Well, this is a big one people: over 22,000 words! 22,000 words will give such a crick in the wrist. But it's only fitting as I haven't given you your regular fix, dear readers. Seriously, some of you have gotten impatient.
What's in these 22,000 words?
A check in on the astartes. Ozpin gets worried and gets a clue. More WARP CHAT! and Jaune recalls a certain brother from his past life - no good memories.
And the wings finally reveal themselves!
Behind Remnant's moon
The astartes had found the place they had been searching for. For the last few days they had been observing this planet, this Remnant, and its people.
At first glance it seemed eerily similar to ancient Terra in terms of climates, fauna, and flora.
The planet orbited its star at almost the same pace as Terra as well, its solar year being only a few Remnantian days shorter than the Cradle world's.
It was a technologically advanced world. The one reason why mankind was not in full control of it as because they were under the constant threat of grimm.
But that didn't matter now. There was a problem that needed to be dealt with.
"Brothers, it is time we made a decision. How are we to proceed?"
Amaretto scanned the chamber and the faces of the astartes in it. Many faces were hard and almost without expression, contemplating the situation at hand.
But there was something more to it. Happiness? Joy? Satisfaction?
Love? Preposterous!
But since but an hour ago the astartes had been behaving differently. Mortals would not have noticed but to their fellow battle-brothers there was a difference.
All that they knew was that this feeling came from the same place that the visions had come from, from the same place as the poem that had started all of this had come from.
The space marines pushed these emotions aside and focused on the situation at hand.
Whilst searching for clues for their search had the tech-marines recently, though a link to the CCT, discovered a virus embedded in the systems of a CCT-tower down on Remnant.
It had been implanted into the CCT-tower at the Beacon schola.
It had soon become apparent that it could easily grant its controller control over most systems it was in contact with.
The Tech-marines of the expedition had determined that it was made to spread to almost any form of cogitator that were used on Remnant.
This meant that whoever controlled the virus could at any moment bring down the entire CCT with the push of a button.
Given the way it had gotten into the system it had also been determined that this was not a sanctioned action, but rather an act of treason.
The evidence was clear.
The infection had begun at a secure unit at the CCT-tower in a manner that suggested knowledge only an insider would have possessed
or giving onto others.
Conclusion: there was at least one traitor somewhere.
Fortunately, the virus could not hope to infect the systems of the astartes, their systems being too different and well protected for that.
But neither could they purge the virus from orbit. The matter would require a direct access point to the systems.
A decision had to be made on how to warn Remnant of this threat.
The Astartes would not yet descend to the planet as that could make the traitors activate the virus and shut down all communication all across the planet. That would render all attempts of organizing any form of defence virtually impossible.
Same went for contacting the leaders of Remnant and the world's high officials. There was reason to believe that the traitor was amongst them.
The situation also needed to be handled with special care.
This world was home to the Grimm, a kind of maleficarum that were drawn to negative emotions.
Fear, worry and anger among the populace would only make the grimm move against them.
So far the situation did not warrant planetfall or use of force yet but something needed to be done.
The loss of life would be great, regardless if it was the life of humans or faunus, would-be psykers or not.
It was Skoraen who spoke up next.
"If we assume that it is our Lord Primarch down there…"
All turned at this. Out of the three chapters it had been the Flesh Tearers who had been the most opposed to the idea of their primarch being alive and being what they were looking for on this quest.
But now there seemed to be a bit of hope in the Flesh Tearer's voice.
"If our Father is down there there might be a way to warn these people without giving away the truth to the traitors."
"Speak plainly." said the Apothecary Deon.
"If we were to take control of the Tower at the Beacon schola to broadcast a warning to the mortals in High Gothic our Father could hear it and take action."
"And how can we be sure that he would hear it even if he was down there? If we do this the message might be distorted by the distance it has to travel. Not to mention how the machine spirits of their systems might take such an intrusion. Do you know something that we others don't that gives you hope, Flesh Tearer?"
"I don't." admitted Skoraen.
"But if he is, then where else on this world would he be? Where else would he be if not on the greatest schola for heroes of this world?"
All contemplated this for a while.
"Very well." said Amaretto.
"We will send the message and keep monitoring the situation."
He then departed followed by his fellow Blood Angels leaving only the Flesh Tearers and Lamenters.
Furion approached Skoraen.
"What do you want Lamenter? Do you intend to scorn me for holding out hope? Do you intend to scorn me for it when fate will bash my hopes anyways?"
"No, we will not. For we are Lamenters. We know how fickle hope is. We know that hoping is the first step towards disappointment. You know it as well, for you too are astartes."
Skoraen nodded. Indeed, he had seen it often enough in his life as one of the Emperor's angels of death.
"But despite that…" continued Furion. "We hope anyways."
He offered his gauntleted hand to the Flesh Tearer.
"For we too also sons of Sanguinius."
The Flesh Tearer glared at the offered hand.
Usually he might have throttled the Lamenter, or any other marine from the cursed founding, for such a gesture but now… it didn't appear right.
With a snarl he just marched past the Lamenter, followed by his battle-brothers.
"Battle, what did you hope to achieve by that jest?" asked a fellow Lamenter.
"To patch bridges long burned. I suppose it was a bit too much to hope for."
Maybe it was this sensation going through him and his fellow astartes? Maybe he wanted to establish the bonds of brotherhood the IX Legion used to have among its astartes.
"True, but we hope anyways."
Ozpins's office shortly after the break-in at the CCT
Ozpin was in his office trying to get what information he could from Ruby Rose on the intruder that had broken into the CCT tower earlier that night.
Ironwood had darted off to manage his soldiers in the search for the intruder leaving Ozpin to manage Ruby Rose on his own.
A fruitless effort apparently as the search had turned up nothing. All students and personnel were accounted for.
*Screech!*
Ozpin had just gotten down in his chair when the speakers in his office suddenly came to life.
Realizing that this was not how a usual broadcast was supposed to go he quickly tapped a few buttons on his computer to record the sound coming from the system.
The noise continued.
Ozpin couldn't make sense of it. He thought he could make out the roughest outlines of words but most that he heard was static.
If this was meant to be a message then it was too distorted to be understood.
A brief check on the school security system revealed that many other had heard this as well and none could make heads or tails of it.
"Uum, what was that?" asked Ruby.
"I don't know, miss Rose." said Ozpin and tried to hail Ironwood. He got no answer. A quick check on the security cameras revealed Ironwood to be missing.
Odd but Ozpin had a suspicion as to what the goog general was up to, or rather down to.
There was a call addressed to Ozpin.
"Headmaster Ozpin speaking."
"Sir, this is Richard Sim-"
"Just stick to the relevant information Please."
"Right sir. I'm with the tech department of the Atlesian detachment assigned to Beacon and I'm calling about this recent broadcast. Typically I would report to General Ironwood but he is indisposed by a personal manner, sir. As such i deemed it best to report to you."
Ozpin sighed.
'Personal matter' could only mean a few things for Ironwood and most of them involved Goodwitch somehow. Ozpin would have to address that matter later.
"I see. Report to my office with a report on the situation ASAP."
"Yes sir."
"Well miss Rose, I think we will have to continue this conversation tomorrow at ten."
"Will do, sir." said the girl and darted off in a blur of rose petals.
Ozpin sighed and poured himself some coffee. He would have a lot to do tomorrow what with the robbery in town earlier, the break-in at the CCT and now this noise blasting out from the system.
'What on Remnant is going on?'
He looked up to the shattered moon in the sky and let his mind wander.
