"They're late again."
Pyrrha sighs at Nora's complaint. Jaune and Mors, they are coming back to their room late tonight, again indeed. They have been absent from the team almost every evening, even the weekends, and didn't come back until the witching hours, looking plenty tired and frustrated. The situation has perpetuated for almost three weeks now.
She doesn't know Mors's reason. All he has revealed to them was that he suddenly needed to head into Vale to meet with someone and take care of some business. It is very much against Beacon's curfew policy, but no one has had the heart to discourage him, not when it was important enough to drive two hours to the city and then two hours back every night, and he looked more and more unhappy when he came back each passing night. It was so very subtle, but Pyrrha has learnt to read her friend. And she is no fool. It has everything to do with Jaune.
As for Jaune, she knows exactly why he had been so distant, he had to. Her partner has filled her in, and she hates that there is nothing she can do about it.
"He's become rather scarce since he started fraternizing with Cardin." Ren answers Nora, with a hint of bitterness in his tone. What Pyrrha hates even more, is that she can't tell the remaining two teammates the truth. She wants to defend Jaune so bad her throat tightens up, but the secret is not hers to tell.
Poor Jaune, they were already overloaded with assignments due to higher expectations set for their team. Now he had to take on the whole CRDL team's workload. As if it wasn't enough they ran him ragged with errands, from buying them snacks and drinks to maintaining their weapons to polishing their armours. All his monthly allowances were surrendered to Cardin. He couldn't afford anything as of late, even necessities such as toothpaste or shampoo or Vale bus passes . Mors has been making suspiciously a lot of accidental redundant purchases and making a show of telling Jaune about them. Her partner didn't even have the funds to service his Crocea Mors. This was one of the few times Pyrrha was grateful for her celebrity status.
"I'm sure he has his own reasons." She tries to defend Jaune anyway.
"Yeah I guess so…" Nora doesn't sound so convinced. "But whatever it is, doesn't he-well, they actually, know we have a field trip tomorrow? Even Glyndy has told us to rest early!" She twirls and falls down heavily onto her bed, alternatively kicking up her legs, definitely not ready to 'rest early'.
"They'll be back soon I'm sure…"
"Eh, who cares, I guess. Their lives, their choices of who to hang with." She winces at Nora's nonchalant tone, as if she is all too used to this sort of thing. "Stupid choice on Jaune's part, but his choice, regardless. Reaaaaally stupid choice. I mean, who hang with the jerks who locked you in a locker for an hour and a half and send you on a trip to Grimm infested forest? Stupid people do! But it's his choice." The bright hair girl springs up and grins at Pyrrha "Don't sadden your pretty heart over those idiots, Pippi. You still have us! I'm as fun as two people! Maybe even three with some coffee!"
"Nora, you've never drank coffee before."
"So that's what this nagging sense of unfulfillment potential has been! I knew this wasn't even my final form!"
Although her smile is genuine for the sincere kindness aimed at her, Pyrrha's heart sinks with the weight of her guilt. She'll definitely apologize and treat Nora to the grandest feast of pancakes when this unpleasant situation is over, somehow. But for now, she'll suffer unhappiness together with her other two friends.
"Thank you Nora, that was very kind of you. You also, please, don't be too upset with them?" She can only sigh at the gingerette's noncommittal shrug. "I suppose it cannot be helped. I'll…go get some fresh air for a bit. Would you like to get something from the machines?"
"Coffee please! Super black!"
"Let's not feed her caffeine this late into the night, or anytime at all, can we?" Ren says "All Green for me please. Thank you."
"Silly Renny. We're not in Mistral anymore. Free will is a big thing here don't you know? I am entitled to choose the nightly refreshment I want; you are legally not allowed to stop me!"
"I'll ban you from my bed."
"...The Emperor's subjects are not allowed to turn away members of the royal family."
"I thought you said we're not in Mistral anymore."
"Doesn't mean you can forget my place!"
Ren sighs
"How about hot chocolate? Coffee tastes basically the same."
"Hmmmmmmmmmmm… Does it now?"
"...Yes." It does not, but she wisely keeps her silence.
"I do like hot choco…But-"
"You can have pancakes for dinner tomorrow."
"Very well, I shall allow it."
"Thank you, your Highness."
"Generosity, is my virtue."
Pyrrha giggles at the banter between her friends. In a way, she is a bit envious of the almost exclusive bond between these two. It is a wonder why they haven't actually gotten, as Nora put it, 'together together". Someday, Pyrrha hopes she too can have a bond like that.
She does a curtsy at Nora and turns pushes the door button.
Her smile dies instantly as she saw a mop of blond hair sitting outside right by the door. Jaune looks up and smiles weakly at her. On his face are exhaustion and above all else, guilt and frustration.
The Championess recovers quickly and casually closes the door behind her. Then, putting on her most gentle smile, she leans down and pulls on her partner's hand.
"Would you mind accompanying me to get refreshments from the machines? You know I'm not well versed in using electronics."
He stands up and nods at her appreciatively. Still, his posture slumps.
"Sure…" Their walk to the elevator was a silent one. But as they step inside the chamber, Jaune breaks it. "Sorry Pyrrha, for you having to juggle between us like that. I…Ren and Nora have every right to be mad at me, you know? And you are too, for that matter. And I know I'm somehow dragging Mors into this with me…" He shakes his head "Ren may look like that but he takes these friends thing pretty seriously, apparently. He has gotta be really upset with me."
"Oh Jaune." She sighs "I don't think I can be angry with you. Not when you're the one suffering the most. If Ren and Nora knew the reason, I'm sure they too could never be mad at you."
