Hi!
Real life has been crazy as of late. Uni picking up, exams to be written, my grandad diagnosed with leukemia...
Shit went down, to summarize it.
Though after finally finishing that mammoth chapter on my other work, I realized that I had quite a few people waiting for this.
So here you go.
Enjoy!
For want of a knight
Chapter 26: against the heavens
aka Plot, Motherfucker!
Beacon was quite the shitty place to be on this day.
It may have something to do with the attack of the White Fang in the early morning leaving the students quite dismayed with the feeling of being woken up too early and not being able to go to sleep again. Or, and that was more likely, the bad mood had something to do with a comrade of theirs being abducted, with no one able to prevent or stop it. Morale was already low with all of this going on.
"And after that shit happened," ranted a very angry Brawnz, "We find out that Cinder and her whole team are some fucking terrorists!"
May nodded along, her expression grim. "Who knows what she would have brought upon Vale if her plan had worked."
That thought alone was sobering to all who had assembled to make sense of the whole thing. "So basically," Weiss sighed, "The general assessment is as follows:
One: Jaune Arc, a guy we have all banded together for and forged some incredible bonds of camaraderie with, was abducted by a faunus supremacist group, his chances of survival, or at least not being tortured very slim." The blithe remark had some of the more weak-stomached shiver in fear. Nolan in particular seemed queasy; he had never liked the concept of torture.
"Two: A student of Haven was outed as a terrorist in cahoots with said White Fang. Her goals are unknown to us."
"What is there not to know?!" Dew yelled out. "She lied to get close to us, to this place, and to fuck shit up for everyone!"
"But do you know the reason?"
"Hell if I know; does she even need one?"
"Not everyone does," concurred a crestfallen Neptune, sitting close to Scarlet, who was looking down.
The cafeteria they had assembled in was only used by them right now. Other students were currently making calls to family members to assure them of their safety. Thinking about that opened a hole in Blake's heart.
"Just what are we going to tell his parents?" she whimpered, not looking at all forward to that conversation.
Nebula caressed a peculiar black cloth in her arms. "And I just got done with the muffler..." Pyrrha looked up a little at the mention of the clothing article, her eyes shining with fierce determination.
"We will not give up on him. I will not give up on him." She hissed these words out, making the others flinch slightly and Ruby find her resolve.
"That's right!" she declared. "We need to organize a retrieval party instead!"
Neon perked right up. "Retrieval?"
"It's simple! We organize a team of faunus-" she sweeped over everyone present with a gesticulating arm. "-and send them to Menagerie to avoid suspicions by the White Fang!"
Sun curbed her enthusiasm a little. "Why Menagerie?"
"That's where their headquarters lie," Blake supplied.
"Exactly!" Ruby confirmed with a sagely nod. "It must be where they brought him, so we need some volunteers to get there.
"No question," cheered Neon as she raised her hand. Blake did the same as she raised hers in correspondence, along with Sun, Velvet and-
Yang frowned at the last of them. "Why are you raising your hand, ice cream girl?"
Said girl just grinned while using her semblance to conjure some believably lively ears onto her skull. Neo wiggled them for emphasis.
"So, what," Miltia interjected. "The rest is just hanging back until the others come with Jauney?"
To which Weiss helplessly shrugged. "What can we do?"
"I know what we can do," snarled Octavia. "We're gonna interrogate those three and find out what their goals were!"
"I don't think the professors will allow that."
The students turned to the new speaker to see someone with a striking resemblance to the abducted knight.
"Mr Arc!" Nora cheered to the shock of those that hadn't seen the man before. "How are you? Did you have pancakes for breakfast?" His features darkened imperceptibly.
"No, I didn't. My son was kidnapped, so I'm here to find out where he is."
"Menagerie is our best bet, Mr Arc," noted Gwen, ignoring a frown from Blake at stealing the credit for that one. John acquitted this with raised eyebrows.
"Menagerie, hm?"
"Yup!" Yang chimed in. "Shame that only some of us are allowed there, so-"
"Not necessarily."
"Pardon?" Ciel was intrigued, despite having to nurse a sudden headache due to the lack of sleep.
The PatriArc grinned. "We just need to phone my old friend Ghira if he would welcome a diplomatic mission onto the island." Weiss caught on immediately, as did Arslan and Blake. The leader of team ABRN looked remarkably frazzled, though whether or not this was bed hair or from the fighting no one could say for certain. "That way you could all come along, with an attachment of one Beacon official and one...well," he looked apprehensive. "The official title is 'hostage', but..."
"Whoa, whoa!" Reese interrupted in alarm. "You can't just show up to-"
"He's not going."
Behind her husband emerged Arturia Arc with the bearing of her ancient noble line, despite her missing son. "I will."
"She has some words for their leader," laughed John, in spite of the general mood, something that Ren wanted to call him out on.
That is, until he noticed the hearts in the man's eyes. So he wisely said nothing, as he could best.
"I don't think that Sienna Khan would like talking to an angry mom demanding things from her on her own home turf," Dew thought out loud before her head shot back up. "No offense!"