Had he done so just a minute earlier he might just have seen the tail end of a void craft hiding behind it.
Day after the dance. JNPR's dorm
The room was getting brighter and the light was getting to his eyes as Jaune was waking up. He slowly cracked open an eyelid and saw Pyrrha, still asleep in the same bed as him.
They were both naked under the sheets.
Now in the morning Jaune looked at his love, the lady of his heart. Her hair was a beautiful mess, like a wildfire made solid. Her naked form was under the sheets with him, rolled up against him for warmth and closeness just as he was to her.
It was nice. No, it was wonderful.
He tilted his face closer to hers and gave the sleeping beauty a kiss on her lips. She stirred a bit. He gave her another kiss and wrapped his arm better around her.
"Morning Pyr." he murmured tiredly.
She stirred some more and snuggled up to him even closer. Jaune could feel one of her legs wrap around one of his. Her face neared his and she gave him a kiss.
"Morning Jaune."
She opened her eyes slowly. Emerald green looked into sapphire blue and vice versa. Neither of them looked away. Neither of them moved away embarrassed like they had when they had snuggled before. This was what they both wanted, to be near each other. There was nothing to be embarrassed about.
"So I guess this is it now?" he said sleepily, already falling back to sleep. "We are together-together?"
"We are." She agreed.
"I just can't think that I almost ruined this with my stupidity. I should have noticed sooner. I should have known."
He sounded tired. Not surprising with what all they had done last night.
She shut him up with a light kiss, putting an end to his worrying.
"But you didn't ruin it and I should have been more direct about it. Now stop worrying about it and let's enjoy this moment."
They closed their eyes again, letting their other senses tell them of how close they were. Pyrrha could feel Jaune falling back into sleep in her arms. She let him for soon she would fall asleep as well, in his arms.
It was so peaceful. The warmth, the calm, steady rhythm of their breaths and the quiet peace of the morning. This was happiness.
"Gooood mooorniing, love birds! Rise and shine!"
The peace and happiness was shattered by Nora who all but knocked the door of its hinges.
She dragged a rather unresponsive Ren behind her.
The aforementioned lovebirds groaned to the sudden noise and Pyrrha pulled the sheets over their heads, trying to block out the noise.
"Nora, please, just ten more minutes of happiness."
"Okay, but only because that's how long it will take for me and Renny to shower."
Without missing a beat she dragged Ren with her into the shower and closed the door. It would seem like Pyrrha and Jaune hadn't been the only ones to have a bit of cathartic fun last night.
Pyrrha sighed. With those two up and about getting any more sleep would be impossible. The quiet of the morning had been shattered and staying in bed too long would just give her a headache. Better to get up.
"Come on, Jaune. Let's get up and get some breakfast."
He groaned something in response, still tired and not wanting to get up. His stomach however decided to sing the song of its people for her with a mighty growl.
Pyrrha gave it a gentle clap for agreeing with her.
"See, you stomach agrees. Now get up."
He obliged and got up to sitting on the bed. He yawned and rolled his shoulders, trying to work feeling into them after laying on them for so long while snuggling with Pyrrha.
That, and his "wings" made it a bit uncomfortable for him to sleep on his back.
Pyrrha pulled herself up into a sitting position and leaned closer to him to look at them. She had felt then during the night, even pulled at them by accident a few times.
She wasn't exactly really sure of how to feel about them. They were a deviation from the norm but she couldn't despise him for them. She was fine with faunus with their animal body parts. Thus, she would be fine with Jaune's, whatever he thought of them himself.
He was still Jaune, wings or not. Besides, the wings were cute.
The wings had gotten bigger than when she had seen them for the first time. While they had only been around an inch each when she had first seen them they had now grown quite a bit.
And they were covered with feathers. Small, white feathers, like those on a young bird, were growing at them.
"They really are wings" She said and touched them gently.
Jaune flinched a bit at first but soon calmed down, letting her examine them in peace.
'So soft.' thought pyrrha as she felt the feathers.
A few feathers were red and like drops of blood they were mixed in with the white ones.
"Jaune, once Nora and Ren are done showering get in there before they see this. I really don't feel like explaining this to them today."
"M'kay." he said and got up to pick some clothes for the day.
Pyrrha followed her boyfriends example and got up properly, if a bit wobbly on her legs.
Boyfriend, dust, it would take time to get used to that.
In the corner of her eye she could see Jaune flexing his wings. They looked adorable.
But even now that they had gotten together he looked worried about something.
He had dreamt during the night but not of things from his past life.
"Dreamt of flying right into a window." he said.
Ozpin's office
"They were here Ozpin... They were here!"
The general slammed his fist into the wall.
Ozpin sighed. This was the fifth time in as many minutes that the general had reminded him of that.
The general's brain was not operating at peak capacity at the moment. He had been like this all morning. The general was tired, that much was clear and now he tried to keep himself going by sheer anger and spite. It made the man really grumpy.
'If only Glynda was here.'
"Thank you, James. I know."
"Great! You know! Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's going on under our noses?!"
There was a ring of a bell by the elevator and then a signal at Ozpin's screen. Someone was requesting entry.
'Saved by the bell.' thought Ozpin and hoped Ironwood would try to control himself in front of Ruby Rose. Ozpin pressed a button and the door opened.
"Thank you for coming, Miss Rose."
"Not a problem." She looked at the two men in the room. Ozpin was seated by his table while the general was staying by the window. Said window was open, letting in some fresh morning air.
A bird was sitting outside, grooming its feathers without a care in the world. It eyed her curiously.
The general turned to her.
"Ruby, I feel that I should let you know that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a Huntress is all about. You recognized a threat and took action. You did the very best you could. We could not have asked for more."
"Thank you, sir."
"Now, the general and I are already quite informed of the events that... transpired last night, but now that you've rested, we were wondering if you had anything to add."
"Like what?"
"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?"
"I... I don't know. She was wearing a mask, and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. But I don't think that was her Semblance. Her clothing lit up when she attacked."
Ozpin nodded and turned to the general.
"Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman Glynda fought the night she met Ruby."
"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age-old technique. It could have been anyone." said the general.
"Hang on. You think this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?" Ruby blurred out.
"It's possible. They have been doing things differently as of late, attacking new targets. Why, just yesterday they tried to rob my personal tailor. But back to the matter at hand, we still lack the required evidence to link the two together."
"Actually, I... I think I remember her saying something about a hideout, or something, in the southeast. Just outside the Kingdom."
It was a blatant lie on Ruby's part.
"Interesting." Ozpin noted this. He recognized the look on Ruby's face, she was up to something and Ozpin had half a mind to let her proceed with it.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby. Why don't you go and spend some time with your team before the general assembly? It's a big day for you and your team."
"Any time." she said and turned to leave.
"And Miss Rose, please try and be…. discreet about this matter. Until we know more we don't want to cause a panic."
"Yes sir. And, um, general, sir? You have a little something here." She pointed at his face. A bit of lipstick was visible on his face.
Now that Ruby thought about it, he did seem a bit tired. Oh well, it was no concern of hers.
As the elevator brought Ruby down to the ground floor did the general produce a piece of cloth that he wiped his face clean with.
"That reminds me. How is Glynda today, James?" asked Ozpin with a smirk, offering coffee. He needed something to lighten the mood with.
"She has always been an…. exceptional woman. If a bit rough."
Ironwood was a bit stiff when accepting the cup.
"So is that why you are walking funny today, eh, Morningwood?" asked the voice of Qrow Branwen who stepped away from the window. The bird that had been outside was now gone.
