'It's Not Unusual' belongs to Tom Jones.
1/29/16: Edits
Far below a land that lay beaten and barren, sprawled a vast network of winding tunnels. Hooded figures scurried like ants along the grimy corridors, guided by flickering yellow bulbs and the muted echoes of their chanting brethren.
The crowd filed quietly into a large chamber, different from their meditation room. It was a large square block newly chiseled from solid stone. The walls stood pale and without adornment, and the floor, smooth and cool. At the center, a square of light about as wide as to bathe a man completely, burned onto the ground, and served as the only light source for the whole room. And at the center of this square, a small focused point of light glittered.
The people wordlessly sat in interconnected rows and columns, so that each individual was in reach of the next. This circuit was crucial to the will of the Master, and it would be done to his specifications.
A large black man slunk into the room. His gleaming jade eyes swept across the assembly. Satisfied that everything was in order, he stood off to the side revealing a man of fierce build. Decked in gold robes that flowed like fine silk, he stalked noiselessly into the room. The crowd parted with bowed heads.
The broad man stepped into the square of light and turned his face up to the source. He opened his hands and turned them up. He felt each ray of sunlight soak into every pore of his skin. His nerves sparked, his muscles buzzed with energy, and his senses sharpened. He could feel the anticipation of his people, like a rushing tide pressing in on him from all sides. He could feel the angle of the light—the focused point of light—all of it.
Gerhalt turned to his subjects and sat cross legged in the square of light with the focused dot directly above his head.
"My friends." His low, rumbling voice echoed strongly throughout the chamber. Though he was speaking in a normal voice, there wasn't an ear that couldn't hear his word. "You have been with me for so very, very long. Generations of you. At last, your patient toil will soon bear fruit. Let the first phase of our ascension begin."
The sunlit man stretched out his hands and grasped two robed hands. Their twins gripped other hands, who gripped others, and others, until the entire circuit was connected. The gold flakes in his yellow eyes glistened as he turned his face to the prismatic gem that focused the powerful sunlight. He gazed into it as easily as if he were looking across a placid lake.
His eyes swept over the winking shards of light and fell onto the bright white focal point. His vision passed through the prism, past the fractal beams of light, and into a limitless white expanse.
He reached out with his Aura. The rays of light mingled with his golden Aura. He pulled back, feeding from the pure light. His eyes blazed. His face burned. His chest heaved with raw energy. He channeled it. He forced it through his hands—they were on fire—and into the palms of his subjects.
Their hands burned.
Their chests heaved with raw energy.
He pushed a tendril of his Aura through the circuit, feeling all of his subjects. He waited until the energy had soaked through every one of his people.
He closed his eyes and pulled his Aura back slowly, inch by inch. The connection with the light was fading, fading, cooling, soothing. As his Aura came back to him, it set to work repairing his taxed body. He let go of his subjects hands, and they let go of theirs.
The air in the room hung heavy with anticipation. Everybody in the assembly vibrated with an influx of raw energy.
Gerhalt looked out into the crowd. Their eyes stared back obediently, each glowed like faint embers. "Feel the very sun in your veins, my friends. This is but a taste of what is to come. Go now, and spread word to our brethren. And to those who would dare to stand in your way, be the hand of our word. Man wants to bury you underground. Just like these picks, they want to see that you toil against a blank stone wall your whole lives. The humans have long made us aware of their position. Now it is our time to take action."
Smoldering eyes stared back at him, narrowed in purpose.
Yang plopped down onto the bench, slapping her breakfast onto the table. She couldn't believe what she was hearing—what she was still hearing. She absolutely would not believe it.
"No way. No way! You're screwing with me. The entire school's gone insane. You did not get eaten by a huge ass Grimm. First, I thought it was some joke you made up because of my bet with Rubes, but everyone's still talking about it!"
Her eyes flared red for a second.
Nora had a proud gleam in her eye. "Jaune-Jaune, tell her how you got swallowed whole and you had to carve your way out of the hellish guts of your enemy."
Jaune smiled and shook his head. This had to be the fourteenth time he'd been asked to tell his story about being eaten alive. He'd unashamedly told Sam during their little picnic. Then, when they got back to Beacon, they were met by the remaining members of BSQT. Sam excitedly filled his friends in on the blonde knight's ordeal, one thing led to another, and he was forced to tell his entire story again. Twice.
In the days that followed, complete strangers would come up to him and ask him if it was all true. Of course, they weren't satisfied with a simple yes, and would pry the story out of him again and again. It was all rather exhausting, really.
"I'll tell you at Port's class. I've got to give a presentation on our performance anyway. You'll get all the juicy details then."
Yang grumbled sourly. "Rats. And who did your tie today; you look like you're trying to strangle yourself." She referred to the knotted noose that used to be his tie.
"I did. And it's every bit as uncomfortable as it looks."
He'd gone without his tie for the last few days. He'd finally cracked and gave it a go today, but it naturally didn't end well. He asked Nora, but she threw herself at his feet with watery eyes.
"I can't! I don't know how! I'm sorry! I'm worthless! Please, please, please forgive me!" It took him half an hour to calm her down.
No, it hadn't ended well at all.
