Man, one day these'll come out on time.
Cr00cy continues to keep the gears turning and shout out to guyinthecap, who had some excellent edits that really improved the chapter.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A Monster's Meeting
It's honestly hard for me to know where to start with Cinder Fall.
She's a monster, I know that.
She's also powerful, beautiful, inspiring, terrifying, comforting, cruel, intoxicating, and venomous.
Listen, she's a lot of things, but maybe the best way I can think to sum her up is that she's captivating. There aren't rooms that Cinder just happens to be in, there are rooms where Cinder holds court. Cinder doesn't ask, she instructs.
It's fucking weird, and it doesn't seem like something that should work, but time and again I've seen people bow their heads, either because they wanted to...or because they were too afraid not to.
If I'd met her in another life, before I met the Arcs? Who knows what she'd be to me.
But I knew what she was going to be for me now the first time I saw her.
A big fucking problem.
I don't know if you'd ever had the unique pleasure of seeing a bunch of big, bad crime lords staring at a door like a bunch of kids thinking the Gods-be-damned boogyman is on the other side, and that if they just keep quiet, maybe he won't notice them, but I'd highly recommend it for its entertainment value. Unless, of course, the boogyman is in fact on the other side of that door, and people who you consider to be very scary themselves are afraid to so much as say 'come in.'
Then, in my personal experience, I've found it to be less humorous.
Strangely, and terrifyingly, enough, whoever was on the other side of the door didn't feel the need to knock again as we all stared at the door pissing ourselves. It was like she knew we heard her, and were just processing the 'oh fuck' moment in our heads. I say terrifying, because it meant she knew she had this effect on people. As it turned out, Junior was the bravest among us, because he finally coughed and said-
"Come in...please."
The door swung open slowly on command, creaking like we'd paid the damn thing to add to the dramatic tension as the light of the bar slowly illuminated the figure standing just outside.
I can tell you that she was not what I was expecting. I don't know why, but I thought she'd be old, a seasoned crime boss that'd seen dozens of players come and go. Maybe someone that was a little bit overweight from years of eating well. Definitely someone that'd be sporting a few scars to show her time in the shark tank of the underworld.
I can also tell you that she was hands down the most beautiful woman that I've ever seen.
She was wearing a dark red dress that was conservative enough to be professional, but hugged closely enough to leave no room to mistake the toned body beneath. Jet black hair framed a pale face that seemed torn straight out of a fashion magazine. The only blemish was the edge of a scar peeking out from the bangs covering her right eye.
Well, at least I guess right on the scar part right.
Her left eye however, was a deep, burning amber. Whether it was burning from excitement or anger I couldn't tell you. I also couldn't tell you which scared me more. I can tell you that when the corner of her mouth curled up in smirk, my heart skipped a beat.
From the sound of Roman nearly falling off his stool behind me, he was experiencing something similar.
"Thanks for inviting me in, it gets cold out this time of night," she said in a voice that was dark and rich as she stepped into the bar, eye scanning over the Club in an instant. "Quite the place you have here. It's...quaint." She finished, her gaze locked onto Junior.
I half expected Junior to rise to the bait. The Club was his life. The fact that he didn't told me a lot about just how scared I should be. That feeling doubled when her eye found its way over to me.
"Roman, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" She chastised playfully.
The thief coughed. "Uh, yeah, sure. This is Junior, he-"
"I know who he is," she cut him off. "I was talking about the one you've been hiding from me."
"Cinder, I'd never-"
"Roman?"
I could feel him squirming as he answered.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Do you believe me a fool?"
"No! I-"
"Then be a good boy and don't speak until spoken to," She finished, voice ice as she started crossing the room over to me. Every fiber of my being was screaming for me to run, to find somewhere else to be, but I couldn't stop staring into her glowing eye. "I think introductions are far overdue."
I sat there, frozen in place till she was standing in front of me, giving me a smile that was somehow both gentle and knowing - and very likely actually neither.
"What's your name, little bird?"
"Em," someone squeaked out weakly. When I realized that someone was me, I coughed and answered again. "Emerald."
"Emerald," she purred, rolling my name around on her tongue as she gave me a once over. "And what a gem you are."
