Jaune woke up to the sound of ringing.
A groan escaped him as he tried to blink—only to find that his eyelids refused to open up. Slowly, sluggishly, Jaune lifted his hand up to rub his temples, trying to coax one of his five senses to start working. Raven would be so disappointed in how slowly Jaune was rising to consciousness.
What happened last night anyways, Jaune wondered, for him to be so out of it this morning? Like the rest of his body, his memories were slow to respond, as if someone was still trying to load the next reel into the movie projector. He could remember feeling nauseous... probably something to do with the airship that he was on. Why was he on an airship again? Raven wanted something... something to do with Atlas, and Dust, and...
Jaune's eyes finally snapped open, his brain finally firing on all cylinders, even if everything he saw was just blurry shapes that the moment. The second sense to kick in after sight was smell, and Jaune could smell the acrid smell of blasted Dust, as if he had just been in one of the live fire exercises that Raven would hold for the tribe every few months.
He had been in the middle of an explosion.
Jaune could remember it now, remember locking eyes with one of the White Fang members before something or someone must've hit the exposed Dust in one of the trucks.
Eyesight finally clearing up, Jaune lifted himself slowly off of the ground, another groan leaving him as everything started to pulse horribly, head spinning. Closing his eyes again, Jaune found Almost all of his Aura to be completely drained. Not surprising, seeing as how he had just tanked one of the worst explosions he'd ever had the misfortune of being in the middle of.
Jaune supposed that he was lucky enough to be alive, although he was starting to get really annoyed with the ringing in his ears. As long as his ears were ringing, there was no way Jaune was going to be able to hear anything, a disadvantage that Jaune wasn't sure he wanted to have while in the middle of hostile territory.
Reluctantly, Jaune concentrated on the last dregs of his Aura, trying to get the meager amounts to pool around his head area, helping with the healing process. Luckily that managed to do something, the pounding in his head subsiding, along with the noise drowning ring in his ear. It didn't go away completely, but Jaune decided that having just a tiny bit of Aura to tank a shot or two would be worth more than getting the last bit of tinnitus out of his ears. He had healed enough to be able to hear most of his surroundings, and after he got some rest and recovered some more of his Aura, he would finish healing the rest of his injuries.
For now, Jaune stood up, clenching his teeth as he refused to let out another pitiful whine. Staying in one place would be a death sentence, especially without knowing where he was, or if anyone else was close by. Scanning the dense trees, he tried to find the road that the trucks had been on, pretty confident that while the explosion was powerful, it couldn't have knocked him too far away. Patting himself down, Jaune found that he was only missing his sword and his mask, which was better than losing everything.
Moving slowly, Jaune found the road, or what was left of it.
Where the three trucks had been, there were enormous craters, stretching several dozen feet across. Metal was strewn haphazardly everywhere. Whatever trees and shrubbery had been alongside the road when Jaune and Raven had prepared their ambush was knocked clean, several tree trunks scorched, Jaune's nose twitching as he smelled the greenery blackening and burning. He tried to ignore the humanoid shapes littering the ground, too black and crispy for Jaune to identify them anyways.
Besides, it wasn't like Raven or Vernal would've died from something like this. After all, he made it out alive.
Chewing on his lower lip, Jaune continued to scan around, trying to figure out where Raven or Vernal could've headed, and trying to remember where exactly the clearing that the tribe had used as a landing zone.
Well, on the bright side, at least Jaune could've considered this a successful escape from the Branwen tribe.
On the other hand, Saphron was still waiting for him, and he didn't even want to imagine how she would react to Raven and Vernal coming back without him.
"I have to get back somehow," Jaune murmured to himself.
Finally it seemed like luck decided to give him a small break, as voices started to float through the forest, towards the other side of the wreckage. Even if it was the White Fang, it would be something of a start, Jaune decided. Besides, he was pretty confident that he could stay far away enough to not alert anyone. Most of them should be injured and focused on their own wounds, which should give him more of a chance, Jaune thought to himself, one last push before moving towards the sounds, taking as much care as he could in not making any noise.