Jaune sinks into the wall. "Yeah, maybe...maybe…I should've, should tell them the truth."
"Nora would've, and would do something reckless with Cardin, something with dire consequences, and Ren would help her."
"Yeah I said that, didn't I?" Jaune sighs. They step out of the elevator. "Truth is, maybe I'm just scared of telling them I'm a fraud, you know. It was a miracle that you and Mors actually accepted me after that. But well, Mors is weird…" Pyrrha can't help but giggle a little bit at that. She internally apologizes to the team's oversized member "and you are you; but even then you were upset when you first heard about it, weren't you?" She nods, conceding the fact. "Fact of the matter is, I don't know how those two might take the news. And anytime I felt like telling them, I couldn't help but think what would happen if it doesn't go over well, and boy was I terrified of that." They arrive at the drinks machine. "All Green for Ren right? That's Geist's tail, lotus, matcha and uh…"
"Everspring and Midday bloom. Make one for me also, please?" Her partner nods. "It is a well founded fear. You shouldn't tear yourself up over it." Pyrrha realizes she still has not let go of Jaune's hand, but for some reason, she chooses to squeeze it tighter.
"Thanks Pyrrha, you're a good friend." She likes his lopsided smile. It was very…Jaune. "Let's see…Nora's hot choco…one part milk, one part coconuts, eight part cocoa…Maybe if I'm a bit braver, I can actually tell them, or better yet tell Cardin to actually shove it. Imagine that." He chuckles bitterly. "Hopefully I'll be more like you, or basically everyone, when I get a little stronger."
"...I genuinely think you are brave enough as it is." She's really not fond of that self deprecating smile. "Honest! Besides, this situation has nothing to do with courage. Even I and Mors cannot do anything about it..." Pyrrha bites her lips at how arrogant she's just sounded. Jaune didn't seem to notice it. He stares at the machine for a few seconds.
"...Yeah, fair." He gives her another of her favorite lopsided grin. The redhead can't stop herself from grinning back. "Sorry, I just suddenly turned our trip into a pity party for me. Here, as an apology." A well cued ding of the machine and Jaune takes out a cup of All Green and hands it to her. She breathes out a laugh and takes the cup with one hand and a curtsy. Jaune snorts in good humor. Pyrrha is once again aware that they are still holding hands. She does nothing to that fact and simply enjoys the comfortable silence.
.
.
"I don't think I'm very brave, no more than you." She speaks again after stewing on the conversation they'd just had. "I'm just a bit more…fearless."
"Girl, teh-may-toh toh-ma-toh."
"Uh uh, that means-pfft" She shakes her head while chuckling. "That means when faced with something that I do fear, I may not be so heroic, after all…That is why I think you're braver than most already. Back in the Initiation, you were without Aura, remember? Even afterwards, you were clearly out of your elements dealing with the Elder Grimm. I imagine you out of everyone then had the most to be fearful of, and yet…" She shrugs "You forged on and fought alongside us, and not once faltered. I say that marked a very, very brave soul. You can only be the bravest when you're the most afraid, I believe."
"...That's…really wise…Thanks, Pyr. I think…I needed that. Thank you." A gentle smile.
"Anytime, Jaune." A smile in return.
Another moment of silence falls, as she stares into his clear sky blue eyes. There is something hanging in the air between them. Something invisible, without scent nor sound, yet so thick in its presence, something that is subtly urging her to close the distance between them…
'I'M PLUM DABADEE DABADUMM DEEDABADEEEE…"
Jaune scroll rings, and the magic is broken. That unnamed 'something' vanished without a trace, so completely Pyrrha wasn't sure it was there at all.
Jaune blinks, then pulls his hand back and fumbles for his scroll. When he looks at the caller ID, his face falls and he sighs, signaling all of Pyrrha's previous effort to cheer him up has been undone. It doesn't take much guessing to know who's calling.
He didn't even bother waiting for Jaune to pick up. It went directly to voicemail.
"Hey Jauney boy! It's your buddy Cardin! I know you're probably busy with that Dust project I gave you, buuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps." She frowns. This does not bode well in any way possible. Rapier Wasps are usually more nuisance than threat for Aura users; but it can still be very, very uncomfortable getting stung by a few dozens of them, especially if they strike sensitive areas such as eyes, ears, mouth. Not to mention Aura is quite unreliable when it comes to toxins, as the line between medicine and poison is a blurry one. For a normal person, though, they can be downright lethal. Cardin is treading on some extremely dangerous grounds here. There isn't much one can do with these creatures. "And make sure they've got some really big stingers! It's important, so don't screw this up."
Just like that the hologram was cut off, leaving behind a very sour looking Jaune.
"Jaune, this is a very unsafe task, physically and school's-rules-wise! You do not have to do it!"
"Yeah I do, Pyr." The boy groans, palming his face. "Can't be good, whatever this jerk is planning, but we both know I don't have no say here."
"I'll come with you then." She bites her lip after grudgingly acknowledging Jaune's reasoning.
"So that two people might be caught breaking school's rules instead of just me? That's gonna make whoever catches us even madder!" She makes to argue but is stopped by a hand on her shoulder "I appreciate the gesture, Pyr, I really do. But the only way this can get any worse is knowing I dragged you guys into troubles with me. Don't let that weigh on my conscience, please."
She's vaguely aware that her lip hurts a little bit.
"...Very well." The girl struggles to say. Once again, she is powerless. "But let it be known that I really, really hate Winchester at this point."
"Heh. Welcome to the club. I'll be fine. Here, quench our team's thirsts in my stead, 'kay? Go to bed early. Don't stay up for me. I'll see you in the morning."
