Welcome back to Remnant of Cursed Paradise! A vacation notice will be posted at the bottom of the chapter, as well as a few chapter notes. Also, big announcement: I've put up a poll for my next fic on my page. Remnant of Cursed Paradise isn't anywhere near finished, of course, but when it's done I want to get right to work on one of my other ideas, and I'm letting you guys choose which one that is.
That seems to be it for now, so let's get to it!
Chapter 10: Teamwork
I set Myrtenaster on the ground, my Circuits still reeling from the burst of prana that originated inside of the blade. It was impossible, and not just "True Magic" impossible, but really impossible. Only creatures with souls were capable of generating od, and Myrtenaster had only Resonance of Steel, not a true soul...
...or did it?
I didn't know much about its actual creation, despite my Analysis of it. Things began to blur together the farther I looked into its history. There were only a few vague impressions of a hammer, heat, and something that I assumed was water, by the ease that Myrtenaster slid in and out of it. Maybe that wasn't water, but prana. If prana had actually been used in the creation of a sword, and that sword developed a Resonance of Steel... then what did that make the sword?
Blake stirred, and my eyes snapped towards Ozpin. He nodded and stepped forward. Sound returned to the area, and I only just noticed that it had been off the entire time. "And it looks like we have a winner," he proclaimed. "Jaune Arc is the top contender for the first years as of now."
A few people sighed in defeat, but most of them were either unconscious or silent. Ruby and Blake both gave me approving nods after a moment, like it should have been me if it couldn't be them.
"As you all should know," Ozpin continued, "there are four members in every team here at Beacon. Jaune has proven himself not only capable of being a leader, but of deciding on good companions. Jaune, you can pick anyone from the first years as one of your teammates."
"Hmm..." I thought about it. If there were four people per team, then it was almost a guarantee that Ruby and Blake would be with me. If that was indeed the case, then it would be useless choosing them. There were only two people that managed to stand my first three blows, and they were both overlooking the match up on top of the cliff. "The boy with the green outfit. He has pink eyes and black hair. He was pretty good with hand-to-hand combat."
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Ruby deflate, a disappointed look on her face. Blake just stared at me impassively. Ozpin considered it, then nodded.
"Yes," he mused. "Yes, Lie Ren would be a good addition to your team. I'll make the arrangements." He raised his voice to address everyone. "I'll see you all in the main auditorium in five hours to assign teams."
Ozpin jumped away, sailing between footholds on the cliff face to climb his way to the top. I glanced around. Out of the eleven of us that had been left, six were unconscious. The five that were still awake were glaring at the retreating figure of Ozpin. I sighed and scooped a body under each arm, Reinforcing my body to pull off the same feats as Ozpin.
"We might as well get going, then," I told Blake and Ruby. Two grunts of affirmation met my ears. I started up the cliff, pushing my burning Circuits further. It took a full five minutes to get to the top of the cliff, even with full Reinforcement. I dropped the two bodies off and checked the rough-hewn stairways. Blake and Ruby, along with two of the people I'd knocked out, were slowly picking a path up to the top of the plateau. Another ten minutes passed, and finally they reached the top. Everyone dropped off their bodies and headed off to the showers.
The first years were crowded around the front door when we arrived. As I stepped, they all went silent, bringing an oppressive awkwardness into the air. I glanced left and right, trying to find some indication of doing something wrong.
Then somebody clapped.
It started slowly at first, like something you'd see in a cheesy Western movie. First one person, then two, then five and ten and fifty. All seventy one other students were clapping in some form, whether it be a grudging acknowledgement or a loud, raucous cheer. Hands clapped on my back, voices rang in my ears, and overall the atmosphere was bright and cheery. I shook as many hands as possible, but there were too many, and eventually I just stopped and participated in the celebrations altogether. It was nice, being able to relax with people my age, ready to just kick back, eat a rice ball or two, and chat. That was how people hung out, right?
