Eye of the Storm
"Anyone busy tomorrow?" Jace asked teams RWBY and JNPR after they exited the dining hall. It was just after Auron and Pyrrha's match and the two were there to fill themselves up from the exertion of energy. Everyone shook their heads.
"Nah, we're all takin' a breather from everything before we kick up our training." Yang said for her team.
"Same here. I'm just taking a break from Nora's hammer," Jaune said and glanced around at his team, "Why?"
Alyss spoke before Jace could answer. "Movie day. Jace has one that I need to finish." She said and drew the question from Ruby.
"What movie is it?"
Jace gave a grin. "It's called Finalis Phantasia VII. Movie adaptation and remaster of all the games and movie in order." He answered and both Ruby and Yang stopped in their tracks.
"You have the whole adaptation!?" Ruby asked in shock.
"Yeah. I guess you've heard of it." Jace remarked.
"Yeah we've heard of it!" Yang said and smiled, "We played through the main game for months trying to just do everything! The whole movie of it all is freakin' rare now! Hell yeah we'll be there!"
"There are two others here to ask, if you've forgotten." Weiss said and looked at the two sisters as she squeezed Yang's hand.
"I'll watch too." Blake said casually. "It sounds pretty interesting, apparently."
"Oh it really is!" Ruby almost yelled and jumped up and down in excitement, "You'll love it!"
"Well, what do you guys say?" Jaune asked his team.
"Sounds fun. I'm game!" Nora said immediately. Pyrrha and Ren nodded their heads.
"We'll be there too then." Jaune said and they entered the dorm building.
The next morning started off with Jace making sure that the common area of the dorms was free for the day. When he saw that no one was there, he set the movie up and let the menu music play as he sat on the couch next to Alyss.
"When do you think they'll be here?" Alyss asked as she scooted closer to Jace.
"I don't know. I left a note on our door and I slid notes under the others' doors. I guess we just have to wait until they wake up." He answered and shrugged.
"It'll be fun for sure." Alyss said and leaned her head against his shoulder.
Jace smiled widely at the contact. "I can get used to sitting next to you if you always lean against me like that." He said and planted a kiss on the base of one of her cat ears.
Alyss purred in delight at the touch. "Same here if you keep doing that." She said and relaxed against him.
"I take it its okay for me to do that." Jace said with a smile.
"Yeah, I really like that feeling."
"I'm glad. I know it's bad to touch a Faunus' ears or anything without their permission, but I just couldn't help it."
"Don't worry. It's… I just really like it."
They waited for thirty minutes before the first people showed up. "How did I guess you guys would be the first ones here?" Jace said with a grin as he and Alyss made room on the couch.
"Of course! I don't think anyone else knows what we're even talkin' about." Yang said and the two sisters sat on the couch.
"Ooohhh maaaann this is gonna be awesome!" Ruby said excitedly and waited as patiently as she could.
"Have you two beat the superbosses?" Jace asked after the two settled on the couch.
"Oh dust no! Those things were the bane of my existence back then." Yang answered.
"I beat one!" Ruby declared proudly, "Have you?" She asked in return.
"Nope. I'll be honest, I tried one time and got destroyed. I gave up on them and never tried again. But Gen came so close to beating one of the more powerful ones. I did beat the one in Heart of Crisis though." Jace said and saw their eyes go wide.
"You beat the Goddess!? How!?" Ruby asked far more loudly than what she should've. "I could never find the secret to beat her!"
Jace grinned at the memory. "Coin toss. I built up my money for a long time and used 'Coin Toss' to get the max damage on her. It was a fun time." Jace answered and waited for a response.
"Kind of a cheap way to beat it." Yang remarked.
"When you've went through it over a hundred times and died every time, then you look for any way to do it," Jace said with a shrug, then grinned, "And there was nothing cheap about getting all that money to throw."
"I guess I'll give ya that." Yang said and shook her head with a small grin.
"I'm seriously lost right now…" Alyss said after a moment.
Jace smiled and put another kiss on her furry cat ear. "You can have that for your confusion." He said to her as she purred again from the kiss.