"She's not so tough now, is she?" One of the voices called out, making Jaune freeze instantly, hoping that he hadn't been spotted.
"Hah, yeah, she doesn't look threatening at all now that she doesn't have the other faunus to back her up." Another voice floated through, allowing Jaune to relax now that he knew that they hadn't spotted him. Creeping another few feet, Jaune peered past a tree trunk, revealing two scuffed up Atlas soldiers looming over the black haired girl that Jaune had encountered a few seconds before Remnant turned upside down.
She didn't look so good, eyes narrowed into slits, her teeth bared at the two of them as she sat there in front of them. Her mask was missing, revealing golden eyes that shot back and forth between the two soldiers, trying to keep them both in her field of view. It looked like she was nursing her right arm, which was mottled with cuts and bruises, hanging in a way that made Jaune think that she—Blake was her name, Jaune thought, remembering—was either sporting a dislocation or a broken bone of some sort.
"Man, today's just been a total fuck-up, hasn't it?" The soldier on the right said, shaking his head. He didn't have a helmet on, his short brown buzz cut revealed to the world. "First we're told to act as bait the White Fang, but no one tells us when they're going to attack, so we end up being surprised anyways, then bandits appear out of nowhere and try and fuck us to," the soldier pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a noisy breath. "And then to top it off, a rookie must've been flying one of the Bullheads, 'cause he almost blew us all to the fucking moon!" The man half shouted, raising both of his arms.
The other soldier glanced over at the irate man, raising an eyebrow, or what should've been one, if not for the fact that it looked as if it had been completely sheared off by the explosion.
"I don't think a gunshot would've set off the Dust in that truck," the soldier with the burnt off eyebrow whispered, his voice very hoarse.
The talkative one didn't seem to notice, casting another glance at Blake.
"Hm. You know what would cheer me up though?" The man's face split into a nasty smile, Blake's ears flattening in response.
"You do realize she can't be any older than fifteen, right?"
The brown-haired man's nose scrunched up, looking at the other soldier. "What? Ew, what the fuck? No, I'm not some fucking pedo, Bones. What about me gave off that kind of vibe?" The other man didn't miss a beat.
"Your creeper smile."
"My—what? Now I'm just offended." The man shook his head, more in disappointment that one of his own would think so lowly of him than being accused of being a pedophile.
"Then what are you suggesting?" The other man gave in, knowing that the Rattle could go on for hours if no one interrupted him.
Interrupting him mid breath, Rattle closed his mouth slowly, a scowl forming on his face. Bones didn't back down, simply matching the stare steadily, waiting the Rattle to back down like he always did.
Rattle clicked his teeth in annoyance, giving in and pulling out his gun. "Whatever," he muttered before turning his attention to Blake, who had been trying to scoot away from them while they were talking. "I was talking about getting rid of one of these terrorist scum forever." He pointed the gun with one hand, Blake tensing up as the barrel zoned in on her. "One less thing for Atlas to worry about, eh?"
Jaune watched this all play out as he tried to figure out what he needed to do. On one hand, he could leave right now, knowing that the girl was as good as dead if he did so. But it would save him precious seconds so that he could try and find a way back to Mistral. It was the logical choice to do, what with his Aura so low. On the other hand though...
Jaune sighed, shaking his head. Saphron wouldn't have hesitated. There would've only been one option in her mind if she was here watching this happen.
A gunshot rang out, Jaune's heart sinking as he saw the bullet hit dead center, knowing that he had taken too long to decide. Except for the fact that she was still alive, wait what?
Jaune rubbed his eyes, making sure that he wasn't seeing things. No, he definitely wasn't. The girl almost seemed to teleport right as the man squeezed the trigger, leaving behind an afterimage to take the blow, leaving her unharmed. Well, no more harmed than she was before the gunshot.
The movement surprised the soldiers too, causing the loud one to take a step back in surprise. The other one jerked back, hand falling towards his hip.