I swallowed dryly. "Um, thanks, you're, uh...really pretty too."
You ever want to kill yourself for something you've said, but you're also not sure if someone else in the room is going to beat you to it? Yeah, it's not great, which is why I pressed on to see what new and exciting ways I could potentially fatally put my foot in my mouth.
"Uh...Cinder, is it?"
Thankfully, she just smirked and nodded. "Cinder Fall. And thank you, I try."
No shit she did. You don't look like that without trying a lot. That being said, I think I could have tried twice as hard and not looked half as good as she did.
"So, uh, listen...the thing at the docks-"
She tsked and shook her head. "We'll get to all that in a minute, dear. No, for right now I want to hear more about you."
"Me?" I balked.
"Yes, of course. I hardly know anything about you after all, thanks to Roman." She said, shooting a glance over towards the thief that made him shrink in his seat. "And I like to know as much as I can about my friends." She cocked her head to the side. "We're going to be friends, aren't we, Emerald?"
"Yeah!" I blurted out, before coughing. "I mean, of course we are, Cinder." She smiled again like she hadn't already known what I was going to say.
"Good, that makes me happy, Emerald. Now, why don't you tell me how you came to Vale? I know it must be recent. People as special as you don't come around without me hearing about them."
"I don't know that I'm all that spec-"
"Don't do that." She cut me off, smile gone.
"Don't do what?"
"Belittle yourself," she clarified, gaze hard. "It's beneath you. You're exceptional, and that allows you to do exceptional things. Never be ashamed of that."
"Yes, ma'am." I answered, hoarsely.
"So formal," she chuckled. "It's Cinder, Emerald. Please remember that, it'll be important for the future and I do so hate repeating myself." She brushed the hair back from her good eye and smiled again. "Now, you were telling me about coming to Vale."
I noted that she hadn't asked me what I thought about our apparent future together. Whatever the case was, my mind raced to find the right way to answer her. Not knowing how much someone does or doesn't know about you makes lying a tricky proposition. If they do know about you, then they can ask you questions that they already know the answers to to see if you're lying. I had no idea how much Roman had told her, so I decided to hedge my bets and tell her the truth, but as vague a truth as I could without bringing Jaune into it.
"I had business with Roman," I answered nervously. Her eye lit up at that.
"Ah, that makes sense. He is something of an established figure around here," she said, nodding to herself. "What business, if you don't mind me asking?"
Her tone made it clear that she didn't give a flying fuck if I minded or not, I was going to tell her.
So I did.
"I wanted forged Beacon transcripts."
She laughed at that. Not giggled, not tittered, not politely chuckled. She full on burst out laughing like I'd just told Remnant's greatest joke. I decided that the safest option for me, and everyone else in the room, was to shut the fuck up and let her finish whatever this was. After a few seconds she shook her head and collected herself.
"You were actually intent on attending the academy?" She asked, incredulously.
Bingo.
She didn't know about Jaune after all.
"Didn't seem so crazy to me. I think I could hack it," I defended.
She chuckled again, shaking her head. "Oh, don't misunderstand me, dear Emerald. I wasn't trying to insult you, I just think I found your greatest sin."
"What's that?" I asked carefully.
"Lack of ambition, or maybe imagination," she answered, reaching up and caressing my cheek with a hand that felt strangely warm. "I have no doubt that you could 'hack it' at Beacon. To the contrary, I think you'd be a goddess there."
"Uh, thanks."
"But, Emerald, what's the point of being the goddess of an anthill?"
I blinked. "Huntresses are-"
"Vain? Overrated? Never on time?" She asked, which are all honestly statements that I wouldn't fight you too hard on. "Take your pick really. Or maybe you need a reminder?"
She pulled her scroll out from some pocket that I still don't know where she hid in that dress and held it before me. There was a grainy picture of me and Blake standing across from each other on the screen. She pressed the play button on the bottom, and the image of Blake started harmlessly swatting at where she thought I was, each swipe landing short as I cracked her again and again.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Cinder asked. "A Huntress, completely outmatched by someone who I'm guessing has never had a day of formal training in her life."
