Chapter 29

Kiku was suffering. The people had no idea how to move forward. Their militia kept Grimm out, but the town was drowned in so much negativity that they kept attracting the monsters.

The two remaining officials did their best to keep order and improve the state of affairs, but they weren't trained for it. The most either had ever done was give orders to a small group of people. They were, of course, doing their best for the town. They had both the miners and SDC workers fortifying their areas and readying for trouble.

Tai wished he could help, but there was little a single Huntsman could do in this scenario. He could only inspire so much hope, and only for so long. The people seemed so downtrodden that it would take him a long while to give them any hope.

That was time he didn't have.

The area around the mine was being fortified. Wood and stone were being brought in and shaped into new walls. A fallback that could save many lives once it was finished. Inside these new walls, people were working on other defences as well. Weapons, from swords and maces to pistols and rifles, were being forged alongside older siege weapons, along with the group setting up chokepoints and kill zones. Tai could see a few ballistae and catapults being built. Weapons that didn't rely on Dust. Effective, but they would require more people to man them.

The mine chief wasn't hard to find with him belting out orders left and right. Tai stood to the side and waited for the man to have a moment.

"Excuse me, are you the mine chief?"

"Aye, I am." The man sounded tired.

"I wanted to ask you about the team of young Huntsmen that came by a while ago. My daughter is one of them and I want to make sure she's safe."

"I know of 'em. Which one was yer daughter?"

"Ruby. The one in the red hood." Tai folded his arms as he spoke.

The chief cringed. "Ah, I see. Aye, they came through 'ere. Your girl got caught by that bastard of a mayor." He spat to the side. "'is Semblance let 'im change a person's memories. She broke out and killed 'im. Self defence a'course."

Tai swallowed. "How did she take it?"

"She seemed rough the day of. Looked a little better the day after. They left quickly though. No idea how she's doing now."

"Did you catch a direction?"

"They left through the north gate."

"Alright. Thank you. I hope you manage to get everything sorted here." Tai motioned to the work around them.

"Aye. I 'ope we do as well." The pair shook hands roughly before parting ways.

Tai didn't stay another moment in Kiku. Instead, he headed directly north through the gate. He couldn't be too far behind them.

"Now try again." Salem spoke, her voice cold. Cinder gasped noiselessly as she focused her attention upon her new arm, forcing it to obey her. Salem looked disappointed. "You must make it fear you Cinder. Do not let it sense your fear, your trepidation. Otherwise, you will have no control over it."

Cinder put more effort in, pouring as much of her mind into this one task as she could. If she could just make it move as she wanted it too-

They were interrupted by the door opening. Emerald and Mercury, who had been standing at the door, jumped to the side as a Seer entered the room. The strange jellyfish-like Grimm floated through the air to hover next to Salem.

She considered for a moment as she listened to it. "I see. Reinforce our forces at Beacon. Find the Relic." The Seer bobbed up and down, as if it was bowing or nodding, and then left the room. Salem turned to Cinder. "My dear I need you to answer a question for me. Did you make sure Ozpin died?"

Cinder nodded. Salem's eyes narrowed. "I need to hear you say it." Cinder motioned for Emerald but Salem slammed her hands on the table. "I said I need to hear you say it. Did you ensure Ozpin's death?"

Cinder swallowed and forced out a quiet "Yes."

Salem nodded slowly and leant back in her chair and motioned to her arm. "Try again."

Cinder silently sighed and put her attention back onto her arm. She would master this. Then she could serve Salem once more.

She could leave this place and be useful again.

Higanbana is such a nice town! Tyrian thought as he walked down the main road. So many fine sacrifices for the Goddess! Sadly he wasn't allowed to preach the good word of his Goddess. At least not while he had such an important job to do.

The door squeaked as he opened it, bringing him into the nice, warm interior of the taverns bar. A waitress sat scrubbing the floor. Some idiot had probably spilt their drink. She looked up at him as the door closed.

"Hello!" He drawled. The waitresses' eyes narrowed in confusion before they began to widen in terror. Oh ho! She recognises me! To think I had a fan here!

"You… your…" She stammered.

Tyrian giggled. "I just have a few questions. I'm looking for a couple of girls you see. And I know they passed through here." He knelt down next to her. His tail unwound itself from his waist. Her eyes followed the stinger as it revealed itself.

"I-I-I'm willing to help!" She squeaked.

"Good good! They look like this…"

A few minutes later Tyrian left the fine establishment and set out on his journey. He was close, only behind by a couple days.

Tyrian giggled to himself and spoke a prayer to the Goddess. He left Higanbana, whistling as he went.

The rainfall did a good job at washing the blood from his boots.

"I really don't understand any of this." Oscar whispered to himself as he sat down on his bed.

I know Oscar. And I am sorry. This isn't easy on either of us.

"It sure seems easier on you. You don't have your world crashing down around you!"

Not right now, true. But I have dealt with this many times before. It never gets any easier.

"Yeah, I guess." He grunted as he pulled off his shoes and lay back on his bed.

I know this has been your life Oscar, but the world needs us.

"So because some voice popped into my head, I have to go running off to become a Huntsman!? I'm a farmer! I don't know how to fight!"

That won't be an issue. You will learn everything I knew. All of my years of training will become yours. As if you had lived them.

"And how long will that take?"

To gain everything I knew? It depends on how compatible we are. The more aligned we are the faster it will be. But, at most, it will take roughly two years.

"I could be as good as a fully-fledged Huntsman before I'm seventeen!?"

Yes. And if you go to an academy, we may be able to accelerate the process. But with how dire things are, we likely won't have that chance.