"Now, now, Qrow, just because you don't have a romantic life does not mean you get to tease James about his."
"Fine, not what I wanted to talk about anyway. The intruder, what do we know?"
"If you had paid any attention to your Niece's debriefing you would know." said an annoyed Ironwood.
Qrow just waved that away with his hand while the other pulled out his bottle.
"Female, mysterious, black hair, used dust and a wore a skintight catsuit - a typical Lien-a-dussin femme fatale. No, I meant the other thing."
"Other thing?" asked Ozpin.
Had he missed something?
"Yeah, the thing that got Jimmy's boys to almost shit themselves."
Qrow took a swig from his bottle.
"I'm talking about the broadcast."
Ah, yes, the broadcast. It had affected all of Beacon, the CCT as well as any and all systems in Vale that were in direct link to it.
Ozpin had heard of it from Ironwood's subordinates and so had Ironwood before this meeting.
The technicians had been looking into the matter for several hours. Whoever had done it had used a top secret backdoor to the system, only intended for extreme emergencies.
The odd part was that the physical intruder didn't seem to have done anything with the system's backdoor, like the ones responsible weren't the ones who broke into the tower.
"What makes you think that this broadcast has something to do with the intruder?" asked Ozpin.
Qrow shrugged.
"It happened just after an intruder snuck in and out of the CCT tower for a purpose we don't know and the message we heard is in a code or language we don't know. If the two aren't connected somehow then I'm sober. So what do you two think? Terrorists? Revolutionaries? Hackers?"
Ironwood, however, was uncertain.
"Why would the infiltrators reveal their access to a backdoor directly after an infiltration when the backdoor could be used later? Not that my people have found any signs that they would have such an access. This hack was carried out off-site. We haven't been able to find any lead so far."
Ozpin then got an idea.
This was why he didn't work alone. The ideas and different ways of looking at things allowed them to figure stuff out better than if they were alone or to shoot down a stupid idea before it began to eat up their resources.
"Maybe it wasn't done by the intruders. It could have been a warning by a third party about the intruder's actions."
Ozpin began going through his computer for the file Ironwood's people had sent to him earlier.
It was a recording of the message as it had gone through the actual system, not the speakers.
Hearing it now through the speakers of Ozpin's computer the sound was much clearer for all who listened to it.
Not that it helped them understand it.
It wasn't in Valean or any other language of Remnant.
"Isn't that Arc's made up language?" asked Glynda as she entered the office.
The men hadn't noticed her coming over the sound of the message. She seemed a bit different from her usual self and her hair was a bit roughed up. No one bothered to bring that up.
"Yes Glynda. I believe we may finally have a clue to whom Mr. Arc really is."
"Well it's about time." Qrow muttered.
"Don't get me wrong, getting Tai piss faced drunk whilst getting paid was great and all but other than that our investigation into the kid has been a huge waste of time until now."
Ozpin sighed. "Quite so."
Currently it seemed like the only way for them to get answers was to just ask Jaune Arc himself but Ozpin was somewhat hesitant about doing so.
If Jaune Arc was an enemy agent planted into Beacon confronting him about this matter would tip his handlers off. Said handlers would then cut all ties to Jaune Arc, making it all but impossible to track them.
On the other hand had they had found nothing to indicate that Jaune had any ill will against anyone or had any motive to conspire against them. Him forging his transcripts might just have been his way of realizing his dream of becoming a huntsman.
For now all they could do was wait and see. They would pursue this latest lead as far as they could before doing anything else.
"Anyhow, let's move on to the next agenda of the day." Ozpin checked the time. "I do believe team CRDL is due any minute now."
"Do you really need to question them, Oz?" asked Qrow and made his way to the window.
He had places to be, people to investigate and booze to drink.
"They intercepted a robbery committed by robbers with known affiliations with Roman Torchwick. Given the man's recent activities I dare say it is worth looking into."
Ozpin took a sip of coffee.
"Also, I want to know why they were so keen on getting a tailor and his wares to Beacon. I doubt that Team CRDL would do such things out of the goodness of their hearts."
"And I would like to know why their behavior has changed so drastically as of late." said Glynda.
While she appreciated the fact that they no longer bullied anyone it was strange how they spent their time these days.
"Well, Arc did tell them to stop bothering the faunus and I dear say he gave Winchester quite the motivation to behave." said Ozpin.
"By smashing the boy's testicles so hard that he began hallucinating?" asked Ironwood. He had actually been surprised to learn of that one. And horrified.
"Yes, that had been quite something. Supposedly Winchester had kept mumbling something about a... golden man… that spoke to him."
Ozpin fell silent as his latest talk with Beacon's physician Arzet Surgia came to mind.
The man had come to Ozpin to inform him of Cardin Winchester's condition and expected recovery.
They had both been surprised to learn that Cardin had gotten up within an hour of his injury, not within a day.
That had been odd to say the least but what really concerned Ozpin right now was what Surgia had told him about Cardin's hallucinations.
Cardin had spoken of a golden man who had spoken to him.
It sounded eerily like what had happened to Taiyang Xiao Long. Could it be the same man?
"Ozpin, do you think there is a connection?"
"Maybe Glynda. We will just have to try to pry it from CRDL now won't we?"
There was a signal from Ozpin's computer letting them know that CRDL had arrived. Ozpin opened the door with the push of a button and the team walked in.
"Good of you to join us. I trust you know why I have called you here today."
"You wanted to know about the attempted robbery of the tailor's shop, sir." said Cardin in a neutral voice.
"Yes. Please start with that."
Cardin obliged and told the teachers of how he and his team had been browsing when the robbers entered. It had been easy for the team to drive them off. The others confirmed Cardin's story but it was clear that they had not told the teachers everything. Ozpin pressed on.
"It's good to hear that you were willing to step up to protect a man and his livelihood but what had convinced you to bring your weapons with you when browsing for ties?"
"Um, we had heard there had been some unrest in town, White Fang running about causing trouble. We didn't want to take any chances."
"Right. And now tell me the real reason."
"Come again?"
"You boys left Beacon early in the day. You spent most of your time in the area around the tailor's shop, only going in one by one to browse."
General Ironwood stepped forward. His patience was running low. If the authority of the headmaster wasn't enough to get the children to confess then maybe the authority of a general would do the trick.
"Security footage from the area revealed that during this time you all watched the shop like hawks, as if you were waiting for something or someone. This combined with the fact that you were all armed all day would suggest that you were expecting something."
The sudden look of dread on the young men's faces was proof that the general had been right in his guess.
"Did you know that the robbery would take place?" asked Goodwitch.
Realizing that the game was up the boys nodded except for Russel who spoke up.
"No, we didn't, professor. We had a guess that something might happen but not what exactly."
"And you acted on this hunch with brute force? Why?"
"Because we didn't know any better way. For all we knew things might go pear-shaped so we brought our weapons with us." stated Sky.
"To ward off trouble."
"And why were you so on edge in the first place?" asked Ozpin.
"We overheard something." said Cardin, stepping forward.
"We overheard it from Cinder Fall and Emerald Sustrai, a pair of exchange students."
Ozpin raised his eyebrow at this.
"Did you now? What exactly did you overhear that would warrant such unease?"
"Well, they didn't say that they would do anything per se. I suppose we just read a bit too much into it. We got the impression that they would try to steal something from the tailor's."
Ozpin leaned back in his chair, fingers pressed together. The general furrowed his brow, as did Goodwitch.
"Why would they do that?"