-REST-
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." Jaune snaps out of admiring the sea of red that is surrounding them to pay attention to Mrs. Goodwitch. He'd only heard about the mesmerizing beauty of the forest before, but to see it in person…wow... "But we are not here to sight-see. 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. Now, you'll search in the area no more than… "
He scrunched up his nose at the mention of the assignment. Naturally, his team's requirements to get a pass were tougher than that of the common folks. Obviously, their quota is five jars of tree sap instead of four. In itself that is tough, but doable, but there was that little bonus: harvestable Blood Leaf trees are usually around 100 years old and up, but theirs have to be from trees that are at least 500 years old, which are not exactly potatoes at a farmer's market level of abundance. Add to that those suckers will definitely be not close to each other, and it's an all around pain in the bum for team ALVMN.
Not to mention he'll also have to do community service for certain four poopfaces…Jaune's really not sure if he can get this done by the time they leave. Dang it!
"...Make sure to stay in groups with your teammates! We are already at the border of the High Danger Zone of the forest. Stay vigilant, and turn back immediately if you see white arrow marking on the tree…"
"Hey." Mors taps on his shoulder and leans in to whisper. Pyrrha, walking a bit ahead, slows down and turns her head sideways to listen in "You have to do CRDL portion?"
"Yeah…"
"Fucking A…Blyat. Won't have enough time to do your jar, I don't think…Okay. We'll try to cover your part, too." Mors just said like it's obvious, and Pyrrha nodded along. "Oh man…five by five… That's at least twenty five damn miles we'll have to cover, assuming we know exactly where each fiver is, which is a really, really unreasonable assumption."
These guys…The boy is both touched by how willing his friends are at picking up his slack and, at the same time, ashamed he's very likely ditching his responsibility to care for people he doesn't even like! This mess is his fault.
"Perhaps we should split up?" Pyrrha suggests.
"No! Don't!" Even if it's Pyrrha or Mors, he really doesn't want his teammates wandering around this area alone, or in pairs for that matter. "You heard Goodwitch, the Grimms around here are basically all aged. I know you guys are super badasses and stuff, but it'll still be pretty bad to get caught by something high tier like Ursa or if you have really bad luck, a Nemean, alone. Just…finish your parts…Nora is actually really good at extracting tree sap, apparently. So you'll save a lot of time there, prolly. I'll also be on the lookout for fivers and share the locations with you guys if I run into one."
"There's really no need to split up. The risks aren't worth it." He pleads. Pyrrha hesitates for a second, but then slowly bobs her head. Jaune lets out a breath and scratches his head. It won't sit really well if his teammates take on anymore risks for him.
"...Alright, have fun, children." He hears Goodwitch closing remark and glances over to see Cardin and his goonies are stalking over to him, ominous grins on their faces. He sighs, no rest for the wicked.
But then, for some reason, the jerks stop midway at a distance and decide to just stand there to glare at his general direction. Jaune raises his brows. What the heck…Oh…Mors's gotten his mask on. The knight's lips curve into a slight smirk. He'll still have to go with CRDL, but he feels a bit better to walk into his damnation by his own will.
"Really…thank you guys. You're the best friends a dude can ask for. I'll… uh… remember this favour, I swear. I…yeah…." They get it, what he was trying to say, whatever that was. "Yeah. Stay safe, tell Ren and Nora I'm sorry, please? See you later."
-REST-
"Hah…hah…umpf…ugh…" Jaune's head is spinning. He needs to sit down…wait, he is sitting down! What the heck? The blond tries to breathe to calm down, but he catches another whiff of the sickeningly coy smell of the tree sap and boy is he the opposite of calm right now. He closes his ey-no bad idea.
Well that was enough interaction with these stupid trees to last a lifetime. This damn red gooey thing is his new weakness. Maybe one day, Jaune Arc will be a hardline Huntsman with Badass his moniker, but just throw a jar of this obnoxious goo in his face and he'll go down faster than a cow can say 'moo'.
A pair of armored boots walks into his vision. Ugh, break time's over.
"Hey! Greeeat work. Now that wasn't so hard now was it, Jauney boy?" Cardin sneers "You sure you wanna sit there though? Don't you have something reaally important to do now? You know, like finish your assignment? You got what? An hour?"
Jaune is too dizzy to muster a proper glare at the ginger, but he made sure that his face right now is not a happy face.
"I'll take my chances, Cardin. Blurgh! I think I'm allergic to this thing."
He said that, but thank Oum's Mercy he had run across a 500 years old Blood Leaf on pure coincidence. He's just received a message from Pyrrha about half an hour ago they'd found the tree he'd marked and should be working on it now. It'll be tight, but they'll make it.
"What…" Cardin is bumped for a few second, but then he realizes something. His face splits into an sadistic smiles and shortly after the smile breaks into mocking laughter. "Ahaha! You're gonna have your team carrying you through this." Oh no…Jaune grimaces, bad guy shouldn't be this smart! This is something that can definitely be used against him, or worse…"Heheh oh man! That's how you're running your team? Order them around and ride off on their effort? Gotta say, stellar leadership right there! Maybe I ought to learn something from you, huh? Maybe I should get them to do something for me too…"
"...Yeah right…" Jaune tries desperately to salvage the situation "You kinda overestimated my influence on my team there…Yeah they're helping me now, but that's just because they are really nice people. Bring you Single Orientation boys into the equation? All bets are off, good luck trying to even get them to tell you the time! They'll just drop me along with you!" He resists the urge to wince. That's truly a terrifying prospect.
