yer angry, eh? That's good, that's good. Who would have thought you would unlock your Aura so quickly."
Shiro squeezed the brat's head harshly as he stared right into his slitted pupils, "Who would have thought the quiet little snake would be the tough one, eh?" A deranged cackle sounded out from him as the boy struggled futilely against his bonds, "Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. You might have Aura now, but you're only fucking ten. Or was it twelve?"
"Thirteen actually."
"I don't fucking care, he's still a runt."
The boy's captors cackled. Unbeknownst to Shiro, his co-pilot, Bors, took that opportunity to fiddle with the black device again.
"Your only purpose is to be angry, to hate me, to detest me. The more you do, the better, for that's all you can do as you struggle pathetically against your fate."
Tears started forming around the boy's eyes, yet his struggles never ceased. Muffled grunts and growls could be heard from his gagged mouth, his snake eyes, glaring so evilly that if looks could kill, Shiro would be dead a thousand times over. Unfortunately, It only drove his captors to laugh further at the useless effort.
"You are a cowardly weakling, Jasper." It was Trifa who whispered softly in his ears, which caused the boy to freeze in terror. "Poor, poor, Petunia. She oh so desperately wanted her friend to save her. Alas, you couldn't even look her in the eye, could you, Jasper? Not after what we did to her. You are a snake in the grass hiding from danger, yet you could do nothing but writhe like a worm once you are caught."
The growling and grunts from earlier quickly turned into sobs and mewls of despair. Trifa giggled like a girl in a candy shop, her eyes widening and her irises dilating, while Shiro mock-scowled.
"How come he's terrified of you, and only angry at me?"
"What can I say? A spider knows how to toy with its prey."
Before they could continue their banter, the Bullhead shook violently all of a sudden, causing Shiro and Trifa to hold onto the walls. There was a clattering sound and Shiro felt static in the air as his hair slightly stood up.
"What the fuck?" He turned to the co-pilot, only to find him looking terrified at the ground… Where the Black Device had an ominous red light glowing from its single bulb.
"What did you do, you fucking moron!" The pink haired man grabbed the co-pilot and threw him away from the controls before jumping into his seat. It only took him a second to realize what caused the Bullhead to shake.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! This is too early." Thousands of Grimm were funneling out of the valley and glared murderously at the aircraft. One of them, a Beringel, had a large rock in its hand as it prepared to launch it at them. Shiro quickly evaded and flew away, dragging the entire horde behind them. He tried to use his comms but not even static would sound, causing him to slam the mic in frustration.
"I-I'm s-sorry, I couldn't help it." The whimpering co-pilot sniffed, and Shiro saw the remains of white powder on his whiskered upper lip.
"You son of a BITCH!" He drew his gun and shot the fool who had snorted coke during such an important mission. The rat-faunus squealed in pain, as his Aura flickered, unable to fully protect him, and a large bruise formed on his shoulder.
"I should kill you, Bors. But with how fucked up the situation is, we're gonna need every moron with Aura on hand. Bring me that damn thing, and get out of my face!"
Bors nodded fearfully, and hurried to follow orders before scampering to the small cargo hold.
"Can't we turn it off?" Trifa asked as she made sure Jasper was bound.
"No. We're fucked. 'No comms for a hundred miles of where the device is active' is what that fucker told us. The thing is a relic given to us by that fucker Watts. He doesn't even know how it works, claiming to have found it in some ruin and got bored with it."
"What does this mean to the operation?"
"It means that we won't know if your retard friend you call Elder, or Walter, or whatever the fuck his name is, will be able to tell us whether they managed to hijack the train or not." Shiro's manic grin returned, "Nothing to do about it, we're still committed to the plan. Whether the White Fang succeeded or not was always just a bonus to us. It was part of the deal we had with Watts, make your bullheaded friend feel ingratiated for some reason as a favor to another of his band of loonies. The problem is that everyone in the entire region will know something is wrong once communication is down."
Shiro gulped heavily, "Including Ravena."
A nervous mood settled in the Bullhead as it flew towards the town of Celdic, thousands of Grimm hot on its tail.
T*A*M*S
At the same time, in Celdic.
Sara hurried up the steps of the Weathercock Inn and opened the door to their inn room.
"Hey, did you lose connection, too?"
Jaune was fiddling with the scroll as it went blank with a No Connection typed on the screen in red.
"Yeah. We were speaking with my sisters when the connection died. Were you still talking to that lady all that time?"
"I was talking to Kilika actually," Sara shook her head. "Standard bookkeeping stuff and reports. Fie? Your scroll?"
The girl, who was packing the results of the past few hours of work into a pile for Jaune to store, whipped out her Scroll and tried a call. After a couple of tries, she shook her head.
"Nothing, huh? Damn. I can't even connect to the short wave frequency and call Brocket."
Sara bit on her thumb in thought before coming to a decision. "Alright kids, I hope you weren't getting ready for a nap because it looks like we might have a long night ahead of us. Gear up, and follow me."
Jaune quickly equipped his new armor set through clever use of Storage, to the appreciation of Sara.
"You gotta teach me how to do that."
"Practice. Tell me if you need Dust."
T*A*M*S
Somewhere far to the northeast.
Hundreds of men and women in black and white uniforms murmured to each other as they gathered in front of a large platform. They all had a red canine head with three vertical lines over it printed on the back of their shirts. It was late evening, and many of them were restless for the night to come. They knew there was a big operation to be had tonight, but not the details. Rumors abounded, from sacking a village, to attacking Vale itself.
A man, no, a Faunus, walked onto the platform. He was tall, muscular and had short cropped black hair, and wore a white Grimm mask with red paint. The murmurs increased as he made his way to the center and faced the crowd.
"It's Elder Walter."
"Attention!" Once everyone was silent, Walter continued. "Everyone, our leader, Adam Taurus."
Another man walked onto the platform. He was also tall, with bullhorns peeking out of crimson red hair, and also wore a white Grimm mask with red markings.
"My fellow faunus, today is a day that will be etched in the annals of our history! We stand united, unwavering, as proud defenders of our race and our revolution. Our cause is just, our resolve unyielding, and our hearts aflame with hatred at our human oppressors. Long have we suffered at their hands, and long we shall suffer so long as we remain meek and pliant to their whims. But, no longer."
The crowd seemed to be holding their breaths.
"Today, my fellow faunus, we'll show the humans what we're made of! For too long have they oppressed us, trampled on our rights, and treated us as animals. But no more! We are not their pets, we are not their playthings – we are warriors, and we will fight for our rightful place in the world! And if any of those filthy humans get in our way, then they'll learn the hard way that we cannot be stopped. So raise your arms, my brothers and sisters, and let's show them our defiance!"
Men and women roared their defiance.
"Our resolve."
Men and women roared their resolve.
"OUR HATRED!"
The cacophony and the sheer hatred that was embedded into the crowd would have attracted many Grimm if they had not cleared the area beforehand.
It took a while for the crowd to calm down before Taurus spoke again.
"Tonight, our first major mission in Vale shall commence. A train, owned by the vilest of our oppressors, the Schnees, is bound for the city of Vale. Our patriotic comrades risked their lives and livelihoods to get us this information. That train is full of weapons and supplies; of Dust mined by enslaved Faunus to be spent frivolously for the Human scum of Vale. We shall reclaim the contents of that train, as our rightful reparation for all that we suffered. We shall properly arm ourselves, and have enough supplies to thrive in the wilderness of Vale as we continue our just war against the oppressors."
More roars of glee and support sounded out, causing Taurus to grin.
"Once we take that train, we shall continue onwards to the first target of our hatred. A human town called Celdic is along the route to Vale. I hear it is rich and its residents have grown fat and lazy. No doubt through the exploitation of our fellow faunus. We shall sack the town for what it's worth, and then, the humans shall learn to fear us."
"Kill the humans!"
"We shall drink their wine and feast over their corpses."
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
In a corner of a tent, a black haired cat-faunus looked forlorn at the scene in front of her, a piece of paper clenched tightly in her hand. Her amber eyes looked burdened and heavy with guilt. Her cat ears flopped in sadness.
The Bandit's plan was complicated, and we all know how the plans of mice and men go.
Yes, I am hijacking the Black Trailer. Blake will not just get a sudden change of heart, as if she had not seen the atrocities Adam committed over the past few years.
Chapter 17 (Squall)
Enjoy!
Brocket
The broken moon shone brightly over the town of Celdic. The sky was clear, as the region had weathered its stormy season well. In the parade grounds of the barracks of Celdic, Donovan Brocket paced down a line of men.
"Any updates on our scouts?"
"None, sir." Duncan, his most trusted aide, replied swiftly. "We had only sent them a few hours ago and with no way to contact them…"
A morose silence fell over them as the rest of the dragoons converged on their position, and joined the parade line.
"Sir, should we wake Montgomery and the rest of the garrison?"
"No, let them rest. Montgomery is still injured, and the men had suffered a lot in the quarry." He turned to see all of his available troops at the ready. Some of them had to be roused from their sleep, but all of them were wide awake.
"Should we at least sound the alarm? Such a phenomenon has never happened before."
The Lieutenant turned to his potential future son-in-law, Rory, and smiled genially. "Do not worry about that. Let us not cry wolf so early, I've sent a runner for both the Sheriff and Valestein. The refugees are all armed and have promised us to man the walls with the militia when the time comes. For now, we need to be sure of what we are dealing with."
Brocket gazed at all thirty-four of their numbers standing at parade rest. The scouts he had sent to check on the bandits had returned in their absence and, aside from the six men he sent to scout the attacked villages earlier, his entire force was here.
Donovan stopped in front of his men, "Everyone. We are facing an unusual situation here. You know your duty, check on your mounts, your arms, and your armor. Perhaps this might be some freak accident, but if this is enemy action, and my hunch tells me it is so, then we the Dragoons of Celdic must be at the ready to repel any attackers. Be they Grimm or human."
"Yes sir!"
The men left to arm themselves and check on their horses, aside from Duncan who moved to stand beside Donovan at the gate waiting expectantly. Soon enough, three figures appeared in front of them.
"Good, you're here. Duncan, wait for the Sheriff and bring him over once he arrives." His aide nodded as the three adventurers followed him to his office.
"What's the situation?"
The Lieutenant stood behind a table with a map of Celdic and its immediate vicinity sprawled on it.
"I'm sure you have noticed, but we have a complete loss of communication." He waited for the three adventurers to nod, "None of us have any idea how this could have happened. I highly doubt the tower was damaged again, as even our shortwave radios are dead. Your thoughts?"
Sara looked to her team expectantly, and Brocket smiled inwardly as even now, the woman used this situation as a teaching opportunity.
"The town has already been attacked by unknown hostiles," Jaune Arc spoke first. "They specifically targeted the Dust shop and the communication center. What manner of communication systems did you have before their destruction?"
"Aside from the standard system connected to the CCTS via our tower, we had an old landline connected to Beacon. Sadly, we did not have an actual phone and relied on Morse code to send and receive our messages. That option is now gone with the destruction of the comm center."
"Considering the attackers specifically targeted the comm center and the train station, is it safe to assume they wanted to cut off communication to the outside?"
"That appears to be so." Donovan smiled slightly as the young man picked at the obvious clues.
"I see. Sara, you spoke to Goodwitch earlier. Is there any chance she would realize something is wrong here?" The blonde man turned to his mentor who frowned in thought.
"Not directly, as I had ended the call. She did expect an update in the morning, but I would rather not pretend that nothing will happen in the coming hours." She shrugged helplessly before blinking. "I was speaking to Kilika before the comms died. Knowing the paranoid vixen, I am positive she would notify Beacon of it at once. How Beacon would act on that information, I could not tell you."
"Hmm, It's still better than being completely blind." Jaune turned back to Donovan. "It's a good thing they didn't target the ammunition depot or the armory."
The silent question was easily heard as Donovan chuckled, "They tried, but the explosives they used were duds. It is unfortunate that we could not discover the saboteurs… for all we know, they could still be hiding in town."
"Let's not go on a witch hunt now," Sara interrupted, to which they all nodded. The last thing they wanted to do was to cause a panic with the residents. They were already standing on a knife's edge as it was.
Jaune frowned at the map closely, "How are the town's defenses?"
"Combat ready." Brocket said instantly, though at the younger man's unconvinced look he sighed, "I would have preferred for the walls to have a moat or other obstacles in case the Grimm come in overwhelming numbers. Yet, we have plenty of machine guns, flamethrowers, and grenade launchers along with enough ammo to equip an army. Add to that, over three thousand defenders with rifles and other small arms, I am confident we could weather a similar horde to the one we faced in the quarry."
The young man's eyes were drawn to the map again. "The northern and western walls have a natural moat in the form of the nearby spring, but it's neither wide nor deep enough to deter the Grimm for long. Further to the west lies the Emerald Forest, which had been silent since the attacks on Vale. The south and east will be our weakest points, as they are open to farmland and other homesteads to the south and the mountains to the east. Do we still have more of the phosphorus stuff you used in the quarry?"
"We do, though not in great quantities. What do you have in mind?"
The young Arc frowned as he perused the map, then walked to the window and looked south. "The terrain… It's too open for us to beat back a horde effectively."
"Indeed it is, but we will have to make do with what we have."
"What if we don't have to?" Brocket looked curiously as the young man returned to the table and traced a line along the farmlands and homesteads. "What if we create a choke point for the Grimm? In the quarry, we destroyed that horde easily enough due to the gorge and the relentless firepower at our disposal. What we need to do here, is to create a similar scenario."
"Interesting proposal, but how do you recommend doing so?"
"I suggest evacuating all those homesteads, rig them and the fields with explosives and incendiary munitions for when the Grimm invade, but we leave a single corridor, about a hundred feet wide, for them to take. Let's say over here," Arc pointed to a spot in front of the south gate where most of the town's crops were planted, but a veritable kill zone for the defenders. "With no way to town for the Grimm, they would be forced to use the gap, where we would concentrate all of our firepower on it. It would destroy the town's harvest, but we would at least survive."
Donovan's eyes were wide at the extreme suggestion, yet Sylphid nodded her head eagerly, while Valestein held her chin thoughtfully.
"We will have to defer such plans for when the Sheriff and the others arrive." Brocket compromised, "Fort now, let's go over what we know."
"Grimm bait," came the cold voice of Sylphid and Donovan closed his eyes in sadness. "The kidnapped children from a few days ago." The young cat-faunus continued, her eyes unblinking. "I've spoken to many of the refugees, and they confirmed that many of their friends and family were missing, without even their corpses to be found. Clearly not the work of Grimm, as the monsters kill for sport and rarely eat their prey in full."
"Indeed," he nodded to Sylphid and gave a slight cough. "All the evidence points to this phenomenon being man-made. How mere bandits have come to possess such sophisticated methods that could jam all communication waves astounds me."
"Regardless," Valestein interjected, "All we can do now is to prepare for an imminent Grimm attack. Too soon in raising the alarm, and we risk a panic among the populace, especially as we do not know which path they will attack from, too late, and we would fail to put defenses in time. It's a good thing this happened so late at night and most of the residents were asleep."
"On a separate note," Arc waved his hand and a few pieces of Dust crystals landed on the table. "I'm not sure how goes your Dust reserves, but if you need Dust, I might be able to help."
Donovan looked at the Arc lad. He had seen him pull things out of thin air, and he had waved it off as his Semblance. He had seen plenty of weird abilities in his life, and having some sort of personal storage was hardly the most unusual thing he witnessed.
"Acknowledged. Naturally, we shall reimburse you for any Dust we would need, though currently we should have more than enough. Our Dust stores are stored in a different place than the civilian grade that Odvin's trades with."
"Will they be enough for my plan?"
"… Perhaps not." Donovan sighed, as the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it would probably be a good idea to at least prepare such a trap. Destroy Celdic's future to protect its present? Or risk its existence over fear for the future? Damned if he did, damned if he didn't. "If you have any Fire or Lightning Dust, please let me know. Wind would also be helpful, but let's wait for the rest to arrive." The young man nodded and stored back the crystals.
"Alright then," Donovan was eager to conclude this before the rest of his guests arrived. "All we can do is to silently prepare and wait for my scouts to return. Any questions or suggestions?"
"Too slow." Came the sudden reply from Sylphid.
"I beg your pardon?"
"We can't wait for your scouts to return. What is the standard course of action for your units when they lose communication while on patrol?"
"Return to base, of course."
The young adventurer nodded her head, "I believe it would be faster for me to track them down and have them return. We've already agreed this is a prelude to attack."
"Do you think you would be capable of catching up to my dragoons when you are four hours behind them?" Donovan asked, not unkindly, but there was still a hint of exasperation in his voice.
"Yes." Came the simple answer, causing him to sigh tiredly.
"Valestein?"
"Fie could probably run all the way to Vale and be there before sunrise if she wanted to. It would kill her doing it with her low stamina, though." The amused look on the older face combined with the hint of pride in her tone stopped the younger girl from giving a scathing reply and just smiled instead. "I say let her recall your scouts and have her survey the lands for any obvious signs of a Grimm horde heading this way."
"But wouldn't you be too tired to participate in the defenses, Sylphid?"
"Don't worry, I have my walking/talking unlimited power supply cheat to get me back to speed." The girl tapped her blonde friend's elbow, her catty smile looked expectant.
Both men met each other's eyes and an instant understanding went through. He felt for the lad, and they sighed in exasperation.
"I guess I can also try to see if we could communicate through that link."
Donovan did not know what Arc was talking about, but it seemed the two teenagers had an understanding as they nodded before turning back to him.
"Alright then, let's not waste time. I'll show you the route they took, and write you their orders." The girl's smile widened, "and Sylphid? Bring them home safe."
The young adventurer nodded seriously and after perusing another map of the region, she had the Arc lad do – something – to her that caused her to visibly vibrate with energy and disappear from the office, the only clue she was there was the open window.
A few minutes later, Duncan had returned with Sheriff Greaves, his deputy, along with two surprise additions in the mayor and –
"Captain Montgomery! I'm surprised you are up so late. And the mayor?"
"We were listening to the latest broadcast from Vale when the signal died. More importantly, what the bloody hell was that thing that flew out of your window?"
.
.
.
"Out of the question!" The mayor exclaimed, "You want to destroy our livelihoods?"
"It would be a last resort in case the Grimm overwhelm us. If our predictions are right, and a horde similar to the one we faced is on its way, then it is our duty to prepare by any means necessary."
Valestein was not backing down from Arc's plan, and after further thought on it, Donovan was starting to see the merit of it. To the side, Montgomery was moving his hand in awe as Arc had somehow healed his broken limb, while the lad himself was by the window gazing at the moon.
"B-but still, Celdic relies heavily on all those farms. Our famous beer would not exist without the grain!"
"Trust me, I know. I can't believe I would ever say this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Even that beer will need to be used as fuel, and it kills me to admit this!" He hid a frown at how distressed the woman sounded, she really did like her booze. It's a bit unbecoming from a lady, but maybe that's just his old-fashioned self speaking?
They continued arguing back and forth for a few more minutes while Sheriff Greaves caught his eye.
"What's on your mind, Cyrus?"
Cyrus Greaves was a slim old man of average height, wearing a red poncho, a brown wide brimmed hat, a bandoleer with two revolvers, an ammo belt and a rifle holstered on his back. His face had a permanent grin that would put people to ease as much as it would give any ne'er-do-wells pause. He had been the sheriff for Celdic ever since Donovan was a teenager. A crack shot who could shoot the fly off a horse's tail from a hundred yards, he oversaw the militia along with his deputies, but rarely ventured out of Celdic's immediate vicinity.
"I don't like this, Donny. I don't like this at all. We should be prepping for battle, not idling around with our fingers up our arses."
"Don't I know it," Brocket ignored the nickname the sheriff gave him. Old men and their habits, he too was getting up in the years. "My Dragoons and some of Montgomery's men are quietly making sure all our defenses are up to task. What's the word on the militia and the newcomers?"
"Many of these folks have never had to shoot a hare, let alone a Grimm in their lives." The sheriff spat out, his grin growing sharp. "I would wager they would break at the first Beowulf that gets on top of the walls. Still, the town's walls are tall and, while old, all the guns and other defenses are well maintained…for the most part."
They turned back to the ongoing argument between the Mayor and Valestein, as even Montgomery had to intervene, surprisingly on the Adventurer's side. He was about to add his own thoughts when a sudden voice interrupted.
"I'm afraid you will have to decide quickly, Mayor. The scouts are on the way." They all fell silent as they turned to the young Arc, who had turned a way from the window with a serious expression.
"Fie found them?"
"Yeah, and that wasn't the only thing she found." His determined face was all the confirmation they needed. It appears their worst fears shall become reality.
Many miles away,
A group of men were busy setting up a camp in a clearing near the main road heading out of Celdic. The dragoons sent to scout by Lieutenant Brocket had wisely decided not to continue travelling in the darkness, which allowed Fie to catch up to them so easily as she travelled on top of the trees.
She landed just as they were starting the campfire, causing them to jump, their hands going to their sidearms.
"Who are you?"
Fie looked closely, not recognizing any of them. They must have been out on patrol over the past week she'd been in Celdic.
"C-Rank adventurer, Fie. I have orders from Lieutenant Brocket." She handed the written orders to their apparent leader, who accepted it warily. After a quick read, his face scrunched up in annoyance before sighing in defeat.
"What is it?" One of the other dragoons asked.
"New orders from Brocket. We are to return to Celdic ASAP. Imminent Grimm attack on the way. Pack up, men. At least we won't sleep in the wild tonight."
"More like we won't sleep at all." A series of annoyed groans sounded out, but the men did as they were told. Fie folded her arms and stared impatiently at them. Suddenly, something sped through the skies. It was too fast for her to discern what it was, and before she could think about following it, she heard a sound in the wind. A sound she had learned to recognize well.
Grimm.
"Nevermind your stuff, just saddle the horses and get away from here. They are coming!"
At first, some of the dragoons looked askance at her before one of them strained his ears for a moment and paled significantly.
"She's right, we gotta–" A loud sonorous howl reverberated in the forest and everyone in the clearing froze before drawing their weapons. Fie looked around warily, straining her senses until she found her target.
A Beowulf leaped out of a bush, its claws poised to eviscerate one of the dragoons, who instantly had his revolver aimed at it and shooting all six rounds of his gun in less than a second. The Grimm staggered, but its thick armor identified it as an Alpha and continued its charge. If the dragoon had used his rifle, he would have been able to down the monster. Yet, it was a moot point as Fie landed on the Alpha Beowulf's back, forcing it to the ground and stabbing her daggers into its eyes. She pulled the trigger to finish it off, blowing its head apart.
"Thanks for the help." The dragoon accepted her offered hand to pull him up.
"Don't mention it. I suggest you all leave. This was but an advance party, the full force should be following soon." She turned towards the other dragoons, who were also attacked by lesser Grimm but were easily neutralized.
"Understood. Thank you, adventurer. Will you need a ride?"
"No, I have my own mission. Farewell." The Cat-Faunus left before they could ask more questions and watched them as they turned their steeds back down the path to Celdic. The light of the lit campfire illuminated the clearing as she waited for the rest of the Grimm to appear, all the while trying to send a message to Jaune through the link.
.
.
.
The sound of gunfire reverberated around the forest as a white haired figure jumped from tree branch to tree branch, dodging pinions from Nevermores and a rampaging Goliath charging through trees like they were shrubbery. On the ground, a myriad of Grimm moved with a blind resolve towards Celdic. Normally, Fie would be capable of killing any of the attacking Grimm individually, or even distract many of them to bring them down on her own terms. Yet, the Grimm were completely fixated on whatever flew in the sky that was also heading to town.
The cat-faunus could not get the chance to properly identify the reason for their fixation, however, as she was doing her best just to stay alive. Jaune's boost had seemingly given her unending stamina yet even then, she would not intentionally throw herself in the middle of a Grimm horde in the thousands and hope she could come out of it alive.
Well, she probably would be able to drag some of them away and kite them from distance. Yet, that would take far too long and would also be in vain. Better she retreated to town and joined in the defenses, than waste her time and energy on a forlorn hope.
Fie dodged yet another hail of pinions from a flock of Nevermores. She landed on the ground and kicked at the remains of the earlier campfire into an advancing Boarbatusk along with a grenade.
Another Boarbatusk rolling towards her had the cat-faunus jump back to the trees just as her grenade exploded, taking both Grimm out. Fie did not have a moment of respite, however, as more pinions skewered the branch she had just jumped from.
Travelling from tree to tree, the agile adventurer looked back to the skies, not finding her original target. Instead, she saw that same flock of Nevermores. Surprisingly, the horde was missing a lot of flying Grimm, that flock of about two dozen being the only ones. A look ahead found the entire horde marching towards Celdic, causing her to frown. At this pace, she reckoned they would arrive in two hours. Fie could feel Jaune's Arcus link, but she had no way of communicating through it aside from emotions.
Deciding that there was no way for her to effectively stop the horde, she focused on the link and sent feelings of anxiety and helplessness through it. The fact she was willing to do such a thing spoke volumes of the amount of trust she had placed in her new friend. A comforting feeling washed over her, and she recognized Jaune's Aura and feelings of assured confidence, making her lightly smile. Her job was done, Celdic was forewarned.
A rain of pinions fell on the tree once again, and Fie jumped away, with a slight downturn of her lips the only evidence of her annoyance. Perhaps she could finish off the flock before she heads back?
A loud screech from another Nevermore had her dodging hastily. That was different, that screeching was far too loud, too primal. Fie looked up to the skies again and found the source of the screech. It was a monstrous Nevermore, easily the size of one of those massive passenger airbuses.
Looks like she found out the leader of this horde.
Celdic outskirts, sometime after midnight, July 6th.
"Is this the last place?" Jaune asked their guide, one of the younger militiamen the sheriff had lent, as they stood in front of the entrance of a large abandoned looking homestead. It was a good plot of land, Sara observed, but it was clearly neglected, with plenty of weeds and not a single farm animal in sight.
"Yep, Old Baha is the crankiest sumbitch in these parts. The old codger is in his nineties, blind as a bat, and missing a leg from a bad encounter with a Beowulf that killed his wife a decade ago." The minuteman, named Sonny, was wary of pushing open the wooden gate and stared at them expectantly.
They had spent the last hour since Fie's warning evacuating all civilians and their animals from the many farmhouses and ranches close to Celdic while following Jaune's plan of trapping every inch of land they could find with incendiary explosives. Naturally, many of the residents were hesitant if not out right hostile over such an extreme method, but they managed to convince all of them of the reality of their situation. Either they stayed and became Grimm fodder, or they evacuated and lived to see another day and hopefully rebuild.
"Well?" Sara looked confusedly at the kid, "What's the hold up?"
"There be no way I'll open this gate this late at night! The senile old coot is known for booby trapping every yard of his land. How the bastard can even do that with his blind ass is a mystery, I tell you."
Jaune grunted in annoyance and pushed the gate roughly, barely walking a few feet before an ominous click sounded out. Sonny whimpered beside her, but Jaune barely flinched when a makeshift gun sprang up from the ground and fired a round straight to his head.
"Shit and meatballs! Is that dude even alive?"
"Dunno, let's ask him. Hey Jaune? You alive?" She could barely hide the mirth from her voice, especially when her blonde kid turned around with a bullet stuck in his Aura shield right between the eyes. That… wasn't supposed to happen, Aura didn't work that way, but she had learned that Jaune Arc's existence was a living contradiction.
"What do you think?" Contrary to her own, the boy's tone was drier than the twenty-year-old military ration she ate on a dare in her student days. "Let's keep going, we're wasting time."
For the next few minutes, they followed Jaune as he tanked everything from bullets, arrows, crossbow bolts, spears, and even a freaking dishwasher that dropped on his head when he rang the doorbell. She also had to cover their more fragile guide from an errant shotgun slug, her sword appearing instantaneously thanks to Storage and disappearing back just as fast, leaving a gawking minuteman falling on his backside.
"This is starting to get annoying." Her partner grumbled as he kicked down the door when no one answered… only to get a chest-full of shotgun blast. Sara looked worriedly at him as, for the first time, Jaune took a few steps back but quickly shrugged the pellets off as they bounced off his breastplate and fell to the ground.
This really is getting ridiculous, what was the point of even wearing armor if his Aura will still shield him? Just how tanky had his Aura become? Sara knew that the more Aura someone had, the thicker and more potent it became. It wasn't a simple increase such as one plus one equals two, but rather an exponential one. From what Jaune said, he had five times as much Aura as her, yet the sheer potency and strength she feels from his Aura makes her believe his was at least ten times as potent as hers.
The world just wasn't fair, she huffed mirthlessly.
"That ought to teach ya varmint." A crotchety voice sounded from further in the house. "Who the ruddy hell would show up at people's doorsteps at one in the darn morning."
A figure, sitting on an armchair in the middle of a living room, could be seen from the open door.
"You, old man, are getting evicted." Jaune was clearly not in a good mood, "Gather your essentials and valuables. We have a ride to take you to Celdic."
"Evicted? What in tarnation are you smoking, kid? Either share it, or get out of my property. Also, I might be blind, but I could have sworn I shot yer ass." The old man reloaded his double barreled shot gun and aimed it at the door, causing Sonny to scatter and Sara to take cover. Jaune, however, was already inside the house and curiously looking over stacks of crates and some sort of work bench. Clearly, the old codger had good hearing as he tracked Jaune with the gun but refrained from shooting.
"We are adventurers in the employ of Celdic," Sara interrupted whatever Jaune was going to say as he looked close to snapping the man's neck. "I am A-rank adventurer Sara Valestein and the man you just shot is C-rank adventurer Jaune Arc. We have confirmation that a Grimm horde is on the way to attack the town and all its surroundings, and we are evacuating all residents to town."
Old Baha turned to her, bald head gleaming and massive goggles hiding his eyes. "Adventurers, aye? Well, I'll be, I haven't met one of your kind in a good thirty years. Used to be an adventurer as well, you know, until I took a pinion to the knee. Same darn knee was eaten by a Beowulf a decade ago along with the rest of the leg, hehahah." The old man slapped his prosthetic left leg, and Sara was starting to feel frustrated at the old man's rambling. "Teamed up with another guy called Arc for a while."
"Really?" Jaune looked interested, seemingly forgetting that the man had done his best to kill him for the past few minutes.
"Yeah, big man, hair the color of piss and a complete hardass but a real teddy bear inside. I wonder what Max is up to these days?"
Sara chortled, perhaps she could endure the man's rambling after all.
"You sure you're not hallucinating, old man? You might be a mean bastard, but you're still a crotchety old cripple." The minuteman, Sonny, seemed to have gained some spine from hiding behind her. Old Baha slowly turned to the man's voice and simply smiled as he tapped his gun.
"No, he's telling the truth." Jaune dropped what he was inspecting on the workbench and stared intently at the old man. "His Aura is unlocked, and he has more than you, Sara. You know what that means."
Sara's eyes widened as the old man continued to smile. What was that old saying? Never underestimate an old man in a profession where they die young.
"Anyway, we plan to rig your land with explosives and incendiaries in preparation for the Grimm attack. I'm afraid that it's the only way to beat back the horde."
Jaune's words brokered no argument and even the stubborn old man seemed to sense it, "That's all moonshine, kid. I planned to sell this place anyway. I'll go, so long as I get to plant my own kaboom."
After the insanity of the past hour, Sara felt she could live with that.
.
.
.
It was time, Sara could feel it. The whole town had been roused, and every house had its lights turned off in favor of massive floodlights placed on the walls and the water tower, flooding the town and the surroundings with artificial light. The walls had hundreds of men and women of the militia standing side-by-side, rifles and other small arms by their sides, with thousands more in reserve ready to take over for when one is injured. Every dozen feet or so, a machine gun nest or a flamethrower was manned by a member of the better trained garrison. According to the plan, Sara and Jaune held the southern walls with most of the defenders. The other walls had the militia and refugees manning them, their main job was to warn of any other attacks, but Jaune assured her that Fie was coming from the south and that's where the horde was coming from.
The eastern walls, where the mountains could hide any number of Grimm, had Sheriff Greaves and that old nag, Baha, manning it. She wasn't sure if that combination was smart, but hopefully the Grimm would concentrate here.
On the ground, behind the walls, were teams of mortars ready to rain fire and hell on the Grimm. They had tried to place the two field cannons on the walls, but they were too big, even when Jaune helped carry it up. In the end, they abandoned the idea, and parked them by the eastern bastion overlooking the mountains. It was the only place on the ramparts that was built to accommodate artillery, and Baha was certainly ecstatic to have more boom-bewms on hand.
By the gates, were the Dragoon contingent on horseback ready to sally forth to take down any Grimm that weathered the defenses and tried to destroy the fragile gate. It was the biggest weak spot in the town's defenses.
From her position on top of one of the ancient stone towers, Sara could see the Grimm horde slowly making its way to the town, and that worried her. That they were slow, and methodical. Clearly, they were led by another elder Grimm, and her last experience with one of them did not go smoothly. A buzzing sound above them showed a drone recording the proceeds, and Sara glanced at Jaune's new friend from the market as she volunteered for the defenses. The older Rabbit-Faunus used her Aura to carry a heavy machine gun, and behind her were belts and boxes of ammo stacked on the ramparts. That she also had a video camera set on a tripod to film the whole process was as ridiculous as it was cool. Sara idly fixed her hair, it wouldn't hurt to look good while she killed some Grimm.
"We need to kill the leader. We can't afford to have them discover the trap and simply go around it, attacking us from another side." Sara turned to Jaune, hoping that her blonde companion would have a plan besides the one she had in mind, which included her wasting time looking for the leader and going all out to kill it… possibly leaving her open for a thousand-other Grimm to rip her to pieces.
"Don't worry. Fie will let us know." The young Arc looked valiant in his gray and slightly rusted armor, and his sword was drawn, tip to the ground. He looked intently at the horde as it formed up, before narrowing his eyes at the skies.
"What is it?" She looked where he was gazing, not finding anything.
"I thought I saw something flying over town, but it was too high. Don't worry about it, more importantly, Fie is preparing to strike."
They looked intently, searching the horde for their missing companion, when a massive Nevermore screeched in rage from behind the horde. Sara pulled a pair of binoculars, and stared at the creature, finding the reason for its screeching.
"There, that's the leader. Fie is dangling on its neck. I think… Holy crap, that's my girl! She's leading it here."
The statement had everyone around them on the tower shifting uneasily as the massive avian monster lost control of its flight and headed their way. Fie looked like she was stabbing its wings, while dodging its beak and the other Nevermore's pinions. To the side, Meg had her camera aimed at the spectacle while whispering some form of commentary.
"How will we kill it, though?" One of the defenders asked as he aimed his rifle at the beast. "It's too large for anything apart from the cannon to affect it, and still too far away to get a solid hit in."
In the time it took them to speak, the Nevermore had flown ahead of its horde, and Sara finally noticed something important. It had been blinded, possibly by her dear protégé. Fie had withdrawn a shining green object, before jumping off the bird, a few thousand feet from the ground, yet she seemed to be floating thanks to the shining Wind Dust crystal in her hands.
"Good going, Fie." Jaune brandished his sword, channeling an obscene amount of Aura into it. So much so, that he made all the town's lights look like candles in comparison. "Knowing you, you still have something up your sleeve–"
He had barely said the word when explosions blasted in the sky. Sara looked at the Nevermore, now realizing that Fie wasn't stabbing the bird's wings. She was planting explosives.
"Alright, Jaune. The Nevermore is wingless, and rapidly falling. Whatever you're gonna do, do it soon or else it will crash into town."
The young Arc didn't need to be told twice, as once the Nevermore was a couple of hundred feet away from the walls, he slashed his sword, sending out a massive blade of light cutting the beast in half, and felling it beyond the walls.
The result was instantaneous. The moment, the Elder Grimm was slayed, the entire horde, which had been confusingly watching them, roared in rage and charged into the fields to the walls. Sara could hear Montgomery ordering for the trap to be lit, but she had eyes only for the airborne figure that landed next to her breathing heavily, dropping the depleted crystal as it turned to dust.
"Great job, Fie. That was beyond wicked."
Fie took another deep breath as she smiled lightly. The girl had a few healing cuts, and her clothes were a mess. Jaune quickly placed his hand on her, channeling some of his Aura into her, only for both of them to grimace and stop.
"Sorry, Fie. You barely have a third of your reserves. You will need to rest for the night."
"That's alright." The girl looked at the fields beyond where a lone Dragoon galloped to a designated spot with a torch, lit two fuses, and galloped back to town. "We aren't clear yet. Whatever is luring the Grimm was on that Bullhead flying way up high. I would bet my goggles it's the bandits, and the Grimm Bait is onboard."
Sara and Jaune frowned as they searched the skies. "I knew I saw something." Jaune's face twisted into a furious scowl, "I even sensed some sort of Aura up there."
"I would love to save them, sweetie, but Celdic comes first." Sara watched as the fuses lit the fields, just as the horde had entered them and were midway through them. Montgomery had timed it well.
"Go rest in town, this will be a long night and even with Jaune's boosts, we will be run ragged by dawn."
The girl nodded and flickered away, probably back to the Weathercock Inn. Sara turned back to the explosive conflagration that was the fields of barley, rye, and wheat along with the people's homes. She could hear some of the townsfolk bemoaning the loss of their livelihoods, but they could always rebuild. More importantly, the damage was catastrophic… for the Grimm, as they were burned to death by the hundreds. Soon enough, though, many of them discovered the gap they left for them to attack from, and the defenders opened fire.
Sara and Jaune, however, had eyes on the skies for the rest of the attacking Nevermores.
"So it begins."
And the horde attacks, yet the defenders manage to strike a major blow. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.
Brocket
The broken moon shone brightly over the town of Celdic. The sky was clear, as the region had weathered its stormy season well. In the parade grounds of the barracks of Celdic, Donovan Brocket paced down a line of men.
"Any updates on our scouts?"
"None, sir." Duncan, his most trusted aide, replied swiftly. "We had only sent them a few hours ago and with no way to contact them…"
A morose silence fell over them as the rest of the dragoons converged on their position, and joined the parade line.
"Sir, should we wake Montgomery and the rest of the garrison?"
"No, let them rest. Montgomery is still injured, and the men had suffered a lot in the quarry." He turned to see all of his available troops at the ready. Some of them had to be roused from their sleep, but all of them were wide awake.
"Should we at least sound the alarm? Such a phenomenon has never happened before."
The Lieutenant turned to his potential future son-in-law, Rory, and smiled genially. "Do not worry about that. Let us not cry wolf so early, I've sent a runner for both the Sheriff and Valestein. The refugees are all armed and have promised us to man the walls with the militia when the time comes. For now, we need to be sure of what we are dealing with."
Brocket gazed at all thirty-four of their numbers standing at parade rest. The scouts he had sent to check on the bandits had returned in their absence and, aside from the six men he sent to scout the attacked villages earlier, his entire force was here.
Donovan stopped in front of his men, "Everyone. We are facing an unusual situation here. You know your duty, check on your mounts, your arms, and your armor. Perhaps this might be some freak accident, but if this is enemy action, and my hunch tells me it is so, then we the Dragoons of Celdic must be at the ready to repel any attackers. Be they Grimm or human."
"Yes sir!"
The men left to arm themselves and check on their horses, aside from Duncan who moved to stand beside Donovan at the gate waiting expectantly. Soon enough, three figures appeared in front of them.
"Good, you're here. Duncan, wait for the Sheriff and bring him over once he arrives." His aide nodded as the three adventurers followed him to his office.
"What's the situation?"
The Lieutenant stood behind a table with a map of Celdic and its immediate vicinity sprawled on it.
"I'm sure you have noticed, but we have a complete loss of communication." He waited for the three adventurers to nod, "None of us have any idea how this could have happened. I highly doubt the tower was damaged again, as even our shortwave radios are dead. Your thoughts?"
Sara looked to her team expectantly, and Brocket smiled inwardly as even now, the woman used this situation as a teaching opportunity.
"The town has already been attacked by unknown hostiles," Jaune Arc spoke first. "They specifically targeted the Dust shop and the communication center. What manner of communication systems did you have before their destruction?"
"Aside from the standard system connected to the CCTS via our tower, we had an old landline connected to Beacon. Sadly, we did not have an actual phone and relied on Morse code to send and receive our messages. That option is now gone with the destruction of the comm center."
"Considering the attackers specifically targeted the comm center and the train station, is it safe to assume they wanted to cut off communication to the outside?"
"That appears to be so." Donovan smiled slightly as the young man picked at the obvious clues.
"I see. Sara, you spoke to Goodwitch earlier. Is there any chance she would realize something is wrong here?" The blonde man turned to his mentor who frowned in thought.
"Not directly, as I had ended the call. She did expect an update in the morning, but I would rather not pretend that nothing will happen in the coming hours." She shrugged helplessly before blinking. "I was speaking to Kilika before the comms died. Knowing the paranoid vixen, I am positive she would notify Beacon of it at once. How Beacon would act on that information, I could not tell you."
"Hmm, It's still better than being completely blind." Jaune turned back to Donovan. "It's a good thing they didn't target the ammunition depot or the armory."
The silent question was easily heard as Donovan chuckled, "They tried, but the explosives they used were duds. It is unfortunate that we could not discover the saboteurs… for all we know, they could still be hiding in town."
"Let's not go on a witch hunt now," Sara interrupted, to which they all nodded. The last thing they wanted to do was to cause a panic with the residents. They were already standing on a knife's edge as it was.
Jaune frowned at the map closely, "How are the town's defenses?"
"Combat ready." Brocket said instantly, though at the younger man's unconvinced look he sighed, "I would have preferred for the walls to have a moat or other obstacles in case the Grimm come in overwhelming numbers. Yet, we have plenty of machine guns, flamethrowers, and grenade launchers along with enough ammo to equip an army. Add to that, over three thousand defenders with rifles and other small arms, I am confident we could weather a similar horde to the one we faced in the quarry."
The young man's eyes were drawn to the map again. "The northern and western walls have a natural moat in the form of the nearby spring, but it's neither wide nor deep enough to deter the Grimm for long. Further to the west lies the Emerald Forest, which had been silent since the attacks on Vale. The south and east will be our weakest points, as they are open to farmland and other homesteads to the south and the mountains to the east. Do we still have more of the phosphorus stuff you used in the quarry?"
"We do, though not in great quantities. What do you have in mind?"
The young Arc frowned as he perused the map, then walked to the window and looked south. "The terrain… It's too open for us to beat back a horde effectively."
"Indeed it is, but we will have to make do with what we have."
"What if we don't have to?" Brocket looked curiously as the young man returned to the table and traced a line along the farmlands and homesteads. "What if we create a choke point for the Grimm? In the quarry, we destroyed that horde easily enough due to the gorge and the relentless firepower at our disposal. What we need to do here, is to create a similar scenario."
"Interesting proposal, but how do you recommend doing so?"
"I suggest evacuating all those homesteads, rig them and the fields with explosives and incendiary munitions for when the Grimm invade, but we leave a single corridor, about a hundred feet wide, for them to take. Let's say over here," Arc pointed to a spot in front of the south gate where most of the town's crops were planted, but a veritable kill zone for the defenders. "With no way to town for the Grimm, they would be forced to use the gap, where we would concentrate all of our firepower on it. It would destroy the town's harvest, but we would at least survive."
Donovan's eyes were wide at the extreme suggestion, yet Sylphid nodded her head eagerly, while Valestein held her chin thoughtfully.
"We will have to defer such plans for when the Sheriff and the others arrive." Brocket compromised, "Fort now, let's go over what we know."
"Grimm bait," came the cold voice of Sylphid and Donovan closed his eyes in sadness. "The kidnapped children from a few days ago." The young cat-faunus continued, her eyes unblinking. "I've spoken to many of the refugees, and they confirmed that many of their friends and family were missing, without even their corpses to be found. Clearly not the work of Grimm, as the monsters kill for sport and rarely eat their prey in full."
"Indeed," he nodded to Sylphid and gave a slight cough. "All the evidence points to this phenomenon being man-made. How mere bandits have come to possess such sophisticated methods that could jam all communication waves astounds me."
"Regardless," Valestein interjected, "All we can do now is to prepare for an imminent Grimm attack. Too soon in raising the alarm, and we risk a panic among the populace, especially as we do not know which path they will attack from, too late, and we would fail to put defenses in time. It's a good thing this happened so late at night and most of the residents were asleep."
"On a separate note," Arc waved his hand and a few pieces of Dust crystals landed on the table. "I'm not sure how goes your Dust reserves, but if you need Dust, I might be able to help."
Donovan looked at the Arc lad. He had seen him pull things out of thin air, and he had waved it off as his Semblance. He had seen plenty of weird abilities in his life, and having some sort of personal storage was hardly the most unusual thing he witnessed.
"Acknowledged. Naturally, we shall reimburse you for any Dust we would need, though currently we should have more than enough. Our Dust stores are stored in a different place than the civilian grade that Odvin's trades with."
"Will they be enough for my plan?"
"… Perhaps not." Donovan sighed, as the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it would probably be a good idea to at least prepare such a trap. Destroy Celdic's future to protect its present? Or risk its existence over fear for the future? Damned if he did, damned if he didn't. "If you have any Fire or Lightning Dust, please let me know. Wind would also be helpful, but let's wait for the rest to arrive." The young man nodded and stored back the crystals.
"Alright then," Donovan was eager to conclude this before the rest of his guests arrived. "All we can do is to silently prepare and wait for my scouts to return. Any questions or suggestions?"
"Too slow." Came the sudden reply from Sylphid.
"I beg your pardon?"
"We can't wait for your scouts to return. What is the standard course of action for your units when they lose communication while on patrol?"
"Return to base, of course."
The young adventurer nodded her head, "I believe it would be faster for me to track them down and have them return. We've already agreed this is a prelude to attack."
"Do you think you would be capable of catching up to my dragoons when you are four hours behind them?" Donovan asked, not unkindly, but there was still a hint of exasperation in his voice.
"Yes." Came the simple answer, causing him to sigh tiredly.
"Valestein?"
"Fie could probably run all the way to Vale and be there before sunrise if she wanted to. It would kill her doing it with her low stamina, though." The amused look on the older face combined with the hint of pride in her tone stopped the younger girl from giving a scathing reply and just smiled instead. "I say let her recall your scouts and have her survey the lands for any obvious signs of a Grimm horde heading this way."
"But wouldn't you be too tired to participate in the defenses, Sylphid?"
"Don't worry, I have my walking/talking unlimited power supply cheat to get me back to speed." The girl tapped her blonde friend's elbow, her catty smile looked expectant.
Both men met each other's eyes and an instant understanding went through. He felt for the lad, and they sighed in exasperation.
"I guess I can also try to see if we could communicate through that link."
Donovan did not know what Arc was talking about, but it seemed the two teenagers had an understanding as they nodded before turning back to him.
"Alright then, let's not waste time. I'll show you the route they took, and write you their orders." The girl's smile widened, "and Sylphid? Bring them home safe."
The young adventurer nodded seriously and after perusing another map of the region, she had the Arc lad do – something – to her that caused her to visibly vibrate with energy and disappear from the office, the only clue she was there was the open window.
A few minutes later, Duncan had returned with Sheriff Greaves, his deputy, along with two surprise additions in the mayor and –
"Captain Montgomery! I'm surprised you are up so late. And the mayor?"
"We were listening to the latest broadcast from Vale when the signal died. More importantly, what the bloody hell was that thing that flew out of your window?"
.
.
.
"Out of the question!" The mayor exclaimed, "You want to destroy our livelihoods?"
"It would be a last resort in case the Grimm overwhelm us. If our predictions are right, and a horde similar to the one we faced is on its way, then it is our duty to prepare by any means necessary."
Valestein was not backing down from Arc's plan, and after further thought on it, Donovan was starting to see the merit of it. To the side, Montgomery was moving his hand in awe as Arc had somehow healed his broken limb, while the lad himself was by the window gazing at the moon.
"B-but still, Celdic relies heavily on all those farms. Our famous beer would not exist without the grain!"
"Trust me, I know. I can't believe I would ever say this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Even that beer will need to be used as fuel, and it kills me to admit this!" He hid a frown at how distressed the woman sounded, she really did like her booze. It's a bit unbecoming from a lady, but maybe that's just his old-fashioned self speaking?
They continued arguing back and forth for a few more minutes while Sheriff Greaves caught his eye.
"What's on your mind, Cyrus?"
Cyrus Greaves was a slim old man of average height, wearing a red poncho, a brown wide brimmed hat, a bandoleer with two revolvers, an ammo belt and a rifle holstered on his back. His face had a permanent grin that would put people to ease as much as it would give any ne'er-do-wells pause. He had been the sheriff for Celdic ever since Donovan was a teenager. A crack shot who could shoot the fly off a horse's tail from a hundred yards, he oversaw the militia along with his deputies, but rarely ventured out of Celdic's immediate vicinity.
"I don't like this, Donny. I don't like this at all. We should be prepping for battle, not idling around with our fingers up our arses."
"Don't I know it," Brocket ignored the nickname the sheriff gave him. Old men and their habits, he too was getting up in the years. "My Dragoons and some of Montgomery's men are quietly making sure all our defenses are up to task. What's the word on the militia and the newcomers?"
"Many of these folks have never had to shoot a hare, let alone a Grimm in their lives." The sheriff spat out, his grin growing sharp. "I would wager they would break at the first Beowulf that gets on top of the walls. Still, the town's walls are tall and, while old, all the guns and other defenses are well maintained…for the most part."
They turned back to the ongoing argument between the Mayor and Valestein, as even Montgomery had to intervene, surprisingly on the Adventurer's side. He was about to add his own thoughts when a sudden voice interrupted.
"I'm afraid you will have to decide quickly, Mayor. The scouts are on the way." They all fell silent as they turned to the young Arc, who had turned a way from the window with a serious expression.
"Fie found them?"
"Yeah, and that wasn't the only thing she found." His determined face was all the confirmation they needed. It appears their worst fears shall become reality.
T*A*M*S
Many miles away,
A group of men were busy setting up a camp in a clearing near the main road heading out of Celdic. The dragoons sent to scout by Lieutenant Brocket had wisely decided not to continue travelling in the darkness, which allowed Fie to catch up to them so easily as she travelled on top of the trees.
She landed just as they were starting the campfire, causing them to jump, their hands going to their sidearms.
"Who are you?"
Fie looked closely, not recognizing any of them. They must have been out on patrol over the past week she'd been in Celdic.
"C-Rank adventurer, Fie. I have orders from Lieutenant Brocket." She handed the written orders to their apparent leader, who accepted it warily. After a quick read, his face scrunched up in annoyance before sighing in defeat.
"What is it?" One of the other dragoons asked.
"New orders from Brocket. We are to return to Celdic ASAP. Imminent Grimm attack on the way. Pack up, men. At least we won't sleep in the wild tonight."
"More like we won't sleep at all." A series of annoyed groans sounded out, but the men did as they were told. Fie folded her arms and stared impatiently at them. Suddenly, something sped through the skies. It was too fast for her to discern what it was, and before she could think about following it, she heard a sound in the wind. A sound she had learned to recognize well.
Grimm.
"Nevermind your stuff, just saddle the horses and get away from here. They are coming!"
At first, some of the dragoons looked askance at her before one of them strained his ears for a moment and paled significantly.
"She's right, we gotta–" A loud sonorous howl reverberated in the forest and everyone in the clearing froze before drawing their weapons. Fie looked around warily, straining her senses until she found her target.
A Beowulf leaped out of a bush, its claws poised to eviscerate one of the dragoons, who instantly had his revolver aimed at it and shooting all six rounds of his gun in less than a second. The Grimm staggered, but its thick armor identified it as an Alpha and continued its charge. If the dragoon had used his rifle, he would have been able to down the monster. Yet, it was a moot point as Fie landed on the Alpha Beowulf's back, forcing it to the ground and stabbing her daggers into its eyes. She pulled the trigger to finish it off, blowing its head apart.
"Thanks for the help." The dragoon accepted her offered hand to pull him up.
"Don't mention it. I suggest you all leave. This was but an advance party, the full force should be following soon." She turned towards the other dragoons, who were also attacked by lesser Grimm but were easily neutralized.
"Understood. Thank you, adventurer. Will you need a ride?"
"No, I have my own mission. Farewell." The Cat-Faunus left before they could ask more questions and watched them as they turned their steeds back down the path to Celdic. The light of the lit campfire illuminated the clearing as she waited for the rest of the Grimm to appear, all the while trying to send a message to Jaune through the link.
.
.
.
The sound of gunfire reverberated around the forest as a white haired figure jumped from tree branch to tree branch, dodging pinions from Nevermores and a rampaging Goliath charging through trees like they were shrubbery. On the ground, a myriad of Grimm moved with a blind resolve towards Celdic. Normally, Fie would be capable of killing any of the attacking Grimm individually, or even distract many of them to bring them down on her own terms. Yet, the Grimm were completely fixated on whatever flew in the sky that was also heading to town.
The cat-faunus could not get the chance to properly identify the reason for their fixation, however, as she was doing her best just to stay alive. Jaune's boost had seemingly given her unending stamina yet even then, she would not intentionally throw herself in the middle of a Grimm horde in the thousands and hope she could come out of it alive.
Well, she probably would be able to drag some of them away and kite them from distance. Yet, that would take far too long and would also be in vain. Better she retreated to town and joined in the defenses, than waste her time and energy on a forlorn hope.
Fie dodged yet another hail of pinions from a flock of Nevermores. She landed on the ground and kicked at the remains of the earlier campfire into an advancing Boarbatusk along with a grenade.
Another Boarbatusk rolling towards her had the cat-faunus jump back to the trees just as her grenade exploded, taking both Grimm out. Fie did not have a moment of respite, however, as more pinions skewered the branch she had just jumped from.
Travelling from tree to tree, the agile adventurer looked back to the skies, not finding her original target. Instead, she saw that same flock of Nevermores. Surprisingly, the horde was missing a lot of flying Grimm, that flock of about two dozen being the only ones. A look ahead found the entire horde marching towards Celdic, causing her to frown. At this pace, she reckoned they would arrive in two hours. Fie could feel Jaune's Arcus link, but she had no way of communicating through it aside from emotions.
Deciding that there was no way for her to effectively stop the horde, she focused on the link and sent feelings of anxiety and helplessness through it. The fact she was willing to do such a thing spoke volumes of the amount of trust she had placed in her new friend. A comforting feeling washed over her, and she recognized Jaune's Aura and feelings of assured confidence, making her lightly smile. Her job was done, Celdic was forewarned.
A rain of pinions fell on the tree once again, and Fie jumped away, with a slight downturn of her lips the only evidence of her annoyance. Perhaps she could finish off the flock before she heads back?
A loud screech from another Nevermore had her dodging hastily. That was different, that screeching was far too loud, too primal. Fie looked up to the skies again and found the source of the screech. It was a monstrous Nevermore, easily the size of one of those massive passenger airbuses.
Looks like she found out the leader of this horde.
T*A*M*S
Celdic outskirts, sometime after midnight, July 6th.
"Is this the last place?" Jaune asked their guide, one of the younger militiamen the sheriff had lent, as they stood in front of the entrance of a large abandoned looking homestead. It was a good plot of land, Sara observed, but it was clearly neglected, with plenty of weeds and not a single farm animal in sight.
"Yep, Old Baha is the crankiest sumbitch in these parts. The old codger is in his nineties, blind as a bat, and missing a leg from a bad encounter with a Beowulf that killed his wife a decade ago." The minuteman, named Sonny, was wary of pushing open the wooden gate and stared at them expectantly.
They had spent the last hour since Fie's warning evacuating all civilians and their animals from the many farmhouses and ranches close to Celdic while following Jaune's plan of trapping every inch of land they could find with incendiary explosives. Naturally, many of the residents were hesitant if not out right hostile over such an extreme method, but they managed to convince all of them of the reality of their situation. Either they stayed and became Grimm fodder, or they evacuated and lived to see another day and hopefully rebuild.
"Well?" Sara looked confusedly at the kid, "What's the hold up?"
"There be no way I'll open this gate this late at night! The senile old coot is known for booby trapping every yard of his land. How the bastard can even do that with his blind ass is a mystery, I tell you."
Jaune grunted in annoyance and pushed the gate roughly, barely walking a few feet before an ominous click sounded out. Sonny whimpered beside her, but Jaune barely flinched when a makeshift gun sprang up from the ground and fired a round straight to his head.
"Shit and meatballs! Is that dude even alive?"
"Dunno, let's ask him. Hey Jaune? You alive?" She could barely hide the mirth from her voice, especially when her blonde kid turned around with a bullet stuck in his Aura shield right between the eyes. That… wasn't supposed to happen, Aura didn't work that way, but she had learned that Jaune Arc's existence was a living contradiction.
"What do you think?" Contrary to her own, the boy's tone was drier than the twenty-year-old military ration she ate on a dare in her student days. "Let's keep going, we're wasting time."
For the next few minutes, they followed Jaune as he tanked everything from bullets, arrows, crossbow bolts, spears, and even a freaking dishwasher that dropped on his head when he rang the doorbell. She also had to cover their more fragile guide from an errant shotgun slug, her sword appearing instantaneously thanks to Storage and disappearing back just as fast, leaving a gawking minuteman falling on his backside.
"This is starting to get annoying." Her partner grumbled as he kicked down the door when no one answered… only to get a chest-full of shotgun blast. Sara looked worriedly at him as, for the first time, Jaune took a few steps back but quickly shrugged the pellets off as they bounced off his breastplate and fell to the ground.
This really is getting ridiculous, what was the point of even wearing armor if his Aura will still shield him? Just how tanky had his Aura become? Sara knew that the more Aura someone had, the thicker and more potent it became. It wasn't a simple increase such as one plus one equals two, but rather an exponential one. From what Jaune said, he had five times as much Aura as her, yet the sheer potency and strength she feels from his Aura makes her believe his was at least ten times as potent as hers.
The world just wasn't fair, she huffed mirthlessly.
"That ought to teach ya varmint." A crotchety voice sounded from further in the house. "Who the ruddy hell would show up at people's doorsteps at one in the darn morning."
A figure, sitting on an armchair in the middle of a living room, could be seen from the open door.
"You, old man, are getting evicted." Jaune was clearly not in a good mood, "Gather your essentials and valuables. We have a ride to take you to Celdic."
"Evicted? What in tarnation are you smoking, kid? Either share it, or get out of my property. Also, I might be blind, but I could have sworn I shot yer ass." The old man reloaded his double barreled shot gun and aimed it at the door, causing Sonny to scatter and Sara to take cover. Jaune, however, was already inside the house and curiously looking over stacks of crates and some sort of work bench. Clearly, the old codger had good hearing as he tracked Jaune with the gun but refrained from shooting.
"We are adventurers in the employ of Celdic," Sara interrupted whatever Jaune was going to say as he looked close to snapping the man's neck. "I am A-rank adventurer Sara Valestein and the man you just shot is C-rank adventurer Jaune Arc. We have confirmation that a Grimm horde is on the way to attack the town and all its surroundings, and we are evacuating all residents to town."
Old Baha turned to her, bald head gleaming and massive goggles hiding his eyes. "Adventurers, aye? Well, I'll be, I haven't met one of your kind in a good thirty years. Used to be an adventurer as well, you know, until I took a pinion to the knee. Same darn knee was eaten by a Beowulf a decade ago along with the rest of the leg, hehahah." The old man slapped his prosthetic left leg, and Sara was starting to feel frustrated at the old man's rambling. "Teamed up with another guy called Arc for a while."
"Really?" Jaune looked interested, seemingly forgetting that the man had done his best to kill him for the past few minutes.
"Yeah, big man, hair the color of piss and a complete hardass but a real teddy bear inside. I wonder what Max is up to these days?"
Sara chortled, perhaps she could endure the man's rambling after all.
"You sure you're not hallucinating, old man? You might be a mean bastard, but you're still a crotchety old cripple." The minuteman, Sonny, seemed to have gained some spine from hiding behind her. Old Baha slowly turned to the man's voice and simply smiled as he tapped his gun.
"No, he's telling the truth." Jaune dropped what he was inspecting on the workbench and stared intently at the old man. "His Aura is unlocked, and he has more than you, Sara. You know what that means."
Sara's eyes widened as the old man continued to smile. What was that old saying? Never underestimate an old man in a profession where they die young.
"Anyway, we plan to rig your land with explosives and incendiaries in preparation for the Grimm attack. I'm afraid that it's the only way to beat back the horde."
Jaune's words brokered no argument and even the stubborn old man seemed to sense it, "That's all moonshine, kid. I planned to sell this place anyway. I'll go, so long as I get to plant my own kaboom."
After the insanity of the past hour, Sara felt she could live with that.
.
.
.
It was time, Sara could feel it. The whole town had been roused, and every house had its lights turned off in favor of massive floodlights placed on the walls and the water tower, flooding the town and the surroundings with artificial light. The walls had hundreds of men and women of the militia standing side-by-side, rifles and other small arms by their sides, with thousands more in reserve ready to take over for when one is injured. Every dozen feet or so, a machine gun nest or a flamethrower was manned by a member of the better trained garrison. According to the plan, Sara and Jaune held the southern walls with most of the defenders. The other walls had the militia and refugees manning them, their main job was to warn of any other attacks, but Jaune assured her that Fie was coming from the south and that's where the horde was coming from.
The eastern walls, where the mountains could hide any number of Grimm, had Sheriff Greaves and that old nag, Baha, manning it. She wasn't sure if that combination was smart, but hopefully the Grimm would concentrate here.
On the ground, behind the walls, were teams of mortars ready to rain fire and hell on the Grimm. They had tried to place the two field cannons on the walls, but they were too big, even when Jaune helped carry it up. In the end, they abandoned the idea, and parked them by the eastern bastion overlooking the mountains. It was the only place on the ramparts that was built to accommodate artillery, and Baha was certainly ecstatic to have more boom-bewms on hand.
By the gates, were the Dragoon contingent on horseback ready to sally forth to take down any Grimm that weathered the defenses and tried to destroy the fragile gate. It was the biggest weak spot in the town's defenses.
From her position on top of one of the ancient stone towers, Sara could see the Grimm horde slowly making its way to the town, and that worried her. That they were slow, and methodical. Clearly, they were led by another elder Grimm, and her last experience with one of them did not go smoothly. A buzzing sound above them showed a drone recording the proceeds, and Sara glanced at Jaune's new friend from the market as she volunteered for the defenses. The older Rabbit-Faunus used her Aura to carry a heavy machine gun, and behind her were belts and boxes of ammo stacked on the ramparts. That she also had a video camera set on a tripod to film the whole process was as ridiculous as it was cool. Sara idly fixed her hair, it wouldn't hurt to look good while she killed some Grimm.
"We need to kill the leader. We can't afford to have them discover the trap and simply go around it, attacking us from another side." Sara turned to Jaune, hoping that her blonde companion would have a plan besides the one she had in mind, which included her wasting time looking for the leader and going all out to kill it… possibly leaving her open for a thousand-other Grimm to rip her to pieces.
"Don't worry. Fie will let us know." The young Arc looked valiant in his gray and slightly rusted armor, and his sword was drawn, tip to the ground. He looked intently at the horde as it formed up, before narrowing his eyes at the skies.
"What is it?" She looked where he was gazing, not finding anything.
"I thought I saw something flying over town, but it was too high. Don't worry about it, more importantly, Fie is preparing to strike."
They looked intently, searching the horde for their missing companion, when a massive Nevermore screeched in rage from behind the horde. Sara pulled a pair of binoculars, and stared at the creature, finding the reason for its screeching.
"There, that's the leader. Fie is dangling on its neck. I think… Holy crap, that's my girl! She's leading it here."
The statement had everyone around them on the tower shifting uneasily as the massive avian monster lost control of its flight and headed their way. Fie looked like she was stabbing its wings, while dodging its beak and the other Nevermore's pinions. To the side, Meg had her camera aimed at the spectacle while whispering some form of commentary.
"How will we kill it, though?" One of the defenders asked as he aimed his rifle at the beast. "It's too large for anything apart from the cannon to affect it, and still too far away to get a solid hit in."
In the time it took them to speak, the Nevermore had flown ahead of its horde, and Sara finally noticed something important. It had been blinded, possibly by her dear protégé. Fie had withdrawn a shining green object, before jumping off the bird, a few thousand feet from the ground, yet she seemed to be floating thanks to the shining Wind Dust crystal in her hands.
"Good going, Fie." Jaune brandished his sword, channeling an obscene amount of Aura into it. So much so, that he made all the town's lights look like candles in comparison. "Knowing you, you still have something up your sleeve–"
He had barely said the word when explosions blasted in the sky. Sara looked at the Nevermore, now realizing that Fie wasn't stabbing the bird's wings. She was planting explosives.
"Alright, Jaune. The Nevermore is wingless, and rapidly falling. Whatever you're gonna do, do it soon or else it will crash into town."
The young Arc didn't need to be told twice, as once the Nevermore was a couple of hundred feet away from the walls, he slashed his sword, sending out a massive blade of light cutting the beast in half, and felling it beyond the walls.
The result was instantaneous. The moment, the Elder Grimm was slayed, the entire horde, which had been confusingly watching them, roared in rage and charged into the fields to the walls. Sara could hear Montgomery ordering for the trap to be lit, but she had eyes only for the airborne figure that landed next to her breathing heavily, dropping the depleted crystal as it turned to dust.
"Great job, Fie. That was beyond wicked."
Fie took another deep breath as she smiled lightly. The girl had a few healing cuts, and her clothes were a mess. Jaune quickly placed his hand on her, channeling some of his Aura into her, only for both of them to grimace and stop.
"Sorry, Fie. You barely have a third of your reserves. You will need to rest for the night."
"That's alright." The girl looked at the fields beyond where a lone Dragoon galloped to a designated spot with a torch, lit two fuses, and galloped back to town. "We aren't clear yet. Whatever is luring the Grimm was on that Bullhead flying way up high. I would bet my goggles it's the bandits, and the Grimm Bait is onboard."
Sara and Jaune frowned as they searched the skies. "I knew I saw something." Jaune's face twisted into a furious scowl, "I even sensed some sort of Aura up there."
"I would love to save them, sweetie, but Celdic comes first." Sara watched as the fuses lit the fields, just as the horde had entered them and were midway through them. Montgomery had timed it well.
"Go rest in town, this will be a long night and even with Jaune's boosts, we will be run ragged by dawn."
The girl nodded and flickered away, probably back to the Weathercock Inn. Sara turned back to the explosive conflagration that was the fields of barley, rye, and wheat along with the people's homes. She could hear some of the townsfolk bemoaning the loss of their livelihoods, but they could always rebuild. More importantly, the damage was catastrophic… for the Grimm, as they were burned to death by the hundreds. Soon enough, though, many of them discovered the gap they left for them to attack from, and the defenders opened fire.
Sara and Jaune, however, had eyes on the skies for the rest of the attacking Nevermores.
"So it begins."
And the horde attacks, yet the defenders manage to strike a major blow. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.
Great story! I love how it isn't a straight-up Gamer!Jaune who goes immediately to Beacon. Lots of cool world building too.
Chapter 18 (Siege of Celdic)
Thanks for your patience, everyone. Enjoy!
The west gate of Celdic,
Jaune
A Nevermore swept down and grabbed a couple of screaming men in its claws, before flying away, dodging the returning gunfire from the defenders. Jaune hurriedly sliced his foe, a Beowulf that had scaled the walls, and pulled out his gun, firing three accurate shots at the avian Grimm from its blind spot. The Nevermore screeched in pain, but Jaune gritted his teeth as the bird clenched its claws, causing the two men to scream in agony before their bones were crushed with a sickening sound that, even through the battle, was heard.
He will grieve for them later.
Besides him, Megan Scarlatina opened fire on another approaching Nevermore with her machine gun, perforating it before it could do more harm. The rabbit-faunus still had her camera recording, as she did her best to kill the Grimm while keeping the men's spirits up.
"Just keep shooting, laddies, and remember to smile at the camera. Any of you who die is a hero, but don't rush to death before you take a dozen Grimm with you." The woman had an unhinged smile on her face, but Jaune could tell it was all a mask. She was as terrified as the men on the wall.
The fighting had been going on for nearly two hours now. Despite their plan and trap working wonderfully, it was still a toil to beat the seemingly endless horde back. The choke point was not as perfect as the gorge in the quarry, as many gaps had formed and some Grimm were too tough for the flames to harm them. The flames still burned brightly; the grass, homes, and the crops fueling it to a feverish degree, and the smell of sulfur and blood permeated the air. In fact, there was a bit of worry that the flames would spread to town, which was why some of the townsfolk were on hand with water pumps and the only firetruck in town. Yet, the Grimm still mindlessly assaulted the walls, heedless of the veritable rain of lead and fire mowing them down.
The men on the walls held steadfast against the relentless assault, yet the casualties were rising. Already, Jaune had seen a dozen dead and nearly a hundred wounded on his section of the wall alone. He will grieve for them later, especially as more men constantly joined the carnage, with rotations for the injured. He and Meg had been responsible for stopping more than one rout, as the simple villagers had no taste for combat yet he knew if the walls were breached, mass panic would ensue.
Speaking of the rabbit-faunus, "are you sure I can't convince you to seek shelter? Your aura is getting low."
"Too late for that, boyo. Everyone has to do their part, and my acting lessons have finally paid dividends! Even Lizzie and little Anita are doing well with the recording." The older woman smiled as she pointed at the drone, which now that he noticed, was being piloted blind. Meg had explained that it had a communication feature, but due to the blackout, the girls were controlling it from the rooftop of the town's water tower, the tallest building in town.
How the three women met and coordinated all of this, he didn't know nor care. So long as the faunus woman was doing her part in defending the walls, he would accommodate her little quirks.
"Very well, keep up the good work everyone, we will see the dawn yet."
Sara had already gone to the ground to support the dragoons in fighting off a large herd of Goliaths trying to batter down the gate. She had insisted he save his aura in case of an emergency, much to his annoyance. Jaune had held the tower and walls well for the most part, the Grimm unable to destroy the solid stone walls, but agile enough to scale them. The Nevermores, however, were another story, as despite their low numbers and Fie killing their leader, they had proved to be a true nuisance with their speed and agility.
If it wasn't for Meg's presence, they would have shredded the defenders. Yet, that was still not enough, as evidenced by the prior attack.
Megan shot another of the flying pests down, as he unloaded his revolver at an especially bold Beringel trying to scale the walls, blowing its head off. The rhythm of combat had taken over, and Jaune mindlessly shot, reloaded, sliced and killed any monstrous foe until he simply ran out of enemies to kill.
A look around him had him realize that the fighting had nearly ceased on their side of the walls. The men warily looked for more foes, finding none and looking at him strangely. No, not strangely. They looked to him for orders, and it felt surreal that these men, who barely knew him, would so eagerly look to him for guidance.
"Take a break, men. Grab some water or first aid if you're injured, but don't let your guard down. The Grimm are still beyond the fire wall, and I don't know why they have ceased their attacks, but they will certainly attack again."
The men gave tired cheers as they rested, and some of them kept a vigilant gaze outwards. Jaune looked at the town behind him, and frowned at the devastation inflicted. Despite their best efforts, there were destroyed homes from Grimm throwing rocks and boulders over the walls, or the downed Nevermores crashing into buildings before evaporating. A field hospital was established in the market square, right in the center of town; many dead littered the streets and were placed in body bags, but even more were injured as they lay in cots with missing limbs or bleeding out from evaporating pinions. The wailing of the women and children as they discovered the death of a family member would haunt him in his dreams, and never had Jaune felt more helpless than tonight. It didn't help that the negativity will produce a feedback loop that would give the Grimm more reason to attack.
He will grieve for them later.
"Jaune…" Meg placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.
He had the power to heal those people, yet the knight in gray was constrained by their own fragile constitutions. Only those with unlocked aura could have a chance in handling his potent energy, and even those were still limited, as he discovered when he tried healing one of the rare few guardsmen with aura. The man had screamed in agony when Jaune channeled some of his aura into him, and only his panicked use of Second Wind saved the guard's life. Jaune had worried that using the ability on someone else would deny him the usage for himself, but thankfully that was not to be.
A figure landed next to him, causing him to flinch out of his thoughts, but a glance at the purplish hair had him relax.
"Is our blonde wunderkind moping again?" His team leader grinned at the rabbit-faunus who smiled genially.
"He's still a spring chicken, he'll get better." The two women had never met before, as far as he knew, yet they instantly hit it off. Jaune remembered his grandfather mentioning how the best kind of friends are those formed in the crucible of battle.
"Sara? How's the situation on the ground?"
The Dust-using warrior looked worse for wear, with her disheveled hair, grimy clothes, and aura sitting at a little over a third, but she still had an easy grin and did not seem badly injured. "The gates are clear, though damaged, and whatever remains of the Grimm, destroyed. Brocket and his men did well with their feint and retreat tactics, allowing me to go all out with Searing Flash, as you so eloquently called it." Despite the woman's cheery attitude, his Arcus link with her told him that she felt as devastated as he was at all the death and destruction. Her will and determination to not show it was admirable, as the surrounding men cheered up at her report.
Jaune was embarrassed to say that he thought she was the one to name her skills, but apparently that was Krystal's doing. At least she liked the name he gave it.
"Although the man himself got blindsided by a Creep." Sara continued, and he turned to her in surprise. "He's alright, just had his aura shattered and his right hand broken." The older woman hurriedly added as she noticed his worrying expression.
"Any idea why the Grimm aren't attack–"
Something subtle brushed on his senses, freezing him. It was distracting, but Jaune had his aura sense active to the maximum in order to keep an eye on all aura users in town, which was the only reason he noticed. He could sense Fie in the inn and, thanks to the Arcus link, he could tell that she was sleeping. He could also sense Rory fussing over the Lieutenant while Duncan and Montgomery oversaw the repairs by the gatehouse.
None of that mattered, however. Jaune nearly cricked his neck as he looked up into the dark skies, searching for that weak aura that he sensed before the attack began.
There! By the eastern gate, the same sleek aircraft flew over the town, the broken yet bright moon that even now invigorated him, showing its presence. Jaune focused like never before on the plane, using Search and his Aura Sense, until he identified four people on it. Three of them felt nasty, as if their souls were tainted by sin, which surprised Jaune as he never realized he could sense that. The last one, however, was like a beacon of negativity. Inadvertently, Jaune focused on him and nearly puked from the sheer hatred and terror radiating from him.
"Jaune! Are you alright?" Sara held his shoulder worriedly, as he stumbled and grabbed his head from the sense of nausea.
"It's that bullhead. The one with the bait, the Grimm Bait." Jaune shook his head, breathing heavily as he glared at the skies where the aircraft hovered tauntingly over the town. "It came from the east, the mountains. We need to shore up defenses on the eastern walls, I bet my sword there's a similar horde to the one we just fought heading there."
His voice was not low, and too late, the men on the walls whispered in worry. Jaune clicked his tongue in annoyance before turning to Sara for guidance.
For her part, the older woman thoughtfully bit her thumb. "Brocket is recovering right now, I would suggest healing him If he accepts your aura. But first, we got company."
They stared out at the burning fields where the Grimm, who had stopped attacking only a few minutes earlier, were resuming their attacks. If Jaune had to wager, it had to do with the Grimm Bait hovering over the town.
"I'll hold the walls here with Meg, you go check on the dragoons and see what you can do on the Eastern walls." Sara patted his shoulder before grabbing Meg away.
"Sara, Megan. Wait." He grabbed Sara's shoulder and transferred as much of his aura as her body could hold, which turned out to be quite a lot, as she had the most time to acclimate to his aura. Then he used Second Wind on Meg, causing her to blink in awe as she stood straight and shouldered her gun easier. Jaune handed Sara the last of his ground Dust, all he had were a few of the larger chunks that would need more precise cutting machines than the town could offer. "There. Now you can go all out."