"We don't know. Well, we have a guess but we don't know the whole story." said Cardin.
"Then tell us of what you know."
"We think they wanted to get to Nikos, or Arc. We don't exactly know."
Ozpin was confused. What did a robbery have to do with Nikos? Or Arc for that matter?
Noticing the confusion Russel spoke up.
"We think they wanted Arc's suit to be delayed so that he would not make it to the ball."
Okay, a connection was being formed in Ozpin's mind, but it was weak. He gestured for the boys to continue.
The boys explained how Lark had shadowed Emerald while she shadowed Arc and let the others know that she and Cinder were up to something. They explained how they had tailed the girls into the library were they had proceeded to dope Nikos and then talk about the suit getting delayed.
To CRDL it had been clear that the girls' actions at that moment had been to attack Nikos emotionally or maybe to get to Arc through her.
"We don't know if Nikos is their final target or if it's Arc or someone else." concluded Russel the tale.
They had however left out the part about The Emperor or Jaune being this Primarch thing.
"Maybe they want to undermine the competition for the Tournament."
"A possibility." noted the general. Nikos prowess and renown would make her a prime target for such tactics.
"Such things have been done before."
"Quite so." Ozpin agreed.
Sadly, such underhanded behavior did occur before the tournaments but this was the first time he had heard of the aggressors resorting to possibly criminal means.
"But what was it that had made you keep an eye on Cinder Fall in the first place?"
Cardin swallowed and the rest of his team went silent.
"Well, you see… We were just- uh…concerned. Yeah."
"You were concerned? You were concerned over a woman none of you had ever met before in your lives? So concerned that you for all intents and purposes stalked her and her teammates?"
"We had reasons!" protested Cardin.
"Oh, and pray tell, what were they?"
Cardin hesitated. Ozpin turned to Goodwitch.
"Glynda, would you give them some incentives to talk?"
"Gladly."
Goodwitch stepped forward, riding crop in hand.
"We had orders!" shouted Cardin.
The beating Goodwitch had given him and his team in Forever Fall was still fresh in his mind. He did not want to go through that again for his ass couldn't take that kind of abuse again.
"We had orders."
"Orders? From whom? Arc?"
"No. The order did not come from him. They just concerned him." Cardin had hesitated to answer. The fact that he did so in front of Goodwitch, general Ironwood and Ozpin meant that this had to be something important.
Ozpin smiled. It was time to ask the important question.
"Cardin, the one who gave you your orders, he wouldn't happen to be a shiny Golden Man?"
Cardin's eyes widened.
Ozpin's smile turned to a smug smirk.
'Bingo.'
WARP CHAT
"420BlazeMy3601337Vagick"
Dammit! I was so close to finish and then they just slipped through my fingers!
#BlueBalled
"MasterOfPlans"
＠420BlazeMy3601337Vagick
Well, bird-boy certainly ain't.
"420BlazeMy3601337Vagick"
I'm not out of the game yet!
#CindersGotGame
"IshaMe"
Has joinded the chat
"IshaMe"
Okay, what are you guys up to this time?
"420BlazeMy3601337Vagick"
Oh look who finally decided to join in.
Finally ready for me to gobble you up?
#TheOneWhoThirsts
"IshaMe"
Nurgele dear, could you throw some crotch-rot at this irredeemable penetration-addict. NOW!
"420BlazeMy3601337Vagick"
Ohhh~! Crotch-rot's fun!
"RIPANDTER"
＠420BlazeMy3601337Vagick
Shut your holes, you bitch!
Do you know how long it took me to clean my fucking chainaxe?!
"420BlazeMy3601337Vagick"
＠RIPANDTEAR
Mmm? And it was sooo good watching you polish that long, hard, powerful axe.
"RIPANDTER"
Don't you talk about my chainaxe like that!
F#ck you!
"MasterOfPlans"
＠RIPANDTEAR
Enough with your hate boner already.
"MasterOfPlans"
＠IshaMe
That's not a bad idea
"MasterOfPlans"
＠Grandpapa Nurgz
Think you could give lover-boy some of that crotch-rot?
"Grandpapa Nurgz"
＠MasterOfPlans
Sure can.
#SpreadTheLove
"IshaMe"
＠Grandpapa Nurgz
But love, you've spent so much time on your little germs underground.
They would feel abandoned.
"Grandpapa Nurgz"
＠IshaMe
You're right! But I just can't get them out from there.
"RIPANDTEAR"
＠Grandpapa Nurgz
My guy can blast them out.
"RIPANDTEAR"
Won't be anyone left to infect though
#GoneWithTheBlastWave
"RIPANDTEAR"
＠MasterOfPlans
Can you make sure the brat is in town tomorrow?
We don't want him to miss the train.
#NextStopEndOfTheLine
"MasterOfPlans"
＠RIPANDTEAR
I'll see to that.
"MasterOfPlans"
Gots to go. Strings ain't gonna pull themselves.
#MasterOfPuppetsisPullingTheStrings
"MasterOfPlans"
Has signed out
"420BlazeMy3601337Vagick"
Me too.
Still got a few new Eldar souls to break in.
#PrepareYourAnus
"420BlazeMy3601337Vagick"
Has signed out
"Grandpapa Nurgz"
I've got to go make dinner.
#RealGodsCook
"Grandpapa Nurgz"
Has signed out.
"RIPANDTEAR"
Man, I can't believe how easy it is go get away with this shit.
"RIPANDTEAR"
Has changes username to "ParadoxPoker2PointO"
"ParadoxPoker2PointO"
#SuckItDeceiver
"ParadoxPoker2PointO"
＠IshaMe
You got the cure for Stinkbreath's germs?
"IshaMe"
＠ParadoxPoker2PointO
Yeah, I do.
#PatientZero
"IshaMe"
Why do you do all this for him anyway?
"ParadoxPoker2PointO"
He died for me, so I'm just being grateful.
#DaddysLittleAngel
"ParadoxPoker2PointO"
Besides, I really want to get me some grandkids out of this.
JNPR's dorm
Jaune and Pyrrha were cleaning up their dorm, chatting casually as they could whilst picking up their clothes from the ball.
"I'm still amazed that you would show up for me despite being dressed in those. Didn't you worry what people would say about you?"
He shrugged.
"Anything for you, Pyr. And to be fair, it beat having to wear a dress. At that moment, keeping my promise to you took priority. Still, though, I should see about getting this fixed. My mom would have a fit if she learned otherwise."
"That means we will have to go to town." pointed Pyrrha out and took out her scroll to look up where they had to go.
"Sounds good. So, do you want to go together? It would be our first time going out together."
Together, he couldn't get the word out of his head. He almost couldn't believe that they were together and yet, they were. Even in his past life that had never been something to have happened to him.
"I mean, if you would like to do something else, that's fine. Like going to the movies och get something to eat or-"
"It's fine." she assured him. "Let me just get a change of clothes."
Jaune cocked an eyebrow.
"Sure thing but why? You look great in that." he said and gestured to what she was wearing, her usual attire.
"Thank you, but it's just that I don't want to be recognized out there with you. Not that I'm ashamed of us being a thing! I just don't want our first time out to be dogged by photographers."
"Oh, good thinking. Sorry, I had almost forgotten about that part of your life."
"It's okay."
Before they could continue their conversation they were interrupted by a small dog that walked into the room. It was black and white.
It wagged its tail and came a small bark when it saw them.
"Well, hello. Who are you?" asked Pyrrha and put out her hand to the new arrival.
