"Fairy tale?"
Ozpin nodded sagely. "Yes, Mr. Arc, fairy tale."
"I… I really don't see how this relates," he admitted.
"It's a common saying that at the heart of every legend, there is a grain of truth, so why would a fairy tale be any different? Of course, many a story is warped by time; bent and twisted with every retelling. However, some stand against the test of time far more intact than others. Are you familiar with the story of the four Maidens, Mr. Arc?"
Jaune shook his head.
"Then as there is much to talk of, I will keep it short. Long ago, buried away in the depth of a forest, sheltered from all the could do him harm, lived an old man. While he may have had all he needed to live on, he lacked compassion, love, and happiness.
One day, outside his humble house, he found a maiden, who introduced herself as Winter. He was... not pleased to have her there, but did not contest her. Later, the maiden's sisters, Spring, Summer, and Fall, arrived one by one, and gradually, they improved the old man's life and well-being. They filled his days with laughter and joy, and so, when they were to leave, he decided to pay back their kindness.
Unbeknownst to the sisters, the old man was a Wizard, a practitioner of an art long forgotten. Magic. With all his strength, the old man gifted the Maidens with his Magic, and in return they vowed to visit him each year, to keep the life of their friend happy."
"And… you mean to tell me that the story is real?" Jaune asked skeptically.
"Almost entirely. While the Maidens of that story no longer live on, the power they carried does, transferring to another young maiden upon their death," Ozpin replied seriously. "A Maiden can conjure the elements at will, without the need for Dust nor aura. They bring forth howling storms and raging infernos with but a thought. Lightning, ice, and water all heed their call, responding to their will like technology does to yours, Mr. Arc. A Maiden fights with the will of the world behind her."
"O-oh, okay, um… Give-give me a minute to uh, re-establish my world view."
Qrow snorted, and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. "I felt that way too, when Oz told me. Felt pretty similar when I found out about you, actually."
"M-me?" he stammered.
"Yep. Your Semblance is kinda busted, kid," Qrow replied with a grin.
Jaune turned back to Ozpin. "I-I'm sorry, but I'm having some trouble believing magic exists."
"Is it truly so strange?" Ozpin challenged, "Is it so strange that people have an unexplainable power? In fact, the world is already familiar with something not dissimilar. Some may even call it a semblance of Magic. Why is it that you would challenge the existence of Magic, but not that of Semblances?"
Jaune couldn't answer that.
"Mr. Arc, you are a very special case. Whilst just months ago I would say that no Semblance could compare to the strength of a Maiden, to the strength of Magic, I'd say that you may be the one to challenge that presumption."
Jaune ran a hand through his hair anxiously.
"Okay," he breathed, "Okay. Let's just say magic does exist, what does that have to do with 'Her'?"
"Her name is Salem, and she is the Queen of the Grimm, and sworn enemy of mankind."
Jaune blinked. "Wow, okay. Queen of the Grimm. Got it. Yeah, okay, why not? So the Grimm are being controlled by this Salem woman and so she wants to collect the Maidens to wipe out mankind? Am I…" He took a shaking breath. "Am I on the right track here?"
"Precisely Mr. Arc. She is as cunning as she is old. She has worked from the shadows for centuries, all in the name of purging Remnant of sentient life. Myself, along with Qrow, and a small number of others, are the most recent in a long line of those who know this secret and have been fighting against Salem and her forces."
"So few?" Jaune asked curiously.
"Imagine, Mr. Arc, how the public would react should they learn that there is someone controlling the Grimm, and that their aim is to destroy society as a whole," Ozpin said.
"They would panic," he realised. "Fear and uncertainty would spread through the populous, drawing in even more Grimm, and making Salem's job easier."
"Correct. That is why we limit ourselves to a small number of trusted individuals. I hope that you understand both the severity of this secret, and also why it must remain one, even from your team."
Jaune sucked in a breath.
He didn't like it. Not at all. He didn't want to hide anything from them, but this was too big a burden for them to bear, especially when it was completely unnecessary. He knew that if he did tell them, it would only cause them grief.
"Okay," he conceded, "Okay Ozpin. I won't tell them."
"Thank you-"
"But," he interrupted, "I won't lie to them. If they ask the right questions, I'll give them the answer. I'll tell you, of course, but I refuse to lie to them."
Ozpin sighed. "I suppose that is all I can ask. I will not force you to do anything against your will. Beacon is very likely the safest place on the planet, so I ask that you continue your studies here, continue to improve, and continue to become wiser, until one day that you might decide to help us."