"She-"
"Not just any Huntress, mind you," she continued, ignoring me. "She was part of the White Fang, you know? A true dyed in the wool terrorist, if you'll excuse the pun. Far beyond her peers in terms of actual experience. And yet, completely helpless once you found your footing."
"She ended up coming back in that little tussle," I hedged.
She hummed. "Yes, but only because you indulged in another weakness." Her eye locked onto mine. "You tried to show her mercy. I imagine that seemed like the 'Huntress' thing to do?"
I decided to let her run as far as she wanted to with that line of thinking, letting her think that I spared Blake out of some weird Huntress code rather than the fact that I just wasn't a fucking psychopath.
"Yeah, sure."
She tsked. "There's that lack of imagination again. Imagine where you could be if you just let such...antiquated concepts go. Don't worry, we'll work that out of you."
Funnily enough, that made me worry much, much more.
"It wasn't even like I beat her in a fair fight," I explained hurriedly, not even sure what I was doing anymore. "I-"
"Cheated?" Cinder offered with a raised brow. "Tell me, Emerald, do you think that she cheated when she learned at the knee of private instructors?"
"No, but-"
"But that gave her an advantage over you, one that you didn't have the financial means to match." She said. "That seems strangely like cheating to me."
"Well, I guess, but-"
"But nothing." She cut me off again. "Do you want to know what I think, Emerald?"
No.
"What's that?" I asked anyway.
"That there's no such thing as cheating. You use the advantages that you've been gifted with and you win or lose, and that's all there is to it." She answered. "And you, Emerald, are very gifted indeed. Tell me, what's your Semblance?"
I fought every fiber in my being to keep from glancing over to Roman to see if I could get a hint at what he'd told her already as she stared me down. Instead, I did something far more painful…
I told her the truth.
"I do illusions." I answered weakly.
She grinned devilishly. "I knew it! Tell me, is it just sight or is it sound as well? What about smell? Is it just the person that you're using it on that's affected, or can everyone see them?"
"Uh, it's just the one person."
"Is that the limit then? One person?" She pressed.
Sure, why not?
"Yeah, just the one."
She hummed. "Everything has limits, I suppose. Well, no matter, we'll figure it out."
"Figure what out?" I asked.
"Leave that to the people with imagination for now," she answered with a smile. "Now, you were telling me about your Semblance, but I think it might just be faster if you show me, don't you think?"
I balked. "You want me to use my Semblance on you?"
She blinked. "That seems to be the quickest way to explain it to me. Unless, of course, you see some issue with that."
My mind raced as I considered the possibilities. Who the fuck asked to have their perception of reality warped while in, if not enemy, then at least questionable territory? Was she just that confident in her abilities? Was she immune to illusions somehow? Did she have someone else watching her back that we just couldn't see?
Was it all three?
"No, no issue," I answered warily.
"Excellent," she smiled before scrunching her face in concentration. "Now, what for you to make me see?"
Well, I was glad I hadn't just up and used it on her then. That sounded like it might have ended with me in quite a bit of pain.
"It'd have to be something I've experienced before, or else I won't have any context for how it feels," she continued. "Not something like an attack either, it moves too fast, the details can be blurred." She looked up at me. "Can you do food?"
I shrugged. "Kinda? The details on that are hard because I don't know what you like. If I don't like chocolate and you do, it can create a dissonance."
She raised an eyebrow. "Who doesn't like chocolate?"
"Nobody I trust."
She chuckled. "Still, I see your point. It'd have to be something of a universal experience, wouldn't it?" Her eye lit up suddenly and a wicked grin spread across her face. "Oh, I have an idea."
I was 110% sure that I wasn't going to like the idea, but that didn't stop me from dutifully asking:
"What's that?"
She leaned forward way farther into my personal space than I was ready for and whispered to me.
"Emerald, be a dear and make me naked, won't you?"
I fucking blue screened as my face darkened several shades.
"You want me to fucking what!?" I sputtered.
"Quiet," she shushed me. "You'll spoil it if these oafs hear."
That started to bring me back. She was still testing me. If I'd been lying, and more that the person affected could see my illusions, then Roman and Junior would definitely react to that one.
"I just-" I shook my head. "Are you sure?"