"Aww, that's so cute!" Ruby practically squealed. Alyss blushed at that and smiled a bit.
"Ruby, don't embarrass the girl." Yang said and smacked her arm lightly.
Jace laughed and hugged Alyss tightly. "I agree with Ruby."
"Jaaaace," Alyss giggled a bit as her blush deepened, "You keep up and I'll have to limit your kisses."
"Ohhh she's got you there!" Yang laughed.
"True enough," Jace sighed and kissed Alyss on the cheek.
"Oh, and just so you two know," Jace started and got both sisters' attention, "The ending of Heart of Crisis still gets to me. I'm gonna cry." He warned.
"Aw it's alright Jace. I know I will too." Ruby said.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to say that Weiss and Blake are still getting ready." Yang said and tried to calm her own excitement.
The others arrived after ten more minutes and noticed the four already on the couch.
"You two are really excited about this aren't you?" Jaune asked with a grin as he saw Ruby visibly jumping up and down in excitement.
"Yeah we are! Now that everyone's here we can finally start it!" The diminutive brunette said and looked toward the screen as if it would automatically start.
"Ruby, don't you think that everyone should find their seat first?" Blake asked and sat in a chair next to her beside the couch, while Yang pulled Weiss into her lap, drawing an 'eep' from her.
"Oh… yeah. I guess that should happen, huh?" Ruby replied and calmed herself down.
"It's actually surprising to see Pyrrha here," Yang said and looked toward the champion, "Don't you usually go on runs in the mornings?"
Pyrrha nodded and smiled. "Usually. But I believe I may be allowed one day to relax." She said and set a seat down behind the couch to sit in.
"'Specially after we knocked the tar outta each other yesterday." Auron said with a grin.
"That is also a reason." Pyrrha grinned as well.
Jaune did the same and brought a chair over to sit next to her. "That goes for all of us. With the tournament starting next week, we'll be using this week to just go all out with training."
"I think you all need a good day's break," Jace said, "We'll be cheering for all of you when it starts." He said and started up the movie when everyone was ready.
"So, we got a movie that lasts all day," Auron said and looked through everyone, "What are we doin' for supper?"
Nora turned in her seat next to her quiet boyfriend and stared at him. "Reeeeen…"
Ren gave a good-natured sigh and looked to the energetic girl. "Yes, Dear?"
"You know what to do when the time comes."
"For twelve people?" Ren asked and took a deep breath.
"You'll have some help." Auron offered.
"I believe I will need it."
"I can help too! If it's too much for you guys." Yang chipped in.
From starting the movie at noon, it was finally finished at ten o'clock that night.
"Dust, it's so good to see all that again." Jace said with a smile and rubbed at his eyes, then went to retrieve his movie.
"Yeah it was. You're weren't kidding when you said it still gets to you." Ruby said got up to stretch.
"I didn't expect to see you cry, that's for sure." Raine remarked at the fact.
Auron stood up from his seat next to Raine and rolled his neck. "Yeah, I think that did a bit o' somethin' to everyone." He said, then everyone glanced over to where Weiss was sitting, snuggled up close to Yang.
"What?" She asked when everyone's eyes were on her.
"Yes, it was very sad, I'll admit." She said and turned away.
"Aw come on Snowflake. We all saw you bawl your eyes out at that part with the sad music it played, and the middle of the second act." Yang teased her and started to rub at her own eyes as if wiping tears away.
"Don't even start Yang!" Weiss retorted and crossed her arms in a huff as Yang laughed merrily.
"Good night guys." Ruby said as everyone separated from the hallway. Everyone replied the same and each made their way to their rooms.
"You fought really good in your match yesterday Auron." Jace said as he unlocked their door.
"You really did. I'm gonna send the video to Emowyn tomorrow." Raine said and drew a laugh from Auron.
"Be sure to tell me what they all say." He replied and walked toward his dresser.
They each prepared for bed and sat at the table for a while before they went to sleep.
"What're we gonna do tomorrow?" Alyss asked the group.
