Chapter Nine: Fallen Star

"Hoooohhh…" I exhaled, patting my pockets. Scroll? Check. Wallet? Check. ID? Check. Paper? Check. Wait, paper? Extracting the offending article with some difficulty – damn jeans must have shrunk in the wash – I carefully unfold it, skimming over the notes therein, before flicking it aside into a wastebasket. A reminder to call somebody? The name's too smudged. Probably isn't important.

Glancing down at my watch, I check the time – 19:57. It's six minutes after he asked me to meet him out here. Am I in the right place? Standing back up, I walk around the courtyard, searching for any hint of the mysterious man I bumped into earlier.

A flash of purple catches my attention. Looking up, I see a gloved hand beckon from behind a pillar. Okay, so he wants some privacy for this. A bit weird, and I can't keep a slight shiver from racing down my spine. Somehow, I feel like this might be a bad idea. Maybe I should just go back inside, it can't be that bad – right? If I just hang back, maybe fight a Grimm, I'll probably be fine.

Before I can work up the nerve to turn around, a helmeted head pokes around the corner. "Get your ass over here before someone sees you." He hisses. Too late now. Walking forwards, I nearly fall over when he lunges out from behind the pillar to drag me into the shadow of a large bush. "Stay quiet." He whispers, looking around. "I disabled the cameras around here, but there could still be hidden microphones."

"You what?" I whisper back, shocked. This – this could get us in big trouble. Breaking cameras? Wha-what is he doing to worry about somebody seeing us? Could it… oh no. "I, uh.." I mumble awkwardly. "I'm not gonna buy any drugs."

As soon as the words pass my lips, I find the ground rushing towards me. A nice mouthful of dirt later, I roll over and sit up. "You dropped me." I say, angrily.

"I'm not selling drugs!" He hisses back. "I'm making you a different kind of offer."

I fold my arms, leaning back against the bush. "I'm not doing anything illegal."

"Oh, you mean besides the ten things you've already done?" He says.

"WHAT!" I yell! How – how does he know? Does he know? I haven't told anybody about my transcripts! I can feel my guts begin to churn as the situation begins to sink in. Do the teachers know? Am I going to be arrested? What are my parents –

"Calm down." He says, flicking my forehead. "Nobody else knows."

"How do you know?"

He chuckles. "I didn't until you told me, just now."

I pale. "What?"

"Just kidding. Ha haha, you should have – haha – you should have seen your face. Ha haha ha ha – oh!" His chuckles quickly morph into a brief fit of coughing. "Your dealer ratted you out, though I don't think he meant to. I mean, I haven't seen anybody else here in fucking jeans for Traveler's sake."

"What!? I paid – I paid him!"

He remains silent. After a moment, he cants his head to the side. "To be fair, he wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind when he said it. Either way…" Leaning forwards, he drops into a crouch. "This brings me to the offer I'm making you. Hear me out."

"…Okay."

He claps his hands together. "Great!" He says. "Now, here's the thing. You're going to die tomorrow unless you suddenly get a lot stronger. I can do that for you, in exchange for something else."

I frown. "I don't, uh, don't have a lot of money."

He waves my concern off. "Don't worry about that, it's not money I need. To put it simply, the price is your memories."

"What? How is that even possible?"

He shrugs. "Don't know. I don't make the rules. Honestly, it's not even a price, per se – more like a side effect of the whole process. You don't lose it all, though. Everything you know how to do, all your muscle memory and knowledge stay. Only personal memories and experiences go."

"I – but that's what makes me who I am." I stutter. "I can't… I couldn't give all that up. My family, my friends…"

"…both of which you left behind to come here in the first place, kid." He finishes.

"I… no, no, I can't do that. I'm sorry, but I can't. I just can't." Standing up, I turn to leave, before my arm is seized in an iron grip. With a twist, he jerks me back before stepping in front of me.

"Listen to me, kid. You don't understand the situation you're in. If you walk away tonight, you have three choices." He says roughly. "You can go to initiation and die. You could turn yourself in and hope they won't throw you in jail. Or you could just leave, hop on a plane and go home. But I'm guessing if you had to cheat your way in, you probably don't have a home to go back to. And somebody's bound to notice if you don't show up tomorrow. The first thing they'll probably do is call your home and ask where you are. The next thing they'll probably do is check your records, see the fakes, and arrest you."