She shrugged. "It's something we experience all the time isn't it? It should be easy for you to fill in the gaps. The feelings of vulnerability. The feeling of bare feet on a floor. The breeze of the air conditioner against your skin."
"Yeah, but I don't know what you look like…" I coughed and made a vague hand gesture towards her, "you know."
She smiled mischievously. "Well, I guess you'll just have to use your imagination, won't you?"
I don't know what type of mental warfare that you're used to having used on you, but I assure you that I wasn't ready for the combination of 'I'm confident enough to be nude in front of this crowd' and 'I want you to imagine me naked.' In retrospect, I guess that was the point. Cinder spotted something that she saw would make me uncomfortable and throw me off my game, and she exploited it.
How she figured that little detail about me out that fast, especially when I hadn't fully figured it out for myself, I don't know. Looking back, maybe it was more obvious than I thought.
Either way, I could tell from the look on her face that she expected something to happen sooner rather than later, so I shook it out and nodded.
"Yeah, ok. Sure thing."
"Do you need me to do anything?" She asked, eyeing me carefully.
"No, just uh, sit there and look…"
"Pretty?" She joked.
I swallowed. "Yeah."
"Excellent," she purred happily. Whether that was because she liked the idea that my Semblance didn't require any additional input from anyone but me, or because she was clearly making me uncomfortable, I have no idea. Regardless, I locked in on her and let my Semblance start to take hold.
Honestly, once I got started, the whole process was a lot less mortifying than I expected. I was much less worried about what I was creating than how I was creating it. Making sure the proportions matched what I was seeing and making some educated guesses on coloring, that I was recreating the feeling of a gentle breeze based off the temperature of the room, that the skin had the right texturing for the goosebumps starting to form over it. The overall picture of what you're making just gets lost in all the little details. Come to think of it, maybe that's how art students are able to draw all those nude models without having a breakdown in the middle of class.
The only difference was, I was fairly certain that my model might turn murderous if they didn't like my work.
I watched as Cinder looked down at herself, blinking in surprise and running a hand subtly over the now 'exposed' flesh of her side, before glancing over at Roman and Junior to confirm that they hadn't had any reaction. I could turn to look at them myself without breaking the connection with Cinder, but I'm guessing from the satisfied nod she gave that their expressions hadn't changed from the nervous terror that they'd been wearing since she walked into the room. A small smile crept onto her face again as she turned back to me.
"Thank you, Emerald. You may stop now."
I let out a long sigh of relief as I let the illusion fall and Cinder's clothes materialized back into place. I watched her straighten and fidget with them for a minute, which was a remarkably humanizing gesture, before coughing into my hand.
"Uh, so…"
"Hmm?" She hummed as she looked back up at me, before her eye lit up with understanding. "Oh, you want to know how you did."
"Yes, ma- Cinder," I acknowledged, fairly certain that it hadn't been too terrible, considering I was still here, but not sure exactly where that put me in the 'keep alive or not' lottery long-term.
"Well, you were off on a few details here and there. Some of them in a flattering way," she answered with a smirk. "But overall, I have to say that it was excellent work, Emerald. It was close enough to the real thing that I honestly don't know if I could have told the difference if I wasn't expecting it."
"Thank you," I forced out as I felt the tension drain from my body.
"Which is good, I was afraid I'd overestimated your abilities, and that would have just been too bad."
That caused me to stiffen right back up.
"Uh, glad not to disappoint," I rushed out.
"Me too, dear. I've started to take a liking to you," she said, brushing her hair back from her eye, "but business is business, and I was going to need something out of this meeting one way or the other."
"How do you mean? Use me how?" I asked, because my mouth runs about a half a beat faster than my brain. She tilted her head to the side and considered me like I'd just asked something particularly stupid.
"Well," she started slowly, "if you'd been unable to meet my expectations, then I would have been forced to make an example of you. A very public and permanent example," she finished in the same tone you'd use to explain to a child that fire is hot. "And most likely Roman and Junior too, just to be sure." She added with a quick glance over towards the men.
"But I-"
She cut me off with a raised hand.
"But it didn't come to that, now did it?" She asked, waiting for me to shake my head before continuing. She nodded, apparently pleased with my compliance.
