Rated M for language, violence and adult themes.
[Prologue]
"Ren!" The person of interest jumps into action and whips his head around "Nora? What is it?"
"Why do we call them Grimm Zombies and not Zombie Grimm?" She asks with a fully serious look.
"What?" Is all Ren can get out before Nora starts up again "just think about it for a second Ren!" She grabs his shoulder, determined to add more seriousiness to the situation. "What if they are actually Zombie Grimm and not Grimm Zombies!? It would change everything we know about them!"
Ren just gives her a blank stare. "Would it really, Nora?" Just before he shakes his head Nora puffs her cheeks out and buts in "Well, if you want to be like that, we technically don't know anything more about them" she raises her chin with a smug smile "making their name the only thing to change really"
Ren can't help the chuckle that escapes "let's just get back to the village, it's nearly dark out" he motions to the sun oozing towards the horizon. "I so call dibs on bathing first" Nora says with certainty as they get up and start to move towards the village.
All Ren manages to get out is a hum of confirmation before Nora pulls him to his feet, seemingly very impatient. After a few minutes Ren pipes up "So how hungry are we?" Immediately Nora lights up "I could eat a whole cow!"
Ren nods "I might not have that, but I do have something nice" he swings his backpack around and digs for a second before pulling out a plastic bagged product.
Noras legs stop dead, feels like her heart does too. Ren smiles warmly and continues with a warmer tone of voice "brings back memories, doesn't it?" Handing over the pancake mixture he continues "I think this will be safe with you until we get home"
The Squeal that echoed almost made Ren regret his decision, after all, noise does bring unwanted company.
Then Nora goes in for one of her infamous killer hugs. Its then he decides he couldn't bring himself to care at this very moment. The world can wait, Nora was the only important thing left anyway.
After getting home Nora beelines for the kitchen "Hold up Nora, bath first okay?" Ren just tosses his head towards the back door, reminding her about the importance.
Nora blinks before giving him a small smile "can't believe we are having pancakes in the apocalypse"
"I know what you mean. I even have sugar, no syrup I am afraid" Ren adds. Beaming, Nora carries on with her old mission, grabbing a towel and the bag of toiletries she makes her way to the backyard.
The backyard was heavily modified. The walls look like something belonging on a fort and the one corner has two extra lower walls forming an "L" or as they call it, the bath house.
Making her way inside, Nora deploys her towl and bag near the bathtub that was slightly raised off the ground by a few well placed cement blocks. The bath plan was a bit different ever since they ran out of Dust.
First step was to start a fire and shovel coals under a bathtub filled with water, then enjoy your outdoors bath after waiting for it to heat up. A very simple solution to the problem of no heated water.
After some time Ren makes his way inside as Nora was shuffling some hot coals into place. "Got the water ready" and indeed he did, with two large containers on either side of a pole sitting on his shoulders.
Ren carefully lowers himself into a crouching position so the containers are gently put down. "Wanna grab one?" Ren askes while making his way around the bath with the other.
Humming Nora nods. After a few minutes the water was lukewarm and the sun was about to die out, a beautiful sunset blazing over the tall walls. "I think it's about time I got in" Nora comments.
Ren nods while getting up from managing the fire. "Take your time, I like my water on the boiled side" he calls back as he walks away, disappearing around the "L" shaped privacy walls.
As Nora slides in and the water starts heating up further she sighs. Steam was building up but ultimately couldn't compete with the open roof. The same non-existent roof allowing Nora to gaze up into the thousands of stars in the night sky "Its so beautiful" she mutters to herself.
Inside the main house Ren was busy setting up all he needed for the pancakes. It wasn't every day he did cooking like this, usually they just cooked game over an open fire or eat tinned goods.
But today was when everything ended... the fall of beacon, all the friends he made, the kingdoms and all the safety associated with them... but most importrantly his team and family.
The best way they could remember them was with times past, rekindle some of those happy memories. "The bath is open" Nora calls out from outside. Ren shakes his head and all his thoughts. "Coming" he calls out.
Later the smell of pancakes with sugar was heavy in the air and so different to the usual smell of blood and grit, almost sickeningly sweet.
Nora seems to disagree "Smells so good" Her voice drops several octaves in the process "reminds me of beacons cafeteria" said with a small smile on her face. Ren smiles too, it's not often Nora smiles anymore, it makes his dwindling hope strengthen, maybe there is a future in all this chaos after all? a happier one.
It isn't long before they both retire for the night, it was a long resource gathering trip and they needed rest. "Sleep well" Ren wishes Nora good night "with a meal like that? Bet I will!" she nods enthusiastically.