It walked up to her and began to wiggle its butt when she scratched it behind the ear. She had never had a pet in her life so now she was making up for lost time and the dog was more than happy to oblige her.
On the dog's collar there was a name: Zwei.
After a while it turned to Jaune and showed that it wanted him to play a little.
Jaune obliged. The dog rolled around on the floor, swatting Jaune's hands with its paws and occasionally giving them a playful bite.
The dog certainly was energetic and quite clever, not falling for Jaune's feints in order to get to it's belly. Well, it did let him but only because it wanted more belly rubs.
When Jaune tried to pull his hand away from the belly-scratching the hound held him with its paws and teeth and ended up getting pulled up from the floor.
Hanging from Jaune's hand it looked very comical.
"You seem comfortable with him, Jaune. Does your family have a dog?"
"No, my parents did not dare to leave me with a pet when I was younger and they already had enough mouths to feed."
"But you seem so used to it. Is it another past-life-thing?"
"I suppose. I don't recall Sanguinius keeping pets but Leman and his bunch used to have hounds. Really big ones."
Jaune somehow managed to free his had from the corgi who was resisting fiercely but eventually settled for laying on Pyrrha's bed and getting more belly rubs.
"I swear, you could probably give even one of the Fenrisian wolves a run for their money."
The dog barked in response, wiggling as if it wanted to prove that it could.
It didn't look like the ferocious beasts of Fenris, though. It just looked freaking adorable.
"Leman eh? Can you tell me a bit about him? I have seen the drawing you have made of him but I would like to know a bit more." Pyrrha said.
"If that's okay."
Jaune shrugged. With Pyrrha being okay with his changes and memories he did not mind digging up the memories about the Wolf King.
She had said she was okay with his changes and so Jaune would be as well.
"Well, he was one of my- or rather, Sanguinius' brothers. He and his lads were good with hounds. But that's kind of obvious as he was raised by wolves."
"Holy crap!"
Both Jaune and Pyrrha turned around to find Yang standing by the door.
"Where did he grow up to be raised by wolves?"
"Fenris, It is… quite a way from here. You would have liked him I think."
"How so?"
The Blond brawler cocked her head at that.
"He was loud, boisterous, kicked ass like it was nobody's business and loved to party. Dust, his sons made an ale so strong that it would melt your liver. It beat any other drink by a mile."
"Oh, how did they make it?"
"Well, first they used a plant to- You know what, nevermind."
Jaune decided against saying anything else about the mjod of the Vlka Fenryka.
Not that he knew the specifics about the making of the brew but because telling Yang any more would be a huge risk to public health.
Before Yang could ask more Zwei jumped off the bed with something in its mouth. One of Pyrrha's bras, the same one Jaune had taken of her the night before.
"Hey, give that back!" shouted Yang and tried to catch the bra-thief but the dog evaded her by going under a bed. She set after Zwei.
It was her dog so she should help sort out what it caused.
"We will talk later. I really wanna know more of that fenrisian ale." shouted Yang as she failed to prevent Zwei from running out of the room.
"Oh yes, I think she would have gotten along well with Leman." said Jaune. "So, good to go?"
"Almost, just a moment. I need to do my hair."
She let her hair down and began braiding it.
One of the things she had learned since getting famous was that people didn't expect her hair to be in a braid. Everyone just imagined Pyrrha Nikos to hold her her hair with a simple hairband like in the arena or in the advertisements.
They would not really recognize her if she didn't. And that was the reason for why she was now braiding it.
"Here, let me." Jaune said and began braiding her hair.
"Another thing you learned from your sisters?" she asked playfully and adjusted her pose to make Jaune's task easier.
He hummed a reply and with experienced hand got to work. After a while he was done.
For anyone else but Jaune, Pyrrha Nikos did not look like Pyrrha Nikos anymore. Dressed in blue jeans, a light brown cardigan and a solid pair of thick black eyeglasses and with her hair in a braid, she looked nothing like what people would expect. The final touch was a simple cap that went well with the cardigan.
"It looks good on you." Jaune commented and ticked up his suit. "But then again, you do that in all you wear."
"Oh, stop it you." she said and jokingly threw a pillow at him.
He let it hit him. He could've easily catched it but decided to play along. Pyrrha knew this and laughed at/with him.
She picked up her own stuff and took his arm. Arm in arm the set out for the landing area for the bullheads.
"So are you ready for our first day out, Pyralis?"
"I most certainly certainly am." she answered as she assumed her incognito persona.
They did not even make it to the landing area before they encountered some of their too seemed to think a day out in town would be nice. All were there from Team JNPR and RWBY except for Weiss and Blake.
Apparently Blake was finally letting herself get some much needed rest and Weiss didn't feel like talking to anyone since last night since Yang kept pestering her with very pointed questions about her and Neptune. Instead Weiss had decided to stay at the dorms and look after Zwei who in turn had gotten the task of watching the dorms.
(Though they had neglected to tell Weiss that Zwei also had orders to keep an eye on her.)
Turns out Weiss liked dogs. Who knew?
As they traveled Jaune looked out of the bullhead and watched the City of Vale.
He had never really seen it from the air like this before but it still felt familiar. He knew why. He had dreamt of it and of flying over it.
Jaune could swear that just thinking of it made his growing wings itch.
"Are you alright? Is it your motion sickness?" asked Pyrrha, putting her hand on his back.
"No, I'm good. I don't feel sick at all. It's just an itch on my back."
As if on cue Pyrrha felt the tiniest of twitches from his wings.
Later at the tailor's shop
"That much?"
"Yes. I know that it might seem steep but I can't do it for anything less. The materials alone will stand for most of the sum I'm asking for. I have to make a living after all."
"I know, but still, sheesh." Jaune had figured that the suit had been expensive, even by Weiss' standards. He did not have the kind of money that the tailor was asking for.
Pyrrha, now in her Pyralis persona, got an idea. It was Weiss who had started the matter of the suit, maybe she could help Jaune out a bit with the costs.
As if he was a mind reader Siwan Taillen had shot the idea down with a blunt "No".
"Miss Schnee paid for it because her actions destroyed it when it was still legally mine. She then passed it onto you, Mr. Arc. She may have given you a defect suit but I doubt you will be able to make her part with anymore Lien in connection to this.
"I figured as much. And I really don't want to ask her for charity again, not after how the last time almost turned out."
"A wise choice. Sometimes we have to do things on our own, without the aid of others." Siwan noted. As an entrepreneur he knew this well.
"Anyway, I believe I have a suggestion for you. A deal, you might say."
"I'm listening."
"I don't really have the time to fix your suit at the moment. My store is still in tatters after the robbery and my apprentice has decided to skip town for awhile. Give me about a week's time while you keep a hold of the suit. When you come back I can let you turn in the jacket for another, not as expensive, full suit."
"And the pants?"
"I suppose I could scavenge them for materials."
Jaune considered the deal. Given the situation it was a good deal. He would get a new suit and Tallien would make a small profit.
"Fine by me."
They shook on it and Siwan promised to let Jaune know when he would be ready to make the exchange.
"So are you guys done?" Nora asked. Ren was lazily browsing the wares on display but found nothing that suited his aesthetics. The others were doing much the same but found better catches.
"We are. So what now?"
"Well seeing as we don't have anything better to do, how about we live a little?"
"Got anything in mind, Yang?" asked Ruby.
"Well I do know a place not too far away from here that has good drinks. Follow me."
They stepped out from the shop but before Jaune followed the blonde brawler he stopped and looked around.
This place, he knew it.