Yang smirked, an evil glint shone in her lavender eye. "Hey, isn't the princess supposed to be in charge of that? What happened, Killer, honeymoon over?"
He chanced a sidelong glance at his... girlfriend? He tried it out in his head. Yeah, that sounded right. She kept her ice blue eyes fixed on her plate. Her left arm moved almost robotically from the plate to her small mouth and back again. She hardly registered he was there, let alone anyone else in the room.
Weiss had been quiet these last few days. She had stomped away stiffly the moment they touched down. He'd intended to speak to her when he got back to the dorms, but she was curled up on her bed with her back turned to him, presumably asleep. He meant to pick it up the next day, but she regarded him with a frigid glare. She didn't even tie his tie for him! He tried to corner her in class or just after, but she'd slip away like the last vapors of a sweet dream. This had gone on for days! He didn't know how much more he could take.
Evidently, something was wrong and he needed to get to the bottom of it for his poor neck's sake.
"Um, Mr. Arc?"
"What's up, Velvet?" The bunny girl had her ears half curled, ready to snap shut just in case he decided to go into his gruesome story. She had amazingly avoided hearing any of the terrible details, and she prided herself on never hearing the story until she absolutely positively had to.
"Er, I-I could help you with your tie."
Jaune blinked. Well, it would certainly do wonders easing the pressure building up in his neck. From the corner of his eye he felt something shift. He barely made out a baby blue eye regarding him with a calculating look. A tiny frown set across those soft pink lips.
So, that's how it is, is it?
Jaune smirked. Weiss took immense pride in her appearance. And her schoolwork. So, when it came down to his giving a presentation to one of her favorite professors in less than an hour, looking like a hanged man was absolutely unacceptable. They were partners, after all. His blunders would look bad on her as well.
He bit his lip. It was a gamble. If she was angry enough, she would simply let him go up and look like a complete fool. But if this didn't get her to speak to him, he didn't know what else would.
Jaune shook his head and smiled. "No, thanks Velvet, I'll be alright."
Game on, my little munchkin. Your move.
He stood and collected his empty tray. The only thing remaining was a paper towel, stained with the last struggles of a valiant sandwich against the mighty and terrible tyrant that is man. He moved to the far end of the lunchroom slowly, scanning the heads of his fellow students for a familiar mop of auburn hair. He felt a pair of eyes follow him as he ambled along. Good. He wanted her to see where he was going.
Jaune found just the man he was looking for at a far corner of the lunchroom, near the vending machines. He and his three teammates were horsing around. Sharp eyed Bill was locked in an arm wrestling match with a curly blonde haired boy, Ted. Round faced Quinn and roguish Sam were alternatively rooting their friends on and pouring over a piece of paper with fresh scribbles. Jaune figured they were lyrics for a new song.
He was suddenly a bit nervous about his request. It would have been a bit easier if it was just one of them, but this was the entire team. These guys were seniors and he was just a pesky underclassman. Besides, he'd been a bit of a fan of theirs since he first heard them.
He cleared his throat. "Er, hey guys."
Sam looked up at him with a broad smile. "Oh, hey Jaune. Listen, I hope you don't mind, but we told some of our friends about your kill."
He'd noticed. The school still wouldn't shut up about it.
"Naw, that's fine." He glanced back to see if those crystal blue eyes were still on him. They were, tinged with suspicion and distrust. He thought there was something else there, longing, but he wasn't so full of himself as to entertain that thought for long. When their eyes met, hers widened, and she whipped her head in the other direction.
He turned back to his upperclassmen. "I hope you guys could do me a bit of a favor."
Bill slammed Ted's hand down and the pair moved closer to listen.
Sam looked over at his buddies and they all nodded. "Yeah, sure pal. What can we do ya for?"
Jaune flicked his eyes back at his white haired princess. She was eating rapidly. Or, as rapidly as one could given proper ladylike manners. He needed to be quick or else she would escape.
"Alright, here's the scoop..."
The five young men bowed their heads together and proceeded to conspire.
Weiss felt a chill run down her spine as Jaune meddled with that accursed barbershop quartet. She willed herself not to march over there and pull him back by the ear. If he wanted to continue acting like a lunkhead, then so be it, she would continue treating him like one.
She frowned at her nearly empty plate of fruit. Little lonely slices dodged about, avoiding her sullen fork. What they had was so new and fragile, and he had to go and scare her nearly to death by pulling that stupid stunt. Couldn't he have been a little more careful? Couldn't he have considered that maybe if he ran it by her, that she would have a better idea than to go straight down a monster's gullet.
Her crystalline eyes hardened at the memory. She'd shot two ice bolts at the tentacle to try and free him. When he fell her whole world froze. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. She could only watch as the only boy she'd ever really connected with fell to his death. And it was all her fault!
When he burst out of that horrible thing she didn't even have time to be happy about it. He was near death and delirious. She healed him with the same glyph she'd cast on him before. It worked its way through his system and forced him to expel all the impurities he'd ingested. Then he had the gall to say he needed to plan it better.
Plan it!?
She ground her fork against the cheap glass plate. The tines squeaked in pain as they bent into odd angles.
How dare he? This whole time he had meant to fall down that thing's digestive tract. He'd meant for her to think he'd died. She snapped. She refused to let him touch her until he'd burned those clothes and scrubbed away every last molecule of evidence that this event had ever occurred.