Breaking eye contact and navigating the halls he ends up in his room.
Ren gives the space a once over, the house wasn't theirs or anything but whoever was the owner sure had similar taste.
The room was, as Nora claims "very Ren-zen" as if he has his own unique style of zen or something.
The rooms walls had treated wooden branches in an amazing pattern and the one wall with a window had a beautiful grey, white and black tapestry of smoke on water. All of those were very dusty before they cleaned up the place.
The bed was plain, with the only exception being a long pot of plants spanning the foot of the bed, Ren assumes it was a bonsai at one point but the poor little guy must have been raided by weeds and shrubs.
Moving to the bed Ren tucks himself in after shedding unnecessary layers of clothing, sliding his weapons under his pillow for insurance and closing his eyes, sleep taking him fast.
Later that night Rens eyes shoot open at the sound of knocking at his rooms door. "Yes?" He calls out hesitantly, reaching for his weapons just in case.
The door opens slowly and Nora pokes her head in "you mind if I sleep here tonight? I had another bad dream" she looks at her feet, probably feeling ashamed.
Ren just shuffles over "you know it's not a problem" he says softly. Nora quickly darts over and snuggles in.
"Ren?" She whispers. "Yes, Nora?" Ren replies. "You ever think they survived?" Her voice is brittle.
Ren turns over with a frown that Nora can't see in the dark, moving closer he brings her into a hug "hey now" he starts to stroke her hair "every day" he carries on.
Nora seems to start crying softly "I miss them, all of them" clinging onto Ren in the dark. "The dorky duo" Ren starts, baiting Nora to vent out her feelings. "the champion and princess" Nora continues "the bookworm and Dragon" Ren replies as he pulls her in even closer
Nora starts to say something but can't bring herself to speak past the sobs.
Ren hopes this helped, even the smallest steps to closure were usually huge in the new world of Remnant.
After some time Nora calms down and wipes her face clean on Rens thin night shirt "I think they are out there" she seems convinced, Ren doesn't have the heart to disagree "me too" he whispers, trying to convince himself to belive just that.
[Emaciation]
"Wake" the softest most ghostly voice calls out to Pyrrha "Live" it echoes.
Pyrrha wakes up to a muted bumping noise. Her mind felt tired and foggy, not even registering more than her five basic senses, memory and conscious thought eluding her for now.
Regardless, what her body and soul wanted was out, and so it was. With a flare of her semblance the pods door flew off into the black abyss of the vault.
The bumping seemed to get louder and more frantic, the sound could be promoted to mauling.
Pyrrhas eyes widened as she hunches into her crouch even further and starts to vomit, gasping for fresh air whenever possible. With nothing more than small amounts of clear bodily fluids making up the vomit contents, she can safly assume no food seems to have lasted through her slumber.
After dry heaving for another minute her mind comes around slowly, memories and awareness flood together to reform a fully functional mind.
The many questions that followed, many she has no hope of answering, so she focuses on the easily answered.
Reaching for the maiden power was something she assumes must be like a semblance, but can't seem to find it.
Giving up she goes for something else. Reaching out with her actual semblance, she layers everything she can with it, doing nothing but activating it, no extra force or pressure of will to drain herself.
It gives her a good idea of her surroundings. She feels the nearby machinery she escaped from and ambers pod, the vibrations from inside said pod being noted and put into the metaphorical answers_for_the_noise folder in her head, The very same folder system that was keeping her from panicking too badly and dealing with everything in parts.
Leaping along with her train of thought she concentrates for her weapon, thankfully they are there where she left them. It does a lot for her peace of mind.
Feeling more secure, she starts to push further with her semblance, satisfied with her immediate surroundings she wants to feel further, Her semblance creeps further out and up.
She doesn't understand, why is beacon in ruins? Everything is destroyed. Shutting off her semblance and getting up seems to be where her shock takes her but is too stunned to move from there.
Then suddenly there is glass breaking and an angry Amber onto her, clawing with a hand and what seems to be a snapped arm, bone acting as a makeshift concealed knife.
It's another shock, and so soon after waking up Pyrrha isn't ready. She takes a lot of damage on her aura before she even comes around. Amber sends them not to the ground with her reckless tackle, Pyrrha can feel the ludicrous amounts of blood as the bone tried to pierce Aura.
Wrestling for control she flips Amber onto the floor, but within seconds she is back at it, stabbing at Pyrrha with her bone knife.
Her instincts take over and she combat roles backwards while kicking up the broken arm, done buying herself time she pulls and then deploys Miló into xiphos form, the close combat setting.