He knew the plaza and the trees. He knew how the people would scream in fear as the grimm would rampage here. He even knew how it would sound when he would crash into one of the windows.
He knew it for he had dreamt it.
'It's stupid. I have only dreamt it. That doesn't mean it has to happen.' he thought.
But he still remembered the dream so clearly. The perspective from a bird's eye view and details he couldn't possibly know.
Maybe these dreams somehow had something to do with his past life? Maybe, Jaune could not remember all from that life. There was just too much for his mortal brain to process.
Jaune decided to push the memories and dreams away.
'They are only dreams, nothing more.'
Sure, there were people who claimed to have dreamt of the future but Jaune Arc did not believe in such things.
How could anyone know the future? Maybe by using a semblance but Jaune doubted that. If any huntsman had such a semblance he or she would be famed all across the world.
Besides, grimm in downtown Vale? It was preposterous!
The city was defended on all sides leaving no way in for the grimm.
Jaune's dream's chances of coming true might as well have been nil. When considering the odds of the dream coming true it did not seem so worrying.
Another memory went through Jaune's mind, of a brother of his.
'Konrad.'
Jaune had not parted with Konrad Curse on good terms in his last life. No sir.
But why did Jaune remember Konrad of all people now? Was it because he kept thinking of the dream?
Poor Konrad had claimed to see the future in his dreams and had always been convinced that they all would come true one day. He had committed terrible things because of them. Jaune remembered how he and Konrad and one more of his brothers had gone to see one of Konrads' dreams come to be. Or had it been to prevent it? The memory was fuzzy.
The dream in question had been of Konrad's destiny.
It had not happened to validate Curze's prediction. A lot of other nasty stuff had happened, but not that.
The dream had not come to pass that day.
'Maybe it won't happen now either. Suck it, Curze.'
"Jaune, are you coming?" asked Pyrrha, or rather, Pyralis.
"Yes, just remembered something." Even as Jaune turned away from the thoughts of grimm running wild in the city, he couldn't shake the feeling of something going wrong.
'Damn you, Curze! Even now you unnerve me.'
They came across a bar in downtown Vale, Junior's. It seemed to be closed but even so there was a bouncer. Said bouncer seemed a bit worried over seeing Yang for whatever reason and was now talking into his scroll, asking for instructions from his boss.
"Um, sis, are you sure this is the right place. I don't think we are even allowed in here at our age."
"Don't worry, Ruby. These guys know me. I'm sure they will let us in." said Yang with a grin. 'If they know what's good for them.'
It seemed like Yang was right about them being let inside. The bouncer opened the door for them and they walked in. The big man in a generic black suit seemed to shy away when Yang gave him a mock salute.
The youths scanned the club. It looked like the owner had been doing some repairs lately.
All of the people there, all wearing the same generic suits, eyed Yang like she was a ticking time bomb. She led them all up to the bar where they spotted the first person not to wear a suit.
He was a bit short and on the broad side of the spectrum. By the way he carried himself it was clear that he was the boss around here.
"What do you want this time?" he asked Yang.
"Oh, nothing much, Junior. Just wanted to treat my friends to some drinks while there was no line. Okay, guys, order whatever you want. I have to check up on something."
Junior pulled up a bottle of booze from under the counter and tilted his head, as if asking them if that was what they were after.
They declined and settled for soft drinks instead. They were all technically underage and didn't want any trouble.
"Do you serve food here?" asked Jaune and was given a menu of burgers.
He proceeded to order several for himself.
"What? I'm hungry for burger."
They clinked their cans and tried to enjoy themselves. It was nice not having to worry about anything for a change. The peace and quiet was ruined by the sound of Yang arguing with two other girls. They sounded familiar to Jaune.
"Oh dust, not again." sighed Junior.
"And I had just opened up for business again?"
"Something the matter?"
"It's the twins, I told them to leave Goldilocks alone but I seems Melanie decided to go and do something stupid again. Now they are going to wreck my bar again."
Some gears started to turn in Jaune's head.
"Twins? Melanie? The other one wouldn't happen to be Miltia?"
"Yeah. You know them?"
"Unfortunately yes. Pyralis, could you watch my drink, please?"
He turned to where the noise was coming from.
"You got some nerve showing up here again after what you have done, Goldilocks! Did you come here to trash the place again or to get trashed?"
"Pfft, you can try and I can remind you of how well that went last time you did."
"Oh, it's on!"
Weapons flashed and got ready for use as Jaune stepped in between them, stopping the fight from breaking out.
"Knock it off! No one is trashing anybody."
"What the hell, Vomit-boy? We were about to have a right ripsnorter here, and then you show up and it's over!"
"Yeah what giv- COUSIN?! What are you doing here?"
"I'm enjoying my day with burgers and friends and I would really appreciate it if you two didn't fight with any of them. And Yang, please don't beat up my cousins even if they might deserve it."
Yang was dumbstruck. "You know them?"
"Yeah, we're cousins. Don't ask how."
The Malachite twins dismissed Yang and began walking around their cousin, inspecting him up and down.
"Well, hello cousin. Look how he has grown since last time, Miltia."
She poked at him. Gone was the complete weakling she had toyed around with when they were young.
"I guess he must have really toughened up in order to get into Beacon. I heard you got Nikos on your team, how is that?"
"Meh, we get along well. I don't really see what the fuss is about."
The twins rolled their eyes at that.
"Of course none from your side of the family would."
"Whilst your side of the family are obsessed with such things. I swear, I can't believe we are related."
"Neither can we." said the twins in unison.
"Okay, Jauney, that's enough mingling with the enemy." said Yang and pulled Jaune away.
"Do you know that your cousins are jerks?"
"Oh, yes. That's part of the reason why our branches of the family don't get along at all anymore."
The other reason was the criminality.
He returned to the bar and continued with his drink only for Junior to hand him another.
"For saving my club from another wrecking." the man said. "It's on the house."
It was a small drink that was just about too big for a shot glass. Is was dark in color and it was sticky as all hell. The scent of alcohol was strong.
"What's this?"
"The Grimm's brew."
A fitting name as it did make one think of the creatures of grimm and their black bodies. And it was about just as dangerous. It was the sort of thing the Plague God would make at his spare time.
Jaune shrugged and downed it in one go in order to get it over with. It was not as bad as he had thought.
"Well Jaune, how does it hold up Fenrisian ale?" asked Yang, being familiar with the Grimm's brew herself.
"This," Jaune lifted the empty glass and put it on the counter, bottoms up. "doesn't compare to it."
"Okay, now I really want to try some of that stuff out."
She finished her drink and they all left the club. Jaune and Pyrrha interlinked their arms and strolled out happily, not knowing that the twins were still watching their cousin.
"So he's gotten into Beacon, been made team leader, is partnered with Nikos and has gotten a girlfriend? Not bad I must say. I would have figured that he would have kicked the bucket at the entrance exam." noted Melanie. "He has changed."
"Will be interesting to see how he does in the tournament." stated Miltia.
"Quite."
"So that was your cousin? Are the rest of your relatives such heavy drinkers?" asked Junior them.
"Seriously, that brew was double the normal strength. How did he still standing?"
"No clue, he was always a lightweight before at the Dustmas parties. Remembered when he actually got tipsy on mulled wine?"
"Oh dust, that was hilarious! We wrapped him up in Dustmas paper and handed him to his mom."
"Ha, I still remember Vird thinking that we were kidnapping him."
"Well, we basically did."
Junior listened in on his bodyguards and hoped that he would never have to deal with more of their crazy family members.