Our crowd clamored through the halls charging in and out of various rooms to celebrate in. A few people, notably Blake and Ruby's sister, split off to shower, but most of the students found themselves talking and laughing in the main ballroom. I was surrounded by people who were clamoring to tell each other stories about their previous hunts. I found myself relaying a few about my encounters in the Arcs' forest, and even a very heavily modified version of my battle against Berserker, in which the Greek hero took the form of an Ursa Major, one of the larger and deadlier species of Common Grimm. I pulled Kanshou and Bakuya out as I talked, shining their blades in the waning sunlight. Most of the people listening to me were grinning from ear to ear. When I finished my tale, they started on their own, and soon we were being regaled with stories about Larva Nevermore, Boarbatusks and even a story about a Nightmaiden that I was fairly sure was made up.
The festivities lasted for several hours. The sun was setting its final rays on my face when Glynda's voice finally came booming over the loudspeakers. "All first year students, please make your way to the auditorium for team allocation. Repeat, all first year students should make their way to the auditorium for team allocations."
I pushed myself off the railing I was sitting on with a grunt. The first years filed into a semi-orderly line towards the auditorium. The place was vast, easily holding enough to seat a thousand people, and between staff, students and janitors, more than half of the seats were filled. All in all, about six hundred people were lined up in the bleachers. Out of them, only fifty were teachers and four hundred and fifty were students, leaving a full hundred people to manage the castle of a school.
White pillars lined the walls, just like every other part of the school. The bleachers were made of a comfortable looking wood that blended well with the white-tiled floor, and from the little I could see in the dimness of the room, it seemed like they were lined with velvet. Ozpin was standing atop the pure white stage, several spotlights on his form. The shadows he cast were fanned out and irregular. "Now that our first years are here," he said clearly, "we may start with the team allocations. Let's start with the top-ranked first year we have."
Ozpin beckoned me to walk across the stage. As I passed, I noted everyone's eyes on my form. They were all sizing me up. There were no snide comments, no insults or even lighthearted jeers that upperclassmen would throw down at youngest students. They were all fighters, and it really unnerved me. In the end, however, I managed to keep calm, simply clasping my hands behind my back and staring directly at Ozpin.
"As you all know," he began, "the strongest first year in the initiation ceremony gets the automatic top ranking for the first week, as well as the choice to pick a student personally as their teammate. Jaune Arc, age sixteen, has managed to earn top spot among seventy two students, defeating fifteen of them himself. He has chosen Lie Ren as his partner. Mister Lie, if you could please step forward."
The boy wearing green did so, looking confused. He probably didn't expect me to choose him as a partner, even though he was one of only four people I'd met so far that could hold his own against my Noble Phantasms for more than two attacks. He stood next to me, giving me a questioning glance. I simply smiled at him.
"Now, to finish our first team, we have the other two members." Ozpin looked over the assembled students, making a show of pretending to hand-pick them. He had hand-picked them, of course, but it was probably as we were fighting in the forest. "Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna, please step forward."
Blake walked calmly, neither her amber eyes nor her sensuous strides betraying a single emotion. Ruby, on the other hand, was pretty much a nervous/excited wreck (I couldn't quite tell which. She was shivering a bit when she stopped to stand next to me, and her fingers rubbed distractedly on the edge of Crescent Rose. A flicker of something began to worm its way into her eyes. I clapped her on the shoulder and grinned, startling her long enough for Ozpin to read his next lines.
"Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Jaune Arc and Lie Ren. Three of you managed to advance to the final battle of our little contest, and the fourth likely would have made it as well had he not had the misfortune to meet Jaune. As of now, you will be team SRBR (Strawberry), led by Jaune Arc. Make sure to represent Beacon Academy well."
The assembled students clapped politely. I could feel more than a few eyes on Ruby and I, as well as Blake. The two of us were underage after all, and Blake attracted attention as naturally as she walked. Ren seemed to be the only normal one in our team, but even he had a hidden mastery of martial arts I hadn't seen from anyone other than Bazett Fraga McRemitz. The Irishwoman was easily the most powerful human I'd ever encountered, able to utilize almost as much prana as Rin at her strongest, holding an ancient Noble Phantasm that guaranteed instant death as a retaliatory strike, and having a mastery of more than four different martial arts and Runes to empower her body beyond human limits.
Now that I thought about it, how did I ever escape from that woman's attack? She must have been going easy on me.
The four of us filed off the stage and stood back as Ozpin stepped forward again. "Next we have team PYWN (Pawn), consisting of Pyrrha Nikos, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiaolong, and Nora Valkyrie! This team will be led by Weiss Schnee." Another round of clapping ensued, along with much whistling. I rolled my eyes.