She was just in time too. Amber comes at her again, this time crashing into the defensive stance that Pyrrha adopted, with her sword held double handed and covering as much of herself as possible in a slightly slanted position.
The blow seems to have all of Ambers weight behind it, not caring for stance or a retreat. "Am-ber" Pyrrha coughs halfway through calling out with a voice that hasn't been used in a long time.
"Stop this!" Her voice seems a little more stable but still so weak. "Why are you doing this?" All Pyrrha wants is answers.
The only response seems to be gurrgles and thrashing. Pyrrha knows things are even more wrong than they seem. not only is Amber not in the best mindset, but her aura isn't activating at all.
Ambers very soul seems disturbed. Pyrrha hasn't seen anything like it before, to think something so fundamental can snap makes Pyrrha deeply uncomfortable.
The darkness isn't helping things at all she can't see when Amber moves. Pyrrha can't even use her semblance against Amber because she is using her own bones as a weapon and no armour to speak of.
Waiting for the next time Amber strikes Pyrrha decides to end this madness, she can't stand here and take this all day, she feels weak as is.
When Amber gets both arms stuck on Miló the sword cutting deep into flesh and burrows into bone Pyrrha thinks on the fly and lets go of Miló as she leaps back. Amber is sent stumbling forward, so Pyrrha helps gravity out by sending Akoúo around and hiting Amber in the back via semblance.
In the dark and with no metal on Amber she had no real idea of where exactly all the important limbs and organs where.
Thanks to the sword imbedded in Ambers arm she knew just enough of her general location to hit Amber in the dark but still too high, hitting the neck with the edge of the sharpened shield and leaving a large squelch sound echoing in the dark vault.
Pyrrha moves in and runs her hand over Amber to check the damage delt, she doesn't seem to be in a great state; Amber is twitching like crazy and is dead silent. Checking for a pulse as Pyrrha reaches for her sword and sheild as she gets confirmation.
Amber is dead. The realisation doesn't feel as bad as she feared. It was almost like fighting a Grimm. Pyrrha was sure she only felt this way because it was too dark to see the body, and that something was undeniably inhuman about Amber after whatever happened to her.
The shock of the situation didn't help her state of mind at all She felt like a stiff leaf. Moving away she sits down to think.
Was the aura transfer machine the one at fault? Ozpin did say it was potentially dangerous and unpredictable. It's a reasonable assumption so she roles with that.
Then it hits her, Ozpin was there with her when she went under anesthetics! surely they will know what happened?
She needs to talk to someone. Getting up hasn't felt so hard in her life but she manages to start a half decent hobble towards the elevator shaft.
In the dark feeling very alone and confused she lets herself sniff and wipe away tear buildup. maybe killing Amber is having more of an effect than she admitted.
First Penny? Now Amber? What was she doing! She needed a distraction and the elevator was a big one.
The doors seem to have been blasted open and she can feel soot as she runs her fingers over the warped alloy.
The distracting bit wasn't the soot it was the lack of elevator in the first place. It was completely wrecked along with the doors.
The shaft seems to be relatively intact but a flex of her semblance shows the beacon tower had it's top grossly mangled into a horror of beam spikes and hazardous metal sheets strewn across the courtyard.
Only seeing the destruction through metal wasn't enough, she needed to see the rest with her own eyes. Pyrrha turns her focus on what she assumes is a sheet of the elevators roof.
Stepping on she hesitates before just sitting down, it would be safer anyway. Slowly rising the small platform she uses her own armour to keep herself upright just in case the sheet flips or snaps under her weight.
The destruction was worse than she imagined. There was atlesian tech scattered around and the buildings not made of metal were completely destroyed.
But what stood out the most was the plants. There were shrubs and grass growing everywhere, ivy creep on the pillars still standing and beacon tower itself. Even mini trees in some places, it looks like the emerald forest has taken over.
What happened here? Beacon fell? How is that even possible? All those questions and more went racing through her mind. She must have been in that vault for a long time, how was she even alive? She must have been starving the whole time!
Too many questions. Pyrrha couldn't even begin to quess the possibilities, she was just too hungry.
Pyrrha perks up, maybe the cafeteria has something to eat? she was sure they have tinned goods and rations for long term hunter missions.
She just hopes nobody else thought of the same thing. It's then she realises how different the complex looks now that all the landmarks are different.
Taking a moment to get her bearings Pyrrha heads off in the direction she believes is the cafeteria.
In the end the vending machines was what gave it away, the little guys sure helped narrow down the search, but they are underneath too much rubble to check for snacks.
Walking through a hole in the wall she does a quick check of her surroundings. Nothing seems to be amiss.