She pursed her lips.
And what was worse? He hadn't tucked her in for days. She'd left her bed undone so that he would have the perfect opportunity to tuck her in and give her a kiss goodnight. But did he? No! He couldn't have been too tired, he showered at night. She knew. She listened.
The disgruntled heiress was broken from her thoughts by a loud clap.
"Weiss?" Pyrrha's green eyes glittered with amusement. "Everything alright?"
The young girl crossed her arms in a huff. "I'm just fine, thank you very much."
The redhead smiled softly. Weiss had been rather cool to Jaune as of late. She would concentrate on her food or start a conversation with someone else every time he tried to speak to her. She went especially quiet when conversation turned to their recent adventure.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"Yeah, come on Weiss-Weiss, tell us what's wrong." Even Nora had noticed.
Weiss' eyes flicked over to the far end of the lunchroom. Pyrrha followed her gaze and found Jaune huddled together with that little troop of singers.
"There's nothing to talk about." She took her tray and left the table.
Pyrrha followed quickly and fell into step beside her friend. As they left the canteen, the fresh morning air embraced them. Their skin tingled as the cool air caressed their bare flesh. Weiss began a brisk walk to Port's class, and Pyrrha matched step, determined not to lose her little friend in a crowd of students.
As they walked, they could hear snatches of conversation carrying on around them.
"Did you hear about..."
"Yeah! Sam swears it's true. He went through the damn thing."
"I dunno. I mean, wouldn't you suffocate or get crushed to death?"
"Well, yeah, but maybe this guy got lucky."
"It's still pretty freakin' awesome."
They passed a commemorative scene of several hunters standing majestically on a hill. Weiss hooked a left and ducked into a winding cobblestone path through a vivid garden that had just entered its blooming phase. Brilliant reds, oranges, and purples swayed merrily in the breeze.
This seemed like as good a place as any to have a little chat. Pyrrha wound her arm around her friend's and forced down her marching pace. Weiss tried to wrench her arm free, but she was easily no match for the stronger girl. After flapping about in vain, she gave up.
"He's just such an idiot!" Weiss suddenly burst out.
Pyrrha's pleasant, patient smile remained.
"He goes and gets himself eaten just as I'm trying to save him from that—that thing! He makes me think I've killed him throughout the entire fight, and when he finally comes out, he says it was all part of his plan. His plan! He planned to get swallowed whole! And now the entire school refuses to stop talking about it." Her voice cracked. "I keep seeing him fall. I can't stop thinking that it'd be all my fault if he died."
Pyrrha squeezed her friend's arm, swung her around and crushed her firmly agaisnt her chest. She could see her friend's blue eyes in her mind's eye, bright with emotion.
"Hush now. Did you talk to him about it?"
The heiress shook her head.
"Then maybe you should let him know how you feel."
"I was so angry. I clammed up again. Just like always." She reached up and clung to the taller girl's jacket.
Pyrrha pulled back slightly so she could look her friend in the eye.
"Just be honest. You know he'd never hurt you for anything you'd have to say." She sensed the girl was about to protest. "He isn't a mind reader, Weiss. He goes to a school where the students do extraordinary things while combating extraordinary monsters. He's from a small secluded village. He probably thinks we're all used to this sort of thing."
The little fencer sighed. When had she become such a girl?
The two moved through the quiet garden and back out onto the main walkway. As they approached the large stately lecture hall, Pyrrha's sharp eyes caught five young men in matching squat straw hats. The tips of her lips turned up. This would be entertaining.
She once again seized Weiss' arm and tugged her over to the assembled young men. Weiss, too, saw what she was heading for. She blanched and desperately tried to wrench her arm away from Pyrrha's steel grip.
"Let me go! I say, let me go!" Her expression turned pleading. "Please, please let me go. I promise we'll talk it over. Everything will be fine by the end of the day. You can check for yourself, but please don't subject me to this!"
Her pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Oh, this should be fun." Pyrrha added a spring in her step. "I've seen them around school sometimes, singing for the passersby. I try to stop when I have some time and give them a listen. It's only polite."
She tugged the protesting Schnee heiress along and stopped in front of the young men. They stood in a semicircle. Bill and Ted stood on one side, while Sam and Quinn stood on the other. And right in the middle, Jaune Arc. Weiss couldn't take her eyes off his smiling face and those vivid blue eyes. Her face began to heat up.
The men on Jaune's left and right thrust out their respective arms in a flourish, signaling the start of their song. The senior quartet began to hum the sickly sweet melody. The song sounded familiar the moment they got past the first five notes. A bad feeling crept up into her chest.
Jaune stepped forward and spread his arms out wide. Weiss tried to take a step back, but Pyrrha's grip was too strong.
No. No! No no no no no!
"It's not unusual to be loved by anyone." She couldn't place what his voice sounded like. Her brain had stopped working.
"It's not unusual to have fun with anyone." His backup singers started snapping their fingers to the beat. "But when I see you hangin' around with anyone, it's not unusual to make me cry."
He stepped right up to her. Glass. That was it. It sounded like shattering glass. His voice was the same thing as putting her head through glass. Repeatedly!
"Oh, I wanna die!"
That can be arranged!