"I might take apart Jackhammer an' Last Call. Make sure everything's workin' right an' clean 'em." Auron said and shrugged.
"I might do some target practice. I don't know really." Raine said.
"Do you think the fairgrounds are set up yet?" Jace asked everyone. They all shrugged at the question.
"Hmm. We'll have to see then. What do you say Alyss? While they're doing their thing, you wanna head to the fair?" Jace asked his girlfriend.
"Hmm… Alright. It's a date." She answered and gave him a kiss.
Auron shook his head and chuckled. "Y'all are makin' me feel all lonely." He said with a hurt expression.
"Aw come on," Jace started and laughed, "You got some good friends. How can you be lonely?"
Auron grinned and nodded. "That, I do. Speakin' of that, I gotta teach y'all how to make your own ammo sometime."
"Damn…" Jace said when he looked up into the sky, "That thing's impressive."
He and Alyss looked up to the Amity Colosseum in awe of the technological wonder. The product of all Kingdoms bringing their resources together as a greater sign of peace after the Great War. It utilized every bit of dust that was brought into it to keep it afloat and create the battlefields for the contestants.
It made for quite the sight to be sure.
"This is the first time I've ever seen it in person…" Alyss said and gripped Jace's hand a bit tighter.
They arrived at the fairgrounds where multiple vendors had already set up their booths. At the moment, their were only a couple of food and souvenir stands set up and only two booths with entertainment for anyone attending the festival, but many more were in the process of construction. The list of all the contestants and their weapons had been released to the public, of those that agreed, and some toy companies used that to their advantage. One notable omission from that list was Blake's name along with Gambol Shroud. Some of the souvenirs were toy versions of the weapons that the contestants used. A few children were running around with them. One had a toy Crescent Rose, swinging playfully at one that had a toy Crocea Mors. They couldn't transform, of course, as they were mostly foam and plastic.
Jace had to admit it was funny to see the children wielding those toys. "I'm surprised that they can even make these to sell." He remarked as they stopped at the stand.
"It probably hypes up the fights along with giving kids toys to play with." Alyss said as she looked at the full-scythe version of Crescent Rose. "A kid can either have something as crazy as Ruby's scythe or as simple as Sage's or Yatsuhasi's swords."
Jace looked around and laughed at seeing a couple more children with different ones, namely the rifle form of Miló. "And it's pretty cool that they can shoot those little foam darts too."
They walked on and Alyss looked back up to the colosseum. "I can't wait until the tournament starts. I really want to go up there."
"When does it start anyways?" Jace asked as they walked through the area.
"I think next week is what Jaune said. I can't remember." The cat Faunus replied and leaned against him as they walked.
Auron had Last Call taken apart fully on the table. He glanced out the window and whistled lowly at seeing the colosseum up in the sky now. He looked back to his work and looked over every little part of his weapon from the receiver, to the firing pin, to the lever and to the trigger. He made sure everything was undamaged and oiled every piece.
This was the easy part of his day.
Auron put his weapon back together easily and made sure it still transformed smoothly, and then went to sharpen the edge of the blade. With his way of doing it, it took him half an hour of running a whetstone along the blade. When he finished honing the razor sharp blade, he set Last Call on his bed.
Now came the hard part of his day.
Auron stepped towards the wall where Jackhammer was resting and took it down. He held it and turned it over in his hands. The hard part wasn't how to take it apart to clean it, he knew every inch and part of the weapon. The hard part was that it was his father's weapon and the memories that came with touching it again.
The memories that came to his mind brought a smile to his lips. The memory of Smoke training him as a child along with Preacher helping also. The day Auron graduated Sanctum was a proud day for him, his father, mother, sister, and Preacher. He remembered the day spent saying goodbye to some of his friends and he remembered how goodbyes always made him tear up.
Then he frowned as the memory broke into his mind of how Smoke was taken from them.
He pushed that memory aside with a sigh and started to take Jackhammer apart.
After an hour with the weapon, Auron had it put back together. He looked at it and decided to take it to the school's firing range to make sure it fired well.