None of the tables or benches seem to be intact and the roof caved in on one side, making the row of self serve and kitchen area the only interesting options.
Pulling and readjusting her armour straps a bit as she moves towards the kitchen she makes a mental note to pass by the dorms to get new clothes. Pyrrha wonders at how long she must of been in the pod for her armour and clothes to feel so small.
Pyrrha is glad nobody stuck around for beacon during whatever happened, everything seems to have been left in a hurry.
Pots and pans still sitting on dead stoves with knives and cutlery still waiting to be cleaned in the large sinks it makes Pyrrha hold out hope for her plans success.
Quickly checking for running water before moving on yeilds nothing at all.
Moving on Pyrrha makes her way further into the vast kitchen that was built for a whole hunter academy filled with very hungry teenagers.
The large store rooms are sealed behind a temperature regulating door and thick walls that would devide the frozen goods from the fresher produce.
All Pyrrha can think back to is the food fight, somebody managed to bust into here and found out how much beacon actually kept in stock, almost like a fortress preparing for a long siege.
She wonders how intentional that was, the other facilities only add onto her growing theory, that library must have had all the knowlage in remanant and would have been invaluable after... Well, Pyrrha doesn't even know what it was planning for, but it seems like the idea failed anyway.
The large door to the storage room was locked so after a bit of hesitation she just decides to use her semblance again. Pyrrha doesn't know how much aura she has left exactly but she does know its around half.
The screech that follows is loud and makes her think back to initiation with the Death Stalker. Recoiling back, she tries to joke to herself about how the hinges must be rusty, she couldn't bring herself to laugh at her own attempt at humor.
Peeking in she sees nothing but the immediate surrounding shelves with the lights off and most likely not working the darkness lurkes around the room, and no doubt the adjointed rooms are going to have no light at all.
Pyrrha admits to herself that she is starting to hate the dark before taking a deep breath of stale air and moveing in for the kill, she has food to hunt.
Jaune hated these meetings, all these hotshot Rovers and thugs don't give him more than a glance before acting like they own the place.
Did they not realize what it takes to live in vale? This place was the center of operation Tipping Point, with cinder personally having a hand at toppeling Ozpins rule five years ago.
Dust, Juane himself was there! In the thick of it! He even got to listen in on Cinders monologue and is the only reason he knows what operation Tipping Point is even called.
But no, they can't be reasonable. "Gentlemen!" He interups the latest argument about how the Rovers are not staying faithful to the turf borders during their stay.
"If we put this much effort into killing Grimm we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with!" He cuts down any responses by continuing "now why dont we just all get along and work this out without getting too emotional"
There were a few nods but most of the reactions just amounted to muttered complaints. "Okay let's start with the scavenger problem first" Jaune motions for his scout commander to elaborate.
The room hushed down to listen in "sir!" The faunus woman was not much younger than Jaune himself but nevertheless acted with the utmost respect.
"I can personally attest for my teams eye witness report" her left ear flattens out to the side, the large bat appendage deliberately staying there before she continues "the Rovers–"
Jaune got the warning loud and clear. Turning around and drawing out his sword half way before the assassins blade is blocked, and then pushed away by the rest of his wild unsheathing movement.
Jaune doesn't let up, whatever semblance the assassin used to sneak up on him and past most of his allies was too powerful to keep in the very sudden fight for any longer.
Bringing his sword back around towards the stunned Assassin Jaune lands a clean horizontal slash across the makeshift leather chest armour. Jaune has grown a lot stronger since the fall of beacon in many ways, but this was a clear example of his physical improvements.
Cleaving right through the light armour he takes out what must have been a hefty chunk of aura, Jaune frowns in concentration and watches as the nameless assassin hits the floor and has his aura shatter on the hard impact.
Keeping up a semblance for that long to sneak up on Jaune at such a late time in the meeting must have drained him to that fragile point, this makes it easier and leaves room for a show.
Quickly moving forward and planting a heavily armoured boot on the assassins chest to immobilize the hostage and keep him under Jaunes deadly sword tip.
The meeting room erupted into chaos as the events played out within seconds "thanks for the warning Bastet" Jaune calls out over the panic and table to the scout commander.
"No problem sir" she grits out as a Rover locks her into a standoff, everyone in the room was armed and waiting with twitchy fingers now.
The Rover leader snaps "how the fucking shit!? Nobody is that good!" He directs his exclamation to Jaune and draws his halberd.
"Pft!" Jaune knows he has to look bigger and better than he actually is to get the desired outcome here. "Please, if thats all you got I don't know how you managed to survive so long in this mess!" Pressing the advantage he adds "now why don't you all leave before somone gets hurt."