He carried on this way, moving around the little makeshift stage that consisted of his cohorts and the little semicircle of space they'd taken up. She cast a glance at Pyrrha and found her smiling bashfully at her boots. The tips of her ears had gone as red as her hair.
What are you blushing for? This isn't for you. It's for me! Only me!
"Love will never do, what you want it to. Why can't this crazy love be mine?" He desperately tried to hold the note. She didn't register the small crowd that had assembled, looking to help whoever was dying.
"It's not unusual to be mad with anyone." His blue eyes twinkled in the light. She tried to glare at him, but her body betrayed her and decided to heat up her cheeks instead. "It's not unusual to be sad with anyone."
She'd regained control of her sword hand through sheer force of will. It shook violently.
"But if I ever find that you've changed at any time."
He took several flourishing steps toward her. She grit her teeth.
"It's not unusual to find out I'm in love with you, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!"
He fell to his knees and threw his arms out to accept her embrace. The students around them erupted in cheer as he closed his song.
She couldn't take it anymore!
Weiss finally wrenched her arm free of her thrice cursed best friend, and lunged forward. She dug her claws into Jaune's jacket and dragged him into the building. She could hear the cheers of the crowd tumbling after her as she pulled her idiot lunkhead along the halls. She took him into a deserted classroom, slammed the door shut with her foot and shoved him into a row of desks.
Her face still burned steadily.
"Just what do you think you were doing out there!?"
Jaune's smile held firm. "Singing with my mates."
"Ugh." She rolled her eyes.
"Aw, come on, you liked it. Admit it. Your face was all red and your ears do that cute little wiggle—"
"My ears do not wiggle! And I most certainly did not enjoy your—I hesitate to even call it an attempt—at singing." She would take it to her grave. But she really did find it... endearing.
While Jaune was lost in the fresh memory of his girlfriend standing all embarrassed while he and the men serenaded her, she stomped over to him. She tugged his tie roughly to snap him out of his reverie, and deftly untangled it with her long, slim fingers.
He moved to kiss the top of her head in thanks.
"Ah, ah, ah! Don't think just because you 'sung' that silly song and that I'm doing this for you, that I forgive you." She kept her eyes firmly fixed on his chest. Her mouth curved into a cute little pout. "You're going to make a fool of yourself during the presentation today. And as team leader, if you make a fool of yourself, you make a fool of all of us."
"Weiss, talk to me. What's happened that's got you so worked up?"
She glared at him, though he felt like it wasn't nearly as strong as her usual offerings.
"There's no time for that now. We're going to be late, and it's all your fault!"
She finished with his tie and whipped around, smacking him in the face with her long ponytail. She stormed stormed out of the room without another word.
"Weiss, wait, I—" He caught sight of the clock. He only had ninety seconds to get to class on the fourth floor. He cursed under his breath and ran off after his steamed girlfriend.
Jaune smacked the silver pointer onto the diagram of the Glome, the giant Grimm he and his team had killed in the sweltering desert.
"And that's when I fell into the mouth of the creature. It was hot, wet, dark, and stank of rotting meat."
The kids in the front row cringed. Jaune smiled inwardly. This wasn't anything most of the school didn't already know; it was the simple fact that none of it was a lie that grossed most people out, having only heard the story secondhand.
Yang listened with rapt attention.
"After that I fell down the esophagus and into the stomach. Of course, not before an entire clutch of Pixies flew out of their nesting organs and attacked my team on the outside." He trailed the pointer down the esophagus and paused around two long pouch like organs that had housed the flapping bat like things.
"Yup! They had long vicious talons and fangs. One of them bit me and I was all woozy for five minutes straight!" Nora piped in next to him. She had elected herself his partner during the presentation as Ren had quietly bowed out.
"I tried to hunker down until the flock flew by, but I lost my grip and fell into the stomach." Jaune dragged the pointer down to the digestion chamber. "I flailed around in there for a while. It was like a hot, burning pool of acid. Probably because it was."
This got a few chuckles.
He continued his account, explaining how he cut himself out of the stomach and found himself in a groove between two thick muscles. He told of how he shimmied along the small crevice to the heart chamber.
"This is when Weiss used her glyphs to weigh down its tentacles, and I was able to nail it square in the face with one of my grenades. It keeled over pretty hard."
Jaune went on to describe how he burst the creature's first heart in as much gruesome, gory detail he could possibly muster. He spent a good amount of time on how he was carried off by the river of boiling blood.
Yang looked a bit pale. Port sat riveted. And Weiss had a stony expression on her face.
"It was having trouble getting back up, so Ren and I started beating its face in! We just dashed out its eyes when Weiss' glyphs wore off and it started getting back up."
Jaune described the fibrous lungs and the slippery, slimy intestines in excruciating detail. He toned it back for the bursting of the second heart. He figured people got the gist.
Yang's eyes shone with absolute amazement. Port's hands began shaking; old muscle memories reemerged as his mind fled deep into the past. Weiss clenched her fists.
"The Glome fought blindly for a bit, flailing its tentacles and throwing up the last of its minions, but we beat it back. Then, suddenly it just stopped and stood still like a statue. That's when we knew Jaune-Jaune had to still be alive. I launched one good grenade at its head and it toppled over for good." Jaune pointed at the area just past the head where Nora's grenade made impact. "After a few minutes, Jaune-Jaune tore out the side of the monster, we all met up, and everyone except Weiss-Weiss was happy. The end."