Men will be perverts, in the end. Where did that leave me, you ask? Well, I'm not a man. I'm a sword, so suck it.
The four girls looked distinctly disgruntled by the catcalls. Well, Weiss looked disgruntled. Nora, the orange-haired airhead I'd knocked out in the forest, was utterly oblivious to the teasing shouts headed her way. Yang took it all in stride, laughing and flirting with a few of the boys in the front row, while Pyrrha just sighed and frowned slightly, as if it happened to her a lot. They lined up next to us when Ozpin announced team CRDL.
The ceremony spent a good twenty or so minutes to pass through, in which a full eighteen teams were announced and added to the school roster. As the first team, we were dismissed for dinner and sleep first. I wolfed down my food, much to Ruby's amusement. A shower sounded very nice all of a sudden, almost as satisfying as punching Kirei in the face, or punching Gilgamesh in the face, or punching Shinji in the face, or punching-
...You know, maybe I needed a less violent solution to stress. Punching things doesn't always get the job done.
Team SRBR walked along the hallways, chatting aimlessly. I was half lost in thought, half talking to Ruby about cooking arrangements. It turned out the girl was quite the chef as well. My other thoughts were preoccupied by the reasoning behind Mr. Dawn's appearance in this world and Ozpin putting me in charge of a team. First and foremost, my thoughts were drawn towards the room in front of us.
I didn't know when we'd stopped, but I was in a standard college bedroom, like the private ones in the Hokkaido prefecture. Four beds were lined up in the corners leaving very little room for maneuvering. Ruby frowned.
"We're not gonna have enough room for all our stuff," she complained. I absently nodded in agreement, while Blake and Ren both made noncommittal sounds. I could use one of the corners as a bookshelf, holding my journals and studies. It would be easy enough to put a strong Bounded Field on them with my amount of prana, but the problem was twisting my affinity enough to put it there in the first place. Ruby's face perked. "Oh, how about bunk beds?"
"It could work," I admitted. I was traditional in my values, I acknowledged that, but if I was going to be sharing a room with two girls then bunk beds weren't so bad, were they? I moved to put my hands under one of the bedposts and pulled. The frames were surprisingly light, and in a few second the bed was stacked neatly above the lower. Ren gave me a nod and picked up the other one. While he was doing that, Ruby and Blake began sending out pulses of Aura to the wood. For what reason, I didn't know, but they looked like they knew what they were doing. Maybe Aura acted like a magnetic force when two opposite ones were present.
It sort of worked the way I'd thought it would. Instead of the Aura magnifying the magnetic property of the wood, however, it caused the wood to expand, small tendrils of bark and pulp stretching across the gap to seal the two pieces together. I watched the process, fascinated. My Structural Analysis was telling me that the wood was actually being infused Aura and growing, but that should have been impossible. Very few things could come back to life after dying, and through its lacquered shine, that wood was very much dead.
Then it hit me. Aura was called the "Wellspring of Life" in many of the texts I'd read through, so wouldn't it be possible to inject dead things with Aura to restore a modicum of life for a short time? Of course, it probably wouldn't work on a human, but with lives without complex souls like trees, doing something like that would be downright simple, if not consuming.
The wood stopped growing, and Blake and Ruby sat back, panting. Ren looked towards me, ready to start sealing the other one, and I stepped forward. Would prana do the same thing, or would it simply stay stagnant in this world?
I surrounded the Aura with my prana and slowly ferried it through my body. At first, it resisted, wanting to stay lethargic and sedate, but as it started moving it got back into a semi-rhythmic flow. I pushed a trickle through my fingers.
'Shit!'
I almost jerked my hand away, but remembered that Avalon was there to regenerate my wounds. I pushed more of the Aura into the tree. Before my eyes, my skin was literally beginning to char and blacken, but the wood of the beds was fusing together at a far faster pace than it had for Blake and Ruby. The first post was finished in approximately ten seconds, then we moved onto the second, third and fourth. Each time, the pain of pushing my life-force into another being doubled. In the end, I was clutching my wrist in a vain attempt not to spasm.
"Alright, that's done," Ren said, gasping for breath. He looked like his Aura had taxed him beyond what I'd thought was safe, but he bounced back a few seconds later. "That was pretty fast. Man, you must- Jaune, is that a burn?"