He was giving Jaune the choice. An out, if he wanted to take it.
"No," he denied, "This is my planet too, and I won't let her take everything that I have from me." Jaune took a deep breath, and gave Ozpin the most serious look he could muster. "I will fight her with everything I have to keep my friends, my family, and my team safe."
Ozpin stared at him for a moment, scanning for any sign of dishonesty. He found none. "You're a very brave young man, Jaune. Many would have hidden away, would have preferred living in ignorance, yet you offer what you can without hesitation. Very well, while I won't request anything dangerous of you for some time yet, there is something you could do for me."
Jaune sat up straighter in his seat. "What is it?"
"I'm sure you're aware, based on last night's rather limited interrogation that Roman Torchwick's loyalty to whomever he follows is flimsy at best. If she gets her hands on the recordings of that cell, she may notice a bizarre lack of footage between when Qrow and I arrived, and when our interrogation 'began'. I think that, with your penchant for technology and skill in forgery-" Jaune choked on air. "-you would be best suited to make a more believable documentation."
Jaune scratched his cheek awkwardly. "You, uh… You knew about that, huh?"
Ozpin nodded, offering a small smile. "From the beginning. I will admit it was very good, and as I said on the first day, you passed initiation, and as such, earnt your place here. Do you think you can do it, Jaune?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, yes. I'm done."
Ozpin blinked. "Done? What do you mea- Oh."
On his monitor, footage began to play. He knew it must be doctored, though if he were not there to witness it himself, he never would have suspected it altered.
"I've already replaced the footage on the police database. I learnt from Atlas so it should be much harder to detect any changes whatsoever," Jaune told him confidently.
"From Atlas?"
Jaune's eyes widened.
Oops.
"Ah, right," Ozpin continued. "I had thought that was you." He chuckled softly. "General Ironwood called me in something of a panic when he discovered that his secure, isolated facility had been breached. I confessed that it may have been a student of mine, but that did not stop him from spearheading a new program to combat it happening in the future."
Jaune winced. He hoped he wouldn't have to meet this general. He had a feeling the man wouldn't be pleased with him.
"What was your aim with your little excursion, if I may ask?"
Jaune swallowed anxiously. "I um, I was thinking in class that a lot of the information about Grimm was derived from experience, rather than by writing, so I thought that if I could compile a lot of that experience based knowledge, it would be much more beneficial to Huntsmen and civilians alike, but if you need to the information urgently, you either don't have time to type in the name, or you don't know the name, so I figured the best way around that was image recognition," Jaune explained, his nervous tone quickly becoming animated as he spoke about his thought process.
"But image recognition software is rather hard to develop," Ozpin stated.
"Exactly, and in this circumstance, needs to be incredibly accurate. If you take a picture of a Beowulf and it tells you it's an Ursa, it's gonna tell you the wrong information, and potentially get you killed."
"So you broke into Jimmy's secret base to make the best damn software you could, yeah?" Qrow summarised.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"If I may, Jaune, how do you plan to get all of this 'experience based knowledge'?" Ozpin asked.
"From Huntsmen," he answered. "I'm hoping that people will start adding their own information, and if others validate it as true, it will be added as official information. I'm hoping to get it far enough that it becomes entirely self sufficient, with an endlessly expanding knowledge base made by and for, Huntsmen."
Ozpin nodded. "A very admirable goal. Well, I won't hold you here any longer. You may return to your dorms and inform your team that they have the day off."
Jaune nodded in return and stood from his seat. "Thanks, Ozpin."
"Actually, Mr. Arc, thank you. Now please, go and take care of your team, they will thank you for it."
"I will," Jaune affirmed, before turning to the other man. "Later Qrow."
Qrow looked to him, tossing an arm over the back of his seat and leaning his head in his direction. He gave him a grin, and offered a little, two-fingered salute. "Later kid."
With that, he left, and in a few minutes he was back in his dorm.
"Hey," Yang greeted, "You good? You were gone for a while there."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Ozpin let me do your guys' statements for you," he answered.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled gratefully. "Thanks Jaune. I appreciate it, and I know they will too."
"How are they?"
"Better," she answered. "Not good, but better. You sure that was all you did up there? You sure took your sweet time," she joked.
"Actually, Ozpin told me that magic is real and then he invited me to a secret group to prevent the end of the world."
Yang snorted, batting her arm against his chest playfully. "Sarcastic ass. C'mon, Ruby's been missing you."
Ruby was laying on his bed staring up at the underside of her bed. She looked tired.