The older adventurer shivered, and in the shadows caused by the burning fields, her flushed face took on a vicious grin as she inspected the Dust. "You too, Blondie. You're my secret weapon, and I say I've held you back for long enough. Go wild!"
Jaune tried to mirror her grin, but it felt fake on his face. He jumped down to the clearing in front of the gatehouse, his aura easily cushioning his fall, and found the dragoons on their horses at the ready, and as Sara said, Brocket was having his arm tied in a splint. Montgomery was also nearby with one of the armored vehicles. They all looked at him in attention, and dare he say it? Respect.
"Alright men, I have ill news." Jaune didn't beat around the bush, and told them of his suspicions. The men's faces fell with dismay, but it quickly turned into grim determination.
"It would take too long to traverse the crowded streets to reach the east gate. We will have to send a flanking group to circle outside the walls while another group rallies the men to the walls." Montgomery rubbed his scruffy beard as they strategized over their dilemma.
Meanwhile, Jaune tried healing the lieutenant with limited success. The man's body could not handle his aura, so he used Second Wind on him to max it, which would help in the healing process. Unfortunately, his dominant hand will still be out of commission for at least a day, even with the clean break. Jaune sighed inwardly at how fragile humans were; even with aura, if one doesn't have a lot of it, it will merely make you stronger than average. Donovan Brocket barely had two-thirds of Fie's aura levels, despite being fifty.
The heavens were truly unfair.
"Thanks, son. I don't think I will be of much use with my sword arm in a splint." The lieutenant sighed tiredly before turning to Duncan. "You will be in command of the men, and take Arc with you. Ride fast and ride hard for the east gate, clearing any Grimm you find on the way. I'll keep Rory and two squads here for emergencies."
"Yes sir!" Duncan gestured for his horse, and Jaune smiled as Arthur trotted to him in full barding.
"Ready for war, boy?"
The horse neighed challengingly, causing the other horses to do the same. Just as he hopped on the horse's back, a runner arrived on one of the spare horses. It was Sonny, the minuteman who guided him earlier.
"S-sir, the east gate." The man was struggling for breath, but everyone could guess from the look on his face what he was going to say. "The Grimm were sighted at the east gate. Old Baha has gone mad! He plans to blow up the gatehouse if he thinks it's going to fall. Sheriff Greaves was already ordering bombs to be planted when he sent me over. What are your orders?!"
Everyone turned to Montgomery, who himself turned to Brocket, before realizing the gazes aimed at him. "Ah, ehm…" he coughed once before straightening his back. "Right, tell the Sheriff that we are on our way with reinforcements. He is to hold the walls by whatever means necessary, preferably without blowing them up."
No sooner had the captain given his orders, did they hear a loud explosion coming from the East gate. For a moment, everyone looked shocked, thinking the sheriff blew up the gate anyway, before relaxing. Even with the sound of battle behind them, and the lightning discharges from Sara, the cannons were distinctive and loud enough to be recognized a mile away.
"Better hurry now. I'll load the trucks and APCs with as many men and equipment as possible. Expect us there in twenty minutes at the latest." As Montgomery turned around to gather his men, Jaune noticed the lack of his 'advisors'.
"Looking for his hedonistic tagalongs?" Jaune turned to Rory as they were about to leave. "Turns out those were the morons who bought Old Baha's truck and ran off to Vale. Fucking cowards abandoned their posts."
The young dragoon had a dozen other dragoons with him, and Jaune was surprised to notice that all of them were actually younger than Rory, only a few years older than himself. They must have been the group he had missed, or were out scouting. A few of them were hugging some of the older dragoons, and Jaune realized they must be family. It was strange that the two squads staying with Brocket had the youngest of the soldiers, but Jaune figured that their assignment needed the best of the lot to strike the Grimm hard.
"Forget about them. Rory, I need you to…" Jaune tuned out the Lieutenant as he heard Duncan calling for the gates to be opened. He filed in line, as the battered gate opened enough for them to squeeze through single file and within a minute, they were riding outside the walls for the eastern ramparts. The men on the walls intensified their fire at the encroaching Grimm and a glance at the chokepoint showed Sara was going all out with the lightning strikes.
"Keep your ears sharp and your eyes peeled, men." Duncan called out as they cantered away. They shot the occasional Grimm that was foolish enough to attack them, but did not waste time stopping to engage.
Jaune gazed at the burning fields, and a hint of guilt washed upon him. It was his idea to burn the livelihood of this town, yet it turned out to be in vain. The Grimm still attacked from the opposite side of town, where there weren't as many fields. Whether they survived this onslaught or not, the town of Celdic would never be the same.
"Watch out!"
A snake Grimm, a King Taijitu, burst out of the grass in front of them, its fangs poised to bite his head off. Jaune was so distracted that he barely had time to flinch before Duncan's sword stabbed deeply into the snake's maw. Unfortunately, the snake Grimm bit hard onto the man's arm, causing him to grunt in pain as his aura got dangerously low.
The blonde knight swiftly boosted his STR then grabbed the snake's jaws and ripped them apart with his bare hands, allowing Duncan to retract his arm. The horses bumped into each other as the snake collapsed between them, and the rest of the dragoons circled them protectively, looking for its other head and shooting it once they found it. Checking on their leader's arm, Jaune found two small puncture wounds that must have pierced through his aura.
"Damn it, Arc, pay attention to your surroundings." Duncan gritted his teeth as Jaune transferred his aura, aiding in the healing process. The snake Grimm's venom was not fatal, but it would certainly affect their commander's combat effectiveness. Aura should be enough to heal from it, hopefully.
"Sorry, won't happen again." Jaune kicked himself inwardly as he forgot to boost his perception. He had been hesitant to use any of his boosts, as he didn't feel he needed them. Too costly and boosting his stats too much was difficult to control. He required a lot more training before he felt confident in boosting himself to the levels he did in the mountains, which was a miracle he survived it. Jaune's PER, however, always needed boosting, and with a thought, he boosted it up to eighty.
"Make sure it doesn't, you are both our healer and heavy hitter. We cannot afford for you to get hurt or incapacitated."
"Well, to be fair, I can assure you the Grimm would have shattered its fangs on my aura." Jaune grinned at the older man as he finished healing his arm and then used Second Wind to max his aura. This had quickly turned to be his most reliable method to heal people.
"… Didn't want to risk it, but you're probably right. What a monstrous child you are." Duncan sighed in amusement as he flexed his hand and sheathed his sword. "Alright, men, let's keep moving."
They continued to ride around the wall, even as the sound of gunfire and the retorts of the cannons got louder. Jaune could feel the trepidation in the air as they turned a final bend and froze at the scene in front of them.
The spotlights on the walls and the flames on the grounds illuminated a depressing sight. A sea of black figures with white masks were assaulting the walls, with a seemingly endless horde flowing down the mountains. In one glance, Jaune could tell that this horde was much more numerous than the previous one.
The eastern ramparts did not have the luxury of the preparations they made on the southern wall; no fire walls, no dragoons, no Sara or himself to plug any gaps. Just militia, a few mortars, the two cannons, and the occasional machine gun. Old Baha and the Sheriff were the only experienced aura users but they were both ancient men who should be in retirement homes, not on the battlefield.
The hordes of Grimm could be seen from the Fire-Dust infused mortar rounds that rained on the rocky terrain, which hindered and slowed down the Grimm but also provided cover from the rifle fire from the walls. Many Grimm attempted to climb the ramparts, but the defenders held firm, showering them with lead and fire. Whether they would be able to hold for longer would be the question, as the assault had barely started and there were already too many casualties than Jaune liked.
He shut his eyes at the sight, he will grieve for them later.
A couple of Beringels broke apart rocks from the ground and used them as projectiles at the walls, with gruesome results when they hit the occasional defender. Thankfully, the cannons were too high up to be harmed and their crews took accurate shots at one of the ape-like Grimm, blowing it to mist.
But the most dangerous element of the horde was the massive Creep with molten rock sticking out of its body. Its enormous head was shaped like a battering ram, and its powerful legs allowed it to smash at the nearly destroyed gate. It was surrounded by hundreds of its brethren acting as guardians; more Creeps, Ursas, Beowulfs and other Grimm weathered the relentless onslaught of the defenders, while the leader of the Grimm horde backed up for another charge at the gate.
"We need to take that Creep down." Duncan locked his gun into FDRs and so did his men. Jaune however, had a different idea.
"Everyone, the situation is grim, but it can be overcome. I just need you to trust me in this." All the dragoons stared at him in confusion as well as a little impatience. He ignored them in favor of focusing on his Arcus ability.
"Don't resist," was his only warning before he sent the threads of aura at his companions.
Thankfully, the dragoons trusted him enough to allow him to form the connections. Once he was sure that everyone was connected, he checked their aura levels. All of them were intact, which would make sense considering they only used aura for simple physical augmentation, and a failsafe in case they get hit. That none of them were injured meant they still had their aura mostly at maximum.
Jaune did not waste time and used Boost combined with Empower to increase every one of the dragoons' stats by a quarter. Normally, even he would have drained his massive reserves for such a boost to thirty people, which was why he used the dragoons' aura instead, something he discovered was possible when he boosted Fie earlier. Once they were all boosted up, he used Second Wind on them to give them back their aura. Everyone was suddenly marginally stronger than they were a minute ago with their full aura to boot, with Jaune boosting Duncan from his own aura reserves, as a thank you for the earlier save.
"Damn, son! I feel so… powerful." One of the eldest dragoons flexed his arms, his muscles visibly bulging.
"I thought your semblance allowed you to store things, not empower people?" Duncan and the rest of the dragoons looked at him in awe.
"I'll explain later, this boost should last you an hour. Use it well, and know that I will not be able to refill your aura like this again."
"Right, from up!" Duncan called and formed all thirty of the riders into two lines that spread out into a flying wedge formation. They urged their horses into a canter as they rode to the thick of the fighting, the dragoons' carbines roaring as they used FDRs liberally.
"Duncan, your fire rounds will do nothing against that Grimm." Jaune called out as he noticed one of the defenders using a flamethrower at the clear leader of the Grimm horde, only for its bone armor to drink the flames like a tonic. "Let me handle it while you take care of its minions. Here, take these and go wild on their lines."
Their platoon commander grimaced at the wretched truth before he nodded and accepted the belts of grenades that Jaune withdrew from his storage, passing it to the rest of his men. "Go, we will follow your lead."
Jaune nodded and urged Arthur towards the Lava Creep, as Duncan and the dragoons followed him. The boss Grimm's minions noticed and charged at them. Jaune ignored them as he had eyes only for the massive Creep, but Duncan and the men lured the fodder away from their leader, using the grenades that Fie made extensively.
Jaune infused Crocea Mors with as much aura as he could, and urged his horse into a gallop. The Lava Creep stomped on the ground a couple of times before charging at the gate with more speed than he expected, causing Jaune to panic as he had barely started the infusion process. With the choice taken out of his hand, the gray knight sent a Crescent Wave at the monstrous Grimm, hoping it would stop it before it brought the gates down.
It was not to be, as the Grimm simply shrugged off the underpowered aura strike and crashed into the rotted wooden gates – blasting it off its hinges, causing the defenders behind the gate to scream as they were hit by the debris. The men on the walls and the Grimm on the ground froze at the sight. The Lava Creep dislodged itself from the gates and took a few steps backwards, preparing another charge to shatter the supports of the stone gate. Jaune could see the dismay and terror on the men's faces, while the Grimm looked ready to charge in glee at the breach.
The aspiring huntsman scowled and checked his aura, finding it nearly full. He had barely used it over the past hour and it took less than ten percent of his maximum to top off Sara's reserves, and any usage was recovered thanks to the moon. Jaune gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes in resolve before flaring his aura mightily, looking like a shining beacon at night, grabbing the Grimm's attention to him.
In hindsight, Sara was right in telling him to control his aura, as the sheer amount he now had would functionally designate him as Grimm Bait. The fact that ten thousand Grimm had suddenly abandoned the walls and glared at him venomously, was proof enough.
For a moment, Jaune was tempted to run and lure them away from town, but he scrapped that idea. Neither he nor Arthur were fast enough to escape them and even if he boosted his stats, the terrain would not be in their favor. Then there were the dragoons following his lead, there was no way Jaune would betray their trust like this.
It will have to be a melee, and Jaune felt a feral grin bloom on his face as he flooded Crocea Mors with aura and urged his steed into full throttle, causing Arthur to pant heavily. Like a shining spearhead with the dragoons behind him in a wedge formation, they rode silently for victory…or death.
The Grimm had abandoned the walls and charged at them, even as the Lava Creep gathered what it could control of its brethren and turned to the gates. Jaune clicked his tongue in annoyance as the elder Grimm ignored him in favor of the town, but it wouldn't matter.
A glance at the top of the destroyed gates found that old codger Baha with a few men as they lit a long fuse along the walls. The man had more aura than Sara, and considering his old age, it would make sense. He must have grown up with limited aura and had to rely heavily on tools and trickery to beat his foes. It was unfortunate that when he finally had more aura than he could dream of, his body failed him. The only reason Old Baha could stand on his one leg was due to his aura control.
Jaune shook his head as he charged the flood of Grimm, his aura intensifying and covering Arthur, with more of it spreading to the riders behind, his Arcus links helping in transferring their momentum to him. Within a few seconds, they crashed into the leading Grimm… and continued on, stabbing his sword that had an energy blade five times its size growing from it from the extreme amount of aura he had trapped in it. It was more of a lance now, rather than a sword.
Arthur neighed angrily as he trampled Creeps and Beowulfs underfoot, his armored form making him a veritable tank while Jaune stabbed and slashed at anything within ten feet ahead of him to ash. He could see Duncan on his left shooting his carbine with one hand and slashing his sword with another. The sounds of explosions told him that the rest of the riders were using their grenades to devastating effects.
Once he was in the thick of the horde, and the charge was losing momentum, he pushed onwards away from the dragoons. This way he would have all the space he needed to slash and kill all the monstrosities in his way without having to worry about accidentally hurting his comrades. Jaune could feel the dragoons through his Arcus links doing well against the stunned or surviving Grimm he missed. He continued to slash and trample Ursas, Beowulfs, Burbatusks and all kinds of young and reckless Grimm until a shockwave reverberated across the fields. The gate house had chosen that moment to explode spectacularly, right as the Lava Creep smashed its head on the supporting columns.
"To the gates!" Jaune didn't hesitate and urged his horse to the collapsed Lava Creep. He could feel the dragoons following him, their emotions high from demolishing a thousand Grimm in one charge, with more to come. Jaune could tell that they would not survive a similar charge, as many of them had low aura with a couple of them shattered. He used Second Wind on all of them again, but just as it did for him in the mountain cave, it only gave a quarter of their maximum back.
"This is truly the last time I can boost your aura. Check your defenses, and watch where you throw that grenade." The armored knight called out as one of the dragoons threw a cluster of grenades a bit too close to their path, yet incinerating a pack of Beowulfs.
"Don't worry about us, youngling. We are all ready to die anyway, focus on the enemies ahead."
Jaune glanced at Duncan's smirk and it only occurred to him now that nearly all the dragoons with him were old men. The youngest of them was actually Duncan at nearly forty, while the oldest one was a white-haired man in his sixties. He was sure he had met younger members earlier, and he realized why Brocket kept Rory and the youngest members with him.
These men were ready to die, but they wanted their order to live on in the younger generation. Jaune gritted his teeth in annoyance, fucking old farts seeking a place to die with honor. Well, he won't let them. He had seen enough death tonight to last him a lifetime.
The Lava Creep had managed to recover, just in time for Jaune to jump off his horse and stab his sword deep into the beast's back. The rest of the dragoons covered him while he repeatedly stabbed deeper and deeper, all the while enduring the unbearable heat coming from the lava. With a grunt of effort, he finally reached the hilt of his sword, and immediately had all the aura trapped in Crocea Mors released inside the Grimm.
The effect was instantaneous, the monster's thick hide and plating acted as a sealant for the aura to wreck its insides to shreds as a muffled explosion reverberated inside it. Unfortunately, it had one last trick, as its humongous head split open, showing a shocking sight.
An evil looking eye connected to a dark tentacle that glowed with a malicious purple color. It swiveled to look at him and narrowed its lids for a moment before turning back to the breach into the town. Jaune watched in muted horror as hundreds of people; refugees, villagers and militiamen, were in the streets helping the defenders with supplies but did not have the time to escape the wrecked gatehouse. They all turned to them at the sound of an ominous buzzing, and too late it was coming from the tentacled eye, which was vibrating and glowing.
"Get out of there! It's gonna blow!!"
It was instinct, or perhaps his perception, that saved him, when Jaune ripped out his sword and jumped just in time for all the lava crystals on the Grimm to burst open, flooding its back and its surroundings with the molten liquid. Then, the eye exploded into a laser beam. His last second warning was enough for the unlikeliest of saviors to jump in the way of the beam, holding it back with his immense aura for a few precious seconds that allowed many of its targets to flee.
It wasn't enough, as with the sound of shattering glass, the beam punctured through the man's aura, burning his torso and exploding into a multitude of flame balls that incinerated everything within a hundred yards of the gate.
Jaune jumped to his feet, slashing at an opportunistic Beowulf. He turned to the scene of utter destruction inside the town, and his eyes found the old, smiling face of Baha. The old codger couldn't even give a final witty quip as half his torso was melted through. Jaune's gaze went past him to the burning buildings and blackened corpses of people he had just seen alive.
"We will grieve for them later, lad!" Duncan roared over the din of battle. "We need to hold off that horde until reinforcements arrive." The older man was dangerously low on aura, and had long ran out of ammo, dual wielding his saber with a combat knife, his blue eyes wild with bloodlust as he charged into the fray.
Jaune turned around, noticing that in his moment of distraction, the rest of the dragoons had picked up the slack in protecting him from the attacking Grimm. Even as he watched, he felt a couple of links getting severed as two of the eldest dragoons lay dead on the ground with their horses. A couple more were sporting severe burns from being too close to the boss Grimm when it exploded, yet they didn't seem to care and fought like demons.
He looked around for his horse only to freeze at the sight of Arthur limping to him with a broken leg. The horse whinnied sadly, and Jaune could see the dissipating remains of a Boarbatusk that must have struck the horse when he jumped off his back. The valiant steed had crushed the monster's head at the cost of its limb… and a tusk stuck in its unprotected belly.
"Arthur…" Jaune croaked out as the horse collapsed on the ground next to him. The sound of combat brought him back to his senses, he could not afford to be distracted. He knew what needed to be done.
Jaune will grieve later.
It was the same mantra he kept telling himself for hours, even as silent tears flowed down his cheeks. He could do nothing but hold on and grieve later.
"I'm sorry, my friend." Arthur neighed weakly as Jaune watched the life leave its eyes, and gritted his teeth before plunging his sword through the horse's heart. He watched resolutely as his steed's final breath gave out, and he hoped he appreciated going out in battle at least. A hand settled on his shoulder, and Jaune turned his head tiredly at the grim face of Duncan, who returned with a cut on his cheek.
"We need to fall back to the town, there are too many of them." He noticed that the man held his bleeding side with his other hand, his aura clearly shattered, and the remains of his saber on the ground. He was also on foot, as were the majority of the dragoons, and he would rather not imagine why. Jaune felt an exhaustion he had never felt before in his life settle on his soul, even as he acknowledged that a few more links were severed, their last thoughts and regrets echoing out in his mind.
He will grieve for them… no. He could do more than grieve.
Jaune was sick of grieving.
"… you go ahead. I have something I need to do." The blonde knight shrugged off the hand and stood up to his full height. Jaune gazed at the scene before him, before taking a deep shuddering breath that stank of death and decay, a smell he had gotten used to over the past few days. The sounds of combat around him were ignored, even as the dragoons sent the last of the explosives at the Grimm and retreated into town, more of their brothers lying dead on the ground. Jaune exhaled and glared at the advancing Grimm with a hatred he had never thought he was capable of feeling.
Aura burst out of his body in massive droves, wave after wave of the golden light blasted the debris and dust around him as the panicking civilians and monstrous Grimm stared at him. It was the second time it happened, but this time, he was a sun in comparison to the fireworks display from earlier. The Grimm shied way from it, but most importantly, Jaune felt hope bloom in the people behind him.
The Grimm roared at Jaune in hatred, and charged at him… only to be met with a Crescent Wave of golden light, dozens of feet wide, as he slashed Crocea Mors. The wave swept away hundreds of the Grimm in its path and continued for a few thousand feet until it cut a deep gorge into the nearest mountain.
It might not have killed as many of the Grimm as he hoped, but it had done its purpose. The monsters were in disarray and Jaune stabbed his sword into the ground as he grabbed a fallen carbine. He turned and looked at the civilians and survivors of the night so far, and held it aloft.
"Here we stand. None shall pass. Dawn shall come!" They were simple words, and Jaune was never one for flowery speeches. It was enough, as the crowds roared in determination and echoed him back.
"Here we stand!"
"None of the fuckers will pass, I got my kids back there!"
"We fight till Dawn, help will surely arrive."
"Well said, laddie." A sudden voice shouted from the walls as the cracking of a rifle dropped a charging Beowulf dead. "Your friend and the good captain are here."
Jaune turned to the speaker, finding it was the sheriff, Cyrus Greaves, before turning to the road going further into town. Several APCs and trucks were rolling in at speed, and on one of them was Fie, who flickered before appearing next to him.
"Sorry, I napped for too long."
"You came in just in time." Jaune couldn't help but choke out a rasping chuckle as he patted the girl's head and topped her nearly full aura. She smiled back, and they both turned to face the now recovered Grimm.
"None shall pass!" He repeated, and like a signal, everyone opened fire.
Jaune smiled as he aimed his carbine, but it turned into a frown as he felt the aura in the sky move. He glanced at where the aircraft was hovering, only to find it fleeing southwards. Focusing his Aura Sense, Jaune memorized the aura signatures, and vowed to hunt down those bastards to the ends of Remnant if he had to.
He swore it!
The broken moon shined brighter at the carnage afield.
On the burning fields by the western walls,
Sara finished off the last of the Grimm on the fields, and glanced at the walls behind her. The two squads of dragoons were screening the flanks down the walls, while she could see Brocket by the slightly open gate. On the walls, the number of defenders had steadily dwindled until there were hardly a few dozen from the thousand of an hour ago, as all forces were transferred to the eastern walls. The rabbit woman, Meg, waved at her with her camera, the rising sun barely visible through the distant mountains, and Sara unconsciously smiled at the woman. The sheer guts to film such a disaster yet also participate in it was admirable.
It's been over an hour since Jaune left for the eastern walls, and she worried about his situation. The earlier explosion did not bode well, but whenever Brocket sent a runner, they returned with hollow eyes and requested more reinforcements. Brocket was sorely tempted to send her over, but Sara could feel Jaune and Fie with Search holding their own, and the horde here was still not fully decimated.
That was an hour ago, and with that last dead Grimm, Sara could see no more adversaries. The heat from the fires were steadily affecting her, and she stank of sweat and grime. Fire squads steadily left the safety of the town to fight off any uncontrolled fire that got a bit too close to the wall for comfort.
The adventurer sighed as she walked back to the walls. She was tired, the past week had been a never-ending grind as her abilities were in high demand. Her earlier injuries, while healed, still left her fatigued and lethargic. Tonight had been a true test of her endurance. Sara could feel every bone and muscle in her body protesting and her aura was in the red from the amount of large attacks she made.
Sara wanted to sleep for a whole week, then drink herself to a stupor for another. She didn't remember when she last had a solid eight hours of sleep, yesterday didn't count as Jaune's aura gave her an adrenaline boost that ended up tiring her more than allowing her to rest.
The glamorous woman shook her head as her thoughts went to the many lives she saw extinguished tonight. The death and destruction weighed heavily on her soul, and Sara grieved for all the brave dead and wounded. Yet, such was life in the borderlands. She looked back to the walls and frowned as Meg was still waving at her, but now she had her machine gun aimed at something behind her. The woman was trying to load a belt of ammo, and Sara finally realized through her tired vision that she was warning her.
Jumping forward, she barely dodged the pinions of yet another Nevermore, and aimed Joker at it, shooting it down, only for Beowulfs to attack her on the ground. Dammit, she was out of Dust, and she could see a few more Nevermores circling her. Sara lamented her arrogance at thinking the horde was destroyed and letting her guard down, as she battled an Alpha Beowulf and its pack, while their flying friends tried to catch her off guard.
The classical Wolf-Raven combo, also known as Wolfbird onslaught in these parts. She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
She was forced to block a vicious swipe from a Beowulf with her arm, breaking through her aura, but she managed to blow the Grimm's head with Joker. It wasn't the first time she lost her aura mid-fight, and Sara was far too experienced to allow the sudden loss of strength and energy to affect her combat effectiveness.
Still, the adventurer was in deep trouble if this continued. The Grimm were relentless, and she barely managed to dodge a hail of pinions, the lack of aura making her slow and lethargic. Meg had opened fire on the Nevermores, yet she was too far away to get an accurate–
The sound of the Nevermores getting shredded followed by gunfire caused the Grimm to falter, and for Sara to gawk. That wasn't regular machine gun fire. The exhausted warrior cut a Beowulf in her way, and scrambled backwards as a speeding bullhead flew overhead, dropping a figure in white wielding a massive scythe on the Alpha Beowulf.
Sara gawked at the older man who sliced apart the Grimm and its pack, before finishing off one last Nevermore with a shotgun blast, and then mechashifted his weapon into an oversized butcher's knife. The man hung it behind his waist before grabbing what she could smell was a flask of whiskey, and took a swig as he smirked at her.
"Yo, I am a bit lost here, girlie. Looking for a town called Celdic, you wouldn't happen to know where to find it?"
The husky and smokey voice sent shivers down Sara's spine, and she unconsciously licked her lips at the sight of the prime piece of man in front of her. All thoughts of the conflict and exhaustion fled her eyes as she filled her mental checklist.
Tall, dark and handsome? Check.
Older than her by a good margin? Check.
Likes his drink? Check.
Powerful? Judging by her fledgling aura sense, that told her this man easily had as much aura as her maximum, double check!
Jackpot!
Sara Valestien had spent years searching for the perfect man, and she was not ashamed to say she had saved herself for that mythical man. She wiped away a bit of drool as she leered at the man, who looked raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're in the right place, handsome. Sara Valestein, a pleasure to meet you." She gave a mock curtsy, more to show off her cleavage than anything, and grinned as she saw the man checking her out with interest. "Why don't you and I go grab a beer, kill some Grimm, and maybe tell me your name?"
The tall man's smirk widened as his red eyes glinted with interest. "I like the sound of that. Qrow Branwen, the pleasure is all mine."
And done! Quite the long chapter. Qrow finally arrives on the scene, though he's kinda late for the party. Keep in mind that he has been fighting his own war the last week, so give him a break.
At least Sara gets to enjoy her dream man for a change. I will be writing Qrow as he was supposed to be portrayed, the cool and fun uncle who is a bonafide badass. Not the boring shit he devolved into in the later seasons.
The west gate of Celdic,
Jaune
A Nevermore swept down and grabbed a couple of screaming men in its claws, before flying away, dodging the returning gunfire from the defenders. Jaune hurriedly sliced his foe, a Beowulf that had scaled the walls, and pulled out his gun, firing three accurate shots at the avian Grimm from its blind spot. The Nevermore screeched in pain, but Jaune gritted his teeth as the bird clenched its claws, causing the two men to scream in agony before their bones were crushed with a sickening sound that, even through the battle, was heard.
He will grieve for them later.
Besides him, Megan Scarlatina opened fire on another approaching Nevermore with her machine gun, perforating it before it could do more harm. The rabbit-faunus still had her camera recording, as she did her best to kill the Grimm while keeping the men's spirits up.
"Just keep shooting, laddies, and remember to smile at the camera. Any of you who die is a hero, but don't rush to death before you take a dozen Grimm with you." The woman had an unhinged smile on her face, but Jaune could tell it was all a mask. She was as terrified as the men on the wall.
The fighting had been going on for nearly two hours now. Despite their plan and trap working wonderfully, it was still a toil to beat the seemingly endless horde back. The choke point was not as perfect as the gorge in the quarry, as many gaps had formed and some Grimm were too tough for the flames to harm them. The flames still burned brightly; the grass, homes, and the crops fueling it to a feverish degree, and the smell of sulfur and blood permeated the air. In fact, there was a bit of worry that the flames would spread to town, which was why some of the townsfolk were on hand with water pumps and the only firetruck in town. Yet, the Grimm still mindlessly assaulted the walls, heedless of the veritable rain of lead and fire mowing them down.
The men on the walls held steadfast against the relentless assault, yet the casualties were rising. Already, Jaune had seen a dozen dead and nearly a hundred wounded on his section of the wall alone. He will grieve for them later, especially as more men constantly joined the carnage, with rotations for the injured. He and Meg had been responsible for stopping more than one rout, as the simple villagers had no taste for combat yet he knew if the walls were breached, mass panic would ensue.
Speaking of the rabbit-faunus, "are you sure I can't convince you to seek shelter? Your aura is getting low."
"Too late for that, boyo. Everyone has to do their part, and my acting lessons have finally paid dividends! Even Lizzie and little Anita are doing well with the recording." The older woman smiled as she pointed at the drone, which now that he noticed, was being piloted blind. Meg had explained that it had a communication feature, but due to the blackout, the girls were controlling it from the rooftop of the town's water tower, the tallest building in town.
How the three women met and coordinated all of this, he didn't know nor care. So long as the faunus woman was doing her part in defending the walls, he would accommodate her little quirks.
"Very well, keep up the good work everyone, we will see the dawn yet."
Sara had already gone to the ground to support the dragoons in fighting off a large herd of Goliaths trying to batter down the gate. She had insisted he save his aura in case of an emergency, much to his annoyance. Jaune had held the tower and walls well for the most part, the Grimm unable to destroy the solid stone walls, but agile enough to scale them. The Nevermores, however, were another story, as despite their low numbers and Fie killing their leader, they had proved to be a true nuisance with their speed and agility.
If it wasn't for Meg's presence, they would have shredded the defenders. Yet, that was still not enough, as evidenced by the prior attack.
Megan shot another of the flying pests down, as he unloaded his revolver at an especially bold Beringel trying to scale the walls, blowing its head off. The rhythm of combat had taken over, and Jaune mindlessly shot, reloaded, sliced and killed any monstrous foe until he simply ran out of enemies to kill.
A look around him had him realize that the fighting had nearly ceased on their side of the walls. The men warily looked for more foes, finding none and looking at him strangely. No, not strangely. They looked to him for orders, and it felt surreal that these men, who barely knew him, would so eagerly look to him for guidance.
"Take a break, men. Grab some water or first aid if you're injured, but don't let your guard down. The Grimm are still beyond the fire wall, and I don't know why they have ceased their attacks, but they will certainly attack again."
The men gave tired cheers as they rested, and some of them kept a vigilant gaze outwards. Jaune looked at the town behind him, and frowned at the devastation inflicted. Despite their best efforts, there were destroyed homes from Grimm throwing rocks and boulders over the walls, or the downed Nevermores crashing into buildings before evaporating. A field hospital was established in the market square, right in the center of town; many dead littered the streets and were placed in body bags, but even more were injured as they lay in cots with missing limbs or bleeding out from evaporating pinions. The wailing of the women and children as they discovered the death of a family member would haunt him in his dreams, and never had Jaune felt more helpless than tonight. It didn't help that the negativity will produce a feedback loop that would give the Grimm more reason to attack.
He will grieve for them later.
"Jaune…" Meg placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.
He had the power to heal those people, yet the knight in gray was constrained by their own fragile constitutions. Only those with unlocked aura could have a chance in handling his potent energy, and even those were still limited, as he discovered when he tried healing one of the rare few guardsmen with aura. The man had screamed in agony when Jaune channeled some of his aura into him, and only his panicked use of Second Wind saved the guard's life. Jaune had worried that using the ability on someone else would deny him the usage for himself, but thankfully that was not to be.
A figure landed next to him, causing him to flinch out of his thoughts, but a glance at the purplish hair had him relax.
"Is our blonde wunderkind moping again?" His team leader grinned at the rabbit-faunus who smiled genially.
"He's still a spring chicken, he'll get better." The two women had never met before, as far as he knew, yet they instantly hit it off. Jaune remembered his grandfather mentioning how the best kind of friends are those formed in the crucible of battle.
"Sara? How's the situation on the ground?"
The Dust-using warrior looked worse for wear, with her disheveled hair, grimy clothes, and aura sitting at a little over a third, but she still had an easy grin and did not seem badly injured. "The gates are clear, though damaged, and whatever remains of the Grimm, destroyed. Brocket and his men did well with their feint and retreat tactics, allowing me to go all out with Searing Flash, as you so eloquently called it." Despite the woman's cheery attitude, his Arcus link with her told him that she felt as devastated as he was at all the death and destruction. Her will and determination to not show it was admirable, as the surrounding men cheered up at her report.
Jaune was embarrassed to say that he thought she was the one to name her skills, but apparently that was Krystal's doing. At least she liked the name he gave it.
"Although the man himself got blindsided by a Creep." Sara continued, and he turned to her in surprise. "He's alright, just had his aura shattered and his right hand broken." The older woman hurriedly added as she noticed his worrying expression.
"Any idea why the Grimm aren't attack–"
Something subtle brushed on his senses, freezing him. It was distracting, but Jaune had his aura sense active to the maximum in order to keep an eye on all aura users in town, which was the only reason he noticed. He could sense Fie in the inn and, thanks to the Arcus link, he could tell that she was sleeping. He could also sense Rory fussing over the Lieutenant while Duncan and Montgomery oversaw the repairs by the gatehouse.
None of that mattered, however. Jaune nearly cricked his neck as he looked up into the dark skies, searching for that weak aura that he sensed before the attack began.
There! By the eastern gate, the same sleek aircraft flew over the town, the broken yet bright moon that even now invigorated him, showing its presence. Jaune focused like never before on the plane, using Search and his Aura Sense, until he identified four people on it. Three of them felt nasty, as if their souls were tainted by sin, which surprised Jaune as he never realized he could sense that. The last one, however, was like a beacon of negativity. Inadvertently, Jaune focused on him and nearly puked from the sheer hatred and terror radiating from him.
"Jaune! Are you alright?" Sara held his shoulder worriedly, as he stumbled and grabbed his head from the sense of nausea.
"It's that bullhead. The one with the bait, the Grimm Bait." Jaune shook his head, breathing heavily as he glared at the skies where the aircraft hovered tauntingly over the town. "It came from the east, the mountains. We need to shore up defenses on the eastern walls, I bet my sword there's a similar horde to the one we just fought heading there."
His voice was not low, and too late, the men on the walls whispered in worry. Jaune clicked his tongue in annoyance before turning to Sara for guidance.
For her part, the older woman thoughtfully bit her thumb. "Brocket is recovering right now, I would suggest healing him If he accepts your aura. But first, we got company."
They stared out at the burning fields where the Grimm, who had stopped attacking only a few minutes earlier, were resuming their attacks. If Jaune had to wager, it had to do with the Grimm Bait hovering over the town.
"I'll hold the walls here with Meg, you go check on the dragoons and see what you can do on the Eastern walls." Sara patted his shoulder before grabbing Meg away.
"Sara, Megan. Wait." He grabbed Sara's shoulder and transferred as much of his aura as her body could hold, which turned out to be quite a lot, as she had the most time to acclimate to his aura. Then he used Second Wind on Meg, causing her to blink in awe as she stood straight and shouldered her gun easier. Jaune handed Sara the last of his ground Dust, all he had were a few of the larger chunks that would need more precise cutting machines than the town could offer. "There. Now you can go all out."
The older adventurer shivered, and in the shadows caused by the burning fields, her flushed face took on a vicious grin as she inspected the Dust. "You too, Blondie. You're my secret weapon, and I say I've held you back for long enough. Go wild!"
Jaune tried to mirror her grin, but it felt fake on his face. He jumped down to the clearing in front of the gatehouse, his aura easily cushioning his fall, and found the dragoons on their horses at the ready, and as Sara said, Brocket was having his arm tied in a splint. Montgomery was also nearby with one of the armored vehicles. They all looked at him in attention, and dare he say it? Respect.
"Alright men, I have ill news." Jaune didn't beat around the bush, and told them of his suspicions. The men's faces fell with dismay, but it quickly turned into grim determination.
"It would take too long to traverse the crowded streets to reach the east gate. We will have to send a flanking group to circle outside the walls while another group rallies the men to the walls." Montgomery rubbed his scruffy beard as they strategized over their dilemma.
Meanwhile, Jaune tried healing the lieutenant with limited success. The man's body could not handle his aura, so he used Second Wind on him to max it, which would help in the healing process. Unfortunately, his dominant hand will still be out of commission for at least a day, even with the clean break. Jaune sighed inwardly at how fragile humans were; even with aura, if one doesn't have a lot of it, it will merely make you stronger than average. Donovan Brocket barely had two-thirds of Fie's aura levels, despite being fifty.
The heavens were truly unfair.
"Thanks, son. I don't think I will be of much use with my sword arm in a splint." The lieutenant sighed tiredly before turning to Duncan. "You will be in command of the men, and take Arc with you. Ride fast and ride hard for the east gate, clearing any Grimm you find on the way. I'll keep Rory and two squads here for emergencies."
"Yes sir!" Duncan gestured for his horse, and Jaune smiled as Arthur trotted to him in full barding.
"Ready for war, boy?"
The horse neighed challengingly, causing the other horses to do the same. Just as he hopped on the horse's back, a runner arrived on one of the spare horses. It was Sonny, the minuteman who guided him earlier.
"S-sir, the east gate." The man was struggling for breath, but everyone could guess from the look on his face what he was going to say. "The Grimm were sighted at the east gate. Old Baha has gone mad! He plans to blow up the gatehouse if he thinks it's going to fall. Sheriff Greaves was already ordering bombs to be planted when he sent me over. What are your orders?!"
Everyone turned to Montgomery, who himself turned to Brocket, before realizing the gazes aimed at him. "Ah, ehm…" he coughed once before straightening his back. "Right, tell the Sheriff that we are on our way with reinforcements. He is to hold the walls by whatever means necessary, preferably without blowing them up."
No sooner had the captain given his orders, did they hear a loud explosion coming from the East gate. For a moment, everyone looked shocked, thinking the sheriff blew up the gate anyway, before relaxing. Even with the sound of battle behind them, and the lightning discharges from Sara, the cannons were distinctive and loud enough to be recognized a mile away.
"Better hurry now. I'll load the trucks and APCs with as many men and equipment as possible. Expect us there in twenty minutes at the latest." As Montgomery turned around to gather his men, Jaune noticed the lack of his 'advisors'.
"Looking for his hedonistic tagalongs?" Jaune turned to Rory as they were about to leave. "Turns out those were the morons who bought Old Baha's truck and ran off to Vale. Fucking cowards abandoned their posts."
The young dragoon had a dozen other dragoons with him, and Jaune was surprised to notice that all of them were actually younger than Rory, only a few years older than himself. They must have been the group he had missed, or were out scouting. A few of them were hugging some of the older dragoons, and Jaune realized they must be family. It was strange that the two squads staying with Brocket had the youngest of the soldiers, but Jaune figured that their assignment needed the best of the lot to strike the Grimm hard.
"Forget about them. Rory, I need you to…" Jaune tuned out the Lieutenant as he heard Duncan calling for the gates to be opened. He filed in line, as the battered gate opened enough for them to squeeze through single file and within a minute, they were riding outside the walls for the eastern ramparts. The men on the walls intensified their fire at the encroaching Grimm and a glance at the chokepoint showed Sara was going all out with the lightning strikes.
"Keep your ears sharp and your eyes peeled, men." Duncan called out as they cantered away. They shot the occasional Grimm that was foolish enough to attack them, but did not waste time stopping to engage.
Jaune gazed at the burning fields, and a hint of guilt washed upon him. It was his idea to burn the livelihood of this town, yet it turned out to be in vain. The Grimm still attacked from the opposite side of town, where there weren't as many fields. Whether they survived this onslaught or not, the town of Celdic would never be the same.
"Watch out!"
A snake Grimm, a King Taijitu, burst out of the grass in front of them, its fangs poised to bite his head off. Jaune was so distracted that he barely had time to flinch before Duncan's sword stabbed deeply into the snake's maw. Unfortunately, the snake Grimm bit hard onto the man's arm, causing him to grunt in pain as his aura got dangerously low.
The blonde knight swiftly boosted his STR then grabbed the snake's jaws and ripped them apart with his bare hands, allowing Duncan to retract his arm. The horses bumped into each other as the snake collapsed between them, and the rest of the dragoons circled them protectively, looking for its other head and shooting it once they found it. Checking on their leader's arm, Jaune found two small puncture wounds that must have pierced through his aura.
"Damn it, Arc, pay attention to your surroundings." Duncan gritted his teeth as Jaune transferred his aura, aiding in the healing process. The snake Grimm's venom was not fatal, but it would certainly affect their commander's combat effectiveness. Aura should be enough to heal from it, hopefully.
"Sorry, won't happen again." Jaune kicked himself inwardly as he forgot to boost his perception. He had been hesitant to use any of his boosts, as he didn't feel he needed them. Too costly and boosting his stats too much was difficult to control. He required a lot more training before he felt confident in boosting himself to the levels he did in the mountains, which was a miracle he survived it. Jaune's PER, however, always needed boosting, and with a thought, he boosted it up to eighty.
"Make sure it doesn't, you are both our healer and heavy hitter. We cannot afford for you to get hurt or incapacitated."
"Well, to be fair, I can assure you the Grimm would have shattered its fangs on my aura." Jaune grinned at the older man as he finished healing his arm and then used Second Wind to max his aura. This had quickly turned to be his most reliable method to heal people.
"… Didn't want to risk it, but you're probably right. What a monstrous child you are." Duncan sighed in amusement as he flexed his hand and sheathed his sword. "Alright, men, let's keep moving."
They continued to ride around the wall, even as the sound of gunfire and the retorts of the cannons got louder. Jaune could feel the trepidation in the air as they turned a final bend and froze at the scene in front of them.
The spotlights on the walls and the flames on the grounds illuminated a depressing sight. A sea of black figures with white masks were assaulting the walls, with a seemingly endless horde flowing down the mountains. In one glance, Jaune could tell that this horde was much more numerous than the previous one.
The eastern ramparts did not have the luxury of the preparations they made on the southern wall; no fire walls, no dragoons, no Sara or himself to plug any gaps. Just militia, a few mortars, the two cannons, and the occasional machine gun. Old Baha and the Sheriff were the only experienced aura users but they were both ancient men who should be in retirement homes, not on the battlefield.
The hordes of Grimm could be seen from the Fire-Dust infused mortar rounds that rained on the rocky terrain, which hindered and slowed down the Grimm but also provided cover from the rifle fire from the walls. Many Grimm attempted to climb the ramparts, but the defenders held firm, showering them with lead and fire. Whether they would be able to hold for longer would be the question, as the assault had barely started and there were already too many casualties than Jaune liked.
He shut his eyes at the sight, he will grieve for them later.
A couple of Beringels broke apart rocks from the ground and used them as projectiles at the walls, with gruesome results when they hit the occasional defender. Thankfully, the cannons were too high up to be harmed and their crews took accurate shots at one of the ape-like Grimm, blowing it to mist.
But the most dangerous element of the horde was the massive Creep with molten rock sticking out of its body. Its enormous head was shaped like a battering ram, and its powerful legs allowed it to smash at the nearly destroyed gate. It was surrounded by hundreds of its brethren acting as guardians; more Creeps, Ursas, Beowulfs and other Grimm weathered the relentless onslaught of the defenders, while the leader of the Grimm horde backed up for another charge at the gate.
"We need to take that Creep down." Duncan locked his gun into FDRs and so did his men. Jaune however, had a different idea.
"Everyone, the situation is grim, but it can be overcome. I just need you to trust me in this." All the dragoons stared at him in confusion as well as a little impatience. He ignored them in favor of focusing on his Arcus ability.
"Don't resist," was his only warning before he sent the threads of aura at his companions.
Thankfully, the dragoons trusted him enough to allow him to form the connections. Once he was sure that everyone was connected, he checked their aura levels. All of them were intact, which would make sense considering they only used aura for simple physical augmentation, and a failsafe in case they get hit. That none of them were injured meant they still had their aura mostly at maximum.
Jaune did not waste time and used Boost combined with Empower to increase every one of the dragoons' stats by a quarter. Normally, even he would have drained his massive reserves for such a boost to thirty people, which was why he used the dragoons' aura instead, something he discovered was possible when he boosted Fie earlier. Once they were all boosted up, he used Second Wind on them to give them back their aura. Everyone was suddenly marginally stronger than they were a minute ago with their full aura to boot, with Jaune boosting Duncan from his own aura reserves, as a thank you for the earlier save.
"Damn, son! I feel so… powerful." One of the eldest dragoons flexed his arms, his muscles visibly bulging.
"I thought your semblance allowed you to store things, not empower people?" Duncan and the rest of the dragoons looked at him in awe.
"I'll explain later, this boost should last you an hour. Use it well, and know that I will not be able to refill your aura like this again."
"Right, from up!" Duncan called and formed all thirty of the riders into two lines that spread out into a flying wedge formation. They urged their horses into a canter as they rode to the thick of the fighting, the dragoons' carbines roaring as they used FDRs liberally.
"Duncan, your fire rounds will do nothing against that Grimm." Jaune called out as he noticed one of the defenders using a flamethrower at the clear leader of the Grimm horde, only for its bone armor to drink the flames like a tonic. "Let me handle it while you take care of its minions. Here, take these and go wild on their lines."
Their platoon commander grimaced at the wretched truth before he nodded and accepted the belts of grenades that Jaune withdrew from his storage, passing it to the rest of his men. "Go, we will follow your lead."
Jaune nodded and urged Arthur towards the Lava Creep, as Duncan and the dragoons followed him. The boss Grimm's minions noticed and charged at them. Jaune ignored them as he had eyes only for the massive Creep, but Duncan and the men lured the fodder away from their leader, using the grenades that Fie made extensively.
Jaune infused Crocea Mors with as much aura as he could, and urged his horse into a gallop. The Lava Creep stomped on the ground a couple of times before charging at the gate with more speed than he expected, causing Jaune to panic as he had barely started the infusion process. With the choice taken out of his hand, the gray knight sent a Crescent Wave at the monstrous Grimm, hoping it would stop it before it brought the gates down.
It was not to be, as the Grimm simply shrugged off the underpowered aura strike and crashed into the rotted wooden gates – blasting it off its hinges, causing the defenders behind the gate to scream as they were hit by the debris. The men on the walls and the Grimm on the ground froze at the sight. The Lava Creep dislodged itself from the gates and took a few steps backwards, preparing another charge to shatter the supports of the stone gate. Jaune could see the dismay and terror on the men's faces, while the Grimm looked ready to charge in glee at the breach.
The aspiring huntsman scowled and checked his aura, finding it nearly full. He had barely used it over the past hour and it took less than ten percent of his maximum to top off Sara's reserves, and any usage was recovered thanks to the moon. Jaune gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes in resolve before flaring his aura mightily, looking like a shining beacon at night, grabbing the Grimm's attention to him.
In hindsight, Sara was right in telling him to control his aura, as the sheer amount he now had would functionally designate him as Grimm Bait. The fact that ten thousand Grimm had suddenly abandoned the walls and glared at him venomously, was proof enough.
For a moment, Jaune was tempted to run and lure them away from town, but he scrapped that idea. Neither he nor Arthur were fast enough to escape them and even if he boosted his stats, the terrain would not be in their favor. Then there were the dragoons following his lead, there was no way Jaune would betray their trust like this.
It will have to be a melee, and Jaune felt a feral grin bloom on his face as he flooded Crocea Mors with aura and urged his steed into full throttle, causing Arthur to pant heavily. Like a shining spearhead with the dragoons behind him in a wedge formation, they rode silently for victory…or death.
The Grimm had abandoned the walls and charged at them, even as the Lava Creep gathered what it could control of its brethren and turned to the gates. Jaune clicked his tongue in annoyance as the elder Grimm ignored him in favor of the town, but it wouldn't matter.
A glance at the top of the destroyed gates found that old codger Baha with a few men as they lit a long fuse along the walls. The man had more aura than Sara, and considering his old age, it would make sense. He must have grown up with limited aura and had to rely heavily on tools and trickery to beat his foes. It was unfortunate that when he finally had more aura than he could dream of, his body failed him. The only reason Old Baha could stand on his one leg was due to his aura control.
Jaune shook his head as he charged the flood of Grimm, his aura intensifying and covering Arthur, with more of it spreading to the riders behind, his Arcus links helping in transferring their momentum to him. Within a few seconds, they crashed into the leading Grimm… and continued on, stabbing his sword that had an energy blade five times its size growing from it from the extreme amount of aura he had trapped in it. It was more of a lance now, rather than a sword.
Arthur neighed angrily as he trampled Creeps and Beowulfs underfoot, his armored form making him a veritable tank while Jaune stabbed and slashed at anything within ten feet ahead of him to ash. He could see Duncan on his left shooting his carbine with one hand and slashing his sword with another. The sounds of explosions told him that the rest of the riders were using their grenades to devastating effects.
Once he was in the thick of the horde, and the charge was losing momentum, he pushed onwards away from the dragoons. This way he would have all the space he needed to slash and kill all the monstrosities in his way without having to worry about accidentally hurting his comrades. Jaune could feel the dragoons through his Arcus links doing well against the stunned or surviving Grimm he missed. He continued to slash and trample Ursas, Beowulfs, Burbatusks and all kinds of young and reckless Grimm until a shockwave reverberated across the fields. The gate house had chosen that moment to explode spectacularly, right as the Lava Creep smashed its head on the supporting columns.
"To the gates!" Jaune didn't hesitate and urged his horse to the collapsed Lava Creep. He could feel the dragoons following him, their emotions high from demolishing a thousand Grimm in one charge, with more to come. Jaune could tell that they would not survive a similar charge, as many of them had low aura with a couple of them shattered. He used Second Wind on all of them again, but just as it did for him in the mountain cave, it only gave a quarter of their maximum back.
"This is truly the last time I can boost your aura. Check your defenses, and watch where you throw that grenade." The armored knight called out as one of the dragoons threw a cluster of grenades a bit too close to their path, yet incinerating a pack of Beowulfs.
"Don't worry about us, youngling. We are all ready to die anyway, focus on the enemies ahead."
Jaune glanced at Duncan's smirk and it only occurred to him now that nearly all the dragoons with him were old men. The youngest of them was actually Duncan at nearly forty, while the oldest one was a white-haired man in his sixties. He was sure he had met younger members earlier, and he realized why Brocket kept Rory and the youngest members with him.
These men were ready to die, but they wanted their order to live on in the younger generation. Jaune gritted his teeth in annoyance, fucking old farts seeking a place to die with honor. Well, he won't let them. He had seen enough death tonight to last him a lifetime.
The Lava Creep had managed to recover, just in time for Jaune to jump off his horse and stab his sword deep into the beast's back. The rest of the dragoons covered him while he repeatedly stabbed deeper and deeper, all the while enduring the unbearable heat coming from the lava. With a grunt of effort, he finally reached the hilt of his sword, and immediately had all the aura trapped in Crocea Mors released inside the Grimm.
The effect was instantaneous, the monster's thick hide and plating acted as a sealant for the aura to wreck its insides to shreds as a muffled explosion reverberated inside it. Unfortunately, it had one last trick, as its humongous head split open, showing a shocking sight.
An evil looking eye connected to a dark tentacle that glowed with a malicious purple color. It swiveled to look at him and narrowed its lids for a moment before turning back to the breach into the town. Jaune watched in muted horror as hundreds of people; refugees, villagers and militiamen, were in the streets helping the defenders with supplies but did not have the time to escape the wrecked gatehouse. They all turned to them at the sound of an ominous buzzing, and too late it was coming from the tentacled eye, which was vibrating and glowing.
"Get out of there! It's gonna blow!!"
It was instinct, or perhaps his perception, that saved him, when Jaune ripped out his sword and jumped just in time for all the lava crystals on the Grimm to burst open, flooding its back and its surroundings with the molten liquid. Then, the eye exploded into a laser beam. His last second warning was enough for the unlikeliest of saviors to jump in the way of the beam, holding it back with his immense aura for a few precious seconds that allowed many of its targets to flee.
It wasn't enough, as with the sound of shattering glass, the beam punctured through the man's aura, burning his torso and exploding into a multitude of flame balls that incinerated everything within a hundred yards of the gate.
Jaune jumped to his feet, slashing at an opportunistic Beowulf. He turned to the scene of utter destruction inside the town, and his eyes found the old, smiling face of Baha. The old codger couldn't even give a final witty quip as half his torso was melted through. Jaune's gaze went past him to the burning buildings and blackened corpses of people he had just seen alive.
"We will grieve for them later, lad!" Duncan roared over the din of battle. "We need to hold off that horde until reinforcements arrive." The older man was dangerously low on aura, and had long ran out of ammo, dual wielding his saber with a combat knife, his blue eyes wild with bloodlust as he charged into the fray.
Jaune turned around, noticing that in his moment of distraction, the rest of the dragoons had picked up the slack in protecting him from the attacking Grimm. Even as he watched, he felt a couple of links getting severed as two of the eldest dragoons lay dead on the ground with their horses. A couple more were sporting severe burns from being too close to the boss Grimm when it exploded, yet they didn't seem to care and fought like demons.
He looked around for his horse only to freeze at the sight of Arthur limping to him with a broken leg. The horse whinnied sadly, and Jaune could see the dissipating remains of a Boarbatusk that must have struck the horse when he jumped off his back. The valiant steed had crushed the monster's head at the cost of its limb… and a tusk stuck in its unprotected belly.
"Arthur…" Jaune croaked out as the horse collapsed on the ground next to him. The sound of combat brought him back to his senses, he could not afford to be distracted. He knew what needed to be done.
Jaune will grieve later.
It was the same mantra he kept telling himself for hours, even as silent tears flowed down his cheeks. He could do nothing but hold on and grieve later.
"I'm sorry, my friend." Arthur neighed weakly as Jaune watched the life leave its eyes, and gritted his teeth before plunging his sword through the horse's heart. He watched resolutely as his steed's final breath gave out, and he hoped he appreciated going out in battle at least. A hand settled on his shoulder, and Jaune turned his head tiredly at the grim face of Duncan, who returned with a cut on his cheek.
"We need to fall back to the town, there are too many of them." He noticed that the man held his bleeding side with his other hand, his aura clearly shattered, and the remains of his saber on the ground. He was also on foot, as were the majority of the dragoons, and he would rather not imagine why. Jaune felt an exhaustion he had never felt before in his life settle on his soul, even as he acknowledged that a few more links were severed, their last thoughts and regrets echoing out in his mind.
He will grieve for them… no. He could do more than grieve.
Jaune was sick of grieving.
"… you go ahead. I have something I need to do." The blonde knight shrugged off the hand and stood up to his full height. Jaune gazed at the scene before him, before taking a deep shuddering breath that stank of death and decay, a smell he had gotten used to over the past few days. The sounds of combat around him were ignored, even as the dragoons sent the last of the explosives at the Grimm and retreated into town, more of their brothers lying dead on the ground. Jaune exhaled and glared at the advancing Grimm with a hatred he had never thought he was capable of feeling.
Aura burst out of his body in massive droves, wave after wave of the golden light blasted the debris and dust around him as the panicking civilians and monstrous Grimm stared at him. It was the second time it happened, but this time, he was a sun in comparison to the fireworks display from earlier. The Grimm shied way from it, but most importantly, Jaune felt hope bloom in the people behind him.
The Grimm roared at Jaune in hatred, and charged at him… only to be met with a Crescent Wave of golden light, dozens of feet wide, as he slashed Crocea Mors. The wave swept away hundreds of the Grimm in its path and continued for a few thousand feet until it cut a deep gorge into the nearest mountain.
It might not have killed as many of the Grimm as he hoped, but it had done its purpose. The monsters were in disarray and Jaune stabbed his sword into the ground as he grabbed a fallen carbine. He turned and looked at the civilians and survivors of the night so far, and held it aloft.
"Here we stand. None shall pass. Dawn shall come!" They were simple words, and Jaune was never one for flowery speeches. It was enough, as the crowds roared in determination and echoed him back.
"Here we stand!"
"None of the fuckers will pass, I got my kids back there!"
"We fight till Dawn, help will surely arrive."
"Well said, laddie." A sudden voice shouted from the walls as the cracking of a rifle dropped a charging Beowulf dead. "Your friend and the good captain are here."
Jaune turned to the speaker, finding it was the sheriff, Cyrus Greaves, before turning to the road going further into town. Several APCs and trucks were rolling in at speed, and on one of them was Fie, who flickered before appearing next to him.
"Sorry, I napped for too long."
"You came in just in time." Jaune couldn't help but choke out a rasping chuckle as he patted the girl's head and topped her nearly full aura. She smiled back, and they both turned to face the now recovered Grimm.
"None shall pass!" He repeated, and like a signal, everyone opened fire.
Jaune smiled as he aimed his carbine, but it turned into a frown as he felt the aura in the sky move. He glanced at where the aircraft was hovering, only to find it fleeing southwards. Focusing his Aura Sense, Jaune memorized the aura signatures, and vowed to hunt down those bastards to the ends of Remnant if he had to.
He swore it!
The broken moon shined brighter at the carnage afield.
T*A*M*S
On the burning fields by the western walls,
Sara finished off the last of the Grimm on the fields, and glanced at the walls behind her. The two squads of dragoons were screening the flanks down the walls, while she could see Brocket by the slightly open gate. On the walls, the number of defenders had steadily dwindled until there were hardly a few dozen from the thousand of an hour ago, as all forces were transferred to the eastern walls. The rabbit woman, Meg, waved at her with her camera, the rising sun barely visible through the distant mountains, and Sara unconsciously smiled at the woman. The sheer guts to film such a disaster yet also participate in it was admirable.
It's been over an hour since Jaune left for the eastern walls, and she worried about his situation. The earlier explosion did not bode well, but whenever Brocket sent a runner, they returned with hollow eyes and requested more reinforcements. Brocket was sorely tempted to send her over, but Sara could feel Jaune and Fie with Search holding their own, and the horde here was still not fully decimated.
That was an hour ago, and with that last dead Grimm, Sara could see no more adversaries. The heat from the fires were steadily affecting her, and she stank of sweat and grime. Fire squads steadily left the safety of the town to fight off any uncontrolled fire that got a bit too close to the wall for comfort.
The adventurer sighed as she walked back to the walls. She was tired, the past week had been a never-ending grind as her abilities were in high demand. Her earlier injuries, while healed, still left her fatigued and lethargic. Tonight had been a true test of her endurance. Sara could feel every bone and muscle in her body protesting and her aura was in the red from the amount of large attacks she made.
Sara wanted to sleep for a whole week, then drink herself to a stupor for another. She didn't remember when she last had a solid eight hours of sleep, yesterday didn't count as Jaune's aura gave her an adrenaline boost that ended up tiring her more than allowing her to rest.
The glamorous woman shook her head as her thoughts went to the many lives she saw extinguished tonight. The death and destruction weighed heavily on her soul, and Sara grieved for all the brave dead and wounded. Yet, such was life in the borderlands. She looked back to the walls and frowned as Meg was still waving at her, but now she had her machine gun aimed at something behind her. The woman was trying to load a belt of ammo, and Sara finally realized through her tired vision that she was warning her.
Jumping forward, she barely dodged the pinions of yet another Nevermore, and aimed Joker at it, shooting it down, only for Beowulfs to attack her on the ground. Dammit, she was out of Dust, and she could see a few more Nevermores circling her. Sara lamented her arrogance at thinking the horde was destroyed and letting her guard down, as she battled an Alpha Beowulf and its pack, while their flying friends tried to catch her off guard.
The classical Wolf-Raven combo, also known as Wolfbird onslaught in these parts. She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
She was forced to block a vicious swipe from a Beowulf with her arm, breaking through her aura, but she managed to blow the Grimm's head with Joker. It wasn't the first time she lost her aura mid-fight, and Sara was far too experienced to allow the sudden loss of strength and energy to affect her combat effectiveness.
Still, the adventurer was in deep trouble if this continued. The Grimm were relentless, and she barely managed to dodge a hail of pinions, the lack of aura making her slow and lethargic. Meg had opened fire on the Nevermores, yet she was too far away to get an accurate–
The sound of the Nevermores getting shredded followed by gunfire caused the Grimm to falter, and for Sara to gawk. That wasn't regular machine gun fire. The exhausted warrior cut a Beowulf in her way, and scrambled backwards as a speeding bullhead flew overhead, dropping a figure in white wielding a massive scythe on the Alpha Beowulf.
Sara gawked at the older man who sliced apart the Grimm and its pack, before finishing off one last Nevermore with a shotgun blast, and then mechashifted his weapon into an oversized butcher's knife. The man hung it behind his waist before grabbing what she could smell was a flask of whiskey, and took a swig as he smirked at her.
"Yo, I am a bit lost here, girlie. Looking for a town called Celdic, you wouldn't happen to know where to find it?"
The husky and smokey voice sent shivers down Sara's spine, and she unconsciously licked her lips at the sight of the prime piece of man in front of her. All thoughts of the conflict and exhaustion fled her eyes as she filled her mental checklist.
Tall, dark and handsome? Check.
Older than her by a good margin? Check.
Likes his drink? Check.
Powerful? Judging by her fledgling aura sense, that told her this man easily had as much aura as her maximum, double check!
Jackpot!
Sara Valestien had spent years searching for the perfect man, and she was not ashamed to say she had saved herself for that mythical man. She wiped away a bit of drool as she leered at the man, who looked raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're in the right place, handsome. Sara Valestein, a pleasure to meet you." She gave a mock curtsy, more to show off her cleavage than anything, and grinned as she saw the man checking her out with interest. "Why don't you and I go grab a beer, kill some Grimm, and maybe tell me your name?"
The tall man's smirk widened as his red eyes glinted with interest. "I like the sound of that. Qrow Branwen, the pleasure is all mine."
And done! Quite the long chapter. Qrow finally arrives on the scene, though he's kinda late for the party. Keep in mind that he has been fighting his own war the last week, so give him a break.
At least Sara gets to enjoy her dream man for a change. I will be writing Qrow as he was supposed to be portrayed, the cool and fun uncle who is a bonafide badass. Not the boring shit he devolved into in the later seasons.
Chapter 19 (Carrion Birds)
We are approaching the climax of this arc, or should I say… the prologue? Only three more chapters and we are on to Vale!
Earlier,
In the skies over Vale,
Qrow Branwen.
"… And that's the report from Valestein on the situation in Celdic."
Qrow hummed as he ate his fried chicken sandwich and washed it down with soda, his Carrion flying on autopilot. His pride and joy was requisitioned by him when he cleared up a human trafficking ring, which was a fancy way by the Vale authorities to call a smuggling/slaving ring. The aircraft was only a bullhead by designation but after he had tuned it up, it could not be compared to the standard lumbering aircraft.
With the ability to fly at a top speed of three-hundred miles an hour, it was only limited by the small amount of fuel it could hold. Running entirely on Dust; a mixture of Fire and Wind for fuel, Water and Ice for cooling, Lightning for it's only gun placed on the nose of the plane, and finally Gravity to help in the vertical lift and descent – Qrow had spent a lot of his personal funds into turning a slightly fast fighter into what was in his opinion, the most versatile plane in Sanus.
Its only downside was its small size, barely the size of a truck. Carrion only allowed a relatively short range and could only fit two passengers, four if he added seats in the baggage compartment, so there went his plans on inviting chicks for parties in the sky. But for faraway missions where his slow crow form would be a hassle to get there? It was perfect.
That his nieces had taken a shining to the grunt work of being a grease monkey was a bonus, whether it was weapons or bikes. Still, Qrow had to return to Patch when he found Ruby and Zwei had sneaked onboard and left them for Taiyang to spank.
Cheeky little brat, she's nearly seventeen and will be joining Beacon in a month yet he sometimes felt like she's still that precocious ten-year-old kid who wouldn't shut up about how cool Harbinger was.
Shaking his head, Qrow drained the last of his soda, and crushed the can as he was reminded of the upcoming mission. He was tempted to drink something stronger, but that would be very unwise in front of his obtuse coworker. The sandwich was the last of the care package his nieces had made a few hours ago when Glynda called him.
"And you say you got another call earlier from the Guild regarding a possible escalation?"
"Indeed. Kilika is not one to cry wolf, and the fact we are incapable of contacting anyone in Celdic gives credence to our fears."
"Let's hope it's not worse than Sumire, then." Qrow sighed, that town was a clusterfuck but they still managed to secure it only half a day ago. "Any word from Hyperion?"
"Similar situation. They lost comms with a contact in the region and are hurrying as best they can. Their ETA should be a couple of hours after yours."
Qrow sighed tiredly. Fighting non-stop for the past week had taken a toll on even a Huntsman of his caliber. The past two days have been especially hectic with the rescue efforts he lead – those surgical operations required a more refined hand rather than the blunt force of the military or some other inexperienced Huntsmen. He had planned to get a few hours of sleep at Taiyang's before setting out for Celdic in the morning, but…
"You're really working me to the bone, Glynda."
"I do not say this lightly, but believe me, you really are our only hope right now. Ozpin had taken to the field, and I am the only one holding the fort in Beacon. At least the conflict is in its dying stages, with the Grimm steadily losing ground by the hour."
The huntsman nodded soberly. Most of the faculty were still on the front lines, and some of them were already wounded. Not to mention the students who were called up and were not ready for war… Qrow had not heard of any deaths yet, but considering the ferocity of the attacks, it was only a matter of time.
And all of this was just a flex by the Witch, merely reminding them of her presence. Qrow clenched his teeth as he tried once more to recall those fools who had gone after Amber, but whoever that illusion user was, they were good; good enough to fool his Aura sense, and he considered himself decent enough.
"How's your Aura levels?" Glynda's sudden question woke him from his stupor and his hand unconsciously went to his flask before stopping himself.
"A little under half."
"Not ideal, but it will have to do. Hopefully, you would–"
Qrow stared bewilderedly as the screen flickered a few times before it went to static. Checking his navigation system, it was also acting weirdly. He frowned as he realized he must be within range of whatever was stopping communication to and from Celdic. Thankfully, his heading was straight ahead, and he did not need to worry about any detours. As he continued with his flight, he noticed the signs of devastation on the ground and stared ahead as dawn was breaking over the mountains.
It did not take a genius to figure out that Celdic was most likely under attack.
"Well, time to crash the party, then. Let's just hope they haven't started it without me." The huntsman grinned as he grabbed his flask and took a swig. Then, he pushed the throttle to the limit and within minutes, he saw the burning fields in the distance.
.
.
.
"A woman after my own heart." Qrow grinned at the sexy lass' clumsy attempt at seducing him, yet he was still mightily impressed with her. From his vast life experience, he had learned that it was always the girls with strange hair color who prove to be the most interesting. At least those whom he could not describe the color at first glance – was it purple? Or pink? Something in between?
Glancing around the devastated battlefield, he could feel her dissipating Aura encompassing most of it. It was difficult to tell with her Aura depleted, even with his talent in sensing aura, but Qrow had no doubt that Sara Valestein had an impressive amount of it. To throw so much Aura around that its effects could still be felt hours later was proof of her prowess.
The veteran huntsman turned to the grinning girl, noticing that despite her bravado, she was beyond exhausted. The bags under her eyes as well as her shattered aura and the many bruises on her body clearly showed that she was on her last legs.
Before he could speak to her, the sound of galloping horses from the gates had him turn, and only then did he notice many workers were busy fighting the fires and collecting the dead by the walls.
"Valestein!"/"Sara!"
Three riders rushed towards them, their carbines and cuirasses designating them as the dragoons he had been briefed on. He noticed a rabbit-faunus riding double with one of them and she was the first to jump off.
"I'm okay, guys. I said I'm fine, Meg." Valestein waved them off as the faunus woman fussed over her while the dragoons watched him warily. Qrow ignored them to drink from his flask before pointing his scroll at his still floating plane and frowned. He sighed when he realized that the communication blackout included the most basic of remote functions, and the backup remote control was on the plane instead of his person. Channeling aura to his legs, he jumped the couple of dozen feet in the air to his cockpit and landed the plane, before hopping out again.
If Ruby were here, she would claim that this cost him some cool points and how lame that was.
"Don't mind him, boys." Valestein said hastily as the Dragoons pointed their guns at him when the plane landed, its gun accidentally aiming a bit too close to them. "This is the huntsman who had played truant a few days ago. He's finally here to help, aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged. Was a bit too busy in Vale, but here I am." Qrow shrugged as he opened the hatch of his Carrion. "Now, how about you debrief me on the situation here? Just what in Remnant is going on, and how long has the town been attacked? Last we heard was you wiping that horde in the quarry, so what happened?"
Valestein's countenance got serious as she leaned on the two-seater aircraft. "We suspect a band of outlaws to have somehow disabled all communications in and out of the region. A couple of hours after we lost comms, the first Grimm horde attacked and this is the result."
"The first?" Qrow paused from where he was dragging a bag of military grade Dust from behind the seats.
"Yeah, you arrived just at the tail end of it. The second horde attacked about two hours ago on the east side, by the mountains. That's where my team and the majority of the defenders are at, defending the walls. Last I heard, the walls were breached, the gates had fallen and the fighting was dragged into town but they managed to hold the horde at bay."
"I see, I suppose I do not have time to waste." Qrow jumped into the pilot's seat once he finished reloading his weapon, Harbinger, and dropped the bag of Dust in the passenger seat. "Your Aura is shattered so I suggest you seek shelter and–"
"No can do, handsome. I'm coming with you and don't worry about my Aura." The girl groaned as she vaulted over the open hatch and into the co-pilot seat, browsing through the Dust bag as she retrieved a gun from…wait, where did she pull that gun from?
"Not to be rude girlie, but I don't want any extra baggage while I fight."
"Oh, it is so nice to be fussed upon by a gentleman." Qrow's eyebrows twitched at the girl's flippant attitude, he had thought she was a professional but if she truly thought that– "I can regain my Aura once I link up with my teammate. Jaune's semblance allows him to refill people's Aura."
The veteran Huntsman froze, his eyes wide in surprise. "Well, in that case, welcome aboard. I could use a pick me up myself. You are welcome to load up, I suppose." He added with a shrug when the woman held a canister of ground Lightning Dust.
"Hell yeah! Thanks for the Dust as well. I was completely out when you came in with the save. Oh, and boys?" The Adventurer turned to the three dragoons who had stared at them silently so far. "Tell the Lieutenant we are moving to reinforce the east side of town. I doubt any more attacks will come from this side, but I'm sure he will know how to handle any stray Grimm that remains."
"Yes, ma'am." The dragoons saluted and stood back as the rabbit-faunus approached.
"Take care of yourself, Sara."
"Thanks, Meg. What happened to your camera?"
"Got a pinion through the lens, I'm afraid. At least the recordings were saved." The woman shrugged, and Qrow was getting impatient.
"Are we ready to go?"
"Oh yes, can't wait for an early morning cruise, let's go." He could feel the girl's grin as he lifted off and she waved at her friend on the ground. Closing the hatch, he sped over town, the trip so short they didn't even get a chance to speak before they were confronted with a sobering sight.
The gatehouse was destroyed and the rubble had clearly not stopped the hordes of Grimm from pouring in and demolishing half the eastern quadrant of the town. Nevertheless, it appears they were too late anyway.
Qrow could see no sign of Grimm, but the devastation and the fires inside the town were evidence of a major battle. Not to mention the dead and wounded lining up the streets. Finding an empty spot, he expertly landed the plane between two destroyed harvesters and opened the hatch.
The veteran huntsman's hands instantly grabbed an offending dagger aiming at his face and pulled its owner in for a punch before freezing at the last moment. The gun/dagger hybrid was held by a wide-eyed white-haired cat-faunus who couldn't be older than Ruby.
"Fie, lower your toy before the big bad huntsman takes it away and gives you a spanking. Come here and help me out, I'm so sore I could feel my muscles turning to stone." Sara's voice sounded next to him, and the now named Fie stared at him until he released her. She flicked her hands sending her weapons…somewhere. Seriously, what was going on? This was the second time he had witnessed some sort of ability that did not at all feel like Aura. It was almost like…nah, it couldn't be.
Once they were outside the plane, Qrow finally took stock of the place. There were still the occasional Grimm in the distance blindly charging at the breach but they were easily killed by the men on the walls. Many buildings were on fire, and even more were destroyed. Body bags lined the main road all the way to the center of town where he could see a field hospital and a few trucks moving back and forth ferrying the wounded and supplies. Families grieved their dead, mostly men, as their women wailed and children cried.
Qrow took a swig of his whiskey. This was way worse than Sumire. At least the conflict was done and over with, though he wished he had made it earlier. It irked him greatly – this feeling of powerlessness, to know that he could have helped save many of those people if he had not wasted time. Realistically, Qrow knew this was survivor's guilt and it was an old companion of his, yet it did not make it any easier.
He twitched as his senses acknowledged the insane amount of Aura encompassing the town and the grounds beyond the wall. It almost drowned him in its potency and the sheer amount of it that had been thrown around like candy was unbelievable. Qrow thought the Aura was familiar and it took him a moment for him to be reminded of an old battle buddy of his. Adrian Arc was a bit cocky for being ten years his junior but he was a reliable guy in a fight, with nearly half again as much Aura as he had.
A shame what happened to him.
"Where's Jaune?"
He turned to find the white-haired girl supporting the older adventurer towards a blonde man kneeling over a body bag. Instantly, he recognized the owner of the Aura, and the kid even looked like his uncle, except for the golden blonde hair instead of the platinum blonde Adrian inherited from his Schnee mother. They approached to find about a dozen open bags of men wearing the same uniform. Dragoons.
"Are you alright, Jaune?" For once, Valestein did not smile as she stared at the dead man. He looked his age, with dark hair and dull blue eyes. The blonde, Jaune, closed the man's eyes and stood to face them, and Qrow silently clenched his teeth.
This was no man, even if he was similar to him in height and his potent Aura was easily more than he currently had; it was just a boy, barely Yang's age. Looking over his messy hair, gaunt face, and dented armor, he had clearly been through the ringer. His blue eyes seemed to be staring a thousand miles away, at something only he could see. The tight pursing of his lips and his furrowed brows spoke of someone who had seen the worst of the world in a very short time.
No, this was not a boy. This was a man who was forced to grow a lot sooner than he should have. Qrow hated seeing this, this kid should be in school with his nieces, not in the middle of a battlefield.
"As well as anyone else here. Someone will have to let Anita know about Duncan. I would do it but…" Jaune Arc stared at the deceased dragoon before his gaze wandered over the other dead bodies. "I will have to grieve for them later."
The words came out in a dull tone, as if they were a mantra the kid had been repeating all night.
"It's all right, she's a strong girl and the town will take care of her." Valestein looked around them as the townsfolk continued their cleanup, and even the grieving families pitched in despite the tears flowing down their cheeks.
"Let's pray she does." Jaune Arc glanced at him before focusing on Sara. "You look like shit."
Even with the light-hearted attempt at humor, Qrow noticed the kid did not smile once. His face was as if made from a block of granite.
"Tell me about it," Valestein groaned as she leaned heavily against the younger white-haired adventurer, Fie, he thought was her name. "Would my dear wunderkind kindly do something about it?"
"...Don't move." The blonde kid placed his hand on the older adventurer's shoulder, and within a heartbeat, the previously shattered Aura of Sara Valestein suddenly rose exponentially until it leveled to a little over his current reserves. The woman's countenance immediately got healthier as she let go of her younger companion and her injuries rapidly healed. They were not serious injuries in the first place, but the sheer speed of their healing was phenomenal.