"No, it didn't. Honestly, Emerald, I don't care what your reasons for being at that dock were. A misguided moment of conscience, a stunt to garner support for a stint in Beacon, or something else entirely. What matters now is that you're capable of fulfilling a very specific need that I have. And fulfill that need you will." She finished with a meaningful look back at Roman and Junior. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can certainly pick up context clues when they're offered.
I swallowed, "what do you need me to do?"
She smiled warmly as she reached out and cupped my cheek with a hand. A damn near scalding hand. "Oh, don't worry about all the details just yet, my little jewel. All you need to know right now is that I need you close to me." Her smile curved up into a smirk. "In fact, I may just be making a dream of yours come true. If you're willing to use a little imagination."
I fought against my instincts to both pull away from her hand and ask exactly what the fuck that all meant. Instead, I said-
"When do I start?"
"Good girl," she cooed as she removed her hand, almost making me drop in the process. "And don't worry, I'll have someone drop by and give you the details. In the meantime, I need to talk to your former employer about how we'll be proceeding." She said, turning towards the door and gesturing for Roman to follow her. I watched as the thief seemed to both almost collapse in relief and slump in despair as he hopped down off his stool. He made his way after her, veering close enough to me that he could whisper 'fucking lucky,' to me before following her out the door, leaving Junior and myself alone in the bar. I turned back to the big guy, who currently had his head buried his head in his hands.
"Fucking maidens," he groaned.
"How close did we just come to dying?" I asked, suddenly feeling very weak in the knees.
"Hard to tell given that I've never fucking met her before tonight," he grumbled, fishing a whiskey bottle out from behind the bar, "but given the way Roman was shaking like a leaf every time you opened your mouth, I'd say we came pretty goddamn close."
"Oh fuck," I articulated as I dropped onto my ass.
"Oh fuck is right." He agreed, pouring himself a healthy shot and downing it. "I kept Roman off you because...it doesn't matter, but he's right about one thing. You came real fucking close to making sure that none of us got to see another sunrise, Em. You got anything to say about that shit?"
"They were gonna hurt people, Big Cat." I muttered numbly.
He snorted, "yeah, they were. Shit was fucked up, Em, it really was." He mused, pouring himself another shot. "But here's the thing, people are going to get hurt. There's not a goddamn thing that you or I can do about that at this point."
"Then what am I supposed to do?" I asked weakly.
He hummed as he threw back another shot and sighed, rubbing at his temples. "You survive, Em. There's nothing else to do at this point." He stopped before pouring himself another and stared me down. "You do whatever that murderous bitch tells you to do to make sure you and yours come out of this breathing."
"I-" I swallowed, trying to blink the tears out of my eyes "I don't even know what she wants."
He grunted, "Me neither, but I got a feeling that she does."
I cocked my head to the side and sniffled. "The fuck are you talking about-"
I froze as I felt the presence behind me. I looked up and saw an all too familiar face framed by brown and pink hair smiling down at me.
"Oh, you bit-"
Something feeling strangely like a knee dug into my back and drove me onto my face. I groaned as I pushed myself back up onto my hands and knees, slowly turning back towards the murderous imp.
"What the fuck do you want?" I growled up at her.
She frowned and tilted her head, jerking a thumb back toward the door to the bar.
"You're here for Cinder?"
Her frown deepened.
"You're here for Cinder on behalf of Roman?" I tried again.
She nodded tiredly and fished out her scroll, tapping away furiously. When she'd finished, she held the device out to me and waited for me to take it. I grunted as I snatched it from her hands. My eyes grew wide as the words on the device started to sink in.
"We're going to fucking Beacon!?"
She nodded happily, reaching for her scroll.
"The fuck we are!" I roared, holding the scroll to my chest. "Neo, do you have any idea how fucking suicidal that is? They know who I am! They know who you ar-"
A boot connecting with my chin sent me sprawling backwards. Withholding the scroll had probably been a bad idea. I groaned as the back of my head slammed against the floor.
"Fuck you," I hissed as I picked myself up, vision swimming. To my surprise, instead of the normal multicolored girl that I expected to see, there sat a monochrome dressed girl with deep green eyes and jet black hair. "Oh, I guess that makes sense," I grumbled. "What am I supposed to call you then?"