Jaune wouldn't have another chance at this, springing out of the bushes, boots propelling him towards the two soldiers. He drew out one of his knives, having lost his sword in the explosion, and plunged it into Rattle's neck right as the man turned around, the noise of the boots alerting him too late. Blood gushed out of an artery, but Jaune was used to the spray, dodging it deftly as he let go of the knife, not wanting to waste any time trying to pry it out of the dead man's throat.
Drawing out his other knife, Jaune dove to the left as Bones let off a couple of shots, one of them pinging off of Jaune's knife.
When fighting multiple enemies, never stop moving. Momentum is your friend.
Raven's words echoed through his mind as Jaune rolled unexpectedly, causing Bones to miss another shot, unable to compensate for the random movements.
Unfortunately, another step took Jaune into the range where even the untalented could land a bullet in a target, and Bones let off another shot, aimed at the heart.
The crack of the gun was loud, but for Jaune, the bullet smacking against his ribs sounded louder, the last of his Aura preventing the shot from killing him, turning the death shot into a small stumble as Jaune lost his footing, but continued to move forward, knowing that another shot would end the fight.
Bones didn't, or couldn't, let loose another shot though, stowing the gun away and swinging wide, aiming a fist at Jaune's temple. It was a sloppy attempt, a default action of someone who hadn't practiced hand-to-hand long enough to attack effectively on instinct.
Jaune on the other hand, had years of practice against something like this.
Stopping just short of the swing, Jaune felt the wind of the fist as it passed him, before he continued on his path, slapping away the other hand as Bones desperately tried to compensate for being off balance. Stumbling back, Bones threw up both of his arms, protecting his jugular after seeing Jaune take out Rattle so effectively with a knife like that one.
It was a shame, because that was the easiest and quickest way to bring someone down with a knife.
Fortunately, Jaune hadn't spent years fighting against Raven and the tribe just to have one way of putting down a man.
Raising his arms meant the rest of his body was vulnerable, something Jaune pointed out by jabbing the knife into Bone's stomach, the man letting out a breath of pain that quickly turning into a scream. Pulling out the knife, Jaune stuck the blade into Bone's chest, right between the ribs as he punctured the man's lungs, leaving him drowning in his own blood.
Falling onto his knees, Bones tried to do... something, as he felt his life quickly slipping away. Jaune knew how horrible it was to die that way, having seen it happen to many innocents. Stepping neatly behind the soldier, Jaune severed Bone's spinal cord, a mercy kill in Jaune's book.
Jaune relaxed, glad that the fight was over. Death never sat easy on him, especially when he had to act so brutally to put down someone as quickly as possible. It was getting easier every time he did it, but...
He wasn't sure that was something he should be celebrating.
Turning to face Blake, Jaune found himself at the recipient of a gun barrel, a loud crack echoing through the forest as something hot passed through his shoulder.
Dropping onto his knees, Jaune gripped his shoulder, pain slowly registering and fading away as his adrenaline surged for the second time in less than a minute.
"You shot me!" Jaune shouted, gritting his teeth as he covered the wound with his hand. "Why did you do that?!"
Blake scooted backwards, hand shaking as she continued to point the gun at Jaune.
"Stay away from me." She snarled, half-shouting the words. Jaune looked at her in disbelief.
"Wh- I just saved your life, and this is the thanks I get?" Jaune asked, more to himself than to her. "Raven was right," Jaune mumbled reluctantly. Blake continued to aim him down.
Letting out a sigh, Jaune raised his hands. "Look, I don't want a fight, alright? You've got me on the ropes here. I'm just making sure that you're alright, alright? If you're good, I'll just go on my way , okay?"
Blake didn't react to the words, eyes still narrowed dangerously.
"Stay. Away." She repeated.
"I haven't moved."
"D-don't come any closer."
"I- what?" Jaune shook his head. "What're you talking about? I haven't moved at all."
"Stay back!"
"Alright!" Jaune took a step back. "I'm not sure I did anything that would make you so jittery, but fine, I'll stay back." He took another step back, just in case. "Happy?"
Blake narrowed her eyes even further, almost as if she was squinting.
Because she was. She was squinting.