Nora gave a bow.
Weiss bit back a squawk.
"Mr. Arc. However did you survive in the bowls of that creature?"
Jaune locked eyes with the Schnee heiress, she averted her gaze to her notebook.
"Well, Sir, I'd like to think I had an angel on my side that day. I wouldn't have been able to get by otherwise."
The tip of Weiss' pencil snapped off from the pressure.
The pair went back to their seats among a small rumble of applause. Yang clapped the loudest followed only by Professor Port. Other students were diligently finishing up their notes as the professor made his way to the stage.
Jaune sank into his seat with a sigh. "There. Now I don't want to hear anyone ask for that story ever again."
He chanced a glance at his partner. Her lips were pursed in a thin line and her hard blue eyes stared straight ahead. He honestly didn't know what was wrong. He thought she'd be proud that he had thought outside the box in taking down that Grimm. All it seemed to do was disappoint her even more.
He reached down and put his hand on her knee. She flinched and gave him a sour look. She tried to squirm away from him but there was nowhere else she could maneuver.
"Let me go," she hissed out the corner of her mouth.
"Splendid work. Excellent work!" The professor's sputtering praise cut off any response Jaune may have had. "This, students, is how you bring these beasts down. Really bring them down. Mr. Arc knew that his weapons would be ineffective against the thick hide of such a large foe, so he used his head and attacked from within. Right, well, we'll have the next team. Mr. Thrush, you're up."
As the next group went up to present their report, Jaune turned his attention to the white haired girl next to him.
"Weiss, please talk to me." He gave her knee a squeeze.
She huffed and did her best to ignore him. He was an idiot. She bit her lip. But that song had been absolutely stupid. He'd made a complete fool of himself in front of everyone. Pyrrha's advice came back to her. She supposed he couldn't pick the thoughts out of her head.
She sighed. "Did you have to be such an idiot? You couldn't have thought up something else?" Jaune's smile fell away as he picked up the slight quiver in her voice. "I thought you were dead. I thought I'd killed you. And you brushed it off like it was nothing."
"Oh, Weiss. I'm sorry." He felt like such the fool. He reached up and took her left hand away from her notebook, she'd long since stopped taking notes. He squeezed her little hand, running his thumb along her knuckles. "I just didn't think—"
"Obviously."
He smiled. "There's the Weiss I love."
Her cheeks colored slightly at the praise.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to help, and with my setup there wasn't anything I could do. You guys were pulling all the legwork and I didn't want to fall behind. I wasn't thinking, okay? I'm sorry."
"L-Lunkhead. Don't take such stupid risks next time. Promise me. Promise me you won't do things like that again."
"You know I can't do that. Anything could happen out there."
She glared up at him but there was no fire behind it. "Don't you think I know that? Just promise me anyway."
He smiled and pat her on the head. "Fine. I promise."
"And no more telling that stupid story."
Well, there was something they could both agree on.
"Or singing."
Well, he thought he was pretty good, thank you very much.
The rest of class passed by in a haze of stammering students and loud exclamations from Professor Port. Jaune kept his grip on Weiss' left hand firm and strong. He hadn't realized quite how much he missed being in contact with her, even if it had only been for a short time. Of course, being left handed, Weiss' notes for the rest of the period suffered from being sloppy and loosely worded. But she didn't tell him to let go either.
As the bell rang for the end of class, Professor Port's voice boomed over the cacophony of rushing students. "I want one page reactions about how you would take down each of the large Grimm we've discussed today by this Thursday. Dismissed!"
Jaune picked up his books and took Weiss' as well. She looped her arm through his and they walked out into the warm midday sun. Jaune was pleased to note that his little partner's expression was considerably brighter than it had been when she had gone into the lecture hall. A small smile played on her face, and her crystal blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight. She looked up at him with a crisp, innocent face; completely free of all worry.
Her grip suddenly tightened around his arm. "Don't think you're off the hook that easy, Arc. We're still burning those clothes." He was about to protest, but she squeezed his arm in warning. "You're also taking me out this weekend. And it's going to be your treat, lunkhead. So, be prepared."
Jaune prayed for his wallet as the petite fencer dragged him along the brightly lit cobblestone path.
Professor Goodwitch stood on the roof of Beacon's flagship building. She carefully worked the knobs on a sturdy telescope with her long fingers. Every so often she would pull her eye away from the lens and jot down a few notes onto a long sheet of paper by the light of the moon.
Beacon at night was positively serene. Crickets chirped freely as the students slept. Their rhythmic predictability was comforting, in a way; a constant, a certainty that even while the world was plagued by such incalculable darkness, while so many dedicated their lives to keeping it at bay, that at night the crickets would still sing.
A warm breeze swayed past the woman's pale blonde hair as her calculating green eye swept over the surface of the shattered moon. The dual crescents had been an enigma for the people of Remnant for some time. The theory went that millions of years ago a meteor struck the planet and careened off, ripping a chunk away, creating the oceans. That mass was flying fast enough to nearly escape the planet's orbit, but then another meteor slammed into that one, sending them both spinning around each other, back into the planet's.