Just to be sure that he hadn't mixed up the recipe he made himself a drought and downed it. He bent over wheezing and his eyes were watering.
Seconds later he could feel the toxins running through his bloodstream.
He had made it properly, alright.
'And the kid didn't even flinch!'
Later at Beacon Academy
All the students were gathered in the auditorium. Today they would all be assigned their missions outside of the school's boundaries. They were to follow a professional huntsman or huntress as they worked and learn from what they saw.
But before they could choose their assignments, the headmaster was going to give them some words of encouragement and advice.
Team JNPR and RWBY were standing close to each other. Jaune could not help but notice Ruby's large and rather full backpack. For a moment it seemed to wiggle a bit until Ruby hushed it as stealthily as possible. Jaune noted this and recalled that he had not noticed Zwei earlier that morning. Was Ruby really thinking of bringing the dog with her?
'It will probably be fine. He survived being mailed to Beacon from Patch.' reasoned Jaune. Before he could ask Ruby about it did professor Goodwitch step forward.
"Quiet! Quiet please. Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."
"Today we stand together, united. People from all of the four Kingdoms of Remnant: Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo and Vale, people of Remnant. On this day, almost eighty years ago, the greatest and most terrible war in Remnant's history ended. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you all know, that was something many could not stand for. Therefore, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. And even when the people began to run out of colour they would find something else to oppose tyranny with, be it materials or words."
The headmaster took a pause and looked out at the students. All different, all unique but all united under a single purpose: to protect Remnant, to ensure that there would be a tomorrow.
"We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity. Not in spite of diversity, but through it. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students, you will be take part in this effort by shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. Regardless which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."
The students gave applause to the headmaster before leaving the auditorium to select their missions. JNPR could not help but notice how giddy Ruby was and how it seemed to rub off on the rest of her team. They were up to something, that much was clear.
Oh well, it was a RWBY matter, not a JNPR one.
"This is perfect!" Said Ruby to her team. "All we have to do is shadow a Huntsman on a mission in the southeast!
"Yeah! We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip by night!" Yang said.
"Let's check "search and destroy" missions." Weiss said and began working the buttons.
Soon a hologram showed them a number of missions fitting the description.
"Oh, here is one! Quadrant 5 needs Grimm cleared out!"
"Well, it's in the southeast!" Blake noted, not as enthusiastic as her teammates.
"Sounds perfect!" said Yang.
Fighting and doing their thing at the same time was her idea of a good time.
Ruby selected the mission on the screen and entered their team's name. To their great dismay was their application rejected. The screen told them that first years were not allowed to take this mission.
"Wonderful!" muttered Weiss.
Blake was about as happy as her white-dressed teammate.
"Any other ideas of how we will get to the southeast now?"
"We mail ourselves there!" said Ruby, feeling Zwei's weight in her backpack.
It had worked for him so why shouldn't it work for them?
Someone chuckled behind them.
"Well, that's one option but I'm afraid the postage would be quite costly."
It was Ozpin. The professor glanced at the screen.
"Ah yes, that mission. Unfortunately, we determined that there were too many Grimm in that area for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that you four will make your way there no matter which job you choose."
He gave the girls a sly look, letting them know that he was on to them.
Ruby nervously rubbed her head as her teammates glared at her. She had spilled the beans.
"Whatever makes you say that?"
"Girls, do you really think that I don't know of what you have been up to since last semester? The fighting on the docks, how you know of his hideout and that incident with the robot at the dance club? The only reason why I have not stepped in is because I have been distracted by other matters."
Now all of the girls looked sheepish. They had not really been discreet and the school had ended up with quite a few bills because of them.
"Someday soon I will have answers from all of you but until then I can't have you breaking all the rules."
He took out his scroll and tapped it a few times. A message popped up on the hologram screen showing the girls' mission. The restriction on the mission they wanted was now gone. "So instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them a bit?"
Ruby was beside herself.
"We won't let you down. Thank you, professor."
"Do not thank me for this just yet. Do it when you get back with answers. Good luck."
The girls nodded and made for the bullhead landing area.
Ozpin smiled to himself. His little ploy had worked. He remembered his talk with Ironwood and Ruby's little slip about an enemy base in the southeast.
He had known what Ruby had been up to and he had been planning to let it happen after a fashion. He couldn't let the students think that he would let them do whatever they wanted nor did he want them to think that their covert actions were going unnoticed.
This had been a good way of dealing with that and to send someone to investigate a lead at the same time.
Ironwood had wanted to dispatch his forces to the southeast to take names and kick ass. Scorched earth was the name of that game and would be all that would be left of the base once the Atlas forces were done with the place.
Glynda had objected to that idea, saying that he just wanted to show of his military force like a man wanting to show of his "tools".
She had actually been going to say something quite different but Ozpin had prevented that, even if she was correct in her assessment.
Now, Ozpin would have liked nothing better than to end the situation once and for all but the matter might go beyond Vale, beyond Beacon.
For all they knew it was all part of some master plan for which they did not know the final move or basic outline for.
That meant they had to be cautious. An all out attack might throw a wrench into the supposed master plan or it might just be what the enemy expected them to do.
This bound Ozpin's hands, as well as those for Ironwood. They could not be foolhardy with this, nor could they risk the spread of panic.
Ironwood had protested as he did not feel like being on the defensive all the damn time. The best defense was a good, and well timed offence.
Ozpin had eventually had enough of the general's opinion. He was not going to let some little upstart in a fancy uniform get fresh with him, who had been fighting this war for hundreds of years.
Ozpin's plan was not to bunker down forever. He was merely waiting for an opportunity and better insight of what was going on.
"You're a general, James. So tell me, when you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first? The flag bearers, or the scouts?"
It was obvious who the scouts would be. RWBY had all but volunteered for the task without knowing it.
'All according to keikaku.'
"That wasn't exactly uplifting." complained Yang about the professors comment.
"But it's the truth." countered Blake.
"It's gonna to be tough, but I'm sure we can do it! Oh, it's CFVY!"
Indeed there was CFVY, leaving one of the bullheads. The girls walked up to the second years. They all seemed a bit vary.
"Velvet? Are you okay?" asked Blake with concern for her fellow faunus.
"I'm fine. We were only away for a few hours." answered Velvet tiredly. "I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me."
"Velvet, your mission was meant to end a week ago! What took you guys so long?"
"Nothing really happened. There was just... there were just more than we had… But don't worry about that. As first-years, you are just shadowing Huntsmen. You should be fine."
The younger girls nodded. Yeah, they should be fine.
"I should go and lend my team a hand. Be safe, okay?"
"Don't worry about us. We've never backed down before, and we're not going to start now."
"That's right. Besides, it won't only be us out there! We'll be fighting alongside a genuine Huntsman!"
"Yeah!"
"Come on. It's time we found our huntsman."
Team RWBY were at a loss for words. They had just learned who they would be shadowing. He was waiting around at the landing area. The huntsman turned to them and gave them a wave. He was wearing a helmet that covered his iconic hair. That's why RWBY didn't recognize him at first.
"Why, hello girls! Who is ready to fight for their lives?" asked doctor Oobleck.
"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss voiced the question that they were all asking the question that was on all their minds.
"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is has essentially now become a reconnaissance mission. I assure you, we will not be establishing any base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable spot we may come upon. I have packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our course as well as readied the airship. And…"
He zoomed up to Weiss' face.
"It's Doctor Oobleck! I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!"