Blake and Ruby instantly perked. They peeked at my hand and gasped, one in a choke of blatant horror, the other in a hiss of warm breath. My skin had almost entirely burnt away, leaving half-blackened flesh and visible bits of bone. I winced. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I had in the Fire, but it was pretty nasty to look at anyway.
"That was because... of your Aura?" Ruby whispered. "But... but it's not supposed to do that! Aura is a shield, a protector, not some acid that lives in your body!"
Even as she spoke, Avalon burst into activity in a golden spray of light inside my chest. It wasn't visible beneath my shirt, but it warmed me nevertheless. The blood vessels in my hand were already beginning to seal and fuse together, and the flesh wouldn't be far behind.
"Relax, guys," I told them. Maybe it was just to sound cool, maybe it was a vain attempt to reassure them that I was alright. The threads of Avalon's refined, golden and healing prana raced up my arm, peeking out through my muscles. A few sparks glittered inside a hollow where muscle and tissue met, cascading my face in warm light. The girls looked mystified, and Ren was halfway to pulling out his weapons when my wrist pulsed with energy, and my flesh rematerialized before their eyes. "I'll heal up in just a few minutes."
Before, This would have taken several hours to heal, maybe a full night of sleep. Now that I had the prana to almost fully charge Avalon and keep it running constantly, however, it healed much faster than before.
I watched in fascination as the blood flow ceased completely and tendrils of prana took it over. Prana rarely had a physical form, only appearing as distortions of light occupying a space most of the time. It was Conceptual Weapons, things like Avalon that blatantly defied a basic idea of an object, that could force prana into a physical form to affect even Gaia and Alaya. The prana felt... slippery, almost like a sheet of silk, but smoother.
"What in the hell..." Ren's swear trailed off, his guns peeking out of his sleeves.
"Okay, that's getting uncomfortable," I groaned. The new skin prickled like it had when I transferred into Avalon, and I slowed the prana flow. The golden glow died down, becoming a faint shimmer on my fresh skin.
"Is that some sort of Semblance or something?" Blake asked. She picked up my wrist and examined my hand closely. There were still bits of flesh peeking out of the skin, but it had already mostly healed.
Alright, so I figured out something in regards to my Aura. It hates me a lot. Like, to the point that using it will start dismembering me from the bone outwards. It seemed like Aura was an antithesis to my prana, two opposing forces that accomplish the same effects. The bubbling prana inside my Circuits clashed with the pool of Aura hovering in my chest, waiting for it to make another self-destructive move. Surprisingly enough, the Aura pools seemed a little depleted, and unlike the times when I'd tried and failed to harness it before, anything that was lost was not refilled. My Circuits constricted just a bit more tightly around the Aura pool.
"Not exactly," I explained. "My Aura does some... weird things to my body. Whenever I try to actively use it aside from my Semblance, it damages me. It still fixes me up passively, though. For now, though, let's stop talking and start eating. I'm hungry, and I bet the rest of you are too."
As if it were timed, all four of our stomachs let out a grumble that could put Taiga's to shame. Despite the small snacks that some of the more adventurous students had managed to filch from the kitchens, I was still vastly hungry, and immediately made to find the kitchen. It was a quaint thing, small but very versatile. A single oven with burners, fridge, icebox and sink, with cabinets lining the top. I automatically Traced what I remembered from the rice cookers back home. Hopefully, the thing would work and not explode like the last time I tried cooking with Traced electrical materials in the old world. Energy as potent and free as electricity messed with prana, as it turned out.
Whatever force was governing Remnant clearly decided not to give me any trouble, as decided by a nearly perfect dinner. My only failing was a lack of choices in the pickled vegetables, but that could be remedied by a single trip to the city below. The four of us enjoyed a hearty, if a little salty, meal of soba with sliced duck, various arrayed vegetables and egg in a chicken broth. A little unconventional, but it worked well, and we all retired to bed with full stomachs.
Well, they retired to bed. I simply waited until all I could hear was even breathing and stood back up. It was hard to figure out when everyone was asleep. Ruby was easy, because she snored a little bit, but Blake and Ren had perfectly even breathing patterns even when fighting. The only signal I got of their slumber was Blake's occasional twitch and Ren mumbling incoherently. I slipped out of the comfortable bed and looked around.