Grinding his boot into the former assassin and now hostage was only to drive his point home, and anyone claiming otherwise is delusional.
The Rovers are on edge, the assassin was probably what has kept them alive. using the semblance to prey on other settlements and benefit off putting humanity even further back.
Jaune couldn't have that happen. He had to make a desision and fast. "Look, punk" the Rovers leader seems to try his hand at diplomacy "give up our guy and we can forget this all happened"
Jaune makes the hard call, lifting his blade a little higher he prepares to plunge it. "We shouldn't be killing each other man!" The leader seems to grasp at straws "oh? And what about the people you have preyed on?" Jaune retorts.
The leader gives up and loses his temper again "you smug prick! Come on boys, get em'!" The group of diplomats seem to give into thier twitchy fingers rushing Jaunes group in the hopes of saving the assassin.
Gritting his teeth Jaune follows through with his motion and plunges his sword into the hostages chest. He doesn't kill humans often, its mostly Grimm and the zombies so he isn't ashamed to admit the delayed reaction as the Rover leader leaps over the table and gets a hit in with his long reaching halberd.
The weapon was a fearsome one, normally an axe and spear hybrid but will no doubt have some kind of mechashift function too.
Jaune himself followed through with his former fighting style, being the tank was even more important now, with having such an important semblance he needs to save as much aura as possible, meaning full protection like something out of a history book about vales knights.
Doesn't mean much when the halberd gets a clean shot in, it hurts less than it should, having aura and conventional armour helps a lot for the pain but ultimately will never be considered a comfortable experience.
Being thrown to the ground by the force just made a bad situation worse, gaining ground against a halberd with his weapon of choice was hard on even footing and near impossible like this.
He says near impossible, because there is a way and it requires a bit of help from his shield. As Jaune deploys his sheath just in time to absorb the next blow he drops his sword and reaches for the shaft of the helberd.
The Rover must have been too cocky or downright unskilled, he reacted way too slowly to the grapple and will now cost him this fight.
Using the halberd to pull himseld up, Jaune dashes into the deadzone where both the Spear and Axe fuctions are too far out.
Then there was a whir of machinery and the halberds lower half disconnects entirely from the top half. The concealed blade at the new tip was long and reminds Jaune of his mothers favorite knife that could really just be called a short sword.
Not that it mattered, there was very little a weapon like that could do to a shield at this range. Pushing even closer into grabbing distance makes the Rover panic and swing with his short sword early.
Its now clear this brute has little skill Jaune notes as he brings his shield in at a shalow angle to deflect the short sword, not even feeling the impact much at all as it bounces away the sword.
Then does something that Rover no doubt hasn't seen before, Jaune shifts his grip so the pointed half of his shield is facing down his arm and over his fist.
The tip has been sharpened and an extra hand hold at the bottom means Jaune has extra control, making it a deadly defensive and aggressive option all by itself.
Putting thoughts into actions he aims for the neck when the short sword is still knocked out of the desired defensive stance, the solid hit must have hurt "bitch!" Coughs out the Rovers leader "going to kill you for that!" He shouts.
There was a very real possibility that he could still do it, he could have a really strong semblance and would explain why the Rover hasn't had to get skilled in his Close-quarters combat.
In the end though, Jaune still would have done this, his comrades need help as is. Using his foot he kicks up the other half of the halberd.
"Surrender now or we will use deadly force" Jaune shouts over the surrounding conflict, the act seemingly getting some to hesitate after seeing their leader mostly disarmed and worse for wear.
"Come on you fucking cowards!" The Rover leader doesn't seem to have his diplomats safety at heart "ignore him, your leader is going to get you killed!" Jaune stresses the point "surrender now and we can all walk away from this, you no longer pose a threat to other survivors" he motions to the dead assassin
"So we don't have any reason to fight you" Jaune hopes that they have any sort of reasoning skills or self preservation. they seem to want to surrender but the Rover leader has other ideas "anyone who betrays me gets fed to the pigs!" He aims it towards the Rovers who are lowering their swords.
They don't seem too eager to give up now Jaune notes, they react to it too strongly for it to be an empty threat and the reactions leave him with a bitter taste in his mouth.
Bringing the shortened helberd up he points it towards the Rover "okay, how about this, if you beat me in a duel you get to do whatever you please" Jaune isn't sure how this is going to play out anymore, the situation has devolved into a desperate scramble for saving as many lives as possible.
The leader makes an angry throaty noise and grits his teeth "what do you think I am? Some kind of knight?" Spitting in Jaunes direction he gets his short sword ready "we all fight here!"
Sighing Jaune realises that after beating him so hard during their last scuffle the Rover would never try his luck in a one on one fight again.