"So he actually got the chance to fight her again?" Emowyn asked Raine, who was taking a break from her target practice.
"Yeah, I got a video of it too. He fought really good. I'm gonna send it over soon. How have you guys been over in Mistral?" Raine asked.
"Well, we finally got the White Fang and Crimson Lance stuff straightened out from a few months ago. The outpost was cleared out and investigated… but…" Emowyn stopped and hesitated.
"What is it?"
"I'm sure it's nothing… Anyways, how's Beacon so far?" Emowyn asked after clearing her head.
"It's really good. Most of the people are friendly and Ozpin seems like a great headmaster." Raine answered.
"Well that's good to hear. I'm gonna let you go now. See you later Raine, love you."
"Love you too. I'll send that video in a few minutes. Bye." Raine said and the two sisters ended the call. Raine let the video of Auron and Pyrrha's fight send and went to practice more.
"Oh! I'm really sorry about that!" Jace said after he accidentally bumped into someone. She had bright orange hair with a pink now in it, her eyes were green and her face had a fair amount of freckles.
"Oh it's alright. It was an accident after all." She said and bowed her head a bit.
"Still though, I should've been watching were I was going," Jace said and looked to her, "Are you here for the tournament?"
The girl's face brightened up in a smile. "Yes I am! Salutations! My name is Penny Polendina! Are you participating as well?"
"Sadly, no. My team was formed too late to qualify. We only took the initiation last Monday." Jace answered and drew another question from the girl.
"That is months after the start of the first semester. How were you able to take an initiation that late?"
"We had… a lot of different things happening at the time. But Ozpin gave us the second chance. I actually came from Atlas a while ago. Where are you from?"
"I am from Atlas as well. I don't believe I have ever met you there. What is your name?" Penny asked and Jace face-palmed and sighed.
"I never even introduced myself after you did," He said and laughed, "I'm Jace Reznor, nice to meet you Penny. Oh," Jace said when he saw Alyss approaching them, "This is Alyss Wystar. My teammate and girlfriend." Jace introduced the two and held Alyss' hand.
"Salutations Alyss Wystar! My name is Penny Polendina!" Penny greeted the cat Faunus.
"Hello Penny. How did you two meet?" Alyss asked them.
"I accidentally bumped into her a minute ago." Jace answered her, then Penny addressed them both.
"There are not many Faunus-human couples that I have ever seen. It is interesting." She said and drew smiles from them both.
"I'm glad that you're not against it. This is the happiest I've ever been, being with her." Jace said and kissed Alyss' cheek.
"Same with me." She agreed.
"That is great to hear." Penny said, then looked at Jace's left arm.
"Oh, I know it isn't my place to ask, but your arm felt like it was metal when you bumped into me. What happened?"
Jace shrugged and rolled up his left sleeve, revealing the metal of his prosthetic and drawing a gasp from her. "I was in a bad fight a few months ago and I lost my arm. It was a really bad time in my life." He answered easily and smiled to Alyss, "And after I met her, everything was just better."
"I am very sorry to hear that. But you look happy, so that is what matters." Penny said before a voice cut across the area.
"Penny, where are you!?"
"Oh, coming Ciel!" Penny called back, "I have to go. It was nice to meet you both." She said and ran toward the other girl.
"That was interesting." Alyss said after a moment.
"Yeah, it was. Well, what do you want to do?" Jace asked his companion.
Alyss thought for a moment and shrugged, "There's not really much here yet. Hmm…" She looked around for anything to catch her eye, then she caught sight of someone.
"Hey Jace, isn't that Jack? The boy we helped?" She asked and Jace looked over to where she pointed.
He could see the boy's brown and white tail moving around behind him and when he turned around, they saw he had bright brown eyes. When the boy spoke to his mother, his voice was familiar. He carried a toy version of Sage's sword.
"I think it is. Wanna go say hi?" Jace asked.
"Yeah, let's go." She answered and they walked toward the two Faunus.
"Hey Jack. How've you been?" Alyss asked the boy and he turned around in confusion.
