Chapter 27: Forever Fall
AN: A long one for you guys tonight. I did manage to get it written in time, thankfully. I do not envy the amount of work I needed to do, however, to get everything done in time. So excuse me while I keep my bloodshot eyes from looking at a computer for the next ever.
Kassidy and the gang goes to Forever Fall. Wondered why it took four huntsmen/huntresses so long to get Glynda in the episode? Here's why, at least according to me.
(Perspective: K)
"It's a shame we never have time for leisure study anymore. I find this forest fascinating, personally. Perhaps the hue is caused by a mutated chlorophyll molecule?"
As Professor Goodwitch led the way, eleven of the twelve students walking through the forest were captivated by the scenery. Judging by his comment, even Bob was apparently taken in by the beauty of the place. Kassidy might have been, also, if she weren't performing the self-appointed role of group lookout. Hey, it's someone's job to be paranoid. Pretty sure the Grimm don't care about red leaves, so why should I?
"Yes, children, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But, we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
Kassidy's eyes fell upon Cardin and Jaune bringing up the rear. JNPR's lead bumped into the redhead, whistled innocently, and then snuck a glance in Smith's direction. Kassidy merely offered a shrug. She had earlier told the boy that she wasn't going to interfere, and she meant it.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four o' clock. Have fun." With that note, Goodwitch left the students to their devices.
"Come on, buddy. Let's go." After a pleading look to her and Pyrrha, Jaune's head sank as he trudged behind Cardin.
Having already fallen a good ways behind their respective teams, Pyrrha and Kassidy started walking. The air was so tense that you could cut it with a knife, and they both knew which blonde haired boy was at the center of it. It was Kassidy that eventually broke the silence after a couple minutes. "So, remind me again why everyone charged ahead of us? Seriously, we weren't even hanging back for thirty seconds before it was just the two of us in these woods."
Pyrrha waved her hand and gave a shallow laugh. "Well, you know how excited Nora can get. And Ren probably went to try and keep her in check."
"Yeah, I can buy that. I imagine that Weiss is in the same boat right now, trying to keep up with Ruby and Yang." They both chuckled a bit at the mental image of the heiress chasing a hyperactive speed demon through the forest, but the tension in the air quickly returned. Trying to cut through it, Kassidy spoke up again. "Speaking of teammates running off, how's Jaune been handling the whole business with Cardin?"
Pyrrha stopped walking. Turning around, Kassidy found some dangerously suspicious eyes regarding her. "What whole business with Cardin? They're just really good friends now."
Kassidy rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. Even if I didn't know Jaune's little secret, you couldn't pay me to believe that Jaune and Cardin would willingly be friends with each other."
Pyrrha's jaw dropped. "You know?"
"Yeah."
"And you elected to do nothing about it?"
"And you did?" It didn't take Pyrrha giving her a death glare for Kassidy to regret saying that. "Alright, that was unfair on my part. Sorry."
"Apology accepted," Pyrrha said reluctantly.
"But no, I'm not stepping in."
"How come?"
"Because Cardin's already scared of me. If I step in and bail Jaune out, CRDL will just see it as me saving his hide. Then, whenever I'm not around, they'll do worse." Shaking her head, Kassidy started walking again. "Breaking up Cardin's little blackmail operation won't do Jaune any favors. This is something a man needs to fix on his own."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Pyrrha's expression settled into a frown. "That doesn't excuse what he did, though."
"Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I'm not one to judge."
"How do you mean?"
"Let he who is perfect cast the first stone." Upon seeing Pyrrha's inquisitive gaze, she added, "Religious expression where I'm from. And god knows I'm not perfect."
Pyrrha looked like she had an answer, but a bush rustled to their right. The Mistralian champion took a knee, hiding behind her shield and brandishing Milo in rifle form, while Kassidy whipped her own rifle out and aimed at the noise.
"Hey guysh. Wha you doin'?" Nora came stumbling out of the bush while chugging a jar of sap. Kassidy facepalmed, while Pyrrha just shook her head at the other redhead's antics.
"Come on Nora, we need to be collecting the sap, not drinking it." Nora let out an 'aw', while Pyrrha stowed her rifle and shield. "Let's go get some more."
"Nora! Where did you run off to this time?" Yang came strolling through the forest, before tripping on an exposed root and faceplanting into a pile of leaves. Kassidy chuckled.
"Smooth moves, grace."
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, K." Standing up and picking leaves out of her hair, Yang walked over and shoved an empty jar into Kassidy's hands. "C'mon, were you really expecting me to do all the work for ya? Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty."