Most of the Rovers group looks like they want to surrender even more now, but still cling to their weapons in fear. Juane has seen enough, this leader had to go. Nodding to his comrades across the room he rushes the Rover with a deceptively simple solution.
Just before the stolen halberd makes a lock with the short sword Jaune sees an arrow from the edge of his vision flying towards them.
Taking a risk he ignores it, hoping his full plate armour would deflect it, there is always aura as backup too.
The halberd connects after a powerful over head swing, the rover sacrifices aura by planting his other hand on the bladed side of the short sword hoping to keep up his only defense.
Jaune admits that was a good call, but the damage is still there and with the arrow whistling into the fight, going for a direct hit on the side of the rovers head... It was the perfect time for something like that to happen and Jaune alters his plan of attack on the fly. The rover leader had a lot of aura but he has taken a lot of damage.
Hooking the Rovers short sword with his own Axe head Jaune pulls it away with all his body strength and kicks the rover in the stomach all in one smooth motion as an impressive show of flexibility. Stunned from the arrow the rover doesn't give much resistance.
Letting go of Jaunes stolen part of the halberd at the perfect time means both parts of the weapon go flying back over them into the background, leaving Jaune with the only weapon and a deadly aura advantage.
Pushing his advantage aggressively Jaune takes some huge risks but they pay off without much consequences thanks to the Rover not having a weapon.
In only a few exchanges Jaune has shattered the only aura the rover has left and goes in for the kill, bashing aside his boxer defense with his shield and following up with a gauntlet fist to the face is a sure way to send the Rover leader to the floor.
"Everyone stop!" Jaune bellows just in time, he can see some combatants on both sides of the fight worse for wear. As he shouted he lifted his heavy boot and brang it back down just as he gets everyones attention, the crack and splat of the Rovers neck makes for a good threat and pacifier.
"Now how about we get all the wounded to the infirmary, Rovers too, I can't bare to see people suffer under such a leaders decisions" he sweeps his shield arm out towards the exit and in the vague direction of home base.
Bestet makes her way over with a slight limp "you sure about this?" She asks hesitantly "there must be more than just the assassin on the leaders side, they could cause trouble" bestet shifts her gaze to the group of Rovers forming up.
Jaune just smiles "I trust you to notify me of any suspicious activity" he continues as he places his hand on her shoulder "Have them disarmed before letting them in camp and send them into the infirmary with guards" his hand starts to glow and pulse as his semblance takes effect.
Bestet just hums in content has her wounds patch up, he noticed her one ear had a nasty tear and must have been painful with the amount of extra sensory organs packed in there.
"Will do sir" she gets out before moving away and ordering the Rovers around. None opposed her after what happened to the last disrespectful individual.
Following at a distance Jaune calls out to some of his guard detail "who was that sniper earlier?" As a boy raises his hand with a crossbow in the other Jaune nods
"was a nice shot, was that a semblance?" The boy was new, everyone in Jaunes resistance was personally assigned roles and carefully tested by himself for strengths and talents.
This was his first mission, and they seemed to have got his role in one try "no sir" the kid seems to be a little shy.
Okay maybe Jaune is being too harsh, first mission and casualties already? He can be a little quiet everything considered.
"Impressive, can't wait to see what your semblance is going to be" Jaune thinks back to when he hated not having one. Good times.
"Sir?" He looks surprised so Jaune just laughs "come on, surely you do too?" Speeding up his gait to walk along side the boy as they talk.
"Well, I suppose" he looks a bit distracted "sir?" The boy starts up again "Does this happen often? This place was so peaceful before those Rovers came along" he looks at Jaunes boot before quickly looking away.
Jaune frowns "hey kid, this doesn't happen often at all, its usually just dumb talks like earlier and a lot of Grimm"
Ruffling the boys hair Jaune just wonders when he started feeling like a parent, calling most of the younger fighters kids or some variation of it.
Jaune feels like his own dad back before beacon, he wonders if he should stop. "Hey William right?" Juane double checks and after a quick "yes sir" he continues "you mind being called kid the whole time?"
William shifts his feet a little "it is a bit odd sir, the village where I am from considered me old enough to be wedlocked"
Jaune just hums "how old are you anyway?" Juane checks "That would be 16" William announces neutrally "sir" he adds as an afterthought.
"Doing a lot better than me at that age!" Jaune just chuckles and offers "well I am 22 if that helps making it feel less like you are being belittled, an old man like me can get away with it, yeah?"
Williams mouth breaks into a smile "you don't look that old" he observes, Jaune has the perfect response "its the aura, keeps hunters from going grey early"
William isn't sure if thats a joke or not but leaves it at that "no way am I better than you at this age" William brings up.