"Yeah we'll see about that Jauney" His bully grins. "In fact, why don't we test how much those suckers are willing to tolerate you eh? Come on get up." The blond is roughly pulled to his feet. Dread bubbles up in his bowel. Whatever's going to happen, it's not going to be good.
"What're you trying to do?"
"Me? I'm not doing anything! You, on the other hand…" Cardin waves at the brown hair guy, Dove, who nods and pulls out a very familiar pouch. No… "Russ, where is he?"
Russell, the mohawk guy, has his eyes flares up in red aura. He looks around, then points at a direction.
"That way. He's not too far, but he's with the others, too."
"The more the merrier, don't you think?" The bully turns to Jaune and drapes a meaty arm over his shoulder. "Now I need to give it to you for having gathered this much Rapier Wasps." He takes the violently squirming pouch from Dove's hand "Ugh. Nasty little bastards. Must've been a pain to put them in here huh?"
"..."
"Now you might've wondered what all those suffering was for...Well wonder no more Jauney Boy! These wasps you've gathered right here, they're for a single thing: Payback."
"Mors…" Jaune whispers with mounting horror.
"That's the one! The fucking troll." Cardin seethes "Think he's the shit, think he's better than me? I'll fucking show him his place. Or rather…" That extra sap jar makes so much more sense now, Jaune realizes. Rapier Wasps are extremely attracted to sweetness, and the substance is nothing but. Suddenly the jar is shoved onto Jaune's hand, and he instinctively holds on to it. "You're going to do it."
"No…" He wrestles out of Cardin's grasp and backpedals away from the source of his distress. The boy gloats at his discomfort. "Throw that jar and the wasps bag at the troll. Let's see if he's gonna hold a grudge or even more hilarious, forgive his precious friend. Honestly, I'm reaaally hoping for the later."
Rapier Wasps are lethal to non-aura people. And Mors has no aura.
"No!"
"Either that…" Cardin grits "Or I'm talking to Glynda and you're on the next airship out of Beacon. I ain't scared of what the oaf's gonna do! He touches a hair on me, and my pa's gonna fucking have him executed!"
…Well there's only one way to respond to that, and it's right here in his hand.
KLINKRRR
A red jar sailed through the air and hit Cardin squarely on his breastplate. It shattered right on impact and the content splashed all over the guy's armor. The whole world stopped in stunned silence.
Well, it was good while it lasted, Jaune thinks. Might as well go down fighting.
"Do whatever you want Cardin, I don't care anymore." He sighs, then grinds out "But don't you dare mess with my friends!" And he slips into a fighting stance he's learnt from a certain chapioness.
Cardin stares at him, then at the rest of his team, who stare back. A dark chuckle slowly escapes the boy's throat. He wears a twisted smile, and boy is that some quality anger behind those eyes. Jaune's prepared for apocalypse, but he can't help swallowing a large chunk of air.
"Oh you've done it now…" The bigger boy stomps towards Jaune. His teammates spread out to surround their victim. No weapons are drawn, fortunately. Even these guys are not that dumb. "Let's see how much of a man you really are."
Without further ado Cardin leaps straight at him, right arm winded back for a devastating blow. Something rises in Jaune's chest and his mind kicks into overdrive. His instinct screams at him to lean back.
And surprisingly, his body leans back.
The winds of Cardin's cross slaps into his face, thankfully not the fist itself. Jaune stumbles backwards from overshooting his dodge, but so does his opponent from not having expected to miss. Then, somehow, Jaune manages to find his footing and recover before Cardin.
High on primal impulse, he throws a left down punch at his enemy's opening.
Foot, hips, exhale, shoulder, tricep.
THUNK!
Cardin head snaps back and the boy falls to the ground with a grunt. Everything turns dead silence once again. The bully holds his face and looks up at Jaune with a stunned expression. Not to be outdone, Jaune too, stares dumbly at his still clenching hand, trying to comprehend the fact he's just punched Cardin's down. His knuckles are still aching and aura is putting his dislocated wrist back. H-how? His body is so responsive, so…powerful!
The morning trainings…
He doesn't have too much time to get too excited, though. He hears Cardin roars and the next thing he knows a huge fully armored body slams into his gut, forcing air out of his lungs.
Once again, he instinctively knew to kick his feet back and fall forward, leaning his weight onto his attacker, pushing the opponent's towards dirt once again. This time, though, the element of surprise was long gone. Cardin slides a knee onto the ground, twists his torso and flips Jaune onto his back. The knight's vision goes black for a moment when he slams onto earth, gasping out empty air.
The bully tries to mount him, but even Jaune knows he'll be in big trouble if that happens, so he flails about with all his strength. Luckily, an elbow of his catches Cardin somewhere on the face. The boy reels back, giving the blond the opportunity to scurry away and get back on his feet. Jaune pants and struggles to get his breathing back to normal. A few feet away, the big guy is nursing his nose and wearing a very ugly snarl. The goonies are just standing around, unsure on how to deal with the unexpected situation.
"Get him!" Cardin growls.
Jaune has improved, that much is very much obvious by now. It was even shown on how CRDL were fighting him really seriously. Apparently Jaune could move much more fluidly than even he'd expected, and no one was willing to shrug off his punches anymore. But the reality waa he didn't stand a chance of winning the fight. In the end, it was three vs one, and he didn't have a quarter of the experiences CRDL had. He fell for every feint, got hit from his blind spots and didn't know how to follow up with his attacks. One particular heavy blow from behind has him falling down face first, signaling the outcome of their bouts.