The door was still slightly ajar from where I'd forgotten to close it, so I slipped away from our room with sock-padded feet and set out to find a suitable place to put my journals. Navigating the school was hard in the beginning, since the only wings I had ever been to were the dormitories and the assembly hall, but after a half hour I'd found my way around decently enough. There were several locked rooms I could have used to store my collection of knowledge, but only one found its way into my thoughts. The hinges, knob and lock alike were caked in rust, and had I not been able to Trace I likely never would have gotten in without slicing the metal frame off its hinges. As it was, I had to use my frequently-less practiced art of Projecting unique things to get in. A gold key stood in my hands as I fiddled with the lock, trying simultaneously to scrape off any rust that had accumulated inside the pins and tumblers and unlock it. After five minutes of trying, I managed it and peered inside.
The room was barely bigger than a broom closet, but the walls were lined with shelves and it looked like it hadn't been used in at least a decade. I quickly set to work stacking my journals on the shelves by alphabet. Nobody could read my journals anyway; I'd written them in Japanese as a precaution for anyone looking to undo the web of lies that was gradually enshrouding me. It would come back to bite me in the ass, I was sure, but there was no point explaining everything to my team when I'd lied my ass off to Jaune's parents throughout the entire summer.
I worked for another two hours, constantly changing and shelving my journals until they resembled what I had back at the Arc Greenhouse. By then, even my Reinforcement began to ebb, and I found myself tired. Staying up for a day or two with Reinforcement would keep me alert and fine, but bordering on three would leave even someone as heavily-caffeinated as Rin tired. The last leather-bound tome was pushed into place with a satisfying thunk and I nearly dropped right there. I pushed the bags back onto my back and, for one last precaution, placed a few Mystic Code-swords into the tile around the closet to deter anyone from noticing it. I'd have to come back every few days to replace them, and while I did that it would be easy enough for me to update my collection. With everything settled, I closed and locked the door and bolted back to my- our room.
I was asleep before I hit the pillow, dreaming of swords and fire.
The morning came all too quickly for my tastes. My first sign of light was a flicker of warmth against my eyes, but I ignored it in favor of turning around and snuggling deeper into my pillows. What was that dream about... Oh yeah, Sakura and pillows... really soft pillows...
That was when I promptly fell out of bed and landed face-first on the ground.
My small hopes at getting my dream back vanished, along with any feeling in my face. I sighed. Just my typical E ranked Luck.
I rolled over and opened my eyes, allowing them to adjust slowly to the sharp blades of sunlight stabbing into the room. Almost without effort, I glanced over to my team. Ren was sleeping soundly on the top bunk across from mine, in the exact same position as he'd fallen asleep. Ruby was below him, still snoring, and now drooling slightly as she flailed around the bed in some sort of grotesque nightmare involving countless zombies. Or a karate match. One of those two. Blake, meanwhile, was looking down from her place above my bunk. Her hair was slightly ruffled from sleep, but her golden eyes were alert and slightly worried, surprisingly enough. "You alright?" she stage-whispered. Ren twitched in his sleep, but didn't wake.
"Yeah," I said, closing my eyes again. It was too early, but usually "too early" meant "get to class". My body groaned as I pushed it up to a standing position. Even at sixteen, I was tall enough that Blake's bed came to eye level, and I met her gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine. You wanna hit the shower first, or should I?"
Blake tucked herself further into bed. "You go ahead," she offered. "I'm going to get a little more sleep in before we have to get ready."
"Sure. I'll tell you when I get out." She nodded and rolled over, and almost instantly her breathing evened out and her body relaxed. Having the ability to fall asleep in the blink of an eye would beat out Unlimited Blade Works anyday.
The shower was what finally woke me up, and as I blinked myself back to alertness, I realized that Avalon had been churning through prana all night. I shut the sheath off, despite the ability to constantly have it on. Whatever it had been doing was something I didn't quite want to know, but I started theorizing anyway. Was it using my prana to power the Legend of King Arthur during his battle with Gilgamesh? Was it energizing Gilgamesh himself? Whatever the reason, it was distracting.
