Chapter 7: Arrival at Glen Mor
Jaune groaned and grit his teeth, his body pulsed with pain. He rubbed the side of his face with his hand and slowly opened his eyes, and immediately noticed the wooden roof above him.
He shot up and cried out in pain, "Yep, that would be the ribs!"
He clutched his midsection and grit his teeth as he scanned the room around him. It was a long corridor with tall stone brick walls and a wooden roof, there were several other beds with many more wounded men and women. A couple of beds down, Jaune could see Ren and Nora still asleep.
He sighed in relief. However, that doesn't explain where they are.
Jaune pulled off his covers and struggled to his feet, that's when a slight breeze made him shiver. He looked down and his eyes went wide, "What happened to my clothes?"
The door to the room opened with a creak, "So you're awake."
Jaune turned his gaze toward the source of the voice and looked them up and down, what he saw surprised him. A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and dark brown eyes stared at Jaune with a kind gaze. She wore a breastplate that exposed her chest and leather boots that went up to her mid-thighs. She had a brown waist cape and held a spear in her right hand.
"Done checking me out yet?" The woman smiled.
Jaune glanced away and blushed, "How long have I been unconscious?"
"A couple of days," The woman began, "We found you in the woods just down the river, looked like quite the fight."
"What about Summer," Jaune's eyes went wide, "did you find summer?"
"Depending on what she looks like?" The woman narrowed her eyes, "Is she in this room?"
Jaune did another look scan of the room and who was in the beds, none of them was summer. His eyes fell to his lap as his memories returned to him, she was gone.
"The only people we found were you, the boy with the purple streak in his hair, and the girl with ginger hair." The woman began, "Who was Summer?"
Jaune was silent for a moment before his eyes moved to meet the girl's gaze, "A friend."
The woman tilted her head and sighed, "My Name's Coco, what's yours?"
Jaune sighed and smiled, "Jaune."
"Nice to meet you!" Coco smiled and turned away toward the door for a moment but stopped, "Your caravan is safe."
Jaune smiled as he heard her close the door. They had made it safely.
He would get out of bed with a groan and begin to make his way down to the ground floor, where he then entered the town square with a hiss. His body didn't like him moving around. However, his frown turned to a smile at the sight in front of him.
The caravan had made it.
Scores of townspeople made their way through the palisade gate and into the city, Jaune caught the eyes of several people and made his way to the front of the caravan.
"Where the hell were you!" Jaune cursed his luck at the sound of Cardin's voice.
Jaune looked over his shoulder and saw Cardin stomping his way over to him, he took a deep breath and turned toward the larger teen, "We got… sidetracked."
Carding grabbed Jaune's shirt and pulled him off the ground, "Sidetracked?!"
"We were attacked," Jaune began, "If it wasn't for Coco and her team, we'd probably still be in the countryside still."
Cardin burned a hole into Jaune's gaze before a sigh escaped his mouth and he dropped him back to the ground, "Are the other three okay?"
Jaune glanced down to the ground, "Ren and Nora are still unconscious and summer…"
Cardin frowned and grabbed Jaune's shoulder, "At the very least the caravan got here, get some rest, we all need it."
Jaune nodded at Cardin and watched the larger teen make his way back to the arriving caravan and began to give orders and check on the wounded.
The blonde smiled and turned back toward the building he had come from when he glanced up toward the balcony, familiar brown eyes gazed down at him. The woman, Coco, smiled and gave a nod to the blonde.
As the hours passed Jaune found himself staring out the window that was next to Ren and Nora's bed. The sun was now heading below the horizon and it would be dark soon, hopefully, the Grimm wouldn't arrive.
"It looks really bad." Cardin's voice broke the silence, "Who could have done this, you three were some of the best fighters Crendire has?!"
"Hunters, maybe." Jaune protested, "I don't know anything about fighting."
Cardin leaned his back against the wall next to Jaune, "So what happened during the fight?"
Jaune glanced toward the brunette, "We lost."
"I want to know how." Cardin countered.
"I think it would be a good thing to know what happened and what caused you to lose," Coco spoke, entering the room.
Jaune glared at the two of them and sighed, "Fine."
He turned and leaned against the windowsill behind him, with a small breath he began to recount the fight. He recounted the way the woman, Cinder, if he had heard Summer correctly, wipe the floor with them. The frustration was clear in his voice, but as he got closer to the end his voice filled with sadness.