Jaune closed his eyes, berating himself quietly at how it took so long for him to realize that Blake had just been in the same explosion that he was in. And judging from her arm, she didn't have any Aura to heal her ears, or stabilize her shaky vision.
Making another decision, Jaune plopped himself on the ground, crossing his legs. Blake jerked the gun downwards, to try and follow his movement, the barrel dipping a little lower than center mass.
"This girl is going to get me killed." Jaune whispered to himself. Still, he didn't leave, even with the looming threat of someone else finding the two of them.
Saphron would've done the same thing.
The cat faunus was very disciplined, Jaune found out, as she never put the gun down, even though her hand shook badly enough that it would've missed whatever she was aiming for.
Jaune didn't have any way of telling time anymore, having pulled out his scroll earlier, and finding it in pieces. Saphron's watch was cracked, and the second hand wasn't moving, so Jaune couldn't tell the time with that either. He couldn't ask Blake the time either, with her being temporarily deaf.
He couldn't help but pity the faunus for having two sets of ears at that moment.
After what felt like a lifetime, Blake finally lowered the gun, the weapon snapping forward into a short blade. Still Jaune made no effort to move, not wanting to spook her.
"Why are you still here?"
Jaune couldn't help but smile a little. The question was still a little louder than it needed to be, but it wasn't a demand that Jaune back away, nor was it being enforced by gunpoint.
Progress.
"I'm just making sure that you're alright." Jaune said, tilting his head at the two fallen soldiers. "Wouldn't want all of my efforts to be for nothing, would I? Even if you shot me for no reason," Jaune grumbled the last part under his breath.
"I'm fine." Blake said, before picking herself up shakily, using the hand that was holding the weapon.
"From what it looks like, that arm doesn't look fine to me," Jaune knew that he should probably stop talking. After all, it wasn't like Blake was his responsibility or anything. She said she was fine. Nod and move on, never to see each other again. It should've been easy.
"It's not broken." Blake said stubbornly, ears twitching as she glared at him. Jaune didn't even bother flinching, having witnessed worse glares from every other woman in his life.
"Then its dislocated." Jaune dropped his knife, holding out his hands. "Let me help you set it back in, then we can go our separate ways. Deal?"
Blake didn't answer, just staring at the boy.
"Why?"
Why? Why does it matter, why? Jaune didn't know what to make of this girl. Who cares why? He was offering to help her out, why was she so suspicious? He didn't even have a weapon on him, and without his Aura, she would probably gut him like a fish before he could even try and do anything to her.
"Why not?" Jaune shot back tiredly, dropping his hands. "Look," He let out a sigh. "I get it, you don't trust me, and there's no reason you should. I'm just offering to help you out. If you don't want it, fine, I'll just go."
The two of them stood there, staring impassively at the other. Jaune wasn't sure what Blake was thinking about, but his patience was running thin. Finally, right as Jaune was about to turn around, Blake moved forward, grimacing as she turned so that the shoulder was facing him.
"Do you even know how to set one of these things?" She asked doubtfully, glancing at his hands, then back up towards his face. Jaune resisted the urge to roll his eyes, shoving down the remark of how it was a little too late to be worrying about that after she presented the shoulder to him.
"Yes," Jaune tried to go for his most patient voice, trying to channel Saphron when she was tending to his injuries. "I've had to do it a couple of times, mostly to myself. I haven't really done to for anyone else, but I'm sure it's the same—" Jaune jerked the arm out and up, wincing as Blake let out a screech of pain, jerking her arm free. "—thing. And it was, neat."
Jaune's head rocked back from the slap that Blake delivered, the girl baring her teeth at him.
"What was that for?" Blake demanded, rubbing her shoulder. Jaune rubbed his cheek, noting the bruise that was already forming.
"I should be asking you that, why'd you slap me?" Jaune asked, glaring heatedly at the girl.
"You didn't warn me!"
"You're not supposed to get a warning!" Jaune threw his arms up into the air. "You'll tense up at the last second if I give you a warning."
"I would not have."