"Not worried about my hands, but doesn't this sap stain?"
Yang gave her a wicked grin and slapped her shoulder. "Hey, I finally got my partner to care about how she looks."
"No you didn't. I just don't think Weiss would appreciate it, and I get enough shit from her as it is." The two blondes shared a chuckle before joining Ruby, Weiss, and NPR at a cluster of trees.
"Hey there Kass. You remember how to do this, right? I could… kinda use help with mine," Ruby sheepishly admitted.
"What's there to remember? Stab a tree, collect the sap, don't let it stain your clothes. Can you take over watch for me while I handle it?" Now aware of several pairs of eyes on her, probably due to her bold claim, Kassidy dropped her bag to the side, drew her knife, found a spot a good four to five feet up, and quite literally stabbed the tree. What she didn't expect was for there to be so much pressure in the fluid, and she just barely dodged out of the way of the pinkish red stream. Plugging it up with one of the taps, she counted herself lucky.
Until a grunt came from behind her. Turning around, her eyes widened at the sight. Weiss Schnee, dressed in her usual pristine white dress and jacket, was covered with sap. Bright red sap that stained clothes. Almost everything about the heiress seemed calm, but her eyes spoke of murderous intent. Kassidy put her hands up and slowly started backing away. "Uh… would it make it better or worse if I said that I didn't mean to do that?"
Weiss drew her rapier.
"Um, alright. Let's put the sword away before someone gets hurt." Backing up further, Kassidy found herself pressed against a tree. "Uh, nice Weiss? Good Weiss. Put the sword away."
Furious with the world, Weiss yelled and lashed out at the tree next to her. Unfortunately for the heiress, Myrtenaster being plunged into the tree opened up another vein of sap, spraying Weiss in the face. Four teenagers were howling in laughter, Ren had an amused look, Kassidy was trying to not join the laughter in fear of making things worse, and Weiss looked fit to be tied. At this point, there was only one thing that would save Kassidy Smith from an early grave.
A demonic growl sounded from a short ways away, over a small rise towards the back of the group. The seven students dropped everything at the sound. Ruby asked the obvious, "Did you guys hear that?"
Russel, Dove, and Sky picked that moment to sprint through the middle of the group, with Dove crying, "Ursa, Ursa!" He ran right into Yang, who briefly interrogated him, revealing that, "It's got Cardin!"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha looked horrified, and rightfully so. Kassidy grabbed her bag back up, making sure her knife and pistol were both in their holsters, her rifle was loaded, and her new sword was in its sheath on the side of her pack before giving Pyrrha a nod.
Ruby, however, had other plans. "Yang, you and Kass get Professor Goodwitch!"
"You two, go with them! There could be more."
Kassidy, Yang, Ren, and Nora wasted no time in tearing through the forest. Having the best sense of direction and navigation in a heavily wooded area, Kassidy was in the front of the group, beelining to where she knew Glynda said she would be. It must have been obvious that the four teens weren't feeling the greatest about the situation, because Grimm had started making their appearance. However, it was almost entirely Creeps with the odd Beowolf, and Kassidy and Ren dispatched them with ease.
As they rounded a tree, they saw Glynda rushing up to them. Skidding to a stop, she adjusted her glasses in a manner that was practically her trademark. "Children, where is the rest of your group?"
"An Ursa has Cardin and Jaune." Ren put his hands on his knees and panted for a bit, before regaining his breath and continuing. "Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss are there to help. We were sent to get you."
"I see. Very well, lead the way."
The five weren't able to make it ten steps before the foliage around them exploded. Glynda's cry of ambush fell on deaf ears as gunfire ripped through the bushes and trees at the approaching Grimm. The fuck is this? Where did all of these guys come from? And how did they ambush us? Not an alpha here; these guys are too young to know how to ambush us.
Kassidy was about to shoot a Creep when she got shoved into the dirt, rifle flying from her grip. Turning around, she saw Yang struggling with a Boarbatusk on top of her. She went to dive for her rifle, but stopped short at seeing an Alpha Beowolf resting its paw on the Garand. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me."
It lunged forward, trying to rip her throat out. Scrambling back, she emptied her pistol's magazine into its face. She knew her smaller firearm had exactly zero chance of killing an Alpha Beowolf, but it did get the beast to give her some breathing room. Enough breathing room to shrug her backpack off her shoulders, while simultaneously pulling out her newest weapon. Well, let's give this thing a test run. Not like I have anything else right now that can even think of killing it. The Grimm, growing bold again, slashed at her. Ducking under the forepaw, Kassidy grabbed her sword and swung it upward. Miraculously, it connected, and the Grimm reared back in the pain of losing a hand.