"But if you take my offer, I can promise you more than you can possibly imagine. Whatever you came here for, fame, strength, riches, it'll be yours for the taking. All you need to do is start over." Letting go of my arm, he steps back before continuing. "Why'd you do this in the first place, kid?" He asks softly.

"I…" I gulp, fear and shame threatening to bring tears to my eyes. "I wanted to be a huntsman – a hero, just like my ancestors. I want to live up to them, bring honor to the family name."

"That's it?" He asks, incredulous. "Kid, if that's what you want, it'll be easy. You and I could do incredible things. You have the potential – you're one of the only people I've seen in years with the spark. Together, we could wipe out those monsters this place trains people to fight in less than a year."

"You – what?" I gasp. "Wipe out the Grimm? That's impossible!"

"No. It isn't. I have the power, but I can't do it alone. I had a team once – a whole order of people like you and me. They're gone now, but we could rebuild, bring back the glory days. Won't you help me?" He asks, hand outstretched.

Wiping my eyes, I look up into the featureless visor of his helmet. With a deep breath, I begin. "I…"

"I… I'm sorry, but I can't."

I watch the boy stammer, clearly overwhelmed. Damn. I thought I had him with that last one. Aren't these people the ones who buy into that 'honor and glory' crap? Maybe I should have leaned harder on the 'you're going to be arrested' angle. Oh, well. Plan B it is then. Stepping back, I sweep my hand back towards the courtyard.

"Fair enough," I say. "I can't force you to choose. I trust you'll keep my secrets, so long as I keep yours?"

He nods. "Yeah, seems fair. I'm sorry, but… I just love my family too much. I can't imagine not seeing them again."

"I figured, but I had to ask." I say, slapping his shoulder. "Head back inside, I'll be along in a moment. Got to fix the cameras again. By the way, what's your name?"

"Ah, Arc. Jaune Arc." He says, stepping past me.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Jaune. See you around." I say, waving goodbye.

I wait, as the kid turns back towards the courtyard. As soon as he passes me, I raise my hand, the telltale flash of a transmat barely noticeable against the setting sun. "I'm sorry, Jaune." I say, pulling the trigger.

With a sharp crack, the Last Word discharges, sending a bullet into the back of his skull. Death is instant, as fragments of metal and bone sever his brain stem and turn the rest to soup. From this distance, I can hear everything, from the snapping of bone to the faint squishing of blood and flesh.

Jaune Arc pitches forwards, smashing against the ground before I seize his ankles and drag his body back into the brush. Turning around, I call out to the Ghosts hidden in the foliage. "Come on out. It's over."

With a rustle of leaves and twigs, three ghosts float free from the bush. One swoops forwards, quickly scanning the body. "Hmm…" It says, thinking. "Oh! He has the Spark, but it's nothing like any other scan I've seen. I think I could bring him back, though. Give me a minute."

"Do it," I order, turning to the other two. "Cloak yourselves and find a position to observe tomorrow. Be prepared to show if I call you, and alert me if you sense anybody else with a Spark. Keep an eye out for this person, too." I say, quickly sending them an image of Ruby Rose, pulled from my helmet camera. "I think she has the Spark, so if she goes down during initiation tomorrow, swoop in and snag her."

The two Ghosts exchange uneasy looks. "Speaker…" One begins. "Are you sure about this? We've… nobody's ever forced somebody to be a Guardian before. Is this the kind of precedent you want to set?"

I stare at the Ghost, incredulous. After a moment, a dry chuckle works its way free from my throat. "Ha haha. You… what? Never in the history of the universe has any Guardian ever had a choice. After all, we're dead. Not like you can ask for consent first. So, who knows? Maybe I would have said no, before all this." I turn back to the corpse. "In the end, I gave Jaune more choice than I ever received." I say bitterly.

The other Ghost spins around, gazing at me. "You resent being Risen?"

"No, not at all." I say. "It's just…" I pause, thinking. After a moment, I begin again, slowly. "It's just… I understand your concern, and if there was an easier way, I'd take it. But I don't think we have a choice." Frowning, I try to give words to the feelings I've had since my dream. "The Darkness has been defeated, but I can't help but feel like we're not out of the woods yet. There's a storm coming, and without the Guardians I'm afraid we won't be ready. And nobody else seems to see that. They've let their guards down, as if the Winnower was our only enemy."