"Yes you would," Jaune shot back, crossing his arms.
"Would not."
"Would too."
"Would not."
"Would—You know what?" Jaune raised his hands up. He wasn't going to do this. "It doesn't matter. Your shoulder should be fine now, and if you were going to shoot me, you'd do it by now. I'm leaving."
The mention of getting shot reminded Blake that she had shot Jaune in the shoulder, guilt rising.
"Your shoulder." Blake whispered, looking at the wound. "It's bleeding." Jaune raised an eyebrow at the statement.
"I wonder why." He drawled out, shaking his head. "Thanks for reminding me, I almost forgot about it." Huffing out a breath, Jaune pulled off his shirt, tearing strips off of it.
"What're you doing?"
Jaune looked up at the girl expecting to see some horrified expression because he had just taken off his shirt, instead finding a merely curious one instead.
Jaune shook his head, mentally telling himself that he was watching too many cheesy shows on his scroll.
"I'm making sure I don't bleed out." Jaune replied shortly, gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the pain that flared up as he gingerly tied some strips around his shoulder to stem the bleeding.
"Let me help."
Before Jaune could reply, Blake stepped up and grabbed the ruined shirt, further stripping it up, lifting his arm and tying everything together, before tucking his arm into a rudimentary sling, all while ignoring the pained expression on Jaune's face, as well as every sharp inhale from her rough handling.
"How's that feel?" Blake asked gently, stepping back to inspect her handiwork. On the other hand, Jaune tried not to say anything unkind, knowing that she didn't mean to handle him so roughly. It didn't do anything to lessen the pain he was in, but it did prevent him from screaming abuse at her. Letting out a slow breath, Jaune nodded.
Donning his jacket awkwardly back on, Jaune nodded once to the girl, satisfied that they could turn their backs to each other and head on their way.
Retrieving his knives, Jaune took a second to figure out how to sheath them with only one hand, then headed back towards the blast site.
Blake followed, which Jaune wasn't surprised about, guessing that she probably needed a start point just like he did. What did surprise Jaune was when she continued to follow him, even after he took an abrupt left turn after heading into the mass of evergreen trees, just to make sure that Blake was following him and it wasn't just some freak coincidence.
But now, Blake was in fact, following him.
"Is there any reason why you're following me?" Jaune finally asked, wondering if she was just waiting until he lowered his guard before jabbing the thin blade that she was carrying into his back.
Blake didn't answer at first, looking uncertain in how she needed to phrase herself.
"I'm... lost."
Jaune looked at her.
"What?" He asked, making sure that he was mishearing her. That couldn't be the case though, Jaune's case of ear ringing having faded a few minutes before.
"I'm lost." Blake set her expression into a look of determination, daring him to say something.
Jaune just continued to stare, wondering what he had ever done in his thirteen years of living to deserve this.
"You certainly don't look lost." Jaune snarked, deciding that it was the best way to handle the situation, before turning around again. "Just to let you know, I'm not a hundred percent sure I know where I'm going either."
"It's fine." Blake replied back, even though it should've been anything but. "At least this way I'll have someone to distract any Grimm or Atlas soldiers that come by."
Jaune paused at the frank remark, before shaking his head, muttering something about only knowing crazy women.
The two of them didn't go much further before deciding to double back, knowing that if they followed the road, they would eventually have to hit some sort of settlement. They couldn't just stroll down the road of course, one of them being a faunus, while the other was suspiciously injured. There were also several Bullheads that circled above them on occasion, trying to spot survivors.
So the two of them stuck to the sides of the road, taking cover underneath the bushes and behind trees when vehicles came close.
It was starting to get dark when Jaune's ears perked up slightly, hearing a whirring sound that was familiar, and different from the sound that the Bullheads made. Looking up, he saw the Branwen airship, taking off to the east, headed back to Mistral, and too far for Jaune to even attempt to flag down.
"What was that?" Blake asked, watching the same airship, but not understanding the severity of what happened. Jaune turned to her, his expression drawn into a grim line.
"That was my ticket out of Atlas."