"Looks like this dog's grown some teeth." A foot turns Jaune over and Cardin pin a knee down on his chest. It gives him a bit of satisfaction seeing his bully somewhat worn down. He didn't go down easy. "Everyone is a rebel these days huh? You think you can take me on just 'cause you've learnt a few tricks huh? Well looks like the troll can wait, boys. Gonna have to show this dimwit his place. Give me wasps."
He pales, horror once again boiling up in his chest. He desperately struggles about, trying to throw Cardin off from him. But it's as if the bully's knee is nailed onto him and into the ground, he can't get it to even budge. Despair further descends when Dove and Sky take his arms and hold them down.
"Now now be a good boy won't you?" Cardin chuckles maliciously. "I'm sure these guys have a lot to say to their captor right?" He hovers the pouch over Jaune's face. The blond can hear the angry buzzes of the wasps, see some stingers pokes out of the bag, feel hundreds of tiny creatures rearing for blood. Oh Oum, save him please… "Lemme give you guys a chance to work things out."
"GRAWWWWWWWWH!"
The roar was like a shockwave reverberate throughout the entire space. It tapped into the instincts of everyone present at the moment and they knew, they had to fear the creature who made that noise.
Cardin stares blankly at whatever above Jaune head, his hands falling limply to the sides. The wasps bag rolls onto the grass, thankfully remains sealed. Jaune tilts his head a cranes his head to get a look at the newcomer, and something squeezes on his heart, well other than Cardin, as soon as he sees the black fur.
An Ursal Major.
It is a mountain of a beast, has to be twice Mors's height. Its legs are as thick as the tree trunks around it. How the creature has managed to sneak up to them, he has no idea. The Grimm's exo has grown to the point its more a suit of armor than a shell. The countless ominous spikes jutting out of its back means the monster is already well into its Titled phase.
They can't beat this thing.
Sky is the first to act. With a whimper the guy lets go of Jaune and runs away. The Grimm instantly locks onto him and gets on all four. With a roar and two bounds it has already caught up to its prey. Sky doesn't even have time to yelp when a meaty paw slams into him. The sound of impact was sickening. The guy sails through the air and crashes almost into a tree, going through almost half the trunk. He drops to the ground and remains motionless.
The Bear turns back to the remaining humans, growling, daring the next person to try and make a break for it.
Cardin gets off of Jaune to huddle with his teammates. Their weapons are drawn, but no one looks too eager to actually use them. Jaune, also, scrambles to his feet to draw Crocea Mors. As soon as he did, the monster lunges for CRD. It knows to deal with the bigger threats first, he realizes.
It couldn't even be called a fight, the ensuing battle. The team's spirit was broken the moment the beast appeared. With one downward swipe and Russel was hammered onto dirt, another backhand sends Dove across the field, his chestplate sports a nasty dent. Cardin made a frantic swing at the Grimm and the mace bounced harmlessly off the boneplate. An enraged roar and the monster sent the guy skidding along the red grasses, Aura broken, but somehow still conscious. The Ursa doesn't like that one bit, and it stalks over to the boy to make sure he stays down. As the monster looms over the ginger, it is clear: Cardin will be the first to go.
"No…Please…No." Cardin begs, trying feebly to crawl away from doom; tears start rolling down his cheeks. A pathetic sight, but such is the case for any normal person feeling death approaching. Only a snarl answer his pleading.
"Rrarggh!" Jaune yells as he stabs his sword into the gap between the plates on the Ursal's back thigh. Even with both hands, he could barely push a quarter of the blade into the monster's flesh. It did absolutely no damage to the Grimm except for maybe hurting its feeling, but that was good enough.
Jaune hardly has time at all to raise his shield at all before something that seems like a wrecking ball rams into Crocea Mors. He jumps back along with the blow to dissipate some of the energy. He flies back a distance away but manages to land on his feet and slides on the ground to a safe stop. His arms feel like breaking. Actually, pretty sure his left shoulder is dislocated, ow…the knight winces. His aura has already dulled the pain and is working furiously to get his body fixed. No time for that, though, as the Ursal is already rushing straight at him. He makes a frantic dive forward to the side, out of the monster's warpath. Lucky for him it was too big and heavy to finish stopping and change direction before he could roll onto his feet. The Grimm pauses for a moment to assess its new opponent, proven to be more troublesome than the previous ones.
Jaune has no idea why he did what he did. All he has accomplished was bumping his spot up on the chopping block, and he did it for a guy who was a minute away from dumping Rapier Wasps on his face. But what was he supposed to do? Cardin's an asshole, but Jaune didn't want to see him gets mauled to death!
But it's not like their situation has changed in a slightest bit. They're most certainly dead here if a miracle doesn't happen soon. And it's called a miracle for a reason. Think! Think! What can he do? Running is a no no, Sky had made it clear. But that leaves fighting this thing, but to what end? Certainly not defeating this monster. Jaune grits his teeth and squeezes down on his weapons, he's terrified.
You can only be brave when you're most afraid, huh?
"Cardin! CARDIN!" He yells, snapping the other boy out of the daze of near-death. Break time's over, the Ursal makes a lunge at him. He dive rolls again, but this time the beast adjusts. It digs its front paws into the ground and swings its entire body around. Jaune almost doesn't recover and raise his shield in time to block a devastating swipe. Once again he sails back and gains some distance from his opponent and stumbles upon landing. Thanks Oum the second swipe from the other paw just grazed him by his breastplate surface.
"Call somebody!" He screams at Cardin. And out of the corner of his eyes he sees the ginger fumble for his scroll. The Grimm's attention is on him. The other guy should have some time to call for help.