"Why should I, since I know that's what's coming," Tori replied with her stern expression right before lowering her head, her face now showing worry. "Though I can only hope my baby is alright..."
"Not to be rude," Nolan hesitantly spoke up next, "But how do you know that the 'diplomatic mission' will be welcomed?"
"Oh, that's because we're friends with the ruling couple on- dear, are you alright?"
The attention was on the father now, who had grown pale in the face. His gaze seemed absent, staring into nothing, which was more than disconcerting to all.
"Honey," he finally spoke. "Do you remember what my dad told us back when Jaune was born?"
The question confused everyone present, as they didn't quite know how that was relevant. Arturia contemplated for a bit before her face lit up.
"Right! He told us about that con..." she trailed off, gaining the same expression of shock her husband had. Now everyone was really worried.
"What is it?" Yang finally asked.
"Well," the man reached up to the back of his neck to perform a motion that reminded them of Jaune. "The good news is that Jaune getting tortured is really unlikely."
Everyone got confused at that. "Why?" they chorused.
Tori grimaced. "That's the bad news."
/-/
Using a vehicle without the ungodly curse of motion sickness was something most people took for granted. Not Jaune, who was resting comfortably in the bed he woke up in, smelling the salty air of the sea through the opened window.
Sienna had broken the whole situation down for him after teasing him a little. The boats had been left at the docks under the pretense that they were cruise ships with an extended stay in Vale, so that the tourists could experience the city to the fullest. In actuality, the High Leader had seeded her own loyal spies throughout town, mapping the place and acting like they supported whatever scheme the Vale Branch was planning. After finding out their true goals, the most loyal of Sienna's own had reported back, which prompted her for an assembly of all members she had brought, to explain the whole thing and why it was a horrible idea.
While all this was going on, one had spied on Beacon itself, who could only be persuaded to act against Adam with the promise of seeing someone dear to her, despite becoming a defector. Jaune blurted out Blake's name, to which Sienna simply nodded. As a matter of fact, that person had brought Jaune to her just as he was knocked out. She was, apparently, able to blend in with her surroundings, which sounded pretty cool to him. Sienna had found out about the engagement back when her father was on his deathbed, and had spent a good while finding her fiance. She merely took advantage of Adam's aggression and enabled his attack solely to delegitimize him in the eyes of senior members and newcomers alike, as the attack had resulted in quite a few losses, while making the divide within the organization clear to the outside world and gain eventual allies or at least sympathizers.
The game of politics was convoluted and Jaune didn't pretend that he could come up with a better plan for something like this on the fly. And to think all of it was started by one of the Vale White Fang questioning the righteousness of the mission and deferring to the highest authority for clarification!
Domino effect, what the everloving hell.
Regardless, Sienna had to see to her troops, making sure that they understood what was going to happen now – a schism within, necessary for the greater cause of equality, so Sienna wholly believed – so he was left to contemplate his situation. Abducted by a fiancee he hadn't known he had, his friends potentially worried beyond belief and his parents on the warpath.
And here he munched on some porridge.
It was not exactly an ideal meal, but it was tasty and he would live. As an aside, he had to compliment the cook and ask for the recipe.
So focused he was on his meal and on the fact that he could actually eat on a transport that he didn't notice someone else entering his room.
"Hello."
That simple word made the young man freeze and whip his head around to the voice. Where before there was no one now stood a young woman with tan skin, sprinkled with some peculiar spots, and a brown ponytail, clad in black and brown leather garbs, giving him a skeptical look.
"You done gawking?"
Swallowing, Jaune replied. "Erm, who are you, if I can ask?" It wouldn't hurt to be polite.
"Ilia Amitola. The girl who brought you here."
"Ah." He nodded, feeling awkward about it all. "Well, erm, thanks?"
"Didn't do it for you."
"Right."
Silence. She just stood and stared at him with a difficult expression. It was somewhere between anger and curiosity.
"What is your relationship with Blake?"
Well, she was to the point. Her tone wasn't harsh, but demanding still. "Well, we're classmates and sometimes read books together."
One of her eyebrows rose. "That's it?"
"Well," he admitted. "I also helped write her favorite book, so yeah. Oh, and she helps me with training then and again." Ilia nodded along, not overly pacified, but seeming more at ease now.
"So, is it true?" he finally asked the question that bugged him ever since he recognized her as the one described by Sienna. "Can you turn invisible?"
She looked at him with some disdain. "So what if I can?"
"That would be really freaking cool." The boy had stars in his eyes.
Indeed, her skin turned a little pink. Not her cheeks, but her whole skin. "You think that's cool?"
"Yeah! I-I mean yeah." He was embarrassed at yelling, which embarrassed her as well.
"Um, thanks."
Silence.
"So...can you?"
She turned practically invisible right in front of him.
"That's so cool."
She turned pink right in front of him. "I-erm" she blurted out. Ilia wasn't sure where she was going with the errant thought she had, but, well, here goes. "I never had human friends. They would make fun of me..."
"Well." Jaune gave her his best and cheesiest Arc grin. "Strangers are friends you haven't met yet. I met you, that means you and me are friends now." Then he started blushing a little. "If you don't mind..."