His confusion turned to happiness when he saw the two people that helped him. "Hey, you have another arm!" He exclaimed toward Jace and grabbed his mother's attention as her Faunus ears perked up.
She recognized them and gave the two a warm smile. "Hello you two. I don't believe we ever caught each others' names when we met. My name is Caitlyn."
"I'm Jace Reznor."
"Alyssia Wystar. Just call me Alyss."
"It's good to see you both doing well." Caitlyn said.
"Thank you. I'm glad you're doing good too," Jace said and grinned at the boy, "And yeah Jack, I got a prosthetic. It was the day after we met actually." He kneeled down to the boy's level. He took off his glove and rolled up his sleeve to let him see.
"Whoa, you're like part robot!"
"Well I never thought about that," Alyss said with a smirk, "A Faunus dating a human is one thing, but dating a human that's part robot? Weird." She finished and laughed.
"Oh, you're both together?" Caitlyn asked them both, who smiled widely in return.
"Yeah. We are. I know I keep sounding like a broken record," Jace said and grinned at Alyss, "But this is the happiest I've ever been." He finished and stood up after Jack was done looking at his arm.
Alyss planted a soft kiss on his cheek as he rose. "Same here."
"That's so sweet." Caitlyn said and smiled more.
"So Jack, I see you've got a weapon with you." Jace remarked.
"Yeah!" Jack said and set the sword on his shoulder, "I wanted one like yours."
That caught Jace off guard and his eyes widened a bit. "Y-you wanted one like mine? Even when you could have Crescent Rose or Miló?"
Jack nodded. "Those people aren't my heroes."
"Your hero?" Jace echoed.
"He really hasn't stopped talking about you. About how you knocked that man out after freezing his mouth shut," Caitlyn said, "He says that he wants a sword exactly like yours."
Jace still couldn't believe his ears. "Umm… T-thank you… for calling me your hero." He said after a few moments.
"He wants to get one like yours, but he never saw your weapon," Caitlyn said towards Alyss, "He thinks of you the same way."
"You do?" Alyss asked the boy and he nodded. "I don't know what to say…"
Jace patted the boy on the shoulder. "If… If you can wait until next year, We'll be in the tournament too. Then you can have one exactly like ours."
Jack smiled and his tail started to wag. "I can't wait, then!"
They parted ways shortly after and Jace and Alyss stood there for several moments. "A… A hero…" Jace said quietly and put his hand over his mouth. He still couldn't grasp it.
"Y-you okay?" Alyss asked with tears in her eyes.
"Yeah… I just can't believe that I'm considered a hero to someone."
"Same here…"
"Alyss… Next year… let's make sure we win." Jace said. Alyss nodded and they finally walked on. They decided to go to one of the food vendors, which turned out to be the same man that ran From Dust Till Dawn.
"Hey guys, we're back." Jace said as he and Alyss stepped into their dorm.
"You two have fun?" Raine asked them.
"Yeah, but there wasn't much to do." Alyss said and sat in a chair at the table.
Jace went to grab all of the pistol parts he had bought and laid everything on the table. "About time your doin' somethin' with all that." Auron said from where he was cleaning his revolvers near the window.
"Yeah, I know. Needed to do it sooner than later."
He took every part and laid them out in front of him on the table, then finally opened up the package he received. It was a custom grip and slide he ordered from Century Arms, both requested to be made with lines on the sides that light up with different dust rounds, just like Atronach.
"Well, I hope I don't mess up." Jace said and went to work.
Jace blasted the training bots with his new pistol as they came at him, unloading all nine rounds into them until he had to reload. He had three extra magazines so he quickly ejected the empty one and inserted another, watching the lines on the sides light up red with the first chambered round.
His team watched on in the training room, seeing his smile as he pulled the trigger each time, watching the runes change color with each round in in the chamber, seeing the heavy slide work with each time he fired. Alyss smiled at seeing her boyfriend and leader so happy, and she watched with her own happiness.
With the last magazine empty, Jace put the pistol in its holster on the back of his belt and materialized a burn claymore to cut the remaining few training bots down, ending the session.