"Hey," he greeted softly.
"Hey," she whispered in return.
Jaune narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment. "Shove over," he instructed.
Ruby blinked in surprise, and turned to look at him. "What?"
"Shove over," he repeated, before he started clambering into the bed himself.
Ruby hurriedly pushed herself out of the way as he flopped down on the sheets face first. He huffed into his pillow. "So tired," he moaned, "I had to sit there recounting what we did for ages. It was so boring."
Ruby giggled.
He rolled onto his back and stretched, pushing his toes as far out as he could reach and his arms as far back as they would go before they hit the wall. "I just wanted to go to bed," he whined. "Not to mention Ozpin is super boring. We've got the day off, by the way," he told her, suddenly remembering. "Which means I get to sleep more," he cheered half-heartedly, laying his arms outwards, one dangling over the edge of his bed, and the other resting on his pillow just above Ruby's head.
He turned to Ruby. She was on her side now, looking at him with her arms held close to her chest and her knees half up. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly.
She shook her head slightly. "Not right now," she whispered.
"That's okay," he assured. "Do you want me to go?"
She shook her head again.
"Okay. Do you want to just stay here for a while?"
She nodded hesitantly.
He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring. "We can stay here as long as you like." He lowered his arm and carefully pulled her closer.
She shuffled around, before she rested her head on his shoulder and cautiously stretched an arm over his chest. "Okay," she whispered.
He brought his arms together to hold Ruby close, and tilted his head to rest it against hers. "I'm here for you, Ruby."
She smiled weakly. "Thank you Jaune."
In minutes, they were asleep.
"Jaune!" Ruby called, getting right up close to him and bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly. "It's here!" she cheered.
He blinked in surprise, but couldn't help the grin that formed on his face. Her enthusiasm was infectious. "What's here?"
"Your weapon! Well, the parts are ready, so we can build it!"
"What, right now?"
"Yes right now!" she commanded. "We have to! I've been waiting forever for it to be ready."
"Isn't it my weapon? Shouldn't I be more excited than you?" he questioned, grinning.
"Then be more excited!" she told him. "Because I'm not gonna be less excited!"
He laughed. "Alright, we can do it now."
"Yes!"
"So where are we headed?" he asked.
Instead of answering, she clasped his hand in hers and dragged him out of the dorm.
After a few minutes, they arrived at their destination: the combined forgery and workshop. Though Huntsman weaponry did not typically require maintenance, the more mechanically inclined students of Beacon often found themselves in the small wing of the campus dedicated to craftsmanship.
They entered, the air immediately and obviously much hotter than the air conditioned corridor, heat from the forges bleeding over into the assembly oriented rooms. Ruby guided them further back into the main room, around numerous busily working students, to one of the present members of staff.
The woman wore black pants and a dark crimson singlet that left her muscled arms on full display. She stood in the corner of the room, overlooking the students with her arms crossed. She looked at them as they approached.
"Ruby," she greeted in a gruff voice.
"Hi Ms. Carmine," Ruby returned with a smile. "You said the parts were ready?"
She nodded, and grunted an affirmative. "Complex as hell." She looked at him. Her irises were almost black, reflecting the residual light of the forges in a way that made them look as though a fire burned within them. "Yours?"
He gulped nervously, but nodded.
She grunted again. "It's good. Storage, fourth bay."
Nodding, Ruby pulled him away. "Thank you Ms. Carmine!"
She led him to a set of tan double doors, with the label 'Storage' above it. She released his hand and lugged them both open. Shelves lined both walls, extending about ten metres back. Close on the right hand side, about halfway down on the shelf, a laminated sign with the number 4 printed on it dangled.
Ruby reached down and pulled out a blue plastic tray. It clattered as it moved, the numerous metals pieces bouncing against one another.
Ruby handed him the tray with a grin, then picked up the second from next to where it had sat, then led him out of the small room to a vacant table, where she placed the worn tray down with a huff, and he placed his beside hers.
They gradually removed each piece from the trays and placed them on the table, the small springs and slides alongside the two large bladed pieces and a thick black tube. Ruby withdrew the blueprint and lay it on the tale beside the pieces, checking through to make sure nothing was missing.
Jaune looked between the carefully placed pieces and the blueprint. Back and forth, he gradually found piece after piece, and his weapon started forming in his mind.
"Right!" Ruby's excited voice broke him out of his concentration. "Everything's here. Ready to start?" She smiled brightly his way.
Jaune grinned back. "Yeah, let's do it."