The Ghost pauses, flashing softly. "So, the ends justify the means? Justify murder? Is that it?"

"Yes." I say, firmly. "I believe they do. And, contrary to your antiquated beliefs, life has no intrinsic value, no hidden meaning. All that matters is what you do with it. And what could he have done, as he was?" I ask. "Instead of a short and pointless life on a backwater planet, I've given this man purpose, power, and a chance to make a real difference for humanity. By that metric, nothing of value was lost." I argue.

With a dismissive click, the Ghost turns back to its fellows, already deep in discussion with them. With a tired sigh, I stand up, stepping out of the bushes. Turning back, I call out to the Ghost flitting over Jaune's body. "Once you have him up, brief him on our situation, as we discussed. After that, come find me in the ballroom so we can work out a plan for tomorrow.

"Guardian? Guardian, wake up!"

What? Who… is that? With a groan, I try to sit up and open my eyes. Big mistake. The moment I so much as crack my eyelids, a blinding beam of light stabs into my pupils. Flopping back onto the grass, I press my hands over my sore eyes, grimacing from the pain.

"Open your eyes, Guardian. It'll pass in a moment."

Shivering, I open my eyes, shading them under my hands. Slowly, I can see the light peeking between my fingers soften and fade. Lowering them, I take a moment to look around. I'm sitting in a… bush? In a bush, at the edge of a courtyard dominated by a large, ornate fountain.

"Guardian! How do you feel?"

Turning around, I try to find the source of the strange voice. It sounds almost processed, like a machine. A sudden nudge to my knee brings my focus back ahead of me, where a small, diamond-shaped robot is floating. What?

"Guardian, please say something."

"Where… where am I?" I rasp, suddenly aware of how dry my throat feels. The water in that fountain is starting to look awfully tempting right now.

"Oh, good. Looks like I did get the frontal lobe right that time. Oh, sorry. You're at Beacon academy, as far as I know." The robot chirps, floating closer.

Beacon academy? I remember that name. It's a… school, right? For hunters? But why am I here? Maybe the robot knows? Before I can ask, it drifts to the side, before a beam of light lances out, sweeping over my head. "What was that for?" I ask, confused.

"Oh, just checking a few things. I had to do a lot of work to get your brain back together after the Speaker shot you. I wanted to be sure nothing was, ah, leaking." It says cheerfully.

"I was shot?" I ask, incredulously. "Why don't I remember that? Who shot me? Why did they shoot me? What's even happening right now?"

The robot pauses, before sweeping back in front of me. "Okay, one question at a time, please. Yes, you were shot. You don't remember because, in order to bring you back, I had to purge any personal memories you had. It's a normal part of the process, happens to everyone."

"What? All my memories, just gone?" I ask, stunned.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry, but there's no other way to do it. There are a few more side effects to the procedure, but they're not as obvious. Anyway, you didn't lose everything. I mean, you obviously remember how to talk! And all your knowledge of math and science and whatnot is still there."

Okay. What? I should… I should be freaking out, right now. But, for some reason, I'm not. In fact, I feel oddly calm, all things considered. Maybe this is one of the 'side effects' it mentioned? "Okay then," I say, slowly. "So… what is this procedure you're talking about? What happened to me?"

"Oh, boy." The robot sighed. "Do you want the long version, the super-duper-long version, or the history of the entire universe and everything in it?"

"Umm… the long version? Whatever's best." I hedge.

"Okay, here goes. Once upon a time, in a star system far, far away…"

Reaching out, I tap the robot's casing lightly. "Just get to the good part."

"Oh, fine." It grumbles. "Ruin all my fun. Anyway, you're a guy who faked his way into this school. The Speaker, our boss, and the guy who shot you found out when he saw that you didn't have any shields. Instead of letting you get killed during tomorrow's test, he decided to give you a chance to join up with us."

"Okay. Doesn't explain why he shot me." I grouse.

"I'm getting to that, be patient. So anyway, he corners you out here and gives you the standard recruitment pitch. Except once you found out it involved losing all your memories, you decided to leave. Then the Speaker shot you in the head and had me bring you back!"

"Um." I pause, hesitant. "Was that supposed to be the long version?"

"Yes?"

"It wasn't very long."

"I have a short attention span. Besides, I think faster than you do. For me, it felt like hours."

"…I'll allow it. But you didn't explain why he shot me." I say.