"That should do it." Arc removed his hand from Valestein's shoulder and then placed it on Fie's. The same thing happened as the girl's Aura levels shot up to reach somewhere around the level of his niece.
"Interesting ability you have there. Is that your semblance?" Qrow was mightily interested as such a semblance would be an absolute game changer depending on its limitations.
The young man retracted his hand before looking at him strangely, and suddenly Qrow had the feeling that he was being analyzed. It was as if his soul was getting an unannounced inspection, and judged accordingly. He flared his Aura agitatedly and he unconsciously moved his hand towards Harbinger, causing the blonde to narrow his eyes.
"You're strong. Interesting semblance as well and… something else." What felt like an eternity later, the young man suddenly declared; his face still stoic and blank in a way that was starting to – wait, what?
"How did you know that?"
"Trade secret." The annoying brat shrugged before looking at his plane. "Jaune Arc, Adventurer and aspiring Huntsman."
"Qrow Branwen, Huntsman and part-time school teacher."
"Branwen?" The kid's face remained impassive but Qrow could detect a hint of disdain at the name.
"I want to say I have no relation to a certain tribe in Anima, but that would be a lie." He shrugged, and took a sip from his whiskey. Perhaps it was Qrow's fault for sticking to his tribe's name, but to change his name would be to deny his past and that of his sister. No matter how much they hated each other now, he still held hope that she would come around.
Probably not after what he had done when they last met.
"Fair. I suppose we don't get to choose our family."
"No… we don't."
"Can I ask you for a ride?"
The sudden question gave him pause and the surrounding townsfolk who had been watching the interaction in silence suddenly shuffled in unease.
"Depends. What do you have in mind?"
"I have a few bandits that need culling." The cold words were said in such a matter of fact way that it took Qrow aback.
"Wait a moment, Arc. You're leaving us now? What if another Grimm horde attacked?" The question came from one of the villagers and looking around, Qrow noticed that everyone was looking at the blonde young man in worry. Not just worry, but clear respect and veneration were in their eyes.
"I have already healed as many of you as I can. Sarah and Fie are also recovered and shall remain here to protect the town in case another attack happens." Jaune Arc glanced at the two adventurers who, while clearly miffed about the sudden decision, nodded their support. "This conflict is not one where we could just endure it, and hope for it to pass over – we need to get to its root cause to end it. The reason for the attacks on this region can be blamed on a band of outlaws who shall not rest until all of us are either dead or in chains."
The declaration caused many of the villagers to stiffen and widen their eyes. Qrow had to hand it to the kid, he knew how to work up a crowd.
"I promised that we shall survive the night, that we shall hold for dawn and victory. It may have come at a cost, but victory was achieved." The blonde man produced a very familiar sword from seemingly nowhere and stabbed it on the ground as he gazed at the myriad of eyes looking at him. "You believed in me then, and I ask you to believe in me now. Only I know where the culprits are hiding, those wretched bandits need to die in order to secure peace in these lands. Would you rather I stay and pray that the bandits don't attack us again, or worse, escape justice?"
"No!" The answer came from a grizzled old man in a dragoon uniform. "We trust you, lad, and you have proven yourself a man of your word. Many of my brothers at arms are dead because of those fuckers, but even more of us would have died if not for you. If you know where they are, then I say we gather a posse and march upon them at once."
"I could gather and arm twenty good men in as many minutes who would be willing to follow you to death and beyond, boy, if you would have us." Another old man, this one with a sheriff's tin star, grinned at Arc as he spun a revolver in his hand.
"You won't need twenty minutes! I came here with my family running away from those monsters that destroyed my village. If it wasn't for Arc, we would all be dead now." Another sheriff, clearly a refugee, exclaimed and more and more people were shouting their approval, waving their fists and weapons in the air as they volunteered to join.
It appeared the young Arc had greatly endeared himself to the populace. Even the Vale troops stationed here looked enamored with him as he could see the captain he had been briefed on to be a potential problem also throw in his full support.
"I appreciate the offer, everyone, but that will not be necessary. Speed is of the essence, and that plane doesn't look like it can hold more than two passengers."
Jaune looked at him questioningly and Qrow realized that he still didn't give his support. He was unsure how they would find the bandit lair but the kid was confident about it. The rest of the townsfolk all stared at him, and he had the feeling they were not exactly fond of him, or at least didn't trust him. He supposed it had to do with his late appearance, and to their eyes, he had reneged on the contract he and Amber agreed with them. The veteran huntsman sighed as he scratched his head before walking to Carrion, his hands in his pockets.
"Well?" He glanced back at the troublesome blonde. "You coming or what?"
Jaune Arc nodded and hopped onboard the co-pilot seat, Valestein and Fie coming over to say farewell.
"Don't worry about the town, we'll keep it safe." The older adventurer clapped the blonde kid's shoulder as Qrow started up the aircraft before remembering something.
"Oh yeah, expect Hyperion to be here in a couple of hours or so. I'm sure they will be able to provide security as well."
"Will do. I'll see you soon, handsome. Get back quickly and we can have that drink, and maybe more~." He chuckled at the smoldering look the woman gave him and then laughed outright when the white-haired girl smacked her bum causing Sara to yelp.
"Bad Sara, flirting so shamelessly in front of so many people." Fie ignored the woman's protests and turned to Arc. "Jaune, how's your Aura?"
"About a third. Take this bag, it's in the way." Qrow nearly bumped his head on the hatch from shock. Third? The kid has as much Aura as his maximum and it's only a third?! What do they feed those Arcs? Moreover, did he just give away his bag of Dust?
"Take care, and don't be afraid of going all out. I noticed you holding back for the sake of the town, but where you are going… kill as many of them as you can for me." The girl's harsh words had him wonder if she also had a stake in the matter.
"I will. Tell my sisters to follow along when they come. We might need an airlift if there are any hostages there. You know how to track me, and I will find and disable the cause of the blackout, so expect a call soon."
The cat-faunus nodded and Qrow took this as a farewell. Nodding to the gathered crowd, his eyes straying on Sara's smiling face for a second longer, he closed the hatch and they lifted off.
"Keep flying south. I'll let you know when we approach, and I'll boost you up then." The kid pushed his seat back as he brought out a large revolver and started cleaning it.
"So, how could you tell my semblance?" He glanced sideways at the kid, wondering how best to get him to fess up to the truth on how he came to have–
"Magic." The troublesome blonde shrugged, and Qrow grimaced at the complete nonchalance of the kid in just so easily confessing it.
"Are you sure it's smart to just say that so easily?"
"What's there to hide? You also have magic, don't you?"
"And how could you tell?"
"Magic." Blondie finished cleaning his gun and stored it away in whatever magical box he was hiding.
Qrow growled inwardly, this was getting nowhere. They continued flying for nearly half an hour, the older man forced to fly at low speeds due to the rocky and mountainous terrain. Finally, the Arc had him land the plane behind a rock outcrop and within a minute, they were lying face down on a cliff.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Qrow looked at the entrance of the cave they were spying on from their position on an overlooking cliff.
"Positive. The lowlifes are scurrying like rats inside, preparing to march on the town now that it has been softened up. I can sense many of them idling around, though. They could be sleeping, or the hostages, I could not tell." Jaune Arc stared through the rocks using whatever magical ability he refused to elaborate on. He hoped they would build up some trust after this operation because there was no way Qrow wouldn't report to Ozpin about this.
"Let me scout ahead first. We need to make sure any hostages are secure before we go in guns blazing."
Jaune's face looked reluctant for a moment before nodding his assent. "Do you want a boost? My semblance allows me to empower your physical abilities as well as refill your Aura."
Qrow thought about it but shook his head. "Just the Aura. Any boost to my physique would make me waste time to acclimate."
Jaune Arc nodded approvingly and placed a hand on his shoulder, and Qrow felt a strange sensation. He frowned as he felt his Aura drop massively and was about to push the kid away before his Aura instantly jumped to the maximum. It was strangely invigorating, but he also felt something…different.
"You did something."
"Your semblance was mighty interesting. It would be a shame not to give it a boost of some kind."
Qrow gritted his teeth and badly wanted to punch the kid. "You fool, my semblance gives bad luck, and I can barely control it. Now its…"
It's… easier? What in Remnant? Qrow focused on his semblance and suddenly, it was as if he had never known it all his life. Normally, his semblance would activate at random and only when he was drunk or feeling lucky would he be able to control it. Now, he could feel it at the tip of his fingers, waiting obediently to be used.
"How… How did you do that?"
The blonde looked at him strangely. "I just boosted its effects. You can affect negative causality, right? I'm not sure what that really means or how it works, but with the boost, you should have better range now. I confess this is probably the first time I boosted a semblance, but I'm sure it will be fine"
"You haven't answered my question, how did you know about it and how to boost it in the first place?"
"Magic." Arc shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Qrow was seriously tempted to whack him before remembering something Ozpin had once mentioned. Magic could not be explained, it defies logic and those who use it would find it difficult to explain how they make it work.
Just as he had no way of explaining how to turn into a bird. He just could.
"Whatever, I'm going now." Qrow shook his head and prepared to transform.
"How will you sneak in?"
"You aren't the only one with a few magic tricks up your sleeve, kid." Qrow grinned as he transformed into a crow and enjoyed the wide eyes of the blonde hardass. He flew around his head, just to annoy him, before speeding through the cliff's entrance, trying to ignore the niggling feeling in the back of his head as something seemed to latch onto him for a second before fading.
Earlier,
SDC train en route to Vale via Celdic,
Blake Belladonna.
She stared in sorrow as the train's separated car trailed behind. Adam's eyes might be hidden behind that mask but Blake could tell he was glaring murderously at her. They will get enough supplies and arms from the freight cars to continue their operations, but considering the path Adam was taking the White Fang, it was only a matter of time until he led them to ruin. Blake understood there was no going back now, she had chosen her path and her former friend would not hesitate to kill her if they ever meet again.
Shaking her head, Blake sheathed Gambol Shroud and quickly rummaged in her bag, withdrawing a brown cloak to hide her features and stored her weapon inside the bag, before sneaking inside the train. The train was not crowded, probably so they could pick up more passengers at Celdic.
Using her expertise in blending in, and the fact the train conductor was a robot that got obliterated earlier, she entered a passenger compartment. The windows were sealed by metallic shutters, presumably as a safety measure from the attacks, and Blake found herself an empty seat next to a faunus family of all people.
"Papa, is everything alright?" The little kid asked his dad, a badger faunus if she had to guess.
"I'm sure everything will be fine." The man comforted his child and the scene solidified Blake's resolve. To think Adam was willing to kill so many innocents just because it was inconvenient to avoid collateral damage.
The cat-eared girl had been contemplating leaving the White Fang for months and had prepared an escape package when the time came. Last night was the final straw, especially when she overheard that newcomer mentioning how they had basically abandoned Ilia to those bandits. Liaison her pretty bum! If anything, the bandits were the ones who should have kept a contact with them, not the other way around.
Thankfully, Ilia managed to sneak a message to her through her belongings that she left in the Bullhead that Walter and Yuma returned on. Now she was able to escape and had a quarter of a plan on what to do with her future.
The train sped through to their next destination, Celdic, but she was unsure how long they would stop before continuing to Vale. Regardless, she planned to warn the populace of the Grimm horde that should be attacking soon. Hopefully, they would heed her warnings and maybe help her in whatever she decided to do with her future.
Should she return home to be an Adventurer like her parents? Her father was the guild master of the Menagerie branch and had used the guild's resources to start the White Fang when it was a peaceful political organization.
He had planned to have her join the guild but her child self had heard many horror stories about the Tyrant and how he secretly controlled the guild and planned to enslave all faunus-kind!
These kinds of ridiculous conspiracy theories always existed and she was ashamed to admit she had taken them a bit too seriously.
It was when Blake was older that she realized those rumors were from people wishing to undermine her father, and to this day, she never even knew who that so-called Tyrant was. Some claim it was some ancient human warrior who killed many Faunus in both the Great War and the Revolution, while others insist he was the old Mistral King who faked his death and was preparing for a comeback.
Suffice it to say, Blake paid no credence to any of that, and the idea of returning to her parents in shame grated on her. No, it would be best to reach Vale and from there, plan her future properly. There were a few contacts she knew in the city from her time in the White Fang and Blake was certain they were more in line with her father's ideals.
Glancing around the car, she felt herself secure enough that she might take a nap. Celdic was about an hour away, and she had stayed up all night preparing for her escape.
.
.
.
"Now arriving in Celdic. The SDC would like to apologize for the unscheduled delay earlier, and assure all its customers that this train employs state-of-the-art security drones and your safety was never in question."
Blake jerked awake as the train stopped. The irony of the announcement was not lost on her, as she stretched her arms and stood with the rest of the passengers as they prepared to disembark. She looked outside the windows only to frown at the metallic shutters; They did not bother retracting them since the attack. With no way of seeing outside, the announcement of their arrival came as a surprise. The cat-faunus had considered sneaking out of the train before it arrived at the station, but that option was taken from her.
As the passengers hurried to leave the damaged train, Blake followed them into the station. She frowned as a familiar smell came from the town but she did not have the chance to identify it as she followed the crowd outside, only to freeze at their welcoming committee. She was not the only one, as nearly everyone in the crowd gawked and shuffled uneasily at the sight of armed men and women looking at them coldly. Clearly either militia or soldiers, and they were led by an older man in a Vale captain uniform.
"Welcome to Celdic. I am captain Herbert Montgomery of the Vale contingent stationed in the Celdic region." The captain announced, and Blake couldn't help but notice that almost every one of the soldiers looked like they fought through the hell and came back harder than ever. "I shall not mince words with you, the town has been attacked by two separate Grimm hordes in the past few hours. I ask everyone to remain calm and allow us to do our jobs of securing the train and making sure no hostile elements are hidden amongst you."
The declaration caused many of the passengers to fidget and murmur uneasily but the captain did not give a chance for panic to set in as he waved the troops on. Everybody remained where they were, allowing the soldiers to do their work, and Blake cursed her misfortune. To think that the attacks were already over - now she had no leverage to secure any form of amnesty.
Of course, there was a chance that they did not know about her, and she was confident that she did not appear in any wanted lists. Blake had learned why Adam refused to send her into any risky or dodgy operations, or at least not against targets protected by the Kingdoms. She was more useful to him alive as a rallying image than a combatant. Having the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, the founder of the White Fang, supporting Adam Taurus and his ideals, was much more useful.
That was all she was to him.
Shaking her head, Blake decided to retreat; even if they did not recognize her, there was a chance they might detain her, as she did not have any kind of identification or paperwork. Her only option was to sneak away and continue on foot to Vale, where she will have to make new plans – hopefully, Ilia would be able to escape and think similarly.
Thankfully, she was at the very back of the crowd and her cloak hid her features well. As naturally as she could, Blake backed away before slowly walking back into the station. She could not risk running or else that will grab attention. The only path outside was through the tracks in front of the train, and it didn't take her a minute before she was already on it and running as fast as she–
It was only due to her cat ears and instincts that she heard the subtle sound of metal cutting through the wind. She jumped sideways off the tracks, dodging three sharp throwing knives that sank into the wooden planks of the railway. Unfortunately, she fell down into the rocky ground, grunting in pain when her aura had to tank the damage from the fall.
The former member of the White Fang did not have a chance to even think before she created a clone that pushed her away just as a hail of bullets turned the clone to dust. Blake lamented the fact she had to hide her weapon and meager Dust reserves in her backpack or else risk exposure on the train. There was no way she could have enough time to retrieve them, and before she could decide how to fight her assailant, she found herself face-to-face with a green-eyed girl with white hair stabbing at her with a gundagger.
Another clone took her place as it pushed her away once more, only for her assailant to impossibly turn midair, as if she jumped on the air, thoroughly ignoring her clone and pointing her offhand at her. Blake stared incredulously at the unrelenting girl as she sent her scarf flying at her. Blake was midair and weaponless, burdened down by her heavy bag, and she couldn't create another clone to take her place.
The scarf latched onto her and she tried to fight it off only for the girl to drag herself towards her and, within a couple of seconds, tie her up in such a way she couldn't even stand. Blake struggled mightily as she fell on the ground, flaring her Aura in hopes of overpowering what she recognized as a Dust weaved scarf. The white-haired girl sat on her back, causing Blake to grunt, and aimed her dagger at her eye, causing the former White Fang member to freeze. Even at full Aura, she would be dead if the girl stabbed her eye.
"Don't move. Or do, and I will stab. Blink if you understand."
Blake couldn't blink any faster if she could, and breathed a sigh of relief when the girl pulled the dagger slightly away but kept the point close to send the message across.
"W-who are you? Why did you attack me?" Blake tried to glare at the girl, only to freeze when she saw a white appendage waving lazily over the girl, holding another throwing knife. She was a faunus?
"A Cat-faunus with more Aura than me, trying to flee an inspection when the captain had clearly warned about hostiles. Considering the train she just left was missing a few of its cars and had clear signs of attack…" The girl explained in a bored tone, as if it was the most obvious thing. "I was unsure how to deal with you, especially as my teammate is resting, and I'm not in the best fighting form. I truly hoped you would just surrender and explain your situation, but you running away made it easier for me to think of you as hostile. Now, will you come quietly or will I have to knock you out?"
Blake groaned in disappointment. She didn't even make it outside of town before getting caught. The sound of horses approaching and men shouting, made her choice for her. "I'll come quietly."
Yes, Ruby is the same age as the rest of the cast because being younger did not add anything at all to the plot. She would be a few months younger than Yang still.
In the fight between the best cat-girl, the Black Cat loses the first round to the White Cat.
I didn't show it in the chapter since it wasn't Jaune's POV but here's Qrow's status page if you're interested.
Profile:
Name: Qrow Branwen
Class: Veteran Huntsman
Age: 40
Height: 6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 1611/3262 (381/hr)
Aura Control: 117%
Magic: 10
Strength (STR): 96
Vitality (VIT): 92
Dexterity (DEX): 127
Agility (AGL): 115
Perception (PER): ??
Intelligence (INT): ??
Perks:
???
Semblance (Misfortune): Allows control of negative causality on targets. Requires ?*#?.
???
Skills:
???
Abilities:
???
As you have noticed, Jaune didn't manage to glean a lot from Qrow before the man flared his Aura, causing the Observe to fail, but not before giving enough information to Jaune. Do not take too much stock in the physical stats, though. Ultimately, a fighter's lethality will always come down to AP, AC, their training, experience, and how they use their abilities.
Earlier,
In the skies over Vale,
Qrow Branwen.
"… And that's the report from Valestein on the situation in Celdic."
Qrow hummed as he ate his fried chicken sandwich and washed it down with soda, his Carrion flying on autopilot. His pride and joy was requisitioned by him when he cleared up a human trafficking ring, which was a fancy way by the Vale authorities to call a smuggling/slaving ring. The aircraft was only a bullhead by designation but after he had tuned it up, it could not be compared to the standard lumbering aircraft.
With the ability to fly at a top speed of three-hundred miles an hour, it was only limited by the small amount of fuel it could hold. Running entirely on Dust; a mixture of Fire and Wind for fuel, Water and Ice for cooling, Lightning for it's only gun placed on the nose of the plane, and finally Gravity to help in the vertical lift and descent – Qrow had spent a lot of his personal funds into turning a slightly fast fighter into what was in his opinion, the most versatile plane in Sanus.
Its only downside was its small size, barely the size of a truck. Carrion only allowed a relatively short range and could only fit two passengers, four if he added seats in the baggage compartment, so there went his plans on inviting chicks for parties in the sky. But for faraway missions where his slow crow form would be a hassle to get there? It was perfect.
That his nieces had taken a shining to the grunt work of being a grease monkey was a bonus, whether it was weapons or bikes. Still, Qrow had to return to Patch when he found Ruby and Zwei had sneaked onboard and left them for Taiyang to spank.
Cheeky little brat, she's nearly seventeen and will be joining Beacon in a month yet he sometimes felt like she's still that precocious ten-year-old kid who wouldn't shut up about how cool Harbinger was.
Shaking his head, Qrow drained the last of his soda, and crushed the can as he was reminded of the upcoming mission. He was tempted to drink something stronger, but that would be very unwise in front of his obtuse coworker. The sandwich was the last of the care package his nieces had made a few hours ago when Glynda called him.
"And you say you got another call earlier from the Guild regarding a possible escalation?"
"Indeed. Kilika is not one to cry wolf, and the fact we are incapable of contacting anyone in Celdic gives credence to our fears."
"Let's hope it's not worse than Sumire, then." Qrow sighed, that town was a clusterfuck but they still managed to secure it only half a day ago. "Any word from Hyperion?"
"Similar situation. They lost comms with a contact in the region and are hurrying as best they can. Their ETA should be a couple of hours after yours."
Qrow sighed tiredly. Fighting non-stop for the past week had taken a toll on even a Huntsman of his caliber. The past two days have been especially hectic with the rescue efforts he lead – those surgical operations required a more refined hand rather than the blunt force of the military or some other inexperienced Huntsmen. He had planned to get a few hours of sleep at Taiyang's before setting out for Celdic in the morning, but…
"You're really working me to the bone, Glynda."
"I do not say this lightly, but believe me, you really are our only hope right now. Ozpin had taken to the field, and I am the only one holding the fort in Beacon. At least the conflict is in its dying stages, with the Grimm steadily losing ground by the hour."
The huntsman nodded soberly. Most of the faculty were still on the front lines, and some of them were already wounded. Not to mention the students who were called up and were not ready for war… Qrow had not heard of any deaths yet, but considering the ferocity of the attacks, it was only a matter of time.
And all of this was just a flex by the Witch, merely reminding them of her presence. Qrow clenched his teeth as he tried once more to recall those fools who had gone after Amber, but whoever that illusion user was, they were good; good enough to fool his Aura sense, and he considered himself decent enough.
"How's your Aura levels?" Glynda's sudden question woke him from his stupor and his hand unconsciously went to his flask before stopping himself.
"A little under half."
"Not ideal, but it will have to do. Hopefully, you would–"
Qrow stared bewilderedly as the screen flickered a few times before it went to static. Checking his navigation system, it was also acting weirdly. He frowned as he realized he must be within range of whatever was stopping communication to and from Celdic. Thankfully, his heading was straight ahead, and he did not need to worry about any detours. As he continued with his flight, he noticed the signs of devastation on the ground and stared ahead as dawn was breaking over the mountains.
It did not take a genius to figure out that Celdic was most likely under attack.
"Well, time to crash the party, then. Let's just hope they haven't started it without me." The huntsman grinned as he grabbed his flask and took a swig. Then, he pushed the throttle to the limit and within minutes, he saw the burning fields in the distance.
.
.
.
"A woman after my own heart." Qrow grinned at the sexy lass' clumsy attempt at seducing him, yet he was still mightily impressed with her. From his vast life experience, he had learned that it was always the girls with strange hair color who prove to be the most interesting. At least those whom he could not describe the color at first glance – was it purple? Or pink? Something in between?
Glancing around the devastated battlefield, he could feel her dissipating Aura encompassing most of it. It was difficult to tell with her Aura depleted, even with his talent in sensing aura, but Qrow had no doubt that Sara Valestein had an impressive amount of it. To throw so much Aura around that its effects could still be felt hours later was proof of her prowess.
The veteran huntsman turned to the grinning girl, noticing that despite her bravado, she was beyond exhausted. The bags under her eyes as well as her shattered aura and the many bruises on her body clearly showed that she was on her last legs.
Before he could speak to her, the sound of galloping horses from the gates had him turn, and only then did he notice many workers were busy fighting the fires and collecting the dead by the walls.
"Valestein!"/"Sara!"
Three riders rushed towards them, their carbines and cuirasses designating them as the dragoons he had been briefed on. He noticed a rabbit-faunus riding double with one of them and she was the first to jump off.
"I'm okay, guys. I said I'm fine, Meg." Valestein waved them off as the faunus woman fussed over her while the dragoons watched him warily. Qrow ignored them to drink from his flask before pointing his scroll at his still floating plane and frowned. He sighed when he realized that the communication blackout included the most basic of remote functions, and the backup remote control was on the plane instead of his person. Channeling aura to his legs, he jumped the couple of dozen feet in the air to his cockpit and landed the plane, before hopping out again.
If Ruby were here, she would claim that this cost him some cool points and how lame that was.
"Don't mind him, boys." Valestein said hastily as the Dragoons pointed their guns at him when the plane landed, its gun accidentally aiming a bit too close to them. "This is the huntsman who had played truant a few days ago. He's finally here to help, aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged. Was a bit too busy in Vale, but here I am." Qrow shrugged as he opened the hatch of his Carrion. "Now, how about you debrief me on the situation here? Just what in Remnant is going on, and how long has the town been attacked? Last we heard was you wiping that horde in the quarry, so what happened?"
Valestein's countenance got serious as she leaned on the two-seater aircraft. "We suspect a band of outlaws to have somehow disabled all communications in and out of the region. A couple of hours after we lost comms, the first Grimm horde attacked and this is the result."
"The first?" Qrow paused from where he was dragging a bag of military grade Dust from behind the seats.
"Yeah, you arrived just at the tail end of it. The second horde attacked about two hours ago on the east side, by the mountains. That's where my team and the majority of the defenders are at, defending the walls. Last I heard, the walls were breached, the gates had fallen and the fighting was dragged into town but they managed to hold the horde at bay."
"I see, I suppose I do not have time to waste." Qrow jumped into the pilot's seat once he finished reloading his weapon, Harbinger, and dropped the bag of Dust in the passenger seat. "Your Aura is shattered so I suggest you seek shelter and–"
"No can do, handsome. I'm coming with you and don't worry about my Aura." The girl groaned as she vaulted over the open hatch and into the co-pilot seat, browsing through the Dust bag as she retrieved a gun from…wait, where did she pull that gun from?
"Not to be rude girlie, but I don't want any extra baggage while I fight."
"Oh, it is so nice to be fussed upon by a gentleman." Qrow's eyebrows twitched at the girl's flippant attitude, he had thought she was a professional but if she truly thought that– "I can regain my Aura once I link up with my teammate. Jaune's semblance allows him to refill people's Aura."
The veteran Huntsman froze, his eyes wide in surprise. "Well, in that case, welcome aboard. I could use a pick me up myself. You are welcome to load up, I suppose." He added with a shrug when the woman held a canister of ground Lightning Dust.
"Hell yeah! Thanks for the Dust as well. I was completely out when you came in with the save. Oh, and boys?" The Adventurer turned to the three dragoons who had stared at them silently so far. "Tell the Lieutenant we are moving to reinforce the east side of town. I doubt any more attacks will come from this side, but I'm sure he will know how to handle any stray Grimm that remains."
"Yes, ma'am." The dragoons saluted and stood back as the rabbit-faunus approached.
"Take care of yourself, Sara."
"Thanks, Meg. What happened to your camera?"
"Got a pinion through the lens, I'm afraid. At least the recordings were saved." The woman shrugged, and Qrow was getting impatient.
"Are we ready to go?"
"Oh yes, can't wait for an early morning cruise, let's go." He could feel the girl's grin as he lifted off and she waved at her friend on the ground. Closing the hatch, he sped over town, the trip so short they didn't even get a chance to speak before they were confronted with a sobering sight.
The gatehouse was destroyed and the rubble had clearly not stopped the hordes of Grimm from pouring in and demolishing half the eastern quadrant of the town. Nevertheless, it appears they were too late anyway.
Qrow could see no sign of Grimm, but the devastation and the fires inside the town were evidence of a major battle. Not to mention the dead and wounded lining up the streets. Finding an empty spot, he expertly landed the plane between two destroyed harvesters and opened the hatch.
The veteran huntsman's hands instantly grabbed an offending dagger aiming at his face and pulled its owner in for a punch before freezing at the last moment. The gun/dagger hybrid was held by a wide-eyed white-haired cat-faunus who couldn't be older than Ruby.
"Fie, lower your toy before the big bad huntsman takes it away and gives you a spanking. Come here and help me out, I'm so sore I could feel my muscles turning to stone." Sara's voice sounded next to him, and the now named Fie stared at him until he released her. She flicked her hands sending her weapons…somewhere. Seriously, what was going on? This was the second time he had witnessed some sort of ability that did not at all feel like Aura. It was almost like…nah, it couldn't be.
Once they were outside the plane, Qrow finally took stock of the place. There were still the occasional Grimm in the distance blindly charging at the breach but they were easily killed by the men on the walls. Many buildings were on fire, and even more were destroyed. Body bags lined the main road all the way to the center of town where he could see a field hospital and a few trucks moving back and forth ferrying the wounded and supplies. Families grieved their dead, mostly men, as their women wailed and children cried.
Qrow took a swig of his whiskey. This was way worse than Sumire. At least the conflict was done and over with, though he wished he had made it earlier. It irked him greatly – this feeling of powerlessness, to know that he could have helped save many of those people if he had not wasted time. Realistically, Qrow knew this was survivor's guilt and it was an old companion of his, yet it did not make it any easier.
He twitched as his senses acknowledged the insane amount of Aura encompassing the town and the grounds beyond the wall. It almost drowned him in its potency and the sheer amount of it that had been thrown around like candy was unbelievable. Qrow thought the Aura was familiar and it took him a moment for him to be reminded of an old battle buddy of his. Adrian Arc was a bit cocky for being ten years his junior but he was a reliable guy in a fight, with nearly half again as much Aura as he had.
A shame what happened to him.
"Where's Jaune?"
He turned to find the white-haired girl supporting the older adventurer towards a blonde man kneeling over a body bag. Instantly, he recognized the owner of the Aura, and the kid even looked like his uncle, except for the golden blonde hair instead of the platinum blonde Adrian inherited from his Schnee mother. They approached to find about a dozen open bags of men wearing the same uniform. Dragoons.
"Are you alright, Jaune?" For once, Valestein did not smile as she stared at the dead man. He looked his age, with dark hair and dull blue eyes. The blonde, Jaune, closed the man's eyes and stood to face them, and Qrow silently clenched his teeth.
This was no man, even if he was similar to him in height and his potent Aura was easily more than he currently had; it was just a boy, barely Yang's age. Looking over his messy hair, gaunt face, and dented armor, he had clearly been through the ringer. His blue eyes seemed to be staring a thousand miles away, at something only he could see. The tight pursing of his lips and his furrowed brows spoke of someone who had seen the worst of the world in a very short time.
No, this was not a boy. This was a man who was forced to grow a lot sooner than he should have. Qrow hated seeing this, this kid should be in school with his nieces, not in the middle of a battlefield.
"As well as anyone else here. Someone will have to let Anita know about Duncan. I would do it but…" Jaune Arc stared at the deceased dragoon before his gaze wandered over the other dead bodies. "I will have to grieve for them later."
The words came out in a dull tone, as if they were a mantra the kid had been repeating all night.
"It's all right, she's a strong girl and the town will take care of her." Valestein looked around them as the townsfolk continued their cleanup, and even the grieving families pitched in despite the tears flowing down their cheeks.
"Let's pray she does." Jaune Arc glanced at him before focusing on Sara. "You look like shit."
Even with the light-hearted attempt at humor, Qrow noticed the kid did not smile once. His face was as if made from a block of granite.
"Tell me about it," Valestein groaned as she leaned heavily against the younger white-haired adventurer, Fie, he thought was her name. "Would my dear wunderkind kindly do something about it?"
"...Don't move." The blonde kid placed his hand on the older adventurer's shoulder, and within a heartbeat, the previously shattered Aura of Sara Valestein suddenly rose exponentially until it leveled to a little over his current reserves. The woman's countenance immediately got healthier as she let go of her younger companion and her injuries rapidly healed. They were not serious injuries in the first place, but the sheer speed of their healing was phenomenal.
"That should do it." Arc removed his hand from Valestein's shoulder and then placed it on Fie's. The same thing happened as the girl's Aura levels shot up to reach somewhere around the level of his niece.
"Interesting ability you have there. Is that your semblance?" Qrow was mightily interested as such a semblance would be an absolute game changer depending on its limitations.
The young man retracted his hand before looking at him strangely, and suddenly Qrow had the feeling that he was being analyzed. It was as if his soul was getting an unannounced inspection, and judged accordingly. He flared his Aura agitatedly and he unconsciously moved his hand towards Harbinger, causing the blonde to narrow his eyes.
"You're strong. Interesting semblance as well and… something else." What felt like an eternity later, the young man suddenly declared; his face still stoic and blank in a way that was starting to – wait, what?
"How did you know that?"
"Trade secret." The annoying brat shrugged before looking at his plane. "Jaune Arc, Adventurer and aspiring Huntsman."
"Qrow Branwen, Huntsman and part-time school teacher."
"Branwen?" The kid's face remained impassive but Qrow could detect a hint of disdain at the name.
"I want to say I have no relation to a certain tribe in Anima, but that would be a lie." He shrugged, and took a sip from his whiskey. Perhaps it was Qrow's fault for sticking to his tribe's name, but to change his name would be to deny his past and that of his sister. No matter how much they hated each other now, he still held hope that she would come around.
Probably not after what he had done when they last met.
"Fair. I suppose we don't get to choose our family."
"No… we don't."
"Can I ask you for a ride?"
The sudden question gave him pause and the surrounding townsfolk who had been watching the interaction in silence suddenly shuffled in unease.
"Depends. What do you have in mind?"
"I have a few bandits that need culling." The cold words were said in such a matter of fact way that it took Qrow aback.
"Wait a moment, Arc. You're leaving us now? What if another Grimm horde attacked?" The question came from one of the villagers and looking around, Qrow noticed that everyone was looking at the blonde young man in worry. Not just worry, but clear respect and veneration were in their eyes.
"I have already healed as many of you as I can. Sarah and Fie are also recovered and shall remain here to protect the town in case another attack happens." Jaune Arc glanced at the two adventurers who, while clearly miffed about the sudden decision, nodded their support. "This conflict is not one where we could just endure it, and hope for it to pass over – we need to get to its root cause to end it. The reason for the attacks on this region can be blamed on a band of outlaws who shall not rest until all of us are either dead or in chains."
The declaration caused many of the villagers to stiffen and widen their eyes. Qrow had to hand it to the kid, he knew how to work up a crowd.
"I promised that we shall survive the night, that we shall hold for dawn and victory. It may have come at a cost, but victory was achieved." The blonde man produced a very familiar sword from seemingly nowhere and stabbed it on the ground as he gazed at the myriad of eyes looking at him. "You believed in me then, and I ask you to believe in me now. Only I know where the culprits are hiding, those wretched bandits need to die in order to secure peace in these lands. Would you rather I stay and pray that the bandits don't attack us again, or worse, escape justice?"
"No!" The answer came from a grizzled old man in a dragoon uniform. "We trust you, lad, and you have proven yourself a man of your word. Many of my brothers at arms are dead because of those fuckers, but even more of us would have died if not for you. If you know where they are, then I say we gather a posse and march upon them at once."
"I could gather and arm twenty good men in as many minutes who would be willing to follow you to death and beyond, boy, if you would have us." Another old man, this one with a sheriff's tin star, grinned at Arc as he spun a revolver in his hand.
"You won't need twenty minutes! I came here with my family running away from those monsters that destroyed my village. If it wasn't for Arc, we would all be dead now." Another sheriff, clearly a refugee, exclaimed and more and more people were shouting their approval, waving their fists and weapons in the air as they volunteered to join.
It appeared the young Arc had greatly endeared himself to the populace. Even the Vale troops stationed here looked enamored with him as he could see the captain he had been briefed on to be a potential problem also throw in his full support.
"I appreciate the offer, everyone, but that will not be necessary. Speed is of the essence, and that plane doesn't look like it can hold more than two passengers."
Jaune looked at him questioningly and Qrow realized that he still didn't give his support. He was unsure how they would find the bandit lair but the kid was confident about it. The rest of the townsfolk all stared at him, and he had the feeling they were not exactly fond of him, or at least didn't trust him. He supposed it had to do with his late appearance, and to their eyes, he had reneged on the contract he and Amber agreed with them. The veteran huntsman sighed as he scratched his head before walking to Carrion, his hands in his pockets.
"Well?" He glanced back at the troublesome blonde. "You coming or what?"
Jaune Arc nodded and hopped onboard the co-pilot seat, Valestein and Fie coming over to say farewell.
"Don't worry about the town, we'll keep it safe." The older adventurer clapped the blonde kid's shoulder as Qrow started up the aircraft before remembering something.
"Oh yeah, expect Hyperion to be here in a couple of hours or so. I'm sure they will be able to provide security as well."
"Will do. I'll see you soon, handsome. Get back quickly and we can have that drink, and maybe more~." He chuckled at the smoldering look the woman gave him and then laughed outright when the white-haired girl smacked her bum causing Sara to yelp.
"Bad Sara, flirting so shamelessly in front of so many people." Fie ignored the woman's protests and turned to Arc. "Jaune, how's your Aura?"
"About a third. Take this bag, it's in the way." Qrow nearly bumped his head on the hatch from shock. Third? The kid has as much Aura as his maximum and it's only a third?! What do they feed those Arcs? Moreover, did he just give away his bag of Dust?
"Take care, and don't be afraid of going all out. I noticed you holding back for the sake of the town, but where you are going… kill as many of them as you can for me." The girl's harsh words had him wonder if she also had a stake in the matter.
"I will. Tell my sisters to follow along when they come. We might need an airlift if there are any hostages there. You know how to track me, and I will find and disable the cause of the blackout, so expect a call soon."
The cat-faunus nodded and Qrow took this as a farewell. Nodding to the gathered crowd, his eyes straying on Sara's smiling face for a second longer, he closed the hatch and they lifted off.
"Keep flying south. I'll let you know when we approach, and I'll boost you up then." The kid pushed his seat back as he brought out a large revolver and started cleaning it.
"So, how could you tell my semblance?" He glanced sideways at the kid, wondering how best to get him to fess up to the truth on how he came to have–
"Magic." The troublesome blonde shrugged, and Qrow grimaced at the complete nonchalance of the kid in just so easily confessing it.
"Are you sure it's smart to just say that so easily?"
"What's there to hide? You also have magic, don't you?"
"And how could you tell?"
"Magic." Blondie finished cleaning his gun and stored it away in whatever magical box he was hiding.
Qrow growled inwardly, this was getting nowhere. They continued flying for nearly half an hour, the older man forced to fly at low speeds due to the rocky and mountainous terrain. Finally, the Arc had him land the plane behind a rock outcrop and within a minute, they were lying face down on a cliff.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Qrow looked at the entrance of the cave they were spying on from their position on an overlooking cliff.
"Positive. The lowlifes are scurrying like rats inside, preparing to march on the town now that it has been softened up. I can sense many of them idling around, though. They could be sleeping, or the hostages, I could not tell." Jaune Arc stared through the rocks using whatever magical ability he refused to elaborate on. He hoped they would build up some trust after this operation because there was no way Qrow wouldn't report to Ozpin about this.
"Let me scout ahead first. We need to make sure any hostages are secure before we go in guns blazing."
Jaune's face looked reluctant for a moment before nodding his assent. "Do you want a boost? My semblance allows me to empower your physical abilities as well as refill your Aura."
Qrow thought about it but shook his head. "Just the Aura. Any boost to my physique would make me waste time to acclimate."
Jaune Arc nodded approvingly and placed a hand on his shoulder, and Qrow felt a strange sensation. He frowned as he felt his Aura drop massively and was about to push the kid away before his Aura instantly jumped to the maximum. It was strangely invigorating, but he also felt something…different.
"You did something."
"Your semblance was mighty interesting. It would be a shame not to give it a boost of some kind."
Qrow gritted his teeth and badly wanted to punch the kid. "You fool, my semblance gives bad luck, and I can barely control it. Now its…"
It's… easier? What in Remnant? Qrow focused on his semblance and suddenly, it was as if he had never known it all his life. Normally, his semblance would activate at random and only when he was drunk or feeling lucky would he be able to control it. Now, he could feel it at the tip of his fingers, waiting obediently to be used.
"How… How did you do that?"
The blonde looked at him strangely. "I just boosted its effects. You can affect negative causality, right? I'm not sure what that really means or how it works, but with the boost, you should have better range now. I confess this is probably the first time I boosted a semblance, but I'm sure it will be fine"
"You haven't answered my question, how did you know about it and how to boost it in the first place?"
"Magic." Arc shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Qrow was seriously tempted to whack him before remembering something Ozpin had once mentioned. Magic could not be explained, it defies logic and those who use it would find it difficult to explain how they make it work.
Just as he had no way of explaining how to turn into a bird. He just could.
"Whatever, I'm going now." Qrow shook his head and prepared to transform.
"How will you sneak in?"
"You aren't the only one with a few magic tricks up your sleeve, kid." Qrow grinned as he transformed into a crow and enjoyed the wide eyes of the blonde hardass. He flew around his head, just to annoy him, before speeding through the cliff's entrance, trying to ignore the niggling feeling in the back of his head as something seemed to latch onto him for a second before fading.
T*A*M*S
Earlier,
SDC train en route to Vale via Celdic,
Blake Belladonna.
She stared in sorrow as the train's separated car trailed behind. Adam's eyes might be hidden behind that mask but Blake could tell he was glaring murderously at her. They will get enough supplies and arms from the freight cars to continue their operations, but considering the path Adam was taking the White Fang, it was only a matter of time until he led them to ruin. Blake understood there was no going back now, she had chosen her path and her former friend would not hesitate to kill her if they ever meet again.
Shaking her head, Blake sheathed Gambol Shroud and quickly rummaged in her bag, withdrawing a brown cloak to hide her features and stored her weapon inside the bag, before sneaking inside the train. The train was not crowded, probably so they could pick up more passengers at Celdic.
Using her expertise in blending in, and the fact the train conductor was a robot that got obliterated earlier, she entered a passenger compartment. The windows were sealed by metallic shutters, presumably as a safety measure from the attacks, and Blake found herself an empty seat next to a faunus family of all people.
"Papa, is everything alright?" The little kid asked his dad, a badger faunus if she had to guess.
"I'm sure everything will be fine." The man comforted his child and the scene solidified Blake's resolve. To think Adam was willing to kill so many innocents just because it was inconvenient to avoid collateral damage.
The cat-eared girl had been contemplating leaving the White Fang for months and had prepared an escape package when the time came. Last night was the final straw, especially when she overheard that newcomer mentioning how they had basically abandoned Ilia to those bandits. Liaison her pretty bum! If anything, the bandits were the ones who should have kept a contact with them, not the other way around.
Thankfully, Ilia managed to sneak a message to her through her belongings that she left in the Bullhead that Walter and Yuma returned on. Now she was able to escape and had a quarter of a plan on what to do with her future.
The train sped through to their next destination, Celdic, but she was unsure how long they would stop before continuing to Vale. Regardless, she planned to warn the populace of the Grimm horde that should be attacking soon. Hopefully, they would heed her warnings and maybe help her in whatever she decided to do with her future.
Should she return home to be an Adventurer like her parents? Her father was the guild master of the Menagerie branch and had used the guild's resources to start the White Fang when it was a peaceful political organization.
He had planned to have her join the guild but her child self had heard many horror stories about the Tyrant and how he secretly controlled the guild and planned to enslave all faunus-kind!
These kinds of ridiculous conspiracy theories always existed and she was ashamed to admit she had taken them a bit too seriously.
It was when Blake was older that she realized those rumors were from people wishing to undermine her father, and to this day, she never even knew who that so-called Tyrant was. Some claim it was some ancient human warrior who killed many Faunus in both the Great War and the Revolution, while others insist he was the old Mistral King who faked his death and was preparing for a comeback.
Suffice it to say, Blake paid no credence to any of that, and the idea of returning to her parents in shame grated on her. No, it would be best to reach Vale and from there, plan her future properly. There were a few contacts she knew in the city from her time in the White Fang and Blake was certain they were more in line with her father's ideals.
Glancing around the car, she felt herself secure enough that she might take a nap. Celdic was about an hour away, and she had stayed up all night preparing for her escape.
.
.
.
"Now arriving in Celdic. The SDC would like to apologize for the unscheduled delay earlier, and assure all its customers that this train employs state-of-the-art security drones and your safety was never in question."
Blake jerked awake as the train stopped. The irony of the announcement was not lost on her, as she stretched her arms and stood with the rest of the passengers as they prepared to disembark. She looked outside the windows only to frown at the metallic shutters; They did not bother retracting them since the attack. With no way of seeing outside, the announcement of their arrival came as a surprise. The cat-faunus had considered sneaking out of the train before it arrived at the station, but that option was taken from her.
As the passengers hurried to leave the damaged train, Blake followed them into the station. She frowned as a familiar smell came from the town but she did not have the chance to identify it as she followed the crowd outside, only to freeze at their welcoming committee. She was not the only one, as nearly everyone in the crowd gawked and shuffled uneasily at the sight of armed men and women looking at them coldly. Clearly either militia or soldiers, and they were led by an older man in a Vale captain uniform.
"Welcome to Celdic. I am captain Herbert Montgomery of the Vale contingent stationed in the Celdic region." The captain announced, and Blake couldn't help but notice that almost every one of the soldiers looked like they fought through the hell and came back harder than ever. "I shall not mince words with you, the town has been attacked by two separate Grimm hordes in the past few hours. I ask everyone to remain calm and allow us to do our jobs of securing the train and making sure no hostile elements are hidden amongst you."
The declaration caused many of the passengers to fidget and murmur uneasily but the captain did not give a chance for panic to set in as he waved the troops on. Everybody remained where they were, allowing the soldiers to do their work, and Blake cursed her misfortune. To think that the attacks were already over - now she had no leverage to secure any form of amnesty.
Of course, there was a chance that they did not know about her, and she was confident that she did not appear in any wanted lists. Blake had learned why Adam refused to send her into any risky or dodgy operations, or at least not against targets protected by the Kingdoms. She was more useful to him alive as a rallying image than a combatant. Having the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, the founder of the White Fang, supporting Adam Taurus and his ideals, was much more useful.
That was all she was to him.
Shaking her head, Blake decided to retreat; even if they did not recognize her, there was a chance they might detain her, as she did not have any kind of identification or paperwork. Her only option was to sneak away and continue on foot to Vale, where she will have to make new plans – hopefully, Ilia would be able to escape and think similarly.
Thankfully, she was at the very back of the crowd and her cloak hid her features well. As naturally as she could, Blake backed away before slowly walking back into the station. She could not risk running or else that will grab attention. The only path outside was through the tracks in front of the train, and it didn't take her a minute before she was already on it and running as fast as she–
It was only due to her cat ears and instincts that she heard the subtle sound of metal cutting through the wind. She jumped sideways off the tracks, dodging three sharp throwing knives that sank into the wooden planks of the railway. Unfortunately, she fell down into the rocky ground, grunting in pain when her aura had to tank the damage from the fall.
The former member of the White Fang did not have a chance to even think before she created a clone that pushed her away just as a hail of bullets turned the clone to dust. Blake lamented the fact she had to hide her weapon and meager Dust reserves in her backpack or else risk exposure on the train. There was no way she could have enough time to retrieve them, and before she could decide how to fight her assailant, she found herself face-to-face with a green-eyed girl with white hair stabbing at her with a gundagger.
Another clone took her place as it pushed her away once more, only for her assailant to impossibly turn midair, as if she jumped on the air, thoroughly ignoring her clone and pointing her offhand at her. Blake stared incredulously at the unrelenting girl as she sent her scarf flying at her. Blake was midair and weaponless, burdened down by her heavy bag, and she couldn't create another clone to take her place.
The scarf latched onto her and she tried to fight it off only for the girl to drag herself towards her and, within a couple of seconds, tie her up in such a way she couldn't even stand. Blake struggled mightily as she fell on the ground, flaring her Aura in hopes of overpowering what she recognized as a Dust weaved scarf. The white-haired girl sat on her back, causing Blake to grunt, and aimed her dagger at her eye, causing the former White Fang member to freeze. Even at full Aura, she would be dead if the girl stabbed her eye.
"Don't move. Or do, and I will stab. Blink if you understand."
Blake couldn't blink any faster if she could, and breathed a sigh of relief when the girl pulled the dagger slightly away but kept the point close to send the message across.
"W-who are you? Why did you attack me?" Blake tried to glare at the girl, only to freeze when she saw a white appendage waving lazily over the girl, holding another throwing knife. She was a faunus?
"A Cat-faunus with more Aura than me, trying to flee an inspection when the captain had clearly warned about hostiles. Considering the train she just left was missing a few of its cars and had clear signs of attack…" The girl explained in a bored tone, as if it was the most obvious thing. "I was unsure how to deal with you, especially as my teammate is resting, and I'm not in the best fighting form. I truly hoped you would just surrender and explain your situation, but you running away made it easier for me to think of you as hostile. Now, will you come quietly or will I have to knock you out?"
Blake groaned in disappointment. She didn't even make it outside of town before getting caught. The sound of horses approaching and men shouting, made her choice for her. "I'll come quietly."
Yes, Ruby is the same age as the rest of the cast because being younger did not add anything at all to the plot. She would be a few months younger than Yang still.
In the fight between the best cat-girl, the Black Cat loses the first round to the White Cat.
I didn't show it in the chapter since it wasn't Jaune's POV but here's Qrow's status page if you're interested.
Profile:
Name: Qrow Branwen
Class: Veteran Huntsman
Age: 40
Height: 6'3"
Build: Lean-Muscular
Race: Human
Stats:
Aura Points: 1611/3262 (381/hr)
Aura Control: 117%
Magic: 10
Strength (STR): 96
Vitality (VIT): 92
Dexterity (DEX): 127
Agility (AGL): 115
Perception (PER): ??
Intelligence (INT): ??
Perks:
???
Semblance (Misfortune): Allows control of negative causality on targets. Requires ?*#?.
???
Skills:
???
Abilities:
???
As you have noticed, Jaune didn't manage to glean a lot from Qrow before the man flared his Aura, causing the Observe to fail, but not before giving enough information to Jaune. Do not take too much stock in the physical stats, though. Ultimately, a fighter's lethality will always come down to AP, AC, their training, experience, and how they use their abilities.
Chapter 20 (Redemption)
Thank you for your support, everyone.
I really enjoy writing this story the most, but feel free to check my other works.
Fair warning for the latter half of this chapter. Dark shit ahead.
The Weathercock Inn,
"Okay, say cheese."
Fie snapped a picture of the grumpy looking cat-faunus giving her the stink eye. A bit of touch up on the app, and she had the girl's picture set on a profile page that she will submit to the Adventurer Hub once the signal returned. For now, though, she turned on her recorder and placed the Scroll on the table.
"You don't have to look so grumpy. Here, have some milk."
"I would, but a certain someone has me tied up like a hog for a roast." True enough, Fie had the girl tied to a chair on their dining table in their inn room with ropes and chains.
Could never be too careful with Aura users.
Sara was completely knocked out on the bed from exhaustion, and Fie would rather not wake her mentor up. Unfortunately, there weren't any other places suitable for an impromptu interrogation, as this was the only part of town that had gotten away relatively unscathed from the attacks.
"You would know all about tying people up, judging by what we found in your bag." Shrugging, Fie grabbed her own glass of milk and sipped it leisurely to hide her smirk.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." The black-haired cat girl might try to act nonchalant, but her eyes were glued to the glass of milk Fie offered.
"Oh, I dare say, you know very well what I'm talking about. Ninjas of Love? I never imagined the mean and tough White Fang operatives would read such books."
"I'll have you know that Ninjas of Love are a highly respected series of literature. Besides, aren't you too young to know about these things?"
"Don't forget, this young girl beat you six ways to Sunday." The captive girl growled at the reminder, causing Fie to grin inwardly yet maintain an impassive face outward. "I'll be sixteen next month, and if I'm old enough to kill, I'm old enough to read smut."
The white haired adventurer shrugged with a yawn. She might have taken a nap earlier, but she felt like sleeping for the rest of the day. Opening her eyes, she found the girl sitting opposite her gawking at her blunt admittance to having killed before.
Such an innocent girl and yet… "So, you don't deny your affiliation with the White Fang?"
The girl, who still refused to identify herself though Fie had a hunch to her identity, clammed up for a whole minute in which Fie simply drank her milk and refilled her glass.
"Not anymore." She finally mumbled. "I came here to warn you about an impending attack. The group I was with allied with the local bandits to attack the town. It seems I was too late anyway."
"Mhmm, you missed all the fun. Are you sure you don't wanna tell me your name? I'll untie your hand so you can drink at least."
"I'm fine. I don't need your pity."
"Suit yourself, I guess I will put 'Grumpy McGrumpface' refuses to cooperate in my report and suggest using catnip as a torture device." The amber-eyed girl snorted involuntarily, and Fie's lips twitched upwards at finally breaking through to her. "You really aren't that subtle, Blake Belladonna."
"H-How–"
"Your father is famous among adventurers, and I met your mother once. They looked so similar, I mistook them for siblings."
"They're cousins, actually."
"Ah, nothing like keeping it in the family, huh?"
Blake didn't rise to the taunt, and Fie shrugged. It would make sense for her to grow a thick skin over something she probably got teased about since she was a child.
Using the lull in conversation, the green-eyed cat girl typed in the girl's information. Height, name, weight, three sizes for that old perv and his science, and so on. Regardless of the girl's change of heart, she was still caught red-handed sneaking into town without even paying for the train ticket.
"Can you untie me already? You already know my name, and you have my weapons. I'm hungry and thirsty."
Finishing her glass of milk, Fie hummed as she gazed at the girl daring to use her own secret technique, pitiful cat eyes, on her.
Sadly, it was very effective, causing her to shrug as the white-haired girl moved towards her captive and untied her hands while keeping her legs secured.
"Thanks." Blake rubbed her wrists to get her blood flowing, "food?"
A wave from her hand had breakfast that the proprietress, Margot, had prepared earlier to appear on the table. She hid a grin at the other girl's flabbergasted expression.
"How the–"
"Magic." A peace sign accompanied by her grin was all she would give the black-haired girl. "Now, eat."
Blake looked like she wanted to argue, but her rumbling stomach convinced her otherwise. She dove into her meal of river trout and boiled eggs with toast and an apple. A simple affair considering the attacks the town suffered, yet still a hearty meal.
A comfortable silence descended upon them, with one girl eating and the other typing on her Scroll. Once the black-haired cat girl finished her breakfast, the white haired cat girl stored the empty dishes, and they enjoyed more milk.
"So, are you ready to tell me more about yourself?"
Blake finished her glass of milk before refilling it. "Am I under arrest?"
"Detained. Your only crime is skipping out on the train ticket, and refusing law enforcement orders - which could be interpreted as resisting arrest. Those can be paid off with a fine, however."
"Even when I confessed to being part of the White Fang?"
"The organization may be criminal in Mistral and Atlas, but they have yet to commit any crimes in Vale. As for you, Blake Belladonna, I do not see any warrant for your arrest, though there is a large price on your head."
"What?!" The wide eyes of the girl had Fie want to snicker, but she maintained a blank look.
"Oh yes, your parents have missed you so much that they have a ten thousand Lien bounty for your whereabouts. Not capture, mind you, just your location and a method of contacting you." Blake relaxed slightly but averted her eyes as she suddenly found the ground more interesting. "Blake? Why are your parents looking for you?"
"That is none of your concern."
"True, I hardly know you. Regardless, now that I know a bit about you, I can guess your role in the White Fang. The daughter of the founder of the organization would be the perfect poster child for recruiting, and the fact you do not have a single warrant or report on you means that you have kept your hands clean for the many years you've been missing." Fie didn't hide the disdain in her tone, and the girl must have noticed it.
"What of it? Do you think I don't know about it? That I'm just an accessory to whomever has me on hand? Who are you to judge?" Blake slammed the table in anger as she glared at her, but Fie simply glared back.
"Silence, or you will wake Sara up. I have released your arms because I expected this would be civil, if you will shout and bitch, then I will tie you up again and hand you over to the Vale authorities. They do have a captain stationed here, and I assure you he is not a big fan of faunus."
She continued to glare at the older girl, who oozed naivety, until Blake averted her gaze again with a mumbled apology. Fie nodded, and produced a tub of ice cream from her Storage.
"Just, how are you doing this?" Despite the question, Blake eagerly accepted a spoon, and they both shared the mint and chocolate ice cream.
"Magic." Fie shrugged again, if the girl won't believe her, then that's fine by her. Another silence fell on them as they continued to eat until they finished the tub.
"What do you want to know?" Blake's tone was resigned, and Fie raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you think I want to know anything?"
"Of course you do, you just told me I'm detained, and my crime is negligible, yet you are keeping me here. It has to be for a reason."
"I dunno," the white haired cat girl shrugged, "I just found another cat faunus who can fight. Naturally, I was going to be interested."
"That's it?" Blake snickered as she hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder. "You wanted a friend, so you had to tie me up? Aw, you could have just asked."
"You would have run away. You struck me as the scaredy-cat type rather than the feisty one." Fie didn't mind the girl's touch. She wouldn't dare attack her, for her tail held a knife close to her femoral artery that, even through aura, would have her bleeding out in a few minutes if she tried anything funny.
Fie loved her semblance.
"Oh? And which one are you then?"
"The cool type."
They both chuckled genially as their conversation seemed to naturally evolve into their own personal lives. Fie learned a lot about Blake and then found herself telling more about herself as well. Before she knew it, she had brought out her supply of cotton candy, and they were talking about Blake's fears of what her former group was up to.
"So, hold on a second. You separated the train cars, giving your potentially illegal group weapons and supplies after their declared intention of destroying Celdic and Vale?"
"Well, when you put it like that, it does sound bad, but they're stranded hundreds of miles away with no aircraft or vehicles to get them anywhere. Adam would be far more concerned with making sure the loot and supplies are stored safely, over travelling all the way here to attack."
"That's an assumption, and in my line of work, assuming without taking proper measures tends to kill you." Fie shook her head as she pulled up her Scroll and typed a few more lines for her report.
"Are you not going to arrest me for attacking that train?"
"The SDC demands preferential treatment and oversight over their own legal affairs. Attacking them is attacking Atlas, not Vale, so no, even now, you aren't under arrest unless Atlas issues a warrant for your arrest." Fie shrugged as the other girl's face morphed into shock at the labyrinthine protocols and procedures that law enforcement had to follow. Adventurers under employment by a kingdom-affiliated town would naturally count as law enforcement.
"You do a lot of good being an adventurer, then?"
Fie paused at the strange question and looked at her new companion. "I try as much as I can, but Jaune would say that being a Huntsman would allow you to help even more people."
"Who's Jaune?"
"A buddy of mine who is off on his own assignment."
"So you think being a huntsman is possible for you?"
"I dunno," Fie shrugged. "I hear Beacon is flexible about accepting all sorts of people but I never thought about it."
She eyed the other girl curiously, it was almost as if she wasn't asking her about being a huntsman. Could she be–
"How do you handle the treatment you would get for being a faunus?" Blake finally blurted out what Fie guessed had been eating at her for so long.
"I prove to any of my naysayers that I'm better than they could ever be." The adventurer shrugged again. "Half the garrison could not stand my presence when I first arrived here, and the other half pretended I didn't exist. Once I showed my mettle, they changed their tone, and now I'm in good standing with the captain of the guard."
"… I see." The older girl looked lost in thought, and Fie eyed her with interest.
"You mentioned your former group allied with the local bandits. What do you know about them? Tell me anything you could think of."
Blake frowned in thought as she told her all she knew, from numbers and goals to their leadership. Fie smiled inwardly as the girl didn't even hesitate to tell her about it all, and had to hand it over to Sara's teachings.
There was nothing better than a cooperative interrogation, for torturing information out of someone seldom worked. That Fie herself had grown to like and care for the other cat girl was a bonus, it was incredibly rare for her to find someone her age with similar attributes.
Jaune didn't count. He was a boy, and there are things girls can't talk about with boys.
"… mentioned four Grimm Hordes but–"
"I'm sorry, repeat that part." Something the girl said prickled at Fie's thoughts, four? She felt a rock hit her stomach.
"There were four Grimm Hordes hidden around Celdic, but you already destroyed one of them in the quarry, I believe. The other three attacked at night, right?" Blake tilted her head in confusion, her cat ears, which Fie had convinced her to release, twitched in question.
"No. Only two hordes attacked us. Which means–"
Both girls twitched their heads towards the door as the sound of running footsteps clambering up the stairs reached them. Even if she didn't have cat ears, Fie's hearing was superb, and as the doors banged open, she found the heaving figure of one of the militiamen staring at her in panic.
"G-Grimm. More Grimm have been sighted."
The silence in the room was broken by a loud groan from the bed. "Just as I thought I could finally sleep." Sara got off her bed, her tired and bloodshot eyes stared at the man. "Where?"
"Huh?" The man stared dumbly at the powerful adventurer wearing only a tank top and panties, causing her to click her tongue in annoyance.
"Where are the Grimm attacking?" Sara grounded through her teeth, but Fie had already stood up and dressed for combat before the man could reply.
"N-North. From the north across the stream, and some to the west. Hundreds of them were seen, and the train is still loading."
"Get Brocket and Montgomery to meet me at the train station." Sara sighed as she walked into the bathroom before glancing at the still standing militiaman. "Sometime before the Grimm overrun the town?"
Finally, the man nodded and sprinted off to do as he was told.
"Take me with you. I can help!" Fie stared at Blake as she struggled from her seat. She glanced at her mentor, who had washed her face and dressed for combat, then shrugged at her.
"Up to you, kiddo, I hardly know her. I'll trust your judgment."
Fie gazed at the black-haired cat faunus and recalled their conversation. "I suppose you will get to do some good after all, instead of just looking pretty."
Blake grinned as she released her bindings and accepted her weapon and belongings when Fie pulled them from Storage. "Do you need any Dust?"
"Yes, anything you can spare. My semblance works with most of them, and I only have a few fire dust."
"Sweet." Fie handed her some of the ground Dust Sara yoinked from that Huntsman. "Let's not keep Sara waiting, she's far more powerful than I, but she really hates having her beauty sleep getting cut."
"I heard that, now let's get a move on, kiddos. Blake, right? Tell me what I can expect from you in combat along the way."
Fie smiled lightly as they followed her mentor outside the inn, easily assuaging the worries of the people they met along the way. They have already beaten back two Grimm Hordes, and even without Jaune, they now had another Aura user who could help. Hopefully, it would be enough, as she really was exhausted.
Blowing things up was nice, but her cat naps were nicer.
Bandit hideout.
Ilia knew something was wrong as she listened to the anxious racket the bandits made in the tunnels outside her room. She had been careful not to interact with any of the outlaws for fear of contracting any of their diseases or addictions, even refusing any food or drink and opting to use the rations she brought.
The White Fang operative had remained in the small room given to her once she had explored the cave complex and called it a night.
At first, she thought they were preparing for the operation, but checking her scroll told her it was a little early for it. A glance at the signal bar told her all she needed to know. Someone must have turned on that black thing too early.
Indecision consumed her as she bit her lip in uncertainty. The appalling treatment of the faunus prisoners and children had given her nightmares, and she had not slept a wink for nearly a day and a night. They were supposed to assault the human town, and Ilia had dreaded what would happen to those people. Her usual hatred for all things human felt childish compared to the horrors she had already seen.
Now, though, with the attack presumably compromised, this was her chance to rectify some wrong.
Giving a thankful prayer for her luck, Ilia quickly dressed and secured her weapons and equipment before making her way out of the room. Activating her racial ability to blend in, she augmented it with her semblance, Calm, that muffled any sound she produced. Silently, she sneaked down the hallway, making sure to avoid any contact with the bandits rushing past her, until she was forced to follow behind a group led by a large man.
The chameleon-faunus twitched her nose as the downwind draft brought their unwashed smell to her. Still, she heard some interesting gossip as she stuck close to the shadows cast by the torches.
"… Boss Lady was pissed when Shiro returned…"
"I heard he managed to at least get two of the hordes to attack the town but…"
"… Was still standing strong when he left. Will we have to fight the guards and let those animals reap all the rewards once we're tired?"
At the last comment, Ilia scowled, but then remembered that many of the bandits were also fellow faunus that did not seem to care about being called animals. It was such a conflicting dilemma for her; the brutal treatment of the prisoners as well as the terrible screams that echoed out throughout the day made her hate all those monsters with a passion. Yet to find out that many of the tormentors were faunus?
More mindless chatter about not getting their fun or loot, and Ilia was sorely tempted to kill those bastards but held back for when she managed to escape. She may not be able to do anything for the newly arrived prisoners, but those poor faunus kids were waiting for her to free them. She will need all her wits and strength to make it out of here alive with both kids safe.
"Fuck all that noise! If the White Fang bastards hadn't left us that chick as collateral, the boss would never have trusted them. I can't wait till we start the operation, and she would outlive her usefulness." Ilia froze at the words, and her heartbeat thundered like a drum. Surely, they aren't talking about–
"H-Hey, we're not supposed to even mention this. That lizard girl has good hearing, right?"
"Nah, bat man said the lizard can see heat or something but is half deaf. Better yet, spider bitch assured us the girl was a virgin and free game once we begin, Gihihihi!" It was then that Ilia noticed the apparent leader's squeal-like laughter.
Looking closer, the man was bald and pink skinned, with a massive stature. As he laughed, she couldn't help but notice how large and blunt his teeth were, and with his snout-like nose, it made him look like a pig. It took everything in her willpower to not lash out at the mongrels laughing along with their leader as they turned at an intersection. Ilia breathed deeply before hurrying down the other tunnel, where the children were secured… and tortured.
The chameleon-faunus had suspected foul play when it was decided she would be left here, but she never expected betrayal. From Trifa, perhaps, but for Yuma to give away her weakness to filthy bandits like this? It was such a convoluted and cowardly way to get rid of her, and seemed to be in line with what little she knew of the man.
Considering Elder Walter gave him his tacit approval about her assignment, it was clear that Adam himself wanted to be rid of her.
At first, it was supposed to be just Trifa here, but when it was suspected the spider-faunus was compromised, Adam wanted a better eye on their erstwhile allies… was what she was told. It was only then she realized his goal of separating her from Blake. Her friend had confided in her about her disillusionment with the way Adam did things, and while Ilia did not agree completely with their leader, she still agreed with his ideal about bringing the fight to the humans.
Now though, seeing how he allied with those scum and not caring one whit about their fellow faunus, Ilia decided that Blake was right. The fact she was seemingly left here as a peace offering to bandit scum made her blood boil.
Ilia knew there were others among the ranks of the White Fang that shared their dissatisfaction with Adam. She worried about what would become of them, and Blake in particular, as Adam continued his apparent purge.
The sound of children crying and adults laughing told her she was approaching her destination, and Ilia gulped in anxiousness. She had yet to actually see the girl the bandits were… working on, but she knew there was a boy who came with her. They were both most likely in that room, and the only thing separating her from them was the unguarded door and whoever their minders were.
Ilia had been briefed on the existence of Grimm Bait, but she was told that such a volatile method of weaponizing the Grimm would always backfire. She knew Sienna Khan herself vehemently opposed the mere idea of using them, and any who tried to go around her back would be severely punished.
"We are freedom fighters, not lunatics." Was Sienna's justification.
Considering her group had allied with those bandits fully knowing they used that abhorrent method, Ilia wondered if Adam knew he was essentially splintering from Sienna's leadership. She greatly respected Sienna, and Ilia wondered if Adam was turning into a lunatic… or perhaps he was always one.
Shaking her head, she placed her ears against the door, trying to detect how many bandits were inside, but like the pig-faunus from earlier said, her hearing wasn't the best. All she could hear were the children's whimpering and the ominous sound of steel grinding over leather. There were some voices however that she tried to listen to, but the sound of sobbing was distracting.
"… Can't wait… you under my knife again."
"… Until I've… the drug first."
Ilia clenched her teeth as that was more than enough to judge the minders as guilty, but she still needed to know how many were inside. She was not out of tricks, however, as Ilia stuck out her tongue and licked the air near the door gaps and closed her eyes. Focusing on her senses, she detected four humanoids inside, one of them with aura. She might not be able to sense aura, but she could taste it in the air.
That was enough for her.
The White Fang operative glanced behind her one last time, only to freeze at the sight of two beady red orbs staring at her. Ilia huffed when she realized it was just a crow, though she wondered how the bird made it inside the cave. The corvid stared at her from on top a pile of crates, before flying deeper into the tunnels.
Ilia shrugged in favor of grabbing the heavy door, took a deep breath, and barged in.
It took her less than two seconds to notice the two torturers by a rack of tools. A male with a fat head and wormy lips was sharpening a knife on a leather belt while the other, a female with a scaled and gaunt face, had a syringe full of yellow liquid in her hand.
The two of them froze at her entrance and Ilia charged at them with Lightning Lash whipping around the neck of the man and pulled.
She did not even need to activate her lightning dust, for the torturer had no aura as evidenced by his head getting crushed like a melon from the serrated whip. The other woman yelped and Ilia wasted no time throwing her knife at her throat. The reptile-faunus' gurgling as she tried to stem the flow of blood was ignored in favor of the two children forced into a small cage held aloft from the ceiling.
Ilia had seen a lot of terrible things. Her vendetta against humanity drove her to accept missions and assignments that would have destroyed Blake's innocence. She confronted the worst that humanity could do when she fought enemies not so dissimilar to those bandits.
Yet none of that could ever measure to the sight before her.
The moaning and the crying came from the battered form of the boy that pink-haired bandit took, the Grimm Bait. The kid's olive skin was bruised from the many beatings he endured, his left eye was swollen from a recent blow, and the rags he wore had dried blood on them.
Even as she watched, the kid's aura worked on overdrive to fix his injuries, but it was slow-going.
All of that was processed in seconds, for Ilia could not remove her gaze from the morbidly disfigured form of the… human? Girl? She was unsure.
"… Petunia –cough– please…Wake up. It's me, Jasper."
The boy, Jasper, answered her unasked question, and Ilia couldn't tear her gaze away from the comatose girl in the cage. Her blue eye was dull and unseeing, the left eye a gaping hole in her head. Her blonde hair looked to have been burned in some places and torn in others. She might have had cute freckles across her nose, but Ilia couldn't tell with how broken and scarred it was. Her fingernails were torn, her skin was flayed in places, her legs twisted at an unnatural angle.
By rights, she should be dead, yet the weak movements of her chest and the drool from her mouth told Ilia that the girl was miraculously still alive.
It took everything in her power to not lurch sideways and empty her stomach. Ilia took a deep shuddering breath before approaching the cage, finally grabbing the attention of the boy as he glared at her with such venom that it gave her pause. His slitted eyes outed him as some kind of snake-faunus, and Ilia sheathed her weapon as she approached.
"It's okay, I'm here to rescue you."
The boy's glare changed to confusion at her words, and then he noticed the dead bodies of his captors, before a wracking sob burst out of his clenched teeth.
Ilia opened the cage, just as the boy's sobbing reached a crescendo, causing her to use Calm to muffle the sound from leaving the room. She froze when he lunged at her but relaxed when he held her tightly in a shuddering embrace.
The former White-Fang operative hugged the boy, soothingly rubbing his back and finding several old wounds on it. Her eyes, however, could only stare at the dreadful sight of the girl's lone eye staring at her unblinkingly. Idly, Ilia wondered if she was truly a faunus for she saw no traits, but she did not care anymore.
Those two children shall be saved, and any who stood in her way shall die. It was as simple as that.
"Jasper? I need you to be strong for me - for Petunia." At the mention of his friend's name, the boy hiccuped as he looked at her with sad yellow eyes that had seen things she could never fathom. "I need you to tell me what's wrong with her, so I can help her. What kind of faunus is she? I have some drugs that–"
"No drugs!" The boy wailed as he grabbed her collar. "P-Please, n-n-no drugs…" Jasper's grip was weak, and he returned to sobbing hysterically, causing Ilia to grimace.
She was unused to a male's touch, but she would endure it for his sake.
"Jasper, I promise this is good medicine, it will help your friend." Ilia rummaged in one of her pouches and found what she was looking for, painkillers with a few different dosages depending on the faunus, and other detoxifying drugs, as well as clean syringes. "But I need to know what kind of faunus is your friend."
The boy mumbled something incoherent, and it took some coaxing for him to speak.
"Not a faunus. Tuni lied to everyone, saying she was a rabbit faunus, so I wouldn't feel bad about being the only faunus in the village. We're both orphans that stumbled into the village a few years ago. The village took care of us anyway, but Petunia… She raised me, took care of me, taught me how to read and write even though she was only a year older than me… and now she's like this."
It was shocking for her, that a human would go so far for the sake of a faunus.
Ilia shook her head, as she quickly administered the standard dosage to the girl, before removing her from the cage to place her on an operating table. She was by no means a trained medic, but she did have first-aid training.
Jasper had let go of her and stood on the side hesitantly, while she worked on fixing the girl as much as possible. It helped that the room had plenty of medical equipment, such as gauze and disinfectants.
"How long have you been here, Jasper?" Hoping to distract him from the sight of his friend, Ilia glanced at the boy who jerked at being spoken to.
"I-I'm not sure…weeks, maybe months, could be a year."
"That can't be right." Ilia paused from where she was setting Petunia's leg. "This entire bandit group only formed a couple of months ago. What was the last date you remember?"
"… July 2nd." The boy took a moment to remember, and Ilia froze at his answer. How was this possible?
"Do you know what kind of drugs the bad guys gave you?"
"B-Bad ones." Jasper seemed to shrink onto himself. "They would inject some kind of yellow slime into us, they said it's to make…to make o-our conditioning m-more…"
That was more than enough for Ilia to understand what happened, as she tied up the last bandage on the girl and covered her with a simple white sheet for modesty.
"Jasper, July 2nd was four days ago. Whatever drug they gave you made you believe more time had passed than normal."
That explained how the scum had managed to create the Grimm Bait in such a short amount of time. A surprisingly functional one, as despite what he endured, Jasper could stand on his own feet and talk coherently. If it wasn't for the sheer hatred and malice she could taste in his aura, he would have been mistaken for a scared child. Her eyes fell on the syringe the woman had - it was full of a yellow, viscous liquid, and she immediately crushed it underfoot.
Looking around the room, Ilia's gaze settled on a wheelchair and propped Petunia on it, trying to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.
"F-Four days? B-But, it felt so…"
"Drugs can do a lot of things to the body, many of them good but some of them bad." Ilia turned to the boy and rubbed his black hair gently as she checked him for injuries, dabbing his swollen eye with disinfectant and placing bandaids over any nicks and scratches. "Now, are you ready to get out of here? I'm sure your village would be glad to have you and Petunia back."
"But, Tuni is…"
"Shhh, don't worry about that. She will live, and she will recover. You have to believe in her. Now, can you push her behind me?"
The boy nodded, his face tightening in determination as he hurried behind the secured Petunia and slowly pushed her as Ilia waited by the still open door. It was a miracle that no one had barged in on them, and Ilia thanked the gods for watching over her reckless ass.
As they traveled down the tunnel to where the bandits had parked their Bullheads, her eyes widened as a tremor reverberated through the walls. Were they under attack? She waited for a minute, but no more tremors came, causing her to shrug it off as an earthquake.
As they traveled through the tunnels, Ilia froze at an intersection where a dead body was slumped against the wall. Checking it closely, it was a bandit but the way he died… it was a completely clean cut, and the second she touched the body, half of the man's torso fell off.
Glancing down one of the tunnels, she found more corpses. Some of them were cut similarly, others had bullet marks, yet a couple appeared to have been ripped apart by a wild beast. Ilia did not want to know who would have such incredible strength for such a feat, and thanked the gods that they did not need to go through that tunnel.
She swiftly led Jasper and Petunia down another tunnel that should lead them to the Hangar.
The sound of tired huffing had her turn to Jasper, who appeared to be on his last legs. Ilia quickly had him grab onto her back as she tied him with a loose cloth she found on a crate. Then, she pushed Petunia's wheelchair down the tunnels, Calm working at maximum to muffle the clanging sound of the wheels going over the rough path.