They got to it, easily working in tandem after many, many team exercises. Each piece was carefully polished before being added to the steadily growing build. The sword slowly took form, and eventually, the final piece, the right half of the blade, clicked into place.
Jaune marvelled at his weapon.
The long steel blade shone in the soft light; a barely visible line ran up parallel to the edge, and about three centimetres in. Ten centimetres up from the hilt was his emblem, a pair of shining gold (well, actually it was brass) arcs decorated the blade. They wouldn't be of any use in combat, but neither would they be a hindrance.
Below the arcs, the bladed edge stopped and thinned, as though cut away. Built into the left side of this cut was a picatinny rail, and on the right it was simply squared. The hilt itself was strangely thick, thicker even than the blade itself, and the crossguard was oddly unbalanced. One side, the left, looked like what a typical triangular steel crossguard would look like, whilst the other side was a carbon fiber tube that extended around ten centimetres before pointing down and flattening to form a stock.
Beside it sat the final 'piece'. The scope. Made from carbon nanotubes with strengthened glass lenses, it could take a beating before it was damaged, though he'd typically leave it off to remove the chance of it happening. Though that did mean he'd need somewhere to keep it. Likely on a belt. And he'd also need somewhere to store ammunition.
Oh gods, he needed a new outfit.
Ruby hugged his side, giggling excitedly.
"It's done!" she cheered, "And it looks so cool!"
He couldn't keep the wide smile from his face. "Yeah. It does, doesn't it?"
"So," Ruby began seriously. "What are you going to name it?"
He hadn't thought of that, though he probably should have. Every Huntsman weapon had a name. Crescent Rose, Gambol Shroud, Ember Celica; each had a name as unique as it was, and his deserved the same.
He looked at Crocea Mors, then his new weapon. It was now the start of his journey. No longer would he be restricted to a weapon of the past, but instead he would form new memories with a weapon that was his own.
Jaune blinked.
That was an idea.
"Memoria Auri," he said.
Memory of gold.
Looking at Ruby's bright smile, he knew for certain that he'd never forget this moment.
The Daily Valean:
The Brand-New App that Every Huntsman Needs
Written by Emma Indigo
Just yesterday, a new app hit the digital Marketplace, and it has taken the world by storm. Within the first four hours, it was topping the charts for both downloads and reviews, and now sits at an astonishing 1.4 million installations and a 9.8/10 rating.
This app is simply called: the Grimmdex.
Published by a company of the same name, the Grimmdex calls itself 'The go-to for all the Grimm knowledge you'll ever need'. A bold claim to be sure, but based on the response of numerous Huntsmen across Remnant, it may be a correct one.
The Grimmdex boasts an extensive library of detailed information on all known species of Grimm, nothing we haven't seen before, but what truly sets it apart from the competition is the manner in which information is displayed, and most impressively, some incredibly accurate image recognition software.
Take out your scroll, and point it at a Grimm, and within moments it will bring you to the page for that species of Grimm. Following that, it gives you a simple prompt: 'Are you in danger?'
If no, it will return you to the page, where you can view detailed information on the species' strengths, weaknesses, habits, strategies to fight them, and much much more.
If yes, it will instead display a highly condensed page, free of distractions like images and pleasant formatting that really help the full pages feel fleshed out. On these pages are the bare essentials. How to fight it, and how to run from it.
We have received reports from dozens of Huntsmen and civilians alike heralding the app as a life-saver.
As though such readily available information was not enough, the developers added another feature that has Huntsmen the world over weeping in joy. By typing in your Huntsman License ID, the app will recognise you as a legitimate Huntsman, and will allow you to submit your own information to be added to their database.
In order to prevent misinformation from being spread, any information that is added must be verified as true by 5 other Huntsmen, where it will then be included on the page as 'Unconfirmed' information. Should it get confirmation by another 10 Huntsmen, it will be shifted into 'Rumoured', and at a total of 50, into 'Confirmed' information.
In just the day since its release, the Grimmdex's database has over doubled in size in just the 'Confirmed' information section. Strategies to fight in teams, and with different team compositions, different weapons, habitual behaviour, how best to avoid them as a civilian, how to deal with large numbers, how to draw their attention away; the list goes on and on.
It may be rather presumptuous for me to say, but I really believe that this app will be considered nearly as important to a Huntsman as their weapon is.
This is Emma Indigo for the Daily Valean, signing off.
Published 13/10/104 - 10:36am
Another chapter done!
I've gotta keep this short, as I've got to go in just a minute!
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See you all tomorrow!