She huffed as she typed into her scroll before turning it back round, making sure to keep it out of my reach this time.
"Mint?" I read groggily. "And what about me? I don't know how good you think I am with makeup, but I've got a feeling I'm still going to stick out. Beacon tends to run a bit lighter than I do."
A wicked grin spread across her face that almost immediately made me regret asking. She flipped her scroll around and began tapping away. When she turned it back around, it was in selfie mode, which was confusing, but not nearly as confusing as what I saw staring back at me.
It was a beautiful young girl with pale, white skin, a short dark dress with long sleeves, and long, black hair hair tied back in a ponytail. All of which was attention grabbing, but the most stark feature had to be the deep, crimson eyes that were staring back at me in shock.
Neo smiled brightly as she flipped the scroll around and typed out another message for me.
'We're going to call you 'Bleiss''
I was a goddamn palette swapped Weiss.
"Oh, you can go fuck your-"
Was about as far as I got before I felt something slam into the side of my head and everything went dark. The last thing I heard was Junior chuckling darkly in the background.
Fuck these people.
Memory Lane
Cinder certainly isn't the first to want to use me for my Semblance. Just might have been the boldest about it, but she definitely didn't invent the concept. No, I've had everyone from gangs, thieves, con artists and everyone in between try to, and sometimes succeed in, obtaining my services.
Hey, a girl's gotta eat.
Hell, we even had a particularly shady business that you've almost certainly heard of stop by the house and try to talk Papa Arc into letting them use me to get a leg up on the competition.
It wasn't their best idea.
All that came later though. The first time that I got asked to use my Semblance for someone? Let's just say that it was a lot more personal.
There was this guy that I had a huge crush on, right? I know, the idea of someone as cool as me having crushes seems ridiculous, but what can I say?
It was high school, which I feel like is never a good look for any of us.
Anyway, his name was Bleu, and he was gorgeous. Ok, so maybe he was actually a bit gangly, and maybe he didn't really know how to wear his hair, and maybe he wasn't the snappiest dresser...but he was cute to me, dammit.
The only problem with said crush was that good ole' Bleu only had eyes for Tange. You remember Tange, don't you? Same girl that Jaune was head over heels for way back when, which meant that she was 0 for 2 in my book.
But damn, did Bleu have it bad for her. He'd follow her around school, he'd go to her cheer leading practices, he'd even write her letters. All of which would have been either cute or romantic, except for the fact that she'd turned him down every single he'd asked her out.
No accounting for tastes I guess.
Anyway, I decided that I needed to remedy Bleu's case of Tange-fever and get him on a more Em-centric program. The only issue with that is that I'm also a coward with a pretty healthy terror of trying to ask someone out. Luckily, a cure for this affliction has been invented.
Alcohol.
Lots and lots of alcohol.
And wouldn't you know it, Bleu was throwing a house party that weekend, which meant that both the ingredients for my plan to work would be in the same place at the same time. I was, however, having trouble getting Jaune to come to the party. Namely because he hadn't been invited. I tried to explain to him that I didn't think he understood how house parties worked if he was going to let him stop him, but he wouldn't budge.
His loss.
I ended up going to said house party and lo and behold, there was no Tange there, which was great news for me. Terrible news for Bleu though, who - from the way he was going after the bottle of rum he was holding - had probably thrown the party specifically to get Tange here. Being the team player that I am, I resolved to help him finish that bottle and forget about Tange.
For a while it was going pretty well. Bleu was laughing at my jokes, he showed me how to make a Mai Tai, we started leaning on each other. He seemed pretty into it.
Then it started going really well.
He asked me if I wanted to go upstairs.
It was a hell of a lot faster than I expected the whole thing to move and kinda scary, but I was more than a few drinks in and I liked him, so what the hell?
I'll spare you all the gory details, but you know how it goes. We ended up on the bed, hands roam, drunk kisses be sloppy, yadda yadda. It was pretty much all I could have hoped for out of my hair-brained plan, honestly. Which is why I guess it makes sense that life decided to take a big old crap on me when Bleu opened up his fat, dumb mouth and start talking again.