I shut the water off and examined my face. It was growing back into Jaune's face from where it had stopped. My hair was another shade redder, now an almost burnt orange instead of the blond I'd started out with. My eyes had darkened again as well, almost blue again, just bordering on green for the moment. The tiny tuft of white hair from Projecting had spread further across my fringe, spiking up against my left temple. I was much leaner than Jaune had been when I first inhabited his body. Where before, his jawline and collarbone had been hidden by a thin layer of fat, they now stood out starkly along with the corded muscle of my neck and shoulder blades. Overall, combined with my height and neutral expression, I made for a fairly intimidating figure.
I stepped out of the bathroom and signaled to Blake. She seemed vaguely depressed at the idea of heading to the hot water for some reason. I ignored her probing gaze on the scar from Gae Bolg and pulled a shirt on my still-damp shoulders. A pair of cargo shorts and running shoes followed. I couldn't wear that kind of casual wear to classes, but I definitely would during my morning training. I walked out the door with a quick explanation to Blake and began my usual routine.
An hour later I walked back in, marginally more sweaty and smelling vaguely musky. The early-morning shower did well to mask most of the smell of my thoroughly sore body, but I'd still need another quick wash to get all the sweat out of my hair and skin.
Ren was awake, leaving Ruby the only one still sleeping. He nodded a wordless greeting to me when I entered. I returned it and turned to a clean-looking Blake in full uniform. "What's the time?" I asked. "Our first classes start at nine, and I don't want to be late."
Blake took a moment to check a small pocket watch attached to her uniform. "It just turned eight,"she announced. "We'll have just enough time to unpack and get to class if Ruby wakes up now. Jaune, could you do it?"
"Sure." Now, how to go about such a thing? I could shake her shoulder, plug her nose...
I picked her up bodily and rolled her off the bed and onto the ground. That workers too, much better than just plugging her nose. She was up and ready to charge in an instant. Her silvery eyes blinked listlessly. "Whazzat?" she slurred. "Ah, 'm ready ta take ya on..." Her body drooped, and she nearly fell asleep again before Ren and I could catch her. Okay, maybe it didn't work so well. Time for plan B.
"Ruby," I began seriously, "if you don't wake up now you'll never make it to Beacon on time."
That woke her up big time. She started, and the film over her eyes instantly cleared as they darted all over the room, racing to pack whatever belongings she could see. "Crap, gonna be late, gonna be late..." She trailed off when she saw us. Blake was raising an eyebrow, Ren valiantly held in a chuckle, and I admit that I had a tiny teasing smile on my face. Ruby's cheeks heated up like steel in a forge. "Let's forget I ever did that, alright?" she asked.
I shrugged helplessly. "I can't stop myself from remembering certain things at certain times," I admitted, grinning. "What would happen if I accidentally just blurt something out in front of Yang, I wonder?" Yeah, Gilgamesh was definitely rubbing off on me. What a disturbing thought.
"No!" Ruby was either unaware that I was having a go at her, or she didn't care, because that groan of anguish was most definitely real. I let out a small chuckle and turned back to my bed. I slipped out of my dirty, torn shirt and pulled on the button-up that Beacon had provided me with. After that came the tie, then the pants, and finally the blazer. By the time Ruby was off the ground, I was decked out in the same outfit as Ren. It was stiff and a little uncomfortable, but not to the point where it would significantly impede combat. I gave it a test stretch.
"So... What's on the schedule, boss?" Ruby asked. I pulled out my Scroll. After a few uses of Structural Analysis, some assistance from Ozpin and a bit of Alteration, I'd been able to configure the machine to key into my prana instead of my Aura. I swiped forwards a few times and brought up the schedules for first-years. Team SRBR was highlighted in a pale red color at the top of the charts.
"First, we've got Grimm Studies, followed by Ancient Human History and Arithmetics. Lunch is after that, and then we have a free period for an hour before we have our first official combat class. I think Glyn- erm, Professor Goodwitch said something about having a tournament bracket for our first class, just to get a general gauge of our abilities and to keep us interested during the boring study parts."
Ruby groaned at the thought of studying even more than in the classes we already had to. It did sound dull, but it probably wasn't that bad compared to the cram sessions I'd been attending prior to the Grail War. Maybe I could get a "Fake Janitor" job here too. It would certainly help to pass the time, and there weren't many limits to the kinds of things Structural Analysis could be used on. Hell, I might even be able to Analyze things I had in my memory, instead of just the present time. That would be all sorts of helpful, especially when creating a Magic Crest. I'd also have to find Ozpin and talk to him about Zelretch and Mr. Dawn at some point. During our brief meetings over the time I'd first come here, I'd only seen him for a total of fifteen minutes total. He only gave me enough time to tell me he'd be flaking out on the kids again, probably because the old Jaune would have flipped all kinds of shit over being stuck with children for several days.
