Chapter 6:

Control.

As I sat back in the recliner I had been granted by Alfred I stuck a match against my boot, watching the head engulf in a bright orange flame. A couple weeks had passed and I had finally found myself growing into a sort of routine. Mosts of the time guarding the gate was easy. Apparently most travel done outside major cities was by air to lessen the risk of being attacked by bandits or grimm which meant we either would be culling herds that got too close to the walls, or assisting folks who lived in the surrounding villages. A life of killing beasts wasn't exactly what I had expected to lead in a new world, but it was something I knew well, so I couldn't exactly complain. I stared and watched the fire dance around, as flashes of the nightmare city filled my brain. I pulled the flame towards my lips, that held a pipe clenched between my teeth. During my time in Yharnam, there were many times where I was on the verge of losing my mind, so I had developed a light dependency. Sedative, as helpful as the stuff is, could prove rather dangerous if too much is ingested too quickly. (I thought back to the poor old woman from the Chapel.) I had discovered however, that if the mixture is heated it would form a vapor that could be ingested and would give a much more… potent effect. As long as I was careful, I could ration a single bottle for weeks at a time without feeling the negative effects. Of course it wasn't as simple as just smoking the liquid, so I had to solve that problem as well. Tobacco, while not common in Yharnam (the only drug most needed was the Old Blood, so other mind altering substances fell out of favor) could be found in the more rural surroundings of the city, and was especially prevalent in places like hemwick. Luckily for me If one soaked their tobacco in sedative, they could fashion a crude smokeable sedative mixture.

However the problem arrose in the pipe itself. The trees of Yharnam, especially in the forest, were not the safest. Long rotted as the inhabitants around twisted and mutated, what was still alive would probably drive you mad if you got to near it. The Blood had a unique way to twist the living. My solution came in the giant corpses of whales that lay around the fishing hamlet. When the hunters first found the Hamlet, even the Whales were slaughtered, and some Byrgenwerth scholars even devised the idea that Whales somehow held the key to enlightenment. After all, what better a conduit that a Mammal intrinsically connected to the Ocean which held many untold secrets. My mind thought of Runesmith Caryll, and the idea that the inhuman voices of the Great Ones rippled like water.

After removing an untouched bone from one of the poor corpses, I was able to carve it over my long existence in Yharnam into a simple pipe. Marked with my vague recollections of the odd runes I came across in the city, it was one of the things that kept me sane. And that brought me to now, where I sat and contemplated my brash actions. I had lost it for a minute there, feeling my mind back in the place I had recently escaped. That wasn't good, I had generally managed to keep a hold of my own sanity but I had seen what happened to hunters who emersed themselves to deep in bloodshed.

I took a drag as I thought back to my time in the Hunter's Nightmare. Frail husks wandered across the streets, barely even human anymore. I was not about to let myself end up in the same situation. But that made me think, where would I go if I happened to die while I'm here? I'm at quite the disadvantage without aura, and I only have so many blood vials left. I severely doubted a return to the Hunter's Dream, I suppose that place was nothing but a memory now. A pang of regret shot through me as I remembered the faithful doll that had been there for me. Was she even real? The first time I saw her she was nothing but lifeless porcelain, but then there was so much… more? She didn't seem like some sort of fancy machine, it felt like there was real humanity behind her eyes. Oh well, I suppose my answers are gone with her.

I shook my head of my mournful thoughts and once again pulled from my pipe, feeling the sedative wash over my brain. It wasn't good to be thinking like this. Alfred had warned me that negative emotions could draw the black beasts. I rose to my feet and began to wander the compound that was my new home. Perhaps I should speak to someone? Hopefully that would get my mind off of my own slip up.

I stepped into the lounge of the strange facility that was my new home, only to see my strange new partner relaxing in one of the large chairs. Her helmet was still present, masking her face while she lazily stared ahead.

"Hey." her muffled voice rung out, and it was clear she was focused on something.

"Hello." I said, taking another drag from my pipe and taking a seat in one of the large lounge chairs. I heard a small laugh from under the helmet.

"Oh? Is there something funny?" I ask confused as she finally turns to look at me.

"Nothing, I just didn't expect someone like you to be a smoker." I paused for a second, hoping to chose my next words carefully. I couldn't exactly explain everything about my mind and use of sedative, it could risk giving away too much too quickly. While Alfred had grown to trust me (even if it was only because he could sense my thoughts) Mirrah wasn't there yet, and I wasn't fully either.

"I suppose we all have our vices." Was my only response as I took another drag, calming my anxiety. While she seemed skeptical, I couldn't exactly tell what she was thinking under the helmet so I just had to hope that was a satisfactory answer.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you so focused on?" I steered the conversation away from myself. She sighed in response.

"I'm just thinking about that fight from a few weeks ago, the one with those animals." It took me a second to put the dots together, but I soon realized she was talking about the fight with the faunus while we were in town. I cringed as I thought back to it, I had almost lost control of myself and it worried me.

I was about to ask more, but was interrupted by a ring from both of our "scrolls". Attempting to use my new device had been difficult to say the least, but I managed to unlock the thing and see a messaged from Alfred.

"Come to my office. We have an unusual situation that I need you two to handle." I sighed as the two of us wordlessly made our way towards the room that Alfred liked to call his "office". It was originally the barracks from before the different guard units split up, so Alfred converted it into a sort of debriefing room.

We entered to see Alfred sitting at the head of the table looking stressed.

"Hello you two, I'm sorry about the short notice but something really weird is going on." Alfred blurted out quickly. He sighed before composing himself a bit.

"Sorry again, Ozpin contacted me personally about this and for some reason he doesn't want any of the other council members to find out." Alfred continued, sounding very confused.

"Ozpin?" I asked, the way he was talking made it clear he was important.

"Oh sorry, I must not've talked about him yet. Have I already told you about the Huntsman academies?" I nodded to his question, there were four main academies, one for each kingdom.

"He's been the headmaster of Beacon, the school here in Vale, for just as long as I cna remember. We have… history." Alfred said apprehensively.

"Well here's the situation, being one of the more prominent council members, Oz has surveillance around most of the Emerald forest, the same forest you woke up in Jeremiah. Anyways apparently he was monitoring the cameras and there was an anomaly, a cave had seemingly appeared out of nowhere." I raised an eyebrow at that, I was certainly no stranger to strange shifting geography, but it wasn't something one would expect outside of Yharnam.

"While it's quite unbelievable, he seemed immensely serious and I highly doubt he'd ask for our help in any situation that isn't dire. He claimed that he sent a duo of 4th year students to investigate but neither of them have returned." A chill went down my spine as I thought of what might've happened to them.

"We'll do what we can." Was all Mirrah said as she began making her way to the exit of the compound.

"I'll send the coordinates to your scrolls, please be careful you two." Alfred said as I followed Mirrah. Then in a voice I could barely hear he continued,

"Not much can scare Ozpin."

And that's a wrap. I'm sorry for the filler and short chapter, but I needed to setup the use of sedative and begin the plot. Luckily the next chapter should be a lot more full, and shouldn't take near as long. I hope you enjoyed reading, thank you.