A full moon had never been seen, since the planet's shadow, and the shadows of the two shards as they orbited one another, never allowed for it. However, when the sun was particularly strong, and with a clear sky, a good telescope, and some luck, people have been able to see into the darker sides of the moon.
Goodwitch picked up her pencil and finished off the curve of a crater she had been observing for the last ten minutes. Much like the Schnee heiress who used angular symmetry represented as snowflakes, she drew her inspiration from the moon and its different phases. Nights like these were crucial to expanding her glyph repertoire.
"It's quiet."
"Indeed." She didn't take her eyes from her work. She could hear him sipping from his perpetual mug. Another constant.
"The moon is rather bright." An appreciative tone entered his normally stoic monotone. "I was going to suggest you take advantage of the opportunity."
She hummed in response. "The winter seems to have shoved off for the year, so why not ring in the spring a little early?" She refocused the lens on a dark spot where she could only see the barest shadow of the surface. She studied it as if she were reading an ancient text, calculating the potential meaning of the symbols. Her hand automatically began sketching.
"Arc survived Port's first assignment. He won't stop talking about the report his team handed in."
Glynda's eyes began to sting. She closed them and allowed the burning to die down. "All thanks to Miss Schnee's glyph work. A progressive scan healing glyph is nothing to shake a stick at."
They lapsed into silence, each absorbed in their own work. Ozpin stared out at the moonlit campus, and Goodwitch gazed into the stars.
"Did you learn anything new?"
She shook her head. "There's nothing more I can learn at this point. His guardian told me his story, and Miss Schnee confirmed the rest of my suspicions. He's simply a man without a safety net. His... benefactor's the one that I really need to study. With two different Aura there's no telling what he could do."
"Two Auras?" There was a hint of genuine surprise in his voice, but it was buried deep. You had to know him for years to pick up on it.
Goodwitch rose and stretched, her back popped and cracked blissfully. She turned to her companion. "Oh yes. He was on death's bed, and Jaune used his Aura to heal him. No one is quite sure how it happened. I suspect the stress and emotion of the event caused Jaune's Aura to react on impulse, and his guardian's body drank greedily."
"Could it really be that simple? Wouldn't there be more cases if it were merely up to high emotion?"
The Aura instructor shook her head. "It's the best I've got right now, and it'll have to do until I can see this Slade in person."
Ozpin drank deeply from his mug and raised his eyebrow. "You're going to pursue this further?"
"Over break, yes." She sighed heavily. "I thought I would go to the coast this year, but this phenomenon is too good to pass up. If I can understand how it happened. See what it really does firsthand, without that insufferable man's convoluted tomfoolery, then maybe there could be a way to reverse it."
"And Arc?"
Goodwitch looked down at the cobble street where four hunters plodded along. They were coming from the direction of the gym and heading for the dorms. One in particular was hunched and staggering, using his sword as a walking stick. His companion, radiant in the pale moonlight, walked primly beside him. Their other teammates walked along as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
"He's in good hands."
Saturday rolled around in a haze of homework and training. Jaune was somewhat dismayed to note that while Weiss was no longer cold to him in normal situations; she tied his tie for him and even let him play with her hair whenever he got a chance, she brutalized him at the gym. He could still hear the clack of wood on wood rattling around in his head.
As they entered the city of Vale, any thought of taking it easy for the day flew from his mind. Weiss dragged him from one shop to the next, rummaging through racks of clothes. True to her word, she'd burned the clothes he'd worn during their first assignment. She made him watch and swear again that he'd never do something so idiotic.
Every so often she would thrust a shirt or a nice pair of pants into his arms and direct him to try them on. This went on for a horrible stretch of time that Jaune desperately wished he could escape, but the sharp eye of his tiny girlfriend prevented any such attempt.
Just as he thought the torture was over, Weiss disappeared into a rack of ties. She burst out minutes later with a bright smile on her face.
"Tada!" Her eyes sparkled as she proudly presented him with the garment like a model. The light blue tie, so delicately draped over her hands shimmered in the artificial light.
His befuddled mind took a moment to catch up with the excited heiress. "Er, well, it's a tie."
She rolled her eyes and gripped his arm in what he thought was an unnecessarily firm grip. "Come on, I want to see how it looks in the mirror."
He was dragged back into the dressing room, further and further away from the exit. He gazed at it in longing as Weiss whipped him around and stood him in front of a mirror. There was a finality in the sound of the lock clicking into place. He couldn't get out. There was just no way. He would die here!
The heiress draped the slip of fabric around his neck. His overloaded brain calmed down a bit when she didn't tie it. She turned to stand next to him; her big blue eyes stared at him through the mirror. He looked right back at her. She wore her standard battle outfit. It was fairly functional as casual dress, and he imagined she chose it just for that purpose. He chose to wear a navy blue polo and some comfortable cargo pants.
He smiled down at the young woman. He liked how she was just tall enough that he could fit her in the crook of his neck.
That gave him a little idea. He smirked. Payback time.
He shot a glance at the door. Yup, firmly locked. No escape.
He tugged the little fencer over to him and wrapped his arms around her midsection.
"Nya! H-Hey, what do you think you're doing? W-We're in public!"