It only just now occurred to her that this entire rescue operation was a major clusterfuck waiting to happen - that she depended too much on luck and her Semblance to sneak away, but she knew that her luck would run out once she arrived at the hangar.
Soon enough, they exited the tunnel to find the cavern acting as a hangar filled to the brim with bandits. There must have been at least a thousand of them, many of them having crossed from beyond the Vale Mountains to raid and pillage the fertile lands of Vale proper.
The bandits have chosen their hideout well, for the tunnel complex led to an ancient underground city that they only explored its surface levels. A massive cave mouth overlooking a valley acted as the perfect hangar for VTOLs, with over twenty bullheads and three cargo ships docked in haphazard lines. It was a good thing the ceiling was easily over a thousand-foot-high.
"It's them!" Jasper's growling next to her ear had her follow his sight to find Shiro and Trifa standing next to the humongous form of Ravena Boering. There was a heavy feeling in the air as the rambunctious bandits were silent for once as they stared fearfully at their leader.
Ilia quickly hid behind one of the bullheads, hoping it was unlocked, but to no avail.
Glancing at the massive woman, there was a scrawny man kneeling in front of her and a cage of juvenile Grimm manically trying to escape. Ilia gulped when the Grimm stared right at her - no, at Jasper - and went even madder.
She couldn't hear what was being said, but she watched in morbid horror as the mouse-faunus stuttered something through his wailing that caused the Bandit Queen to scowl deeply before she grabbed his head with one meaty fist. Screams of terror were muffled by the massive hand as the woman slammed him on the ground, his crunching bones echoing out in the cave. Then, the terrible woman grabbed his arm and ripped it off its socket before moving it to her gaping maw…
Ilia couldn't help it and dry retched on the side. She knew they were lowlifes, but she never imagined they would sink so low.
"They are monsters, we must kill them all." Surprisingly, Jasper patted her cheek in comfort, yet his words chilled her. The unmitigated malevolence and spite she could hear through the boy's venomous tone was staggering. "That demon did that to Petunia. Gouged out her eye and swallowed it in front of us when Tuni fought back."
"Let this be a lesson to any of you retards who disobey orders or get any funny ideas. The Boss Lady is always hungry, so don't give her a reason, or else you will share the same fate as Bors here." Ilia flinched and looked back to find Shiro speaking through a megaphone.
The Bandit Queen was wiping some blood from her lips with a towel and smiled in content as if she just had a gourmet meal.
There was no sign of the dead man.
Ilia shook her head, and started looking for an open Bullhead. The sooner they were out of here the better. Hopefully, the remaining prisoners would still be alive when she returned with help from Celdic, provided they didn't shoot her on sight.
She knew the prisoners were only here for a day, and the bandits had been too busy preparing for the attack on Celdic for them to have been abused too harshly.
Ilia tried to ignore the screams of terror and pain she had heard when she passed by the prison pens last evening.
"Celdic is ripe for the taking. We have all been waiting for this moment for weeks, and now we shall take it for all it's worth. Even as we speak, they are on their last legs after fighting off two Grimm hordes, and will be easy pickings–"
"BOSS!" A sudden shout interrupted whatever Shiro was going to say next, and all eyes turned to another tunnel as a man hurried into the hangar with blood over his front. "Boss!" The man shoved his way through the sea of bandits until he stopped before the scowling Shiro and Ravena, but their countenance quickly changed at his exclamation.
"We're under attack! The tunnels are strewn with corpses. The prison pens are locked, with the guards missing!"
Many worried murmurs sounded out, and Ilia used this chance to slowly push the wheelchair towards a Bullhead with its ramp extended, Calm killing all sound, but she still had to be careful not to be seen. The White Fang operative ignored all the surrounding chatter, her vision tunneling on the Bullhead and all her focus on sticking to the shadows.
Nearly there now. Just a little–
"Stop!" Jasper's warning hissed in her ears, and she involuntarily stopped. "Why are they quiet?"
It was true, the worried chatter from earlier was gone. All Ilia could hear was the sound of snorting and loud sniffing, and a shiver ran through her back.
"Over there! I can smell the lizard bitch."
Fuck! She risked a glance behind her, finding the same pig-faunus from earlier pointing at her.
Ilia hurried towards the Bullhead at the sound of rushing footsteps behind her, all thoughts of subtlety forgotten. She knew that her biggest weakness was her inability to hide her smell. That had never been a problem for only a faunus would have such keen senses to smell her, and once again, Ilia Amitola cursed her treacherous kin who joined hands with those brigands.
"Stop, or we will shoot."
"Idiot! Just shoot her already, she has aura."
Ilia's eyes widened, and fear for the boy holding tightly onto her shoulders had her turn around to shield the girl and the wheelchair. The sight of nearly a hundred bandits with dozens of guns aiming at her froze her. She barely had time to cover her face with her arms, before gunfire, explosions, and screams of pain resounded in the cave.
Yet… she did not feel anything hit her.
Opening her eyes, Ilia looked in shock at a towering figure standing protectively in front of her, wearing a white shirt with a short red cape. Ilia involuntarily licked the air, and shivered at the obscene amount of aura her savior had.
A massive sword blocked the worst of the hail of bullets and as Ilia looked past the tall dark-haired man's shoulder, she nearly chortled at the ridiculous sight of many of the bandits' guns jamming or outright exploding in their hands.
"You've done well, girl." The man glanced at her, his red eyes glowing with power, and Ilia thought they looked familiar. "No matter your affiliation, you are under my protection now."
Ilia's heart nearly dropped to her stomach as the man all but confirmed he knew she was from the White Fang, yet his smile eased her worries. Just who was he?
"Who the fuck are you?" The grating shriek came from Shiro who threw away his gun as it too had blown up in his hands, though his aura protected him.
It filled her with giddy joy to see all those scum afflicted with such bad luck, or maybe the fools simply never bothered to maintain their weapons.
"Qrow Branwen. Huntsmen of Beacon." Ilia flinched - of all the people who would save her, it would be the most famous huntsman in Remnant. She was not sure if she should be honored or terrified. "You are all under arrest, and I advise you to come quietly before things get ugly."
The bandits looked at Qrow as if he had grown a second head before they burst out in laughter. Ilia noticed Trifa, Shiro and some of the other higher ups, like the pig man, turning to Ravena in worry, however.
"Quiet you fools!" The bandit queen roared from her position next to the Grimm cages, causing all laughter to cease. "Qrow Branwen. Your reputation precedes you, yet even you should know how foolish it is to attack us all by your lonesome."
"Who says I'm alone?" The veteran huntsman glanced back at her with a smirk, causing Ilia to gulp.
"You would ally with the White Fang? A poor choice of friends, for she would sooner stab you the moment your back is turned."
"Just as you would have done to me!" Ilia couldn't help herself from shouting at the bitch, finding her courage from the reassuring smile of the huntsman. "Tell me, you monster. How many of our fellow faunus have you killed or tortured for whatever sick pleasure you enjoy?"
"More than I could care to count." Ravena's bored reply took her aback, and she noticed Branwen's shaking head.
"It's no use trying to appeal to the morality of monsters that are worse than Grimm. These scum had long abandoned their humanity, or faunusity or whatever you want to call it." Ilia's eyebrow twitched, "Ravena 'the cannibal' Boering is a fugitive from the Narrow Sea and is responsible for the destruction of multiple villages and towns, along with countless deaths and atrocities. You were last seen two years ago, running with your tail behind your legs into the jungles of the Southlands after a raid gone wrong. I'm surprised you would end up here, of all places, causing havoc once again. Surely, you should have known that you would not survive the ire of Vale if you plague these lands with your existence. What gave you the guts to act now?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"A mysterious backer, perhaps? That communication blackout, it must be something provided by that backer." Ilia saw the bandit queen glance briefly at the worried looking Shiro. "Looks like I hit the nail on the head."
"It doesn't matter, you won't be leaving this place alive. Neither you nor the girl and the brats." The cannibal queen grabbed a massive halberd that had serrated chains on one side and an axe head on the other.
No, calling it a halberd would be an understatement.
It was a massive fucking chainsaw.
"Hey, girl. What's your name?"
Ilia jerked at the sudden question, and bit her lips in worry. If she gave away her name, then she could be tracked. Maybe if she used an alias–
"I already said you're under my protection, and I'd rather not call you 'lizard girl' during the fight."
"… Ilia. Ilia Amitola."
"Good name. Protect your charges, Ilia, and don't hesitate to kill, for no amount of talk would have these scum see the error of their ways." Qrow brandished his weapon as he glared at the bandit army in front of him. "However, I'm not fond of killing, so I will give you one last chance. Surrender, and you will receive a fair trial."
"Too late for that, dipshit. You already killed our men on your way here. Men, attack!"
Before anyone could so much as twitch, a resonating explosion resounded from deep inside the cave. Suddenly, a massive crescent wave of what Ilia recognized as an aura attack, burst out of the wall, raining rocks and debris before slamming into three of the Bullheads, cutting them in half.
The rocks fell onto more Bullheads and crushed a few of the bandits standing in the rear. All was quiet as a lone figure walked out of the new tunnel, with ominous steps that echoed in the cavern like a Goliath's stomps.
A deep chuckle came from Qrow Branwen as he shook his head in exasperation. "I never said I was alone, and I only killed the prison guards on my way here. Is this your idea of sneaking in, Jaune?"
As the dust settled, a blonde man in dented and rusted armor, the same height as Qrow, stopped in front of the bandits. He held a longsword pointed to the ground, his blue eyes glowed with a malice and hatred that reminded her of Jasper on her back, who had remained quiet ever since they were discovered.
Yet unlike the powerless Jasper, the eyes of the newcomer promised death and retribution on those who wronged him, and Ilia could taste waves upon waves of suffocating aura encompassing the cave with every step the man took. It made Qrow's obscene aura reserves seem like a pond compared to that ocean of aura approaching.
This was no man, it was a demon. Ilia was only glad that he seemed to be on their side.
"This place is a maze. You didn't bother giving a signal, so I made my own way in."
In the show, Blake is incredibly naive for a supposedly former terrorist. This is my take on what she has been doing over the past five years.
Fie interrogates her with kindness and it works well. Too well. Like, she nailed a NAT 20 on a Charisma roll well.
White cat 2, black cat 0?
Ilia was a good concept character that got shafted instead of developed properly. She is probably only remembered as Blake's lesbian stalker or something, so naturally, I will fix this garbage by both buffing her up and nerfing her in places.
Lizards and reptiles generally have bad hearing, but are capable of tasting the heat in the air. I know chameleons probably can't do that but lay off my back lmao.
Qrow comes to the rescue, and Jaune is all out of fucks to give.
Prepare for a healthy dose of RIP AND TEAR next chapter.
I really enjoy writing this story the most, but feel free to check my other works.
Fair warning for the latter half of this chapter. Dark shit ahead.
The Weathercock Inn,
"Okay, say cheese."
Fie snapped a picture of the grumpy looking cat-faunus giving her the stink eye. A bit of touch up on the app, and she had the girl's picture set on a profile page that she will submit to the Adventurer Hub once the signal returned. For now, though, she turned on her recorder and placed the Scroll on the table.
"You don't have to look so grumpy. Here, have some milk."
"I would, but a certain someone has me tied up like a hog for a roast." True enough, Fie had the girl tied to a chair on their dining table in their inn room with ropes and chains.
Could never be too careful with Aura users.
Sara was completely knocked out on the bed from exhaustion, and Fie would rather not wake her mentor up. Unfortunately, there weren't any other places suitable for an impromptu interrogation, as this was the only part of town that had gotten away relatively unscathed from the attacks.
"You would know all about tying people up, judging by what we found in your bag." Shrugging, Fie grabbed her own glass of milk and sipped it leisurely to hide her smirk.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." The black-haired cat girl might try to act nonchalant, but her eyes were glued to the glass of milk Fie offered.
"Oh, I dare say, you know very well what I'm talking about. Ninjas of Love? I never imagined the mean and tough White Fang operatives would read such books."
"I'll have you know that Ninjas of Love are a highly respected series of literature. Besides, aren't you too young to know about these things?"
"Don't forget, this young girl beat you six ways to Sunday." The captive girl growled at the reminder, causing Fie to grin inwardly yet maintain an impassive face outward. "I'll be sixteen next month, and if I'm old enough to kill, I'm old enough to read smut."
The white haired adventurer shrugged with a yawn. She might have taken a nap earlier, but she felt like sleeping for the rest of the day. Opening her eyes, she found the girl sitting opposite her gawking at her blunt admittance to having killed before.
Such an innocent girl and yet… "So, you don't deny your affiliation with the White Fang?"
The girl, who still refused to identify herself though Fie had a hunch to her identity, clammed up for a whole minute in which Fie simply drank her milk and refilled her glass.
"Not anymore." She finally mumbled. "I came here to warn you about an impending attack. The group I was with allied with the local bandits to attack the town. It seems I was too late anyway."
"Mhmm, you missed all the fun. Are you sure you don't wanna tell me your name? I'll untie your hand so you can drink at least."
"I'm fine. I don't need your pity."
"Suit yourself, I guess I will put 'Grumpy McGrumpface' refuses to cooperate in my report and suggest using catnip as a torture device." The amber-eyed girl snorted involuntarily, and Fie's lips twitched upwards at finally breaking through to her. "You really aren't that subtle, Blake Belladonna."
"H-How–"
"Your father is famous among adventurers, and I met your mother once. They looked so similar, I mistook them for siblings."
"They're cousins, actually."
"Ah, nothing like keeping it in the family, huh?"
Blake didn't rise to the taunt, and Fie shrugged. It would make sense for her to grow a thick skin over something she probably got teased about since she was a child.
Using the lull in conversation, the green-eyed cat girl typed in the girl's information. Height, name, weight, three sizes for that old perv and his science, and so on. Regardless of the girl's change of heart, she was still caught red-handed sneaking into town without even paying for the train ticket.
"Can you untie me already? You already know my name, and you have my weapons. I'm hungry and thirsty."
Finishing her glass of milk, Fie hummed as she gazed at the girl daring to use her own secret technique, pitiful cat eyes, on her.
Sadly, it was very effective, causing her to shrug as the white-haired girl moved towards her captive and untied her hands while keeping her legs secured.
"Thanks." Blake rubbed her wrists to get her blood flowing, "food?"
A wave from her hand had breakfast that the proprietress, Margot, had prepared earlier to appear on the table. She hid a grin at the other girl's flabbergasted expression.
"How the–"
"Magic." A peace sign accompanied by her grin was all she would give the black-haired girl. "Now, eat."
Blake looked like she wanted to argue, but her rumbling stomach convinced her otherwise. She dove into her meal of river trout and boiled eggs with toast and an apple. A simple affair considering the attacks the town suffered, yet still a hearty meal.
A comfortable silence descended upon them, with one girl eating and the other typing on her Scroll. Once the black-haired cat girl finished her breakfast, the white haired cat girl stored the empty dishes, and they enjoyed more milk.
"So, are you ready to tell me more about yourself?"
Blake finished her glass of milk before refilling it. "Am I under arrest?"
"Detained. Your only crime is skipping out on the train ticket, and refusing law enforcement orders - which could be interpreted as resisting arrest. Those can be paid off with a fine, however."
"Even when I confessed to being part of the White Fang?"
"The organization may be criminal in Mistral and Atlas, but they have yet to commit any crimes in Vale. As for you, Blake Belladonna, I do not see any warrant for your arrest, though there is a large price on your head."
"What?!" The wide eyes of the girl had Fie want to snicker, but she maintained a blank look.
"Oh yes, your parents have missed you so much that they have a ten thousand Lien bounty for your whereabouts. Not capture, mind you, just your location and a method of contacting you." Blake relaxed slightly but averted her eyes as she suddenly found the ground more interesting. "Blake? Why are your parents looking for you?"
"That is none of your concern."
"True, I hardly know you. Regardless, now that I know a bit about you, I can guess your role in the White Fang. The daughter of the founder of the organization would be the perfect poster child for recruiting, and the fact you do not have a single warrant or report on you means that you have kept your hands clean for the many years you've been missing." Fie didn't hide the disdain in her tone, and the girl must have noticed it.
"What of it? Do you think I don't know about it? That I'm just an accessory to whomever has me on hand? Who are you to judge?" Blake slammed the table in anger as she glared at her, but Fie simply glared back.
"Silence, or you will wake Sara up. I have released your arms because I expected this would be civil, if you will shout and bitch, then I will tie you up again and hand you over to the Vale authorities. They do have a captain stationed here, and I assure you he is not a big fan of faunus."
She continued to glare at the older girl, who oozed naivety, until Blake averted her gaze again with a mumbled apology. Fie nodded, and produced a tub of ice cream from her Storage.
"Just, how are you doing this?" Despite the question, Blake eagerly accepted a spoon, and they both shared the mint and chocolate ice cream.
"Magic." Fie shrugged again, if the girl won't believe her, then that's fine by her. Another silence fell on them as they continued to eat until they finished the tub.
"What do you want to know?" Blake's tone was resigned, and Fie raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you think I want to know anything?"
"Of course you do, you just told me I'm detained, and my crime is negligible, yet you are keeping me here. It has to be for a reason."
"I dunno," the white haired cat girl shrugged, "I just found another cat faunus who can fight. Naturally, I was going to be interested."
"That's it?" Blake snickered as she hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder. "You wanted a friend, so you had to tie me up? Aw, you could have just asked."
"You would have run away. You struck me as the scaredy-cat type rather than the feisty one." Fie didn't mind the girl's touch. She wouldn't dare attack her, for her tail held a knife close to her femoral artery that, even through aura, would have her bleeding out in a few minutes if she tried anything funny.
Fie loved her semblance.
"Oh? And which one are you then?"
"The cool type."
They both chuckled genially as their conversation seemed to naturally evolve into their own personal lives. Fie learned a lot about Blake and then found herself telling more about herself as well. Before she knew it, she had brought out her supply of cotton candy, and they were talking about Blake's fears of what her former group was up to.
"So, hold on a second. You separated the train cars, giving your potentially illegal group weapons and supplies after their declared intention of destroying Celdic and Vale?"
"Well, when you put it like that, it does sound bad, but they're stranded hundreds of miles away with no aircraft or vehicles to get them anywhere. Adam would be far more concerned with making sure the loot and supplies are stored safely, over travelling all the way here to attack."
"That's an assumption, and in my line of work, assuming without taking proper measures tends to kill you." Fie shook her head as she pulled up her Scroll and typed a few more lines for her report.
"Are you not going to arrest me for attacking that train?"
"The SDC demands preferential treatment and oversight over their own legal affairs. Attacking them is attacking Atlas, not Vale, so no, even now, you aren't under arrest unless Atlas issues a warrant for your arrest." Fie shrugged as the other girl's face morphed into shock at the labyrinthine protocols and procedures that law enforcement had to follow. Adventurers under employment by a kingdom-affiliated town would naturally count as law enforcement.
"You do a lot of good being an adventurer, then?"
Fie paused at the strange question and looked at her new companion. "I try as much as I can, but Jaune would say that being a Huntsman would allow you to help even more people."
"Who's Jaune?"
"A buddy of mine who is off on his own assignment."
"So you think being a huntsman is possible for you?"
"I dunno," Fie shrugged. "I hear Beacon is flexible about accepting all sorts of people but I never thought about it."
She eyed the other girl curiously, it was almost as if she wasn't asking her about being a huntsman. Could she be–
"How do you handle the treatment you would get for being a faunus?" Blake finally blurted out what Fie guessed had been eating at her for so long.
"I prove to any of my naysayers that I'm better than they could ever be." The adventurer shrugged again. "Half the garrison could not stand my presence when I first arrived here, and the other half pretended I didn't exist. Once I showed my mettle, they changed their tone, and now I'm in good standing with the captain of the guard."
"… I see." The older girl looked lost in thought, and Fie eyed her with interest.
"You mentioned your former group allied with the local bandits. What do you know about them? Tell me anything you could think of."
Blake frowned in thought as she told her all she knew, from numbers and goals to their leadership. Fie smiled inwardly as the girl didn't even hesitate to tell her about it all, and had to hand it over to Sara's teachings.
There was nothing better than a cooperative interrogation, for torturing information out of someone seldom worked. That Fie herself had grown to like and care for the other cat girl was a bonus, it was incredibly rare for her to find someone her age with similar attributes.
Jaune didn't count. He was a boy, and there are things girls can't talk about with boys.
"… mentioned four Grimm Hordes but–"
"I'm sorry, repeat that part." Something the girl said prickled at Fie's thoughts, four? She felt a rock hit her stomach.
"There were four Grimm Hordes hidden around Celdic, but you already destroyed one of them in the quarry, I believe. The other three attacked at night, right?" Blake tilted her head in confusion, her cat ears, which Fie had convinced her to release, twitched in question.
"No. Only two hordes attacked us. Which means–"
Both girls twitched their heads towards the door as the sound of running footsteps clambering up the stairs reached them. Even if she didn't have cat ears, Fie's hearing was superb, and as the doors banged open, she found the heaving figure of one of the militiamen staring at her in panic.
"G-Grimm. More Grimm have been sighted."
The silence in the room was broken by a loud groan from the bed. "Just as I thought I could finally sleep." Sara got off her bed, her tired and bloodshot eyes stared at the man. "Where?"
"Huh?" The man stared dumbly at the powerful adventurer wearing only a tank top and panties, causing her to click her tongue in annoyance.
"Where are the Grimm attacking?" Sara grounded through her teeth, but Fie had already stood up and dressed for combat before the man could reply.
"N-North. From the north across the stream, and some to the west. Hundreds of them were seen, and the train is still loading."
"Get Brocket and Montgomery to meet me at the train station." Sara sighed as she walked into the bathroom before glancing at the still standing militiaman. "Sometime before the Grimm overrun the town?"
Finally, the man nodded and sprinted off to do as he was told.
"Take me with you. I can help!" Fie stared at Blake as she struggled from her seat. She glanced at her mentor, who had washed her face and dressed for combat, then shrugged at her.
"Up to you, kiddo, I hardly know her. I'll trust your judgment."
Fie gazed at the black-haired cat faunus and recalled their conversation. "I suppose you will get to do some good after all, instead of just looking pretty."
Blake grinned as she released her bindings and accepted her weapon and belongings when Fie pulled them from Storage. "Do you need any Dust?"
"Yes, anything you can spare. My semblance works with most of them, and I only have a few fire dust."
"Sweet." Fie handed her some of the ground Dust Sara yoinked from that Huntsman. "Let's not keep Sara waiting, she's far more powerful than I, but she really hates having her beauty sleep getting cut."
"I heard that, now let's get a move on, kiddos. Blake, right? Tell me what I can expect from you in combat along the way."
Fie smiled lightly as they followed her mentor outside the inn, easily assuaging the worries of the people they met along the way. They have already beaten back two Grimm Hordes, and even without Jaune, they now had another Aura user who could help. Hopefully, it would be enough, as she really was exhausted.
Blowing things up was nice, but her cat naps were nicer.
T*A*M*S
Bandit hideout.
Ilia knew something was wrong as she listened to the anxious racket the bandits made in the tunnels outside her room. She had been careful not to interact with any of the outlaws for fear of contracting any of their diseases or addictions, even refusing any food or drink and opting to use the rations she brought.
The White Fang operative had remained in the small room given to her once she had explored the cave complex and called it a night.
At first, she thought they were preparing for the operation, but checking her scroll told her it was a little early for it. A glance at the signal bar told her all she needed to know. Someone must have turned on that black thing too early.
Indecision consumed her as she bit her lip in uncertainty. The appalling treatment of the faunus prisoners and children had given her nightmares, and she had not slept a wink for nearly a day and a night. They were supposed to assault the human town, and Ilia had dreaded what would happen to those people. Her usual hatred for all things human felt childish compared to the horrors she had already seen.
Now, though, with the attack presumably compromised, this was her chance to rectify some wrong.
Giving a thankful prayer for her luck, Ilia quickly dressed and secured her weapons and equipment before making her way out of the room. Activating her racial ability to blend in, she augmented it with her semblance, Calm, that muffled any sound she produced. Silently, she sneaked down the hallway, making sure to avoid any contact with the bandits rushing past her, until she was forced to follow behind a group led by a large man.
The chameleon-faunus twitched her nose as the downwind draft brought their unwashed smell to her. Still, she heard some interesting gossip as she stuck close to the shadows cast by the torches.
"… Boss Lady was pissed when Shiro returned…"
"I heard he managed to at least get two of the hordes to attack the town but…"
"… Was still standing strong when he left. Will we have to fight the guards and let those animals reap all the rewards once we're tired?"
At the last comment, Ilia scowled, but then remembered that many of the bandits were also fellow faunus that did not seem to care about being called animals. It was such a conflicting dilemma for her; the brutal treatment of the prisoners as well as the terrible screams that echoed out throughout the day made her hate all those monsters with a passion. Yet to find out that many of the tormentors were faunus?
More mindless chatter about not getting their fun or loot, and Ilia was sorely tempted to kill those bastards but held back for when she managed to escape. She may not be able to do anything for the newly arrived prisoners, but those poor faunus kids were waiting for her to free them. She will need all her wits and strength to make it out of here alive with both kids safe.
"Fuck all that noise! If the White Fang bastards hadn't left us that chick as collateral, the boss would never have trusted them. I can't wait till we start the operation, and she would outlive her usefulness." Ilia froze at the words, and her heartbeat thundered like a drum. Surely, they aren't talking about–
"H-Hey, we're not supposed to even mention this. That lizard girl has good hearing, right?"
"Nah, bat man said the lizard can see heat or something but is half deaf. Better yet, spider bitch assured us the girl was a virgin and free game once we begin, Gihihihi!" It was then that Ilia noticed the apparent leader's squeal-like laughter.
Looking closer, the man was bald and pink skinned, with a massive stature. As he laughed, she couldn't help but notice how large and blunt his teeth were, and with his snout-like nose, it made him look like a pig. It took everything in her willpower to not lash out at the mongrels laughing along with their leader as they turned at an intersection. Ilia breathed deeply before hurrying down the other tunnel, where the children were secured… and tortured.
The chameleon-faunus had suspected foul play when it was decided she would be left here, but she never expected betrayal. From Trifa, perhaps, but for Yuma to give away her weakness to filthy bandits like this? It was such a convoluted and cowardly way to get rid of her, and seemed to be in line with what little she knew of the man.
Considering Elder Walter gave him his tacit approval about her assignment, it was clear that Adam himself wanted to be rid of her.
At first, it was supposed to be just Trifa here, but when it was suspected the spider-faunus was compromised, Adam wanted a better eye on their erstwhile allies… was what she was told. It was only then she realized his goal of separating her from Blake. Her friend had confided in her about her disillusionment with the way Adam did things, and while Ilia did not agree completely with their leader, she still agreed with his ideal about bringing the fight to the humans.
Now though, seeing how he allied with those scum and not caring one whit about their fellow faunus, Ilia decided that Blake was right. The fact she was seemingly left here as a peace offering to bandit scum made her blood boil.
Ilia knew there were others among the ranks of the White Fang that shared their dissatisfaction with Adam. She worried about what would become of them, and Blake in particular, as Adam continued his apparent purge.
The sound of children crying and adults laughing told her she was approaching her destination, and Ilia gulped in anxiousness. She had yet to actually see the girl the bandits were… working on, but she knew there was a boy who came with her. They were both most likely in that room, and the only thing separating her from them was the unguarded door and whoever their minders were.
Ilia had been briefed on the existence of Grimm Bait, but she was told that such a volatile method of weaponizing the Grimm would always backfire. She knew Sienna Khan herself vehemently opposed the mere idea of using them, and any who tried to go around her back would be severely punished.
"We are freedom fighters, not lunatics." Was Sienna's justification.
Considering her group had allied with those bandits fully knowing they used that abhorrent method, Ilia wondered if Adam knew he was essentially splintering from Sienna's leadership. She greatly respected Sienna, and Ilia wondered if Adam was turning into a lunatic… or perhaps he was always one.
Shaking her head, she placed her ears against the door, trying to detect how many bandits were inside, but like the pig-faunus from earlier said, her hearing wasn't the best. All she could hear were the children's whimpering and the ominous sound of steel grinding over leather. There were some voices however that she tried to listen to, but the sound of sobbing was distracting.
"… Can't wait… you under my knife again."
"… Until I've… the drug first."
Ilia clenched her teeth as that was more than enough to judge the minders as guilty, but she still needed to know how many were inside. She was not out of tricks, however, as Ilia stuck out her tongue and licked the air near the door gaps and closed her eyes. Focusing on her senses, she detected four humanoids inside, one of them with aura. She might not be able to sense aura, but she could taste it in the air.
That was enough for her.
The White Fang operative glanced behind her one last time, only to freeze at the sight of two beady red orbs staring at her. Ilia huffed when she realized it was just a crow, though she wondered how the bird made it inside the cave. The corvid stared at her from on top a pile of crates, before flying deeper into the tunnels.
Ilia shrugged in favor of grabbing the heavy door, took a deep breath, and barged in.
It took her less than two seconds to notice the two torturers by a rack of tools. A male with a fat head and wormy lips was sharpening a knife on a leather belt while the other, a female with a scaled and gaunt face, had a syringe full of yellow liquid in her hand.
The two of them froze at her entrance and Ilia charged at them with Lightning Lash whipping around the neck of the man and pulled.
She did not even need to activate her lightning dust, for the torturer had no aura as evidenced by his head getting crushed like a melon from the serrated whip. The other woman yelped and Ilia wasted no time throwing her knife at her throat. The reptile-faunus' gurgling as she tried to stem the flow of blood was ignored in favor of the two children forced into a small cage held aloft from the ceiling.
Ilia had seen a lot of terrible things. Her vendetta against humanity drove her to accept missions and assignments that would have destroyed Blake's innocence. She confronted the worst that humanity could do when she fought enemies not so dissimilar to those bandits.
Yet none of that could ever measure to the sight before her.
The moaning and the crying came from the battered form of the boy that pink-haired bandit took, the Grimm Bait. The kid's olive skin was bruised from the many beatings he endured, his left eye was swollen from a recent blow, and the rags he wore had dried blood on them.
Even as she watched, the kid's aura worked on overdrive to fix his injuries, but it was slow-going.
All of that was processed in seconds, for Ilia could not remove her gaze from the morbidly disfigured form of the… human? Girl? She was unsure.
"… Petunia –cough– please…Wake up. It's me, Jasper."
The boy, Jasper, answered her unasked question, and Ilia couldn't tear her gaze away from the comatose girl in the cage. Her blue eye was dull and unseeing, the left eye a gaping hole in her head. Her blonde hair looked to have been burned in some places and torn in others. She might have had cute freckles across her nose, but Ilia couldn't tell with how broken and scarred it was. Her fingernails were torn, her skin was flayed in places, her legs twisted at an unnatural angle.
By rights, she should be dead, yet the weak movements of her chest and the drool from her mouth told Ilia that the girl was miraculously still alive.
It took everything in her power to not lurch sideways and empty her stomach. Ilia took a deep shuddering breath before approaching the cage, finally grabbing the attention of the boy as he glared at her with such venom that it gave her pause. His slitted eyes outed him as some kind of snake-faunus, and Ilia sheathed her weapon as she approached.
"It's okay, I'm here to rescue you."
The boy's glare changed to confusion at her words, and then he noticed the dead bodies of his captors, before a wracking sob burst out of his clenched teeth.
Ilia opened the cage, just as the boy's sobbing reached a crescendo, causing her to use Calm to muffle the sound from leaving the room. She froze when he lunged at her but relaxed when he held her tightly in a shuddering embrace.
The former White-Fang operative hugged the boy, soothingly rubbing his back and finding several old wounds on it. Her eyes, however, could only stare at the dreadful sight of the girl's lone eye staring at her unblinkingly. Idly, Ilia wondered if she was truly a faunus for she saw no traits, but she did not care anymore.
Those two children shall be saved, and any who stood in her way shall die. It was as simple as that.
"Jasper? I need you to be strong for me - for Petunia." At the mention of his friend's name, the boy hiccuped as he looked at her with sad yellow eyes that had seen things she could never fathom. "I need you to tell me what's wrong with her, so I can help her. What kind of faunus is she? I have some drugs that–"
"No drugs!" The boy wailed as he grabbed her collar. "P-Please, n-n-no drugs…" Jasper's grip was weak, and he returned to sobbing hysterically, causing Ilia to grimace.
She was unused to a male's touch, but she would endure it for his sake.
"Jasper, I promise this is good medicine, it will help your friend." Ilia rummaged in one of her pouches and found what she was looking for, painkillers with a few different dosages depending on the faunus, and other detoxifying drugs, as well as clean syringes. "But I need to know what kind of faunus is your friend."
The boy mumbled something incoherent, and it took some coaxing for him to speak.
"Not a faunus. Tuni lied to everyone, saying she was a rabbit faunus, so I wouldn't feel bad about being the only faunus in the village. We're both orphans that stumbled into the village a few years ago. The village took care of us anyway, but Petunia… She raised me, took care of me, taught me how to read and write even though she was only a year older than me… and now she's like this."
It was shocking for her, that a human would go so far for the sake of a faunus.
Ilia shook her head, as she quickly administered the standard dosage to the girl, before removing her from the cage to place her on an operating table. She was by no means a trained medic, but she did have first-aid training.
Jasper had let go of her and stood on the side hesitantly, while she worked on fixing the girl as much as possible. It helped that the room had plenty of medical equipment, such as gauze and disinfectants.
"How long have you been here, Jasper?" Hoping to distract him from the sight of his friend, Ilia glanced at the boy who jerked at being spoken to.
"I-I'm not sure…weeks, maybe months, could be a year."
"That can't be right." Ilia paused from where she was setting Petunia's leg. "This entire bandit group only formed a couple of months ago. What was the last date you remember?"
"… July 2nd." The boy took a moment to remember, and Ilia froze at his answer. How was this possible?
"Do you know what kind of drugs the bad guys gave you?"
"B-Bad ones." Jasper seemed to shrink onto himself. "They would inject some kind of yellow slime into us, they said it's to make…to make o-our conditioning m-more…"
That was more than enough for Ilia to understand what happened, as she tied up the last bandage on the girl and covered her with a simple white sheet for modesty.
"Jasper, July 2nd was four days ago. Whatever drug they gave you made you believe more time had passed than normal."
That explained how the scum had managed to create the Grimm Bait in such a short amount of time. A surprisingly functional one, as despite what he endured, Jasper could stand on his own feet and talk coherently. If it wasn't for the sheer hatred and malice she could taste in his aura, he would have been mistaken for a scared child. Her eyes fell on the syringe the woman had - it was full of a yellow, viscous liquid, and she immediately crushed it underfoot.
Looking around the room, Ilia's gaze settled on a wheelchair and propped Petunia on it, trying to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.
"F-Four days? B-But, it felt so…"
"Drugs can do a lot of things to the body, many of them good but some of them bad." Ilia turned to the boy and rubbed his black hair gently as she checked him for injuries, dabbing his swollen eye with disinfectant and placing bandaids over any nicks and scratches. "Now, are you ready to get out of here? I'm sure your village would be glad to have you and Petunia back."
"But, Tuni is…"
"Shhh, don't worry about that. She will live, and she will recover. You have to believe in her. Now, can you push her behind me?"
The boy nodded, his face tightening in determination as he hurried behind the secured Petunia and slowly pushed her as Ilia waited by the still open door. It was a miracle that no one had barged in on them, and Ilia thanked the gods for watching over her reckless ass.
As they traveled down the tunnel to where the bandits had parked their Bullheads, her eyes widened as a tremor reverberated through the walls. Were they under attack? She waited for a minute, but no more tremors came, causing her to shrug it off as an earthquake.
As they traveled through the tunnels, Ilia froze at an intersection where a dead body was slumped against the wall. Checking it closely, it was a bandit but the way he died… it was a completely clean cut, and the second she touched the body, half of the man's torso fell off.
Glancing down one of the tunnels, she found more corpses. Some of them were cut similarly, others had bullet marks, yet a couple appeared to have been ripped apart by a wild beast. Ilia did not want to know who would have such incredible strength for such a feat, and thanked the gods that they did not need to go through that tunnel.
She swiftly led Jasper and Petunia down another tunnel that should lead them to the Hangar.
The sound of tired huffing had her turn to Jasper, who appeared to be on his last legs. Ilia quickly had him grab onto her back as she tied him with a loose cloth she found on a crate. Then, she pushed Petunia's wheelchair down the tunnels, Calm working at maximum to muffle the clanging sound of the wheels going over the rough path.
It only just now occurred to her that this entire rescue operation was a major clusterfuck waiting to happen - that she depended too much on luck and her Semblance to sneak away, but she knew that her luck would run out once she arrived at the hangar.
Soon enough, they exited the tunnel to find the cavern acting as a hangar filled to the brim with bandits. There must have been at least a thousand of them, many of them having crossed from beyond the Vale Mountains to raid and pillage the fertile lands of Vale proper.
The bandits have chosen their hideout well, for the tunnel complex led to an ancient underground city that they only explored its surface levels. A massive cave mouth overlooking a valley acted as the perfect hangar for VTOLs, with over twenty bullheads and three cargo ships docked in haphazard lines. It was a good thing the ceiling was easily over a thousand-foot-high.
"It's them!" Jasper's growling next to her ear had her follow his sight to find Shiro and Trifa standing next to the humongous form of Ravena Boering. There was a heavy feeling in the air as the rambunctious bandits were silent for once as they stared fearfully at their leader.
Ilia quickly hid behind one of the bullheads, hoping it was unlocked, but to no avail.
Glancing at the massive woman, there was a scrawny man kneeling in front of her and a cage of juvenile Grimm manically trying to escape. Ilia gulped when the Grimm stared right at her - no, at Jasper - and went even madder.
She couldn't hear what was being said, but she watched in morbid horror as the mouse-faunus stuttered something through his wailing that caused the Bandit Queen to scowl deeply before she grabbed his head with one meaty fist. Screams of terror were muffled by the massive hand as the woman slammed him on the ground, his crunching bones echoing out in the cave. Then, the terrible woman grabbed his arm and ripped it off its socket before moving it to her gaping maw…
Ilia couldn't help it and dry retched on the side. She knew they were lowlifes, but she never imagined they would sink so low.
"They are monsters, we must kill them all." Surprisingly, Jasper patted her cheek in comfort, yet his words chilled her. The unmitigated malevolence and spite she could hear through the boy's venomous tone was staggering. "That demon did that to Petunia. Gouged out her eye and swallowed it in front of us when Tuni fought back."
"Let this be a lesson to any of you retards who disobey orders or get any funny ideas. The Boss Lady is always hungry, so don't give her a reason, or else you will share the same fate as Bors here." Ilia flinched and looked back to find Shiro speaking through a megaphone.
The Bandit Queen was wiping some blood from her lips with a towel and smiled in content as if she just had a gourmet meal.
There was no sign of the dead man.
Ilia shook her head, and started looking for an open Bullhead. The sooner they were out of here the better. Hopefully, the remaining prisoners would still be alive when she returned with help from Celdic, provided they didn't shoot her on sight.
She knew the prisoners were only here for a day, and the bandits had been too busy preparing for the attack on Celdic for them to have been abused too harshly.
Ilia tried to ignore the screams of terror and pain she had heard when she passed by the prison pens last evening.
"Celdic is ripe for the taking. We have all been waiting for this moment for weeks, and now we shall take it for all it's worth. Even as we speak, they are on their last legs after fighting off two Grimm hordes, and will be easy pickings–"
"BOSS!" A sudden shout interrupted whatever Shiro was going to say next, and all eyes turned to another tunnel as a man hurried into the hangar with blood over his front. "Boss!" The man shoved his way through the sea of bandits until he stopped before the scowling Shiro and Ravena, but their countenance quickly changed at his exclamation.
"We're under attack! The tunnels are strewn with corpses. The prison pens are locked, with the guards missing!"
Many worried murmurs sounded out, and Ilia used this chance to slowly push the wheelchair towards a Bullhead with its ramp extended, Calm killing all sound, but she still had to be careful not to be seen. The White Fang operative ignored all the surrounding chatter, her vision tunneling on the Bullhead and all her focus on sticking to the shadows.
Nearly there now. Just a little–
"Stop!" Jasper's warning hissed in her ears, and she involuntarily stopped. "Why are they quiet?"
It was true, the worried chatter from earlier was gone. All Ilia could hear was the sound of snorting and loud sniffing, and a shiver ran through her back.
"Over there! I can smell the lizard bitch."
Fuck! She risked a glance behind her, finding the same pig-faunus from earlier pointing at her.
Ilia hurried towards the Bullhead at the sound of rushing footsteps behind her, all thoughts of subtlety forgotten. She knew that her biggest weakness was her inability to hide her smell. That had never been a problem for only a faunus would have such keen senses to smell her, and once again, Ilia Amitola cursed her treacherous kin who joined hands with those brigands.
"Stop, or we will shoot."
"Idiot! Just shoot her already, she has aura."
Ilia's eyes widened, and fear for the boy holding tightly onto her shoulders had her turn around to shield the girl and the wheelchair. The sight of nearly a hundred bandits with dozens of guns aiming at her froze her. She barely had time to cover her face with her arms, before gunfire, explosions, and screams of pain resounded in the cave.
Yet… she did not feel anything hit her.
Opening her eyes, Ilia looked in shock at a towering figure standing protectively in front of her, wearing a white shirt with a short red cape. Ilia involuntarily licked the air, and shivered at the obscene amount of aura her savior had.
A massive sword blocked the worst of the hail of bullets and as Ilia looked past the tall dark-haired man's shoulder, she nearly chortled at the ridiculous sight of many of the bandits' guns jamming or outright exploding in their hands.
"You've done well, girl." The man glanced at her, his red eyes glowing with power, and Ilia thought they looked familiar. "No matter your affiliation, you are under my protection now."
Ilia's heart nearly dropped to her stomach as the man all but confirmed he knew she was from the White Fang, yet his smile eased her worries. Just who was he?
"Who the fuck are you?" The grating shriek came from Shiro who threw away his gun as it too had blown up in his hands, though his aura protected him.
It filled her with giddy joy to see all those scum afflicted with such bad luck, or maybe the fools simply never bothered to maintain their weapons.
"Qrow Branwen. Huntsmen of Beacon." Ilia flinched - of all the people who would save her, it would be the most famous huntsman in Remnant. She was not sure if she should be honored or terrified. "You are all under arrest, and I advise you to come quietly before things get ugly."
The bandits looked at Qrow as if he had grown a second head before they burst out in laughter. Ilia noticed Trifa, Shiro and some of the other higher ups, like the pig man, turning to Ravena in worry, however.
"Quiet you fools!" The bandit queen roared from her position next to the Grimm cages, causing all laughter to cease. "Qrow Branwen. Your reputation precedes you, yet even you should know how foolish it is to attack us all by your lonesome."
"Who says I'm alone?" The veteran huntsman glanced back at her with a smirk, causing Ilia to gulp.
"You would ally with the White Fang? A poor choice of friends, for she would sooner stab you the moment your back is turned."
"Just as you would have done to me!" Ilia couldn't help herself from shouting at the bitch, finding her courage from the reassuring smile of the huntsman. "Tell me, you monster. How many of our fellow faunus have you killed or tortured for whatever sick pleasure you enjoy?"
"More than I could care to count." Ravena's bored reply took her aback, and she noticed Branwen's shaking head.
"It's no use trying to appeal to the morality of monsters that are worse than Grimm. These scum had long abandoned their humanity, or faunusity or whatever you want to call it." Ilia's eyebrow twitched, "Ravena 'the cannibal' Boering is a fugitive from the Narrow Sea and is responsible for the destruction of multiple villages and towns, along with countless deaths and atrocities. You were last seen two years ago, running with your tail behind your legs into the jungles of the Southlands after a raid gone wrong. I'm surprised you would end up here, of all places, causing havoc once again. Surely, you should have known that you would not survive the ire of Vale if you plague these lands with your existence. What gave you the guts to act now?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"A mysterious backer, perhaps? That communication blackout, it must be something provided by that backer." Ilia saw the bandit queen glance briefly at the worried looking Shiro. "Looks like I hit the nail on the head."
"It doesn't matter, you won't be leaving this place alive. Neither you nor the girl and the brats." The cannibal queen grabbed a massive halberd that had serrated chains on one side and an axe head on the other.
No, calling it a halberd would be an understatement.
It was a massive fucking chainsaw.
"Hey, girl. What's your name?"
Ilia jerked at the sudden question, and bit her lips in worry. If she gave away her name, then she could be tracked. Maybe if she used an alias–
"I already said you're under my protection, and I'd rather not call you 'lizard girl' during the fight."
"… Ilia. Ilia Amitola."
"Good name. Protect your charges, Ilia, and don't hesitate to kill, for no amount of talk would have these scum see the error of their ways." Qrow brandished his weapon as he glared at the bandit army in front of him. "However, I'm not fond of killing, so I will give you one last chance. Surrender, and you will receive a fair trial."
"Too late for that, dipshit. You already killed our men on your way here. Men, attack!"
Before anyone could so much as twitch, a resonating explosion resounded from deep inside the cave. Suddenly, a massive crescent wave of what Ilia recognized as an aura attack, burst out of the wall, raining rocks and debris before slamming into three of the Bullheads, cutting them in half.
The rocks fell onto more Bullheads and crushed a few of the bandits standing in the rear. All was quiet as a lone figure walked out of the new tunnel, with ominous steps that echoed in the cavern like a Goliath's stomps.
A deep chuckle came from Qrow Branwen as he shook his head in exasperation. "I never said I was alone, and I only killed the prison guards on my way here. Is this your idea of sneaking in, Jaune?"
As the dust settled, a blonde man in dented and rusted armor, the same height as Qrow, stopped in front of the bandits. He held a longsword pointed to the ground, his blue eyes glowed with a malice and hatred that reminded her of Jasper on her back, who had remained quiet ever since they were discovered.
Yet unlike the powerless Jasper, the eyes of the newcomer promised death and retribution on those who wronged him, and Ilia could taste waves upon waves of suffocating aura encompassing the cave with every step the man took. It made Qrow's obscene aura reserves seem like a pond compared to that ocean of aura approaching.
This was no man, it was a demon. Ilia was only glad that he seemed to be on their side.
"This place is a maze. You didn't bother giving a signal, so I made my own way in."
In the show, Blake is incredibly naive for a supposedly former terrorist. This is my take on what she has been doing over the past five years.
Fie interrogates her with kindness and it works well. Too well. Like, she nailed a NAT 20 on a Charisma roll well.
White cat 2, black cat 0?
Ilia was a good concept character that got shafted instead of developed properly. She is probably only remembered as Blake's lesbian stalker or something, so naturally, I will fix this garbage by both buffing her up and nerfing her in places.
Lizards and reptiles generally have bad hearing, but are capable of tasting the heat in the air. I know chameleons probably can't do that but lay off my back lmao.
Qrow comes to the rescue, and Jaune is all out of fucks to give.
Prepare for a healthy dose of RIP AND TEAR next chapter.
Chapter 21 (Death of Innocence)
And we reach the finale of the arc!
"Hold the line!"
"Kill the Grimm!"
"Plug that gap and keep firing!"
"Kill the bandits! Kill those who brought those monsters here!"
"Kill the ones who killed me! Who killed my family and loved ones!"
"Kill them, Jaune! Kill, and keep killing no matter what–"
He woke up with a start, finding himself laying on the cliff, where he waited for that older huntsman to signal. He did not think he dozed off, but his mind must have wandered…
Jaune took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, only to grit his teeth as he clenched the rocks under his hands tight enough to crush them to dust. Krystal's question sounded so far away, and the Arc was tired after the night of battle. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally…
He was exhausted.
"So much death… and I felt every last one." Jaune didn't bother replying mentally or even whispering, as he stood up with a groan and glared at the mountain ahead. "The dragoons, the townsfolk, the militia… linking my aura with the dead and the dying feels like utter crap. Their last thoughts… their last emotions. Do you know what that feels like, Krystal?"
"Of course you wouldn't."
Jaune used Search to scan the cave system inside and clicked his tongue when he couldn't find Qrow; The man never said what the signal was, and he didn't get the chance to memorize his avian form to use Pathfinder. A distant part of his mind wanted to question the huntsman about his magic and that transformation ability, but Jaune was far too gone to care about that now.
His attention was grabbed by a room with a massive amount of negativity in it, those must be the hostages. Every fiber in his being screamed to charge right in and rescue them, yet his very soul demanded he would take the fight to the bandits first and wipe them from Remnant, for he swore it!
Jumping down the cliff, the aspiring huntsman withdrew his sword and gun as he made his way towards the cave entrance.
"Every one of those who died had one last thought on their minds that they sent to me, whether intentionally or not. I'm sure you know it, Krystal. You know everything about me."
"Vengeance." The blonde knight marched towards the cave, "The last vestiges of their souls even now call for me to find those bandits and tear them limb from limb."
Jaune paused before the entrance, his seething emotions made it difficult to think things through, yet he still recognized that Krystal's tone was… off. "Yeah. You are not going to convince me otherwise?"
Something told Jaune there was more to this than Krsytal was alluding, but he did not care. The simple assurance that the living being in his mind wouldn't judge him was more than enough, and the time for contemplation was gone. There was no redemption for the scum; for too long they've run free without consequence, thinking themselves above any kind of judgment.
It was time for retribution.
Using Search, Jaune already knew where his quarries were, their tar-stained souls, steeped with malice, were like a dark stain on a white sheet. A bandit appeared in front of him as he entered the cave system, the man was drinking booze from a bottle, and the moment he saw him, he was already dead. The body of the bandit was cut cleanly from the left shoulder diagonally to his right hip, and as the man fell into two halves, Jaune continued his stride.
His first human kill… and he felt absolutely nothing.
A second bandit appeared, and then a third and a fourth. Jaune simply killed them all.
The more bandits appeared, the more he decorated the macabre tunnels red. With gun and sword, he methodically delivered death. Many tried to resist with gunfire, but it was futile against his movements and armor. His dragoon armor proved its merit, especially with his churning aura augmenting it. With the futility of their weapons, the fools took to wailing on him with various melee weapons.
Yet, it was to no avail. His skill at arms was enough to beat back thugs who had never fought anyone aside from defenseless villagers.
Some pleaded for mercy, only for him to feel more rage at the sheer gall to beg for mercy when they provided none. He might not have known exactly what crimes they had committed, yet his Aura Sense did not lie, and using Observe on any of them made him feel disgust and even more rage at what the ability told him. A few managed to run deeper into the mountain, yet he ignored them, for they would surely bring him more sinners to purge.
With every death, every punch, every slice of his blade, something primal inside him was awakening, and Jaune's breathing got heavier by the minute. The stench of blood and shit permeated the air, but he was already numb to it from the earlier battles. The death throes of the bandits, the way their flesh parted for his blade, and their bones and tendons severed as he sliced with Crocea Mors, gave him a sense of righteousness.
It was not enough.
Entering an intersection, he found a dozen of the bandits waiting for him, hiding behind crates and other obstacles while they aimed their guns at him. For an instant, clarity returned to Jaune's increasingly reddening vision as he noticed one of the guns to be a machine gun, and he swiftly jumped away once its user started spraying at him with a scream.
The rest of the bandits opened fire, and Jaune quickly boosted his PER and AGL, noticing his aura reserves had dwindled to a fifth of their total.
Yet, it was worth it as he could almost predict the paths of the bullets, dodging most of them and deflecting what he could not with his blade. A few still hit him in his armor, for the sudden boost of his stats would always take time for him to adjust, or at least until he trained to get used to it. Still, the steel chest piece with sewn Kevlar underneath was enough to stop most of them, even if it hurt like a bitch, and he lamented his lack of shield.
The pain brought both clarity and rage to his mind, and the more he felt it, the more payback he promised to return.
Soon, the sound of gunfire abated, and the bandits stared at him in horror as they continued to dry fire their guns. Their fear and terror was like a tonic for Jaune as his lips twisted into a malicious grin as he advanced at them. Using Observe was always handy for the intimidation factor, for as his gaze fell on one of them, the bandit flinched heavily as he dropped the clip he was trying to reload. His aura, even locked and pathetically weak, did not lie, and the way it stagnated like sludge reminded him of sewage water.
"S-Stay away from me!" The bandit fell on the ground as Jaune stood over him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the aspiring huntsman knew it was incredibly foolish of him to stand in the open like this and allow his foes a chance to reload their weapons and attack him.
Yet, reason had all but fled from his mind, and as he Stored his weapons away, he knelt and grabbed the bandit by the throat, lifting him with one hand and glared deeply into his terrified eyes.
"How many innocents have you murdered?"
"A-As if I would remember that! They were weak, and I was strong, so I do whatever the fuck I want!"
The bandit gasped as he realized what he just blurted. Jaune would have found it strange, and perhaps wondered if it was due to his aura or Observe or any of the other abilities he had, that caused the man to speak without thought. Instead, his vision reddened even further, the dark whisperings in his mind urging him to seek retribution and judge those sinners for their crimes were louder than ever.
He gripped the bandit's neck harder, causing him to choke and his eyes to bulge. The man tried desperately to free himself, but Jaune's grip was harder than steel, so the bandit tried to plunge his thumb into his eye…only for it to audibly break as it rebounded off his aura.
Jaune grinned as he watched the eyes of the bandit widen in terror and disbelief before grabbing his face with his other hand and pulled.
As the bandit's neck was squashed into pulp and Jaune ripped his head from his body, he threw it at one of his friends, and idly wondered how his stats really worked. His STR of 82 was only twenty-two points higher than a healthy and athletic male, yet it must be more nuanced than a simple percentage increase. Those thoughts were the only thing that stopped him from descending on the rest of the bandits in a blind rage, whose fight or flight instincts went haywire. One of them ran away, his front covered in the blood of the bloody head of his friend. The rest charged him in a frenzy, guns abandoned and using whatever weapons they could find.
Not bothering to pull out his weapons, Jaune charged right at them, punching through the torso of one of them and lifting him before continuing on to grab the neck of the next bandit. All while the first one hanged limply from over his elbow. Jaune clenched his bloody fist before pulling, tearing away the second bandit's throat, and throwing it at the terrified eyes of a third bandit. Then, he withdrew his arm from the first bandit's torso, and body slammed him into the third bandit, killing him with the sound of breaking bones.
Two more bandits, both of them women, slashed at him with machetes, only to bounce off his aura. Jaune could feel it dwindling, for even a thousand ant bites could eventually bring down an elephant. Yet, he did not care, for even if he had no aura, he would kill them all, even if he had to crawl on the ground and bite their throats out.
Grabbing both bandits by the face with each hand, Jaune dragged them closer and smashed their heads together in a grotesque kiss, their auras shattering, then their skulls once he smashed them again.
A handful had grabbed their guns again, but Jaune was faster as he pulled out his revolver and fanned the hammer at them before they could even aim.
There was only one remaining, and he took a step back as Jaune approached him, mumbling incoherently and praying to some deity. As if any self-respecting god would save such filth. With one last step, the bandit screamed before turning tail and running - only to trip on the head of the first bandit Jaune had killed. The man barely had time to blubber at the terrified face of his compatriot before Jaune's Strega boot came crashing down with a stomp, turning the decapitated head into pulp.
The man's eyes were so wide, Jaune nearly chuckled. He relished in the fear and terror on his face, even as the bandit forgot to breathe and choked on air, as he twitched horribly making his bones groan in protest. Then, he stopped… and collapsed face down.
Jaune tilted his head in confusion, his boot a foot over the scum's head, ready to squash it. Using Observe, he snorted.
The fool shook so much from fear, he ruptured his spine and his heart gave out. Pathetic. He looked around, finding bloody and eviscerated corpses everywhere.
Taking a deep breath, inhaling the stench of blood and death, the primal feeling in his soul burned brighter. It was as if his blood were on fire, and the voices of the dead urged him to find more to kill in increasingly imaginative ways. He chose a random tunnel and walked deeper into the cave system, gritting his teeth in frustration at the lack of enemies.
After a few minutes with no enemies around, his growing bloodlust started to slightly cool, allowing him to Search around him, trying to find a new heading, looking for more bandits to kill.
He paused when he found three souls passing by the intersection he was in earlier and continuing down another tunnel. One of them was familiar, and Jaune instantly focused on the nexus of fear and hatred that he felt flying over the town, yet there was something new. It was better now, as if the child had gotten a chance to feel hope.
Another of them felt similar in age to the Grimm Bait, but its soul was completely blank, as if it was broken, and remembering Fie's words, he feared for the worst. The last one had a grayish tint to it, that slowly shone brighter as she led the two children away from the slaughter. A reformed bandit, perhaps? Was that even possible? Or maybe a different party that sneaked in to save those kids? Whatever it was, they had just exited the tunnel into a chamber of some kind, where Jaune felt a massive amalgamation of those tar like souls through the walls.
Realizing those must be the rest of the bandits, a savage grin bloomed on his face at the prospect of his enemies gathered in one location. The grin turned into a frown, however, as Jaune realized the three innocent souls were now surrounded by the dark mass. Pathfinder told him it would take too long for him to backtrack through that tunnel and by then, it would be too late for him to help.
Brandishing Crocea Mors, the Arc scion walked deeper into the tunnel until he found a spot where the souls became more defined to his Aura Sense, and channeled the rest of his aura into his blade. It took nearly half a minute to drain his remaining aura, all two thousand points, and his sword shone brighter than the afternoon sun, the sheer heat emanating from it would have instantly melted any normal steel, but not the Yellow Death.
Once his aura was in the single digits, he swung his sword with a grunt, and the walls blew apart as the blade of light traveled a hundred feet through solid rock before blowing out of the other side, cleaving through anything in its path.
Activating Second Wind, Jaune stumbled slightly as within seconds, his aura climbed from a measly four, back to ten thousand!
Breathing deeply, he made his way through the new tunnel, the dust obscuring much of the way, but his eyes adjusted to the bright light once he found himself in a massive cavern with bullheads everywhere. Yet, the tar-like souls of the thousand bandits ahead of him grabbed his attention, and his blood screamed giddily for the carnage to come.
"… your idea of sneaking in, Jaune?" Qrow's voice echoed from where he was standing protectively in front of the three earlier figures he saw. Jaune clicked his tongue at having missed the man in his rush to get into the coming melee.
"This place is a maze. You didn't bother giving a signal, so I made my own way in."
"Who's this now, another fool in way over his head?"
His attention was grabbed by an absolute unit of a woman, and instantly, every fiber of his being screamed that this creature was more evil than anyone else he had ever met. If the rest of the bandits had tar like souls, then hers was a dark abyss that swallowed all around her, and using Observe, he realized he was close to the mark.
Profile:
Name: ?
Class: Gluttonous Berserker
Age: 46
Height: 8'2"
Build: Muscular/Obese
Race: Faunus (Boar)
Stats:
Aura Points: 3413/2771
Aura Control: 71%
Strength (STR): 116
Vitality (VIT): 113
Dexterity (DEX): 64
Agility (AGL): 65
Perception (PER): 61
Intelligence (INT): 76
Semblance: GLUTTONY: ?-?-?
Status Effects:
Satiated: Increased Aura, STR and VIT for an hour.
Her stats were worryingly high, and her massive size probably hid more strength than the numbers suggested; That meant that she was even stronger than what Observe showed. A cursory look at the rest of the bandits, he could tell she was most likely the bandit leader, for all the rest did not come close to having a fraction of her power. Jaune's blood boiled at the thought of all the tragedies of the region being traced back to this beast and her army of pathetic weaklings, and his soul sang for him to tear them apart, piece by piece, if needed.
"Hey, isn't that the knight fucker who protected the town?"
The grating voice caught his attention, and Jaune instantly recognized the pink haired man and the white haired woman beside him. He had never seen them before, but he memorized their aura when they flew over Celdic. He scoffed as he Observed them; they were not worth mentioning, certainly better than the rest of the bandits, but nowhere near as strong as Sara or even Fie, aura or stat wise. His gaze fell back on the big woman, plans on how to dismantle her and that big halberd thing she wielded ran through his mind.
"Jaune, I will take Ravena on, the big woman." Qrow's smokey voice broke him from his musings, and Jaune frowned. "Ilia here will protect the kids, so I need you to take on the rest while covering for her."
His eyes found the young woman hiding behind Qrow, her back to a bullhead, and on her back was a boy with the most expressive eyes he had ever seen… and they screamed murder and hatred, yet were tempered by fear and terror. There was also a tiny blot of white as he held onto the tanned woman tightly; Hope.
Behind them, was a wheelchair with a young girl in a deplorable state, and the more Jaune inspected them, the harder he gritted his teeth in fury and his gaze fell on the bandit army that had not stood idly while they talked. Ranks were formed, groups were made, and they had edged closer to his newfound allies. His gaze found Qrow, and the older man nodded to him, his Aura Link that he tried to attach to him finally connecting, and he could feel the confidence and surety coming from the man, and Jaune nodded back.
"Attack you fucks! Kill them already."
The grating screech from the pink head was the signal everyone waited for. Jaune charged into the crowd, Qrow turned his weapon into a shotgun and blasted the surrounding bandits before tossing a flashbang in their midst. He then turned into a crow, and flew towards the bandit boss, allowing Ilia to finish off the stunned bandits.
The battle was on.
.
.
.
Ilia jumped away from a retaliatory swing by one of the bandits. Qrow's shotgun blast was expected, but his flashbang was not and if he hadn't warned her at the last second, she too would have been stunned.
The White Fang operative would not let such an opportunity go and swiftly finished off nearly a dozen of the surrounding bandits, emptying the revolver of her Lightning Lash into their heads and stabbing the rest.
Unfortunately, there were still a hundred more to go, and Ilia was constrained by the boy on her back and the comatose girl near the Bullhead.
"Hurry up and fix those guns!"
Realizing that she was a sitting duck if she allowed the bandits to use their guns, Ilia quickly grabbed a submachine gun from one of the fallen bandits, praying it would not be jammed, and sprayed at a nearby group that were trying to unjam their guns. The staccato of gunfire sounded for a few seconds and the bandits were riddled with bullet holes, and Ilia wondered if a god of fortune was watching over her.
Once the gun was empty, she bashed it at a daring bandit that tried to attack from behind, before throwing the ruined gun at another bandit's head, knocking him out. The fast-paced action had allowed her to down nearly two dozen bandits, but she was already feeling tired, and carrying a kid on her back did not help.
"On your left!"
Jasper's warning had her instinctively jump backwards as the large bald pig-faunus from earlier smashed a flail where Ilia had been a second ago. She stared warily at the cracked ground where the spiked metal head landed and knew her aura would not have withstood such an attack.
"Stay still, you fucking lizard!"
The large man swung his flail at her, but while he had strength in spades, he was far too slow and telegraphed every attack. Still, Ilia would not be able to keep this up for long, as her breathing got even heavier and sweat poured down her forehead. She needed only to wait until the fat man would eventually overextend, and she would stab him in the neck, hopefully piercing through his aura.
Readying her Lightning Lash, Ilia carefully reloaded the revolver as she dodged the flail. She was wary of using its whip form for she did not have a lot of Lightning Dust, but if ever was the time to go all out, now would be it. Finally, the bandit overextended, and Ilia was about to activate her whip when Jasper yelled in her ear.
"They're going after Tuni!"
The distraction nearly cost her, for the pigman was not as off-balance as she thought, and Ilia jumped away at the last second from a backhanded strike. Turning towards Petunia, her eyes widened when she realized the swine man was smarter than he looked and had dragged her away from her charge.
Three bandits were almost at the girl, and Ilia dashed as fast as she could but the bandits already held Petunia, one of them placing a knife to her neck.
"Don't fucking move, or the cripple gets it."
Ilia knew she could not stop. Taking people hostage was an old and tried trick of the White Fang, and it never went well in a combat situation. Yet, with Jasper tightening his grip on her shoulders, she was unsure what to do.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her, and Ilia quickly turned to find the flail inches from her face. She barely managed to bring her weapon to block, yet she was still sent flying from the force of it, and her aura flickered as it went dangerously low. Just before she hit the ground, she flipped to a handstand, but the extra weight of Jasper caused her to stumble and they both fell into a heap, the flimsy cloth holding them tearing at the seams. Her bandolier was also torn, and what little Dust and ammo she had, clattered all over the place.
"Finally…got you…you damn lizard." The pigman panted as she shakily stood up. Her limbs felt heavy, and her breathing was heavier. Glancing around, she was surrounded by nearly twenty of the bandits. She wondered what happened to the rest as she recalled there being a lot more. Hearing the screams of pain and war cries in the distance, she figured Qrow's friend dragged them into his fight.
Ilia looked for Jasper, finding the boy struggling to get on his feet as he glared murderously at the bandits as they converged around Petunia's helpless form. Biting her lips in frustration, Ilia cursed; she had failed, and she did not need to imagine what the bandits would do now.
"I'll give you one chance, girl." The pigman lumbered towards the rest of his men and placed his flail near the comatose girl. "Throw away your weapons and surrender, and we might keep you alive as a toy for the boys. We won't harm the brat, we might still need him. The girl on the other hand…well, she's already fucked up as it is, might as well have her join you as our fuck toy, gihihihi."
Dammit! What should she do? There were three bandits around the girl, and the rest of them slowly surrounded her. Ilia needed a distraction, preferably before they finished their encirclement. The sound of battle and carnage seemed so far away, yet Ilia did not think any savior would come at the last moment. She gritted her teeth; there was no other way around it. Jasper was near her, and she could still grab him and run, leaving Petunia behi–
A sudden aura spike from the downed Jasper interrupted her thoughts as the boy dragged himself to his knees and glared viciously at the pigman.
"Leave Petunia Alone!!!"
One moment, the bandits in front were leering at them, and the next, their eyes rolled to the back of their heads as three of them collapsed. The pigman stumbled backwards with sweat pouring down his face and his mouth agape, the same with a few others. Ilia had no idea what happened, but she would not waste such an opportunity. Within a blink of an eye, she surged forward, extended her weapon and activated the Lighting Dust Crystal, turning it into a long yellow-hot whip that shrieked ominously, and swung with all her strength.
She cursed as only the tip would reach from so far away.
Yet that was enough.
Two of the bandits had their throats slit, falling away from Petunia and the smell of burned flesh permeated the air, yet the pigman's squeal of pain had her click her tongue. His aura must have saved him, yet he held his arm as the whip had cut deep into the bone before he managed to wrench it away and the coward ran off to bundle up with the rest of the scum. Before she could swing again, the remaining bandits attacked her, and she had to fight for her life.
An axe strike was dodged, and she retaliated with a kick, but had to retreat from a mace. She was slowly being overrun, her aura was dangerously low, and she was already having trouble staying on her feet. A machete wielding psycho squealed in ecstasy behind a mask as he slashed at her, while she was off guard. Ilia panicked but barely managed to dodge by contorting her waist sideways, yet it still grazed her enough to shatter her aura, and she could feel heat from her side.
Not giving her a chance to recover, another bandit struck her left arm with a club yet she managed to jump with the blow, so instead of her arm breaking, it only fractured. With the last vestiges of her strength, she twirled in midair, her whip shining brightly as it lashed out at her foes, yet they were ready for her as half of them simply ducked.
The other half were not as lucky, as the whip coiled around their bodies, sending millions of volts worth of electricity into their bodies and burning through their flesh. Their screams of agony grated on her ears, except for the masked psycho who was short enough to instantly lose his head. Ilia barely had the strength left to pull her Lash towards her, cutting through limbs, torsos, rib cages, and lungs until blissful silence as her whip returned to her and their bodies fell into a burning heap.
The remaining bandits were shocked by the grotesque way their compatriots died. Normally, Ilia would shy away from using such cruel methods against foes without aura, but she was in a bind and holding back would be a deadly mistake.
She could barely stand on her feet, her left arm was useless, sending her jolts of pain, and she was quickly losing blood. Jasper had managed to stand and used the lull in the fight to support her as they made their way to Petunia, yet she could tell he was also near collapsing. Days of torture had made his body weak, and whatever he did earlier had dropped his aura to nearly nothing. His slitted eyes were glowing with power and when they settled on her, she instinctively gulped in wariness, yet when he looked at the bandits, they froze… almost like rats in front of a snake.
"Are you… alright, Jasper?"
"… tired. My eyes are burning, but Petunia…" The mumbled words were barely coherent, and the boy did his best to keep his eyes open, but once they reached the girl, his aura shattered, and he closed his eyes in exhaustion. Now, she was the one holding him, and with what she assumed to be his semblance losing its powers, the bandits had regained their bearing and Ilia was out of options.
"G-Get 'em! T-They're powerless now, quickly before the bitch pulls out another trick."
The pigman had somehow got his wound treated with bandages and brandished his flail angrily. There were only ten bandits left, yet Ilia could barely lift her arm. She couldn't remember when was the last time her aura broke, and the White Fang Operative vowed if she ever survived this, she would up her training to include aura depletion resistance.
As the bandits advanced, she had to let go of Jasper and brandished her Lightning Lash threateningly, causing them to stare at the electric whip warily. The whip had enough Dust in it to remain active for half an hour at its lowest setting, but the bandits did not need to know that. At this point, it was Ilia's only method of defending herself, for she had lost the rest of her ammo and supplies earlier.
For a long time, they stood in a stalemate. The sound of fighting and screaming in the distance was getting dimmer, but the bandits had eyes only for her. The only reason they did not advance on her was due to their lack of guns and thanks to her weapon; the risk of a slow and agonizing death would give anyone pause, especially when they had no aura. Even with the pigman's cajoling, the bandits ignored him, content to glare at her lustily and throw impotent abuse.
Unfortunately, time was not on Ilia's side, and while she had managed to stop her bleeding somewhat, she had still lost enough blood to make her dizzy. Eventually, the lightning in her whip faltered and the crystal powering it dimmed, causing her to groan in despair and the bandits to holler.
Before they could advance, a large shadow covered them, blotting out the sunlight coming from the massive opening in the mountain behind the bandits. Ilia stared in shock as a truck fell down from above as if thrown by a giant, and watched it crush three of the bandits, including the pigman. The rest jumped and turned around to find where the truck came from, before freezing in sheer terror at the suffocating aura that washed over them.
Ilia could understand, for even though the burning blue gaze was not aimed at her, she could not help but gulp as she watched the armored man from earlier slowly walk to them. The man's aura tasted of malice and madness. The amount of blood and gore that stuck to him was a morbid sight, combined with the heavy breathing and vicious scowl, he gave the feeling of a beast instead of a man. Not a single spot in his body was clean, even his formerly blonde hair was blood-red, and his footsteps were heavy and lethargic. It was then that Ilia noticed the complete silence around them.
It couldn't be… did he kill the rest of the bandits? She revised her thoughts; this was no beast.
This was a Demon.
"I-I d-d-didn't sign up for this. We were supposed to only target weak villagers!"
One of the bandits turned tail and ran, only for a thundering boom to echo and his head was blown to pieces. Her savior, Jaune, she thought was his name, did not waste time as he pointed his revolver at the rest of the bandits and within seconds, they were all dead. It was… anticlimactic if she had to admit. Could she have finished this fight if she had a better gun? Ilia was far more used to fighting aura users, and this fight had taught her never to underestimate regular people.
The chameleon-faunus jerked when the demo– no, when Jaune approached her, and she couldn't help but take a step back, causing him to frown.
"You're hurt," his baritone voice had a rasping quality to it, as though he had not talked in a while. "I can help."
The armored man had much less aura than before, but still slightly more than Qrow's maximum, and far stronger than her. Knowing she couldn't truly refuse him even if she was at full power, she allowed him to place his bloody hand on her shoulder, and suddenly, she felt an instant rush as her aura reserves filled out back to the maximum. Ilia couldn't stop herself from letting out a slight moan of relief as her aura mended her wounds and her fractured arm. By the time she opened her eyes, and Ilia didn't even remember when she closed them, Jaune was already doing the same to Jasper, the boy's aura mending his wounds, but he remained unconscious.
"What was that?"
"My Semblance. I can refill people's aura and help heal them. It doesn't work for those whose aura is locked, however." Their new ally's formerly scowling face had gradually softened as he spoke, his burning eyes were bloodshot and had a sad and somber quality to it as they settled on Petunia, causing Ilia to slowly let her guard down.
Jaune lifted the young boy over his shoulder and motioned for her to push Petunia's wheelchair. "We need to get moving. Qrow looked ready to finish his fight, and I need to disable whatever is blocking communications."
"It's a round, black device with a flat bottom." The White Fang Operative found herself easily telling him what she knew, it was already too late for her to return to her group and the sooner she could ingratiate herself to Qrow Branwen and his ally the better. "Shiro, the pink-haired loudmouth, had it on his plane when he…"
"When he used this kid as Grimm Bait and led the Grimm to attack the town." Jaune's tone was cold as he finished for her, yet he looked straight ahead as they walked through the ominously deserted hangar and soon, the first corpse came into sight. "Those two had not been in the fighting, preferring to throw bodies at me or take potshots from distance. Not like it helped."
It was then they left the small clearing between bullheads where she had her battle and into the large hangar, and Ilia froze at the sight before her.
Carnage, utter bloody carnage as corpses in the hundreds were strewn everywhere. Most had sword wounds, a few had gunshot wounds, yet many looked to have been torn to pieces or beaten to a pulp. The sheer amount of death and the smell of blood and decay would have had her puking if she hadn't already done so earlier.
"Did you… did you kill them all?" Ilia glanced at her ally, finding his impassive face like a block of granite as he stared ahead. "There must have been hundreds, if not a thousand!"
"... Lost count after three hundred." A shiver crawled up Ilia's back at the dead tone of the man. "It's nothing compared to the death and misery they caused in Celdic. Quite a few of them still managed to escape." Ilia grimaced at the reminder of her role in the affair. "The cowards were too used to fighting defenceless villagers, and hardly any of them had aura. We will need to catch them if we are to rid their infestation from these lands."
The cold tone and murderous intentions did not surprise her, yet the amount of corpses was simply staggering! It had barely been an hour since the battle began, and Ilia thought taking out a few dozen by herself was an achievement. The idea of all that killing being wrong never entered her mind. She knew better than anyone else how terrible those scum were, and Qrow's words echoed in her ears.
It's no use trying to appeal to the morality of monsters.
Jaune walked on, adjusting Jasper on his shoulder, and Ilia thought the boy looked healthier as she followed him. They found Qrow and Ravena duking it out near the Grimm cages. It was a strange scene as Qrow did not seem at all to be struggling, even taking a swig from a flask as the massive woman panted like an exhausted boar.
Her massive halberd/chainsaw was missing its serrated chains, and only the axe-head remained. Every time she tried to strike the Huntsman, something wrong would happen and her attack would fail. Even as they watched, the bandit queen tried to fire at Qrow only for her weapon to misfire and cause her to stumble backwards near the Grimm cages.
"What…the fuck!" Her enraged tone would have been scary an hour ago, but looking at her now, Ilia could only describe her as pathetic. She had a massive amount of aura earlier, even more than Qrow, yet judging by the way the fight went, the so-called bandit queen had never had to fight a skilled combatant before. Her aura reserves were down to a third yet Qrow was still topped off.
It did not matter the fancy tools you had, unless you learn to utilize them well, you would always be defeated by a more experienced and skilled fighter.
Qrow looked utterly bored with the fight, but turned to them once they came into view. "Yo, kiddos. I haven't heard any screams of agony in a while. Are you done?"
"Yes. We need to secure the rest of the hostages."
"Don't worry about them, I have the only key to their cells." The huntsman bounced a keychain full of keys in his hand before pocketing it with a frown. "So, how many did you have to kill?"
A pause, as Jaune gazed at the huntsmen but remained silent. Qrow sighed loudly, and Ilia realized that the veteran huntsmen had not realized the extent of the carnage their bloody ally had made. Looking around, the combat zone between Qrow and the bandit queen was a bit isolated, yet she could still see the random corpse nearby.