His shield arm is shaking. The blow has almost taken him completely off his feet by the time he can tell his body to jump back, so he couldn't mitigate much force. As a result, his shoulders were almost wrecked. He can kinda feel his aura has already dropped to below a quarter, a quick glance at the scroll's wrist UI confirms that much. Yellow. He has around three quarters before, and two blocked, soften swipes brought it down to this. Jaune gulps. No use trying to block the next hit, it's gonna break his aura anyway. He lets go of his shield and holds the sword with both hands. Gonna have to go on the offensive. Shit!
You can only be brave when you're the most afraid.
With a frenzied battle cry he dashes towards his doom and it responds in kind. Tons of fleshes and bones bear down on him, sending vibrations through the ground. Razor sharp claws attached to a powerful arm shoots straight at his head. Oh Oum he's dead! Duck! Duck! DUCK!
The claws pass above his head by mere inches. He can feel his hair whip up because of the winds the swipe generated. No time to think though. Jaune spins on his toes and stands back up to the Grimm's right before it can recover and stabs into the armor gap under its front leg. The sword bites into the Ursal's flesh, and the creature roars, more out of anger than pain. The blade couldn't go in too far, though. Nowhere near the internal organs, the fats and muscles on this thing are simply too thick! He wishes he had something heavier.
Bug bites then.
A backhand flies towards his torso, and he hurriedly steps back out of its range. Jaune almost goes in for another strike, but he catches a glimpse of the beast's other arm rapidly rises up as an uppercut, so he takes another step back. Another dodge too close for comfort, but he doesn't have time to dwell on it. The Ursal overreach, the knight scores another stab into the monster's belly.
Something has clicked, and his mind and body have gotten into a…zone…of some sort. He doesn't think much, but his mind is constantly under tension like a high strung piano string. He knows immediately how to react to the Grimm attacks, sees an opening the moment it appears, and his limbs obey flawlessly. Every dodge is by a hair-breath, a single stumble means the fight's over for him. Yet, he somehow dances on, this deadly flourish with a monster. A minute, then five, then he loses track. It doesn't matter if he can't beat this thing anymore, all that counts is the beast's next strike won't connect, and his will.
But his opponent is, after all, a Grimm. And these creatures are anything but relentless. Jaune must've sliced and stabbed the thing three dozen times now and it doesn't even slow down a bit. In fact, it got more ferocious each time it was cut. The swings came faster and more chained. He started to have to maneuver through five or six strikes before he could get a hit in and catch a breath. Whatever mental state he is in right now is keeping him alive, but it is unbelievably exhausting. Soon, one will have to give, and it doesn't look like it's gonna be the Ursal.
Then it happens in a flash. Jaune side-stepped a bite and went for the left eye. Turned out the Ursal only needed to turn its head ever so slightly to have him stabbing into its exo mask instead. The blade slided off and he stumbled and that was it. He didn't know where the blow came from, but when he regains consciousness he's already slumping by a fallen tree and his aura is completely off. He struggles to stand up, but he can hardly move his arms, his vision's blurry, there's ringing in his ear. Over quite a distance away, he sees the big black figure of the Grimm lumbers towards his broken form, signalling the coming of the inevitable. Tears start running down his face. He doesn't want things to end here, but it seems his screen time is up.
But then a feral scream echoes through the forest, and a gray, metallic figure crashes into the black one. Cardin! Jaune realizes, with horror and relief at the same time. His Aura must've recharged, but it couldn't have been much! A small part in Jaune's mind is happy that Cardin is returning the favor to him, unexpected as it was. But a bigger, more cynical part of him is saying this changes nothing, and he's about to get an exclusive sneak peak on his fate in a few minutes through his classmate.
True enough, Cardin got one swing in, Jaune thinks. To the dude's credit, that one mace blow seemed to do way more damage than Jaune's stabs and cuts, but all that had accomplished was an angry roar and a brutal paw to the head. The gray figure slams down to the dirt which such force chunks of earth splatters out like a small explosion. Cardin stays down, unmoving, and most likely no longer conscious.
Jaune struggles with every fiber of his being. Move! Come on you stupid meat bag of mine, move! Everything is heavy, pain's everywhere, he can't think straight, and his senses are slipping in and out. But the single insistence of moving remains on his mind. He doesn't know how it happened, but somehow, he managed to stand up, leaning heavily on the tree stump.
"h…h…h…"
"he…h…hey…"
"hey…he…h…HEY!" He wants nothing more than to lie down and get some sleep right now. But for whatever reason, he's getting back in the fight. It's stupid, it's illogical, it is the definition of futility, but he's getting back in the fight. Big, black and ugly turns its head at him once again, maybe.
We're not finished yet, is what he tried to say, but just a grunt came out. The Ursal apparently considers that was enough words exchanged and gets on all four and barrels down at him. Jaune tighten his grips on his sw-oh…he must've dropped it. Well, crabbasket. A muffled roar comes, and he looks on as a giant bear-shaped wrecking ball lifts off into air and flies straight at him. The space between them itself seems to be compressed by the monster's volume. Jaune lets out a soft breath, goodbye.
Something slams into him and his body jerks violently to the side. He thought it was the Grimm, but he soon realizes the impact was too light. Also, he feels a pair of arms wrap tightly around him; one slender hand is holding onto his head, protecting his neck from whiplash. And then, the biggest clue of all, a crimson ponytail fluttering in the winds, trailing through the air like a ghostly stream of fire. Pyrrha! If he had the strength to smile he'd be laughing like a madman.
They land rough but Pyrrha has turned so she would cushion his fall. A soft, muted grunt passes by his ear. He still coughed out upon impact. But who cares? Elation from escaping near death mixing with the relief of having his partner by his side overloads his mind with glee almost to the point of hysteria.