"Hey, um...Em?"
"Yeah?" I asked, probably not as bothered as I should have been by how long it took him to remember my name.
"You, uh, can do those illusion things, right?"
"You mean my Semblance?" I said, cocking my head to the side.
"Yeah, yeah, that's the one." He agreed, leaning back against the wall. "You can make people see all sorts of stuff, right?"
"Oh! For sure!" I blurted out, too slow to see where this was going. Instead, I started rattling off all the cool things that I could do with my Semblance, proud that Bleu thought it was interesting. He nodded along for a few minutes, sipping on his drink till I had tuckered myself out.
"Cool, that's cool." He nodded, setting his drink back down. "Hey, uh, do you think you could be Tange?"
The gears in my head ground to halt.
I'd love to tell you that I had some witty or scathing comeback to that, but I honestly don't know what I said. I know that we talked back and forth for a minute. I know that we both muttered some kind of apology when I got up to leave. I know that I left my jacket somewhere in the house and I had no intention of ever fucking coming back for it.
I don't remember how exactly I got back to the house, but to my surprise, when I came through the side door, there was Jaune - sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of those goddamn Pumpkin Pete's.
"You sure don't look like Papa Arc," I sniffled.
"I'll tell him you said so. He might want to have a word with the mailman." He replied around bites.
"Just wondering why you're waiting up on me, I guess. I didn't need you to." I said, because I was hurting and being an asshole.
He shrugged. "Who's waiting up for anybody? I'm just eating a bowl of cereal."
"Yeah? At 2 o'clock in the morning? Just got that hunger strike, huh?" I accused.
"Hey, I'm a growing boy." He shot back, waving his spoon at me.
"You're the worst fucking liar, Jaune."
"Probably," he agreed, watching me as he downed another spoonful. "You want some?"
"You know I hate it."
"I know you say you hate it." He countered.
I watched him for a second, then sighed. "Does it help soak up alcohol?"
He shrugged again. "Probably."
"Whatever." I muttered, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet and taking a seat beside him. He poured me a big bowl of the sugary crap and we ate in silence for a bit.
"You want to talk about it?" He asked after a minute.
"No." I answered, because I'm a liar.
And so we didn't. Instead, we ate another bowl of Pete's, then another, I think I started crying about the time he started to pour me the bowl after that. He pushed the silverware out of the way and held me till I was done and we both went to bed.
We still didn't talk about it, but I think we got close enough.
Recovery
The hours and days after the gas attack were a haze. I remember being carried by lads with strong hands into a large, beige tent where I spent time going in and out of consciousness.
It wasn't until several days later that I found I could truly focus on anything without my eyes burning and demanding that I close them immediately.
And who should be standing above me but my old friend, Nyx, scribbling away in the tome he always kept on him.
"Nyx, is that you?" I asked hoarsely. His eyes lit up when he saw that I was awake.
"You're awake! Excellent!" He exclaimed. "I thought the gas may have gotten to you."
"Almost." I coughed, pushing myself up weakly with more than a little of his help. "Tell me, the others…"
"They're fine, recovering the same as you." He motioned to the rest of the tent behind us, filled with row after row of cots with sick men and women belonging to all three fandoms laid out on them. I shook my head in disgust.
"This is terrible."
"Aye," Nyx agreed, before shrugging defeatedly, "but this is the way it is."
"That's what they say," I muttered, looking glumly around the room at the broken soldiers draped over every available space. Suddenly, my eye caught on one of the forms laying down on the White Knight side of the room. A very peculiar, very familiar, bear that was both black and white. "But maybe it doesn't have to be…"
"Hm?" Nyx asked, confused.
"Nyx, could you carry a message to another wounded soldier for me? An enemy soldier?"
He hummed. "I suppose so. You're both non-combatants at the moment. Why?"
"I think I might just have an idea."
Well folks, another weird chapter of this story in the books. If you enjoyed what you read, I have a ko-fi page as well.
It's ko-fi dot com slash jiu_jitsudude
If you feel like you'd like to throw in a few bucks, I'm honored. If not, I'm still going to keep on writing. It's cheaper than therapy