"Y-You! This i-is impossible." They turned to the massive woman, who leaned on the Grimm cage, eyeing the monsters within as they growled in anger. "My army… how did you do this?"
Jaune looked strangely at the woman, as if she asked the dumbest question in the world. "With my hands."
The way the formerly fearsome bandit queen gawked at the nonchalant reply had Ilia snort. It was so much easier to feel brave when you had a demon in human flesh as an ally. Before they could do anything else, the sound of a Bullhead taking off grabbed their attention, and Jaune frowned as he glared at the familiar aircraft.
"It's Shiro's Bullhead! He has that device onboard."
Ilia had barely spoke before Jaune's face turned into a vicious snarl. He dropped Jasper in her hands, somehow produced a sword out of nothing, and dashed after the departing bullhead, the sword shining so brightly that she had to avert her eyes. The sound of creaking hinges and Grimm yelping had her and Qrow turn to the bandit queen and freeze at the strange sight.
"I recognize defeat when it's staring at me. Fighting you was the biggest misfortune I suffered, Qrow Branwen." Ravena Boering had the two adolescent Boarbatusk Grimm in her hands as they squealed in outrage yet the woman was powerful enough to maintain a solid grip on them. "I rarely consume Grimm, for the backlash is immense, but if I will die anyway, then I'm bringing you with me!"
"Guess I should not have played with my food for so long… nor use this as a training opportunity." Qrow clicked his tongue and brandished his weapon as the boar-faunus strangled the Grimm with her dustbin-lid sized hands before bringing them to her maw. The Grimm were slurped down her throat as if they were liquid, and Ilia couldn't help but stare in morbid fascination.
The woman's teak skin got even darker as she grunted in pain, her beady eyes glowed red, her short hair turned bone-white, her tusks grew larger and a Grimm mask formed over the bridge of her nose before growling menacingly at them. She was more beast than human, and Ilia wondered if she would fight like one as well.
Qrow charged at the human turned Grimm, going all out in his attacks, holding nothing back. Ravena was much stronger than earlier, faster too, yet she lost all reason and all her attacks were savage wails that the veteran huntsman easily dodged or deflected and countered with precise and deadly strikes. Qrow used glyphs of all kinds liberally to bounce around from spot to spot at very high speeds, all the while cutting the monster bit by bit.
Ilia barely recognized a propulsion glyph and a gravity glyph, yet the huntsman must have used a dozen different kinds in less than a minute!
Strangely, the Grimm-woman seemed to keep tripping over any kind of debris lying around, as if she really was cursed with misfortune. Ilia watched the fight in awe as the older man utterly dismantled the savage woman, and it enforced her mindset that skill trumped all else.
Finally, as the Grimm-woman tripped one last time and over-extended, Qrow turned his greatsword into a scythe and slashed at its head, decapitating it. Except, it did not dissipate like Grimm, but bled filthy black blood.
Qrow Branwen frowned as he nudged the separated Grimm head with his scythe yet nothing happened. Shrugging, he grabbed it by the hair and walked back to her, his lips turning into a grin.
"Looks like I just got the first-ever Grimm trophy."
Before she could reply, an explosion of light appeared outside the cavern, and they turned as the distant Bullhead exploded as an utterly massive aura attack cleaved through it… and into the distant mountain top, cleaving through it once more like a hot knife through butter.
They stared in utter shock as the mountain's summit slowly slid from the rest of its base and fell onto another mountain that held it like a gigantic umbrella. An enormous dust cloud began to form, blotting out the sun. Ilia was in so much shock that she dropped to her knees, holding Jasper's sleeping form tightly. She could only imagine one man who could have done that, for even the attack was the same as the one he used during his entrance.
Speaking of the demon, he walked towards them, his aura nearly nonexistent, and stared at his scroll as he tried to call someone.
"Jaune? Have you solved our bandit problem?"
"Yes. How's the situation on your end, Fie?"
"We're fine. Another, smaller, Grimm horde attacked, but we managed to hold on until your sisters arrived with a cruiser and a couple of fighters. Bombed them all to smithereens. It was awesome. Your sister had this floating doll that shot laser beams from its eye and rockets from its chest… It was cool. Sara is with them right now, but I lost a prisoner in the confusion."
"Prisoner?" Jaune stopped in front of them, holding a hand to Qrow when the man tried to speak. "Another bandit?"
"No, it was a White Fang Operative. A scaredy-cat that ran away from the group but warned us of an impending attack that she managed to delay." Ilia's heart dropped to her stomach, that could only be Blake. "She helped us in the fighting, but was spooked when Hyperion arrived and ran away. Even though I promised to protect her…"
Whoever the speaker was sounded young, and Ilia noticed the sad tone had a hint of betrayal in it. What did Blake do now?
"Don't worry about it. I will send you our coordinates. We have hostages that need tending to, and some of the bandits might have managed to escape."
"Will do. Hyperion will be there shortly. Your sisters are anxious to speak to you."
"… We shall meet soon, then."
Jaune hung up the scroll and dropped his arms to his sides, his shoulders slumping and his face - falling. It coincided with the mention of his sisters and for the first time since she had seen him an hour ago, the demon looked reluctant, even distraught, as he inspected himself as if only now noticing all the blood and gore on him.
Looking around, Jaune seemed to finally register the obscene amount of bloody corpses in the hangar, as his breathing turned heavy. Suddenly, the man's cold eyes softened greatly as he collapsed to the ground and recklessly tore away at his bloody armor. His lips quivered, and tears were forming in his eyes. It was then that Ilia realized an important truth.
This demon… was just a kid. An insanely powerful kid who was about to have a mental breakdown. Yet, she could not bring herself to comfort him, for she had just witnessed the sheer brutality of his methods.
Qrow didn't hesitate to crouch next to the boy who was probably her age or maybe even younger, just as he descended into uncontrollable sobs and grabbed the old huntsman into a shuddering hug. Qrow reciprocated, not minding the blood as he patted the boy's head - the act caused shame to swell in Ilia's heart for some reason.
"It's alright now, kid. You did well." The veteran huntsman's eyes settled on the death and destruction around them. "You did well."
Hundreds of miles away,
A red-haired masked man stood in front of his tent as he watched a group of faunus emptying the loot of the detached train and carrying them to a bullhead. They only had three of the aircraft, and they were reserved for supply runs, not at all suited for combat situations. It had taken them many hours to scavenge the crates and containers of anything useful to take back to their hideout.
So far, their raid had been fruitful, as they found stores of Dust, weapons, and ammo that would be useful for their cause. Not so much food or medicine, which was what they had hoped to plunder from Celdic, as their food stores had dwindled dangerously, especially with their current situation. They had set up camp a few miles away from the rail tracks, and over a hundred hardened Aura-fighters were busy securing the perimeter.
The bull-faunus turned to the newcomer, Yuma, as he approached with a few other faunus. He did not trust him, yet he had proven resourceful so far, and clearly not loyal to Khan's way of seeing things.
"What now, Taurus? With Belladonna's stunt, will we still follow your plan and attack Celdic? There is no doubt they would be prepared for us now, and I am sure you understand those bandits are not to be trusted."
Adam's frown was hidden by his mask; he did not like how Yuma had managed to ingratiate himself into the group and started politicking. Asking him such a question in the open, reminding everyone that it was his plan to attack the train and use it to hop on to the town. It would have been a brilliant plan if not for the unexpected betrayal.
Damn you, Blake!
First, she rebuffed him for Amitola and then called into question his methods? Well, he had solved the first problem, and he had hoped the second one would solve itself in time. Blake would have been his woman one way or another and with that, his position as leader of a new tribe of faunus would be solidified. Never would he have guessed she would betray him like that, not when they were so close to glory and victory.
Noticing that the silence had stretched, Adam wondered how to reply. In the end, it didn't matter what he said, for his strength was immense and his commitment to the cause was unquestionable. The White Fang would follow him, even if their symbolic figurehead had turned her cloak, Adam still had enough influence to keep the group going.
Still, he should do something about Yuma to make sure he stayed on his side but also learn his place. The bat-faunus' subtle threat of telling everyone the truth about Ilia Amitola, that she wasn't a traitor but simply a personal target of his, shall not be ignored.
Before he could reply, however, a commotion came from the edge of camp.
"Freeze! How did you make it here?"
They turned and Adam scowled at the sight of a familiar figure in red materializing in front of him, her two tagalongs standing behind her. The human woman with a burning gaze and raven locks seemed different compared to when he last met her.
"You again? I thought I made my stance clear."
"Oh, but things have changed, my dear Mr Taurus. I heard your little group has faced a setback recently."
"You heard wrong. We have everything under control here."
"Is that why I saw some of your men foraging for nuts and squirrels? Shouldn't you be reveling in the blood and wine of Celdic by now?"
Adam gritted his teeth as the scar under his mask itched and he rested his hand on his sword. The brazen woman must be insane if she thought she could waltz into his camp and act so high and mighty. "Begone, woman. Or else I shall kill you where you stand."
A snap of her fingers, and suddenly, a large fireball floated on her palm, and Adam gawked. That was no Dust. He did not see her use any, and the dust weaving of her dress did not so much as flare. One of his men instinctively drew his gun, only for the fireball to spit a molten bullet at it, melting the weapon to slag, causing the faunus to hastily drop it. Adam wasn't a sensor, but he could tell when aura was used… and that fire had no aura at all!
"Now that I have your attention, would you listen to my proposal? As a sign of goodwill, I can point you towards a nearby town that is rich and stocked with food and supplies yet miraculously avoided the Grimm so far. I hear their lavender is to die for."
"Oh? That would be a good start, but what is your end goal? We are no mere thugs or bandits but warriors with an honorable cause."
Adam would grudgingly admit that Cinder Fall was beautiful and strong enough that he found himself desiring her despite being a filthy human. He could feel heat spreading to his loins, as his frustration with Blake caused him to forget about his erstwhile partner. The woman in red grinned wickedly, one of her amber eyes erupting into flames.
"Why, the destruction of Vale, of course!"
9k words, and the next chapter will be even more as we finish up with this really long prologue.
Jaune's descent into near madness was a side effect of having Arcus Links with dying people. He barely knew those people, yet their final thoughts and emotions affected him nevertheless.
I wanted to include a Celdic segment, but realized it won't add anything to the plot. To summarize; Blake and Fie teamed up, they held back a smaller horde with the rest of the defenders, some people died, others were wounded, and then Hyperion arrived guns blazing.
Blake rolled on morale at the sight of the Hyperion fleet. She failed, and ran away.
White Cat 2, Black Cat 1?
Jasper awakened his semblance. I never said the lad will die, on the contrary, his story had just begun.
Qrow is a badass, but I did not have a real chance to write him as such or this chapter would have been incredibly bloated. Suffice to say, he greatly enjoyed the boost from Jaune but once it was gone, he still retained the feeling of how to control his Semblance. His fight with Ravena was just him training his ability to extreme levels.
The bandits' fate would always have been a slaughter, whether by an army or Huntsmen teams, they would have been killed to the last man, for prisons would not make sense in Remnant. The difference is one man killing so many, instead of many killing many, if that makes sense. Jaune's actions finally caught up to him, and the idea of his family seeing him like that gave him a meltdown.
Finally, Cinder and Adam team up. Adam is a delusional psycho; he fancies himself a tribal leader, and his lust for Blake is unhealthy. I understand RT are limited with what they could air, but Adam will be uncensored here.
"Hold the line!"
"Kill the Grimm!"
"Plug that gap and keep firing!"
"Kill the bandits! Kill those who brought those monsters here!"
"Kill the ones who killed me! Who killed my family and loved ones!"
"Kill them, Jaune! Kill, and keep killing no matter what–"
Are you alright, Jaune?
He woke up with a start, finding himself laying on the cliff, where he waited for that older huntsman to signal. He did not think he dozed off, but his mind must have wandered…
Jaune took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, only to grit his teeth as he clenched the rocks under his hands tight enough to crush them to dust. Krystal's question sounded so far away, and the Arc was tired after the night of battle. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally…
He was exhausted.
"So much death… and I felt every last one." Jaune didn't bother replying mentally or even whispering, as he stood up with a groan and glared at the mountain ahead. "The dragoons, the townsfolk, the militia… linking my aura with the dead and the dying feels like utter crap. Their last thoughts… their last emotions. Do you know what that feels like, Krystal?"
I do not.
"Of course you wouldn't."
Jaune used Search to scan the cave system inside and clicked his tongue when he couldn't find Qrow; The man never said what the signal was, and he didn't get the chance to memorize his avian form to use Pathfinder. A distant part of his mind wanted to question the huntsman about his magic and that transformation ability, but Jaune was far too gone to care about that now.
His attention was grabbed by a room with a massive amount of negativity in it, those must be the hostages. Every fiber in his being screamed to charge right in and rescue them, yet his very soul demanded he would take the fight to the bandits first and wipe them from Remnant, for he swore it!
Jumping down the cliff, the aspiring huntsman withdrew his sword and gun as he made his way towards the cave entrance.
"Every one of those who died had one last thought on their minds that they sent to me, whether intentionally or not. I'm sure you know it, Krystal. You know everything about me."
I would not say everything, but I do know enough to hazard a guess, but I am incapable of processing feelings and emotions.
"Vengeance." The blonde knight marched towards the cave, "The last vestiges of their souls even now call for me to find those bandits and tear them limb from limb."
Are you sure this is the path you wish to follow, Jaune?
Jaune paused before the entrance, his seething emotions made it difficult to think things through, yet he still recognized that Krystal's tone was… off. "Yeah. You are not going to convince me otherwise?"
I am your guide. Whether you want to be an angel or a demon, I shall be by your side.
Something told Jaune there was more to this than Krsytal was alluding, but he did not care. The simple assurance that the living being in his mind wouldn't judge him was more than enough, and the time for contemplation was gone. There was no redemption for the scum; for too long they've run free without consequence, thinking themselves above any kind of judgment.
It was time for retribution.
Using Search, Jaune already knew where his quarries were, their tar-stained souls, steeped with malice, were like a dark stain on a white sheet. A bandit appeared in front of him as he entered the cave system, the man was drinking booze from a bottle, and the moment he saw him, he was already dead. The body of the bandit was cut cleanly from the left shoulder diagonally to his right hip, and as the man fell into two halves, Jaune continued his stride.
His first human kill… and he felt absolutely nothing.
A second bandit appeared, and then a third and a fourth. Jaune simply killed them all.
The more bandits appeared, the more he decorated the macabre tunnels red. With gun and sword, he methodically delivered death. Many tried to resist with gunfire, but it was futile against his movements and armor. His dragoon armor proved its merit, especially with his churning aura augmenting it. With the futility of their weapons, the fools took to wailing on him with various melee weapons.
Yet, it was to no avail. His skill at arms was enough to beat back thugs who had never fought anyone aside from defenseless villagers.
Some pleaded for mercy, only for him to feel more rage at the sheer gall to beg for mercy when they provided none. He might not have known exactly what crimes they had committed, yet his Aura Sense did not lie, and using Observe on any of them made him feel disgust and even more rage at what the ability told him. A few managed to run deeper into the mountain, yet he ignored them, for they would surely bring him more sinners to purge.
With every death, every punch, every slice of his blade, something primal inside him was awakening, and Jaune's breathing got heavier by the minute. The stench of blood and shit permeated the air, but he was already numb to it from the earlier battles. The death throes of the bandits, the way their flesh parted for his blade, and their bones and tendons severed as he sliced with Crocea Mors, gave him a sense of righteousness.
It was not enough.
Entering an intersection, he found a dozen of the bandits waiting for him, hiding behind crates and other obstacles while they aimed their guns at him. For an instant, clarity returned to Jaune's increasingly reddening vision as he noticed one of the guns to be a machine gun, and he swiftly jumped away once its user started spraying at him with a scream.
The rest of the bandits opened fire, and Jaune quickly boosted his PER and AGL, noticing his aura reserves had dwindled to a fifth of their total.
Yet, it was worth it as he could almost predict the paths of the bullets, dodging most of them and deflecting what he could not with his blade. A few still hit him in his armor, for the sudden boost of his stats would always take time for him to adjust, or at least until he trained to get used to it. Still, the steel chest piece with sewn Kevlar underneath was enough to stop most of them, even if it hurt like a bitch, and he lamented his lack of shield.
The pain brought both clarity and rage to his mind, and the more he felt it, the more payback he promised to return.
Soon, the sound of gunfire abated, and the bandits stared at him in horror as they continued to dry fire their guns. Their fear and terror was like a tonic for Jaune as his lips twisted into a malicious grin as he advanced at them. Using Observe was always handy for the intimidation factor, for as his gaze fell on one of them, the bandit flinched heavily as he dropped the clip he was trying to reload. His aura, even locked and pathetically weak, did not lie, and the way it stagnated like sludge reminded him of sewage water.
"S-Stay away from me!" The bandit fell on the ground as Jaune stood over him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the aspiring huntsman knew it was incredibly foolish of him to stand in the open like this and allow his foes a chance to reload their weapons and attack him.
Yet, reason had all but fled from his mind, and as he Stored his weapons away, he knelt and grabbed the bandit by the throat, lifting him with one hand and glared deeply into his terrified eyes.
"How many innocents have you murdered?"
"A-As if I would remember that! They were weak, and I was strong, so I do whatever the fuck I want!"
The bandit gasped as he realized what he just blurted. Jaune would have found it strange, and perhaps wondered if it was due to his aura or Observe or any of the other abilities he had, that caused the man to speak without thought. Instead, his vision reddened even further, the dark whisperings in his mind urging him to seek retribution and judge those sinners for their crimes were louder than ever.
He gripped the bandit's neck harder, causing him to choke and his eyes to bulge. The man tried desperately to free himself, but Jaune's grip was harder than steel, so the bandit tried to plunge his thumb into his eye…only for it to audibly break as it rebounded off his aura.
Jaune grinned as he watched the eyes of the bandit widen in terror and disbelief before grabbing his face with his other hand and pulled.
As the bandit's neck was squashed into pulp and Jaune ripped his head from his body, he threw it at one of his friends, and idly wondered how his stats really worked. His STR of 82 was only twenty-two points higher than a healthy and athletic male, yet it must be more nuanced than a simple percentage increase. Those thoughts were the only thing that stopped him from descending on the rest of the bandits in a blind rage, whose fight or flight instincts went haywire. One of them ran away, his front covered in the blood of the bloody head of his friend. The rest charged him in a frenzy, guns abandoned and using whatever weapons they could find.
Not bothering to pull out his weapons, Jaune charged right at them, punching through the torso of one of them and lifting him before continuing on to grab the neck of the next bandit. All while the first one hanged limply from over his elbow. Jaune clenched his bloody fist before pulling, tearing away the second bandit's throat, and throwing it at the terrified eyes of a third bandit. Then, he withdrew his arm from the first bandit's torso, and body slammed him into the third bandit, killing him with the sound of breaking bones.
Two more bandits, both of them women, slashed at him with machetes, only to bounce off his aura. Jaune could feel it dwindling, for even a thousand ant bites could eventually bring down an elephant. Yet, he did not care, for even if he had no aura, he would kill them all, even if he had to crawl on the ground and bite their throats out.
Grabbing both bandits by the face with each hand, Jaune dragged them closer and smashed their heads together in a grotesque kiss, their auras shattering, then their skulls once he smashed them again.
A handful had grabbed their guns again, but Jaune was faster as he pulled out his revolver and fanned the hammer at them before they could even aim.
There was only one remaining, and he took a step back as Jaune approached him, mumbling incoherently and praying to some deity. As if any self-respecting god would save such filth. With one last step, the bandit screamed before turning tail and running - only to trip on the head of the first bandit Jaune had killed. The man barely had time to blubber at the terrified face of his compatriot before Jaune's Strega boot came crashing down with a stomp, turning the decapitated head into pulp.
The man's eyes were so wide, Jaune nearly chuckled. He relished in the fear and terror on his face, even as the bandit forgot to breathe and choked on air, as he twitched horribly making his bones groan in protest. Then, he stopped… and collapsed face down.
Jaune tilted his head in confusion, his boot a foot over the scum's head, ready to squash it. Using Observe, he snorted.
The fool shook so much from fear, he ruptured his spine and his heart gave out. Pathetic. He looked around, finding bloody and eviscerated corpses everywhere.
Taking a deep breath, inhaling the stench of blood and death, the primal feeling in his soul burned brighter. It was as if his blood were on fire, and the voices of the dead urged him to find more to kill in increasingly imaginative ways. He chose a random tunnel and walked deeper into the cave system, gritting his teeth in frustration at the lack of enemies.
After a few minutes with no enemies around, his growing bloodlust started to slightly cool, allowing him to Search around him, trying to find a new heading, looking for more bandits to kill.
He paused when he found three souls passing by the intersection he was in earlier and continuing down another tunnel. One of them was familiar, and Jaune instantly focused on the nexus of fear and hatred that he felt flying over the town, yet there was something new. It was better now, as if the child had gotten a chance to feel hope.
Another of them felt similar in age to the Grimm Bait, but its soul was completely blank, as if it was broken, and remembering Fie's words, he feared for the worst. The last one had a grayish tint to it, that slowly shone brighter as she led the two children away from the slaughter. A reformed bandit, perhaps? Was that even possible? Or maybe a different party that sneaked in to save those kids? Whatever it was, they had just exited the tunnel into a chamber of some kind, where Jaune felt a massive amalgamation of those tar like souls through the walls.
Realizing those must be the rest of the bandits, a savage grin bloomed on his face at the prospect of his enemies gathered in one location. The grin turned into a frown, however, as Jaune realized the three innocent souls were now surrounded by the dark mass. Pathfinder told him it would take too long for him to backtrack through that tunnel and by then, it would be too late for him to help.
Brandishing Crocea Mors, the Arc scion walked deeper into the tunnel until he found a spot where the souls became more defined to his Aura Sense, and channeled the rest of his aura into his blade. It took nearly half a minute to drain his remaining aura, all two thousand points, and his sword shone brighter than the afternoon sun, the sheer heat emanating from it would have instantly melted any normal steel, but not the Yellow Death.
Once his aura was in the single digits, he swung his sword with a grunt, and the walls blew apart as the blade of light traveled a hundred feet through solid rock before blowing out of the other side, cleaving through anything in its path.
Activating Second Wind, Jaune stumbled slightly as within seconds, his aura climbed from a measly four, back to ten thousand!
Breathing deeply, he made his way through the new tunnel, the dust obscuring much of the way, but his eyes adjusted to the bright light once he found himself in a massive cavern with bullheads everywhere. Yet, the tar-like souls of the thousand bandits ahead of him grabbed his attention, and his blood screamed giddily for the carnage to come.
"… your idea of sneaking in, Jaune?" Qrow's voice echoed from where he was standing protectively in front of the three earlier figures he saw. Jaune clicked his tongue at having missed the man in his rush to get into the coming melee.
"This place is a maze. You didn't bother giving a signal, so I made my own way in."
"Who's this now, another fool in way over his head?"
His attention was grabbed by an absolute unit of a woman, and instantly, every fiber of his being screamed that this creature was more evil than anyone else he had ever met. If the rest of the bandits had tar like souls, then hers was a dark abyss that swallowed all around her, and using Observe, he realized he was close to the mark.
Profile:
Name: ?
Class: Gluttonous Berserker
Age: 46
Height: 8'2"
Build: Muscular/Obese
Race: Faunus (Boar)
Stats:
Aura Points: 3413/2771
Aura Control: 71%
Strength (STR): 116
Vitality (VIT): 113
Dexterity (DEX): 64
Agility (AGL): 65
Perception (PER): 61
Intelligence (INT): 76
Semblance: GLUTTONY: ?-?-?
Status Effects:
Satiated: Increased Aura, STR and VIT for an hour.
Her stats were worryingly high, and her massive size probably hid more strength than the numbers suggested; That meant that she was even stronger than what Observe showed. A cursory look at the rest of the bandits, he could tell she was most likely the bandit leader, for all the rest did not come close to having a fraction of her power. Jaune's blood boiled at the thought of all the tragedies of the region being traced back to this beast and her army of pathetic weaklings, and his soul sang for him to tear them apart, piece by piece, if needed.
"Hey, isn't that the knight fucker who protected the town?"
The grating voice caught his attention, and Jaune instantly recognized the pink haired man and the white haired woman beside him. He had never seen them before, but he memorized their aura when they flew over Celdic. He scoffed as he Observed them; they were not worth mentioning, certainly better than the rest of the bandits, but nowhere near as strong as Sara or even Fie, aura or stat wise. His gaze fell back on the big woman, plans on how to dismantle her and that big halberd thing she wielded ran through his mind.
"Jaune, I will take Ravena on, the big woman." Qrow's smokey voice broke him from his musings, and Jaune frowned. "Ilia here will protect the kids, so I need you to take on the rest while covering for her."
His eyes found the young woman hiding behind Qrow, her back to a bullhead, and on her back was a boy with the most expressive eyes he had ever seen… and they screamed murder and hatred, yet were tempered by fear and terror. There was also a tiny blot of white as he held onto the tanned woman tightly; Hope.
Behind them, was a wheelchair with a young girl in a deplorable state, and the more Jaune inspected them, the harder he gritted his teeth in fury and his gaze fell on the bandit army that had not stood idly while they talked. Ranks were formed, groups were made, and they had edged closer to his newfound allies. His gaze found Qrow, and the older man nodded to him, his Aura Link that he tried to attach to him finally connecting, and he could feel the confidence and surety coming from the man, and Jaune nodded back.
"Attack you fucks! Kill them already."
The grating screech from the pink head was the signal everyone waited for. Jaune charged into the crowd, Qrow turned his weapon into a shotgun and blasted the surrounding bandits before tossing a flashbang in their midst. He then turned into a crow, and flew towards the bandit boss, allowing Ilia to finish off the stunned bandits.
The battle was on.
.
.
.
Ilia jumped away from a retaliatory swing by one of the bandits. Qrow's shotgun blast was expected, but his flashbang was not and if he hadn't warned her at the last second, she too would have been stunned.
The White Fang operative would not let such an opportunity go and swiftly finished off nearly a dozen of the surrounding bandits, emptying the revolver of her Lightning Lash into their heads and stabbing the rest.
Unfortunately, there were still a hundred more to go, and Ilia was constrained by the boy on her back and the comatose girl near the Bullhead.
"Hurry up and fix those guns!"
Realizing that she was a sitting duck if she allowed the bandits to use their guns, Ilia quickly grabbed a submachine gun from one of the fallen bandits, praying it would not be jammed, and sprayed at a nearby group that were trying to unjam their guns. The staccato of gunfire sounded for a few seconds and the bandits were riddled with bullet holes, and Ilia wondered if a god of fortune was watching over her.
Once the gun was empty, she bashed it at a daring bandit that tried to attack from behind, before throwing the ruined gun at another bandit's head, knocking him out. The fast-paced action had allowed her to down nearly two dozen bandits, but she was already feeling tired, and carrying a kid on her back did not help.
"On your left!"
Jasper's warning had her instinctively jump backwards as the large bald pig-faunus from earlier smashed a flail where Ilia had been a second ago. She stared warily at the cracked ground where the spiked metal head landed and knew her aura would not have withstood such an attack.
"Stay still, you fucking lizard!"
The large man swung his flail at her, but while he had strength in spades, he was far too slow and telegraphed every attack. Still, Ilia would not be able to keep this up for long, as her breathing got even heavier and sweat poured down her forehead. She needed only to wait until the fat man would eventually overextend, and she would stab him in the neck, hopefully piercing through his aura.
Readying her Lightning Lash, Ilia carefully reloaded the revolver as she dodged the flail. She was wary of using its whip form for she did not have a lot of Lightning Dust, but if ever was the time to go all out, now would be it. Finally, the bandit overextended, and Ilia was about to activate her whip when Jasper yelled in her ear.
"They're going after Tuni!"
The distraction nearly cost her, for the pigman was not as off-balance as she thought, and Ilia jumped away at the last second from a backhanded strike. Turning towards Petunia, her eyes widened when she realized the swine man was smarter than he looked and had dragged her away from her charge.
Three bandits were almost at the girl, and Ilia dashed as fast as she could but the bandits already held Petunia, one of them placing a knife to her neck.
"Don't fucking move, or the cripple gets it."
Ilia knew she could not stop. Taking people hostage was an old and tried trick of the White Fang, and it never went well in a combat situation. Yet, with Jasper tightening his grip on her shoulders, she was unsure what to do.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her, and Ilia quickly turned to find the flail inches from her face. She barely managed to bring her weapon to block, yet she was still sent flying from the force of it, and her aura flickered as it went dangerously low. Just before she hit the ground, she flipped to a handstand, but the extra weight of Jasper caused her to stumble and they both fell into a heap, the flimsy cloth holding them tearing at the seams. Her bandolier was also torn, and what little Dust and ammo she had, clattered all over the place.
"Finally…got you…you damn lizard." The pigman panted as she shakily stood up. Her limbs felt heavy, and her breathing was heavier. Glancing around, she was surrounded by nearly twenty of the bandits. She wondered what happened to the rest as she recalled there being a lot more. Hearing the screams of pain and war cries in the distance, she figured Qrow's friend dragged them into his fight.
Ilia looked for Jasper, finding the boy struggling to get on his feet as he glared murderously at the bandits as they converged around Petunia's helpless form. Biting her lips in frustration, Ilia cursed; she had failed, and she did not need to imagine what the bandits would do now.
"I'll give you one chance, girl." The pigman lumbered towards the rest of his men and placed his flail near the comatose girl. "Throw away your weapons and surrender, and we might keep you alive as a toy for the boys. We won't harm the brat, we might still need him. The girl on the other hand…well, she's already fucked up as it is, might as well have her join you as our fuck toy, gihihihi."
Dammit! What should she do? There were three bandits around the girl, and the rest of them slowly surrounded her. Ilia needed a distraction, preferably before they finished their encirclement. The sound of battle and carnage seemed so far away, yet Ilia did not think any savior would come at the last moment. She gritted her teeth; there was no other way around it. Jasper was near her, and she could still grab him and run, leaving Petunia behi–
A sudden aura spike from the downed Jasper interrupted her thoughts as the boy dragged himself to his knees and glared viciously at the pigman.
"Leave Petunia Alone!!!"
One moment, the bandits in front were leering at them, and the next, their eyes rolled to the back of their heads as three of them collapsed. The pigman stumbled backwards with sweat pouring down his face and his mouth agape, the same with a few others. Ilia had no idea what happened, but she would not waste such an opportunity. Within a blink of an eye, she surged forward, extended her weapon and activated the Lighting Dust Crystal, turning it into a long yellow-hot whip that shrieked ominously, and swung with all her strength.
She cursed as only the tip would reach from so far away.
Yet that was enough.
Two of the bandits had their throats slit, falling away from Petunia and the smell of burned flesh permeated the air, yet the pigman's squeal of pain had her click her tongue. His aura must have saved him, yet he held his arm as the whip had cut deep into the bone before he managed to wrench it away and the coward ran off to bundle up with the rest of the scum. Before she could swing again, the remaining bandits attacked her, and she had to fight for her life.
An axe strike was dodged, and she retaliated with a kick, but had to retreat from a mace. She was slowly being overrun, her aura was dangerously low, and she was already having trouble staying on her feet. A machete wielding psycho squealed in ecstasy behind a mask as he slashed at her, while she was off guard. Ilia panicked but barely managed to dodge by contorting her waist sideways, yet it still grazed her enough to shatter her aura, and she could feel heat from her side.
Not giving her a chance to recover, another bandit struck her left arm with a club yet she managed to jump with the blow, so instead of her arm breaking, it only fractured. With the last vestiges of her strength, she twirled in midair, her whip shining brightly as it lashed out at her foes, yet they were ready for her as half of them simply ducked.
The other half were not as lucky, as the whip coiled around their bodies, sending millions of volts worth of electricity into their bodies and burning through their flesh. Their screams of agony grated on her ears, except for the masked psycho who was short enough to instantly lose his head. Ilia barely had the strength left to pull her Lash towards her, cutting through limbs, torsos, rib cages, and lungs until blissful silence as her whip returned to her and their bodies fell into a burning heap.
The remaining bandits were shocked by the grotesque way their compatriots died. Normally, Ilia would shy away from using such cruel methods against foes without aura, but she was in a bind and holding back would be a deadly mistake.
She could barely stand on her feet, her left arm was useless, sending her jolts of pain, and she was quickly losing blood. Jasper had managed to stand and used the lull in the fight to support her as they made their way to Petunia, yet she could tell he was also near collapsing. Days of torture had made his body weak, and whatever he did earlier had dropped his aura to nearly nothing. His slitted eyes were glowing with power and when they settled on her, she instinctively gulped in wariness, yet when he looked at the bandits, they froze… almost like rats in front of a snake.
"Are you… alright, Jasper?"
"… tired. My eyes are burning, but Petunia…" The mumbled words were barely coherent, and the boy did his best to keep his eyes open, but once they reached the girl, his aura shattered, and he closed his eyes in exhaustion. Now, she was the one holding him, and with what she assumed to be his semblance losing its powers, the bandits had regained their bearing and Ilia was out of options.
"G-Get 'em! T-They're powerless now, quickly before the bitch pulls out another trick."
The pigman had somehow got his wound treated with bandages and brandished his flail angrily. There were only ten bandits left, yet Ilia could barely lift her arm. She couldn't remember when was the last time her aura broke, and the White Fang Operative vowed if she ever survived this, she would up her training to include aura depletion resistance.
As the bandits advanced, she had to let go of Jasper and brandished her Lightning Lash threateningly, causing them to stare at the electric whip warily. The whip had enough Dust in it to remain active for half an hour at its lowest setting, but the bandits did not need to know that. At this point, it was Ilia's only method of defending herself, for she had lost the rest of her ammo and supplies earlier.
For a long time, they stood in a stalemate. The sound of fighting and screaming in the distance was getting dimmer, but the bandits had eyes only for her. The only reason they did not advance on her was due to their lack of guns and thanks to her weapon; the risk of a slow and agonizing death would give anyone pause, especially when they had no aura. Even with the pigman's cajoling, the bandits ignored him, content to glare at her lustily and throw impotent abuse.
Unfortunately, time was not on Ilia's side, and while she had managed to stop her bleeding somewhat, she had still lost enough blood to make her dizzy. Eventually, the lightning in her whip faltered and the crystal powering it dimmed, causing her to groan in despair and the bandits to holler.
Before they could advance, a large shadow covered them, blotting out the sunlight coming from the massive opening in the mountain behind the bandits. Ilia stared in shock as a truck fell down from above as if thrown by a giant, and watched it crush three of the bandits, including the pigman. The rest jumped and turned around to find where the truck came from, before freezing in sheer terror at the suffocating aura that washed over them.
Ilia could understand, for even though the burning blue gaze was not aimed at her, she could not help but gulp as she watched the armored man from earlier slowly walk to them. The man's aura tasted of malice and madness. The amount of blood and gore that stuck to him was a morbid sight, combined with the heavy breathing and vicious scowl, he gave the feeling of a beast instead of a man. Not a single spot in his body was clean, even his formerly blonde hair was blood-red, and his footsteps were heavy and lethargic. It was then that Ilia noticed the complete silence around them.
It couldn't be… did he kill the rest of the bandits? She revised her thoughts; this was no beast.
This was a Demon.
"I-I d-d-didn't sign up for this. We were supposed to only target weak villagers!"
One of the bandits turned tail and ran, only for a thundering boom to echo and his head was blown to pieces. Her savior, Jaune, she thought was his name, did not waste time as he pointed his revolver at the rest of the bandits and within seconds, they were all dead. It was… anticlimactic if she had to admit. Could she have finished this fight if she had a better gun? Ilia was far more used to fighting aura users, and this fight had taught her never to underestimate regular people.
The chameleon-faunus jerked when the demo– no, when Jaune approached her, and she couldn't help but take a step back, causing him to frown.
"You're hurt," his baritone voice had a rasping quality to it, as though he had not talked in a while. "I can help."
The armored man had much less aura than before, but still slightly more than Qrow's maximum, and far stronger than her. Knowing she couldn't truly refuse him even if she was at full power, she allowed him to place his bloody hand on her shoulder, and suddenly, she felt an instant rush as her aura reserves filled out back to the maximum. Ilia couldn't stop herself from letting out a slight moan of relief as her aura mended her wounds and her fractured arm. By the time she opened her eyes, and Ilia didn't even remember when she closed them, Jaune was already doing the same to Jasper, the boy's aura mending his wounds, but he remained unconscious.
"What was that?"
"My Semblance. I can refill people's aura and help heal them. It doesn't work for those whose aura is locked, however." Their new ally's formerly scowling face had gradually softened as he spoke, his burning eyes were bloodshot and had a sad and somber quality to it as they settled on Petunia, causing Ilia to slowly let her guard down.
Jaune lifted the young boy over his shoulder and motioned for her to push Petunia's wheelchair. "We need to get moving. Qrow looked ready to finish his fight, and I need to disable whatever is blocking communications."
"It's a round, black device with a flat bottom." The White Fang Operative found herself easily telling him what she knew, it was already too late for her to return to her group and the sooner she could ingratiate herself to Qrow Branwen and his ally the better. "Shiro, the pink-haired loudmouth, had it on his plane when he…"
"When he used this kid as Grimm Bait and led the Grimm to attack the town." Jaune's tone was cold as he finished for her, yet he looked straight ahead as they walked through the ominously deserted hangar and soon, the first corpse came into sight. "Those two had not been in the fighting, preferring to throw bodies at me or take potshots from distance. Not like it helped."
It was then they left the small clearing between bullheads where she had her battle and into the large hangar, and Ilia froze at the sight before her.
Carnage, utter bloody carnage as corpses in the hundreds were strewn everywhere. Most had sword wounds, a few had gunshot wounds, yet many looked to have been torn to pieces or beaten to a pulp. The sheer amount of death and the smell of blood and decay would have had her puking if she hadn't already done so earlier.
"Did you… did you kill them all?" Ilia glanced at her ally, finding his impassive face like a block of granite as he stared ahead. "There must have been hundreds, if not a thousand!"
"... Lost count after three hundred." A shiver crawled up Ilia's back at the dead tone of the man. "It's nothing compared to the death and misery they caused in Celdic. Quite a few of them still managed to escape." Ilia grimaced at the reminder of her role in the affair. "The cowards were too used to fighting defenceless villagers, and hardly any of them had aura. We will need to catch them if we are to rid their infestation from these lands."
The cold tone and murderous intentions did not surprise her, yet the amount of corpses was simply staggering! It had barely been an hour since the battle began, and Ilia thought taking out a few dozen by herself was an achievement. The idea of all that killing being wrong never entered her mind. She knew better than anyone else how terrible those scum were, and Qrow's words echoed in her ears.
It's no use trying to appeal to the morality of monsters.
Jaune walked on, adjusting Jasper on his shoulder, and Ilia thought the boy looked healthier as she followed him. They found Qrow and Ravena duking it out near the Grimm cages. It was a strange scene as Qrow did not seem at all to be struggling, even taking a swig from a flask as the massive woman panted like an exhausted boar.
Her massive halberd/chainsaw was missing its serrated chains, and only the axe-head remained. Every time she tried to strike the Huntsman, something wrong would happen and her attack would fail. Even as they watched, the bandit queen tried to fire at Qrow only for her weapon to misfire and cause her to stumble backwards near the Grimm cages.
"What…the fuck!" Her enraged tone would have been scary an hour ago, but looking at her now, Ilia could only describe her as pathetic. She had a massive amount of aura earlier, even more than Qrow, yet judging by the way the fight went, the so-called bandit queen had never had to fight a skilled combatant before. Her aura reserves were down to a third yet Qrow was still topped off.
It did not matter the fancy tools you had, unless you learn to utilize them well, you would always be defeated by a more experienced and skilled fighter.
Qrow looked utterly bored with the fight, but turned to them once they came into view. "Yo, kiddos. I haven't heard any screams of agony in a while. Are you done?"
"Yes. We need to secure the rest of the hostages."
"Don't worry about them, I have the only key to their cells." The huntsman bounced a keychain full of keys in his hand before pocketing it with a frown. "So, how many did you have to kill?"
A pause, as Jaune gazed at the huntsmen but remained silent. Qrow sighed loudly, and Ilia realized that the veteran huntsmen had not realized the extent of the carnage their bloody ally had made. Looking around, the combat zone between Qrow and the bandit queen was a bit isolated, yet she could still see the random corpse nearby.
"Y-You! This i-is impossible." They turned to the massive woman, who leaned on the Grimm cage, eyeing the monsters within as they growled in anger. "My army… how did you do this?"
Jaune looked strangely at the woman, as if she asked the dumbest question in the world. "With my hands."
The way the formerly fearsome bandit queen gawked at the nonchalant reply had Ilia snort. It was so much easier to feel brave when you had a demon in human flesh as an ally. Before they could do anything else, the sound of a Bullhead taking off grabbed their attention, and Jaune frowned as he glared at the familiar aircraft.
"It's Shiro's Bullhead! He has that device onboard."
Ilia had barely spoke before Jaune's face turned into a vicious snarl. He dropped Jasper in her hands, somehow produced a sword out of nothing, and dashed after the departing bullhead, the sword shining so brightly that she had to avert her eyes. The sound of creaking hinges and Grimm yelping had her and Qrow turn to the bandit queen and freeze at the strange sight.
"I recognize defeat when it's staring at me. Fighting you was the biggest misfortune I suffered, Qrow Branwen." Ravena Boering had the two adolescent Boarbatusk Grimm in her hands as they squealed in outrage yet the woman was powerful enough to maintain a solid grip on them. "I rarely consume Grimm, for the backlash is immense, but if I will die anyway, then I'm bringing you with me!"
"Guess I should not have played with my food for so long… nor use this as a training opportunity." Qrow clicked his tongue and brandished his weapon as the boar-faunus strangled the Grimm with her dustbin-lid sized hands before bringing them to her maw. The Grimm were slurped down her throat as if they were liquid, and Ilia couldn't help but stare in morbid fascination.
The woman's teak skin got even darker as she grunted in pain, her beady eyes glowed red, her short hair turned bone-white, her tusks grew larger and a Grimm mask formed over the bridge of her nose before growling menacingly at them. She was more beast than human, and Ilia wondered if she would fight like one as well.
Qrow charged at the human turned Grimm, going all out in his attacks, holding nothing back. Ravena was much stronger than earlier, faster too, yet she lost all reason and all her attacks were savage wails that the veteran huntsman easily dodged or deflected and countered with precise and deadly strikes. Qrow used glyphs of all kinds liberally to bounce around from spot to spot at very high speeds, all the while cutting the monster bit by bit.
Ilia barely recognized a propulsion glyph and a gravity glyph, yet the huntsman must have used a dozen different kinds in less than a minute!
Strangely, the Grimm-woman seemed to keep tripping over any kind of debris lying around, as if she really was cursed with misfortune. Ilia watched the fight in awe as the older man utterly dismantled the savage woman, and it enforced her mindset that skill trumped all else.
Finally, as the Grimm-woman tripped one last time and over-extended, Qrow turned his greatsword into a scythe and slashed at its head, decapitating it. Except, it did not dissipate like Grimm, but bled filthy black blood.
Qrow Branwen frowned as he nudged the separated Grimm head with his scythe yet nothing happened. Shrugging, he grabbed it by the hair and walked back to her, his lips turning into a grin.
"Looks like I just got the first-ever Grimm trophy."
Before she could reply, an explosion of light appeared outside the cavern, and they turned as the distant Bullhead exploded as an utterly massive aura attack cleaved through it… and into the distant mountain top, cleaving through it once more like a hot knife through butter.
They stared in utter shock as the mountain's summit slowly slid from the rest of its base and fell onto another mountain that held it like a gigantic umbrella. An enormous dust cloud began to form, blotting out the sun. Ilia was in so much shock that she dropped to her knees, holding Jasper's sleeping form tightly. She could only imagine one man who could have done that, for even the attack was the same as the one he used during his entrance.
Speaking of the demon, he walked towards them, his aura nearly nonexistent, and stared at his scroll as he tried to call someone.
"Jaune? Have you solved our bandit problem?"
"Yes. How's the situation on your end, Fie?"
"We're fine. Another, smaller, Grimm horde attacked, but we managed to hold on until your sisters arrived with a cruiser and a couple of fighters. Bombed them all to smithereens. It was awesome. Your sister had this floating doll that shot laser beams from its eye and rockets from its chest… It was cool. Sara is with them right now, but I lost a prisoner in the confusion."
"Prisoner?" Jaune stopped in front of them, holding a hand to Qrow when the man tried to speak. "Another bandit?"
"No, it was a White Fang Operative. A scaredy-cat that ran away from the group but warned us of an impending attack that she managed to delay." Ilia's heart dropped to her stomach, that could only be Blake. "She helped us in the fighting, but was spooked when Hyperion arrived and ran away. Even though I promised to protect her…"
Whoever the speaker was sounded young, and Ilia noticed the sad tone had a hint of betrayal in it. What did Blake do now?
"Don't worry about it. I will send you our coordinates. We have hostages that need tending to, and some of the bandits might have managed to escape."
"Will do. Hyperion will be there shortly. Your sisters are anxious to speak to you."
"… We shall meet soon, then."
Jaune hung up the scroll and dropped his arms to his sides, his shoulders slumping and his face - falling. It coincided with the mention of his sisters and for the first time since she had seen him an hour ago, the demon looked reluctant, even distraught, as he inspected himself as if only now noticing all the blood and gore on him.
Looking around, Jaune seemed to finally register the obscene amount of bloody corpses in the hangar, as his breathing turned heavy. Suddenly, the man's cold eyes softened greatly as he collapsed to the ground and recklessly tore away at his bloody armor. His lips quivered, and tears were forming in his eyes. It was then that Ilia realized an important truth.
This demon… was just a kid. An insanely powerful kid who was about to have a mental breakdown. Yet, she could not bring herself to comfort him, for she had just witnessed the sheer brutality of his methods.
Qrow didn't hesitate to crouch next to the boy who was probably her age or maybe even younger, just as he descended into uncontrollable sobs and grabbed the old huntsman into a shuddering hug. Qrow reciprocated, not minding the blood as he patted the boy's head - the act caused shame to swell in Ilia's heart for some reason.
"It's alright now, kid. You did well." The veteran huntsman's eyes settled on the death and destruction around them. "You did well."
T*A*M*S
Hundreds of miles away,
A red-haired masked man stood in front of his tent as he watched a group of faunus emptying the loot of the detached train and carrying them to a bullhead. They only had three of the aircraft, and they were reserved for supply runs, not at all suited for combat situations. It had taken them many hours to scavenge the crates and containers of anything useful to take back to their hideout.
So far, their raid had been fruitful, as they found stores of Dust, weapons, and ammo that would be useful for their cause. Not so much food or medicine, which was what they had hoped to plunder from Celdic, as their food stores had dwindled dangerously, especially with their current situation. They had set up camp a few miles away from the rail tracks, and over a hundred hardened Aura-fighters were busy securing the perimeter.
The bull-faunus turned to the newcomer, Yuma, as he approached with a few other faunus. He did not trust him, yet he had proven resourceful so far, and clearly not loyal to Khan's way of seeing things.
"What now, Taurus? With Belladonna's stunt, will we still follow your plan and attack Celdic? There is no doubt they would be prepared for us now, and I am sure you understand those bandits are not to be trusted."
Adam's frown was hidden by his mask; he did not like how Yuma had managed to ingratiate himself into the group and started politicking. Asking him such a question in the open, reminding everyone that it was his plan to attack the train and use it to hop on to the town. It would have been a brilliant plan if not for the unexpected betrayal.
Damn you, Blake!
First, she rebuffed him for Amitola and then called into question his methods? Well, he had solved the first problem, and he had hoped the second one would solve itself in time. Blake would have been his woman one way or another and with that, his position as leader of a new tribe of faunus would be solidified. Never would he have guessed she would betray him like that, not when they were so close to glory and victory.
Noticing that the silence had stretched, Adam wondered how to reply. In the end, it didn't matter what he said, for his strength was immense and his commitment to the cause was unquestionable. The White Fang would follow him, even if their symbolic figurehead had turned her cloak, Adam still had enough influence to keep the group going.
Still, he should do something about Yuma to make sure he stayed on his side but also learn his place. The bat-faunus' subtle threat of telling everyone the truth about Ilia Amitola, that she wasn't a traitor but simply a personal target of his, shall not be ignored.
Before he could reply, however, a commotion came from the edge of camp.
"Freeze! How did you make it here?"
They turned and Adam scowled at the sight of a familiar figure in red materializing in front of him, her two tagalongs standing behind her. The human woman with a burning gaze and raven locks seemed different compared to when he last met her.
"You again? I thought I made my stance clear."
"Oh, but things have changed, my dear Mr Taurus. I heard your little group has faced a setback recently."
"You heard wrong. We have everything under control here."
"Is that why I saw some of your men foraging for nuts and squirrels? Shouldn't you be reveling in the blood and wine of Celdic by now?"
Adam gritted his teeth as the scar under his mask itched and he rested his hand on his sword. The brazen woman must be insane if she thought she could waltz into his camp and act so high and mighty. "Begone, woman. Or else I shall kill you where you stand."
A snap of her fingers, and suddenly, a large fireball floated on her palm, and Adam gawked. That was no Dust. He did not see her use any, and the dust weaving of her dress did not so much as flare. One of his men instinctively drew his gun, only for the fireball to spit a molten bullet at it, melting the weapon to slag, causing the faunus to hastily drop it. Adam wasn't a sensor, but he could tell when aura was used… and that fire had no aura at all!
"Now that I have your attention, would you listen to my proposal? As a sign of goodwill, I can point you towards a nearby town that is rich and stocked with food and supplies yet miraculously avoided the Grimm so far. I hear their lavender is to die for."
"Oh? That would be a good start, but what is your end goal? We are no mere thugs or bandits but warriors with an honorable cause."
Adam would grudgingly admit that Cinder Fall was beautiful and strong enough that he found himself desiring her despite being a filthy human. He could feel heat spreading to his loins, as his frustration with Blake caused him to forget about his erstwhile partner. The woman in red grinned wickedly, one of her amber eyes erupting into flames.
"Why, the destruction of Vale, of course!"
9k words, and the next chapter will be even more as we finish up with this really long prologue.
Jaune's descent into near madness was a side effect of having Arcus Links with dying people. He barely knew those people, yet their final thoughts and emotions affected him nevertheless.
I wanted to include a Celdic segment, but realized it won't add anything to the plot. To summarize; Blake and Fie teamed up, they held back a smaller horde with the rest of the defenders, some people died, others were wounded, and then Hyperion arrived guns blazing.
Blake rolled on morale at the sight of the Hyperion fleet. She failed, and ran away.
White Cat 2, Black Cat 1?
Jasper awakened his semblance. I never said the lad will die, on the contrary, his story had just begun.
Qrow is a badass, but I did not have a real chance to write him as such or this chapter would have been incredibly bloated. Suffice to say, he greatly enjoyed the boost from Jaune but once it was gone, he still retained the feeling of how to control his Semblance. His fight with Ravena was just him training his ability to extreme levels.
The bandits' fate would always have been a slaughter, whether by an army or Huntsmen teams, they would have been killed to the last man, for prisons would not make sense in Remnant. The difference is one man killing so many, instead of many killing many, if that makes sense. Jaune's actions finally caught up to him, and the idea of his family seeing him like that gave him a meltdown.
Finally, Cinder and Adam team up. Adam is a delusional psycho; he fancies himself a tribal leader, and his lust for Blake is unhealthy. I understand RT are limited with what they could air, but Adam will be uncensored here.
Chapter 22 (To the Jewel of Remnant)
I promised a beefy chapter to finish the aftermath, and here you go.
Word count: Over 9,000! (Over 10,000 after some edits lol)
Editor and Beta Reader: LoneStar, SurvivorSAM, Reiter
Friday evening, July 7th (One day after the Siege of Celdic)
The Wizard's Tower.
The elevator seemed to climb slower than usual to Ozpin's office, and Glynda Goodwitch gazed out of the glass windows at the sprawling grounds of Beacon Academy. She could make out the first year students, now entering their second year, making their way through the campus alongside veteran huntsmen, taking contracts and missions to fill the void left behind by the sudden war.
Usually, there wouldn't be many students owing to the holidays. Only second years and above teams, who have proven themselves, could take missions without supervision, depending on the mission's difficulty.
But turbulent times have resulted in many changes.
All huntsmen students were drafted into action, with even students from Signal and Pharos participating. Losses were few but dearly felt, with even one of her fellow instructors still in the hospital. Harold Mulberry had to hold the rear against a rampaging herd of Goliaths, allowing thousands of refugees and students to escape. It remained to be seen if he shall return to work or retire, following the loss of his leg.
Glynda stared idly, her eyes following the many students and their teams heading towards the mission building, along with the occasional Huntsman. Thankfully, the Grimm had mostly been repelled, yet the aftermath would take weeks if not months to clean up.
She sighed as the elevator finally arrived, and the ding followed by the door opening had her adjust the large folder in her hands before entering the headmaster's office.
"Ah, Glynda. You're just in time, excellent." Ozpin leaned on the front of his desk with a mug of hot cocoa in his hand. "Qrow should be checking in soon with his report, but we have time to go over yours first."
"There's been no further matters to add since the previous meeting." Glynda dropped her folder on the headmaster's desk before folding her arms under her chest. "The council simply reiterated their….concerns. The large influx of refugees from the war has strained the allocated resources beyond their previously established parameters. They are at a loss on where to house the new refugees. The Vale Police Department was already shorthanded, but now they do not even bother patrolling the lower and middle class districts."
"I see." Ozpin drank deeply from his mug before walking to his cocoa station to refill. "It is a sad state of affairs that we are in. Despite our victory against the Grimm, the cost was too high. Nearly a score of Huntsmen and thousands of our good soldiers lost their lives in protecting the kingdom and ensuring the refugees can find shelter in Vale."
There were so few Huntsmen as it was owing to the extremely high standards required of them, yet a single huntsman was easily worth a thousand soldiers.
It was terrible to think of it that way, but the loss of a thousand soldiers, while tragic, could be replenished for there were no shortages of humans and faunus willing to fight against the Grimm. Aura was not required, only a healthy body as well as the discipline and commitment to the cause.
The loss of a single huntsman, on the other hand, would be dearly felt, for they were the ones who truly made a difference; the ones who could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Or hold back a rampaging horde of Goliaths, while the slower and less versatile soldiers maneuvered to better positions.
"Not to mention the devastation left behind. How many villages and towns were destroyed?"
"Too many to count. Granted, most of them were abandoned in time. Still, two satellite cities were nearly overrun, however the loss of lives had been minimal. Recovery and rebuilding is possible with time and resources but…"
"But would the people of those towns and cities be willing to return there after what they had endured?" Glynda finished for him.
"And that is the dilemma we face." The headmaster smiled sadly as he stared at his mug. "Nearly a million refugees have flocked to the city over the past week, with more arriving every hour. Who knows how many call Vale their home now? Considering the city was designed to only hold fifty million comfortably…"
"At least you managed to push that census through. Speaking of, I have already spoken to several members of the governmental districts and have chosen a team to go through with it. The details can be found here," Glynda opened her folder and pulled out a booklet full of sheets of paper. "Unfortunately, it's all physical copies, as the City has yet to adopt digital formatting."
"I'll review it later," Ozpin waved her off, throwing a dirty look at the booklet like it offended him, causing her to lightly smirk. "Please, let me know if the mayor stirs any trouble. Harry might need a reminder that we do not tolerate time-wasting in such matters."
Glynda's brows furrowed as she recalled the mayor of the city. Harrison Thorne was a rotund man with a perpetual smile plastered on his face, yet he always rubbed her the wrong way. Still, he had proven to be marginally better than his predecessor, Jimmy Vanille.
She was never made for all of this politicking, despite discovering a talent for it. Glynda would rather train her students and prepare them for what was to come instead of wasting her time and energy with slick, smooth-talking lickspittles.
"Do I at least get some form of formal position to give to the government officials? I doubt being Beacon's deputy headmistress is cause for any of the interference I will be doing. The police alone would give me a headache every time I am doing a sudden inspection."
"Sure, take your pick of titles and I will have it formalized with the committee." Ozpin's eyes gleamed as he smirked at her, "How about Grand Commissar? Chief Commissioner? Or maybe–"
"I believe a simple title such as Chief Inspector would do."
"That's not fun, you are more of my general than anyone else." Ozpin adjusted his glasses as he stared at her in amusement. "Congratulations on your promotion, Inspector General."
Glynda grimaced at the man's sense of humor; "I just wish we did not have to intervene in every minute detail of Vale." The deputy headmistress rubbed her brows. "All of this politicking and intrigue… Why couldn't we just focus on Beacon and let the officials do their job?"
"You know why, my dear Glynda. I have left them to their devices for the past fifteen years, and this is the result; a cesspool of corruption and arrogance." She stared as the older man's eyes grew cold. "In times of turmoil and conflict, only the strong could ever hope to lead the masses to victory and prosperity. Whether we like it or not, we are strong, and regardless of what the fickle masses and their weak leaders clamor for their rights or what not, once the going gets tough, they will come to us for help. Not the mayor, not the council members or district managers or even what remains of the nobility; Us, the Huntsmen of Beacon."
"… That sounds like something that cynic Maximilian Arc would say." Glynda deadpanned at the chuckling headmaster, and she frowned. "What is it? Did I say something funny?"
"You have no idea," Before Ozpin could continue, a beeping sound came from one of the screens, and he quickly answered it, showing Qrow's languid face on the screen.
"Yo."
"Qrow, it's good to find you safe and sound. We expected a report yesterday."
"Yeah, haven't gotten around to doing it yet." The Huntsman's lackadaisical tone had Glynda frown in disapproval. "Don't look at me like that, Glynda. At least I ain't drunk… no matter how much I wish I could just drown myself in booze."
The headmaster and his deputy glanced at each other. It was not like Qrow to sound so… depressed? No, that's too strong a word for a man like him.
"What happened in Celdic? You are still there, correct?" She noticed he was outdoors, most likely taking a stroll, judging by the change of scenery as they talked, and wore an earpiece for privacy.
"Yeah, but I'll be heading out in the morning with two add-ons. Anyway, let's get business out first. Celdic is safe, but not unscathed. The Grimm hordes were beaten, and the bandits neutralized."
"That's good to hear. I shall have aid convoys sent immediately." Ozpin sat on his desk and was about to open his terminal before it beeped on its own and a familiar brown-haired middle-aged man grinned at him cheekily, causing him to sigh. "Again, Lucas?"
"Hey now, you can't blame me with your rubbish security. Seriously, Ozpin, you really need to fire whoever is responsible for your online security."
"Thank you for the warning, Mr Lichter. I will be sure to punish myself by abstaining from cocoa for the next hour."
"Hang on, you designed this firewall? Bwahahaha, what a joke."
Glynda would normally frown at the disrespect but she had eyes only for Qrow. Normally, he would join in for such silly digs, but he seemed to be distracted with something as he stared off in the distance.
"… State of the art when I developed it!" Ozpin was saying, only for Lucas Lichter to shake his head bemusedly.
"It certainly was state of the art twenty years ago, Ozpin. Anyway, we can discuss this later - Did I interrupt something important?"
"Might as well stay, Lichter. Your daughters and that representative of your brother had made a right mess in the region," Qrow sighed as he sat on a bench and placed the scroll beside him. "Especially after your son took them somewhere in the mountains, refusing for anyone outside Hyperion to join him. That corporate guy, Rhys, looked like he won the jackpot when they returned this morning."
"Oh, that's not all they told me." Lucas' voice suddenly grew cold. "I have heard some dreadful things from them, Branwen. Something about my son massacring hundreds of bandits."
The office grew cold at the absurd words, and Glynda's eyes widened as she finally processed them. Ozpin's face was blank, as if it were made from granite, and he stared at Qrow with intense eyes.
"Explain."
"What is there to explain? To say that shit hit the fan here would be an understatement. An entire barn of manure getting ripped apart in a tornado and spreading the stench for miles would be more apt."
"That was needlessly graphic," Ozpin placed down his mug in slight distaste. "In as few sentences as possible, Qrow."
The huntsman sighed as he idly scratched his head. "Arrived in town yesterday at dawn…
.
.
.
Glynda hid her shock as she typed a report of Qrow's tale in her scroll. And what a tale it was! The town surviving two Grimm hordes - one after the other no less - with the bandits using Grimm Bait and an artifact that blocked all communications. Then a third horde attacking the town independently; only for Hyperion to swoop in with the save. Finally, the assault on their hideout and the rescue of the hostages as well as the slaughter that ensued.
"And you should have been the one to handle that, Branwen!" Lucas slammed his fist on his desk angrily on the other end of the screen. "My son hasn't even taken a life before, and you let him charge in a blind fury, slaughtering so many men and women."
"And their lives would have been forfeit anyway," Ozpin interceded as Qrow merely slouched in his seat. "Whether it was by a team of huntsmen or a battalion of troops, such a large number of unstable outlaws would need to be put down. Especially if they engaged in slavery or created Grimm Bait."
"I understand that, but why should my son have to take on such responsibility?"
"He is an aspiring huntsman. I find it fortunate that he has learned the reality of the profession he is aiming for at a young age."
"Ozpin! You–"
"Tell me, Lichter." Qrow suddenly spoke yet he still stared off at something in the distance. "What do you know of Jaune's semblance?"
"… Only what he told me. He discovered it a few days ago when he got lost in the mountains and that it boosts his aura and physical prowess."
"He can also boost other people's aura and even their semblance. Thanks to him, I got better control of my semblance… after decades of it being a handicap."
Glynda raised her eyebrows, such a versatile semblance!
"What are you getting at, Branwen?"
"Do you know if he has any other abilities?" The huntsman finally turned to them, and she could have sworn his red eyes stared right at her and Ozpin.
"The Arc bloodline has always been blessed with a tremendous amount of aura and endurance." Lucas had a strange look as he stared at each of their faces in confusion, most likely understanding there was something crucial he was missing. "How does this relate to Jaune?"
"If I'm not wrong, Jaune is an empath."
"An empath?"
"An empath is one who could feel and understand–"
"I know what a bloody empath is, Ozpin!"
The headmaster hid a grin behind his mug. He must still be peeved at the ease with which Lucas had hacked his system.
"Yeah, he isn't one in the classical sense." Qrow continued. "He developed his aura sense to such a degree that he could connect with his comrades-in-arms. Now, picture this; a young impressionable lad, full of piss and vinegar, with a bright outlook on life. Gets thrown into a trial by fire and survives. Still hopeful, for he had done his duty in protecting humanity and prevailing against the Grimm. How do you think he would feel when he learns that humans allied with the Grimm to destroy their fellow humans?"
"Naturally; shock and betrayal."
"Not just that, Glynda. He connected with the defenders, he felt them as they died, he heard their last words." With every word spoken, the more it dawned on them the severity of the matter. "We are all familiar with death and murder, whether from fighting bandits, or losing comrades to the Grimm. We are trained to ignore it or cope with it. Yet for Jaune, it was ten times worse in every way, for every defender in Celdic that died was like losing a loved one to him. And Celdic lost over a thousand men and women."
The silence that followed was oppressive. Glynda could barely imagine the amount of work a therapist would have to do with a case like Jaune Arc. At least he didn't seem to have Magic for the abilities he developed, while rare, were not impossible to achieve… or was Qrow just pulling their legs?
"How is my son?" Lucas' face was tired as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I have yet to talk to him since before the siege."
"See for yourself."
They watched in surprise as Qrow pointed his scroll in front of him, where they found the young man in question sitting on the ground next to a pond under the setting sun. Qrow must be sitting about a hundred feet away from him, for the image was not the clearest.
There were three children around Jaune Arc, watching intently as he seemed to show them something they couldn't see. Behind them was a blonde girl in a wheelchair with far too many bandages covering her body, and an eye-patch over her eye. There was one final figure, a young woman with brown hair and tanned skin, standing behind the wheelchair watching the rest of the group.
"Is he?"
"Teaching them how to tie a fishing hook, yes. Your boy has his own coping method, but I will tell you now - it will not be enough for him. It would never be enough for him." Even as they watched, the young Arc grabbed a rod and cast his line at the pond, before handing the rod to the dark-haired boy beside him.
"Oh, Jaune." Lucas sighed fondly.
"Who are those with him, Qrow?" Ozpin rubbed his chin as he stared at the screen. "I recognize Sylphid from Valestein's file, but the others…"
"The brown haired girl is a local named Anita. Her father died as he fought alongside Jaune at the breach. I believe the girl had recorded most of the siege using a drone."
"She has my sympathies. Is there any chance you could get a hold of that footage?"
"Ever the teacher, eh? I'll see what I can do. The dark-haired boy is - was - the Grimm Bait, while the blonde girl was a victim of the bandits' methods. They both hail from a hamlet in the region, but none of their inhabitants survived the conflict."
"I am sorry to hear that. How do they fare?"
"Well enough for the boy - he unlocked his aura and semblance. I'll send more details later." Glynda nodded as she prepared files for possible enrollments to any of the prep schools if the boy was willing. "The blonde girl needs some serious help, though. We did what we could for her here, and Hyperion promised to get the best doctors for her, yet… I'll tell you more in that report."
"What about the woman?" Lucas asked distractedly, and Glynda just realized he had muted them while he spoke to another screen.
"Ilia Amitola. A White Fang operative that was sold out by her former comrades to the bandits. She rescued those kids and fought tooth and nail to keep them safe at great risk to her life."
"And you are sure it is safe to have her out and about?"
"She's under my protection and has yet to give me reason to distrust her." Qrow shrugged as he stood and left the bench, "Can't say the same about the rest of her former friends."
"What happened?"
"Thornfield was looted and its fields burned."
"What?!" Glynda nearly dropped her scroll as she glared at Qrow's annoying smirk.
"Yeah, considering your beauty products are lavender-based, you might want to buy out the market, Glynda."
How in the devil did he even know that?!
"Now's not the time! Who would do such a foul deed?"
"Survivors claim their attackers were all faunus and wore white masks with some kind of red emblem on their backs."
"So, has the White Fang formally declared war on Vale?" Ozpin folded his fingers in front of his mouth as he stared coldly at the screen. "Atlas and Mistral have been clamoring for us to declare them as a terrorist organization, yet they have plenty of supporters here. I would hate to create more strife."
"It's not that simple. Apparently, the attackers are led by a rogue element of the organization. A splinter group, bent on murder and mayhem. Ilia gladly filled me in on so many things about them." The Huntsman grinned, "A woman scorned really is the most dangerous force in the world."
"… This is getting more complicated by the minute." Ozpin sighed before moving to his cocoa station and refilling his mug - his eye wandered to a nearby decanter of whiskey, but he shook his head. "I will need to get in contact with Sienna Khan and maybe Ghira Belladonna about this. Anything else you need to report, Qrow?"
"Not really. Tomorrow morning, I will be off with Valestein and Amitola to hunt the remaining bandits. Sylphid decided to stick in town, though she has been getting comfy with the Arc twins. Hopefully, we will catch wind of that Adam Taurus fellow and his band of maniacs."
"Very well. What do you think of possibly recruiting Fie for Beacon?"
"You can try, but she's like a cat - even more than you would think. I am not too familiar with her, and all I know is from what Sara told me. Nevertheless, I will ask and we shall see."
"Good, she has proven to be extremely talented. Lucas? Has your representative finished negotiating with the Celdic leadership?"
"He has. Despite understanding the circumstances, the mayor and the rest of the elected officials were not particularly impressed with Vale." Lucas grinned as he sent something to their terminal, and Glynda read what appeared to be a contract. "Once they learned we were Jaune's family, they were ecstatic to agree to our proposition."
"They certainly looked like you promised them the world. Everyone who was in town during the attacks practically worships Jaune now." Qrow yawned as he strolled around the town, waving at some townsfolk. "Just what was this all about anyway? Why is Hyperion so interested in Celdic that they essentially bought the whole region?"
"Now, now, Hyperion did no such thing. As a company affiliated with the Kingdom of Atlas, we have no legal right to occupy lands in regions under the jurisdiction of Vale - even if it is an autonomous one."
Glynda glanced at Ozpin in confusion, the man seemed to be doing his best not to smile. While she had learned of the Dust deposits, she had no clue about the intricacies of how Hyperion plans to profit from them.
"They will be doing it through the Arc family. The Arcs are nobles of Vale. Historically, their Duchy encompassed the entirety of Vytal, before they lost most of it to the passage of time. Still, following the new borders of the Great War, they have become Vale citizens and officially joined the noble peerage of the realm. By convincing the population of Celdic to submit themselves to the Arcs and declare the region as a fief to Duchess Arc, they would still be under de-jure rule of Vale; de-facto, however…"
"Exactly, headmaster." Lucas grinned at Ozpin, "I am so glad that despite the parliamentary rule of Vale, it is still, at its heart, a Kingdom. With the amount of Dust that Rhys had confirmed, my brother has given the green light to secure Celdic by any means necessary. Officially, it will be all under the Arc name, but practically, Hyperion will be running everything on their behalf - and giving them a decent cut of the profits of course."
"Huh, that explains the amount of Hyperion engineers and aid workers already on the ground." Qrow pointed the scroll at where workers wearing yellow exoskeleton suits were busy rebuilding the town; it looked like a large section of it had been burned to ash. "But all of this for Dust? Hot damn, no wonder the kid kept it close to himself. If the SDC caught wind that their monopoly was in jeopardy…"
"Suffice to say, they would be beyond pissed. Fortunately, the SDC train here in Celdic is facing technical difficulties in contacting their higher-ups. I wager Jacques shall still hear about this within a week at most."
"I shall pretend I did not hear you implying you have engaged in sabotage."
"My, such slander and libel!" Lucas chortled, "It's a good thing Willow and her son are staying in Arcade for the summer holidays; while I would love to be a fly on the wall when Jacques learns of this, I shudder what he would do in one of his tantrums."
"That Schnee wannabe?" Qrow asked, his voice quivering in mirth. "Keeping the family feud strong, isn't he? A true Gelè of Sidonia. I bet he really doesn't like your family either, Lucas."
"Naturally, he did try his damnedest to ruin Hyperion when I married Lianne and sow discord between his wife and her first cousin. Unfortunately for him, Willow and Lianne were practically raised together, and his attitude drove his wife even further to Arcade." Lucas Lichter chuckled before his face adopted a grim look. "I know I was the one who called for this whole venture, but are you sure you can handle the fallout, Ozpin?"
"Do not worry about me. As long as you keep your end of the bargain. Jaune Arc shall join Beacon, that is a fact; I want you to let him know he's already been accepted, Qrow. Pending he passes initiation, of course." The Huntsman nodded, "What I want is for his family to fully support him, and by extension, support Beacon. And I mean, all of his family, Lucas."
The consort of the Duchess of Arcade sucked a breath through his teeth, "Max won't be a problem, I think. He's hands-off with politics, and has been training Jaune for a year already. I will handle Lianne, though."
"Excellent. As agreed; the Kingdom of Vale shall have first choice of any Dust sales, and Beacon and its student body will receive a premium."
"Yeah, yeah. And don't you forget. Vale will invest in a proper Air Force, and Hyperion will be the first choice supplier for the fighters, and the pilots…also at a premium."
"The generals were ecstatic at the news; however, that will still need to go through the Senate."
"Yeah, well, Hyperion nearly bankrupted themselves to make Celdic happen. The amount of money borrowed - John and I even had to pour our personal funds for this! Not to mention the lives and planes we lost…"
"Would you like to handle Vale's thousand-man senate instead?" Ozpin grinned at Lucas' paling face and vehement shaking of the head. "Finally, my offer for the twins still stands. Maya and Bleue could still enroll, even if they are a year older and have not attended a prep school. It would be simple to–"
"They already gave you their reply, Ozpin. Don't push your luck."
"… Worth a try." The headmaster shrugged, "Just remember that anyone with Arc blood who would like to be a Huntsman is welcome at any time."
Glynda stifled her disappointment. She had met both Maya and Bleue Arc months ago and was impressed by both their aura levels and temperament. It was a shame they preferred employment in Hyperion over becoming Huntresses.
Still, gaining Jaune Arc was an unimaginable windfall, especially considering his talents. Glynda will need to do her utmost to properly train the young man to reach his full potential. A small part of her wondered if she would be able to do a better job than Maximilian Arc, but she determinedly squashed it.
There are things that could not be taught by those with natural talents. Glynda Goodwitch had a spring to her step as she left Beacon that day for a shopping night in Vale. Teaching was her passion, and she had a strong feeling that Jaune Arc will not disappoint her.
Tuesday 11th of July,
Schnee Manor
"Welcome back, My Lady."
Weiss Schnee was greeted by her father's butler, Klein Sieben, as he opened the car door for her. She nodded to the balding man, and exited the car, allowing him to close it and pay the driver.
"Is Father home?" Weiss made her way into the manor, the butler following her at a polite distance.
"Master Jacques is in his study, however…"
"What is it, Klein?" The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company stopped in the middle of the large stairway.
"He was not in a particularly pleasant mood when I delivered his afternoon tea."
"I see," The young woman continued up the stairs before stopping at the top, her prim and beautiful face twisted into a scowl as she stomped on the ground angrily. "It's bad enough he insisted that I go to that ball and sing like some trained songbird for his associates, but to leave me alone and go home by himself? I had to take a taxi, Klein! Do you have any idea how that felt?"
"I dare say no different from when I took it the last time."
"Exactly! I smell like a stale cigarette." Weiss folded her hands behind her back as she paced back and forth in front of the arched windows. "Not only did he leave me alone with those creeps, he even insisted I wear this dress."
To say that Weiss was aggrieved would be an understatement. The dress she wore was skin tight, and far too breezy in her chest area. It was definitely fashionable with its blue and white frills and snowy theme - for it had Ice Dust weaved into its threads, and she could see herself wearing it at home. Yet, combined with the sapphire-encrusted tiara that held her hair into an elegant braid, and the private event she was at… it felt like she was being paraded at an auction for the highest bidder.
"But I'm sure you charmed them with your beautiful voice, My Lady."
"I don't want to charm them, Klein. I only did so because Father made me do it. He promised to allow me to attend Beacon if I did that and passed his test, and–" The girl stopped pacing and turned to the butler, opened her mouth to say more, before closing it. She ground her teeth and turned to the balcony for her room, but only took one step before stomping on the ground again and turning back around. "That is it! I'm going to have a word with him."
"My Lady!"
Weiss stopped for a moment, raising a manicured eyebrow to the butler. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to go there right now." Klein looked conflicted before looking determinedly at her with his kind eyes. "The master was in an incredibly foul mood, and I fear he would take it out on you."
"I see, but he will have to put up with my presence for a bit longer."
Weiss turned to the other balcony and stomped her way to her father's study. Her footsteps echoed loudly on the marble floor, reminding her of how empty the manor was. Her sister had joined the Atlas military in an attempt to run away from the duties expected of the heiress to the SDC, and her father pretended she did not exist. She loved her sister dearly, but Weiss couldn't help but feel betrayed by her actions.
She knew Jacques Schnee preferred Whitley as heir, being a boy and all that, but Weiss had insisted that she was worthy of the position. The fact Mother and Whitley spent so much time on vacation in Vytal with her cousin helped her case. Weiss had only ever been to Arcade once when she was a child, yet she remembered little from it aside from chilling winds and many many blonde haired, blue-eyed cousins.
Regardless, Jacques had no choice but to acquiesce.
That he used her family's absence to coerce her into becoming some accessory for those gatherings of his irked her, but she endured - she was not sure if her mother would have approved, but this was her test and Weiss would not fail.