"This is better than my old one." Jace said and sat down next to Alyss.
"Have you thought of a name for it yet?" She asked and leaned closer to him.
"I might go with Ebon because it's basically a better version of Ebonshot." Jace said and brought up his new pistol to look it over. The runes on the side were black for the moment while it wasn't loaded. Jace smiled again at having his own pistol once more.
"What're ya gonna do with Atronach?" Auron asked.
Jace sighed and brought out the revolver, holding both in his hands. "I might keep it on me. Maybe on the inner part of my jacket. I don't want to just leave it and forget about it,"
"Or…" Jace got the attention of the others, "I could let Alyss use it as a backup."
Alyss' ears shot up. "You'd really let me use your brother's old revolver?" She asked in surprise.
Jace kissed her on the forehead. "Yeah, I think I can trust you to take care of it, and I know he wouldn't mind."
Jace handed the revolver out to her, but she hesitated to take it. "Are you sure?" She asked and he laughed.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Jace said with a grin and she finally took hold of it. "Plus, you only have one weapon so it might be nice to have a backup."
Alyss held the pistol in her hand and looked at it, then hugged Jace with her free arm. "Thanks for trusting me, then."
The team stood up and left, heading back to their dorm to prepare for the next day. On the way back, they ran into Tyr and Ashe in the courtyard and stopped to talk to them. "Hey guys. How've you been?" Jace asked them.
"We're well. We've been preparing for the tournament." Tyr answered him.
"I didn't know you guys were in it," Jace said and motioned to Auron, "By the way, this is Auron."
"Howdy." Auron greeted the two.
"Pleasure to meet you Auron," Tyr greeted back, "You fought well against Pyrrha."
"Thanks. We fought a lot before an' just wanted to do it for old times sake." Auron said with a smile.
"I take it they won't let you use your cloak?" Alyss asked Ashe.
"I probably could, but I won't out of fairness. I still have it in our room though." She answered her.
"I think we'll let you both go rest now," Jace said and nodded to them, "I'm sure you'll need it."
"That is true," Tyr said and the two turned to take their leave, "Until our paths cross again."
In a warehouse in the industrial district of Vale, a small meeting was taking place.
A woman wearing a crimson dress decorated in intricate yellow designs was sitting elegantly in a chair. She had black hair draped over her left eye and extending to past her shoulders, ending in grayed tips. Her amber eyes looked through the small but deadly group of Faunus in front of her.
"Adam, are your forces in place?" The woman asked the red and black-haired bull Faunus sitting across from her.
"Yes, they are. They will be ready when the time comes." The White Fang Commander replied to her.
"I see your lieutenant is with you, but who," Cinder directed her stare at the seven and a half foot tall Faunus with the large sword and tower shield, "is this?"
"He is the leader of the Crimson Lance. A special branch of the Fang. His forces will be spread through Vale when we strike while mine will be at Beacon." Adam replied and tilted his head slightly, "Is there a problem?"
"He seems as though he will be a great help to our goal." Cinder remarked and drew a scowl from Hawk under his mask
"I have no interest in your goals, human…" Hawk said spitefully and glared at Cinder, "I am here for my own purpose. Not anyone else's."
Cinder looked at the large Faunus with an amused expression. "And what would your goals be?"
"I am only here for two people. One escaped prisoner and one with knowledge I seek. Believe me when I say this. If you, Torchwick, or your lapdogs step in my path, I will make your death slow."
"Hmm…" Cinder's eye flared brightly from being threatened, but she let it die down and addressed Adam, "Are you sure this one can be trusted?"
Adam let a short laugh escape him at the question. "Believe me Cinder…"
"Vale will fall."
XxXxX
AN: We're inching closer and closer to the tournament, and this is actually the halfway point in the story. It'll certainly get more interesting from here.
I went with Eye of the Storm for the name of this chapter instead of The Calm Before the Storm. Because this is after everything that Jace and Auron went through but it's before it all goes bad again.
See you next chapter, and have a nice day!