Jaune actually bursts into laughter "you wouldn't believe it, but I was the worst student at beacon" he almost sounds smug about it.
"Going to have to take your word for it" William just shakes his head as they round a street corner and see the whole road blockaded by various junk and scrap metal.
The gate in the center of the blockade had two watchtowers on either side with nobody inside. The rest of the group that was walking ahead got to the gate first and was already waiting as it cranked open.
"Sorry William, but duty calls" Jaune quickens the pace and shouts out to the crowd "I hope you all listened to Bastet about leaving your weapons outside! She has sixth senses beyond out mortal understandings!" Jaune chuckles under his breath and William is sure he was the only one to hear it.
Once things got sorted out the group made their way down some more streets before coming up to what seems to be another random skyscraper.
Inside was the same too, nothing more than a glance and William can't see anything odd or out of place, just abandoned dusty chairs and storefronts.
Then four people move over to a table and seem to try tip it over, but the floor follows up with it and a ladder is popped through the new hole in the floor with a voice that shouts out "any luck with the meeting?"
Jaune being the one addressed just shakes his head and motions back to the group "we got some wounded that need a little ointment and stuff, the Rovers are here too so mind your manners"
A slightly confused voice sounds back up "how does that work? Gonna need to fill me in" Jaune does a quick nod before motioning for people to start getting in "will fill you in later, going to do a scan first"
After most of the group has gone down into the hideout Jaune and Bastet went to stand off to the side "ready?" Juane asks her "ready" Bastet confirms.
William just watches them ascend the staircase before a voice breaks his idle thoughts "hey Will, you coming down or what?"
Meanwhile inside the Rovers where already being sorted out.
Ruby carefully watched over the medical bay as the wounded Rovers got treated. Her sembalance was perfect for this, if they tried to pull a fast one and take the doctor hostage, well, let's just say Ruby was faster and leave it at that.
The high pitch wine that started up was alarming and sudden to the Rovers, but ultimately normal for Ruby. It was no doubt Jaune and Bestet amplifying her semblance to cover a larger area.
It was interesting Ruby had to admit, most bat faunus could technically use echo location depending on the breed and what apedages they inherited but none generate the needed sounds in the first place.
Bestets semblance was sound manipulation, a very versatile but a weak combat semblance. If she remembers correctly it was triggered by being stuck in the schnee mines in the dark and because of the very maze like affair was naturally lost.
Well it doesn't matter much in the end, Ruby just finds abilities a lot more interesting after her silver eyed stunt back during what Jaune keeps calling operation Tipping Point.
It was chaos, saving Weiss with her eyes was the last time she saw her team. Weiss needed to check up on Winter after she got Injured in a fight due to specialist duty, and Yang disappeared with Blake to menagerie.
Jaune made it clear that yang planned on bringing Blake back safely and was sure Ruby was safe in vales hospital at the time. None of them have made it back, its been five years.
Shaking her thoughts away she focuses on her current job. The high pitch noise of Bestet dies out and the Rovers seem to calm down again.
The doctor was too kind Ruby muses, the dear faunus taking her time to make sure everone felt emotionally patched up too. Ruby almost forgets that the doctor can be a nightmare in battle.
After everyone was taken care of the doctor and Ruby make their way out together "hows the greenhouse farm going?" Ruby decides to strike up conversation feeling like they could both use a distraction.
"Oh? Really well actually!" The doctor turned botanist enthusiastically replies "it almost feels like cheating with my semblance I have to admit" she seems almost guilty, Ruby smirks "you know thats a good thing right?" Continuing she adds "we can't scavenge enough food for everyone" after a pause to think she adds "especially if what I think Jaune is trying to do with the Rover group works"
The botanist and doctor hybrid just hums before changing the subject "do you know how well the water idea is going?" Ruby nods "very well last time I checked, Jaune seems to be full of surprising ideas" Ruby immediately feels a bit bad for wording it like that, Jaune has been nothing but good for the group ever since getting here.
After giving Ruby an odd look she pipes up "Well, here he comes now" and indeed he was Ruby confirms, seeing Jaune and Bastet make their way down the entrance corridor.
"Hey Ruby, wanna come with us for a meal? Been a long day" Jaune says as he shifts his grip on Bastet, helping her walk.
Ruby can sympathize, Bastet gets a lot of infomation when she does those scans and usually has a huge migraine for a few days.
"Take this, it could help with the pain" the doctor pulls out a soda can from her satchel and hands it over to Bestet "Thanks doc, don't suppose its a real soda?" Bastet inquires hopefully.