It didn't get a chance to finish its howl, as a grenade detonated in its face. Kassidy looked back long enough to see Nora flash her a thumbs up before returning to the fight. By now her rifle was well and truly out of the picture, behind a half dozen Creeps and a Beowolf. Switching to a one-handed grip, she took her pistol in her left hand and reloaded it. Alright, just like with your knife and pistol. You just have a longer blade this time. You got this, Smith.
The Grimm charged. She managed to shoot two of the Creeps before having to backpedal from a third. Slashing out, she only managed to scratch its bony snout. The Beowolf leapt at her, and she had to duck to the side to avoid getting her head taken off. Somehow managing to get a slice in it on its way over her, she had no time to relax as the other four Creeps took advantage of her now prone posture. She managed to brain one before they were on top of her.
An explosion sent them flying. This wasn't a pink explosion from Nora's grenades, though. No, apparently some particularly stupid Grimm made the fatal mistake of pissing Yang off. As Kassidy got to her feet, she saw that the battle was more or less over. All that was left of the ambush were a small handful of Creeps, which Yang and Nora took no small amount of delight in absolutely obliterating.
Breathing heavily, the four students turned to the professor, again adjusting her glasses. "Miss Smith, you panicked. That could have very easily gotten you killed." Kassidy grumbled something incoherent, before Glynda said, "Other than that, you have most certainly been improving your swordplay."
Kassidy grumbled less incoherently, "You've smacked me with a stick enough times I haven't had much choice in the matter."
"Oh cheer up, partner! I think we got the point!"
"Ugh, Yang! Stop making terrible puns!" Ruby walked up to the rest of the group, with Weiss, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Cardin all in tow. It was hard to tell if the red on Cardin's armor was sap or blood.
"Mr. Winchester, Ms. Schnee, are you injured?" Glynda seemed concerned, until both students answered in the negative. She became unamused, however, with Weiss' threat that Kassidy would be. "So, what was this situation I heard about an Ursa?"
"An Ursa Major attacked Jaune and Cardin. However, it seems our help was unnecessary, as they had both slain it by the time we arrived." Pyrrha seems to be hiding something…
"I see. In any event, are we all finished with collecting our samples?" A chorus of affirmatives prompted her to declare, "In that case, we should be on our way back to Beacon."
As seven of the nine kids made to follow the professor, Kassidy went over to collect her rifle. Fortunately it somehow escaped damage. She was so pleased with that fact that she didn't even notice Pyrrha behind her.
"Do you usually make a habit of falling behind the group?" Pyrrha laughed as Kassidy jumped up in a panic. The blonde glared at the redhead.
"Please, don't sneak up on me like that." Losing the edge, Kassidy added, "So, what's the real story back there?"
Pyrrha put her hand to her heart and acted hurt. "Are you accusing me of lying, Kassidy?" They were both able to hold a serious face for about two seconds before descending into giggles. "But that was what happened. We didn't get a chance to intervene, and Jaune killed it."
"Then why do I get the feeling that there's a part of this story you're leaving out?"
Picking up the pace slightly, Pyrrha called from over her shoulder, "Well, what can I say? Let he who is perfect cast the first stone."
Kassidy smirked. The message was obvious: Cardin, for one reason or another, no longer had his blackmail to hold over Jaune's head.
Another night, another visit to the roof. Kassidy was enjoying some fresh air after her evening training session with Glynda. The professor obviously wasn't happy with how she handled the Creeps, and so the practice was particularly brutal in how to handle being outnumbered. She was still numb from the beating she took.
"Hey, you doing alright, Kass?" Looking behind her, she saw Jaune walk onto the porch she was occupying and stand next to her. A look of concern was plastered on his face. "You're not drinking again, are you?"
"Nah, I'm fine. Doing my own little celebration, actually."
Jaune looked around them in confusion. "Strange celebration you have going on here. What's the occasion?"
"My first month on Remnant."
He choked on thin air. "You've only been here a month?!"
"Yup. Somehow managed to not get myself killed yet, too."
He chuckled. "Well, that's kinda the goal for all of us, isn't it?"
"Suppose so. You guys have an easier time of it than I do, that's for sure." An awkward pause reigned for a couple minutes before Jaune spoke up.
"That was quite a way to spend a Saturday."
"Better than getting chased by a scorpion bigger than a house," Kassidy chuckled. "I hear Cardin's finally off your case."