"We have about an hour left before our first class begins," I told them. "Until then, why don't we get unpacked?"
There was a vibrant noise of agreement from the members of my team, and we all, set to work unpacking our things. My books were already set into their bookcase, so I only had a few things to shove into drawers and hang on the walls. I placed my clothes in their respective drawers inside the bedstand. Then came the hard part.
The picture with Lancer, Saber and the rest was in a Traced frame for the time being, so I propped it up on my nightstand. The picture with Berserker charging towards me was hung at the foot of the bunks that belonged to Blake and I, right above a small table that I'd probably be sitting at a lot in the next five years. The pictures of Saber and Archer, however, went on either side of the door. Archer's visage was oddly serene in the sparing sunlight, filtered and blocked by several layers of clouds. Even Saber, painted to be as accurate as possible, seemed soft-eyed when I looked at her. The King of Knights was cold and collected to everyone except for me, Rin and occasionally Taiga. Lancer was another exception as well, and in another universe, I think that if Bazett had ended up keeping Lancer's Command Seals and we'd teamed up with them instead of Rin and Archer, maybe he and Saber would have ended up falling for each other. Lancer was a good guy, even I could tell that, we just ended up on the wrong sides of the War.
Okay, now I wanted to punch Lancer in the face. It would be best to not think of a would-be friend and my Servant in a romantic situation.
I sighed and glanced at the portrait of Saber again. Her face was once again stern and relentless. Blake was inspecting it closely. She had few possessions that she'd taken with her, even fewer than mine. Mostly, it was just clothing, but I saw a warped orb resting on the nightstand and a stylized carving of a cat resting on one of the posts of her bed. "Did you paint this?" she asked.
I found myself scratching the back of my neck again, a sure sign that I was embarrassed. Of course, I could have told you that from the feeling of unnatural coolness in the pit of my stomach and the warmth in my cheeks. "Yeah," I admitted quietly. "It took a few tries, but..."
"It's good," she said. "If I might ask, who is it of?"
I paused. There was no way in hell I could pass Saber off as just a friend, but calling her my lover or girlfriend would garner a bit more attention than necessary. Using a cliche like "someone I cared very much for" would only serve to make Blake want to pry further.
"...A good person and an even better comrade." It was concise, but it got the point across that I didn't want to talk about it further. Thankfully, Blake got the hint and didn't push. Ruby, however... Well, she wasn't the brightest Circuit in the soul.
"She must have been pretty strong, to fight with you," she quipped. I could feel my spine involuntarily stiffening, and Blake's eyes flicked between the two of us concernedly. "I mean, you were really strong in the forest yesterday, and if she was that good, then you wouldn't-"
"Ruby, you might want to take a shower before class starts," Ren interrupted. There was ice creeping up my back, and my fists, because they were fists at that point, trembled slightly. The only reason blood wasn't spilling between my fingers was the fact that Avalon had unconsciously activated, responding to my anger with soothing pulses of healing prana.
Ruby, the wonderful girl that she was, simply nodded and headed off to the showers with a bright smile. I stood there for another minute, trembling, as flashes of the War splintered into focus. Lancer stabbing me, nearly getting torn in half, Saber collapsing, All the World's Evils ringing them like a mocking circle of agony. I forced those memories back down, invoking my Aria again and again. With each fire of the revolver, another Magic Circuit activated, repressing the emotions even more. Finally, the events trailed to a stop, and I closed down my Circuits with a deep breath. It was getting easier to control them, even with the Curse active.
A hand touched my shoulder, and I very nearly flinched before recognizing the cool, smooth skin of my partner. I opened my eyes. Blake was looking at me with worry and a hint of pity in her eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked. Her voice echoed, like we were in a tunnel.
I just gave her a sad smile and my usual answer when somebody asked me if I was alright. "Yeah, I am." I made to turn around, but something stopped me. To this day, I'm not entirely sure what it was, but I found myself incapable of moving my feet. "...She was stronger, you know."