She was not blind nor deaf to the whispers of the nobles she interacted with in those balls, or the masses in Atlas and the rest of Mantle. The Schnee name came with a large amount of honor and prestige; an old and noble house that birthed powerful warriors and beloved statesmen.
That was in the past; Ever since her father took power from her grandfather, honor and duty were sold to the highest bidder. Now, the Schnee name was most associated with the SDC - slave labor and a strangled hold on the economy of the kingdom, if not the world.
It was why Weiss wanted - no, needed to become more. She could not afford to be a simple accessory or trophy wife for whatever sycophant her father decided was worthy of her hand and would lead the SDC in his place once he was gone. Becoming a Huntress had thus been her goal ever since her eyes were opened to the reality of her House.
It helped that she managed to unlock her aura at a young age, along with its decent reserves. Her talent with Glyphs had many encouraging her to join the academy, even if Weiss had yet to unlock the coveted Schnee semblance.
Her hopes to enroll in Atlas were squashed by her father, for Jacques feared she would be poached by the military the same way Winter did, but she had managed to convince him that she needed a proper education. There were already unsavory rumors about how he kept her confined in the manor, and the man finally caved in, but he had his conditions. Be Daddy's perfect little girl, and prove she was strong enough to not shame the Schnee name outside of Atlas, for he still refused her to join Atlas Academy.
Hence, Beacon had become her target.
The Schnee maiden stopped a few feet from her father's study, where she could see the door slightly ajar and her father's loud voice reached her. Suddenly, all her bravado melted at the prospect of barging in on her father when he was in a foul mood, but Weiss Schnee was not a quitter!
She girded herself, and resolutely stepped through the door, only to freeze at the sight of her father standing in the middle of the room, gripping a wine glass tightly. His face was twisted into a furious scowl as he glared murderously at a large screen where a languid man sat on a high-backed chair.
"You overstep your means, Johannes. Hyperion cannot afford to provoke the SDC. We can easily wipe you out of Atlas. Now, explain yourself!"
"Please, you and what army?" The man on the screen looked to be in his late thirties or early forties with neatly combed brown hair, a handsome face, and heterochromia eyes; one was blue while the other was hazel. "And call me, John. We are peers, and should treat each other with mutual respect. Ah, thank you, Angel."
The sarcastic man accepted a cup of tea from a beautiful older girl with dark hair and blue eyes. Jacques glanced at her once she fully entered the study and returned to the screen, growling under his breath as his mustache twitched. Weiss wisely remained silent as she moved to stand behind him in support of…whatever was going on.
"Ah, is that your daughter I spy? My, I heard there was a private venue going on. I apologize for missing it, very busy, you see."
Weiss scowled inwardly, yet maintained a polite demeanor, she bowed to the man she recognized as the CEO of The Hyperion Corporation - an upstart corporation that had been slowly rising in importance with their developments in robotics, though they were considered a joke after the eldest brother eloped with…Oh.
"A pleasure to meet you, Mr Lichter. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."
"Such a polite and courteous girl. The pleasure is all mine, Miss Schnee. Johannes Lichter, but please call me John, at your service. This is my daughter, Angel Lichter." The dark-haired girl nodded her head before excusing herself from the screen. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes. Frankly, I have no obligation to explain anything to you, Jacques. We found those mines, they are not in Atlas' jurisdiction, my nephew fought tooth and nail to secure them and most importantly - we have Ozpin's and the Arcs' backing in the matter."
Weiss' eyes widened at the powerful names being thrown around, and her curiosity rose along with her eyebrows. Johannes Lichter's nephew would be–
She flinched when her father threw away his wine glass, and it shattered on the wall. "You will regret this day, John. Mark my words, you will regret ever crossing the Schnee name!"
Johannes Lichter glared coldly at her father before his lips twisted into a malicious smirk, "Whatever you say… Gelé."
Her father's angry roar as he punched the screen had Weiss take a step back and stared in morbid amusement as Jacques Schnee continued to throw anything and everything within reach in the study. After barely a couple of minutes, the man leaned on his desk as he gasped for breath.
"Father?"
Her father seemed to remember her presence and glared at her, "You will not be going to Beacon. You will not be stepping one foot out of Atlas, even if all the Grimm descended on us! Do you hear me?"
"B-But father–"
"I SAID, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
Weiss Schnee stared at her father as if she had seen him for the first time. She inspected him from head to toe, the way his knees shook from the tantrum he had thrown, how he could barely catch his breath, his wild eyes…
And found him lacking.
"Very well, if that is all?"
Weiss did not bother waiting for the man to reply before she turned away, her face tight with subdued rage as every step she took, a bit of frost was left in her wake. It appeared her plans would need to be remade and expedited. She had hoped to enroll in Beacon with her father's blessings, but if she was on her own…
Klein waited for her by the end of the hallway, a sad smile on his face.
"I will need your help."
"With pleasure, My Lady."
Saturday morning, 15th of July,
Celdic Cemetery
"There you are, Jaune."
The blonde man raised his head and glanced at the approaching figure of his sister. "Maya."
"I figured you would be here," Maya said, as her robot carried her in its arms and floated above the ground towards him. "Grieving again?" She sighed at his curt nod, "Do you have any idea how much I hate waking up at dawn?"
"A lot? You were never a morning person." Jaune shrugged as he stared at the tombstones of the fallen who died defending the town. He placed a flower on Old Baha's headstone, before moving towards the next one.
He could still hear their last words echoing in his mind, haunting him at every waking moment. Jaune did not recall when was the last time he had any proper sleep.
"Still having trouble sleeping? Even after Bleue and I made you another onesie?"
Jaune remained silent, Maya's light smirk melting away. His sister's robot halted beside him and she hopped off to hug his left arm.
"Speak to me, Jaune. How are you feeling?"
"Better."
"Don't lie to me, lil bro. I've always known when you were holding something in, ever since we were kids and Chloé would go overboard with her teasing." Maya squeezed his arm, laid her head on his shoulder, and stared at Duncan's headstone as he placed the last of his flowers on it.
Jaune sighed, wishing he was alone, but he couldn't bring himself to push her away. "You and Bleue got more grief from our older sister for covering for me. You were always my favorite sisters, you know?"
"More than Saphron?"
"Saph is more of an aunt, to be honest."
They had left the cemetery, the robot following behind them, and Jaune glanced at it curiously. It was shaped like a woman yet did not have a face - only a single large eye. It had two bulges where its chest would be that he learned hid an assortment of weaponry. He knew that Maya had been working on this project for a couple of years now, ever since Uncle Adrian died.
"Don't let her hear you say that, or else she will think you're calling her old."
Unbidden, his lips quirked upward at the image of his oldest sister pouting. Since as long he could remember, Saphron has had a complex over being the oldest of their brood yet without aura, nor a stable job, much to the disapproval of their mother. Even running away to Uncle Adrian had Lianne Arc frowning, thinking the girl was freeloading off her brother.
"Aha! There it is." Maya suddenly exclaimed as she pinched his cheek, causing him to frown. "Your first smile of the week!!"
"… I'm sure I smiled plenty of times." Yet he could not hide the uncertainty in his voice. Did he really not smile at all? He tried smiling again, and found his facial muscles stiff.
"Ugh, don't do that! You look constipated."
"Pfft, Hahaha." Jaune laughed, and could not stop laughing as they walked back to Celdic. Gods, he could not remember when was the last time he laughed. He laughed so much his face ached, and when he finally stopped, he couldn't help but smile fondly at his shorter sister. "Thanks, Maya. I really needed that."
His sister squeezed his arm as she hugged him tighter, "What are older sisters for?"
"Speaking of, where's Bleue?"
"With Fie, the both of them are sleeping off the excitement from last night. Those two have been inseparable ever since Bleue took her flying on one of the Sparrows, they only got back late last night."
"Stealing the girl from Sara?"
"Hey, not my fault that Valestein decided to go on a protracted date with that hunk of a man." Maya giggled as she combed her messy hair with her free hand, "Fie is just so adorable. No offense to you bro, but I always wanted a younger sister."
Jaune shrugged noncomittantly; he had honestly been lost on what to do with Fie. The cat-faunus refused his offer to join him in Beacon, saying that there was no way she would willingly go to school. Even if she wasn't even sixteen, he thought he could have used his newly found influence with the headmaster to have her enrolled.
As they approached the town, Jaune inspected the changes that had occurred over the week. Hyperion had really gone beyond what they promised in rebuilding the town and the region. There were hardly any signs of the attack - the destroyed homesteads and farmlands were cleared with more to be rebuilt in their places. The town's old walls were being torn down as a new wall would be built nearly three miles away from them, greatly expanding the scope of the town and fully using all the available space in the region. Jaune gazed at a yellow bullhead flying in from the north and landing on the new airstrip a mile away.
The Arc scion wagered that within a year or two, Celdic would no longer be a small town, but a true city known for its fertile lands as well as its rich Dust mines.
Still, Hyperion had no experience in mining Dust; only synthesizing it. He hoped his father and uncle knew what they were doing. "How do you think they will get miners to come here? Will Uncle John poach faunus from the SDC mines?"
"Nah, he has something else in mind." Maya shrugged as she kicked a pebble that bounced off the ground until it hit a Hyperion worker in his exosuit, causing her to grimace and apologize. "You know how Uncle raves about the uses of exosuits, right? Durable enough for anything heavy; not so bad against the Grimm, either."
"Yeah, and crazy expensive too, right?"
"Not as much as you think, but yeah, they're useful in smaller quantities but would hardly be profitable if used in the mines. Which brings us to Uncle's second product." She pointed towards a yellow warehouse where humanoid robots carried large crates to a truck. "These are based off the Atlesian Knights. You know how Gramps hates the idea of depending on robots for fights?"
"Yeah, he always said that nothing beats personal power." Jaune coughed as he adopted his grandfather's rough tone with quite a bit of embellishment, "What use are ya fancy gizmos when they stop working or ya don't have em with ya? Nothing beats using ya bare hands to ground your enemies to mulch, or a trusty sword to cut them to pieces."
Maya snickered, "Sounds just like Gramps. He gave me a hard time over my Siren, but he can suck on a lemon!" He chortled as Maya waved a fist at the sky as if their grandfather could see them. "Ah, shoot. I should probably stow her away to save energy. Come here, Siren!"
Maya touched her combat droid and it instantly vanished into her Inventory, "Man, I still cannot believe that my little bro is a wizard! Thanks a bunch for this, by the way. You have no idea how much easier you've made my life."
"Don't mention it. It's the only ability that matched for you, anyway." Jaune smiled at his sister; it was a no-brainer that he would grant his favorite sisters magical abilities. If he gave those abilities to two semi-strangers like Fie and Sara, then naturally his family would get the same treatment.
Only, for some reason, Maya could not use Pathfinder when using Search, and even the range for the base ability was severely limited. After discussing with her, he theorized her low PER could be the reason, despite it being at a 53, which was simply average but not particularly bad. On the other hand, her Inventory was much larger than his own, at three cubic meters compared to his one cubic meter, without Aura enhancement.
It seemed there was much to learn about his magical abilities than he first thought; it clearly had little to do with Stats. Perhaps some hidden aptitude? Krystal hadn't helped, claiming that he was too inexperienced to know the full eccentricities of the Creator, but promised to provide an answer when he discovers one. Jaune was not amused, and had rebuffed his reminders to use the large amount of MP he gained. What use was gambling on new abilities when he barely scratched the surface with the ones he already had?
Bleue had the opposite problem of her twin. Her Inventory was only a cubic foot large, barely enough to stow a gun and a few magazines, while her Search was a lot more versatile than even his own; allowing her to search for multiple targets with much better results, and a much more versatile Pathfinder.
Yet she could not search for miles away like he could, furthering his confusion. Did he ignore whatever aptitude required for the abilities? Or was he lucky with the three he already got? Was there even a limit to how many abilities anyone could hold? Did it apply to him as well?
Jaune shoved it to the back of his mind - it was no use worrying about it now.
"Anyway, I won't deny Gramps has a point. Having such a large hivemind of combat droids connected through a single system is just asking to have them hacked and used against you."
"Oh? And how did you avoid such an obvious weakness with your Siren?"
"Pfft, I'm not an amateur, Jaune. I sunk nearly a million Lien to make sure my systems are closed and connected only to me." Jaune gawked at her, and Maya's grin turned painful. "Yeah, I know. I practically sold my soul to Uncle John to build this baby. Not to mention, while I did build and design her, it was our cousin Angel who did all the programming. I'm pants at that stuff."
"Okay, and so what? That hardly stops hacking attempts."
"Ah, but you see, in order to hack the closed system, you would have to hack me." Maya idly pushed her hair away from her ear for him to find a tiny chip embedded behind her right ear. "It's not as scary as you think, it's just so I can command Siren telepathically."
"…That's impressive." Maya puffed out her chest in pride, "Still risky, though."
"You sound like Dad."
"Speaking of, Dad holds the same mindset, doesn't he? Depending on robots and programs for battle always peeved him."
"Yeah, Uncle John, too. Why make battle droids that would cost a fortune to constantly repair and rebuild when they can buy them cheap from Atlas and repurpose them for mining and other intensive labor?"
"So they would take over all the mining duties?" Jaune hummed, "that would mean less injuries and fatalities on the job".
"Not all, just the more dangerous parts. Human, or faunus, hands will be needed for a lot of the more delicate work. But, it's still much better than SDC's slav– excuse me, contracted laborers."
They laughed softly as they approached where the old gates to the town were, Jaune's eyes settling on the two banners fluttering in the wind above the gate. The Arc's double crescents, and the Hyperion logo.
"So, why did you want to talk to me so early in the morning anyway?"
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot." Maya palmed her face before grinning wickedly at him, "Mom is pregnant!"
Jaune nearly tripped on the ground as he stared at her in shock, "What? When did she and Dad even…"
"Apparently, once you had made it clear you were not budging on going to Beacon, she decided that another male to continue the bloodline was necessary."
Maya explained with such a straight face, that for a second, Jaune thought she was serious… until she burst out in laughter.
"Oh, the look on your face!"
"You have to admit that it would be just like Mom to do something like that." He shook his head as he chuckled along with her.
They continued on their way, and soon they were back in town.
"Aren't you glad? Now she's not gonna come here and drag you back to Arcade."
"I'm pretty sure she would fail even if she tried." Jaune waved awkwardly at the townsfolk, the way their faces lit up when they saw him, calling him Lord Arc… it was strange. "I've gotten pretty strong, you know?"
"Yeah, you certainly did. Anyway, I'm hungry, let's go." Maya dragged him to the Weathercock Inn for breakfast, where they found a surprise guest waiting for them inside.
"Sara?"
"Hey kid," Sara Valestein raised a mug of beer from her seat at a table, her lips stretched into a wide grin. "Come and join us. You too, Maya."
Qrow and Ilia were seated with her, but did not share her exuberance; the Huntsman looked tired, while the faunus girl stared at the two awkwardly. A glance upwards found Fie and Bleue exiting their old room, both of them yawning before smiling lightly as they caught his eye.
"I didn't know you were back," he and Maya dragged another table close to theirs, just as Fie and Bleue joined them as well.
"Yeah, well, there is only so much we can do covering the vast swathes of territory on a plane that needs refueling every day." Sara shrugged as she drank deeply from her mug, "Ah, that hit the spot. Haven't had a drink in a week!"
"When did you return?"
"Less than an hour ago," Ilia replied as she glanced at him warily before giving her order to the waitress, the rest of the table following suit. "We ran out of supplies, and hunting those bandits turned out to be more difficult than we thought; they know the mountains better than us, and we can't afford to search every nook and cranny. We'll be back tracking down Taurus' group by the end of the day."
"Not to mention, flying in the Carrion is not the most comfortable thing." Sara lamented as she shifted in her seat with a groan, but winked to Qrow who gave her a tired but amused smile. "We should really invest in better seating for that plane of yours."
"Sure, sure. Once I'm done with our assignment and back in Patch, I'll see about refurbishing it."
"Surely, you will take me along? Introduce me to those rambunctious nieces of yours, perhaps?"
"Hmm, maybe I will, maybe I won't."
The two adults at the table continued to banter and flirt, while Jaune and the rest sat there, awkwardly looking on. Fie looked a bit peeved, and stuck close to Bleue while huffing when Sara tried talking to her.
Soon, their food arrived, and they ate in relative silence. Before they knew it, everyone was nursing a drink and chatting with their neighbors; Sara had another mug of beer along with Qrow, while Jaune opted for coffee, same as Ilia and Bleue. Fie and Maya had orange juice, and both of them stuck out their tongues in unison when Sara teased them for being kids.
"So, your train is later today, right?" Sara suddenly asked, and Jaune nodded. "You met up with everyone?"
"Yeah, the Mayor already paid me for my work - though it was more like Hyperion, since they took over all the accounts. I found myself with an extra large bonus. Must be an early birthday present from Uncle John."
"Ah yes, I should probably expect a bonus as well. Too bad, a certain someone missed the fun part of the job." Sara ribbed Qrow as she moved her chair closer to him, the man simply shrugging silently as he drank his beer.
"Brocket was too busy with his new duties." Jaune continued as he recollected the last couple of days. "The man's excited that the Dragoons will be receiving patronage from the Arcs from now on. Already, he had twelve fresh recruits for the force."
"Good for him. He'll probably retire once he finds a successor, what with his missing arm."
The lieutenant had lost his broken arm during the last Grimm attack. It reminded Jaune how fragile even aura users could be, and how blessed he was with his powers.
"Rory and Lizzie finally got married a couple of days ago. They also adopted Anita, and bought one of the abandoned ranches to settle down, though Rory will still be with the Dragoons."
"What? I missed a wedding?! Bummer. Them's the breaks, I guess." They chuckled at the woman's exaggerated sigh as she kept glancing furtively at Qrow before blushing like a maiden.
Jaune shook his head in amusement and turned to his other companion in this strange adventure he's been on.
"What about you, Fie? Did you change your mind about joining me in Beacon?"
"Nope, no way I will ever go to school. I would go mad and probably kill someone."
Bleue giggled as she hugged the girl and dragged her to her lap, the cat faunus just short enough for the top of her head to reach his sister's chin - Bleue was the tallest of his sisters at six feet two inches, same as him in fact, which always drew comparisons to her shorter twin.
Surprisingly, Fie didn't mind the affection as she relaxed to his sister's ministrations. "Fie has agreed to come with us to Vytal. We can always use more hands in Arcade."
Sara gave a strangled yelp as she looked at her protégé in shock. "Wait, what? Fie, are you serious?"
"Yep, thought about it for a while. It sounds like fun. Jasper and Petunia are also coming, so I'll also be there for them too."
The table's mood swiftly went somber as everyone was reminded of the fate of the two. Jasper had steadily improved as he interacted with more people, but he never let his friend out of his sight. Petunia had yet to awaken from her coma; her eye was open, and she was receptive to food and drink, but she would not speak nor make any noise. Neither did she acknowledge anyone's existence. It was planned that she would be airlifted to Atlas for treatment, but perhaps Arcade would be a better option - being surrounded by dependable people and his family would help more than anything, and anything Atlas could provide, the Arcs could also provide.
"Yeah, you're probably the best option to help those kids." Sara sighed before gazing at him and his sisters. After a minute of an intense staring contest, the older woman nodded before glaring at them. "You better treat my girl well. If I see anything wrong with her in any way, I will Searing Flash your behinds!"
"You aren't my mom, Sara." Despite her complaints, Fie had a warm smile as she gazed at her mentor fondly. "Thanks for everything."
"Don't mention it. It's not like we won't meet again." Sara waved her off before grinning as she leaned heavily on Qrow's arm who eyed her with amusement, "At least now we would have some privacy, darling."
Ilia pointedly coughed before sipping from her coffee cup, causing Sara to groan. "Or not. Nothing against you, sweetie, but we really need to find you a job. Can't have you mooching off us forever."
"But I've already decided on one." Ilia smiled sweetly, a bit too sweetly. "Watching you on the job inspired me to become an Adventurer, just like you. What better way to learn the ropes than from an A-Rank Adventurer as well as the Strongest Huntsman?"
Jaune smiled as the rest of the table watched the banter between the two future master and student. He won't deny that he will miss having Sara and Fie around, but just like the cat faunus, it was time for him to continue on his journey.
His smile slowly melted as doubts appeared in his mind; was it truly necessary that he leave so early? As Jaune glanced around him and found the Celdic residents smiling easily, or nodding to him in respect, he decided that - Yes, he needed to go. Jaune needed to be away from this place, where the spirits of the dead continued to haunt him daily.
Hopefully, he would find some peace in Vale. He had had enough grieving for a lifetime.
A beep on his scroll had him find a text from Fie. He glanced at her, finding her staring at him silently as she pocketed her scroll, while Bleue and Maya chatted about something. Checking the message, he found a picture of a dark-haired cat faunus with amber eyes and a file titled by two words.
Scaredy Cat.
.
.
.
Jaune stared idly out of the window as he waited for the train to move. He had already said all of his goodbyes and looked forward to a new chapter of his life.
Soon the train started moving, and the aspiring Huntsman relaxed for the four-hour ride to Vale. He ignored the announcements blaring above and the chattering of the passengers in favor of reading that Beacon packet Qrow gave him. A wave of his hand, and he had a can of soda in his hands from Inventory.
He skimmed through the history of the school and other random trivia until he found what he needed. School begins on the 24th of August and there would be some sort of initiation exam. What it was remained a mystery, only that it would 'Test his toughness, talent, tactics, and teamwork'. The four Ts it seemed was the only true hurdle for him to be accepted into Beacon.
"Ah, Jaune. Mind if we join you?"
Jaune looked up in surprise to find two of the least likely people he expected to see here.
"Captain Montgomery, Meg." He quickly motioned for them to join him in the empty seats across him. "Please, have a seat."
"No longer a captain, lad. Retired now."
"Retired?" Jaune repeated, in surprise. He expected the man to be commended for the good work he had done in defending the town.
"Aye, with Celdic firmly in your family's hands, the Vale garrison was politely asked to leave." There was a small sardonic smile on his face. "Unfortunately, someone has besmirched my good name with high command, and it has been decided that it's about time for me to hang up my gun, so to speak."
"Why do I get the feeling that certain someone was missing during the battle as he and his friends had taken a truck straight to Vale?"
"Eh, I won't bother with it. It was about time for me to retire anyway; maybe I'll use this chance to reconnect with my daughter."
"It is never too late, Herbert." Meg joined in, "Do you know where your daughter lives?"
"I know she's in Vale. Her name is Mocha, and she has a few children already. I only know her eldest son's name, Toma."
Jaune smiled serenely as Meg promised to help the elderly man out. Now that he was out of uniform and dropped his pompousness, Herbert Montgomery looked like a genial old grandfather than the annoying ponce he was.
"I wish good luck, Herbert. Vale is a massive place, after all."
"That's an understatement, sweetie." Meg giggled, her rabbit ears twitching from the motion. "The Kingdom of Vale is its city, and the city is the kingdom… or so the saying went."
"I see," a comfortable silence fell until an attendant came to ask for what meals they would have and they gave their orders. Then, Jaune remembered something, "What happened to the footage you made from the battle, Meg?"
"Mr Branwen bought it off me," The businesswoman had a wide grin as her eyes glowed in excitement. "I was going to sell it to VNN but I doubt they would have offered me the same as what the Headmaster of Beacon offered. They probably had dozens of footage from the war, why would they care about some backwater town by the mountains?"
Jaune and Herbert nodded along before the elderly man changed the topic to when the last time he visited the city.
Listening to the man had Jaune wonder what he would find at Vale?
He had over a month to explore it and get a measure of its people, and Jaune had a feeling he would have an interesting time in the so-called Jewel of Remnant.
And we are finally finished with the Prologue!
The Celdic arc has taken far, far, too long for me to finish; a lot longer than I ever thought possible. Yet, it all came through in the end, and I'm proud of what I've written. I did tell you that the region will be important in the future, and there are still a few loose ends I purposely left for another adventure in that region. One that will involve a lot of spelunking and fighting
Jaune leaves his ghosts behind as he prepares for a new chapter in his life, but would the ghosts let him go so easily?
We won't be seeing him for some time, as the next few chapters will be from Weiss' POV, for the most part.
In case you are confused; the Sparrow is the fighter jets that flew in with the Hyperion ships.
Word count: Over 9,000! (Over 10,000 after some edits lol)
Editor and Beta Reader: LoneStar, SurvivorSAM, Reiter
Friday evening, July 7th (One day after the Siege of Celdic)
The Wizard's Tower.
The elevator seemed to climb slower than usual to Ozpin's office, and Glynda Goodwitch gazed out of the glass windows at the sprawling grounds of Beacon Academy. She could make out the first year students, now entering their second year, making their way through the campus alongside veteran huntsmen, taking contracts and missions to fill the void left behind by the sudden war.
Usually, there wouldn't be many students owing to the holidays. Only second years and above teams, who have proven themselves, could take missions without supervision, depending on the mission's difficulty.
But turbulent times have resulted in many changes.
All huntsmen students were drafted into action, with even students from Signal and Pharos participating. Losses were few but dearly felt, with even one of her fellow instructors still in the hospital. Harold Mulberry had to hold the rear against a rampaging herd of Goliaths, allowing thousands of refugees and students to escape. It remained to be seen if he shall return to work or retire, following the loss of his leg.
Glynda stared idly, her eyes following the many students and their teams heading towards the mission building, along with the occasional Huntsman. Thankfully, the Grimm had mostly been repelled, yet the aftermath would take weeks if not months to clean up.
She sighed as the elevator finally arrived, and the ding followed by the door opening had her adjust the large folder in her hands before entering the headmaster's office.
"Ah, Glynda. You're just in time, excellent." Ozpin leaned on the front of his desk with a mug of hot cocoa in his hand. "Qrow should be checking in soon with his report, but we have time to go over yours first."
"There's been no further matters to add since the previous meeting." Glynda dropped her folder on the headmaster's desk before folding her arms under her chest. "The council simply reiterated their….concerns. The large influx of refugees from the war has strained the allocated resources beyond their previously established parameters. They are at a loss on where to house the new refugees. The Vale Police Department was already shorthanded, but now they do not even bother patrolling the lower and middle class districts."
"I see." Ozpin drank deeply from his mug before walking to his cocoa station to refill. "It is a sad state of affairs that we are in. Despite our victory against the Grimm, the cost was too high. Nearly a score of Huntsmen and thousands of our good soldiers lost their lives in protecting the kingdom and ensuring the refugees can find shelter in Vale."
There were so few Huntsmen as it was owing to the extremely high standards required of them, yet a single huntsman was easily worth a thousand soldiers.
It was terrible to think of it that way, but the loss of a thousand soldiers, while tragic, could be replenished for there were no shortages of humans and faunus willing to fight against the Grimm. Aura was not required, only a healthy body as well as the discipline and commitment to the cause.
The loss of a single huntsman, on the other hand, would be dearly felt, for they were the ones who truly made a difference; the ones who could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Or hold back a rampaging horde of Goliaths, while the slower and less versatile soldiers maneuvered to better positions.
"Not to mention the devastation left behind. How many villages and towns were destroyed?"
"Too many to count. Granted, most of them were abandoned in time. Still, two satellite cities were nearly overrun, however the loss of lives had been minimal. Recovery and rebuilding is possible with time and resources but…"
"But would the people of those towns and cities be willing to return there after what they had endured?" Glynda finished for him.
"And that is the dilemma we face." The headmaster smiled sadly as he stared at his mug. "Nearly a million refugees have flocked to the city over the past week, with more arriving every hour. Who knows how many call Vale their home now? Considering the city was designed to only hold fifty million comfortably…"
"At least you managed to push that census through. Speaking of, I have already spoken to several members of the governmental districts and have chosen a team to go through with it. The details can be found here," Glynda opened her folder and pulled out a booklet full of sheets of paper. "Unfortunately, it's all physical copies, as the City has yet to adopt digital formatting."
"I'll review it later," Ozpin waved her off, throwing a dirty look at the booklet like it offended him, causing her to lightly smirk. "Please, let me know if the mayor stirs any trouble. Harry might need a reminder that we do not tolerate time-wasting in such matters."
Glynda's brows furrowed as she recalled the mayor of the city. Harrison Thorne was a rotund man with a perpetual smile plastered on his face, yet he always rubbed her the wrong way. Still, he had proven to be marginally better than his predecessor, Jimmy Vanille.
She was never made for all of this politicking, despite discovering a talent for it. Glynda would rather train her students and prepare them for what was to come instead of wasting her time and energy with slick, smooth-talking lickspittles.
"Do I at least get some form of formal position to give to the government officials? I doubt being Beacon's deputy headmistress is cause for any of the interference I will be doing. The police alone would give me a headache every time I am doing a sudden inspection."
"Sure, take your pick of titles and I will have it formalized with the committee." Ozpin's eyes gleamed as he smirked at her, "How about Grand Commissar? Chief Commissioner? Or maybe–"
"I believe a simple title such as Chief Inspector would do."
"That's not fun, you are more of my general than anyone else." Ozpin adjusted his glasses as he stared at her in amusement. "Congratulations on your promotion, Inspector General."
Glynda grimaced at the man's sense of humor; "I just wish we did not have to intervene in every minute detail of Vale." The deputy headmistress rubbed her brows. "All of this politicking and intrigue… Why couldn't we just focus on Beacon and let the officials do their job?"
"You know why, my dear Glynda. I have left them to their devices for the past fifteen years, and this is the result; a cesspool of corruption and arrogance." She stared as the older man's eyes grew cold. "In times of turmoil and conflict, only the strong could ever hope to lead the masses to victory and prosperity. Whether we like it or not, we are strong, and regardless of what the fickle masses and their weak leaders clamor for their rights or what not, once the going gets tough, they will come to us for help. Not the mayor, not the council members or district managers or even what remains of the nobility; Us, the Huntsmen of Beacon."
"… That sounds like something that cynic Maximilian Arc would say." Glynda deadpanned at the chuckling headmaster, and she frowned. "What is it? Did I say something funny?"
"You have no idea," Before Ozpin could continue, a beeping sound came from one of the screens, and he quickly answered it, showing Qrow's languid face on the screen.
"Yo."
"Qrow, it's good to find you safe and sound. We expected a report yesterday."
"Yeah, haven't gotten around to doing it yet." The Huntsman's lackadaisical tone had Glynda frown in disapproval. "Don't look at me like that, Glynda. At least I ain't drunk… no matter how much I wish I could just drown myself in booze."
The headmaster and his deputy glanced at each other. It was not like Qrow to sound so… depressed? No, that's too strong a word for a man like him.
"What happened in Celdic? You are still there, correct?" She noticed he was outdoors, most likely taking a stroll, judging by the change of scenery as they talked, and wore an earpiece for privacy.
"Yeah, but I'll be heading out in the morning with two add-ons. Anyway, let's get business out first. Celdic is safe, but not unscathed. The Grimm hordes were beaten, and the bandits neutralized."
"That's good to hear. I shall have aid convoys sent immediately." Ozpin sat on his desk and was about to open his terminal before it beeped on its own and a familiar brown-haired middle-aged man grinned at him cheekily, causing him to sigh. "Again, Lucas?"
"Hey now, you can't blame me with your rubbish security. Seriously, Ozpin, you really need to fire whoever is responsible for your online security."
"Thank you for the warning, Mr Lichter. I will be sure to punish myself by abstaining from cocoa for the next hour."
"Hang on, you designed this firewall? Bwahahaha, what a joke."
Glynda would normally frown at the disrespect but she had eyes only for Qrow. Normally, he would join in for such silly digs, but he seemed to be distracted with something as he stared off in the distance.
"… State of the art when I developed it!" Ozpin was saying, only for Lucas Lichter to shake his head bemusedly.
"It certainly was state of the art twenty years ago, Ozpin. Anyway, we can discuss this later - Did I interrupt something important?"
"Might as well stay, Lichter. Your daughters and that representative of your brother had made a right mess in the region," Qrow sighed as he sat on a bench and placed the scroll beside him. "Especially after your son took them somewhere in the mountains, refusing for anyone outside Hyperion to join him. That corporate guy, Rhys, looked like he won the jackpot when they returned this morning."
"Oh, that's not all they told me." Lucas' voice suddenly grew cold. "I have heard some dreadful things from them, Branwen. Something about my son massacring hundreds of bandits."
The office grew cold at the absurd words, and Glynda's eyes widened as she finally processed them. Ozpin's face was blank, as if it were made from granite, and he stared at Qrow with intense eyes.
"Explain."
"What is there to explain? To say that shit hit the fan here would be an understatement. An entire barn of manure getting ripped apart in a tornado and spreading the stench for miles would be more apt."
"That was needlessly graphic," Ozpin placed down his mug in slight distaste. "In as few sentences as possible, Qrow."
The huntsman sighed as he idly scratched his head. "Arrived in town yesterday at dawn…
.
.
.
Glynda hid her shock as she typed a report of Qrow's tale in her scroll. And what a tale it was! The town surviving two Grimm hordes - one after the other no less - with the bandits using Grimm Bait and an artifact that blocked all communications. Then a third horde attacking the town independently; only for Hyperion to swoop in with the save. Finally, the assault on their hideout and the rescue of the hostages as well as the slaughter that ensued.
"And you should have been the one to handle that, Branwen!" Lucas slammed his fist on his desk angrily on the other end of the screen. "My son hasn't even taken a life before, and you let him charge in a blind fury, slaughtering so many men and women."
"And their lives would have been forfeit anyway," Ozpin interceded as Qrow merely slouched in his seat. "Whether it was by a team of huntsmen or a battalion of troops, such a large number of unstable outlaws would need to be put down. Especially if they engaged in slavery or created Grimm Bait."
"I understand that, but why should my son have to take on such responsibility?"
"He is an aspiring huntsman. I find it fortunate that he has learned the reality of the profession he is aiming for at a young age."
"Ozpin! You–"
"Tell me, Lichter." Qrow suddenly spoke yet he still stared off at something in the distance. "What do you know of Jaune's semblance?"
"… Only what he told me. He discovered it a few days ago when he got lost in the mountains and that it boosts his aura and physical prowess."
"He can also boost other people's aura and even their semblance. Thanks to him, I got better control of my semblance… after decades of it being a handicap."
Glynda raised her eyebrows, such a versatile semblance!
"What are you getting at, Branwen?"
"Do you know if he has any other abilities?" The huntsman finally turned to them, and she could have sworn his red eyes stared right at her and Ozpin.
"The Arc bloodline has always been blessed with a tremendous amount of aura and endurance." Lucas had a strange look as he stared at each of their faces in confusion, most likely understanding there was something crucial he was missing. "How does this relate to Jaune?"
"If I'm not wrong, Jaune is an empath."
"An empath?"
"An empath is one who could feel and understand–"
"I know what a bloody empath is, Ozpin!"
The headmaster hid a grin behind his mug. He must still be peeved at the ease with which Lucas had hacked his system.
"Yeah, he isn't one in the classical sense." Qrow continued. "He developed his aura sense to such a degree that he could connect with his comrades-in-arms. Now, picture this; a young impressionable lad, full of piss and vinegar, with a bright outlook on life. Gets thrown into a trial by fire and survives. Still hopeful, for he had done his duty in protecting humanity and prevailing against the Grimm. How do you think he would feel when he learns that humans allied with the Grimm to destroy their fellow humans?"
"Naturally; shock and betrayal."
"Not just that, Glynda. He connected with the defenders, he felt them as they died, he heard their last words." With every word spoken, the more it dawned on them the severity of the matter. "We are all familiar with death and murder, whether from fighting bandits, or losing comrades to the Grimm. We are trained to ignore it or cope with it. Yet for Jaune, it was ten times worse in every way, for every defender in Celdic that died was like losing a loved one to him. And Celdic lost over a thousand men and women."
The silence that followed was oppressive. Glynda could barely imagine the amount of work a therapist would have to do with a case like Jaune Arc. At least he didn't seem to have Magic for the abilities he developed, while rare, were not impossible to achieve… or was Qrow just pulling their legs?
"How is my son?" Lucas' face was tired as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I have yet to talk to him since before the siege."
"See for yourself."
They watched in surprise as Qrow pointed his scroll in front of him, where they found the young man in question sitting on the ground next to a pond under the setting sun. Qrow must be sitting about a hundred feet away from him, for the image was not the clearest.
There were three children around Jaune Arc, watching intently as he seemed to show them something they couldn't see. Behind them was a blonde girl in a wheelchair with far too many bandages covering her body, and an eye-patch over her eye. There was one final figure, a young woman with brown hair and tanned skin, standing behind the wheelchair watching the rest of the group.
"Is he?"
"Teaching them how to tie a fishing hook, yes. Your boy has his own coping method, but I will tell you now - it will not be enough for him. It would never be enough for him." Even as they watched, the young Arc grabbed a rod and cast his line at the pond, before handing the rod to the dark-haired boy beside him.
"Oh, Jaune." Lucas sighed fondly.
"Who are those with him, Qrow?" Ozpin rubbed his chin as he stared at the screen. "I recognize Sylphid from Valestein's file, but the others…"
"The brown haired girl is a local named Anita. Her father died as he fought alongside Jaune at the breach. I believe the girl had recorded most of the siege using a drone."
"She has my sympathies. Is there any chance you could get a hold of that footage?"
"Ever the teacher, eh? I'll see what I can do. The dark-haired boy is - was - the Grimm Bait, while the blonde girl was a victim of the bandits' methods. They both hail from a hamlet in the region, but none of their inhabitants survived the conflict."
"I am sorry to hear that. How do they fare?"
"Well enough for the boy - he unlocked his aura and semblance. I'll send more details later." Glynda nodded as she prepared files for possible enrollments to any of the prep schools if the boy was willing. "The blonde girl needs some serious help, though. We did what we could for her here, and Hyperion promised to get the best doctors for her, yet… I'll tell you more in that report."
"What about the woman?" Lucas asked distractedly, and Glynda just realized he had muted them while he spoke to another screen.
"Ilia Amitola. A White Fang operative that was sold out by her former comrades to the bandits. She rescued those kids and fought tooth and nail to keep them safe at great risk to her life."
"And you are sure it is safe to have her out and about?"
"She's under my protection and has yet to give me reason to distrust her." Qrow shrugged as he stood and left the bench, "Can't say the same about the rest of her former friends."
"What happened?"
"Thornfield was looted and its fields burned."
"What?!" Glynda nearly dropped her scroll as she glared at Qrow's annoying smirk.
"Yeah, considering your beauty products are lavender-based, you might want to buy out the market, Glynda."
How in the devil did he even know that?!
"Now's not the time! Who would do such a foul deed?"
"Survivors claim their attackers were all faunus and wore white masks with some kind of red emblem on their backs."
"So, has the White Fang formally declared war on Vale?" Ozpin folded his fingers in front of his mouth as he stared coldly at the screen. "Atlas and Mistral have been clamoring for us to declare them as a terrorist organization, yet they have plenty of supporters here. I would hate to create more strife."
"It's not that simple. Apparently, the attackers are led by a rogue element of the organization. A splinter group, bent on murder and mayhem. Ilia gladly filled me in on so many things about them." The Huntsman grinned, "A woman scorned really is the most dangerous force in the world."
"… This is getting more complicated by the minute." Ozpin sighed before moving to his cocoa station and refilling his mug - his eye wandered to a nearby decanter of whiskey, but he shook his head. "I will need to get in contact with Sienna Khan and maybe Ghira Belladonna about this. Anything else you need to report, Qrow?"
"Not really. Tomorrow morning, I will be off with Valestein and Amitola to hunt the remaining bandits. Sylphid decided to stick in town, though she has been getting comfy with the Arc twins. Hopefully, we will catch wind of that Adam Taurus fellow and his band of maniacs."
"Very well. What do you think of possibly recruiting Fie for Beacon?"
"You can try, but she's like a cat - even more than you would think. I am not too familiar with her, and all I know is from what Sara told me. Nevertheless, I will ask and we shall see."
"Good, she has proven to be extremely talented. Lucas? Has your representative finished negotiating with the Celdic leadership?"
"He has. Despite understanding the circumstances, the mayor and the rest of the elected officials were not particularly impressed with Vale." Lucas grinned as he sent something to their terminal, and Glynda read what appeared to be a contract. "Once they learned we were Jaune's family, they were ecstatic to agree to our proposition."
"They certainly looked like you promised them the world. Everyone who was in town during the attacks practically worships Jaune now." Qrow yawned as he strolled around the town, waving at some townsfolk. "Just what was this all about anyway? Why is Hyperion so interested in Celdic that they essentially bought the whole region?"
"Now, now, Hyperion did no such thing. As a company affiliated with the Kingdom of Atlas, we have no legal right to occupy lands in regions under the jurisdiction of Vale - even if it is an autonomous one."
Glynda glanced at Ozpin in confusion, the man seemed to be doing his best not to smile. While she had learned of the Dust deposits, she had no clue about the intricacies of how Hyperion plans to profit from them.
"They will be doing it through the Arc family. The Arcs are nobles of Vale. Historically, their Duchy encompassed the entirety of Vytal, before they lost most of it to the passage of time. Still, following the new borders of the Great War, they have become Vale citizens and officially joined the noble peerage of the realm. By convincing the population of Celdic to submit themselves to the Arcs and declare the region as a fief to Duchess Arc, they would still be under de-jure rule of Vale; de-facto, however…"
"Exactly, headmaster." Lucas grinned at Ozpin, "I am so glad that despite the parliamentary rule of Vale, it is still, at its heart, a Kingdom. With the amount of Dust that Rhys had confirmed, my brother has given the green light to secure Celdic by any means necessary. Officially, it will be all under the Arc name, but practically, Hyperion will be running everything on their behalf - and giving them a decent cut of the profits of course."
"Huh, that explains the amount of Hyperion engineers and aid workers already on the ground." Qrow pointed the scroll at where workers wearing yellow exoskeleton suits were busy rebuilding the town; it looked like a large section of it had been burned to ash. "But all of this for Dust? Hot damn, no wonder the kid kept it close to himself. If the SDC caught wind that their monopoly was in jeopardy…"
"Suffice to say, they would be beyond pissed. Fortunately, the SDC train here in Celdic is facing technical difficulties in contacting their higher-ups. I wager Jacques shall still hear about this within a week at most."
"I shall pretend I did not hear you implying you have engaged in sabotage."
"My, such slander and libel!" Lucas chortled, "It's a good thing Willow and her son are staying in Arcade for the summer holidays; while I would love to be a fly on the wall when Jacques learns of this, I shudder what he would do in one of his tantrums."
"That Schnee wannabe?" Qrow asked, his voice quivering in mirth. "Keeping the family feud strong, isn't he? A true Gelè of Sidonia. I bet he really doesn't like your family either, Lucas."
"Naturally, he did try his damnedest to ruin Hyperion when I married Lianne and sow discord between his wife and her first cousin. Unfortunately for him, Willow and Lianne were practically raised together, and his attitude drove his wife even further to Arcade." Lucas Lichter chuckled before his face adopted a grim look. "I know I was the one who called for this whole venture, but are you sure you can handle the fallout, Ozpin?"
"Do not worry about me. As long as you keep your end of the bargain. Jaune Arc shall join Beacon, that is a fact; I want you to let him know he's already been accepted, Qrow. Pending he passes initiation, of course." The Huntsman nodded, "What I want is for his family to fully support him, and by extension, support Beacon. And I mean, all of his family, Lucas."
The consort of the Duchess of Arcade sucked a breath through his teeth, "Max won't be a problem, I think. He's hands-off with politics, and has been training Jaune for a year already. I will handle Lianne, though."
"Excellent. As agreed; the Kingdom of Vale shall have first choice of any Dust sales, and Beacon and its student body will receive a premium."
"Yeah, yeah. And don't you forget. Vale will invest in a proper Air Force, and Hyperion will be the first choice supplier for the fighters, and the pilots…also at a premium."
"The generals were ecstatic at the news; however, that will still need to go through the Senate."
"Yeah, well, Hyperion nearly bankrupted themselves to make Celdic happen. The amount of money borrowed - John and I even had to pour our personal funds for this! Not to mention the lives and planes we lost…"
"Would you like to handle Vale's thousand-man senate instead?" Ozpin grinned at Lucas' paling face and vehement shaking of the head. "Finally, my offer for the twins still stands. Maya and Bleue could still enroll, even if they are a year older and have not attended a prep school. It would be simple to–"
"They already gave you their reply, Ozpin. Don't push your luck."
"… Worth a try." The headmaster shrugged, "Just remember that anyone with Arc blood who would like to be a Huntsman is welcome at any time."
Glynda stifled her disappointment. She had met both Maya and Bleue Arc months ago and was impressed by both their aura levels and temperament. It was a shame they preferred employment in Hyperion over becoming Huntresses.
Still, gaining Jaune Arc was an unimaginable windfall, especially considering his talents. Glynda will need to do her utmost to properly train the young man to reach his full potential. A small part of her wondered if she would be able to do a better job than Maximilian Arc, but she determinedly squashed it.
There are things that could not be taught by those with natural talents. Glynda Goodwitch had a spring to her step as she left Beacon that day for a shopping night in Vale. Teaching was her passion, and she had a strong feeling that Jaune Arc will not disappoint her.
T*A*M*S
Tuesday 11th of July,
Schnee Manor
"Welcome back, My Lady."
Weiss Schnee was greeted by her father's butler, Klein Sieben, as he opened the car door for her. She nodded to the balding man, and exited the car, allowing him to close it and pay the driver.
"Is Father home?" Weiss made her way into the manor, the butler following her at a polite distance.
"Master Jacques is in his study, however…"
"What is it, Klein?" The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company stopped in the middle of the large stairway.
"He was not in a particularly pleasant mood when I delivered his afternoon tea."
"I see," The young woman continued up the stairs before stopping at the top, her prim and beautiful face twisted into a scowl as she stomped on the ground angrily. "It's bad enough he insisted that I go to that ball and sing like some trained songbird for his associates, but to leave me alone and go home by himself? I had to take a taxi, Klein! Do you have any idea how that felt?"
"I dare say no different from when I took it the last time."
"Exactly! I smell like a stale cigarette." Weiss folded her hands behind her back as she paced back and forth in front of the arched windows. "Not only did he leave me alone with those creeps, he even insisted I wear this dress."
To say that Weiss was aggrieved would be an understatement. The dress she wore was skin tight, and far too breezy in her chest area. It was definitely fashionable with its blue and white frills and snowy theme - for it had Ice Dust weaved into its threads, and she could see herself wearing it at home. Yet, combined with the sapphire-encrusted tiara that held her hair into an elegant braid, and the private event she was at… it felt like she was being paraded at an auction for the highest bidder.
"But I'm sure you charmed them with your beautiful voice, My Lady."
"I don't want to charm them, Klein. I only did so because Father made me do it. He promised to allow me to attend Beacon if I did that and passed his test, and–" The girl stopped pacing and turned to the butler, opened her mouth to say more, before closing it. She ground her teeth and turned to the balcony for her room, but only took one step before stomping on the ground again and turning back around. "That is it! I'm going to have a word with him."
"My Lady!"
Weiss stopped for a moment, raising a manicured eyebrow to the butler. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to go there right now." Klein looked conflicted before looking determinedly at her with his kind eyes. "The master was in an incredibly foul mood, and I fear he would take it out on you."
"I see, but he will have to put up with my presence for a bit longer."
Weiss turned to the other balcony and stomped her way to her father's study. Her footsteps echoed loudly on the marble floor, reminding her of how empty the manor was. Her sister had joined the Atlas military in an attempt to run away from the duties expected of the heiress to the SDC, and her father pretended she did not exist. She loved her sister dearly, but Weiss couldn't help but feel betrayed by her actions.
She knew Jacques Schnee preferred Whitley as heir, being a boy and all that, but Weiss had insisted that she was worthy of the position. The fact Mother and Whitley spent so much time on vacation in Vytal with her cousin helped her case. Weiss had only ever been to Arcade once when she was a child, yet she remembered little from it aside from chilling winds and many many blonde haired, blue-eyed cousins.
Regardless, Jacques had no choice but to acquiesce.
That he used her family's absence to coerce her into becoming some accessory for those gatherings of his irked her, but she endured - she was not sure if her mother would have approved, but this was her test and Weiss would not fail.
She was not blind nor deaf to the whispers of the nobles she interacted with in those balls, or the masses in Atlas and the rest of Mantle. The Schnee name came with a large amount of honor and prestige; an old and noble house that birthed powerful warriors and beloved statesmen.
That was in the past; Ever since her father took power from her grandfather, honor and duty were sold to the highest bidder. Now, the Schnee name was most associated with the SDC - slave labor and a strangled hold on the economy of the kingdom, if not the world.
It was why Weiss wanted - no, needed to become more. She could not afford to be a simple accessory or trophy wife for whatever sycophant her father decided was worthy of her hand and would lead the SDC in his place once he was gone. Becoming a Huntress had thus been her goal ever since her eyes were opened to the reality of her House.
It helped that she managed to unlock her aura at a young age, along with its decent reserves. Her talent with Glyphs had many encouraging her to join the academy, even if Weiss had yet to unlock the coveted Schnee semblance.
Her hopes to enroll in Atlas were squashed by her father, for Jacques feared she would be poached by the military the same way Winter did, but she had managed to convince him that she needed a proper education. There were already unsavory rumors about how he kept her confined in the manor, and the man finally caved in, but he had his conditions. Be Daddy's perfect little girl, and prove she was strong enough to not shame the Schnee name outside of Atlas, for he still refused her to join Atlas Academy.
Hence, Beacon had become her target.
The Schnee maiden stopped a few feet from her father's study, where she could see the door slightly ajar and her father's loud voice reached her. Suddenly, all her bravado melted at the prospect of barging in on her father when he was in a foul mood, but Weiss Schnee was not a quitter!
She girded herself, and resolutely stepped through the door, only to freeze at the sight of her father standing in the middle of the room, gripping a wine glass tightly. His face was twisted into a furious scowl as he glared murderously at a large screen where a languid man sat on a high-backed chair.
"You overstep your means, Johannes. Hyperion cannot afford to provoke the SDC. We can easily wipe you out of Atlas. Now, explain yourself!"
"Please, you and what army?" The man on the screen looked to be in his late thirties or early forties with neatly combed brown hair, a handsome face, and heterochromia eyes; one was blue while the other was hazel. "And call me, John. We are peers, and should treat each other with mutual respect. Ah, thank you, Angel."
The sarcastic man accepted a cup of tea from a beautiful older girl with dark hair and blue eyes. Jacques glanced at her once she fully entered the study and returned to the screen, growling under his breath as his mustache twitched. Weiss wisely remained silent as she moved to stand behind him in support of…whatever was going on.
"Ah, is that your daughter I spy? My, I heard there was a private venue going on. I apologize for missing it, very busy, you see."
Weiss scowled inwardly, yet maintained a polite demeanor, she bowed to the man she recognized as the CEO of The Hyperion Corporation - an upstart corporation that had been slowly rising in importance with their developments in robotics, though they were considered a joke after the eldest brother eloped with…Oh.
"A pleasure to meet you, Mr Lichter. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."
"Such a polite and courteous girl. The pleasure is all mine, Miss Schnee. Johannes Lichter, but please call me John, at your service. This is my daughter, Angel Lichter." The dark-haired girl nodded her head before excusing herself from the screen. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes. Frankly, I have no obligation to explain anything to you, Jacques. We found those mines, they are not in Atlas' jurisdiction, my nephew fought tooth and nail to secure them and most importantly - we have Ozpin's and the Arcs' backing in the matter."
Weiss' eyes widened at the powerful names being thrown around, and her curiosity rose along with her eyebrows. Johannes Lichter's nephew would be–
She flinched when her father threw away his wine glass, and it shattered on the wall. "You will regret this day, John. Mark my words, you will regret ever crossing the Schnee name!"
Johannes Lichter glared coldly at her father before his lips twisted into a malicious smirk, "Whatever you say… Gelé."
Her father's angry roar as he punched the screen had Weiss take a step back and stared in morbid amusement as Jacques Schnee continued to throw anything and everything within reach in the study. After barely a couple of minutes, the man leaned on his desk as he gasped for breath.
"Father?"
Her father seemed to remember her presence and glared at her, "You will not be going to Beacon. You will not be stepping one foot out of Atlas, even if all the Grimm descended on us! Do you hear me?"
"B-But father–"
"I SAID, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
Weiss Schnee stared at her father as if she had seen him for the first time. She inspected him from head to toe, the way his knees shook from the tantrum he had thrown, how he could barely catch his breath, his wild eyes…
And found him lacking.
"Very well, if that is all?"
Weiss did not bother waiting for the man to reply before she turned away, her face tight with subdued rage as every step she took, a bit of frost was left in her wake. It appeared her plans would need to be remade and expedited. She had hoped to enroll in Beacon with her father's blessings, but if she was on her own…
Klein waited for her by the end of the hallway, a sad smile on his face.
"I will need your help."
"With pleasure, My Lady."
T*A*M*S
Saturday morning, 15th of July,
Celdic Cemetery
"There you are, Jaune."
The blonde man raised his head and glanced at the approaching figure of his sister. "Maya."
"I figured you would be here," Maya said, as her robot carried her in its arms and floated above the ground towards him. "Grieving again?" She sighed at his curt nod, "Do you have any idea how much I hate waking up at dawn?"
"A lot? You were never a morning person." Jaune shrugged as he stared at the tombstones of the fallen who died defending the town. He placed a flower on Old Baha's headstone, before moving towards the next one.
He could still hear their last words echoing in his mind, haunting him at every waking moment. Jaune did not recall when was the last time he had any proper sleep.
"Still having trouble sleeping? Even after Bleue and I made you another onesie?"
Jaune remained silent, Maya's light smirk melting away. His sister's robot halted beside him and she hopped off to hug his left arm.
"Speak to me, Jaune. How are you feeling?"
"Better."
"Don't lie to me, lil bro. I've always known when you were holding something in, ever since we were kids and Chloé would go overboard with her teasing." Maya squeezed his arm, laid her head on his shoulder, and stared at Duncan's headstone as he placed the last of his flowers on it.
Jaune sighed, wishing he was alone, but he couldn't bring himself to push her away. "You and Bleue got more grief from our older sister for covering for me. You were always my favorite sisters, you know?"
"More than Saphron?"
"Saph is more of an aunt, to be honest."
They had left the cemetery, the robot following behind them, and Jaune glanced at it curiously. It was shaped like a woman yet did not have a face - only a single large eye. It had two bulges where its chest would be that he learned hid an assortment of weaponry. He knew that Maya had been working on this project for a couple of years now, ever since Uncle Adrian died.
"Don't let her hear you say that, or else she will think you're calling her old."
Unbidden, his lips quirked upward at the image of his oldest sister pouting. Since as long he could remember, Saphron has had a complex over being the oldest of their brood yet without aura, nor a stable job, much to the disapproval of their mother. Even running away to Uncle Adrian had Lianne Arc frowning, thinking the girl was freeloading off her brother.
"Aha! There it is." Maya suddenly exclaimed as she pinched his cheek, causing him to frown. "Your first smile of the week!!"
"… I'm sure I smiled plenty of times." Yet he could not hide the uncertainty in his voice. Did he really not smile at all? He tried smiling again, and found his facial muscles stiff.
"Ugh, don't do that! You look constipated."
"Pfft, Hahaha." Jaune laughed, and could not stop laughing as they walked back to Celdic. Gods, he could not remember when was the last time he laughed. He laughed so much his face ached, and when he finally stopped, he couldn't help but smile fondly at his shorter sister. "Thanks, Maya. I really needed that."
His sister squeezed his arm as she hugged him tighter, "What are older sisters for?"
"Speaking of, where's Bleue?"
"With Fie, the both of them are sleeping off the excitement from last night. Those two have been inseparable ever since Bleue took her flying on one of the Sparrows, they only got back late last night."
"Stealing the girl from Sara?"
"Hey, not my fault that Valestein decided to go on a protracted date with that hunk of a man." Maya giggled as she combed her messy hair with her free hand, "Fie is just so adorable. No offense to you bro, but I always wanted a younger sister."
Jaune shrugged noncomittantly; he had honestly been lost on what to do with Fie. The cat-faunus refused his offer to join him in Beacon, saying that there was no way she would willingly go to school. Even if she wasn't even sixteen, he thought he could have used his newly found influence with the headmaster to have her enrolled.
As they approached the town, Jaune inspected the changes that had occurred over the week. Hyperion had really gone beyond what they promised in rebuilding the town and the region. There were hardly any signs of the attack - the destroyed homesteads and farmlands were cleared with more to be rebuilt in their places. The town's old walls were being torn down as a new wall would be built nearly three miles away from them, greatly expanding the scope of the town and fully using all the available space in the region. Jaune gazed at a yellow bullhead flying in from the north and landing on the new airstrip a mile away.
The Arc scion wagered that within a year or two, Celdic would no longer be a small town, but a true city known for its fertile lands as well as its rich Dust mines.
Still, Hyperion had no experience in mining Dust; only synthesizing it. He hoped his father and uncle knew what they were doing. "How do you think they will get miners to come here? Will Uncle John poach faunus from the SDC mines?"
"Nah, he has something else in mind." Maya shrugged as she kicked a pebble that bounced off the ground until it hit a Hyperion worker in his exosuit, causing her to grimace and apologize. "You know how Uncle raves about the uses of exosuits, right? Durable enough for anything heavy; not so bad against the Grimm, either."
"Yeah, and crazy expensive too, right?"
"Not as much as you think, but yeah, they're useful in smaller quantities but would hardly be profitable if used in the mines. Which brings us to Uncle's second product." She pointed towards a yellow warehouse where humanoid robots carried large crates to a truck. "These are based off the Atlesian Knights. You know how Gramps hates the idea of depending on robots for fights?"
"Yeah, he always said that nothing beats personal power." Jaune coughed as he adopted his grandfather's rough tone with quite a bit of embellishment, "What use are ya fancy gizmos when they stop working or ya don't have em with ya? Nothing beats using ya bare hands to ground your enemies to mulch, or a trusty sword to cut them to pieces."
Maya snickered, "Sounds just like Gramps. He gave me a hard time over my Siren, but he can suck on a lemon!" He chortled as Maya waved a fist at the sky as if their grandfather could see them. "Ah, shoot. I should probably stow her away to save energy. Come here, Siren!"
Maya touched her combat droid and it instantly vanished into her Inventory, "Man, I still cannot believe that my little bro is a wizard! Thanks a bunch for this, by the way. You have no idea how much easier you've made my life."
"Don't mention it. It's the only ability that matched for you, anyway." Jaune smiled at his sister; it was a no-brainer that he would grant his favorite sisters magical abilities. If he gave those abilities to two semi-strangers like Fie and Sara, then naturally his family would get the same treatment.
Only, for some reason, Maya could not use Pathfinder when using Search, and even the range for the base ability was severely limited. After discussing with her, he theorized her low PER could be the reason, despite it being at a 53, which was simply average but not particularly bad. On the other hand, her Inventory was much larger than his own, at three cubic meters compared to his one cubic meter, without Aura enhancement.
It seemed there was much to learn about his magical abilities than he first thought; it clearly had little to do with Stats. Perhaps some hidden aptitude? Krystal hadn't helped, claiming that he was too inexperienced to know the full eccentricities of the Creator, but promised to provide an answer when he discovers one. Jaune was not amused, and had rebuffed his reminders to use the large amount of MP he gained. What use was gambling on new abilities when he barely scratched the surface with the ones he already had?
Bleue had the opposite problem of her twin. Her Inventory was only a cubic foot large, barely enough to stow a gun and a few magazines, while her Search was a lot more versatile than even his own; allowing her to search for multiple targets with much better results, and a much more versatile Pathfinder.
Yet she could not search for miles away like he could, furthering his confusion. Did he ignore whatever aptitude required for the abilities? Or was he lucky with the three he already got? Was there even a limit to how many abilities anyone could hold? Did it apply to him as well?
Jaune shoved it to the back of his mind - it was no use worrying about it now.
"Anyway, I won't deny Gramps has a point. Having such a large hivemind of combat droids connected through a single system is just asking to have them hacked and used against you."
"Oh? And how did you avoid such an obvious weakness with your Siren?"
"Pfft, I'm not an amateur, Jaune. I sunk nearly a million Lien to make sure my systems are closed and connected only to me." Jaune gawked at her, and Maya's grin turned painful. "Yeah, I know. I practically sold my soul to Uncle John to build this baby. Not to mention, while I did build and design her, it was our cousin Angel who did all the programming. I'm pants at that stuff."
"Okay, and so what? That hardly stops hacking attempts."
"Ah, but you see, in order to hack the closed system, you would have to hack me." Maya idly pushed her hair away from her ear for him to find a tiny chip embedded behind her right ear. "It's not as scary as you think, it's just so I can command Siren telepathically."
"…That's impressive." Maya puffed out her chest in pride, "Still risky, though."
"You sound like Dad."
"Speaking of, Dad holds the same mindset, doesn't he? Depending on robots and programs for battle always peeved him."
"Yeah, Uncle John, too. Why make battle droids that would cost a fortune to constantly repair and rebuild when they can buy them cheap from Atlas and repurpose them for mining and other intensive labor?"
"So they would take over all the mining duties?" Jaune hummed, "that would mean less injuries and fatalities on the job".
"Not all, just the more dangerous parts. Human, or faunus, hands will be needed for a lot of the more delicate work. But, it's still much better than SDC's slav– excuse me, contracted laborers."
They laughed softly as they approached where the old gates to the town were, Jaune's eyes settling on the two banners fluttering in the wind above the gate. The Arc's double crescents, and the Hyperion logo.
"So, why did you want to talk to me so early in the morning anyway?"
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot." Maya palmed her face before grinning wickedly at him, "Mom is pregnant!"
Jaune nearly tripped on the ground as he stared at her in shock, "What? When did she and Dad even…"
"Apparently, once you had made it clear you were not budging on going to Beacon, she decided that another male to continue the bloodline was necessary."
Maya explained with such a straight face, that for a second, Jaune thought she was serious… until she burst out in laughter.
"Oh, the look on your face!"
"You have to admit that it would be just like Mom to do something like that." He shook his head as he chuckled along with her.
They continued on their way, and soon they were back in town.
"Aren't you glad? Now she's not gonna come here and drag you back to Arcade."
"I'm pretty sure she would fail even if she tried." Jaune waved awkwardly at the townsfolk, the way their faces lit up when they saw him, calling him Lord Arc… it was strange. "I've gotten pretty strong, you know?"
"Yeah, you certainly did. Anyway, I'm hungry, let's go." Maya dragged him to the Weathercock Inn for breakfast, where they found a surprise guest waiting for them inside.
"Sara?"
"Hey kid," Sara Valestein raised a mug of beer from her seat at a table, her lips stretched into a wide grin. "Come and join us. You too, Maya."
Qrow and Ilia were seated with her, but did not share her exuberance; the Huntsman looked tired, while the faunus girl stared at the two awkwardly. A glance upwards found Fie and Bleue exiting their old room, both of them yawning before smiling lightly as they caught his eye.
"I didn't know you were back," he and Maya dragged another table close to theirs, just as Fie and Bleue joined them as well.
"Yeah, well, there is only so much we can do covering the vast swathes of territory on a plane that needs refueling every day." Sara shrugged as she drank deeply from her mug, "Ah, that hit the spot. Haven't had a drink in a week!"
"When did you return?"
"Less than an hour ago," Ilia replied as she glanced at him warily before giving her order to the waitress, the rest of the table following suit. "We ran out of supplies, and hunting those bandits turned out to be more difficult than we thought; they know the mountains better than us, and we can't afford to search every nook and cranny. We'll be back tracking down Taurus' group by the end of the day."
"Not to mention, flying in the Carrion is not the most comfortable thing." Sara lamented as she shifted in her seat with a groan, but winked to Qrow who gave her a tired but amused smile. "We should really invest in better seating for that plane of yours."
"Sure, sure. Once I'm done with our assignment and back in Patch, I'll see about refurbishing it."
"Surely, you will take me along? Introduce me to those rambunctious nieces of yours, perhaps?"
"Hmm, maybe I will, maybe I won't."
The two adults at the table continued to banter and flirt, while Jaune and the rest sat there, awkwardly looking on. Fie looked a bit peeved, and stuck close to Bleue while huffing when Sara tried talking to her.
Soon, their food arrived, and they ate in relative silence. Before they knew it, everyone was nursing a drink and chatting with their neighbors; Sara had another mug of beer along with Qrow, while Jaune opted for coffee, same as Ilia and Bleue. Fie and Maya had orange juice, and both of them stuck out their tongues in unison when Sara teased them for being kids.
"So, your train is later today, right?" Sara suddenly asked, and Jaune nodded. "You met up with everyone?"
"Yeah, the Mayor already paid me for my work - though it was more like Hyperion, since they took over all the accounts. I found myself with an extra large bonus. Must be an early birthday present from Uncle John."
"Ah yes, I should probably expect a bonus as well. Too bad, a certain someone missed the fun part of the job." Sara ribbed Qrow as she moved her chair closer to him, the man simply shrugging silently as he drank his beer.
"Brocket was too busy with his new duties." Jaune continued as he recollected the last couple of days. "The man's excited that the Dragoons will be receiving patronage from the Arcs from now on. Already, he had twelve fresh recruits for the force."
"Good for him. He'll probably retire once he finds a successor, what with his missing arm."
The lieutenant had lost his broken arm during the last Grimm attack. It reminded Jaune how fragile even aura users could be, and how blessed he was with his powers.
"Rory and Lizzie finally got married a couple of days ago. They also adopted Anita, and bought one of the abandoned ranches to settle down, though Rory will still be with the Dragoons."
"What? I missed a wedding?! Bummer. Them's the breaks, I guess." They chuckled at the woman's exaggerated sigh as she kept glancing furtively at Qrow before blushing like a maiden.
Jaune shook his head in amusement and turned to his other companion in this strange adventure he's been on.
"What about you, Fie? Did you change your mind about joining me in Beacon?"
"Nope, no way I will ever go to school. I would go mad and probably kill someone."
Bleue giggled as she hugged the girl and dragged her to her lap, the cat faunus just short enough for the top of her head to reach his sister's chin - Bleue was the tallest of his sisters at six feet two inches, same as him in fact, which always drew comparisons to her shorter twin.
Surprisingly, Fie didn't mind the affection as she relaxed to his sister's ministrations. "Fie has agreed to come with us to Vytal. We can always use more hands in Arcade."
Sara gave a strangled yelp as she looked at her protégé in shock. "Wait, what? Fie, are you serious?"
"Yep, thought about it for a while. It sounds like fun. Jasper and Petunia are also coming, so I'll also be there for them too."
The table's mood swiftly went somber as everyone was reminded of the fate of the two. Jasper had steadily improved as he interacted with more people, but he never let his friend out of his sight. Petunia had yet to awaken from her coma; her eye was open, and she was receptive to food and drink, but she would not speak nor make any noise. Neither did she acknowledge anyone's existence. It was planned that she would be airlifted to Atlas for treatment, but perhaps Arcade would be a better option - being surrounded by dependable people and his family would help more than anything, and anything Atlas could provide, the Arcs could also provide.
"Yeah, you're probably the best option to help those kids." Sara sighed before gazing at him and his sisters. After a minute of an intense staring contest, the older woman nodded before glaring at them. "You better treat my girl well. If I see anything wrong with her in any way, I will Searing Flash your behinds!"
"You aren't my mom, Sara." Despite her complaints, Fie had a warm smile as she gazed at her mentor fondly. "Thanks for everything."
"Don't mention it. It's not like we won't meet again." Sara waved her off before grinning as she leaned heavily on Qrow's arm who eyed her with amusement, "At least now we would have some privacy, darling."
Ilia pointedly coughed before sipping from her coffee cup, causing Sara to groan. "Or not. Nothing against you, sweetie, but we really need to find you a job. Can't have you mooching off us forever."
"But I've already decided on one." Ilia smiled sweetly, a bit too sweetly. "Watching you on the job inspired me to become an Adventurer, just like you. What better way to learn the ropes than from an A-Rank Adventurer as well as the Strongest Huntsman?"
Jaune smiled as the rest of the table watched the banter between the two future master and student. He won't deny that he will miss having Sara and Fie around, but just like the cat faunus, it was time for him to continue on his journey.
His smile slowly melted as doubts appeared in his mind; was it truly necessary that he leave so early? As Jaune glanced around him and found the Celdic residents smiling easily, or nodding to him in respect, he decided that - Yes, he needed to go. Jaune needed to be away from this place, where the spirits of the dead continued to haunt him daily.
Hopefully, he would find some peace in Vale. He had had enough grieving for a lifetime.
A beep on his scroll had him find a text from Fie. He glanced at her, finding her staring at him silently as she pocketed her scroll, while Bleue and Maya chatted about something. Checking the message, he found a picture of a dark-haired cat faunus with amber eyes and a file titled by two words.
Scaredy Cat.
.
.
.
Jaune stared idly out of the window as he waited for the train to move. He had already said all of his goodbyes and looked forward to a new chapter of his life.
Soon the train started moving, and the aspiring Huntsman relaxed for the four-hour ride to Vale. He ignored the announcements blaring above and the chattering of the passengers in favor of reading that Beacon packet Qrow gave him. A wave of his hand, and he had a can of soda in his hands from Inventory.
He skimmed through the history of the school and other random trivia until he found what he needed. School begins on the 24th of August and there would be some sort of initiation exam. What it was remained a mystery, only that it would 'Test his toughness, talent, tactics, and teamwork'. The four Ts it seemed was the only true hurdle for him to be accepted into Beacon.
"Ah, Jaune. Mind if we join you?"
Jaune looked up in surprise to find two of the least likely people he expected to see here.
"Captain Montgomery, Meg." He quickly motioned for them to join him in the empty seats across him. "Please, have a seat."
"No longer a captain, lad. Retired now."
"Retired?" Jaune repeated, in surprise. He expected the man to be commended for the good work he had done in defending the town.
"Aye, with Celdic firmly in your family's hands, the Vale garrison was politely asked to leave." There was a small sardonic smile on his face. "Unfortunately, someone has besmirched my good name with high command, and it has been decided that it's about time for me to hang up my gun, so to speak."
"Why do I get the feeling that certain someone was missing during the battle as he and his friends had taken a truck straight to Vale?"
"Eh, I won't bother with it. It was about time for me to retire anyway; maybe I'll use this chance to reconnect with my daughter."
"It is never too late, Herbert." Meg joined in, "Do you know where your daughter lives?"
"I know she's in Vale. Her name is Mocha, and she has a few children already. I only know her eldest son's name, Toma."
Jaune smiled serenely as Meg promised to help the elderly man out. Now that he was out of uniform and dropped his pompousness, Herbert Montgomery looked like a genial old grandfather than the annoying ponce he was.
"I wish good luck, Herbert. Vale is a massive place, after all."
"That's an understatement, sweetie." Meg giggled, her rabbit ears twitching from the motion. "The Kingdom of Vale is its city, and the city is the kingdom… or so the saying went."
"I see," a comfortable silence fell until an attendant came to ask for what meals they would have and they gave their orders. Then, Jaune remembered something, "What happened to the footage you made from the battle, Meg?"
"Mr Branwen bought it off me," The businesswoman had a wide grin as her eyes glowed in excitement. "I was going to sell it to VNN but I doubt they would have offered me the same as what the Headmaster of Beacon offered. They probably had dozens of footage from the war, why would they care about some backwater town by the mountains?"
Jaune and Herbert nodded along before the elderly man changed the topic to when the last time he visited the city.
Listening to the man had Jaune wonder what he would find at Vale?
He had over a month to explore it and get a measure of its people, and Jaune had a feeling he would have an interesting time in the so-called Jewel of Remnant.
And we are finally finished with the Prologue!
The Celdic arc has taken far, far, too long for me to finish; a lot longer than I ever thought possible. Yet, it all came through in the end, and I'm proud of what I've written. I did tell you that the region will be important in the future, and there are still a few loose ends I purposely left for another adventure in that region. One that will involve a lot of spelunking and fighting
Jaune leaves his ghosts behind as he prepares for a new chapter in his life, but would the ghosts let him go so easily?
We won't be seeing him for some time, as the next few chapters will be from Weiss' POV, for the most part.
In case you are confused; the Sparrow is the fighter jets that flew in with the Hyperion ships.
Chapter 23 (Welcome to Vale)
I know Remnant uses some form of plastic cash cards but fuck that. Paper money and coins are the norm.
Editors/Beta readers: Lonestar, SurvivorSAM, Reiter.
Evernight Castle
Arthur Watts jerked awake from his seat, squinting at the flashing light coming from his terminal. He stretched his arms with a yawn before rubbing his eyes with one hand, and reached for a coffee mug with the other. Taking a sip, he spat out the cold, stale, coffee that must have been on his desk for days.
Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he placed the mug away and stared at the beeping screen. He had been out of the castle for the past couple of weeks, doing Her Highness's never-ending work. Arthur felt the bone-deep exhaustion from his tasks while going over the reports that accumulated in his absence, and must have fallen asleep on his desk.
The incessant beeping from his screen was starting to annoy him, and with a twitch of his mustache, he clicked on the urgent report from one of the many buoys he had placed all over Remnant. He pondered over the nature of the report. It originated from the Vale Mountains, and no pertinent business came to mind that would require him to be there.
He hummed as he read the automated report about the destruction of one of his personal assets in the Vale Mountains. Arthur rubbed his brow as he stifled another yawn, wondering why he had a private army in that region in the first place, before memories of a couple of years back came to him. He remembered recruiting a group of bandits for Her Highness's glory, but they were in some backwater town along the Narrow Sea, not the Vale Mountains.
Some myopic brute of a woman who could give Rainart a run for his money in the size department. His memories were still blurry, as he wondered what drove them to go to Vale instead of the easy pickings in the Southlands. The more misery and chaos propagated, the more Grimm would congregate and devastate the patches of towns and villages. When on the brink of collapse, it was planned for Her Highness's forces to sweep in and impress the unwashed masses with their powers.
It was far too convoluted for his tastes, but needs must, for they had to maintain the secrecy of their existence. If Ozma did not find it prudent to share what he knew of Her Highness's existence with the masses, then more the loss for him. For all her hatred of humanity, Salem understood their use and would rather have them enslaved and dominated under her heel rather than utterly annihilated.
Not all Grimm owed fealty to Her Highness, of course, for they sprang out as mindless savages from the Grimm Pools. The best way to subjugate them was to control one of the Grimm Pools, as Her Highness had done, or manipulate them to Salem's Will through such plans.
Scratching his head, he frowned at his disheveled hair and after a sniff, recoiled at his less than pleasant smell. He required a shower. Standing away from his desk and stretching his arms, the self-proclaimed genius scientist made his way to his quarter's washrooms, waving away one of Her Highness's seers that she had assigned as a servant for his needs. Not that he allowed it to touch any of his furnishings, for he hated having his things moved around.
One of the many perks of an appreciative employer. That it was also a monitoring device did not bother him; if Her Highness wanted to spy on him while he was naked, then by all means!
Once he was groomed and polished, Arthur finally remembered why the bandit group was in Vale. It was truly a trivial occurrence, as he was visiting one of the corporate bigwigs in the Kingdom. Something about some backwater region ruining profits for their farms or some inane matter, and thus implored for his aid. Arthur couldn't have been bothered, itching to return to his experiments, and handed them a trinket that he was tinkering with. He had managed to learn as much as he possibly could from the so-called Gospel that was found in a tomb that even Her Highness could not identify, so off it went to his erstwhile subordinates.
Huh, so those fools offed themselves? Arthur Watts shrugged. It was no big loss. Perhaps the Gospel could have been used for other matters, but he could replicate most of its effects anyway. He was far more amused with what that plantation magnate would be thinking now, after the destruction caused by Her Highness's armies. Useful to the Lady's Will they may be, but still hedonistic fools for blindly following anything that would increase their profit margins.