He rested his chin on top of her head and made eye contact with her wide eyes in the mirror. "You're too cute." The soft rumble of his voice sent chills up her spine. "I can't hold back anymore!"
Her pale face lit up like a flare. She looked away at an incredibly interesting point on the dull gray carpeting. She clasped her hands over his interlocked arms.
"Watch what you're saying. I'm not even supposed to be in here. T-The door closed by itself." Her face reddened. It wasn't an excuse, honest!
He hummed. The vibration tickled the fine hairs on the back of her neck.
"Why? I'm only telling the truth." He gave her middle a squeeze.
She avoided meeting his eyes. "People will think we're doing something indecent."
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." He bent down and lightly brushed his lips against her ear lobe.
She squeaked and trembled in his arms.
"Sir? Is everything alright in there?" A store clerk had wandered by.
"Oh, I'm just fine, thank you." He trailed light kisses down her cheek and along her jaw.
"Hm! Ah!" She glared pitifully at the mirror. "Stop it. They're going to find out."
"What was that noise?"
"Nothing! Listen, I'll just need a few more minutes." He planted a firm kiss on her cheek and gave her a squeeze. "Shush."
"Right, well let us know if you need anything!"
"Will do." He moved his arms from around her waist and put his hands on her shoulders. He began lightly working out the knots in her muscles. A breathy moan slipped through her lips as his thumbs dug into her shoulders. He slowly worked his hands up around the base of her neck. His dug the pads of his fingers into her soft milk white flesh. She could see herself in the mirror; hooded eyes, glassy stare, panting lips. It was shameful, scandalous, improper, amazing.
"Nuuuu... Why are you—Ah—doing this to me?"
His steady blue eyes stared into her quivering sky blue orbs through the mirror. "Well, I missed you." He snaked one arm around her waist and the other ran up and down her arm, squeezing intermittently. "We confess our great love for each other—"
"L-Lunkhead! Don't say it so casually!"
He moved to the other side of her head, planting light kisses along the back of her neck.
"Shhhh... Someone will hear you." His conspiratorial voice turned her ears pink. "After the assignment, I figured I'd spend some quality time with my new girlfriend, but you were cold to me for four whole days." He nipped her ear lobe.
An electric current zipped through the distraught girl's skin.
"Do you know how long that is, Weiss?" His hot breath tickled the hairs behind her ear. It was driving her mad.
"W-What does it matter anymore? We're past that." Her brain felt fuzzy. Her knees had long since become jelly, and it hurt to think.
He suddenly pulled her back onto the bench, placing her on his lap.
"Kya!"
"Wrong! You tortured me for ninety six hours. And I'm in the process of forgiving you for it."
She shifted on his lap and lay against his chest, burrowing into him as much as possible. Her heartbeat thundered through her ears. She could feel Jaune's as well. She was slightly peeved to note that his was rather steady and calm. She caught herself in the changing mirror. She looked like such a lovesick girl.
She tried to snarl threateningly, but it came out like an aggravated mewl. "Just get on with it already." Her lips ached from lack of attention.
"Sir? Everything alright?"
"Meep!" Weiss' frantic eyes shot down to the little slit along the bottom of the door. If the clerk bent down to check, they would be able to see her feet. She swung her legs up onto the bench and threw her arms around her knight's neck.
"I'm just fine, thank you!"
The clerk seemed to be considering something for a moment. "Alright. But please try to make it quick, there are some other folks out there who need to use the changing room."
"You got it." He stretched his arm out to hold her by the waist, while freeing his other hand to stroke her hair lovingly.
She turned her head up to him to give him better access to her pouting lips. He leaned close, teasing her just a little bit longer. And just as he was about to make contact, her stomach rumbled loudly.
They both looked at each other in mild surprise.
"Hungry, munchkin?" He froze. It had slipped out! He had no intention of letting her know of his little name for her.
Her heart fluttered a little bit. Years of practice allowed her to hide it quickly. She gave him a flat look. "Munchki—Mm!"
He silenced her by pressing his lips against hers. She couldn't hurt him if he was kissing her. And he had no problem kissing her for the rest of eternity, so he figured he came out on top on this one.
She responded almost instantly, moving her lips in time with his. He pressed his hand against the back of her head and deepened their kiss. She pulled herself up and arched her back, purring contentedly.
He gently pushed his tongue past her soft lips and licked at her smooth teeth. She moaned into his mouth and allowed him entrance. Their tongues slid and wound against each other in a primal dance of affection. As they kissed and lapped at one another, the bench, the room, the store, and the world outside lost all meaning. All they could register was the sensation of holding onto the person in their arms, and experiencing their presence through their mutual affection.
But all too soon they were broken from their heated loving by another loud rumbaing. They reluctantly broke apart and sucked in cool gasps of air. Their cheeks, flushed, their lips, swollen from passion.
When she'd caught her breath, her face dissolved into a sheepish smile and she leaned her head against his chest.
Jaune gave her another hearty squeeze before letting her up. "Shall we get some lunch?"
She nodded. A little smile spread across her face. "I know just the place."