"Oh, that's easy. You see, our group might have gotten wiped out except for the Speaker about a year ago, and people with the Spark are hard to come by these days. You're the first we've found since then, so the Speaker was a bit desperate to have you sign up. So, when you said no, he decided to make the choice for you." The robot chirped.

"Wow," I say. "So, the Speaker either sounds like an asshole or an evil overlord."

"Um… I won't argue the first point, but I wouldn't say he's evil." The robot mutters. "I mean, he did save the universe once or twice, so it can't be that bad. But, he's, ah… dedicated, you could say. Also doesn't really think much of humans. And speaking of humans, you're not one, anymore."

What? Not human? I look down at myself. Two arms, two legs. The right number of fingers. Can't tell about skin tone, since my entire body is covered in some sort of grey bodyglove and white armored plates. What about me isn't human anymore? Looking back to the robot, I raise an eyebrow. "Explain."

"Oh, right. Being brought back to life like you have changed a lot of things. Nothing visible, at least not on the outside. But your muscles have been strengthened and enlarged, with any excess fat or crippling injuries erased. A lot of your organs have adapted or been altered, so you can survive a lot longer without food or water, and poisons and diseases that would kill a normal human will barely affect you. With my help, you'll be able to regenerate from any injury in moments, and I can even bring you back from the dead again."

"Wouldn't I lose my memory again though? I interrupt.

"Oh, no. That's a one-time thing. It's on purpose too. The memory loss is supposed to erase any preexisting loyalties or responsibilities. After all, Guardians were made to be perfect warriors. Can't have mundane concerns like old promises and family getting in the way. It alters your mind too, as I'm sure you've noticed. A Guardian has an easier time keeping calm, and are a lot more resilient when it comes to PTSD and other stress-related illnesses. A lot of your old survival instincts and other personal traits are rewritten too. Guardians tend to be extremely competitive and active individuals, which when coupled with their complete disregard for self-preservation, tends to manifest in… unique ways."

"And, last but not least," It continued, "There are your new powers to consider. You see, thanks to your resurrection you now have a connection to the Light, a paracasual force that lets you manipulate reality and the very laws of the universe. Essentially, it's magic. We still have to figure out what class you are, but that can wait for a while."

"Okay," I say, thinking. "So… I can't die, won't freak out from being killed, and… what? So I'll act differently than I did before? Am I even the same person then?"

"I don't know." It says, sadly. "A lot of Guardians have asked that question to their Ghosts before. I didn't know you before, so I can't say. You could try asking people who used to know you, I suppose. But does it really matter? If you are, good. And if not, so what? It's not like you remember what you're missing."

"So… ignore it, and it'll sort itself out?" I ask, exasperated. "Fine, whatever I guess. So, what do I do now?"

"Well, the Speaker wanted to meet with you to discuss our plans for tomorrow. If you follow me, I'll –"

"Why should I?" I interrupt.

"Should you what?" It asks, curiously.

"Follow you. Meet this Speaker guy. From the sound of it, he's the one who did this to me anyway. I don't owe either of you anything. Why should I help you?" I ask.

It pauses for a moment, thinking. "I suppose that would be too much to ask." It says softly. "Guardian, you need to understand something. There are forces out there that you do not understand. As we speak, an entire fleet of aliens – Fallen – heading towards this planet, who would like nothing more than to plunder and destroy everything here. And that's not even the end of it. There are worse things, forces older than the universe itself that want nothing more than to snuff us out forever."

It flickers wildly, floating towards me. "You can leave if that's what you want. At this point, nobody could stop you. But remember – you're immortal now. If you walk away, leave us to our fate, the darkness will come for you too one day."

I groan. Of course. Of course, it would. So, help them or die, just like what got me into this mess. "Alright," I say reluctantly. "I'll join your… Guardians." I trail off, thinking. Might as well get something out of this. "Now, tell me more about that magic you were talking about earlier. Light, was it…?"

A/N: Well, Scully1337 called it back in Chapter 4. Jaune's a Guardian now, even if his recruitment didn't go smoothly. This was just written this morning while I was super high, and I still can't seem to fucking think straight. I ran it through Grammarly to get rid of the worst spelling errors, but please let me know if I missed something or otherwise fucked up. I suck at writing dialogue too, which is unfortunate considering the next couple of chapters are practically nothing but. Oh well.