The servant seer suddenly beeped as he exited his wardrobe, dressed in his fashionable and pressed suit, and he hurriedly approached it. "Your Highness?"
The beautiful yet terrible visage of his mistress appeared in the orb, "Arthur. I require your presence in the Conference Hall."
"At once."
Arthur's gaze remained fixated on the creature as the image faded away. Despite having one always at attendance, his curiosity never ceased about it. Sadly, he was not allowed to dissect them for research. What airwaves did they use? Her Highness effortlessly communicated through them with picture and sound from halfway across Remnant with impeccable quality. What sophisticated technology enabled such a thing? Or perhaps it was magic? Despite his extensive years of service to Her Highness, he had yet to comprehend the workings of her magic despite his relentless efforts.
Salem never hesitated to showcase her powers nor did she hinder any efforts of study, yet he had never been capable of understanding them. He shook his head, science was his domain, and Her Highness understood and encouraged him to focus on it.
Not wishing to delay his mistress' summons, he hurried out of his expansive rooms and labs, ignoring the odd human or faunus servants who bowed their heads as he passed them by, though he did inspect some of the prettier lasses. Her Highness did not prevent her subjects from partaking in pleasures of the flesh; for all her disdain for humanity, she kept plenty of them living in that city nearby to serve at her whims.
Arthur had indulged in the occasional tumble with the girls, yet that had been rare; his focus was entirely on his research.
His Strega boots echoed as he walked through the tiled floors of the castle until he finally arrived outside the conference hall. Making sure his hair was combed, and his attire was smooth with no wrinkles, he entered through the open double doors to find Her Highness standing in front of a seer with an unusually large orb.
He would never tire from beholding her beautiful visage. Some may feel revulsion over the dark veins running under her skin that connected to her eyes, yet he found they accentuated her alabaster complexion and gave her a certain gravitas.
She had changed her hairstyle; usually she would wear it in a large and elegant bun, but this time she had it braided into four long and silky tails. Her dark dress had a generous cleavage-cut that showed her ample breasts, and Arthur gulped as he did his best not to stare too much.
The tiny smirk on his mistress' lips told him she noticed and did not care, yet he would never take that for granted.
"You wished to see me, Your Highness." Arthur bowed courteously as he glanced around the room. He was the only one in attendance, but he knew the rest of the inner circle had assignments of their own across Remnant.
"Indeed. Join me as we listen to Cinder's report."
He hurried to stand a respectful distance from Her Highness as they peered at the large orb, showing that entitled brat Cinder with two more brats he could not care about.
"You are late in your report, Cinder."
Her Highness's tune was blunt as she did not give a moment for Cinder to even greet them. The brat visibly gulped before adopting a confident yet servile expression as she flicked her voluminous raven locks away from her alluring face, trying and failing to be casual about it. Arthur nearly scoffed out loud; her bravado would not save her from their mistress' ire. To lose the Fall Maiden when they had been so close!
"My apologies, My Lady. I had managed to recruit Adam Taurus and his group to our cause, but we had to immediately retreat when news of Celdic's survival and the destruction of the bandits arrived, followed by Hyperion's sudden acquisition of the entire region."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. If he recalled correctly, Celdic was a backwater region between Vale and Esmeralda. Good beer if he remembered the one time he stopped there years ago. But what did the upstart Hyperion have to do with that matter?
"Arthur," he quickly lowered his head to his mistress. "The bandits that were wiped out, they were under your control, I believe. Some project of yours with our assets in Vale."
"Indeed, Your Highness. They had been gathering Grimm Hordes through the use of Grimm Bait and had planned to attack the town when I mentioned that Vale would be too busy to retaliate. When I learned of Cinder's goals in the region, I merely nudged them to ally with the faunus, to make her task easier. I did not expect the result would be so…unexpected."
"That was unneeded. I could have done without your so-called help." Cinder's pretty face scowled as she glared at him, one of her eyes bursting in flames.
Arthur couldn't help but chuckle deeply at the brat's petulance, "Clearly. Even with my aid, you have failed in putting the pressure on Ozpin and Vale, and failed to locate the Fall Maiden. Tell me, my dear, have you discovered how Celdic survived multiple Grimm Hordes? How were the bandits destroyed? Or why and how Hyperion took control of the region?"
It filled his heart with sadistic glee as he saw the brat's scowl deepen and a drop of sweat form on her forehead. She's certainly pleasing on the eye, and his eyes subtly dropped to her buxom figure; what a waste, a captivating body with a rubbish personality.
Cinder glanced at their mistress, and while he was regretful to lower himself to taunts in front of Her Highness, Salem was also curious about the matter and stared evenly at Cinder.
"I was unable to discover why Hyperion is here. Qrow Branwen has been sweeping the entire region from the skies, and eliminating any bandit remnant with extreme prejudice. It took a lot to cajole Taurus and his animals to retreat from the region and direct them somewhere else."
The name of the most powerful huntsman in Remnant would have given anyone reason for concern, but his mistress's only reaction was a slight narrowing of her eyes that he would have missed if he were not looking for such a reaction.
"What else have you discovered?"
"I'm not certain about the town, but I have discovered the identity of the one responsible for slaying the bandits. A young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. The bandits I caught had run when the slaughter started in their hideout, but they claimed that regardless of whatever attacks they threw at him, his aura always protected him."
Her Highness visibly frowned for the first time, before glancing at one of the orbs. Arthur followed her gaze and found Tyrian Callows grinning like a loon.
"It appears yet another of those overconfident fools has surfaced. He will be yours to handle, Tyrian."
"Certainly, My Goddess. I might need more men than last time, though. Adrian Arc was a tough nut to crack. Even with the trap we led him into, I was barely able to poison him and escape with my life."
Arthur rubbed his chin in interest. The aforementioned trap consisted of a certain bait that he and his best scientists were still working on. Stubborn fool still held onto hope for a rescue from his partner, but soon, he shall break and become Her Highness's most useful asset.
"You will have them, but this can wait until we learn more about this young upstart." Salem turned to Cinder, "Your failure in fully taking the Fall Maiden's powers has irked me. Millions of my Grimm were mobilized for your plan, yet all you have to show are parlor tricks."
The immortal witch's words caused a shiver to run down Arthur's spine, and he wasn't even the one on the wrong end of them. Cinder Fall and her two sidekicks fell to their knees as they prostrated themselves to the mistress.
"I beg your forgiveness, My Lady, but Amber was more powerful than I thought. I nearly had all her powers if not for Qrow–"
"I tire of your excuses." Cinder was struck silent, and Arthur could not bring himself to even feel schadenfreude over her misfortune. Their mistress was a very patient woman, and rarely felt ire, yet when she was annoyed - everyone would know. "But I shall give you a second chance."
"You are gracious, My Lady." Cinder hurriedly bowed and Arthur barely stopped himself from sighing in relief as the pressure ceased, "What would you ask of me?"
"Investigate this young man. I was content with letting the Arcs rot in their mountains, but if they dared to send another son of theirs to the Huntsmen academies, I want to be aware. I will connect you with my servants in Vale, but you are not to compromise their positions." Cinder nodded and Salem turned back to Tyrian. "What have you found about the elder Arc?"
Tyrian's smile melted into a grimace, "As paranoid as ever. The old tyrant has the entire Vale fleet at his beck and call everywhere he goes, and Massalia is essentially his backyard. I was barely able to land in Vytal, thanks to the good doctor's cloaking device, before they came sniffing."
"Have you tried sneaking in from the north?" Arthur twirled his mustache, preening at Tyrian's praise - he was a reliable fellow. Still, he wondered how best to improve the cloaking feature of Her Highness's planes - clearly they were not up to par. "Sidonia is under Atlas control, and the Gelés are no fans of the Arcs."
"I thought about it, but the whole damned island is abuzz with something. Aircraft coming and going from there to Vale and Atlas, and the recently returned navy was patrolling the waters even more diligently than normal."
"Were you discovered?" Salem's voice was colder than the frozen wastelands of Atlas, causing Tyrian to shake his head swiftly. "Good, forget about Maximilian Arc. He may yet live a few years more but sooner or later, he shall lower his guard. Return here, and prepare for a long-term mission in Vacuo. Arthur will join you as you search for the Summer Maiden."
He hid his grimace at having to trek in that dusty land. Arthur hated the sand. It got everywhere, no matter how much he washed his clothes, he would find grains of the rough and coarse things in the seams weeks later.
Naturally, he showed none of his displeasure to Her Highness, "As you command, My Lady."
"Vermilion, you and Hazel will continue sweeping Anima for the Spring Maiden." The two other members of the inner circle gave their affirmative, and Salem gazed at all of them in turn. "Do not forget your secondary missions, maintain a low presence while recruiting followers. Most importantly, get in contact with the elder Grimm. We will need to replenish our numbers."
From there, the meeting ended, and Arthur left the conference hall. It was nerve-wracking to be near Her Highness when she was annoyed.
As he walked back to his rooms, he passed by a particularly curvy maid with a fluffy tail bowing to him, her white dress doing nothing to hide her assets. He leered at her as he groped her ass and whispered for her to follow to his room.
Considering his upcoming mission, perhaps he could afford to indulge. He had always disdained his Atlesian peers for how they treated the faunus - merit was far more important to judging anyone.
Besides, Arthur had always been a dog person.
Saturday morning, 5th of August
Vale Docks
"What do you mean the price has changed?" Weiss' eyebrows twitched in annoyance as she gripped her luggage tightly and stared at the slob of a port officer. His uniform had grease stains on it, and she spied an open bottle of cola and a pizza box near the counter.
"You heard me, girly. It's now £200 to enter Vale."
"B-But that's preposterous! I know it was only £20 last month, I researched and looked it up! How dare you try to trick me?"
"Huh?!" The fat man growled as he struggled to stand before glaring at her. "You calling me a liar? Do you have any idea how overcrowded the city is with all of those refugees? Of course, prices of everything have gone up, and we all need to make a living." The officer lowered his voice so only she could hear, "I'll knock £10 off just because you're cute, so hurry and pay up."
Weiss folded her arms and glared at the man, even as she ignored the long line behind her stretching to the boat from Patch she disembarked from. She now realized the greedy pig wanted a bribe, how else could he knock the price down like he was selling cabbages?
Taking advantage of poor and desperate refugees - how despicable.
"I refuse to suffer this foolishness. I demand to talk to your superior, you insufferable knave!"
She watched the man's face go purple from rage, yet she held no fear. The last few weeks have severely tested Weiss's patience and temper. If the pig wanted a fight, she would gladly vent her stress on him.
"Oh, give it a break already, Simon. Snow Angel here got you by the balls. Just let her pay the damned £100 so we can get out of this heat."
She twisted around to find two taller girls her age holding onto two stylish motorcycles, one black and red, while the other was yellow and orange. They matched their owners perfectly, as Weiss found the speaker, an annoyed looking blonde girl with long, and dare she say gorgeous, hair wearing a brown leather outfit that did nothing to hide her massive boobs.
What the heck? Weiss nearly moved her hands to her own ample chest to compare, but even at first glance, she could tell hers were utterly dwarfed by the blonde's and it wasn't because she was so damn tall.
Weiss was not short either!
The blonde girl's words finally registered and Weiss pointed a finger accusingly at the man, "Aha! And I have a witness. What happened to that £200 now?"
The man gritted his teeth as he glared at the blonde girl who smirked toothily, yet strangely, he did not dare do anything. Weiss narrowed her eyes, having a suspicion as to why.
She was not a sensor by any means, but there were other ways to tell if someone had aura. Subtly creating a glyph over her left eye, Weiss could safely say those two girls had theirs unlocked and, more impressively, at the same level as her.
"Fine! £100 for the entry fee. Now pay, and get out of my face."
"Excellent." The white-haired girl withdrew her bank card and waited… the officer looking strangely at her, while the girls behind her groaned. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get your card reader ready."
"Cash only." The man grinned as he pointed his thumb at a sign confirming his claim.
"W-What? What sort of backwards society still uses paper money and not bank cards?"
"It's the law, girlie. So what will it be? Gonna need some cold hard cash or we might have a problem."
Weiss sweated nervously. She had spent the last of her cash buying the ferry ticket from Patch to Vale. She could understand a backwater like Patch not accepting card payments, but Vale proper? All she had was her bank card, as she had no chance to withdraw more in Patch.
"Can't pay? I'm sure we could reach an understanding, hehe. I'll pay for you this time, but you're gonna wait for me until my shift ends." Her face burned with rage at the lecher's insinuation. There was no way she could miss how he leered at her, while licking his lips.
"Ugh, you really are dumber than a brick, Simon." The blonde from earlier gently pushed her aside before slamming a wad of cash on the counter - Weiss noticing a peculiar pair of gauntlets on her arms, hidden under her sleeves. "Here, you stinking slimeball. £300 for the three of us."
"Dammit Blondie! Don't mess up my chance for a hot date."
"Even the most desperate whore would shy away from your rancid fatass. I mean, come on! Trying to get a bribe when we are all here watching? You were not exactly quiet you know." The blonde girl clicked her tongue and shook her head in disappointment. "Not to mention trying to proposition Snow Angel here when she could probably strangle you with your own guts?"
The man seemed to finally notice the annoyed crowd behind them, who suddenly had their hands on their wallets, clearly aware now of the real price. The corrupt officer then stared at her in confusion and Weiss angrily caused a glyph to form on her palm, causing his eyes to widen in terror.
He looked around for his fellow officers, but he was alone, as the other windows were all as busy, if not busier, than this one. Vale had yet to lift the No-Fly Zone, so all flights had to land in Patch or other satellite cities before transferring to the city via boat or train.
"Fine," Simon grabbed the money before issuing them their permits. "Now get out of my face."
The blonde girl glared at the man until he mumbled a weak 'please', then dragged her back to her friend, now holding both motorcycles. Weiss found herself coming very close to a boob nearly the size of her head.
Now that they were so close, she could tell the blonde girl was nearly a head taller than her, and Weiss lamented not wearing her high heels. Klein advised wearing comfortable sneakers for the trip, and considering how her week had gone so far, it was a wise decision.
"Sorry you had to go through all of that. The city has gone to the gutter even more than normal since the war." The blonde girl pushed her bike past the checkpoint and Weiss followed along; she had yet to thank them for the help. "I'm Yang, by the way. Yang Xiao Long. This is my sister, Ruby Rose."
An Eastern Mistralian name, yet the girl does not look at all like a native from there. Curious.
"Hi," The dark-haired girl, who had remained silent so far, chirped happily. "Are you also a huntsman? What's your name? What school are you from? Are you applying to Beacon? Was that a glyph you made earlier? So cool! Where did you learn it? I love your battle dress, by the way. Combat Skirts Rock!"
Weiss took a step back as the girl leaned further from her bike with every question, now merely a few inches from her face. Her silver eyes looked nothing like her sister's lilac. In fact, they both couldn't be more different than the other, appearance wise.
"Calm down, sis, let Snow Angel breathe." Yang chuckled as she mounted her bike and put on a pair of shades, causing Ruby to lightly blush and mumble an apology.
"Don't call me, Snow Angel, please. My name is Weiss Schnee."
"Hoh? That Schnee?" Yang slightly lowered her shades to better gaze at her, lilac eyes cocked up-and-down, measuring her for just a moment. "What's a snow princess like you doing all the way here in Vale?"
Weiss stifled the urge to correct the girl, "I am here to apply to Beacon. Now, I am genuinely grateful for your help, but could I ask you to point me towards the nearest bank? I must pay you back for the toll."
Yang stared at her bemusedly, before nodding to her sister. "Sure, hop on behind Ruby. Let's secure your luggage, first."
Within minutes, they were ready to go. Weiss did not have a lot of baggage, just two suitcases, her backpack, and the case where she stored Myrtenaster and her vials of Dust. They managed to tie them all behind Yang, while Weiss held on tightly to Ruby's waist over her red cloak as they drove off the dock and exited a ramp to a highway.
"So, Weiss. Can I call you Weiss?" Ruby hesitantly called from in front of her.
The girl forwent a helmet, but wore black and red goggles. Yang made do with her pair of shades, lending her own pair of yellow goggles to her. The bike was comfortable, but something rectangular and metal kept poking her stomach from Ruby's back.
"Sure, Ruby. What's on your mind?"
"You never told me where you're from? Or how you could use Glyphs? I thought only academies like Beacon or Shade taught them."
"I'm from Atlas, and I learned Glyphs from my mother. It's a tradition for a Schnee to learn them at a young age, for we have a high affinity for them."
"That is so COOL! I can barely use the one and…"
Whatever Ruby was about to say was lost to the wind as they sped up on the highway. The girl must have realized and focused on driving instead, with Weiss tightening her hold as they sped through the traffic on the elevated Highway. From such a vantage point, Weiss could see the entirety of Vale sprawled below her.
In the distance, she could see the famous walls of Vale; fifty meter tall monoliths that were constructed over a hundred years ago and protected the city and its farmland from Grimm attacks. Judging by how she had not heard of a single breach, those walls have done splendidly in the war.
She could barely see the outline of the Vale mountains, what with the smog and early morning fog covering them. A bit closer to the city was a high hill where the prestigious school was located.
Beacon!
In a few minutes, Weiss could finally see the massive CCTS tower that served as the main hub for communications and connecting the kingdoms together. If she ever wanted to call her family, she would need to travel to it and use one of their international terminals.
Soon, they slowed down as they took an exit towards the Commercial District. Weiss wondered why come all the way here for a bank, but it suited her just fine. Her lodgings were closer this way, anyway.
As they drove deeper into the city, she found herself looking around the commercial district. She had noticed the industrial district as it was right below the highway, but it was not supposed to impress with its factories and warehouses.
The commercial district was only marginally better.
The roads were busy with cars and pedestrians, though thankfully, they had their own motorbike lane. The buildings were elegant with Oswaldian architecture, named after King Oswald Glenwood, the last king of Vale. There were many shops and cafes spread all along the main street, yet there were even more side streets that lead to less than impressive neighborhoods.
They followed Yang as she stopped at a traffic light and turned left to a neat and tidy neighborhood, with bars and restaurants aplenty. Parking outside a bank, Weiss dismounted before turning to her…friends?
Weiss shook her head, she had never had a friend and doubted she could make one so easily, no matter how much she wished she could. "Give me a moment and–"
She was startled when Ruby joined her, "I gotta withdraw some spending money as well. Take care of the bikes, Yang."
The blonde girl gave them a lazy wave as she opened a pack of gum, while Ruby hooked her arm with her own and led her to the bank. It occurred to Weiss that she was about to leave her belongings and her sword that were worth thousands, if not, tens of thousands of Lein to two strangers she had just met, and Ruby Rose realized that.
Leading her inside, she was basically assuring her that her belongings were not going anywhere without her.
Weiss felt strangely endeared at the gesture.
"Well, here we are. I'll just… sit over there until you're done." Ruby pointed towards the waiting area, and Weiss smiled teasingly at her.
"Oh? Didn't you say you needed to withdraw cash as well?"
"I-I uh, just remembered that I uhm…" The girl stammered as she waved her hands nervously in front of her, and Weiss giggled.
"Don't worry, I won't take long."
She left Ruby by the snack bar and within minutes, Weiss was standing in front of a clerk busy working on her order while she grimaced at her bank statement.
Her voyage from Atlas to here had been very stressful as she had to meticulously plan her escape from the Schnee manor. The original plan for enrolling in Beacon was passing some kind of test for her father before he would allow her to travel with his blessings. Now, however, she had to rely solely on herself and Klein's help, along with what little money she had managed to sneak into her bank account.
Normally, Weiss did not have a personal bank account, for she never needed to worry about money. With a snap of her fingers, or a swipe of her family card, anything was at her beck and call. Klein had warned her that she would not be able to rely on her family's wealth, which was why she sneakily withdrew money from her father's account and opened an account of her own.
Within two weeks, she had managed to deposit a measly £4,000 into her account, an amount that she would normally spend on a random Tuesday at her favorite restaurant. Yet she had already spent nearly half of it to sneaking out of Atlas with her belongings, buying Dust behind her father's back, and hiding in Klein's home in Mantle.
There was no way she would have been able to take a flight from Atlas without being stopped. Klein had been a lifesaver then, as he used his connections in Mantle to secure her passage on an airbus to Patch. It had cost a lot of money to make sure everything went well and to grease enough palms to make things work.
Just bribing the border officer cost her a quarter of her total funds.
She wondered how the butler was faring, and prayed he would endure her father's wrath. The older man had insisted on teaching her all he could about life as a plebeian. Weiss thought she learned a lot, but once she was on her own, she discovered how she had taken so much of her life for granted.
Her mind drifted to the rest of her family. Her mother and brother were still in Arcade, out of range for her scroll unless she used a terminal. Winter did not have that excuse, yet she had yet to answer any of her calls or messages.
Her beloved sister had once again let her down.
"Here you go, Miss Schnee, £332 and twenty-two cents. Your remaining balance is £500. Please remember that your account cannot go below £500 or else the bank fees will activate."
Weiss nodded distractedly and placed her money in her wallet then she…stared at the faunus-woman who was the clerk. She was probably a badger or squirrel faunus, yet that wasn't relevant.
How did she not notice it?!
"Is there…a problem, Miss Schnee?"
"Ah, no, nothing of the sort. Thank you for the help. Have a lovely day."
Weiss walked away and had to remind herself this wasn't Atlas or Mantle. Faunus were a lot more common here and had a strong political presence. She was not foolish enough to allow her bias, most assuredly justified, to have her blab something rude.
She remembered Klein's final word of warning; when in Vale, do as the Valeans do.
Ruby was waiting for her by the snack bar, munching on…something.
"Hey, Weiss. Want a gummy bear? They are free!"
Looking at the wiggling and colorful candies, she shrugged. Considering her lack of funds, she won't say no to free food.
"Well? What do you think?"
"…It's good." Not really, they tasted of chemicals and stuck to the roof of her mouth. "Let's go meet with your sister. I'm sure she is bored waiting in the heat."
"Oh yeah, it was Yang's birthday last week. We're going out to have fun in the city. We wanted to come last week, but the stupid toll costs were too much! We live in Patch you see, it used to be free for us to travel to Vale but not anymore. Even though we're graduates of Signal Academy and already accepted into Beacon, they still treat us like crap!"
Weiss nodded along as they exited the bank, half-listening to the girl's rapid chatter. The bikes and her stuff were still there, thankfully, but Yang was nowhere to be found. A glance around, found her by an ice cream stall.
"So you are both sisters? Forgive me for assuming, but–"
"We look nothing alike, yeah? Even our names are different." Ruby grinned at her as she grabbed her hand and led her to her sister - the girl was a bit too clingy for her tastes, but Weiss let it go this time. "We have the same Dad but different mothers."
"What?" Weiss stopped as she looked at the girl in shock, "Did he–"
"Oh, no." Ruby's silver eyes were wide as she shook her hands vehemently, "No no no, Dad married both of our mothers. I know it's not really common, but they loved each other very much. They were on the same Beacon team, you see."
Weiss did hear that polygyny was rare but not uncommon among huntsman families. A way to propagate strong genes with bountiful auras and hopefully create more powerful semblances - even if it has yet to be proven that semblances could be passed down from parent to child, aside from the Schnee semblance, of course.
Aura levels and other attributes, on the other hand…
"But both of your mothers are fine with that?"
"…I think so? They're gone now. It's only Yang, Dad, Uncle Qrow, and Zwei now. Ah, Zwei is my dog."
Weiss did not need to be a genius to figure out that her huntress mothers were most likely dead, and she hurried to apologize, but Yang interrupted.
"Hey, girls." Yang waved at them from next to the stall as they approached and handed a bowl to her sister, "I got you some snacks, chocolate chips for you, Ruby."
"Yay, thanks, Sis!"
"And here you go, weisscream. Not sure what you would like, so I got you plain vanilla."
Weiss felt a vein bulge in her neck at the girl's audacity, yet calmly accepted the ice cream bowl. "Thank you, and here is your money for the ferry, with a little extra for all the help."
Yang accepted the £120 and pocketed them without counting, "No sweat."
They found a table to eat while the sisters chatted about inane things. Weiss had to admit that the plebeian snack was tastier than she expected. Or perhaps it was the heat that made it taste a lot better than it actually was.
"So, Weiss. What are your plans for Beacon?" Ruby nudged her side, "Do you have transcripts from Atlas or will you take the entrance exams?"
"I am homeschooled, so the entrance exams will be my goal. They should still be open for a few more days, right?"
"Yep, admittance started last Monday, but you still have until Friday to apply. Initiation also starts on August 24th, and I heard a rumor it will be different from usual." Yang replied as she wiped a bit of melted cream that fell on her cleavage - Weiss still could not understand how a girl could have such massive boobs and still walk and stand with no trouble. "Do you have a place to stay until then?"
"I do. I have secured lodgings across the river by the fishing piers in the residential district. I think the place is where the River Verdant meets the River Emerald, the industrial district is also close by. Moreover, I had called ahead when I was in Patch and they assured me that my room was still reserved and their prices remain unchanged…hopefully they were not lying."
"Tsk, that swine, Simon, makes us Valeans look bad." Yang angrily finished the rest of her ice cream before accurately throwing it at a distant rubbish bin. "Too bad I can't deny that corruption is rampant in this city. I won't deny it does come in handy, like when me and Rubes were getting our driving license. Our Uncle Qrow knew someone who helped us skip the lines and the red tape, but still… I much prefer Patch."
Weiss could hardly judge the girl for using the corrupted system since she herself benefited from people's greed. With the help of Klein, she had lost count of how many bribes she had given and to how many people, just to escape her father.
"Yeah, Patch is very nice. Of course, it's not as big as any of the districts of Vale, but it is still a nice island with mountains, hills, lagoons, forests." Ruby counted off her fingers the features of her home with a toothy grin before frowning, "Vale has a lot of crime and bad men. People like Simon who take advantage of the poor and the desperate - I hate them!"
Weiss looked strangely at the normally perky girl, who now had a furious scowl on her face.
"Don't mind her, she had to beat up some morons a few weeks ago when they tried to kidnap her." Contrary to her sister, Yang had a wicked grin. "They thought she was a defenseless little girl that they could steal to the brothels. She proved them wrong."
"Is that normal here? Kidnappers and criminals - also brothels? I thought prostitution was illegal here?"
"It is illegal, but who is gonna enforce the law? Vale was already overcrowded before the war. Now with millions of refugees in the city? The cops only patrol the rich neighborhoods in any numbers." Yang pointed with her chin towards the nearby road, where Weiss could see a police car slowly passing by. "It's the reason they jacked up the prices for entering the city. With the war over, the city is trying to kick out the refugees and discourage more from coming in. At least that's what Dad said when I complained to him."
"I see. I heard they pressed the students into service."
"Oh yeah, we had to fight loads of Grimm in Patch." Ruby answered her unasked question. "Mostly from the sea, but we got a nice recommendation thanks to that and also a bonus check!"
"And it took so much effort to convince you to spend it on tuning your bike instead of a cookie party." Yang winked at her sister who pulled her tongue out.
"Zip it you boob monster! Never diss da cookies!!"
"What's wrong? Are ya Jelly of these babies?"
Weiss nearly squeaked scandalously when Yang squeezed her boobs. Clearly she wasn't as silent as she hoped as both sisters blinked and turned to her, as if remembering her presence, before laughing out loud. She wanted to feel annoyed, yet Weiss felt forlorn instead. Seeing the sisters acting so friendly in their banter - it made her miss Winter more.
Or at least her idea of Winter.
"Anyway, I hope your new place is safe, Snow Angel, or else you will find yourself in trouble."
"Don't worry, though. If you are in trouble, just kick their asses before running away." Ruby pumped her fists beside her, and stood on the bench, her ice cream forgotten. "The coppers are always late, if they even show up, and then they would drag you to the station for a statement that could take hours! So it's better you take justice in your own hands. Like Heroes! And Huntsmen are Heroes!!"
Yang laughed as her sister stood on the table with a fist aiming at the skies. Weiss couldn't help but smile endearingly, even as she waved farewell an hour later to the two sisters when they dropped her off at another ferry to take her to her lodgings. They were good girls, and she prayed they would be accepted into Beacon as well.
Was this what it was like to have friends? It felt…nice. She looked forward to meeting them again in Beacon.
Maybe even be on her team… Shoot, she forgot to take their scroll numbers!
Weiss sighed as she stared out of the open air boat and watched the overcrowded channel as they sailed on. Boats of all sizes passed by; sailboats, riverboats, motorboats, barges, yachts, and even the odd small container vessel that could operate in the narrower district docks. The much larger containers were docked in the industrial district.
It stank of smoke and sweaty people, and the boat was crowded. Some brat kept twirling her hair while her mother was cutting onions of all things! Her poor eyes.
Soon, they were moored in the residential district, and Weiss quickly exited the ferry, dragging her luggage behind her. The smell of fish permeated the air, and the docks were crowded with fishing boats and sailors. She could see fathers teaching their sons how to tie knots or how to cast a net into the water, the scene was both chaotic yet charming.
Asking the first dockworker for directions to the Wayward Mermaid Inn, Weiss found herself infront of a shabby looking building right on the waterfront.
It was not the cleanest nor the most prestigious of establishments. In fact, the more she looked at it, the more Weiss realized it was not exactly a building but rather a large passenger ship, half of it beached and the other half still on the water. It was smartly repurposed to be a hotel, with pylons built in the river water to hold it aloft.
Entering the Inn, she was greeted by a bored looking woman sitting on a desk barely a dozen feet from the entrance. She introduced herself as Becky, who was smoking a cigarette, and had her feet up on the desk. There were a pair of guns laid on the desk as well, with a door leading to an office where Weiss spied an open gun safe.
Not the best first impression, but beggars can't complain.
Soon she was confirming her name and paying £100 to rent a room for a day with the possibility of extensions; the owner refused any form of long-term contracts owing to the volatile housing market.
"Alright, Miss. Yours is room 108. It's just down this hallway on your left." The brown-haired woman stood and stretched, showing tattooed arms and shoulders along with an impressive bust under a black tank top - what was it with Vale and its big boobed women? "Do you need me to show you the way?"
"That won't be necessary, thank you."
"Suit yourself, but beware - prices may change tomorrow."
Weiss frowned but nodded nonetheless. She dragged her stuff down the hallway and headed to her room, wondering if she had agreed too easily to that price. It was an exorbitant amount of money, especially since the amount could change depending on the market.
She hoped her room would at least be worth it, but as she opened it and looked inside, Weiss fought the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. It only had a bed, a coffee table, a mini-fridge, a tiny kitchenette with a single stove, and a small bathroom. There was no bathtub, just a toilet, sink, and a shower head above them.
It was completely bare bones, but at least it was clean, and there was hot water… Weiss sighed again at how low she had fallen. The whole room was not even a fraction of the size of her wardrobe back home. The last time she was in Vale was before Winter was accepted into Atlas, and her entire family stayed in the most luxurious hotel the upper district of Vale could offer.
Stepping out of the bathroom, Weiss dearly wanted to fall onto the bed and sleep all day. It's been a week since she sneaked out of the Schnee Manor, where she had last slept with no worry of her being discovered and dragged to her father.
Yet, sleep was still a luxury she could not afford. Weiss did not have enough money to last her a week, let alone until the semester started, and she would need to…ugh, find a job to survive.
Just the very idea gave her shivers!
Opening the glass door and stepping out to the balcony, she leaned on the railings as she enjoyed the cool breeze and the river. The balcony was more spacious than she thought, with a coffee table, two chairs, and a decent view of the distant commercial district.
Taking a deep breath, she was surprised to note there was none of the expectant dirty smells coming from the industrial district - only fish, seaweed, river moss and other things that Weiss rarely got the chance to smell or experience.
She could learn to enjoy her stay here… despite her neighbors. To her left were a noisy family speaking loudly, with kids laughing and screaming in excitement. Clearly well-off refugees, yet she couldn't bring herself to blame their happiness, though maybe she should look into buying earplugs if she wanted a decent sleep.
On the other side, was some scruffy looking bum with a stubble, wearing a fishing hat that had many hooks and other things she couldn't recognize. He was humming to himself as he held a fishing rod, while sitting on a beach recliner. At least he wasn't noisy and kept to himself.
Argh, this won't do. Weiss slapped her cheeks as she returned to her room. It was barely eleven in the morning, and she had two days before the entrance exam. It was time she explored the city and hopefully found a job or two.
Some obvious changes can be noticed here. Decided to give some personality to some characters. Arthur Watts is a perv, Salem is a voyeur…etc
A note about the girls' heights. 17-year-old Weiss is described as 5'3" (with heels) in the wiki, so I decided to make her a solid 5 feet tall (or short considering she only ever gained a single inch in the whole series).
Ruby is taller at 5'4" now that she's 17 (technically 16 as her birthday is October 31st), while Yang is 5'8".
Ruby being Yang's age meant she was closer to her as a friend, instead of a responsibility, and also has a bike like hers. Ruby will be more mature, especially as she had two extra years with her mother as well.
Expect a less smothering Yang as well, instead, she and Ruby will be besties.
Keep in mind the difference in attitude. Weiss does not enjoy the protection that her family name brought her, like in the show. She ran away from home and has no support whatsoever. She is smart to understand that and is trying to stay out of trouble.
A side effect of this is a better first meeting with the sisters. Guess a little corruption doesn't hurt…much.
Finally, something that I feel the show never really focused on. Weiss never seemed to have friends, and neither did she attend any school as far as I know. She should be super awkward talking with peers (those she considers her equals) along with a few other flaws that I will expand on.
Expect a tsundere Weiss who is craving friendship and companionship but is too prideful to act on it…at least for now.
Editors/Beta readers: Lonestar, SurvivorSAM, Reiter.
Evernight Castle
Arthur Watts jerked awake from his seat, squinting at the flashing light coming from his terminal. He stretched his arms with a yawn before rubbing his eyes with one hand, and reached for a coffee mug with the other. Taking a sip, he spat out the cold, stale, coffee that must have been on his desk for days.
Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he placed the mug away and stared at the beeping screen. He had been out of the castle for the past couple of weeks, doing Her Highness's never-ending work. Arthur felt the bone-deep exhaustion from his tasks while going over the reports that accumulated in his absence, and must have fallen asleep on his desk.
The incessant beeping from his screen was starting to annoy him, and with a twitch of his mustache, he clicked on the urgent report from one of the many buoys he had placed all over Remnant. He pondered over the nature of the report. It originated from the Vale Mountains, and no pertinent business came to mind that would require him to be there.
He hummed as he read the automated report about the destruction of one of his personal assets in the Vale Mountains. Arthur rubbed his brow as he stifled another yawn, wondering why he had a private army in that region in the first place, before memories of a couple of years back came to him. He remembered recruiting a group of bandits for Her Highness's glory, but they were in some backwater town along the Narrow Sea, not the Vale Mountains.
Some myopic brute of a woman who could give Rainart a run for his money in the size department. His memories were still blurry, as he wondered what drove them to go to Vale instead of the easy pickings in the Southlands. The more misery and chaos propagated, the more Grimm would congregate and devastate the patches of towns and villages. When on the brink of collapse, it was planned for Her Highness's forces to sweep in and impress the unwashed masses with their powers.
It was far too convoluted for his tastes, but needs must, for they had to maintain the secrecy of their existence. If Ozma did not find it prudent to share what he knew of Her Highness's existence with the masses, then more the loss for him. For all her hatred of humanity, Salem understood their use and would rather have them enslaved and dominated under her heel rather than utterly annihilated.
Not all Grimm owed fealty to Her Highness, of course, for they sprang out as mindless savages from the Grimm Pools. The best way to subjugate them was to control one of the Grimm Pools, as Her Highness had done, or manipulate them to Salem's Will through such plans.
Scratching his head, he frowned at his disheveled hair and after a sniff, recoiled at his less than pleasant smell. He required a shower. Standing away from his desk and stretching his arms, the self-proclaimed genius scientist made his way to his quarter's washrooms, waving away one of Her Highness's seers that she had assigned as a servant for his needs. Not that he allowed it to touch any of his furnishings, for he hated having his things moved around.
One of the many perks of an appreciative employer. That it was also a monitoring device did not bother him; if Her Highness wanted to spy on him while he was naked, then by all means!
Once he was groomed and polished, Arthur finally remembered why the bandit group was in Vale. It was truly a trivial occurrence, as he was visiting one of the corporate bigwigs in the Kingdom. Something about some backwater region ruining profits for their farms or some inane matter, and thus implored for his aid. Arthur couldn't have been bothered, itching to return to his experiments, and handed them a trinket that he was tinkering with. He had managed to learn as much as he possibly could from the so-called Gospel that was found in a tomb that even Her Highness could not identify, so off it went to his erstwhile subordinates.
Huh, so those fools offed themselves? Arthur Watts shrugged. It was no big loss. Perhaps the Gospel could have been used for other matters, but he could replicate most of its effects anyway. He was far more amused with what that plantation magnate would be thinking now, after the destruction caused by Her Highness's armies. Useful to the Lady's Will they may be, but still hedonistic fools for blindly following anything that would increase their profit margins.
The servant seer suddenly beeped as he exited his wardrobe, dressed in his fashionable and pressed suit, and he hurriedly approached it. "Your Highness?"
The beautiful yet terrible visage of his mistress appeared in the orb, "Arthur. I require your presence in the Conference Hall."
"At once."
Arthur's gaze remained fixated on the creature as the image faded away. Despite having one always at attendance, his curiosity never ceased about it. Sadly, he was not allowed to dissect them for research. What airwaves did they use? Her Highness effortlessly communicated through them with picture and sound from halfway across Remnant with impeccable quality. What sophisticated technology enabled such a thing? Or perhaps it was magic? Despite his extensive years of service to Her Highness, he had yet to comprehend the workings of her magic despite his relentless efforts.
Salem never hesitated to showcase her powers nor did she hinder any efforts of study, yet he had never been capable of understanding them. He shook his head, science was his domain, and Her Highness understood and encouraged him to focus on it.
Not wishing to delay his mistress' summons, he hurried out of his expansive rooms and labs, ignoring the odd human or faunus servants who bowed their heads as he passed them by, though he did inspect some of the prettier lasses. Her Highness did not prevent her subjects from partaking in pleasures of the flesh; for all her disdain for humanity, she kept plenty of them living in that city nearby to serve at her whims.
Arthur had indulged in the occasional tumble with the girls, yet that had been rare; his focus was entirely on his research.
His Strega boots echoed as he walked through the tiled floors of the castle until he finally arrived outside the conference hall. Making sure his hair was combed, and his attire was smooth with no wrinkles, he entered through the open double doors to find Her Highness standing in front of a seer with an unusually large orb.
He would never tire from beholding her beautiful visage. Some may feel revulsion over the dark veins running under her skin that connected to her eyes, yet he found they accentuated her alabaster complexion and gave her a certain gravitas.
She had changed her hairstyle; usually she would wear it in a large and elegant bun, but this time she had it braided into four long and silky tails. Her dark dress had a generous cleavage-cut that showed her ample breasts, and Arthur gulped as he did his best not to stare too much.
The tiny smirk on his mistress' lips told him she noticed and did not care, yet he would never take that for granted.
"You wished to see me, Your Highness." Arthur bowed courteously as he glanced around the room. He was the only one in attendance, but he knew the rest of the inner circle had assignments of their own across Remnant.
"Indeed. Join me as we listen to Cinder's report."
He hurried to stand a respectful distance from Her Highness as they peered at the large orb, showing that entitled brat Cinder with two more brats he could not care about.
"You are late in your report, Cinder."
Her Highness's tune was blunt as she did not give a moment for Cinder to even greet them. The brat visibly gulped before adopting a confident yet servile expression as she flicked her voluminous raven locks away from her alluring face, trying and failing to be casual about it. Arthur nearly scoffed out loud; her bravado would not save her from their mistress' ire. To lose the Fall Maiden when they had been so close!
"My apologies, My Lady. I had managed to recruit Adam Taurus and his group to our cause, but we had to immediately retreat when news of Celdic's survival and the destruction of the bandits arrived, followed by Hyperion's sudden acquisition of the entire region."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. If he recalled correctly, Celdic was a backwater region between Vale and Esmeralda. Good beer if he remembered the one time he stopped there years ago. But what did the upstart Hyperion have to do with that matter?
"Arthur," he quickly lowered his head to his mistress. "The bandits that were wiped out, they were under your control, I believe. Some project of yours with our assets in Vale."
"Indeed, Your Highness. They had been gathering Grimm Hordes through the use of Grimm Bait and had planned to attack the town when I mentioned that Vale would be too busy to retaliate. When I learned of Cinder's goals in the region, I merely nudged them to ally with the faunus, to make her task easier. I did not expect the result would be so…unexpected."
"That was unneeded. I could have done without your so-called help." Cinder's pretty face scowled as she glared at him, one of her eyes bursting in flames.
Arthur couldn't help but chuckle deeply at the brat's petulance, "Clearly. Even with my aid, you have failed in putting the pressure on Ozpin and Vale, and failed to locate the Fall Maiden. Tell me, my dear, have you discovered how Celdic survived multiple Grimm Hordes? How were the bandits destroyed? Or why and how Hyperion took control of the region?"
It filled his heart with sadistic glee as he saw the brat's scowl deepen and a drop of sweat form on her forehead. She's certainly pleasing on the eye, and his eyes subtly dropped to her buxom figure; what a waste, a captivating body with a rubbish personality.
Cinder glanced at their mistress, and while he was regretful to lower himself to taunts in front of Her Highness, Salem was also curious about the matter and stared evenly at Cinder.
"I was unable to discover why Hyperion is here. Qrow Branwen has been sweeping the entire region from the skies, and eliminating any bandit remnant with extreme prejudice. It took a lot to cajole Taurus and his animals to retreat from the region and direct them somewhere else."
The name of the most powerful huntsman in Remnant would have given anyone reason for concern, but his mistress's only reaction was a slight narrowing of her eyes that he would have missed if he were not looking for such a reaction.
"What else have you discovered?"
"I'm not certain about the town, but I have discovered the identity of the one responsible for slaying the bandits. A young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. The bandits I caught had run when the slaughter started in their hideout, but they claimed that regardless of whatever attacks they threw at him, his aura always protected him."
Her Highness visibly frowned for the first time, before glancing at one of the orbs. Arthur followed her gaze and found Tyrian Callows grinning like a loon.
"It appears yet another of those overconfident fools has surfaced. He will be yours to handle, Tyrian."
"Certainly, My Goddess. I might need more men than last time, though. Adrian Arc was a tough nut to crack. Even with the trap we led him into, I was barely able to poison him and escape with my life."
Arthur rubbed his chin in interest. The aforementioned trap consisted of a certain bait that he and his best scientists were still working on. Stubborn fool still held onto hope for a rescue from his partner, but soon, he shall break and become Her Highness's most useful asset.
"You will have them, but this can wait until we learn more about this young upstart." Salem turned to Cinder, "Your failure in fully taking the Fall Maiden's powers has irked me. Millions of my Grimm were mobilized for your plan, yet all you have to show are parlor tricks."
The immortal witch's words caused a shiver to run down Arthur's spine, and he wasn't even the one on the wrong end of them. Cinder Fall and her two sidekicks fell to their knees as they prostrated themselves to the mistress.
"I beg your forgiveness, My Lady, but Amber was more powerful than I thought. I nearly had all her powers if not for Qrow–"
"I tire of your excuses." Cinder was struck silent, and Arthur could not bring himself to even feel schadenfreude over her misfortune. Their mistress was a very patient woman, and rarely felt ire, yet when she was annoyed - everyone would know. "But I shall give you a second chance."
"You are gracious, My Lady." Cinder hurriedly bowed and Arthur barely stopped himself from sighing in relief as the pressure ceased, "What would you ask of me?"
"Investigate this young man. I was content with letting the Arcs rot in their mountains, but if they dared to send another son of theirs to the Huntsmen academies, I want to be aware. I will connect you with my servants in Vale, but you are not to compromise their positions." Cinder nodded and Salem turned back to Tyrian. "What have you found about the elder Arc?"
Tyrian's smile melted into a grimace, "As paranoid as ever. The old tyrant has the entire Vale fleet at his beck and call everywhere he goes, and Massalia is essentially his backyard. I was barely able to land in Vytal, thanks to the good doctor's cloaking device, before they came sniffing."
"Have you tried sneaking in from the north?" Arthur twirled his mustache, preening at Tyrian's praise - he was a reliable fellow. Still, he wondered how best to improve the cloaking feature of Her Highness's planes - clearly they were not up to par. "Sidonia is under Atlas control, and the Gelés are no fans of the Arcs."
"I thought about it, but the whole damned island is abuzz with something. Aircraft coming and going from there to Vale and Atlas, and the recently returned navy was patrolling the waters even more diligently than normal."
"Were you discovered?" Salem's voice was colder than the frozen wastelands of Atlas, causing Tyrian to shake his head swiftly. "Good, forget about Maximilian Arc. He may yet live a few years more but sooner or later, he shall lower his guard. Return here, and prepare for a long-term mission in Vacuo. Arthur will join you as you search for the Summer Maiden."
He hid his grimace at having to trek in that dusty land. Arthur hated the sand. It got everywhere, no matter how much he washed his clothes, he would find grains of the rough and coarse things in the seams weeks later.
Naturally, he showed none of his displeasure to Her Highness, "As you command, My Lady."
"Vermilion, you and Hazel will continue sweeping Anima for the Spring Maiden." The two other members of the inner circle gave their affirmative, and Salem gazed at all of them in turn. "Do not forget your secondary missions, maintain a low presence while recruiting followers. Most importantly, get in contact with the elder Grimm. We will need to replenish our numbers."
From there, the meeting ended, and Arthur left the conference hall. It was nerve-wracking to be near Her Highness when she was annoyed.
As he walked back to his rooms, he passed by a particularly curvy maid with a fluffy tail bowing to him, her white dress doing nothing to hide her assets. He leered at her as he groped her ass and whispered for her to follow to his room.
Considering his upcoming mission, perhaps he could afford to indulge. He had always disdained his Atlesian peers for how they treated the faunus - merit was far more important to judging anyone.
Besides, Arthur had always been a dog person.
T*A*M*S
Saturday morning, 5th of August
Vale Docks
"What do you mean the price has changed?" Weiss' eyebrows twitched in annoyance as she gripped her luggage tightly and stared at the slob of a port officer. His uniform had grease stains on it, and she spied an open bottle of cola and a pizza box near the counter.
"You heard me, girly. It's now £200 to enter Vale."
"B-But that's preposterous! I know it was only £20 last month, I researched and looked it up! How dare you try to trick me?"
"Huh?!" The fat man growled as he struggled to stand before glaring at her. "You calling me a liar? Do you have any idea how overcrowded the city is with all of those refugees? Of course, prices of everything have gone up, and we all need to make a living." The officer lowered his voice so only she could hear, "I'll knock £10 off just because you're cute, so hurry and pay up."
Weiss folded her arms and glared at the man, even as she ignored the long line behind her stretching to the boat from Patch she disembarked from. She now realized the greedy pig wanted a bribe, how else could he knock the price down like he was selling cabbages?
Taking advantage of poor and desperate refugees - how despicable.
"I refuse to suffer this foolishness. I demand to talk to your superior, you insufferable knave!"
She watched the man's face go purple from rage, yet she held no fear. The last few weeks have severely tested Weiss's patience and temper. If the pig wanted a fight, she would gladly vent her stress on him.
"Oh, give it a break already, Simon. Snow Angel here got you by the balls. Just let her pay the damned £100 so we can get out of this heat."
She twisted around to find two taller girls her age holding onto two stylish motorcycles, one black and red, while the other was yellow and orange. They matched their owners perfectly, as Weiss found the speaker, an annoyed looking blonde girl with long, and dare she say gorgeous, hair wearing a brown leather outfit that did nothing to hide her massive boobs.
What the heck? Weiss nearly moved her hands to her own ample chest to compare, but even at first glance, she could tell hers were utterly dwarfed by the blonde's and it wasn't because she was so damn tall.
Weiss was not short either!
The blonde girl's words finally registered and Weiss pointed a finger accusingly at the man, "Aha! And I have a witness. What happened to that £200 now?"
The man gritted his teeth as he glared at the blonde girl who smirked toothily, yet strangely, he did not dare do anything. Weiss narrowed her eyes, having a suspicion as to why.
She was not a sensor by any means, but there were other ways to tell if someone had aura. Subtly creating a glyph over her left eye, Weiss could safely say those two girls had theirs unlocked and, more impressively, at the same level as her.
"Fine! £100 for the entry fee. Now pay, and get out of my face."
"Excellent." The white-haired girl withdrew her bank card and waited… the officer looking strangely at her, while the girls behind her groaned. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get your card reader ready."
"Cash only." The man grinned as he pointed his thumb at a sign confirming his claim.
"W-What? What sort of backwards society still uses paper money and not bank cards?"
"It's the law, girlie. So what will it be? Gonna need some cold hard cash or we might have a problem."
Weiss sweated nervously. She had spent the last of her cash buying the ferry ticket from Patch to Vale. She could understand a backwater like Patch not accepting card payments, but Vale proper? All she had was her bank card, as she had no chance to withdraw more in Patch.
"Can't pay? I'm sure we could reach an understanding, hehe. I'll pay for you this time, but you're gonna wait for me until my shift ends." Her face burned with rage at the lecher's insinuation. There was no way she could miss how he leered at her, while licking his lips.
"Ugh, you really are dumber than a brick, Simon." The blonde from earlier gently pushed her aside before slamming a wad of cash on the counter - Weiss noticing a peculiar pair of gauntlets on her arms, hidden under her sleeves. "Here, you stinking slimeball. £300 for the three of us."
"Dammit Blondie! Don't mess up my chance for a hot date."
"Even the most desperate whore would shy away from your rancid fatass. I mean, come on! Trying to get a bribe when we are all here watching? You were not exactly quiet you know." The blonde girl clicked her tongue and shook her head in disappointment. "Not to mention trying to proposition Snow Angel here when she could probably strangle you with your own guts?"
The man seemed to finally notice the annoyed crowd behind them, who suddenly had their hands on their wallets, clearly aware now of the real price. The corrupt officer then stared at her in confusion and Weiss angrily caused a glyph to form on her palm, causing his eyes to widen in terror.
He looked around for his fellow officers, but he was alone, as the other windows were all as busy, if not busier, than this one. Vale had yet to lift the No-Fly Zone, so all flights had to land in Patch or other satellite cities before transferring to the city via boat or train.
"Fine," Simon grabbed the money before issuing them their permits. "Now get out of my face."
The blonde girl glared at the man until he mumbled a weak 'please', then dragged her back to her friend, now holding both motorcycles. Weiss found herself coming very close to a boob nearly the size of her head.
Now that they were so close, she could tell the blonde girl was nearly a head taller than her, and Weiss lamented not wearing her high heels. Klein advised wearing comfortable sneakers for the trip, and considering how her week had gone so far, it was a wise decision.
"Sorry you had to go through all of that. The city has gone to the gutter even more than normal since the war." The blonde girl pushed her bike past the checkpoint and Weiss followed along; she had yet to thank them for the help. "I'm Yang, by the way. Yang Xiao Long. This is my sister, Ruby Rose."
An Eastern Mistralian name, yet the girl does not look at all like a native from there. Curious.
"Hi," The dark-haired girl, who had remained silent so far, chirped happily. "Are you also a huntsman? What's your name? What school are you from? Are you applying to Beacon? Was that a glyph you made earlier? So cool! Where did you learn it? I love your battle dress, by the way. Combat Skirts Rock!"
Weiss took a step back as the girl leaned further from her bike with every question, now merely a few inches from her face. Her silver eyes looked nothing like her sister's lilac. In fact, they both couldn't be more different than the other, appearance wise.
"Calm down, sis, let Snow Angel breathe." Yang chuckled as she mounted her bike and put on a pair of shades, causing Ruby to lightly blush and mumble an apology.
"Don't call me, Snow Angel, please. My name is Weiss Schnee."
"Hoh? That Schnee?" Yang slightly lowered her shades to better gaze at her, lilac eyes cocked up-and-down, measuring her for just a moment. "What's a snow princess like you doing all the way here in Vale?"
Weiss stifled the urge to correct the girl, "I am here to apply to Beacon. Now, I am genuinely grateful for your help, but could I ask you to point me towards the nearest bank? I must pay you back for the toll."
Yang stared at her bemusedly, before nodding to her sister. "Sure, hop on behind Ruby. Let's secure your luggage, first."
Within minutes, they were ready to go. Weiss did not have a lot of baggage, just two suitcases, her backpack, and the case where she stored Myrtenaster and her vials of Dust. They managed to tie them all behind Yang, while Weiss held on tightly to Ruby's waist over her red cloak as they drove off the dock and exited a ramp to a highway.
"So, Weiss. Can I call you Weiss?" Ruby hesitantly called from in front of her.
The girl forwent a helmet, but wore black and red goggles. Yang made do with her pair of shades, lending her own pair of yellow goggles to her. The bike was comfortable, but something rectangular and metal kept poking her stomach from Ruby's back.
"Sure, Ruby. What's on your mind?"
"You never told me where you're from? Or how you could use Glyphs? I thought only academies like Beacon or Shade taught them."
"I'm from Atlas, and I learned Glyphs from my mother. It's a tradition for a Schnee to learn them at a young age, for we have a high affinity for them."
"That is so COOL! I can barely use the one and…"
Whatever Ruby was about to say was lost to the wind as they sped up on the highway. The girl must have realized and focused on driving instead, with Weiss tightening her hold as they sped through the traffic on the elevated Highway. From such a vantage point, Weiss could see the entirety of Vale sprawled below her.
In the distance, she could see the famous walls of Vale; fifty meter tall monoliths that were constructed over a hundred years ago and protected the city and its farmland from Grimm attacks. Judging by how she had not heard of a single breach, those walls have done splendidly in the war.
She could barely see the outline of the Vale mountains, what with the smog and early morning fog covering them. A bit closer to the city was a high hill where the prestigious school was located.
Beacon!
In a few minutes, Weiss could finally see the massive CCTS tower that served as the main hub for communications and connecting the kingdoms together. If she ever wanted to call her family, she would need to travel to it and use one of their international terminals.
Soon, they slowed down as they took an exit towards the Commercial District. Weiss wondered why come all the way here for a bank, but it suited her just fine. Her lodgings were closer this way, anyway.
As they drove deeper into the city, she found herself looking around the commercial district. She had noticed the industrial district as it was right below the highway, but it was not supposed to impress with its factories and warehouses.
The commercial district was only marginally better.
The roads were busy with cars and pedestrians, though thankfully, they had their own motorbike lane. The buildings were elegant with Oswaldian architecture, named after King Oswald Glenwood, the last king of Vale. There were many shops and cafes spread all along the main street, yet there were even more side streets that lead to less than impressive neighborhoods.
They followed Yang as she stopped at a traffic light and turned left to a neat and tidy neighborhood, with bars and restaurants aplenty. Parking outside a bank, Weiss dismounted before turning to her…friends?
Weiss shook her head, she had never had a friend and doubted she could make one so easily, no matter how much she wished she could. "Give me a moment and–"
She was startled when Ruby joined her, "I gotta withdraw some spending money as well. Take care of the bikes, Yang."
The blonde girl gave them a lazy wave as she opened a pack of gum, while Ruby hooked her arm with her own and led her to the bank. It occurred to Weiss that she was about to leave her belongings and her sword that were worth thousands, if not, tens of thousands of Lein to two strangers she had just met, and Ruby Rose realized that.
Leading her inside, she was basically assuring her that her belongings were not going anywhere without her.
Weiss felt strangely endeared at the gesture.
"Well, here we are. I'll just… sit over there until you're done." Ruby pointed towards the waiting area, and Weiss smiled teasingly at her.
"Oh? Didn't you say you needed to withdraw cash as well?"
"I-I uh, just remembered that I uhm…" The girl stammered as she waved her hands nervously in front of her, and Weiss giggled.
"Don't worry, I won't take long."
She left Ruby by the snack bar and within minutes, Weiss was standing in front of a clerk busy working on her order while she grimaced at her bank statement.
Her voyage from Atlas to here had been very stressful as she had to meticulously plan her escape from the Schnee manor. The original plan for enrolling in Beacon was passing some kind of test for her father before he would allow her to travel with his blessings. Now, however, she had to rely solely on herself and Klein's help, along with what little money she had managed to sneak into her bank account.
Normally, Weiss did not have a personal bank account, for she never needed to worry about money. With a snap of her fingers, or a swipe of her family card, anything was at her beck and call. Klein had warned her that she would not be able to rely on her family's wealth, which was why she sneakily withdrew money from her father's account and opened an account of her own.
Within two weeks, she had managed to deposit a measly £4,000 into her account, an amount that she would normally spend on a random Tuesday at her favorite restaurant. Yet she had already spent nearly half of it to sneaking out of Atlas with her belongings, buying Dust behind her father's back, and hiding in Klein's home in Mantle.
There was no way she would have been able to take a flight from Atlas without being stopped. Klein had been a lifesaver then, as he used his connections in Mantle to secure her passage on an airbus to Patch. It had cost a lot of money to make sure everything went well and to grease enough palms to make things work.
Just bribing the border officer cost her a quarter of her total funds.
She wondered how the butler was faring, and prayed he would endure her father's wrath. The older man had insisted on teaching her all he could about life as a plebeian. Weiss thought she learned a lot, but once she was on her own, she discovered how she had taken so much of her life for granted.
Her mind drifted to the rest of her family. Her mother and brother were still in Arcade, out of range for her scroll unless she used a terminal. Winter did not have that excuse, yet she had yet to answer any of her calls or messages.
Her beloved sister had once again let her down.
"Here you go, Miss Schnee, £332 and twenty-two cents. Your remaining balance is £500. Please remember that your account cannot go below £500 or else the bank fees will activate."
Weiss nodded distractedly and placed her money in her wallet then she…stared at the faunus-woman who was the clerk. She was probably a badger or squirrel faunus, yet that wasn't relevant.
How did she not notice it?!
"Is there…a problem, Miss Schnee?"
"Ah, no, nothing of the sort. Thank you for the help. Have a lovely day."
Weiss walked away and had to remind herself this wasn't Atlas or Mantle. Faunus were a lot more common here and had a strong political presence. She was not foolish enough to allow her bias, most assuredly justified, to have her blab something rude.
She remembered Klein's final word of warning; when in Vale, do as the Valeans do.
Ruby was waiting for her by the snack bar, munching on…something.
"Hey, Weiss. Want a gummy bear? They are free!"
Looking at the wiggling and colorful candies, she shrugged. Considering her lack of funds, she won't say no to free food.
"Well? What do you think?"
"…It's good." Not really, they tasted of chemicals and stuck to the roof of her mouth. "Let's go meet with your sister. I'm sure she is bored waiting in the heat."
"Oh yeah, it was Yang's birthday last week. We're going out to have fun in the city. We wanted to come last week, but the stupid toll costs were too much! We live in Patch you see, it used to be free for us to travel to Vale but not anymore. Even though we're graduates of Signal Academy and already accepted into Beacon, they still treat us like crap!"
Weiss nodded along as they exited the bank, half-listening to the girl's rapid chatter. The bikes and her stuff were still there, thankfully, but Yang was nowhere to be found. A glance around, found her by an ice cream stall.
"So you are both sisters? Forgive me for assuming, but–"
"We look nothing alike, yeah? Even our names are different." Ruby grinned at her as she grabbed her hand and led her to her sister - the girl was a bit too clingy for her tastes, but Weiss let it go this time. "We have the same Dad but different mothers."
"What?" Weiss stopped as she looked at the girl in shock, "Did he–"
"Oh, no." Ruby's silver eyes were wide as she shook her hands vehemently, "No no no, Dad married both of our mothers. I know it's not really common, but they loved each other very much. They were on the same Beacon team, you see."
Weiss did hear that polygyny was rare but not uncommon among huntsman families. A way to propagate strong genes with bountiful auras and hopefully create more powerful semblances - even if it has yet to be proven that semblances could be passed down from parent to child, aside from the Schnee semblance, of course.
Aura levels and other attributes, on the other hand…
"But both of your mothers are fine with that?"
"…I think so? They're gone now. It's only Yang, Dad, Uncle Qrow, and Zwei now. Ah, Zwei is my dog."
Weiss did not need to be a genius to figure out that her huntress mothers were most likely dead, and she hurried to apologize, but Yang interrupted.
"Hey, girls." Yang waved at them from next to the stall as they approached and handed a bowl to her sister, "I got you some snacks, chocolate chips for you, Ruby."
"Yay, thanks, Sis!"
"And here you go, weisscream. Not sure what you would like, so I got you plain vanilla."
Weiss felt a vein bulge in her neck at the girl's audacity, yet calmly accepted the ice cream bowl. "Thank you, and here is your money for the ferry, with a little extra for all the help."
Yang accepted the £120 and pocketed them without counting, "No sweat."
They found a table to eat while the sisters chatted about inane things. Weiss had to admit that the plebeian snack was tastier than she expected. Or perhaps it was the heat that made it taste a lot better than it actually was.
"So, Weiss. What are your plans for Beacon?" Ruby nudged her side, "Do you have transcripts from Atlas or will you take the entrance exams?"
"I am homeschooled, so the entrance exams will be my goal. They should still be open for a few more days, right?"
"Yep, admittance started last Monday, but you still have until Friday to apply. Initiation also starts on August 24th, and I heard a rumor it will be different from usual." Yang replied as she wiped a bit of melted cream that fell on her cleavage - Weiss still could not understand how a girl could have such massive boobs and still walk and stand with no trouble. "Do you have a place to stay until then?"
"I do. I have secured lodgings across the river by the fishing piers in the residential district. I think the place is where the River Verdant meets the River Emerald, the industrial district is also close by. Moreover, I had called ahead when I was in Patch and they assured me that my room was still reserved and their prices remain unchanged…hopefully they were not lying."
"Tsk, that swine, Simon, makes us Valeans look bad." Yang angrily finished the rest of her ice cream before accurately throwing it at a distant rubbish bin. "Too bad I can't deny that corruption is rampant in this city. I won't deny it does come in handy, like when me and Rubes were getting our driving license. Our Uncle Qrow knew someone who helped us skip the lines and the red tape, but still… I much prefer Patch."
Weiss could hardly judge the girl for using the corrupted system since she herself benefited from people's greed. With the help of Klein, she had lost count of how many bribes she had given and to how many people, just to escape her father.
"Yeah, Patch is very nice. Of course, it's not as big as any of the districts of Vale, but it is still a nice island with mountains, hills, lagoons, forests." Ruby counted off her fingers the features of her home with a toothy grin before frowning, "Vale has a lot of crime and bad men. People like Simon who take advantage of the poor and the desperate - I hate them!"
Weiss looked strangely at the normally perky girl, who now had a furious scowl on her face.
"Don't mind her, she had to beat up some morons a few weeks ago when they tried to kidnap her." Contrary to her sister, Yang had a wicked grin. "They thought she was a defenseless little girl that they could steal to the brothels. She proved them wrong."
"Is that normal here? Kidnappers and criminals - also brothels? I thought prostitution was illegal here?"
"It is illegal, but who is gonna enforce the law? Vale was already overcrowded before the war. Now with millions of refugees in the city? The cops only patrol the rich neighborhoods in any numbers." Yang pointed with her chin towards the nearby road, where Weiss could see a police car slowly passing by. "It's the reason they jacked up the prices for entering the city. With the war over, the city is trying to kick out the refugees and discourage more from coming in. At least that's what Dad said when I complained to him."
"I see. I heard they pressed the students into service."
"Oh yeah, we had to fight loads of Grimm in Patch." Ruby answered her unasked question. "Mostly from the sea, but we got a nice recommendation thanks to that and also a bonus check!"
"And it took so much effort to convince you to spend it on tuning your bike instead of a cookie party." Yang winked at her sister who pulled her tongue out.
"Zip it you boob monster! Never diss da cookies!!"
"What's wrong? Are ya Jelly of these babies?"
Weiss nearly squeaked scandalously when Yang squeezed her boobs. Clearly she wasn't as silent as she hoped as both sisters blinked and turned to her, as if remembering her presence, before laughing out loud. She wanted to feel annoyed, yet Weiss felt forlorn instead. Seeing the sisters acting so friendly in their banter - it made her miss Winter more.
Or at least her idea of Winter.
"Anyway, I hope your new place is safe, Snow Angel, or else you will find yourself in trouble."
"Don't worry, though. If you are in trouble, just kick their asses before running away." Ruby pumped her fists beside her, and stood on the bench, her ice cream forgotten. "The coppers are always late, if they even show up, and then they would drag you to the station for a statement that could take hours! So it's better you take justice in your own hands. Like Heroes! And Huntsmen are Heroes!!"
Yang laughed as her sister stood on the table with a fist aiming at the skies. Weiss couldn't help but smile endearingly, even as she waved farewell an hour later to the two sisters when they dropped her off at another ferry to take her to her lodgings. They were good girls, and she prayed they would be accepted into Beacon as well.
Was this what it was like to have friends? It felt…nice. She looked forward to meeting them again in Beacon.
Maybe even be on her team… Shoot, she forgot to take their scroll numbers!
Weiss sighed as she stared out of the open air boat and watched the overcrowded channel as they sailed on. Boats of all sizes passed by; sailboats, riverboats, motorboats, barges, yachts, and even the odd small container vessel that could operate in the narrower district docks. The much larger containers were docked in the industrial district.
It stank of smoke and sweaty people, and the boat was crowded. Some brat kept twirling her hair while her mother was cutting onions of all things! Her poor eyes.
Soon, they were moored in the residential district, and Weiss quickly exited the ferry, dragging her luggage behind her. The smell of fish permeated the air, and the docks were crowded with fishing boats and sailors. She could see fathers teaching their sons how to tie knots or how to cast a net into the water, the scene was both chaotic yet charming.
Asking the first dockworker for directions to the Wayward Mermaid Inn, Weiss found herself infront of a shabby looking building right on the waterfront.
It was not the cleanest nor the most prestigious of establishments. In fact, the more she looked at it, the more Weiss realized it was not exactly a building but rather a large passenger ship, half of it beached and the other half still on the water. It was smartly repurposed to be a hotel, with pylons built in the river water to hold it aloft.
Entering the Inn, she was greeted by a bored looking woman sitting on a desk barely a dozen feet from the entrance. She introduced herself as Becky, who was smoking a cigarette, and had her feet up on the desk. There were a pair of guns laid on the desk as well, with a door leading to an office where Weiss spied an open gun safe.
Not the best first impression, but beggars can't complain.
Soon she was confirming her name and paying £100 to rent a room for a day with the possibility of extensions; the owner refused any form of long-term contracts owing to the volatile housing market.
"Alright, Miss. Yours is room 108. It's just down this hallway on your left." The brown-haired woman stood and stretched, showing tattooed arms and shoulders along with an impressive bust under a black tank top - what was it with Vale and its big boobed women? "Do you need me to show you the way?"
"That won't be necessary, thank you."
"Suit yourself, but beware - prices may change tomorrow."
Weiss frowned but nodded nonetheless. She dragged her stuff down the hallway and headed to her room, wondering if she had agreed too easily to that price. It was an exorbitant amount of money, especially since the amount could change depending on the market.
She hoped her room would at least be worth it, but as she opened it and looked inside, Weiss fought the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. It only had a bed, a coffee table, a mini-fridge, a tiny kitchenette with a single stove, and a small bathroom. There was no bathtub, just a toilet, sink, and a shower head above them.
It was completely bare bones, but at least it was clean, and there was hot water… Weiss sighed again at how low she had fallen. The whole room was not even a fraction of the size of her wardrobe back home. The last time she was in Vale was before Winter was accepted into Atlas, and her entire family stayed in the most luxurious hotel the upper district of Vale could offer.
Stepping out of the bathroom, Weiss dearly wanted to fall onto the bed and sleep all day. It's been a week since she sneaked out of the Schnee Manor, where she had last slept with no worry of her being discovered and dragged to her father.
Yet, sleep was still a luxury she could not afford. Weiss did not have enough money to last her a week, let alone until the semester started, and she would need to…ugh, find a job to survive.
Just the very idea gave her shivers!
Opening the glass door and stepping out to the balcony, she leaned on the railings as she enjoyed the cool breeze and the river. The balcony was more spacious than she thought, with a coffee table, two chairs, and a decent view of the distant commercial district.
Taking a deep breath, she was surprised to note there was none of the expectant dirty smells coming from the industrial district - only fish, seaweed, river moss and other things that Weiss rarely got the chance to smell or experience.
She could learn to enjoy her stay here… despite her neighbors. To her left were a noisy family speaking loudly, with kids laughing and screaming in excitement. Clearly well-off refugees, yet she couldn't bring herself to blame their happiness, though maybe she should look into buying earplugs if she wanted a decent sleep.
On the other side, was some scruffy looking bum with a stubble, wearing a fishing hat that had many hooks and other things she couldn't recognize. He was humming to himself as he held a fishing rod, while sitting on a beach recliner. At least he wasn't noisy and kept to himself.
Argh, this won't do. Weiss slapped her cheeks as she returned to her room. It was barely eleven in the morning, and she had two days before the entrance exam. It was time she explored the city and hopefully found a job or two.
Some obvious changes can be noticed here. Decided to give some personality to some characters. Arthur Watts is a perv, Salem is a voyeur…etc
A note about the girls' heights. 17-year-old Weiss is described as 5'3" (with heels) in the wiki, so I decided to make her a solid 5 feet tall (or short considering she only ever gained a single inch in the whole series).
Ruby is taller at 5'4" now that she's 17 (technically 16 as her birthday is October 31st), while Yang is 5'8".
Ruby being Yang's age meant she was closer to her as a friend, instead of a responsibility, and also has a bike like hers. Ruby will be more mature, especially as she had two extra years with her mother as well.
Expect a less smothering Yang as well, instead, she and Ruby will be besties.
Keep in mind the difference in attitude. Weiss does not enjoy the protection that her family name brought her, like in the show. She ran away from home and has no support whatsoever. She is smart to understand that and is trying to stay out of trouble.
A side effect of this is a better first meeting with the sisters. Guess a little corruption doesn't hurt…much.
Finally, something that I feel the show never really focused on. Weiss never seemed to have friends, and neither did she attend any school as far as I know. She should be super awkward talking with peers (those she considers her equals) along with a few other flaws that I will expand on.
Expect a tsundere Weiss who is craving friendship and companionship but is too prideful to act on it…at least for now.
Chapter 24 (Job Hunt)
Editors/Beta Readers: Lonestar, Reiter.
"You're fired!"
"No, I quit!"
The door slammed shut behind her, and Weiss seethed as she stomped away from the stupid store, tearing away the frilly accessories in her hair before throwing them in the nearest dumpster.
How dare they! To expect her to do such things?
She had been job hunting all day and nearly all stores, restaurants, companies, and any business that Weiss was confident working in told her the same thing.
She was overqualified.
The first company Weiss stopped in was a construction contractor. They needed someone for heavy lifting, and she offered to use her glyphs to speed up the work. It turned out it was illegal to use Huntsmen abilities for such work in Vale without a Huntsman license, or at least a student license.
It was utter hogwash!
Her second stop was a restaurant, who told her she looked high maintenance, whatever the hell that meant.
Her third stop claimed she looked too straight-laced. What did having her shoes double-knotted have to do with working in a lawyer's office?!
Her fourth stop was at a bar that claimed she had a scowling face (she did not! Her face was perfectly cute, and she spent countless hours in the mirror practicing her smile!)
Some cad even told her she had a resting bitch face! Weiss was certainly not a bitch, and the scoundrel deserved that slap to the face.
Yet the most common reason to refuse hiring her was simple. Why hire some educated Atlesian who will expect fair wages when there are a million refugees, with even better credentials, willing to work for nickels?
Finally, after eight hours of trying to find a job in the commercial district, she finally found a place that hired her on the spot.
A Maid Cafe.
From the job description, it was supposed to be a simple cafe catering to the more well-off caste of society, with the waitresses dressing as maids. True, the uniforms had a bit too low a cut with an emphasis on the cleavage and shoulders, yet her dress was considered classy enough for her to work in.
Weiss thought it was a poor man's attempt to get a feel for the rich man's world, yet she did not care.
The pay was good, great even! £15 an hour, plus tips? She would be capable of making enough to cover another week of rent if she worked extra hard.
Too bad it all turned out to be a hoax, and there was a reason the sleazy harlot who hired her, Madame Green, had leered at her intensely before taking her in. While the cafe still operated like a regular eatery at the front, it was a damned brothel in the back!
That bastard got what he deserved when he tried to feel her up; breaking his wrist was the least she managed to do before she was surrounded by what she realized were pimps.
No wonder they had such security, the lowlifes were probably with the mob. If she had not flared her aura threateningly and froze a daring thug's arm for touching her, they would have certainly held her captive.
Who knew what they would have forced her to do then?
Weiss shuddered at the thought, which made her even angrier as she ripped off the last of the stupid accessories they attached to her dress before turning to the cafe. She was so tempted to blast it to bits, and she could certainly do it even without Myrtenaster. Her dress had Ice Dust weaved into it, and she could access it at any time, even faster than using Myrtenaster. A few propulsion glyphs on the debris and other random things strewn in the alley, and she could turn that building into icy rubble!
But no, there were innocent girls inside who were already downtrodden as it was…and was it worth it to waste her precious Dust reserves over that?
But the owner still did not pay her for the three hours of work she did, so…
Feeling a vein popping on her forehead, Weiss growled as she fought the urge to drown the alley in an iceberg.
With a wave of her hand, she created a propulsion glyph and aimed carefully at where that sleazy woman's office was before casting another one inside her projectile of choice; the same dumpster she had thrown her uniform in. It was full of food waste and refuse; perfect ammunition!
With another glyph, this one a flotation one that lifted the dumpster a few feet in the air, Weiss kicked it towards the first glyph.
The large and stinky metal contraption was propelled through the air, letting loose its contents until it crashed through the wall and into the office. In hindsight, Weiss grimaced, as that could very well have killed anyone inside.
It was still worth it.
The effect was as glorious as it was messy, and the screeching of that bitch was music to her ears as she angrily looked out of her destroyed office. Weiss snorted into the most unladylike laughter she could muster as the woman's heavily make-up face had food refuse all over her, and her green hair had yellow gunk flowing down her face.
"What's wrong, Nancy? You're looking a little Green."
It was not the most articulate of taunts, but Weiss was beyond caring at the moment, simply grinning as the brothel madame screeched at the thugs coming out of the backdoor to check the noise.
"What the fuck are you limpdicks waiting for? I want that bitch tied up and squealing in my dungeon YESTERDAY!"
Remembering Ruby's advice, Weiss hightailed it out of there, with the thugs in hot pursuit. This was supposed to be a well-off part of the commercial district, at least, it looked like so with its quaint streets and niche stores. Yet, as she noticed the lack of police presence, perhaps it was not as prosperous as it seemed.
Or maybe it was the late hour.
Weiss could not remember how long or how far she had run. The thugs were persistent, and she was tired. Once she turned into an alley, she quickly used a propulsion glyph to shoot up to the roofs and continued running and jumping from one rooftop to the next. Within minutes, she felt safe enough to take a break.
"Ugh, what a mess." She landed on an expansive roof where half of it was a garden of sorts with neatly trimmed trees and bushes. The other half was dedicated to a landing pad for bullheads, yet she found none at the moment.
Finding no one around, the runaway heiress couldn't help but rest on a bench.
She was tired, hungry, and worried about her future. It was only her first day in Vale, and things were not going well at all. At least the chase got her heart pumping and her blood rushing. Yet it was all worth being away from her control freak of a father.
Suddenly, Weiss jumped to her feet at the sight of Jacques Schnee glaring down at her from above, only to scoff at her fidgeting. It was a massive screen attached to one of the buildings that had a news channel on with subtitles. For a moment, she feared her father had taken to the news to announce her disappearance before relaxing.