Laughing lightly she shakes her head "it does taste like a fruit cocktail though" the docor adds hopefully.
Bastet raises an eyebrow "should I be worried, doctor?" She chuckles immediately after "thanks though" taking a long sip seems to be Bastets way of testing a beverage.
"Wow! This is really good!" She exclaims and looks to the doctor "this is better than soda, how the dust do you manage to make medicine taste so good?" Bastet shakes her head as the doctor makes a sealed motion over her own mouth.
"Anyway. Jaune interrupts them with a small smile "how's our food production going to handle the added weight of the Rovers?" He aims the question to the head of food and medicine within Jaunes little resistance group.
The dear faunus puts a hand on her chest "the reknown Abie could feed an army!" Seeming to refer to herself in the third person.
"I take that as an absolutely?" Juane quirks an eyebrow "yes" Abie confirms "I probably could feed an army with your help, if we ever need to" she answers more seriously.
"Good. Thats very good information." Jaune seems to go back into thought. Abie adds before he gets too deep into his ruminations "I would need enough open fields though"
Jaune just seems to hum in acknowledgment and adds that info into whatever his latest plan is going to be.
"The southern district confirms that the salt pans work" Ruby relays the message, breaking the train of thought Jaune was in.
"Oh? Even more good news!" Jaune gets more animated "this makes leaps into being more self sufficient, a glorious success!" Ruby being just as big of a former gamer doesn't miss the reference.
"Its a bit slower than we hoped but still technically works" Ruby has a small sad smile "we have a lot of empty city to work with after all"
Jaune frowning slightly tries changing the subject "talking about an empty city, we spotted a large group of Grimm heading to beacon, and need to be prepare to hide if they come around this way"
"Why would they go there?" Ruby asks "didn't you say beacon fell?" Jaune nods "it did, we assume some rubble must have collapsed further and made some noise" he seems absent though, Ruby notices.
"Thats not everything is it?" Ruby asks him softly. Jaune looks up confusion on his face before it morphs into something different.
"It... It was the last known location of Pyrrha" Jaunes face settles on anger and what could be mistaken for regret "there are large packs of Grimm inbetween us and beacon she was also locked in a vault underground" he seems to be trying to convince himself of something "there was no way for me to save her without getting all these people in danger"
"Oh no Jaune" Ruby feels her heart harden further, moving in for a hug to try make Jaune feel better was a little bit uncomfortable with his heavy armour "none of that was your fault" she continues.
"I know, I know" Jaune grumbles "we have had this talk before and I have come to peace with my decision, doesn't mean I have to like the outcome" he returns the hug with one arm and a gentle squeeze to make his point.
"I bet food would help your mood sir" Bastet offers "thats a good idea, thanks Beset" Jaune appreciates the thought.
Abie just fiddles with her antlers, not feeling comfortable with the topic but supplying a small suggestion "We can try out some of the fresh fruits and vegetables?"
"That" Jaune starts "would turn a great idea into a grand one" as a group they make their way through the underground hideout. It was a mission to get this hideout built back when everything was still in chaos, but they managed and its payed back a hundred times over.
The hideout was simple but effective, they blocked off or carefully collapsed every building with a subterranean level, be it basement or a car park within a few blocks and then connected them with dug out tunnels.
It was cramped at first, but there was no real limit to the potential space, so in time they grew the hideout larger than they needed and started to use whole rooms for nothing but comfort or extra storage.
Jaune actually thought it was cool, some disagreed, saying it felt too claustrophobic and he couldn't fault them for that so there was a second layer to this setup.
The roofs, every skyscraper with a room under it has its first and second, maybe even third floor collapsed with no way up or down.
So they connected the top floors of those buildings with bridges or zip lines and tuned them into a resort of sorts for the people who couldn't live underground.
There was a single building with an intact stairwell to get up onto that level but was only accesable from underground, with the normal doors and entrances completely barricaded to the point there wasn't really a floor at all and only the stairs from below.
It was safer than he thought it would be, he has to admit. The idea of an avian Grimm flying over and grabbing somone was his biggest concern.
But, as the locals like to joke, the Grimm of flight have bad memories from back when vale had its defensive canons still operational.
Juane knew better though, the flying Grimm cover more ground, and would naturally be used to scout the wilderness for stragglers and survivors, but he hasn't seen the need to voice his opinions on the matter.
"Its been too long since I have had a strawberry" Ruby groans in delight, grabbing a box to eat later to the chagrin of everyone.
Jaune decides to go for an apple with the brightest red shine "this is high quality" Jaune comments as he tucks into his meal of fresh produce.
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