"Are you okay? Jaune? Jaune?..."
If Pyrrha is here then that means his team is here too! And sure enough, he sees a large blue figure swinging a large slab of grey at the Grimm, at the usual uncanny speed. Nearby, smaller pink and green figures move quickly around the two fighting giants. The Ursal has been pushed onto its back foot, as if it wasn't the same unbeatable monster that was his sure doom a few seconds ago. The beast is ferocious, he has no doubt, but all that aggression seems null and void before the ruthless efficiency of Mors. Already the thing has had one leg cut off and a deep gash on its shoulder. Yeah…that thing is going down.
And as soon as the thought appears he loses all control of his body and his screen aruptly cuts to black.
-REST-
"You should get back to dorm, too." Mors says as he watches Ren carrying a sleeping Nora on his back out the infirmary door.
"I'll…just stay for a little longer…" Doesn't take much to see how tired Pyrrha is. The girl is fighting tooth and nails to stay awake.
"You haven't left this place since eight hours ago. It's already two in the morning." He pulls his chair up next to her. "Come on, you haven't even taken a shower. He's not gonna wake up till morning. The dude's gonna feel really guilty if he sees you so disheveled because of him, yeah?"
Only silence follows.
Mors sighs.
"Mrs. Peach has said he'll be fine hasn't she?"
"Yes…still… Maybe a little longer…" PR bites her lips a bit.
Kay…this is not normal…Now that he thinks about it, after the initial panic had passed and Jaune's condition has stabilized he has on a few occasions caught the girl brooding and staring blankly at nothing. They weren't much to have garnered everyone's attention, but it seems what happened today has had some sort of effect on her, and it's nothing good he feels.
"Hey" He says gently, leaning forward to catch her eyes. She reluctantly looks at him. "I just realized something's eating at you. Sorry I haven't noticed it earlier. But I'm all ears if you wanna share? Might help taking some weight off you know?"
"...It's...It's stupid." The redhead lets out a strained laugh.
"Maybe. But even so it's perfectly okay to be bothered by stupid things, right? You don't have to put on a brave front here. It's just the three of us."
Silent, as the girl looks away to her partner on the bed, chewing on her lips again in deliberation. Finally, she sighs and glances at Mors.
"...He was…on the brinks, Mors. Had Cardin not kept the Grimm occupied for those few seconds…I would've never made it to him. And even when I made it, his aura was depleted, his shoulder was broken, his skull was fractured. There was blood everywhere, back of his head, out of his nose, his mouth. I…I even had to push one of his eyes back into its socket." The girl's breath hitches, and her expression almost breaks. Mors quickly puts a hand on her shoulder, hoping the contact helps keep the girl feeling supported. She shakes her head as if trying to dispel the image. Her fists ball up white tight. "I was terrified, Mors. Of the sight of a dear friend so…damaged, of him may very well stop breathing in my arms. I had never been so afraid like that. Fighting I've done plenty, and I am no stranger to injuries. But the ones on Jaune, and Cardin… They are so...brutal...gruesome. I really wish to never see them again."
"I don't want to sleep right now because I'm afraid I might have nightmares about today. I'm quite easy to have dreams. So I...wanted to wait and see Jaune up and about, acting and feeling okay so that maybe the...images of earlier can be overwritten, that I can tell myself the ordeal has passed."
She leans back on her chair and smiles miserably at him.
"I'm sorry. It's stupid, isn't it? I should've prepared my mind for the reality of being a huntress, ugly as it was. You, Nora and Ren seems to have not been as shaken as I was. So perhaps it is me who should have a stronger heart. But...no matter my reasoning, whenever I think back to this afternoon, I'm still very, very...afraid."
Ah…he didn't expect that. Not from PR, at least. The girl is about as close as a student can get to being a full fledged, professional huntress. The air of reliability from her poise and manner, the critical eyes that remain sharp even during volatile situations, and the easy confidence born from years of fighting competitively. Speak nothing of her unnatural talent in combat. He has always held her, at least when in battle, at his own standards, expected from her the things he expected from himself. She has lived up to them all, then some. It was comforting to have someone so capable watching his back, that he seemed to have forgotten that PR was just a seventeen girl who, thank the Brothers, didn't grow up in blood and fire. A girl who had every right to be scared by the sight of gore.
"It…gets easier with time." He says, not quite happy with his words. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but you'll get used to the bloodshed, as you experience more of it." And she prolly will see more, and worse, he left it unsaid. They all will; Yang, Weiss, Jaune, Ruby. "But I mean, don't start looking up gore vids on the Towernet to train yourself or something; unless well…it's your thing…Then uh…moderation is key?" She chuckles and swats his arm. "For real though, don't. The Headmaster had the school's net monitored. Nothing too invasive, but is definitely gonna raise some flags on a few sites. You should ask Jaune how to get around that."
"You are terrible at counseling."
"Well in my defense my counseling is cheap, free, even; close and personal, with the care and concern you wouldn't get anywhere else as bonuses."
"Yes." PR giggles. "I suppose those are some quite appealing qualities of your service."
He grins and pats her shoulder a few times. She seems more at ease now, and sleep is starting to catch up to her mind. The crimsonette stifles a yawn, but Mors knows better than to tell her to go back to the dorm now. He takes a look at his scroll, two thirty. Guess this is going to be one of those long nights.
"You want something to drink?"
"...Coffee, seven parts milk, please."
-REST-
"Here you go kid. Eight spots in total. Sorry it took a while to put this together, but we're a bit short on manpower right now."