It was just another interview about the treatment of faunus in the SDC's mines.
Weiss checked the time, finding it eleven in the evening. She sighed loudly, laid her head on the back of the bench, and ignored her father's blown-up image in favor of staring at the shattered moon watching her from above.
Its light was weak, and she could barely see a star in the sky, unlike in Atlas where she could always see the constellations and the auroras. She never appreciated them enough, and now, all she could see in the Valean skies was darkness and the tall buildings that threatened to suffocate her with their claustrophobic designs.
Weiss frowned as she noticed dark shadows dashing quickly along the rooftops but relaxed when she recognized them.
It wasn't the first time Weiss had seen huntsmen coming and going in the busy city. Many of them could travel by roof jumping like she just did. Perhaps she should start emulating them more, it was more convenient considering the crowded streets. It would save her on transportation expenses as well.
Even at night, the City of Vale never slept. Car horns beeped, police sirens blared, and stores were open with barkers and criers showcasing their goods. The sound of thousands of people walking and talking below her echoed the noise of the millions of people in the streets. Whatever building she was on, it was blaring loud music and many people talking at the same time.
Weiss wanted to close her eyes and ignore it all. To pretend she was back home together with her family; whole and complete. No SDC, no huntsmen, no politics - maybe go on a camping trip? Or whatever families did when they gathered.
It was a sad thought that she did not even know how families normally acted around each other.
She blew a loose strand of her hair from her face as she raised her hand to the moon, imagining it within her grasp. Would her family forever be cursed to be like that, large and bright to everyone who looks from afar yet fractured into a thousand pieces?
"I didn't realize we had a visitor."
Weiss flinched horribly as she jumped from the bench to find an older Mistralian girl staring curiously from a doorway. She had long, straight black hair and green almond-shaped eyes set on an impassive face. She looked to be in her late teens or early twenties, but Weiss had discovered it was nearly impossible to tell the ages of Mistralians - they could be twenty or forty for all she knew. Dressed in a stylish white dress that had Weiss nod in approval, the taller girl tapped her foot impatiently as she held a tray of food.
"Well? This is private property. May I help you?"
"Oh, uhm. I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to intrude." Weiss thanked her lucky stars her mother had diligently taught her all those courtesy lessons on how to deal with foreigners - she kept both arms to her sides and bowed with her head lowered, but her eyes subtly inspected the girl.
She did not miss the bladed heels of the girl's white boots, nor the toned legs and subtle hints of an aura user. Weiss did not have a chance to use her identification glyph, but there was no need. Pale and unblemished skin without a single scar, combined with the way the girl carried herself - there was no doubt she was an aura user. One who had aura from a young age as well.
Aura did not wipe away old scars once unlocked.
Another thing was her dress. At first glance, it just looked stylish but Weiss could see the telltale signs of Dust weaving. Considering the color, it was probably Ice Dust, just like her own dress.
Weiss was far too tired to get into fights, especially without her weapon. Besides, she was in the wrong, and she had no issue admitting that.
The older girl gazed at her with a frosty expression before nodding and setting her tray on a table.
"At least you're polite. Who are you?"
"Weiss Schnee."
"I see," the girl sat on a chair next to the table and laid one leg over the other, with her arms resting on her knee. "My name is Melanie Malachite. I did not expect to stumble on such a high-profile personage during my lunch break. You are a long way from home, Miss Schnee."
"… Sorry about that. I was uh…having a walk?" She straightened her back and held her elbow as she awkwardly stared at a rose bush.
"So you had a walk…up the walls and to the rooftop." Melanie nodded again, and Weiss grimaced - it was the lamest excuse she could devise. "That is the lamest excuse I have ever heard."
"Hey, it started as a walk… then a jog, then maybe a run." The more she talked, the more Melanie narrowed her eyes until Weiss was fed up. "Okay, I was running away from some thugs! Happy now?"
"Not particularly." Melanie shrugged as she grabbed a sandwich from a plate. The sight had Weiss' stomach rumbling - she hadn't eaten a thing since that ice cream in the morning.
The dark-haired girl noticed her gaze and hesitantly offered her one, "Hungry? Come have a seat."
She looked warily at the girl's extended hand, and Weiss finally realized that Melanie felt just as awkward and uncertain as she was.
That nearly had her burst out laughing, but instead, nodded swiftly and joined the older girl at the table.
She could not afford to refuse free food, after all.
"Thank you, that is very kind of you." Weiss smiled at the girl and waited for her nod before grabbing a smoked salmon sandwich.
It tasted heavenly after her long day.
"Don't mention it." Melanie looked sideways as she chewed on her own sandwich, "My sister made too much anyway."
"That is still very kind of you to offer food to a stranger." And she truly meant it. Weiss did not expect such kindness from someone she only met and whom she was trespassing on her property. Maybe Valeans weren't so bad after all?
"I'm sure you would do the same in my place."
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Melanie served her a cup of hot green tea. It helped to wash down the food, and Weiss found herself relaxing into her chair.
"So where's your entourage, Princess? I highly doubt the heiress of the SDC would be walking around the streets of Vale with nothing but the clothes on her back."
"… You don't need to worry about that."
"I dunno, having the famed Atlas operatives blowing up the front door for a rescue is not how I would want my shift to end."
"How do you know about that?" Weiss looked warily as the other girl drained her tea before pulling out a pack of thin cigarettes. "How did you even know I am the heiress of the SDC? There are many Schnees all over the place, It's not a particularly rare name."
She was on the edge of her seat, ready to spring away at a moment's notice. Not many people knew the specifics of her family; her father preferred to hog all the attention, which, for good or bad, assured her a modicum of a private life. For some random girl in Vale of all places to know about not just her but Atlas's operatives? This was no normal girl; she most likely had connections to unscrupulous people.
Ugh, what had she gotten herself into?
The young woman leisurely tapped her pack and let a stick out. She pulled it with her lips before offering her one. Weiss firmly shook her head; she had never smoked in her life, and she did not plan to.
Melanie shrugged before lighting the cigarette with an ornate lighter, "There is only one Weiss Schnee in Atlas, and with Winter Schnee's position in the Atlas Military, it made sense that you would be the heiress." Weiss watched as the older girl took a deep drag from the cigarette before blowing out the smoke. "It helps that you didn't deny it earlier."
"Fair enough," She tried to calm her jittering nerves with a sip from her tea, but only the dregs were left. Weiss gritted her teeth as the frustration she had bottled up for weeks boiled inside her and burst out like a dam, "I ran away from home."
"…Oh." Melanie took another drag, but her impassive face turned to her with interest, "You seem like you need to vent a bit. I'm told I'm a good listener, so feel free to talk about it if you like."
She knew this was a bad idea - talking to a stranger about such private matters. Matters that could get her family and their company in trouble. Heavens, if what she suspected about the girl being connected to the mafia, then this was definitely a bad idea.
Weiss knew that many would love to use her as a tool to get payback on her father; he was just that charming of a man. Yet, she never felt threatened, nor was she ever in danger of kidnapping or assassination that she knew of. Nevertheless, the tales of what may happen to her if she let her guard down had stuck in her mind since she was a child. It was part of the reason she was trained so extensively to be a Huntress.
She knew the smart thing to do was to keep quiet, thank the girl for the meal, and excuse herself.
Yet, Weiss still found herself pouring her heart out to the patient girl. From her father breaking his promise, to her worry about the future of the SDC, to the weakness she felt and the apathy plaguing Atlas society, to how she had to sneak away from her home like some fugitive, and finally to the events of the day.
Before she knew it, Weiss was pacing in front of the table as she let it all out.
Melanie, already on her second cigarette, really was a good listener. She remained silent yet focused as Weiss talked, only asking for clarification regarding that pig at the port authority and the secret brothel. It felt great to talk about it, even if it left her heaving and tired, but Weiss could feel a weight being lifted off her shoulders.
"That's a lot to take in, but I think I understand what your main concerns are. Here," Melanie offered her a cigarette again, but Weiss looked hesitant. "You look like you need one."
"Smoking is not good for you." Yet, Weiss could not tear her gaze away from the innocent-looking stick.
"You have your aura unlocked; you don't have to worry about side effects like regular people."
She would not deny being curious. Her father smoked cigars, and she had seen her mother smoking similar-looking thin cigarettes. Her father taught her and her siblings to avoid smoking like it was drugs, and even then, most narcotics were legal to consume anyway. Weiss suspected it was just another way for Father to control her; something foolish like girls shouldn't smoke but could always drink wine in one of his private events.
The hypocrisy!
A small rebellious part of her mind told Weiss to do it, just to spite her father - so he could see his perfect little daughter being disobedient and uncouth. A glance at the still running screen where her father spoke drivel about the SDC's treatment of faunus being baseless accusations had Weiss grit her teeth.
That part won.
"… Just the one, then." She grabbed a stick and placed it in her mouth. Its texture was weird, and had an herb-like taste.
Weiss lowered her head as Melanie raised her lighter, "For first-timers, don't take a deep–"
She fell into a coughing fit as the smoldering smoke entered her lungs. It took her a moment before she was able to breathe again, and looked at the cigarette in disgust, "Why would anyone inhale such vile poison?"
"You're not supposed to take it to your lungs," Melanie smirked as she inhaled the smoking stick, bringing the wick down to the middle before blowing a large smoke cloud out. "Breathe it, but don't inhale it; keep it in your mouth for a second, then blow it out again. The nicotine is already in your bloodstream without actively taking it to your lungs. Only amateurs and heavy smokers take it fully to the lungs."
Still looking at the cigarette warily, Weiss was tempted to throw it away, but she was not a quitter! Taking a smaller breath and doing as Melanie recommended, it flowed easier this time. There was still a burn from the tobacco, but it was a pleasant one. Blowing out the smoke, she found herself staring at it idly as the wind picked it up and dispersed it, leaving an acrid smell behind.
They continued to smoke in silence, Weiss standing next to the still-seated girl. "Feel better?"
"Slightly, I certainly feel calmer." And more clear-headed, she added inwardly. "I don't think I like smoking, though. It leaves a bad smell."
"It is an expensive hobby as well." Melanie gazed at her, and Weiss stifled the urge to shift on her feet as the other girl's emerald eyes seemed to inspect her from head to toe. "So you are in need of a job."
"Yes, are you offering one?"
"Depends; we run the club downstairs, and you're pretty enough to easily make big bucks working the tables on tips alone, but what talents do you have? I already know you're a spoiled princess who grew up with a silver spoon, but surely, there are some things you learned that are of use?"
"Hey, I am not a spoiled princess! I had to train diligently in order to be accepted into a Huntsman academy." Weiss bit on her cigarette as she glared at the girl, "I can fight with the best of them and am very talented with glyphs."
"While that is useful, and definitely impressive, we are not in need of any enforcers. Besides, it would not do well on your record if you are caught roughing up a drunk customer or a rival gang."
"Oh? So you run a gang here?" Weiss had suspected since no aura users would be satisfied with a normal life - that feeling of power would drive one to desire more, especially at such a young age. "Should I need to worry about getting kidnapped and held for ransom?"
Her tone was light and joking, yet the idea had always been in the back of her mind. Estranged or not, Jacques Schnee would be honor-bound, what little of it he had left anyway, to save her and pay whatever ransom demanded.
"Nah, you're too high-maintenance."
She flinched. Again with that term!
"Besides, even if we manage to capture you and your father pays the ransom, there is no way we would ever be safe from the SDC. I would rather not have the richest and most powerful corporation in the world sending huntsmen and assassins after my pretty arse." Melanie blew out a cloud of smoke as she smirked lightly. "Much safer to deal in barely legal drugs and racketeering."
Weiss stifled a snort, not sure if it was from amusement or not, and opted to take another drag of her smoke. They silently gazed at each other while their respective cigarettes slowly dwindled, allowing ashes to fall on the ground.
"… Singing."
"Pardon?"
"You asked if I have a talent aside from fighting. I doubt you would be interested in intellectual or administrative matters, so - singing. I can sing."
"Show me."
Weiss took a deep drag of the cigarette, finishing it and dousing it in the ashtray before coughing lightly. "What song would you like to hear?"
"Whatever you are comfortable with."
Unsure of what to sing, Weiss looked around for any inspiration. The first thing that came to mind was some of the Atlesian classics, popular with the nobility and the wealthy, but she did not think Melanie was looking for that.
Suddenly, her eyes fell on a small fountain, with its clear waters reflecting the shattered moon above like a mirror. Before she knew it, she was standing over it, staring at the reflection of the broken moon hanging lonely in the starless sky.
Mirror, tell me something,
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?
Mirror, tell me something,
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?
Fear of what's inside of me;
Tell me, can a heart be turned to stone?
Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?
Save me from the things I see!
I can keep it from the world,
Why won't you let me hide from me?
Mirror, mirror, tell me something,
Who's the loneliest of all?
I'm the loneliest of all.
Her voice was huskier than normal, probably from smoking, but she thought she did well. Weiss flinched at the sound of clapping, noticing there were two of them.
Turning around, she found a giant of a man clapping along with the still seated Melanie. The older girl was smiling, genuinely so, unlike her earlier smirks or quips, and her eyes seemed to be shining.
Weiss had eyes only for the newcomer. Tall and powerfully built, the man was clearly Mistralian. He wore a bartender's outfit consisting of a black vest over a white dress shirt, a red tie, black gloves, and black dress pants. She noticed some sort of large shotgun strapped to his back and the same signs of an aura user.
"Bravo, bravo. When Melanie texted me to come to the roof, I didn't know what to expect." The man looked annoyingly at the seated girl. "Here I am, expecting a fight or a sordid rendezvous, and instead, I am treated to such an exquisite performance."
"She can be our main attraction during our more leisurely nights." Melanie stood up, approached her, and held her hands before leading her back to whom she assumed was her boss. "What do you think, Weiss? Care to perform to a larger audience? I'm sure Junior here will pay you handsomely."
"Name's Hei Xiong, but people call me Junior." The man inspected her, not unlike how Melanie did earlier, but Weiss stood straight and tall - or as tall as she could, compared to a man whom she could barely reach his midriff. "I doubt she would be able to sing anything popular with the youth these days. What song was that anyway?"
"…I just came up with it on the fly."
Junior gawked while Melanie's eyes widened. "Impressive. How confident are you in memorizing new songs?"
"Very. Why do you ask?" Weiss folded her arms and looked inquisitively at the man, "Are you offering me a job?"
"Yes, I dare say, I am offering you a job. How does £200 sound? My club usually plays disco and synth trash, but I still reserve a couple of hours in the evening for proper singers. Unfortunately, it's hard to find good singers these days."
£200? And for a couple of hours of work?
"I'll do it!"
"Good, you can also work the tables during downtime, but I'll only pay £20 an hour, and I get half of any tips."
"Hey, you will not leech off my girls." Melanie slapped the man's arm, "She keeps all her tips."
"B-But, I share whatever I get in the tip jar! And those are my tips."
"Of course you do, and you should. Who do you think brings those customers in the first place?"
Weiss smiled awkwardly at the banter between the two, as well as the almost petulant way Junior protested to Melanie. She was not sure who the boss was anymore.
"Ugh, alright, alright. Calling me a leech when you are the ones freeloading under my roof." Another slap to the arm ceased Junior's grumbling. "What was your name again?"
"Weiss Schnee."
Her new employer froze, his eyes wide, as he stared at her dumbstruck before turning to the smirking Melanie. "HUH?!"
Weiss yawned heavily as she sat on the ferry on her way back to the Wayward Mermaid. It had been a really long night, and her new employers had suggested she go home and come in the evening for her first shift. She disagreed and worked as a waitress for the rest of the night, getting shadowed by Melanie's sister, Miltia.
The twins were identical, yet their personalities couldn't be more different.
Melanie had an arrogance about her that stemmed from her intelligence and knowledge of the world. Miltia was far more soft-spoken and polite, easily following Junior's orders and helping her learn the ropes. Between the two sisters, Melanie was clearly the leader, while Miltia the follower.
Still, she only broke eight glasses and did not get into a single fight!
It was a surprise how all the club goers looked at her warily. Turns out the twins had a reputation for not tolerating mischief, and people naturally assumed she was on the same level as them.
A subtle usage of her analyze glyph told her that the twins had less aura than her…combined. Junior, after he calmed down and was assured the SDC wouldn't come knocking on his door with a huntsmen team or two, also had less than her, but that did not mean she could underestimate them. As her sister would say, it was not how much aura you had but what you did with it that mattered.
Besides, Weiss came from a long line of heroes and huntsmen; her grandfather was a famous adventurer and war hero even. It's only natural that she would have more aura than normal people. Not to say the twins were normal, but their aura levels were still respectably high, just not to her level.
Only Ruby and Yang were on her level in Vale so far, with the blonde nearly equal to her, but that was to be expected from well-bred huntresses in training.
Regardless, Junior was fair in his pay: a hundred lien for five hours of work plus her tips, which were another twenty lien…which she had to pay back for breaking those glasses. Still, it's not bad for her first-ever job.
Weiss yawned again and checked the time: nearly six. The sun was slowly rising behind her, and Weiss leaned on the open-air ferry's railing.
Naturally, it was packed, for Vale never slept. There were many people returning from their night shifts to the residential districts. Weiss watched her fellow passengers; some were nodding off, others were talking to their families on their scrolls, and one was even greeting his son, who had just woken up and showing off a present he brought.
Humans, Faunus, men, women, kids her age and younger…everyone had their roles and lives. Tiny cogs in the vast machine that was Vale. Weiss shook her head and yawned again; sleepy thoughts were weird.
She idly listened to the news on her scroll, a habit she had started since her escape - Weiss always had this Grimm's shadow chasing her; that her father would swallow his pride and call for a manhunt after her. Thankfully, the news was just the same boring topics replayed from yesterday.
Mayor Thorne talked about recovering from the war and promised the citizens that his top priority was stopping the inflow of refugees - something about sending them to a place called Celdic.
As they approached the dock, they passed by her hotel, and Weiss raised an eyebrow as she found her neighbor still fishing. He obviously caught some, judging by the grill he had next to him with a few skewered fish on it.
The man looked up from his line and noticed her looking at him. She was barely close enough to notice his dark blue eyes and deep bags under them. His lips were pursed as if he were whistling a tone, yet he waved a hand lazily when he noticed her.
Weiss waved back, then suddenly felt a chill crawl down her spine as those dark blue eyes shined for a moment. Before she could understand what was happening, another boat passed the other way, probably ferrying early risers for their morning shifts. By the time the boat was gone, the fisherman was staring back at his line with a serene smile.
Shaking her head, Weiss blamed the morning breeze for that sudden chill. She fought back the urge to nap and waited for the ferry to dock before exiting with the mass of people. None seemed to come close to her, and she attributed it to her aura naturally acting as a repellent and deterrent; people would not realize why, but they would subconsciously shy away from huntsmen and other aura users to an extent.
Within a few minutes, Weiss was back at the hotel, finding the same woman from yesterday sitting with her legs on her heavy desk while smoking. "Oh, you're alive. Tsk, what a drag."
"Excuse me?" Weiss glared at the woman despite her exhaustion; Becky, she thought her name was. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Eh, you dropped your stuff and disappeared for the whole day and only now are coming back. Thought I hit the jackpot." Becky pulled on her cigarette before blowing a cloud of noxious fumes - it was far more pungent than Melanie's cigarette pack. "If you didn't show up in another hour, I would have pawned your shit and hit it big."
"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not that easy to get rid of."
"Clearly. Well? Gonna stay for another day?"
"Yes, the price hasn't gone up, has it?" She stared warily at the woman, who had grinned cattily at her as she moved her cigarette from one side of her mouth to the other with her tongue.
"It did, but I'll give you a break since you haven't actually used the room. I'm such a generous gal, eh?"
"Very," Weiss withdrew her wallet and counted out £100; there went her night's worth of work. "Here, how much would it be tomorrow?"
"£120."
Weiss hid a grimace, excluding the £500 in the bank, she only had £212 on her person. She was lucky Junior was so generous and allowed her a free meal before leaving the club, but Weiss would still need to worry about food expenses. Hopefully, she would have earned enough tonight for a few more days.
"Very well. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"
Becky counted the money purposely, folded it, and shoved it down her cleavage. "Breakfast is in an hour and lasts until ten. Ten Lien for an all-you-can-eat buffet."
"Oh, what sort of food?"
"Aside from cereal and similar junk? Kidney beans, black beans, fava beans, red beans, baked beans, fried beans, refried beans, white beans, chickpeas, peas, lentils, some bread and cheese, sausages, eggs. Oh, and a lot of fish."
Weiss was far too tired to banter with the woman who had a far too wide a grin. Bread, beans, and fish were a staple of Valean cuisine due to how easily it grew in the agriculture district and how safe and abundant the rivers were.
"I'm sure that sounds delectable, but I will have to pass. Please, don't bother waking me up for it."
"Your loss. Sleep tight, Princess." Becky took a drag from her cigarette, and Weiss took her leave. She could have sworn the woman tried to call for her again, but she was just too exhausted.
Weiss stumbled down the hall to her room. The family living next to her was awake, but she noticed the father was taking his two kids somewhere. Thankfully, it seemed she would get some sleep. Opening the door to her room, the heiress to the SDC was too tired to even shower. She took off the tiara holding her hair, barely got out of her smelly outfit that was in dire need of a wash, and collapsed on the bed in her underwear.
.
.
.
She jerked awake to a loud explosion. Weiss groggily stumbled out of her bed at the sound of shouting, screaming, and shattered glass. She fumbled, searching for her weapon, only to remember it was in her case. Weiss's eyes flew wildly around the room, falling on the cheap clock on the wall telling her it was not even ten in the morning. She tried to search for Myrtenaster's case, but the sound of rushing footsteps outside forced her to act.
Hurrying out of her room, she found several people running away from the lobby, and Weiss barely managed to grab the mother living next door.
"What's happening?"
"Some gang members are causing trouble! They threw a bomb at the entrance, and Miss Becky sent us away from the dining area." The woman was on the verge of panic but seemed to notice something about her. "You have aura, right? You must help her! She's holding them off on her own, but she doesn't have aura."
Even as she said that, Weiss heard the sound of curses and gunfire, but most importantly, a familiar grating voice blaring out from a megaphone.
"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, YOU SNOWY BITCH! GET OUT HERE BEFORE I FILL THE WHOLE PLACE WITH CORPSES!!"
How the devil did that harlot know she was here?
"Go, I will do what I can." The woman nodded and ran down the hallway. Weiss was about to go back to her room to properly dress and find her sword, but a pained scream from the lobby stopped her. Scowling and feeling responsible for bringing that maniac here, she dashed the opposite way everyone was running.
Weiss stopped right before the entrance to the lobby to cast a mirror glyph on her left eye and expanded it into a tube to reach around the corner, allowing her to safely inspect the place. A slight adjustment to the parameters of the glyph formula allowed her to fix the distortion and lateral inversion effects, and now she had a periscope made from aura. Definitely impractical, as she could feel the drain on her reserves the longer she had it active, yet still nifty in emergencies.
The lobby was a mess, but not as bad as she feared. The doors were blown apart, but the bomb was either low-yield or, as she noticed a dark spot on the ground and the many shards of shattered glass, most likely a flashbang. Becky was hidden behind her large overturned desk, which was riddled with bullet holes, yet strangely it appeared to be heavily reinforced, for none of them had pierced through.
"Fucking cocksucking pieces of shit. Eat lead, bitches!"
The woman held her two pistols, which she fired from the sides of the desk, but her head and ears were bleeding. Casting another mirror glyph above her, then yet another glyph on her periscope to zoom to it, Weiss got a better understanding of Becky's status.
Looking at the reflection, it appeared Becky did not come out as unscathed as she thought. Her left leg was bleeding from a shard of glass that was still stuck in it. She continued to cuss up a storm, but Weiss could barely understand her; she must have ruptured her eardrums from the flashbang.
Outside the door were the attackers. Weiss could see the enraged visage of Nancy Green standing behind two thugs holding ballistic shields, still screaming abuse through a megaphone as she called for her head. The aspiring huntress grimaced as she realized why she was so pissed; her face was a scarred mess, and she had one of her eyes in a medical patch.
Did she really hurt her that badly?
About twenty or so thugs were hiding behind crates and cars as they fired pistols and submachine guns at the lobby—those that she could see, anyway. Most of them were chasing away the dockworkers from the next dock over, who came to check the disturbance. Weiss bit her lips when she discovered many corpses strewn on the ground; fishermen, dockworkers… she shook her head, now wasn't the time.
Focusing further away, she spied several pontoon boats docked nearby, with more thugs manning them. They were too far for her to get a closer look, and Weiss focused more on the more important danger.
"WEISS SCHNEE! DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD GET AWAY WITH SCARRING MY BEAUTIFUL FACE AND LIVE?! COME OUT BEFORE MY BOYS BOMB THIS SHITHOLE TO ASHES!!"
Beautiful? Weiss scoffed; the old hag might have been average-looking thirty years ago, but now the combination of old age, her garish green hair, and bad makeup made her look grotesque on the best of days.
Her mind whirred for a plan of action, and soon, she figured out the best distraction.
Catching Becky's eye, Weiss tried to call out to her but the woman merely screamed furiously at her. Grinding her teeth, Weiss motioned for her to cover her, and thankfully the woman understood, though judging by her furious glare, Weiss would probably not be able to renew her room today.
Just as Becky started firing out of the door, Weiss created a speaker glyph right beside the bitch's ear; she grimaced as her aura dropped to three-quarters from recklessly creating it so far away from her.
Girding herself, Weiss charging out of the lobby even as she shouted into a mic glyph. "Should have laid off the foundation, Nancy. I didn't know we were auditioning for a circus clown role today!"
It was not her most articulate of taunts, yet it did the job as her thugs covered their ears at the sudden scream that caused any nearby glass to shatter. Instantly, Weiss created dozens of gravity glyphs under their feet, causing their knees to buckle, and so did her aura - using what amounted to a disabling skill on nearly forty men plunged her aura down to a third. It would not hold for long, but hopefully long enough for her to capture that bitch.
Creating a haste glyph on herself followed by a propulsion glyph, Weiss near instantaneously appeared in front of the harlot, her feet balanced on her shield toting protectors' shoulders.
The wide and shocked eye of the old hag had Weiss grinning as she held out her hand, aiming to grab her by the throat… Only to suddenly see darkness and for pain to erupt in her nose.
For a heartbeat, Weiss felt like she was suspended in midair, before getting propelled several dozen feet, through the crowd of thugs, and crashing back through the hotel's entrance. She rolled several times through the broken glass on the ground, her aura shattering once she finally stopped.
Pain. All her body was screaming in pain. Her head was in pain, she couldn't breathe and felt blood flowing from her crushed nose. Her teeth rattled, her jaw ached, her neck felt like it nearly broke, and she must have sprained her arm - or even broke it!
Yet, she managed to breathe through her clenched teeth and open her eyes, allowing tears of agony to flow down her cheek.
Just what in Remnant had hit her?!
There was distortion in front of Nancy Green, right where Weiss was standing a second ago. Suddenly, a man appeared, his outstretched leg lowering to the ground. Weiss moaned in pain, but even through the concussion she knew she was suffering, she could guess what had happened.
The man was a huntsman, or at least an aura user, and had some sort of stealth semblance. He was dressed in combat fatigues, and wore a mask and sunglasses. A burst of laughter from the harlot had Weiss moan again at the grating sound.
"Heh, nearly gave me a fright there, girlie. Good thing I keep a couple of huntsmen dropouts on payroll." Nancy Green was breathing heavily as she recovered her wits and glared at her with her one good eye bulging manically, "You're gonna pay for what you did to me, bitch. I have a sex dungeon with your name carved into it. I will take great pleasure in carving my name on your pretty little face right after I have all my men fuck you silly! I don't give a fuck if your Daddy owns all of Atlas, nobody fucks with me and gets away with it, NOBODY!!"
Weiss tried to stand, but every bone in her body protested. Her aura was shattered, and she had nothing to protect herself with. Myrtenaster was still in its case, and she was dressed in nothing but a tattered bra and panties. If she at least had her Dust-weaved dress, she could have used the Ice to fight back.
Regardless, she needed to move, there was no way she would allow those scum to catch her. None could help her; a glance behind her showed Becky trying to stand, but her leg gave out, and she groaned in pain.
Weiss doubted the police would do anything; if they hadn't shown up after so much gunfire, then they probably would not bother in the first place.
Forcing her body to stand, the Schnee heiress leaned painfully on a toppled chair as she glared at the hag, even as blood poured from her forehead and the many shards of glass stuck to her skin. There was no way she would go down without a fight. She might not have aura, and barely a few hours of sleep, but Weiss Schnee would never bow down to scum, not when she was so close to earning her way to Beacon.
Especially to some freak with a vile taste for fashion.
"What are you waiting for? Grab her, and let's go, you useless fucks." The aura user glanced at his employer, but it was the thugs who moved towards her, their leers and grins told her enough of what awaited her if she was caught.
Just as she was about to drag herself back inside, everyone froze as a sudden pressure filled the harbor, followed by an irritated sigh coming from behind her, causing her to slowly turn and gawk.
"And I had finally managed to fall asleep…"
A figure walked out of the hallway to the rooms, passing by Becky, who gawked at him in shock.
It was a young man with messy blonde hair that reached his neck, a scruffy beard, and an exhausted pair of blue eyes. Familiar blue eyes that Weiss realized she had seen just this morning, fishing from the balcony next to hers.
The strangest thing about the man's appearance was what he was wearing. It was a full-body pajamas with a white bunny face on the front. Weiss would have laughed if not for the pain and the terrible situation she was in.
Turning to the thugs, they looked flabbergasted at the sight of the man, though Weiss thought something was wrong with their frozen state as if they could barely breathe. Focusing on her meager senses, Weiss nearly choked at the sheer amount of bloodlust and malice coming from the aura drowning the area.
Speaking of, the blonde man gazed at everyone on the dock; his heavy eyes seemed to cause whomever it fell on to stiffen and sweat profusely.
Finally, they reached hers as he stood right next to her, and the exhausted eyes seemed to turn to stone, yet the vicious feeling to his aura softened to a soothing caress akin to a soft breeze.
Suddenly, a distortion appeared behind the blonde man, and Weiss tried to scream to watch out but could only let out a pained rasp as she watched a muzzle flash materialize next to his head.
Only, it did nothing… The bullet seemed to hit an invisible barrier right before the blonde's temple. The young man finally turned away from her, slowly raised his hand, and flicked the suspended bullet back to where it came from.
A pained groan caused the huntsman to lose control of his semblance and reappear as he dropped a destroyed pistol, only for the blonde to grab his throat and lift him like he was a sack of potatoes…before slamming him face-first into the ground, shattering his shades and then grinding his face into the ground that was full of broken glass until his aura shattered…then a few more times for good measure.
The huntsman's screams of agony were muffled as the grotesque sound of skin being flayed by hot concrete and shattered glass resounded on the dock - all while the young man stared impassively as he tortured the man as if it were a completely normal phenomenon, like checking his scroll.
Finally, the blonde man stopped when the huntsman dropout's screams turned to wet gurgles. He lifted him back up, and Weiss was glad her stomach was empty as she stared at the brutalized face of her attacker. The entire left side of the man's face was a gory mess; One of the eyes was mush with glass stuck inside it, and half his teeth were chipped or missing.
Yet he still breathed… her savior threw the huntsmen like a sack of garbage at the nearest dumpster before, suddenly, he had a scroll in his hand, dialed a number, and brought it to his ear.
"Hello. Yeah, it's me, Jaune Arc. Yes. Some injured. Of course, I don't need help. Might kill some fools, though. Yeah, well, can't make any promises, so better hurry. Alright, then, bye."
Weiss's eyes widened when she heard the man's name, idly wondering if he was the same Jaune Arc of Arcade. A cousin she had never met but heard rumors about - sequestered in the mountains by his overbearing mother before his grandfather unlocked his aura. She was more surprised by how casual he was about stating he would kill someone.
And how Weiss was totally fine with it as she remembered the pain in her limbs.
The man stored his scroll somewhere before kneeling next to her.
"You look like shit."
Weiss groaned and dearly wanted to rebuke the rude boy but suddenly, Arc placed his palm on her head, and she felt incredible warmth and energy coursing through her. Her shattered aura miraculously returned to full, and all her injuries started healing. The glass stuck in her skin was blown away from her aura as her skin knitted itself without leaving a single mark. Even her broken arm set itself with a painful gasp, while her crushed nose wiggled back into place and she could breathe easily through it.
"What the–"
"Nice bra, cousin. I didn't think our first meeting would go like this. Sit back and relax; I'll handle the rest." Arc grinned, causing Weiss to feel strangely endeared, before blushing madly as she covered her chest.
Maybe she shouldn't have worn plain white underwear.
A hoodie appeared from nowhere, and Arc dropped it in her hands. Weiss stared at the dark hoodie with a dark bunny head stitched on, that was large enough to cover her knees. Not wanting to be half naked any more than necessary, the Schnee heiress quickly put it on, noticing how warm it was.
Jaune Arc then turned around and popped his neck as he glared at the thugs again. "Alright, fools. You have ruined the best, and only, sleep I've had in the past four weeks. Y'all look irredeemable as fuck, especially you circus freak, but I'll still give you a chance. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. All of you, drop your weapons and get on your knees, and I promise not to hurt you…much."
Hesitation gripped the thugs who were still frozen at the sheer amount of aura Jaune Arc exuded and flooded the harbor with.
At least until Nancy grabbed her megaphone and angrily shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS WAITING FOR? IT'S ONLY ONE PUNK, SO GET'EM. AND FRANZ! GET YOUR LAZY ASS OFF THE BOAT."
Weiss had eyes only for Jaune Arc as he popped his knuckles and glanced at the surrounding thugs. Her cousin grinned manically at a large armored man carrying a machine gun as he hurried from the boats.
"~The hard way then~"
Beep-beep, what was that? Did someone miss their dose of RIP AND TEAR?
Weiss overreacts, fucks around, and finds out. I know the temptation to throw a dumpster through your boss's office is sorely tempting when they fire you, but please - don't do it.
To that same boss who had a dumpster thrown through their walls…don't overreact, you might just piss off the last person you want to annoy.
Note that Atlas operatives are not the Ace operatives.
For anyone who whines about Weiss picking up smoking, I already made it clear that this world has normalized recreational drugs. Smoking is nothing compared to the poison that is alcohol yet I see binge-drinking over-glorified in stories (I myself am guilty of that.)
Btw, the song is the one from the White Trailer. Considering I basically deleted the events of that trailer, I figured it would be tasteful to keep the song alive somehow. It helps that it suited the setting perfectly!
Finally, let's discuss the elephant in the room; Aura defense.
How the aura defense mechanism works in this story is a mix of passive and active defense. Weiss had about a third of her aura left, 500/1521 which is very impressive for a 17 year old, and did not perceive the attack coming from an aura infused kick. That said kick was also coming from a huntsman (even a dropout) is not to be underestimated.
Such a kick would crush rocks and dent steel yet all it did to Weiss was break her nose, give her a concussion, then send her flying through a dozen humans before crashing into the glass littered ground. Only then did her aura shatter, and yes, injuries can still be sustained through Aura if the damage is high enough.
If you would like to support me, or read five chapters ahead, feel free to join me on Patr(eo)n under the same penname.
"You're fired!"
"No, I quit!"
The door slammed shut behind her, and Weiss seethed as she stomped away from the stupid store, tearing away the frilly accessories in her hair before throwing them in the nearest dumpster.
How dare they! To expect her to do such things?
She had been job hunting all day and nearly all stores, restaurants, companies, and any business that Weiss was confident working in told her the same thing.
She was overqualified.
The first company Weiss stopped in was a construction contractor. They needed someone for heavy lifting, and she offered to use her glyphs to speed up the work. It turned out it was illegal to use Huntsmen abilities for such work in Vale without a Huntsman license, or at least a student license.
It was utter hogwash!
Her second stop was a restaurant, who told her she looked high maintenance, whatever the hell that meant.
Her third stop claimed she looked too straight-laced. What did having her shoes double-knotted have to do with working in a lawyer's office?!
Her fourth stop was at a bar that claimed she had a scowling face (she did not! Her face was perfectly cute, and she spent countless hours in the mirror practicing her smile!)
Some cad even told her she had a resting bitch face! Weiss was certainly not a bitch, and the scoundrel deserved that slap to the face.
Yet the most common reason to refuse hiring her was simple. Why hire some educated Atlesian who will expect fair wages when there are a million refugees, with even better credentials, willing to work for nickels?
Finally, after eight hours of trying to find a job in the commercial district, she finally found a place that hired her on the spot.
A Maid Cafe.
From the job description, it was supposed to be a simple cafe catering to the more well-off caste of society, with the waitresses dressing as maids. True, the uniforms had a bit too low a cut with an emphasis on the cleavage and shoulders, yet her dress was considered classy enough for her to work in.
Weiss thought it was a poor man's attempt to get a feel for the rich man's world, yet she did not care.
The pay was good, great even! £15 an hour, plus tips? She would be capable of making enough to cover another week of rent if she worked extra hard.
Too bad it all turned out to be a hoax, and there was a reason the sleazy harlot who hired her, Madame Green, had leered at her intensely before taking her in. While the cafe still operated like a regular eatery at the front, it was a damned brothel in the back!
That bastard got what he deserved when he tried to feel her up; breaking his wrist was the least she managed to do before she was surrounded by what she realized were pimps.
No wonder they had such security, the lowlifes were probably with the mob. If she had not flared her aura threateningly and froze a daring thug's arm for touching her, they would have certainly held her captive.
Who knew what they would have forced her to do then?
Weiss shuddered at the thought, which made her even angrier as she ripped off the last of the stupid accessories they attached to her dress before turning to the cafe. She was so tempted to blast it to bits, and she could certainly do it even without Myrtenaster. Her dress had Ice Dust weaved into it, and she could access it at any time, even faster than using Myrtenaster. A few propulsion glyphs on the debris and other random things strewn in the alley, and she could turn that building into icy rubble!
But no, there were innocent girls inside who were already downtrodden as it was…and was it worth it to waste her precious Dust reserves over that?
But the owner still did not pay her for the three hours of work she did, so…
Feeling a vein popping on her forehead, Weiss growled as she fought the urge to drown the alley in an iceberg.
With a wave of her hand, she created a propulsion glyph and aimed carefully at where that sleazy woman's office was before casting another one inside her projectile of choice; the same dumpster she had thrown her uniform in. It was full of food waste and refuse; perfect ammunition!
With another glyph, this one a flotation one that lifted the dumpster a few feet in the air, Weiss kicked it towards the first glyph.
The large and stinky metal contraption was propelled through the air, letting loose its contents until it crashed through the wall and into the office. In hindsight, Weiss grimaced, as that could very well have killed anyone inside.
It was still worth it.
The effect was as glorious as it was messy, and the screeching of that bitch was music to her ears as she angrily looked out of her destroyed office. Weiss snorted into the most unladylike laughter she could muster as the woman's heavily make-up face had food refuse all over her, and her green hair had yellow gunk flowing down her face.
"What's wrong, Nancy? You're looking a little Green."
It was not the most articulate of taunts, but Weiss was beyond caring at the moment, simply grinning as the brothel madame screeched at the thugs coming out of the backdoor to check the noise.
"What the fuck are you limpdicks waiting for? I want that bitch tied up and squealing in my dungeon YESTERDAY!"
Remembering Ruby's advice, Weiss hightailed it out of there, with the thugs in hot pursuit. This was supposed to be a well-off part of the commercial district, at least, it looked like so with its quaint streets and niche stores. Yet, as she noticed the lack of police presence, perhaps it was not as prosperous as it seemed.
Or maybe it was the late hour.
Weiss could not remember how long or how far she had run. The thugs were persistent, and she was tired. Once she turned into an alley, she quickly used a propulsion glyph to shoot up to the roofs and continued running and jumping from one rooftop to the next. Within minutes, she felt safe enough to take a break.
"Ugh, what a mess." She landed on an expansive roof where half of it was a garden of sorts with neatly trimmed trees and bushes. The other half was dedicated to a landing pad for bullheads, yet she found none at the moment.
Finding no one around, the runaway heiress couldn't help but rest on a bench.
She was tired, hungry, and worried about her future. It was only her first day in Vale, and things were not going well at all. At least the chase got her heart pumping and her blood rushing. Yet it was all worth being away from her control freak of a father.
Suddenly, Weiss jumped to her feet at the sight of Jacques Schnee glaring down at her from above, only to scoff at her fidgeting. It was a massive screen attached to one of the buildings that had a news channel on with subtitles. For a moment, she feared her father had taken to the news to announce her disappearance before relaxing.
It was just another interview about the treatment of faunus in the SDC's mines.
Weiss checked the time, finding it eleven in the evening. She sighed loudly, laid her head on the back of the bench, and ignored her father's blown-up image in favor of staring at the shattered moon watching her from above.
Its light was weak, and she could barely see a star in the sky, unlike in Atlas where she could always see the constellations and the auroras. She never appreciated them enough, and now, all she could see in the Valean skies was darkness and the tall buildings that threatened to suffocate her with their claustrophobic designs.
Weiss frowned as she noticed dark shadows dashing quickly along the rooftops but relaxed when she recognized them.
It wasn't the first time Weiss had seen huntsmen coming and going in the busy city. Many of them could travel by roof jumping like she just did. Perhaps she should start emulating them more, it was more convenient considering the crowded streets. It would save her on transportation expenses as well.
Even at night, the City of Vale never slept. Car horns beeped, police sirens blared, and stores were open with barkers and criers showcasing their goods. The sound of thousands of people walking and talking below her echoed the noise of the millions of people in the streets. Whatever building she was on, it was blaring loud music and many people talking at the same time.
Weiss wanted to close her eyes and ignore it all. To pretend she was back home together with her family; whole and complete. No SDC, no huntsmen, no politics - maybe go on a camping trip? Or whatever families did when they gathered.
It was a sad thought that she did not even know how families normally acted around each other.
She blew a loose strand of her hair from her face as she raised her hand to the moon, imagining it within her grasp. Would her family forever be cursed to be like that, large and bright to everyone who looks from afar yet fractured into a thousand pieces?
"I didn't realize we had a visitor."
Weiss flinched horribly as she jumped from the bench to find an older Mistralian girl staring curiously from a doorway. She had long, straight black hair and green almond-shaped eyes set on an impassive face. She looked to be in her late teens or early twenties, but Weiss had discovered it was nearly impossible to tell the ages of Mistralians - they could be twenty or forty for all she knew. Dressed in a stylish white dress that had Weiss nod in approval, the taller girl tapped her foot impatiently as she held a tray of food.
"Well? This is private property. May I help you?"
"Oh, uhm. I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to intrude." Weiss thanked her lucky stars her mother had diligently taught her all those courtesy lessons on how to deal with foreigners - she kept both arms to her sides and bowed with her head lowered, but her eyes subtly inspected the girl.
She did not miss the bladed heels of the girl's white boots, nor the toned legs and subtle hints of an aura user. Weiss did not have a chance to use her identification glyph, but there was no need. Pale and unblemished skin without a single scar, combined with the way the girl carried herself - there was no doubt she was an aura user. One who had aura from a young age as well.
Aura did not wipe away old scars once unlocked.
Another thing was her dress. At first glance, it just looked stylish but Weiss could see the telltale signs of Dust weaving. Considering the color, it was probably Ice Dust, just like her own dress.
Weiss was far too tired to get into fights, especially without her weapon. Besides, she was in the wrong, and she had no issue admitting that.
The older girl gazed at her with a frosty expression before nodding and setting her tray on a table.
"At least you're polite. Who are you?"
"Weiss Schnee."
"I see," the girl sat on a chair next to the table and laid one leg over the other, with her arms resting on her knee. "My name is Melanie Malachite. I did not expect to stumble on such a high-profile personage during my lunch break. You are a long way from home, Miss Schnee."
"… Sorry about that. I was uh…having a walk?" She straightened her back and held her elbow as she awkwardly stared at a rose bush.
"So you had a walk…up the walls and to the rooftop." Melanie nodded again, and Weiss grimaced - it was the lamest excuse she could devise. "That is the lamest excuse I have ever heard."
"Hey, it started as a walk… then a jog, then maybe a run." The more she talked, the more Melanie narrowed her eyes until Weiss was fed up. "Okay, I was running away from some thugs! Happy now?"
"Not particularly." Melanie shrugged as she grabbed a sandwich from a plate. The sight had Weiss' stomach rumbling - she hadn't eaten a thing since that ice cream in the morning.
The dark-haired girl noticed her gaze and hesitantly offered her one, "Hungry? Come have a seat."
She looked warily at the girl's extended hand, and Weiss finally realized that Melanie felt just as awkward and uncertain as she was.
That nearly had her burst out laughing, but instead, nodded swiftly and joined the older girl at the table.
She could not afford to refuse free food, after all.
"Thank you, that is very kind of you." Weiss smiled at the girl and waited for her nod before grabbing a smoked salmon sandwich.
It tasted heavenly after her long day.
"Don't mention it." Melanie looked sideways as she chewed on her own sandwich, "My sister made too much anyway."
"That is still very kind of you to offer food to a stranger." And she truly meant it. Weiss did not expect such kindness from someone she only met and whom she was trespassing on her property. Maybe Valeans weren't so bad after all?
"I'm sure you would do the same in my place."
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Melanie served her a cup of hot green tea. It helped to wash down the food, and Weiss found herself relaxing into her chair.
"So where's your entourage, Princess? I highly doubt the heiress of the SDC would be walking around the streets of Vale with nothing but the clothes on her back."
"… You don't need to worry about that."
"I dunno, having the famed Atlas operatives blowing up the front door for a rescue is not how I would want my shift to end."
"How do you know about that?" Weiss looked warily as the other girl drained her tea before pulling out a pack of thin cigarettes. "How did you even know I am the heiress of the SDC? There are many Schnees all over the place, It's not a particularly rare name."
She was on the edge of her seat, ready to spring away at a moment's notice. Not many people knew the specifics of her family; her father preferred to hog all the attention, which, for good or bad, assured her a modicum of a private life. For some random girl in Vale of all places to know about not just her but Atlas's operatives? This was no normal girl; she most likely had connections to unscrupulous people.
Ugh, what had she gotten herself into?
The young woman leisurely tapped her pack and let a stick out. She pulled it with her lips before offering her one. Weiss firmly shook her head; she had never smoked in her life, and she did not plan to.
Melanie shrugged before lighting the cigarette with an ornate lighter, "There is only one Weiss Schnee in Atlas, and with Winter Schnee's position in the Atlas Military, it made sense that you would be the heiress." Weiss watched as the older girl took a deep drag from the cigarette before blowing out the smoke. "It helps that you didn't deny it earlier."
"Fair enough," She tried to calm her jittering nerves with a sip from her tea, but only the dregs were left. Weiss gritted her teeth as the frustration she had bottled up for weeks boiled inside her and burst out like a dam, "I ran away from home."
"…Oh." Melanie took another drag, but her impassive face turned to her with interest, "You seem like you need to vent a bit. I'm told I'm a good listener, so feel free to talk about it if you like."
She knew this was a bad idea - talking to a stranger about such private matters. Matters that could get her family and their company in trouble. Heavens, if what she suspected about the girl being connected to the mafia, then this was definitely a bad idea.
Weiss knew that many would love to use her as a tool to get payback on her father; he was just that charming of a man. Yet, she never felt threatened, nor was she ever in danger of kidnapping or assassination that she knew of. Nevertheless, the tales of what may happen to her if she let her guard down had stuck in her mind since she was a child. It was part of the reason she was trained so extensively to be a Huntress.
She knew the smart thing to do was to keep quiet, thank the girl for the meal, and excuse herself.
Yet, Weiss still found herself pouring her heart out to the patient girl. From her father breaking his promise, to her worry about the future of the SDC, to the weakness she felt and the apathy plaguing Atlas society, to how she had to sneak away from her home like some fugitive, and finally to the events of the day.
Before she knew it, Weiss was pacing in front of the table as she let it all out.
Melanie, already on her second cigarette, really was a good listener. She remained silent yet focused as Weiss talked, only asking for clarification regarding that pig at the port authority and the secret brothel. It felt great to talk about it, even if it left her heaving and tired, but Weiss could feel a weight being lifted off her shoulders.
"That's a lot to take in, but I think I understand what your main concerns are. Here," Melanie offered her a cigarette again, but Weiss looked hesitant. "You look like you need one."
"Smoking is not good for you." Yet, Weiss could not tear her gaze away from the innocent-looking stick.
"You have your aura unlocked; you don't have to worry about side effects like regular people."
She would not deny being curious. Her father smoked cigars, and she had seen her mother smoking similar-looking thin cigarettes. Her father taught her and her siblings to avoid smoking like it was drugs, and even then, most narcotics were legal to consume anyway. Weiss suspected it was just another way for Father to control her; something foolish like girls shouldn't smoke but could always drink wine in one of his private events.
The hypocrisy!
A small rebellious part of her mind told Weiss to do it, just to spite her father - so he could see his perfect little daughter being disobedient and uncouth. A glance at the still running screen where her father spoke drivel about the SDC's treatment of faunus being baseless accusations had Weiss grit her teeth.
That part won.
"… Just the one, then." She grabbed a stick and placed it in her mouth. Its texture was weird, and had an herb-like taste.
Weiss lowered her head as Melanie raised her lighter, "For first-timers, don't take a deep–"
She fell into a coughing fit as the smoldering smoke entered her lungs. It took her a moment before she was able to breathe again, and looked at the cigarette in disgust, "Why would anyone inhale such vile poison?"
"You're not supposed to take it to your lungs," Melanie smirked as she inhaled the smoking stick, bringing the wick down to the middle before blowing a large smoke cloud out. "Breathe it, but don't inhale it; keep it in your mouth for a second, then blow it out again. The nicotine is already in your bloodstream without actively taking it to your lungs. Only amateurs and heavy smokers take it fully to the lungs."
Still looking at the cigarette warily, Weiss was tempted to throw it away, but she was not a quitter! Taking a smaller breath and doing as Melanie recommended, it flowed easier this time. There was still a burn from the tobacco, but it was a pleasant one. Blowing out the smoke, she found herself staring at it idly as the wind picked it up and dispersed it, leaving an acrid smell behind.
They continued to smoke in silence, Weiss standing next to the still-seated girl. "Feel better?"
"Slightly, I certainly feel calmer." And more clear-headed, she added inwardly. "I don't think I like smoking, though. It leaves a bad smell."
"It is an expensive hobby as well." Melanie gazed at her, and Weiss stifled the urge to shift on her feet as the other girl's emerald eyes seemed to inspect her from head to toe. "So you are in need of a job."
"Yes, are you offering one?"
"Depends; we run the club downstairs, and you're pretty enough to easily make big bucks working the tables on tips alone, but what talents do you have? I already know you're a spoiled princess who grew up with a silver spoon, but surely, there are some things you learned that are of use?"
"Hey, I am not a spoiled princess! I had to train diligently in order to be accepted into a Huntsman academy." Weiss bit on her cigarette as she glared at the girl, "I can fight with the best of them and am very talented with glyphs."
"While that is useful, and definitely impressive, we are not in need of any enforcers. Besides, it would not do well on your record if you are caught roughing up a drunk customer or a rival gang."
"Oh? So you run a gang here?" Weiss had suspected since no aura users would be satisfied with a normal life - that feeling of power would drive one to desire more, especially at such a young age. "Should I need to worry about getting kidnapped and held for ransom?"
Her tone was light and joking, yet the idea had always been in the back of her mind. Estranged or not, Jacques Schnee would be honor-bound, what little of it he had left anyway, to save her and pay whatever ransom demanded.
"Nah, you're too high-maintenance."
She flinched. Again with that term!
"Besides, even if we manage to capture you and your father pays the ransom, there is no way we would ever be safe from the SDC. I would rather not have the richest and most powerful corporation in the world sending huntsmen and assassins after my pretty arse." Melanie blew out a cloud of smoke as she smirked lightly. "Much safer to deal in barely legal drugs and racketeering."
Weiss stifled a snort, not sure if it was from amusement or not, and opted to take another drag of her smoke. They silently gazed at each other while their respective cigarettes slowly dwindled, allowing ashes to fall on the ground.
"… Singing."
"Pardon?"
"You asked if I have a talent aside from fighting. I doubt you would be interested in intellectual or administrative matters, so - singing. I can sing."
"Show me."
Weiss took a deep drag of the cigarette, finishing it and dousing it in the ashtray before coughing lightly. "What song would you like to hear?"
"Whatever you are comfortable with."
Unsure of what to sing, Weiss looked around for any inspiration. The first thing that came to mind was some of the Atlesian classics, popular with the nobility and the wealthy, but she did not think Melanie was looking for that.
Suddenly, her eyes fell on a small fountain, with its clear waters reflecting the shattered moon above like a mirror. Before she knew it, she was standing over it, staring at the reflection of the broken moon hanging lonely in the starless sky.
Mirror, tell me something,
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?
Mirror, tell me something,
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?
Fear of what's inside of me;
Tell me, can a heart be turned to stone?
Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?
Save me from the things I see!
I can keep it from the world,
Why won't you let me hide from me?
Mirror, mirror, tell me something,
Who's the loneliest of all?
I'm the loneliest of all.
Her voice was huskier than normal, probably from smoking, but she thought she did well. Weiss flinched at the sound of clapping, noticing there were two of them.
Turning around, she found a giant of a man clapping along with the still seated Melanie. The older girl was smiling, genuinely so, unlike her earlier smirks or quips, and her eyes seemed to be shining.
Weiss had eyes only for the newcomer. Tall and powerfully built, the man was clearly Mistralian. He wore a bartender's outfit consisting of a black vest over a white dress shirt, a red tie, black gloves, and black dress pants. She noticed some sort of large shotgun strapped to his back and the same signs of an aura user.
"Bravo, bravo. When Melanie texted me to come to the roof, I didn't know what to expect." The man looked annoyingly at the seated girl. "Here I am, expecting a fight or a sordid rendezvous, and instead, I am treated to such an exquisite performance."
"She can be our main attraction during our more leisurely nights." Melanie stood up, approached her, and held her hands before leading her back to whom she assumed was her boss. "What do you think, Weiss? Care to perform to a larger audience? I'm sure Junior here will pay you handsomely."
"Name's Hei Xiong, but people call me Junior." The man inspected her, not unlike how Melanie did earlier, but Weiss stood straight and tall - or as tall as she could, compared to a man whom she could barely reach his midriff. "I doubt she would be able to sing anything popular with the youth these days. What song was that anyway?"
"…I just came up with it on the fly."
Junior gawked while Melanie's eyes widened. "Impressive. How confident are you in memorizing new songs?"
"Very. Why do you ask?" Weiss folded her arms and looked inquisitively at the man, "Are you offering me a job?"
"Yes, I dare say, I am offering you a job. How does £200 sound? My club usually plays disco and synth trash, but I still reserve a couple of hours in the evening for proper singers. Unfortunately, it's hard to find good singers these days."
£200? And for a couple of hours of work?
"I'll do it!"
"Good, you can also work the tables during downtime, but I'll only pay £20 an hour, and I get half of any tips."
"Hey, you will not leech off my girls." Melanie slapped the man's arm, "She keeps all her tips."
"B-But, I share whatever I get in the tip jar! And those are my tips."
"Of course you do, and you should. Who do you think brings those customers in the first place?"
Weiss smiled awkwardly at the banter between the two, as well as the almost petulant way Junior protested to Melanie. She was not sure who the boss was anymore.
"Ugh, alright, alright. Calling me a leech when you are the ones freeloading under my roof." Another slap to the arm ceased Junior's grumbling. "What was your name again?"
"Weiss Schnee."
Her new employer froze, his eyes wide, as he stared at her dumbstruck before turning to the smirking Melanie. "HUH?!"
Weiss yawned heavily as she sat on the ferry on her way back to the Wayward Mermaid. It had been a really long night, and her new employers had suggested she go home and come in the evening for her first shift. She disagreed and worked as a waitress for the rest of the night, getting shadowed by Melanie's sister, Miltia.
The twins were identical, yet their personalities couldn't be more different.
Melanie had an arrogance about her that stemmed from her intelligence and knowledge of the world. Miltia was far more soft-spoken and polite, easily following Junior's orders and helping her learn the ropes. Between the two sisters, Melanie was clearly the leader, while Miltia the follower.
Still, she only broke eight glasses and did not get into a single fight!
It was a surprise how all the club goers looked at her warily. Turns out the twins had a reputation for not tolerating mischief, and people naturally assumed she was on the same level as them.
A subtle usage of her analyze glyph told her that the twins had less aura than her…combined. Junior, after he calmed down and was assured the SDC wouldn't come knocking on his door with a huntsmen team or two, also had less than her, but that did not mean she could underestimate them. As her sister would say, it was not how much aura you had but what you did with it that mattered.
Besides, Weiss came from a long line of heroes and huntsmen; her grandfather was a famous adventurer and war hero even. It's only natural that she would have more aura than normal people. Not to say the twins were normal, but their aura levels were still respectably high, just not to her level.
Only Ruby and Yang were on her level in Vale so far, with the blonde nearly equal to her, but that was to be expected from well-bred huntresses in training.
Regardless, Junior was fair in his pay: a hundred lien for five hours of work plus her tips, which were another twenty lien…which she had to pay back for breaking those glasses. Still, it's not bad for her first-ever job.
Weiss yawned again and checked the time: nearly six. The sun was slowly rising behind her, and Weiss leaned on the open-air ferry's railing.
Naturally, it was packed, for Vale never slept. There were many people returning from their night shifts to the residential districts. Weiss watched her fellow passengers; some were nodding off, others were talking to their families on their scrolls, and one was even greeting his son, who had just woken up and showing off a present he brought.
Humans, Faunus, men, women, kids her age and younger…everyone had their roles and lives. Tiny cogs in the vast machine that was Vale. Weiss shook her head and yawned again; sleepy thoughts were weird.
She idly listened to the news on her scroll, a habit she had started since her escape - Weiss always had this Grimm's shadow chasing her; that her father would swallow his pride and call for a manhunt after her. Thankfully, the news was just the same boring topics replayed from yesterday.
Mayor Thorne talked about recovering from the war and promised the citizens that his top priority was stopping the inflow of refugees - something about sending them to a place called Celdic.
As they approached the dock, they passed by her hotel, and Weiss raised an eyebrow as she found her neighbor still fishing. He obviously caught some, judging by the grill he had next to him with a few skewered fish on it.
The man looked up from his line and noticed her looking at him. She was barely close enough to notice his dark blue eyes and deep bags under them. His lips were pursed as if he were whistling a tone, yet he waved a hand lazily when he noticed her.
Weiss waved back, then suddenly felt a chill crawl down her spine as those dark blue eyes shined for a moment. Before she could understand what was happening, another boat passed the other way, probably ferrying early risers for their morning shifts. By the time the boat was gone, the fisherman was staring back at his line with a serene smile.
Shaking her head, Weiss blamed the morning breeze for that sudden chill. She fought back the urge to nap and waited for the ferry to dock before exiting with the mass of people. None seemed to come close to her, and she attributed it to her aura naturally acting as a repellent and deterrent; people would not realize why, but they would subconsciously shy away from huntsmen and other aura users to an extent.
Within a few minutes, Weiss was back at the hotel, finding the same woman from yesterday sitting with her legs on her heavy desk while smoking. "Oh, you're alive. Tsk, what a drag."
"Excuse me?" Weiss glared at the woman despite her exhaustion; Becky, she thought her name was. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Eh, you dropped your stuff and disappeared for the whole day and only now are coming back. Thought I hit the jackpot." Becky pulled on her cigarette before blowing a cloud of noxious fumes - it was far more pungent than Melanie's cigarette pack. "If you didn't show up in another hour, I would have pawned your shit and hit it big."
"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not that easy to get rid of."
"Clearly. Well? Gonna stay for another day?"
"Yes, the price hasn't gone up, has it?" She stared warily at the woman, who had grinned cattily at her as she moved her cigarette from one side of her mouth to the other with her tongue.
"It did, but I'll give you a break since you haven't actually used the room. I'm such a generous gal, eh?"
"Very," Weiss withdrew her wallet and counted out £100; there went her night's worth of work. "Here, how much would it be tomorrow?"
"£120."
Weiss hid a grimace, excluding the £500 in the bank, she only had £212 on her person. She was lucky Junior was so generous and allowed her a free meal before leaving the club, but Weiss would still need to worry about food expenses. Hopefully, she would have earned enough tonight for a few more days.
"Very well. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"
Becky counted the money purposely, folded it, and shoved it down her cleavage. "Breakfast is in an hour and lasts until ten. Ten Lien for an all-you-can-eat buffet."
"Oh, what sort of food?"
"Aside from cereal and similar junk? Kidney beans, black beans, fava beans, red beans, baked beans, fried beans, refried beans, white beans, chickpeas, peas, lentils, some bread and cheese, sausages, eggs. Oh, and a lot of fish."
Weiss was far too tired to banter with the woman who had a far too wide a grin. Bread, beans, and fish were a staple of Valean cuisine due to how easily it grew in the agriculture district and how safe and abundant the rivers were.
"I'm sure that sounds delectable, but I will have to pass. Please, don't bother waking me up for it."
"Your loss. Sleep tight, Princess." Becky took a drag from her cigarette, and Weiss took her leave. She could have sworn the woman tried to call for her again, but she was just too exhausted.
Weiss stumbled down the hall to her room. The family living next to her was awake, but she noticed the father was taking his two kids somewhere. Thankfully, it seemed she would get some sleep. Opening the door to her room, the heiress to the SDC was too tired to even shower. She took off the tiara holding her hair, barely got out of her smelly outfit that was in dire need of a wash, and collapsed on the bed in her underwear.
.
.
.
She jerked awake to a loud explosion. Weiss groggily stumbled out of her bed at the sound of shouting, screaming, and shattered glass. She fumbled, searching for her weapon, only to remember it was in her case. Weiss's eyes flew wildly around the room, falling on the cheap clock on the wall telling her it was not even ten in the morning. She tried to search for Myrtenaster's case, but the sound of rushing footsteps outside forced her to act.
Hurrying out of her room, she found several people running away from the lobby, and Weiss barely managed to grab the mother living next door.
"What's happening?"
"Some gang members are causing trouble! They threw a bomb at the entrance, and Miss Becky sent us away from the dining area." The woman was on the verge of panic but seemed to notice something about her. "You have aura, right? You must help her! She's holding them off on her own, but she doesn't have aura."
Even as she said that, Weiss heard the sound of curses and gunfire, but most importantly, a familiar grating voice blaring out from a megaphone.
"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, YOU SNOWY BITCH! GET OUT HERE BEFORE I FILL THE WHOLE PLACE WITH CORPSES!!"
How the devil did that harlot know she was here?
"Go, I will do what I can." The woman nodded and ran down the hallway. Weiss was about to go back to her room to properly dress and find her sword, but a pained scream from the lobby stopped her. Scowling and feeling responsible for bringing that maniac here, she dashed the opposite way everyone was running.
Weiss stopped right before the entrance to the lobby to cast a mirror glyph on her left eye and expanded it into a tube to reach around the corner, allowing her to safely inspect the place. A slight adjustment to the parameters of the glyph formula allowed her to fix the distortion and lateral inversion effects, and now she had a periscope made from aura. Definitely impractical, as she could feel the drain on her reserves the longer she had it active, yet still nifty in emergencies.
The lobby was a mess, but not as bad as she feared. The doors were blown apart, but the bomb was either low-yield or, as she noticed a dark spot on the ground and the many shards of shattered glass, most likely a flashbang. Becky was hidden behind her large overturned desk, which was riddled with bullet holes, yet strangely it appeared to be heavily reinforced, for none of them had pierced through.
"Fucking cocksucking pieces of shit. Eat lead, bitches!"
The woman held her two pistols, which she fired from the sides of the desk, but her head and ears were bleeding. Casting another mirror glyph above her, then yet another glyph on her periscope to zoom to it, Weiss got a better understanding of Becky's status.
Looking at the reflection, it appeared Becky did not come out as unscathed as she thought. Her left leg was bleeding from a shard of glass that was still stuck in it. She continued to cuss up a storm, but Weiss could barely understand her; she must have ruptured her eardrums from the flashbang.
Outside the door were the attackers. Weiss could see the enraged visage of Nancy Green standing behind two thugs holding ballistic shields, still screaming abuse through a megaphone as she called for her head. The aspiring huntress grimaced as she realized why she was so pissed; her face was a scarred mess, and she had one of her eyes in a medical patch.
Did she really hurt her that badly?
About twenty or so thugs were hiding behind crates and cars as they fired pistols and submachine guns at the lobby—those that she could see, anyway. Most of them were chasing away the dockworkers from the next dock over, who came to check the disturbance. Weiss bit her lips when she discovered many corpses strewn on the ground; fishermen, dockworkers… she shook her head, now wasn't the time.
Focusing further away, she spied several pontoon boats docked nearby, with more thugs manning them. They were too far for her to get a closer look, and Weiss focused more on the more important danger.
"WEISS SCHNEE! DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD GET AWAY WITH SCARRING MY BEAUTIFUL FACE AND LIVE?! COME OUT BEFORE MY BOYS BOMB THIS SHITHOLE TO ASHES!!"
Beautiful? Weiss scoffed; the old hag might have been average-looking thirty years ago, but now the combination of old age, her garish green hair, and bad makeup made her look grotesque on the best of days.
Her mind whirred for a plan of action, and soon, she figured out the best distraction.
Catching Becky's eye, Weiss tried to call out to her but the woman merely screamed furiously at her. Grinding her teeth, Weiss motioned for her to cover her, and thankfully the woman understood, though judging by her furious glare, Weiss would probably not be able to renew her room today.
Just as Becky started firing out of the door, Weiss created a speaker glyph right beside the bitch's ear; she grimaced as her aura dropped to three-quarters from recklessly creating it so far away from her.
Girding herself, Weiss charging out of the lobby even as she shouted into a mic glyph. "Should have laid off the foundation, Nancy. I didn't know we were auditioning for a circus clown role today!"
It was not her most articulate of taunts, yet it did the job as her thugs covered their ears at the sudden scream that caused any nearby glass to shatter. Instantly, Weiss created dozens of gravity glyphs under their feet, causing their knees to buckle, and so did her aura - using what amounted to a disabling skill on nearly forty men plunged her aura down to a third. It would not hold for long, but hopefully long enough for her to capture that bitch.
Creating a haste glyph on herself followed by a propulsion glyph, Weiss near instantaneously appeared in front of the harlot, her feet balanced on her shield toting protectors' shoulders.
The wide and shocked eye of the old hag had Weiss grinning as she held out her hand, aiming to grab her by the throat… Only to suddenly see darkness and for pain to erupt in her nose.
For a heartbeat, Weiss felt like she was suspended in midair, before getting propelled several dozen feet, through the crowd of thugs, and crashing back through the hotel's entrance. She rolled several times through the broken glass on the ground, her aura shattering once she finally stopped.
Pain. All her body was screaming in pain. Her head was in pain, she couldn't breathe and felt blood flowing from her crushed nose. Her teeth rattled, her jaw ached, her neck felt like it nearly broke, and she must have sprained her arm - or even broke it!
Yet, she managed to breathe through her clenched teeth and open her eyes, allowing tears of agony to flow down her cheek.
Just what in Remnant had hit her?!
There was distortion in front of Nancy Green, right where Weiss was standing a second ago. Suddenly, a man appeared, his outstretched leg lowering to the ground. Weiss moaned in pain, but even through the concussion she knew she was suffering, she could guess what had happened.
The man was a huntsman, or at least an aura user, and had some sort of stealth semblance. He was dressed in combat fatigues, and wore a mask and sunglasses. A burst of laughter from the harlot had Weiss moan again at the grating sound.
"Heh, nearly gave me a fright there, girlie. Good thing I keep a couple of huntsmen dropouts on payroll." Nancy Green was breathing heavily as she recovered her wits and glared at her with her one good eye bulging manically, "You're gonna pay for what you did to me, bitch. I have a sex dungeon with your name carved into it. I will take great pleasure in carving my name on your pretty little face right after I have all my men fuck you silly! I don't give a fuck if your Daddy owns all of Atlas, nobody fucks with me and gets away with it, NOBODY!!"
Weiss tried to stand, but every bone in her body protested. Her aura was shattered, and she had nothing to protect herself with. Myrtenaster was still in its case, and she was dressed in nothing but a tattered bra and panties. If she at least had her Dust-weaved dress, she could have used the Ice to fight back.
Regardless, she needed to move, there was no way she would allow those scum to catch her. None could help her; a glance behind her showed Becky trying to stand, but her leg gave out, and she groaned in pain.
Weiss doubted the police would do anything; if they hadn't shown up after so much gunfire, then they probably would not bother in the first place.
Forcing her body to stand, the Schnee heiress leaned painfully on a toppled chair as she glared at the hag, even as blood poured from her forehead and the many shards of glass stuck to her skin. There was no way she would go down without a fight. She might not have aura, and barely a few hours of sleep, but Weiss Schnee would never bow down to scum, not when she was so close to earning her way to Beacon.
Especially to some freak with a vile taste for fashion.
"What are you waiting for? Grab her, and let's go, you useless fucks." The aura user glanced at his employer, but it was the thugs who moved towards her, their leers and grins told her enough of what awaited her if she was caught.
Just as she was about to drag herself back inside, everyone froze as a sudden pressure filled the harbor, followed by an irritated sigh coming from behind her, causing her to slowly turn and gawk.
"And I had finally managed to fall asleep…"
A figure walked out of the hallway to the rooms, passing by Becky, who gawked at him in shock.
It was a young man with messy blonde hair that reached his neck, a scruffy beard, and an exhausted pair of blue eyes. Familiar blue eyes that Weiss realized she had seen just this morning, fishing from the balcony next to hers.
The strangest thing about the man's appearance was what he was wearing. It was a full-body pajamas with a white bunny face on the front. Weiss would have laughed if not for the pain and the terrible situation she was in.
Turning to the thugs, they looked flabbergasted at the sight of the man, though Weiss thought something was wrong with their frozen state as if they could barely breathe. Focusing on her meager senses, Weiss nearly choked at the sheer amount of bloodlust and malice coming from the aura drowning the area.
Speaking of, the blonde man gazed at everyone on the dock; his heavy eyes seemed to cause whomever it fell on to stiffen and sweat profusely.
Finally, they reached hers as he stood right next to her, and the exhausted eyes seemed to turn to stone, yet the vicious feeling to his aura softened to a soothing caress akin to a soft breeze.
Suddenly, a distortion appeared behind the blonde man, and Weiss tried to scream to watch out but could only let out a pained rasp as she watched a muzzle flash materialize next to his head.
Only, it did nothing… The bullet seemed to hit an invisible barrier right before the blonde's temple. The young man finally turned away from her, slowly raised his hand, and flicked the suspended bullet back to where it came from.
A pained groan caused the huntsman to lose control of his semblance and reappear as he dropped a destroyed pistol, only for the blonde to grab his throat and lift him like he was a sack of potatoes…before slamming him face-first into the ground, shattering his shades and then grinding his face into the ground that was full of broken glass until his aura shattered…then a few more times for good measure.
The huntsman's screams of agony were muffled as the grotesque sound of skin being flayed by hot concrete and shattered glass resounded on the dock - all while the young man stared impassively as he tortured the man as if it were a completely normal phenomenon, like checking his scroll.
Finally, the blonde man stopped when the huntsman dropout's screams turned to wet gurgles. He lifted him back up, and Weiss was glad her stomach was empty as she stared at the brutalized face of her attacker. The entire left side of the man's face was a gory mess; One of the eyes was mush with glass stuck inside it, and half his teeth were chipped or missing.
Yet he still breathed… her savior threw the huntsmen like a sack of garbage at the nearest dumpster before, suddenly, he had a scroll in his hand, dialed a number, and brought it to his ear.
"Hello. Yeah, it's me, Jaune Arc. Yes. Some injured. Of course, I don't need help. Might kill some fools, though. Yeah, well, can't make any promises, so better hurry. Alright, then, bye."
Weiss's eyes widened when she heard the man's name, idly wondering if he was the same Jaune Arc of Arcade. A cousin she had never met but heard rumors about - sequestered in the mountains by his overbearing mother before his grandfather unlocked his aura. She was more surprised by how casual he was about stating he would kill someone.
And how Weiss was totally fine with it as she remembered the pain in her limbs.
The man stored his scroll somewhere before kneeling next to her.
"You look like shit."
Weiss groaned and dearly wanted to rebuke the rude boy but suddenly, Arc placed his palm on her head, and she felt incredible warmth and energy coursing through her. Her shattered aura miraculously returned to full, and all her injuries started healing. The glass stuck in her skin was blown away from her aura as her skin knitted itself without leaving a single mark. Even her broken arm set itself with a painful gasp, while her crushed nose wiggled back into place and she could breathe easily through it.
"What the–"
"Nice bra, cousin. I didn't think our first meeting would go like this. Sit back and relax; I'll handle the rest." Arc grinned, causing Weiss to feel strangely endeared, before blushing madly as she covered her chest.
Maybe she shouldn't have worn plain white underwear.
A hoodie appeared from nowhere, and Arc dropped it in her hands. Weiss stared at the dark hoodie with a dark bunny head stitched on, that was large enough to cover her knees. Not wanting to be half naked any more than necessary, the Schnee heiress quickly put it on, noticing how warm it was.
Jaune Arc then turned around and popped his neck as he glared at the thugs again. "Alright, fools. You have ruined the best, and only, sleep I've had in the past four weeks. Y'all look irredeemable as fuck, especially you circus freak, but I'll still give you a chance. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. All of you, drop your weapons and get on your knees, and I promise not to hurt you…much."
Hesitation gripped the thugs who were still frozen at the sheer amount of aura Jaune Arc exuded and flooded the harbor with.
At least until Nancy grabbed her megaphone and angrily shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS WAITING FOR? IT'S ONLY ONE PUNK, SO GET'EM. AND FRANZ! GET YOUR LAZY ASS OFF THE BOAT."
Weiss had eyes only for Jaune Arc as he popped his knuckles and glanced at the surrounding thugs. Her cousin grinned manically at a large armored man carrying a machine gun as he hurried from the boats.
"~The hard way then~"
Beep-beep, what was that? Did someone miss their dose of RIP AND TEAR?
Weiss overreacts, fucks around, and finds out. I know the temptation to throw a dumpster through your boss's office is sorely tempting when they fire you, but please - don't do it.
To that same boss who had a dumpster thrown through their walls…don't overreact, you might just piss off the last person you want to annoy.
Note that Atlas operatives are not the Ace operatives.
For anyone who whines about Weiss picking up smoking, I already made it clear that this world has normalized recreational drugs. Smoking is nothing compared to the poison that is alcohol yet I see binge-drinking over-glorified in stories (I myself am guilty of that.)
Btw, the song is the one from the White Trailer. Considering I basically deleted the events of that trailer, I figured it would be tasteful to keep the song alive somehow. It helps that it suited the setting perfectly!
Finally, let's discuss the elephant in the room; Aura defense.
How the aura defense mechanism works in this story is a mix of passive and active defense. Weiss had about a third of her aura left, 500/1521 which is very impressive for a 17 year old, and did not perceive the attack coming from an aura infused kick. That said kick was also coming from a huntsman (even a dropout) is not to be underestimated.
Such a kick would crush rocks and dent steel yet all it did to Weiss was break her nose, give her a concussion, then send her flying through a dozen humans before crashing into the glass littered ground. Only then did her aura shatter, and yes, injuries can still be sustained through Aura if the damage is high enough.
If you would like to support me, or read five chapters ahead, feel free to join me on Patr(eo)n under the same penname.