"So I should go to Haven and do what?"

Once we reach Haven we can contact one of my allies, a man named Qrow. He'll help us reconnect with my other allies and they'll be able to help with your training. He will also inform us about how our enemies have moved since Beacon fell.

"Right. Forgot that part." Oscar rolled onto his side and stared at the blank wooden wall. "I have to fight other people then? All because of you just… popping up in my mind?"

Sadly, yes. If they weren't moving so openly we could take our time to prepare you. They are, however, so we must move quickly.

"Just… give me some time to think about it."

The voice in his head sighed. Alright, Oscar. I truly am sorry about all of this.

"Yeah…"

"Hiyaaa!" Jaune yelled as he charged, swinging his new sword down onto Pyrrha's shield. She took the blow and was momentarily surprised when she felt herself buckle under the attack. She stepped back, letting the large blade slide off and hit the ground.

Jaune panted as he hefted the larger sword. The combination of shield and sword into the new form didn't offer much in utility or many new options, but it took advantage of his strength and weight.

"That was great Jaune! Once you master this one you should be able to deal with slower opponents very effectively."

"Yeah, but it won't do much against fast ones. Like Cinder." Jaune said with a sigh. He sheathed his weapon and walked away to sit on a nearby log, where they had placed their gear. Pyrrha followed and sat beside him.

"Maybe not. But you don't need to be able to defeat everyone. We're a team, we're supposed to cover each other's weaknesses." Pyrrha responded, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you can't beat Cinder, but if we all work together I'm sure we can take her down."

"If Ruby had been there with us, maybe she would already be dead." Jaune grumbled quietly.

"Maybe…" Pyrrha whispered, cringing slightly. She had been the one to make the choice to fight Cinder on top of the tower after all. "Or maybe we wouldn't have made it. Who can tell?"

"I guess…" Jaune trailed off before sighing again. "This wasn't really what I expected when I came to Beacon."

"What did you expect then?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, I guess I didn't think about it too much. I thought that it would be really easy. Walk in, be confident and make a friend or two then become a hero! I didn't plan for initiation or anything." Jaune looked to the night sky that peeked through the tree branches above them. "I also didn't think I'd be fighting people, or that I'd be wanting another person dead. But here we are."

Pyrrha was quiet for a moment. "I understand how you feel. I didn't think we would be hunting another person either." She sighed. "I went to Beacon to escape fighting people. I was sick of it, I wanted to fight an opponent that meant something more than just another trophy."

"Cinder really changed things for us, huh?"

"Yeah… She did…"

"I doubt my parents would be happy with what I'm doing now. Not that they know."

"You didn't tell them?"

Jaune looked over to her. "Nah. I didn't really talk to them while I was in Beacon either. It wasn't really that big of a change of course. Having seven sisters means that you don't get much attention. Especially if you don't do anything big or important." He said with a shrug. "My sisters have all done way better than me. I mean one of them has already settled down and had a kid! Don't get me wrong, they love me, I know they do, but compared to everyone else in my family I was a kid throwing rocks in a pond, dreaming of fighting monsters instead of doing anything useful."

They were silent for a few short moments before Pyrrha broke it. "I kind of envy you."

"Really?"

"I don't have any siblings, so I got all of my parent's attention. But it was still kind of lonely. Especially after my father got me into the tournament scene. My parents were pulling out all the stops to make me a successful fighter, but it did distance us. How could I tell them I didn't like fighting in tournaments when they put so much into it? I didn't have anyone to talk to about it until I got to Beacon. With you and Ren and Nora." She smiled.

"What are your parents like?"

"Well, dad's a security consultant. He used to work in the Mistral military, then, once he settled in Argus with my mom he worked at the Atlas base there. Once they had me though he decided to go a little more private. Mom's a florist. I… don't really know how they met. Those kinds of stories were forgotten. No use talking about that when I could be training!" Pyrrha ended with a sarcastic lilt.

"Wait, Argus?"

"Yeah?"

"My sister, Saphron, lives there!" Jaune said excitedly.

"Really?"

"Yeah! She moved there with her wife."

"Huh. Small world."

"I guess so."

"You know, Sun's friend Neptune used to live there as well."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I didn't realise for a while, but eventually, his last name clicked. They lived there for a few generations as I recall, but moved away when I was young. Never knew why." Pyrrha shrugged.

"Huh. It really is a small world." They were quiet for another few moments before Jaune spoke. "Maybe they moved because of his fear of water."

"I could see that." Pyrrha giggled. "As I recall, the family has a history of Semblances focused around water." Jaune chuckled at that. The pair smiled as they let some of the tension within go.

"Hey, Pyrrha?"

"Yeah Jaune?"

"If we didn't know about Cinder, what would you have done?"

"If we didn't know about her and Beacon still fell? Probably stay in Vale and work with the teachers to reclaim Beacon. I don't think I'd move to a different academy unless all of you did."

Jaune hummed. "I'd probably do the same. Mom and dad would welcome me back for sure, but after everything that happened in Beacon… this life is what I want. Well aside from hunting Cinder and having friends…" He cut off with a deep breath. "Helping people, saving lives. It's the kind of hero I wanted to be when I snuck into Beacon."

"Well, I think you've come a long way towards that ideal Jaune." She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

"Thanks, Pyrrha."

"Any time Jaune. Any time."

A/N: So sorry for the delay. Migraines can be a biatch as it turns out. Anyway. Tyrian is fun! RIP Waitress. Obviously, nothing with Pyrrha is canon, aside from having lived in Argus. Threw in some references to some of Neptune's backstory that was revealed in Before the Dawn. It's an alright book.

I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!