"How did you find out?" he asked incredulously.
"Pyrrha."
"Ah, that would explain it." He shuffled his feet a bit. "Hey, Kass?"
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking… you've been taking lessons from Glynda about using a sword, right?"
"Yup."
"Do you think... maybe you could teach me what you've learned?"
Kassidy thought for a moment, before deciding on the obvious answer. "Nope."
"Aw, how come? How am I supposed to get better?"
"I'm not teaching you because if I taught you, you'd get worse at fighting than you already are. Guaranteed." The two shared a brief chuckle. "Besides, if you're looking to get better, then I'm the wrong tree to bark up."
"How do you mean?"
Kassidy looked at him like he was an idiot. Which, given the question he just asked, he just might be. "Well, gee, I don't know. It's not as if I'm partnered with who's apparently one of the greatest swordswomen of her generation."
"What, Pyrrha? Nah, that's ridiculous. Why would she want to waste her time on me?"
She could do nothing but facepalm. Is this kid an idiot or that dense? "If I remember correctly, about ten days ago she went out of her way to offer to train you." Upon seeing him hesitate, she decided he was an idiot. "Look, just ask, alright? The worst that'll happen is she says no."
"Yeah, I guess. Thanks. So, what're your plans for tomorrow?"
The answer was immediate. "Survive."
"What would you need to survive tomorrow? You guys aren't going to be going out on a mission or something, are you?"
Kassidy sighed. "In case you've forgotten, tomorrow is April first."
"Yeah."
"And my partner is…"
"Yang – ooh." Jaune had an epiphany, and hissed in pity.
"And my team leader is Yang's little sister."
"Um."
"And my third teammate had her outfit ruined courtesy of my tree-tapping skills."
Jaune looked at her incredulously. "Kass?"
"Yeah?"
"You're screwed."
A devious smirk formed on her face. "Maybe. Maybe not."
He paled. "Remind me not to visit your dorm tomorrow."
"Alright. Don't visit our dorm tomorrow."
"Smartass."
"That's my name, don't wear it out." They both laughed, before movement in the corner of her vision caught her attention. Pyrrha was standing in the doorway, watching them. "Well, I need to get some rest while I can." Leaning in, she whispered, "Don't forget to ask." Bidding him farewell, she walked over to the redhead.
"You two seemed like you were enjoying yourselves," Pyrrha deadpanned.
Alright, wonder what I did to deserve that. "Just warming him up for ya. I need to get to sleep anyway." Leaving the two partners to their devices, Kassidy made her way back to the dorm. Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be really appreciating my light sleeping habit?
AN 2: And thus the next mini-arc is revealed. Dear god this next week's chapters are going to be a blast to write, and hopefully an even bigger blast to read. Prepare your anuses for April Fool's shenanigans. This is your first, last, and only warning. Anyways, onto Reader Responses.
James: Noticed indeed. Glad to hear that you're liking the pacing, and unless something drastic comes up then I am planning to continue Wednesday/Sunday uploads. If you don't mind me asking, are you preferring the chapters to be longer or shorter? Your review makes it seems like the chapters aren't as long/short as you would like. Also, I do plan on having meaningful interaction in every single chapter. Glad to hear you're enjoying the story so far, here's to hoping I can keep up with expectations.
Captain marvel 36: Winter's sword never struck me as a rapier, more like a cavalry saber. To me, a rapier was something used exclusively in fencing (unless your name is Weiss Schnee). Bah, look at me typing as if I know anything about swords other than they're pointy metal sticks. Yes, Kassidy is currently most comfortable with her rifle. Currently. Glad to hear you're enjoying the story so far, here's to hoping I can keep up with expectations.
BlakeSummers98: Just to clarify, were you making a comment as to Kassidy's complete inability to identify innuendos, or was that a plea for me to stop making them? Sorry, I just have a really hard time distinguishing between these kinds of things, especially when it's written rather than spoken. Glad to hear you're enjoying the story so far, here's to hoping I can keep up with expectations.
Matt Cyr: Officially, Kassidy has never played a video game before. Unofficially... well, he is my favorite class.
dwayiam: Indeed. Boy is Yang going to have fun with her when she decides it's time for the uninformed innuendos to end. If she does, knowing our blonde brawler she might find infinite enjoyment out of listening to Kassidy make a fool out of herself.
Akshka: What can I say? I enjoy tormenting my characters.
Iron-ninja: Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much. I figured throwing in a moment like that every now and then would help ease tension at times.