There were parts of Vale that still looked as if they were part of the small fishing hamlet it had once been. One such place was Old Road. It was nestled in the corner of a district primarily built of brick, glass, and a slower march of time. Old Road was less a street, and more a wide alleyway, paved in faded brick, and lit with yellowed gas lamps. The people that frequented the little section of the city didn't move with the rush and bustle that came with living in the newer parts of the city.
Weiss scanned the quaint little street. A shoe repair shop had a rack of shining shoes on display just outside the storefront. A florist was humming a jaunty tune as he arranged flowers at a stall a little ways down the street. The bright sunlight beamed down on the colorful, intricately folded bulbs. People's shoes clicked and clacked as they walked along the warm brick road. Happy snatches of conversation carried down the lane, mostly children laughing and playing, and some mothers scolding and yelling for their young to finish their vegetables.
About half way down the street stood a small cafe. It was nothing special, three small wooden tables that could seat two a piece, and a small faded sign written in neat cursive hung above a squat one room restaurant.
She smiled. This was the place alright.
The young girl grabbed her dear friend's hand and tugged him over to one of the two free tables. The third had a man with floppy blonde hair, dressed in jeans, a red shirt, and a gray sport jacket panning through his Scroll.
Jaune pulled out a seat for his lady and gestured to it with a mock flourish. She played along and curtseyed in thanks. Just as they sat down, a waiter walked out with short, measured steps. He wore a crisp white shirt, a puce vest, and carried two menus.
"Ah, young love." He placed the two menus in front of the rapidly reddening teenagers. He stepped back and beamed down at his customers. His lightly oiled silver hair twinkled in the strong sun. "And 'ow may I serve you zis fine day?"
"We'll just be a few minutes, thank you." Weiss nodded up to the waiter.
"Hey, Nico! Over here!"
The man behind Jaune at the other table called out to someone up the street. The waiter floated over, leaving the two students to themselves.
Jaune absently gazed around the quaint little street. When his partner had dragged him over here he wasn't quite sure what she was driving at, but now that he was settled down it was rather peaceful. The only sound that could be heard was the idle chirping of birds and distant squeals of laughter. The drone and groan of an oceanside boom town were blissfully silent.
"Nice place, Weiss. Where'd you find out about it?"
"Oh, there was a little article about it in the paper. I thought we'd check it out some time."
Jaune nodded and looked over the menu. There wasn't much there in the way of a good selection. He wasn't all that hungry, but the best it had was light snacks. He decided a small plate of light sandwiches and coffee would probably be their best bet.
Weiss silently observed her companion over the lip of her own plastic menu. This was where she had planned to confess her feelings. She had fantasized about it ever since she read about the romantic little shop. A warm bubble spread throughout her insides. Well, they were certainly beyond that point now.
The waiter swung by again and took their orders. They spoke of idle things as they waited. Weiss' hair had, in fact, always been that color. This conveniently gave Jaune an excuse to touch it again. Jaune could not swim, but wasn't averse to learning. Weiss said that she would happily teach him. She spoke of the enclosed garden where she spent the most of her time. It let her feel like she was somewhere warmer, and that always made her feel happy. He told her about the festivals that the traveling gypsies would put on for their little town in exchange for a place to stay for a few weeks.
"Honestly, it's the one big thing that happens all year. People really go all out and make the most of it."
The waiter returned with a platter of small triangle sandwich wedges. The teens fell into a comfortable lull as they nibbled on their food.
Jaune noticed the man from the other table had gotten up and offered his arm to his companion. He hadn't noticed her before. She wore a smart jacket and pencil skirt, short cropped black hair, and inquisitive dark eyes.
The pair walked off after waving goodbye to the waiter. They chatted amiably as they walked down the street, back into Vale proper.
Nice couple.
Jaune looked back to his own fair lady. He smiled warmly at her and she smiled softly back.
"How's the food? I'm sorry it isn't anything substantial, but I-I really wanted to come here." She folded her hands on top of the table. She felt silly.
"Oh, it's great." He reached over and unclasped her hands, squeezing them as he pulled away.
He was about to ask her where they should go next, after all, this was their first date, and he wanted to make it special. But a tap on the shoulder broke his thoughts.
"Excuse me, son," it was a tall, thin man with sunken eyes and a suntanned face. He wore a beaten fedora and a floppy brown long coat. "Could you watch my bag for a moment while I step into that shop across the street? I'll be right back."
"Sure thing." Jaune eyed the thick red leather satchel. He wondered what was in it, but decided not to pry. The man placed the satchel at his feet. He tipped his hat and offered a dash of a smile. His teeth gleamed through his lips.
Jaune turned back to Weiss as the man walked steady into the knickknack shop across the street.
"So, I was wondering..." At first, he ignored the ticking, writing it off as some bug. Weiss' nose curled in confusion and her light blue eyes shifted about, seeking out the source of the rhythmic tick.
That piqued his curiosity. He cast his eyes about as well. They fell on the satchel more than once. He bent down and picked it up.
The ticking grew louder.
His eyes widened in absolute horror.
Jaune hurled the bag as hard as he could and dove over the table. He crashed into Weiss and sent both of them to the ground. The table overturned, spilling its contents with a loud clatter.
Then a mind shattering explosion.
Then perfect silence.
Damn hippies. Anyway, a bit of a transitional chapter from the desert level to the urban level. Chapter 15, comin' up.