He paused and swallowed the growing lump in his throat.
He recounted how powerless the trio was, how she had used her power to keep them from interfering. How even when he had tried his best to stop her, she overpowered him, how even when Summer cried out for mercy Cinder didn't care. He finished with Summer's final words.
"Tell Ruby that I'm sorry."
Those words caused Coco to perk up slightly, "Hang on, Summer's daughter is named Ruby?"
Jaune let out a shaky breath and nodded, "Yes she is, do you know her?"
"When I was sent out here I heard the guild leader talking about her," Summer began, "Something about wanting her to join when the time comes."
Jaune sighed, "I'll need to get to Vale eventually and let her know."
"Why not just send a crow?" Cardin suggested.
Jaune turned his gaze to the floor, "It… it just doesn't feel right."
The room grew quiet and Jaune noticed as Cardin furrowed his brow in confusion and shook his head, "There's still something I don't understand."
"What?" Jaune sighed, he didn't want to continue this conversation.
"How was she able to throw you guys away without even touching you?" The brunette asked, "It seems like magic to me."
"It's not." Coco rejected with a shake of her head, "Have you ever heard of Aura and Semblances?"
The two shook their heads in confusion.
Coco sighed, "This is going to be a long talk, grab a chair."
The two pulled the chairs closest to them and sat down, preparing themselves for anything.
Coco pulled a chair out in front of her and sat on it backward, her gaze on the two teens, "Essentially, your aura is an invisible shield, that can be unlocked in a multitude of ways, the most common way is for someone to unlock it for you."
"You said it was like an invisible shield, how does it work?" Jaune questioned.
"You can use your aura to protect yourself from the Grimm, it can also heal your wounds and strengthen your weapons and armor." Coco answered, looking toward Jaune, "Which would explain how that woman managed to fight off four people."
"Are you sure it wasn't just skill?" The blonde asked.
"Even an experienced fighter would struggle in a four to one fight," Coco began to explain, "By the way you described it, she didn't even struggle."
"What about semblances, you mentioned them, didn't you?" Cardin asked.
"I did." Coco nodded, "A semblance is a power that everyone has that's unique to that individual. Some may be similar, but not the same."
"Do you have a semblance?" Jaune asked, intrigued.
"I...do," Coco answered, missing a beat.
Jaune immediately recognized the pain in her voice, her semblance hurt her in some way. Whether it was embarrassment or something else, he wasn't sure, but he would make sure to avoid it.
"What's your semblance?" Cardin asked, not having picked up the hint of pain in her voice.
Jaune inwardly facepalmed, of course, Cardin hadn't picked up what he had!
"I…" Coco hesitated, 'I can amplify the power of dust."
Cardin smiled, "that's cool!"
Jaune nodded in agreement, "Do you know other semblances?"
"Yep," Coco answered, a delighted undertone began to fill her voice, "One of my teammates has a semblance that lets them copy the fighting style of her opponent."
"That would give them an advantage in a fight." Jaune smiled.'
"Where is your team?" Cardin asked, swiftly changing the subject.
"Two of them are at Mountain Glenn," Coco answered, "There has been a massive herd of Grimm recently, they needed reinforcements and my team was in the area. The other one is scouting the safest area back through to Mountain Glenn, he can handle himself."
"What were you doing this far east of Mountain Glenn in the first place?" Cardin asked, "There's nothing here but Grimm and independent villages."
Coco was silent for a moment before answering, "There is more to this area than you would think. However, my team and I were tasked with surveying the area and finding a good place to set up a frontier base for the Huntsman guild, it would help extend our range and curb the rising Grimm numbers."
Before the two could ask another question Coco stood up and stretched her hands above her head, "Get some sleep, hopefully, your friends will wake up tomorrow."
Jaune watched as the huntress walked out of the room and bit the inside of his cheek, there was something she was keeping from them. Her response to Cardin was enough to prove that. He shook his head and turned his attention back to his friends, "Cardin, go make sure everyone is doing good, I can keep an eye on them."
Cardin got up from his chair and nodded, "Alright, if you need anything you know where I'll be."
Jaune nodded and let the brunette make his way out of the room. Once Cardin had left the room he sighed and made his way to his bed.
Aura's…. He wondered if he had already been unlocked if he could have saved Summer. He shook his head and blew out the candle, it was no use thinking of this right now, he just needed to get to sleep.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a review, it always makes my day!