"Hm?" Blake looked confused.
"She was stronger than me. By several magnitudes, in fact. Back then, I was so weak I probably wouldn't have been able to defend myself from a single Grimm. She came along, and so did Lancer, and everyone else. They... Well, they gave me a reason to be strong."
"
What was the reason?" Blake asked, her hand still on my shoulder. Ren had turned away, excusing himself from the conversation.
When I didn't answer, Blake took her hand off my shoulder. "Sorry if I went too far. I only meant to-"
"To live." I turned to face her. She was openly concerned. I hadn't seen that much emotion from her... well, ever. She was a stoic person, that much was in her very nature. To see someone so much like Saber hurt, but it also felt nice to remember that there were people worried about my well-being, even if I wasn't. "Back then, one wrong move meant death. Saber gave me a reason to be careful, and to make sure that I could save as many lives as I could while I'm alive, no matter the consequences."
I turned back to the door. "I'll be fine, Blake," I said. "Don't worry about it. What's done is done, and I won't look back."
'I have no regrets; this is the only path.'
Alright, that's the chapter done! People are already going to have questions and complaints about me "retconning" Shirou's appearance, so I'll say it now: it was planned, certainly not a retcon, and it has to do with story elements that will be explained further in later chapters. Also noted is the Shirou x Myrtenaster pairing. If there are any artists out there, that would be a greatly appreciated treat.
Alright, let's get to the reviews! I'll be taking a few from last time as well.
Tethriot: Now that I'm looking at it, I can definitely see the resemblance. I first saw Resonance of Steel in PoaWH, and I wasn't certain if it was a canon mechanic, so I used it in this anyway. Seriously, how did I miss that?
3000-Calorie-Diet: Your criticism is noted and appreciated to great extent. I'll be sure to use less text walls in the future. Thank you very much for the advice!
polarpwnage: Not quite sure if that's correct, since Gae Bolg is literally stopping time, reversing it, then changing something that, by nature, shouldn't be capable of changing to make sure it stabs someone in the heart. I can see how you would think it wouldn't, but at the same time doing all of that should be heavily taxing.
A Silver Dolphin: I'm really glad you noticed that. Like, really glad. (Not a typo though)
HE-Spec-Ops: Thanks for reading! Honestly, I started questioning myself about nineteen chapters in about the sexism subject when I started editing my earlier chapters. I went through them, and while I first thought I sounded sexist, the opposite most certainly seems to be true in RWBY and F/SN alike. Weiss is the only character I've come remotely close to bashing, honestly, because the Rule of Cool isn't going to apply here (for the most part). There are a ton of impracticalities in both canon sources, and I'm trying my best to do away with them in a somewhat realistic manner. Weiss' and Ruby's fighting styles, Weiss' heels and all the other things? Totally impractical. On the other hand, though, women seem to be elevated slightly more in the source materials. In F/SN, if you're a strong character you're either a Servant, an assassin or a woman *cough* heroines, Ilya, Bazett, etc. *cough*. In RWBY, the majority of Huntspeople-in-training are female, and aside from Jaune the males don't get nearly enough screentime. I was trying to flesh out the male characters a bit more since they get so little screentime in RWBY.
tl;dr: sorry about the sexism thing, even if I didn't mean to. It's true that I come from America, so sorry if I sounded sexist.
Vandenbz: Thanks for the typo list. Fixed them all.
To everyone who caught the "typo" about Shirou being orphaned: heh.
Sinarblood: Thanks for reviewing. I deleted the whole history bit, because it was unnecessary and a little stupid on my part. Also, thanks to your little notice on how many times Lancer could use Gae Bolg. I tweaked Shirou's stats a little to match that.
ThatOnePsycho: Rapiers can have blades for slashing, but Myrtenaster's clearly not one of them. Myrtenaster is a square spike, meant for stabbing and not slashing. I've used several rapiers of this type myself, and even though they can cause tears and slashes with the very tip the technique isn't effective at all unless you're a master or your opponent deliberately waits for you to attack.
That seems to be it for now. I'll be taking a vacation to London starting on the fourth of June and I'll be gone for a week. I still don't know if I'm taking my laptop yet, so if you see a pair of chapters posted that week you'll know. Keep reading everyone!