"Thank you, Mr. Junior." Mors takes a thick folder from the bar owner's…well, infobroker at the moment, hand, sifts through the papers inside and put it aside on the counter. He nods at the older man. "You delivered, that's all that matters. Here." He taps on his scroll, and twenty five thousand liens is subtracted from his account. That was a quarter of his fortune.
Thank the Brothers he'd paid for all of his necessities the next four years at Beacon and still have this much left. Or else he'd prolly have to pick up a job or two some times this year. That'd definitely mess with going to school.
"Got it, thanks." Mr. Junior says after a quick glance at his watch. "Heh. Who knew the Walking Deadman would be so pleasant to work with? Another drink? On the house."
"I won't say no to free stuff. Also please, just call me Mors."
Mr. Junior shrugs in acknowledgement and pours out another glass of hot chocolate.
"Can't say I'm not a bit curious, kid. This guy is not some easy civ to be affordable for a personal grudge, but also not important enough for the big players to spend their liens on. Just a bad mark in general. Who would go after him? A rival in the Great Council? Possible, but unlikely as hell, and overkill anyway if they've got you to do it."
In the folder are Lord Winchester's safehouses locations, layouts of each place, evacuation procedures, Mrs. Winchester and the younger son's habits and routines; as well as the list of guards that are more likely to take a bribe. Basically the entire security details of Cardin's family. Enough info that if falls into the wrong hands, for example the local White Fang, the entire Winchester household, except for Cardin, would be wiped off in a single night. The man has the reputation of being quite severe when it comes to the faunus. So given the opportunity, the Fang would jump at a chance to attack the Winchester. A big, loud statement that would make. They'd prolly staple animal parts onto the bodies and hang them somewhere public; the upper class district's evac zone, most likely.
These, are leverage he's been working on to counter-blackmail Cardin. It was extreme, he despised it. But it was the only thing he could come up with to resolve the situation with Jaune. Told himself he would only scare the boy and wouldn't actually go through with it. Didn't make it any less unpleasant.
It was a huge weight off Mors's shoulders that the issue was resolved before this point, despite the very unwelcomed event leading to it.
Still, turned out the bully still had decency in him. He and Jaune apparently had had a talk when they went to get breakfast this morning. The dude has promised to forget about Jaune's secret and drop the beef. Maybe it was because the blond had saved him; maybe he realized how trivial his squabble with Jaune in the face of the real malice; or maybe coming back from critical condition humbled the guy a bit. Who knows. The guy may have lied, but he really had no reason to do so, and Mors prefers to be optimistic about this.
Truth be told, he's a bit ashamed he was yay close to snuffing out what might've been the last bit of good in an, all in all, ignorant boy. He even saved Jaune's life, technically. A few good deeds do not erase several bad ones of the past. But they counted for something.
He'll prolly hold on to the folder for a week then burn it.
"It's more of a personal project, Mr. Junior. Nothing you'd need to pay attention to. Nothing too exciting is going to come out of this, I believe."
"Okay." The older man chuckles "I know a 'Fuck off' when I hear one." He holds up a hand, stopping Mors's attempt to clarify. "Not gonna pry, don't worry. Not my business."
"…Thank you. Can I ask you to delete all these info on your end too? You don't have much use for them, I imagine. And you can chalk it up as a favor I'd owe you."
"Heh, won't say no to freebies. Sure. But how are you gonna confirm if I really did it?"
"...I guess I can't. But I knew someone in the info business. He said credibility is everything in your line of work. So I'll take my chances on you keeping your word."
"Hah! Careful kid, you might actually make it into my heart. Have another drink on me before you leave huh?" The bar owner laughs heartily. He then sighs and shakes his head. "The Malachites are finally gonna get off my case about not doing business with you. Those brats really need to learn to deal with even the people they don't like, shesh. Sorry about their attitude, again. Don't hold it against them eh?"
"No worries. I get where they're coming from. So no hard feelings there." Mors waves the issue away. "I'll take you up on that free choco, though, and I'll be out of your way as soon as I finish it so the girls can enjoy their night. I'd like to hang with my team tonight, too."
Mr. Junior shrugs and pours his drink. Mors taps on the no longer needed blackmail materials while resuming to people watching, letting his sight wander. The place is as crowded as one would expect on a Saturday night. Most of the people are swaying under the blaring beats coming from four massive speakers and countless smaller ones. Some of the guys are covered from head to toes in brand clothing and some of the girls are barely covered at all. Every once in a while, he catches glimpses of people who dress a bit too sharply for the place, obviously here for more business than pleasure.
The biggest club in Vale, and also the biggest info hub.
"Actually kid" He hears Mr. Junior calls out to him "You mind if I cash in that favor now? It might work out for you too."
"I'm listening."
"Right. First thing first, you're friends with this girl?" A photo is slided to him. Mors raises his mug to take a sip, but has to quickly put it down when he glances at the person in the picture. A thick, voluminous golden mane, a playful, confident, cocky smirk.
Yang Xiao Long
A/N
Oh wow hasn't it been a while. Life's been busy, way more than I would've liked. Wrote more codes than I wrote stories, which was a bit sad. But not to worry, story is not dead, if I have any say in the matter, which I do. I may be a bit slower on releasing new chapters, but they're gonna be longer. So yeah.
NoOneInParticular17: Didn't realize the MC not having aura's gonna put you off that much. I apologize. But I guess I like the idea of a guy who managed to climb to stand equal with basically the superhumans of the world through personal efforts. It just seems poetic to me that mankind (and faunuskind) has far greater potential even without power crutches like aura and semblance. Though make no mistake, there is a limit to everything. But anyhow, I guess it's a shame what I offered was not what you want, I wish you good luck on finding a better read and thank you for reading my story so far.