"No-I mean...I don't mind." Ilia hadn't felt this bashful in a while now. "B-but make no mistake! My heart already belongs to someone- mlp!"
The faunus hadn't meant to have that tidbit slip out of her mouth, yet here she was.
"It's Blake isn't it?"
Curse you, weirdly perceptive guy!
No, wait, that's just logic at work…
Curse you, logic!
"Yes."
Now Jaune felt really awkward. How could he tell her, if he ever could dare to do so, that her crush was crushing on him? With petting and grinding, too!
Suddenly, Ilia's head turned to the open window, face marred with confusion.
"Can you hear that?" she asked him.
"Hear what?"
"Screams."
"What screams?"
"They're...frustrated?"
Frustrated screams? What? Regardless, he wanted to get some form of conversation with his new friend going.
"So, do you worship the Bellabooty?"
'Fuck you brain. Just...fuck you.'
She turned to him in surprise and anger. Yeah, he deserved that.
"Worship it?" she inquired with a...disbelieving tone? "I dream of caressing it, of licking it like an ice cream cone, of eating that ass like a champion!" AJune was takne aback, but decided to roll with it.
"She does have a legendary behind. People talk-"
"Let them talk!" she bellowed. "One day, I will have my head in between those cheeks!"
He suddenly came up with a great follow-up to that. "Could you send me a picture when it happens?"
Ilia turned red, then pink before replying: "Sure, okay."
/-/
"Come on, come on, please..."
Salem rarely felt any sense of urgency in the last few millenia. Fighting a war with her lover-turned-nemesis with the both of them unable to ever truly die had turned into some form of morbid tedium for her. Haste was rarely necessary.
Except for now.
The witch had studied the surprisingly ancient Arc line back over several generations, looking over some branches of the family, which had been wiped out if the lack of records was any indication, all the way to the founder of the line. Hell, she could even find a portrait of her.
That portrait was the source of her haste. The world had known that woman as Joanna Arc, the Blazing Maiden. Blonde, with green-blue eyes and a scar marring her otherwise beautiful face. To Salem, however, that woman bore a striking resemblance to someone she thought had perished in her youth.
Verano, one of her four darlings, taken before their time as petty collateral of a severe marital dispute; their deaths only escalating it all. Yet here this Joanna was, so similar to her darling that it was uncanny.
It couldn't be just some coincidence, could it?
The witch hastened even more now. An ancient ritual was prepared, to see which one of her blood was alive yet. Ancient, yet simple, with the purpose of finding family thought lost, with blood as catalyst.
One singular drop travelled down onto the glyph, which started to shine in an unnatural light. The moment of truth had come. Would her small inkling of hope be dashed or would it show that she wasn't as alone as she thought herself to be?
Finally, the pictogram showed and Salem's breath stilled.
Ten. Ten lights aside from hers glimmered on the pictogram in the air.
She gasped, tears finding their way into her eyes once more, long thought dried.
She had family. One living man, father to eight, seven daughters – and what a number that was! - one son, whose peculiar semblance brought him to the witch's attention in the first place, and one more, small still, but another guy. A baby, basically.
She had family.
She had family!
The tears flowed freely now. What she long thought lost was found again. And come hell itself and the return of the gods, this time her family would be safe! This time, she would have the family she craved!
Gods? Relics? Ozma? Who the hell gave a shit, she had actual family still alive!
Cinder.
She had to reach Cinder, inform her of this development, inform her that securing Jaune Arc by any means necessary was top priority.
The scroll rang, Salem not unfamiliar with the peculiar device, but still impatient with it all. She wished she could just call via Seer, but that would blow her agent's cover, wouldn't it?
Finally.
"Cinder," her voice came schooled to calmness once more.
"I'm sorry, she's not available."
No. No no no no no!
"Ozma."
"It has been quite a while, hasn't it?" his infuriatingly calm voice came over the device. "Shame that it has to be-"
"Cut to the chase," she hissed. "I don't have the patience to deal with your taunts."
"I'm afraid I don't follow." She could feel that smug grin on that asshole's face. "Regardless, I'm left quite curious as to why your henchwoman's henchmen have abducted one of my students."
Hench- the White Fang?! Why did they-
"He and his semblance will be in safe hands." How do you like that, you dustbin?!
"I certainly hope so. For your sake." And with that, he cut off.
Screw that old goat, all the way to hell!
Salem knew that Cinder knew nothing. Most of what she knew about her was hand picked information to feed her, schooled by a lifetime of fighting this war and playing those games that would amount to going fucking nowhere if she couldn't have some sort of future!
For crying out loud, at this point, she only wanted to assemble the relics to get her mortality back so she could age with grace and dignity until she could finally pass on. She had family to see grow u; seeing them wither and die while she herself was left unaging would be heartbreaking.
Fuck becoming a god, she wanted to truly live again!
"Where is it- MOBY!"
Upon being called, a monstrosity emerged. Large as a city, dwarfing even the greatest of Atlesian battleships, a colossal whale Grimm emerged from the endless mire of the Grimmlands and floated over to its mistress.
This was Moby, the largest of all Grimm.
'I'm coming; whether you like it or not, I will have my family!'