Weiss looks over at Blake who was just about as worried. None of them had expected something like this. Maybe they had made a mistake.
Was this Ozpin's punishment for them for all of their transgressions?
"Come along now, children; according to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind!"
He darted off to the airship that waited for them farther ahead in the landing area.
Ruby gave a weak laugh that soon faded away. She knew they were screwed.
"Well, alright, then! Looks like we're saving the world with Doctor Oobleck. Whoa, when you say it out loud it sounds worse than when it does in his head."
"Did someone say saving the world?" asked Nora.
Team RWBY turned around to see Team JNPR. Jaune and Pyrrha arriving arm in arm (giving all a case of hyperglycemia in the process) while Ren and Nora merely walked next to one another.
Nora sobbed for dramatic effect.
"You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad! And maybe a little hungry?"
Her stomach rumbled loudly.
"That one's not your fault though. Isn't that right, Ren?"
Lie Ren just looked away. He had almost stuffed Nora with all manners of food already. It was her fault that she had refused to eat the healthier parts of the meal and thus she was growing hungry.
"Saving the world, eh? That sounds exciting. Where are you going?" asked Jaune.
"Oh, just outside the kingdom-"
"Neat! So are we!" said Nora
Pyrrha nodded.
"Ren and Nora wished to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village. We all thought that it would be interesting."
"We set out tomorrow." said Ren. "We wanted to set out today but our pilot was found intoxicated a while back so our departure was delayed to tomorrow. We're just here to see you guys off and wish you luck."
"If you set out tomorrow then you can party with us tonight!"
The two teams turned around and met Neptune Vasilias and Sun Wukong.
"We're gonna shadow a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We even get junior badges."
Ruby and Yang tilted their heads a bit in confusion.
"Uh, isn't that a bit low key for you guys?"
"Well, normally we go to the city with you guys, when stuff is exploding and stuff. We figured this might be a way to check out the kingdom when it's... normal."
"Well…" Ruby began. "You are not exactly wro-"
She was interrupted by Oobleck who had sneak rushed up on the group, almost scaring the living shit out of them.
"Four minutes behind schedule, ladies! We have a lot of ground to cover and ruins to explore."
"Yes profes- uh, I mean, yes doctor Oobleck."
Ruby turned to her non-RWBY friends with her thumbs up.
"Well, uh... Wish us luck!"
"Good luck. You too Sun, Neptune."
Team SSSN and Team RWBY headed off to their transport or local mission, leaving JNPR to see their friends off.
"So can anyone figure out what they will be doing out in the southeast?" asked Ren as they left the landing area.
"I don't know but I guess it has something to do with Mountain Glenn."
"Mountain Glenn? What makes you think that, Jaune?"
"They are going to the southeast and Oobleck mentioned that they had ruins to explore. There is only one ruin in that area to explore and that is Mountain Glenn."
The rest of the team nodded. Mountain Glenn, the kingdom's greatest failure. It had been an attempt to found something new outside the walls. The expansion effort had however failed as grimm had attacked and overrun the town. A lot of lives had been lost and even today could the people of Vale feel the result of losing all the resources that went into the town's construction.
The students had gone through the town's history during Oobleck's lectures before Jaune had gotten help with the thirst. Now with the damned affliction under control he could better remember the parts of the lectures that he had not slept through.
"I'm sure they will be fine." said Nora in her usual merry way.
"Quite so. We should have some faith in them. I'm sure us wishing them luck was unnecessary." agreed Ren.
"Yes. Come on team, we have to prepare for our own mission and I want to get some training in."
Later at JNPR's dorm
After a few hours worth of training JNPR had returned to their dorm to make some final preparations for their mission.
But there had been one thing that Pyrrha had noticed. Jaune was a bit glum today.
Pyrrha, bothered by Jaune's unease, had pulled him to bed and embraced him like he had her after she had helped him with the Thirst for the second time. It was time for them to talk again.
Pyrrha asked what was on his mind. She pointed out that she had noticed him getting gloomy as he had left the tailor's.
"Is it the suit? I could help you pay for the repairs if you want. I can afford it."
"No, I'm happy with the deal Siwan gave me."
"Then what is it?"
"I just remembered something when I left the shop."
"What did you remember? Was it from your dreams."
"Yes." said Jaune, clearly bothered about it. He tried to get up from her embrace.
"It's just a bad memor- ARGH!"
Having had enough of his folly, Pyrrha had put her hands around his head and pulled him back down to her firmly. She had then grabbed him by his fangs with aura enhanced fingers and pulled so hard that he had cried out.
Pyrrha hadn't done this to be cruel or mean. She did it because she cared for him. She bent her neck so she could look him right in the eye.
"Jaune, you are going to tell your loving girlfriend what she wants to know or your loving girlfriend is going to have to explain to your mom why her little boy suddenly need braces." She looked him dead in the eye.
"Please, no more secrets."
Seeing reason, Jaune yielded by tapping Pyrrha's leg, letting her know that he would comply. She was right, as usual. She let go and kissed him on his forehead whilst whispering a quiet "I'm sorry".
"Don't be." he told her as she let her fingers go through his hair as they leaned back onto the bed.
All was forgiven.
"I remembered one of my- no, Sanguinius' brothers. His name was Konrad, Konrad Curze."
"Sounds like a bad name. I mean Curze? It must have been hard growing up with a name like that." said Nora from her bed, having listened in on Jaune's and Pyrrha's conversation.
"Was your name Curze as well? In your past life?"
"No, due to our separate upbringings we all ended up with different surnames and our father didn't bother with them. All knew of us so what would have been the point?" Jaune told the bomber girl.
"But I suppose Konrad's name fit him for his existence was a cursed one."
"How so?" asked Ren who now also had taken an interest in Jaune's story.
There wasn't anything better to do. He still treated the subject of Jaune's dreams with a certain level of concern.
"Where to begin? His horrible upbringing, or rather lack of one. His poor mental state. The fear of all the atrocities he committed in the name of peace and justice that ended up being for naught. His belief that father would dispatch someone to have him assassinated.
Take your pick."
"So why are you on edge? Did he scare you?"
Jaune shook his head.
"No. Back then only one thing ever managed to make me feel fear and it was not Konrad. Even when we crossed blades he merely concerned me."
"Then why worry?"
"Because I am not who I was back then. With the context of my current life the idea of Konrad terrifies me."
"Why?" asked Pyrrha and ruffled his hair.
"Surely he couldn't have been that bad."
"He wasn't that bad, no. He was even worse than that! His people were the ones to give him his first name, the one he went by before father found him."
"What was it? Was it something cool?"
Nora was all ears now.
"Night Haunter."
"Sounds scary."
"He was and he more than earned that name. The first city he made kneel to him he did so with fear on his own. And so he did the same with the next city, and the one after that.
In the dark of the night he would come for them and no force would deter him. Like some hellish monster he would haunt them and, and…."
Jaune fell silent, not wanting to describe the actions of Night Haunter. He would not, not to his team, for his team's sake.
Jaune's mortal heart was beating with fear, worry, disgust, and empathy for the victims. He wanted to cry, he wanted to vomit at the images of the victims' remains, he wanted it to stop.
"... even for just stealing a loaf of bread to feed their families he would… Oh dust!"
Pyrrha patted him on his head, whispering quiet words to him to calm him down. She was beginning to get an idea of how worried he was. Jaune might not have been the bravest student at Beacon but he was no coward. Far from it.
Jaune had faced possible public ridicule to keep his promise to her.
He had fought with her, Ren and Nora against a Death Stalker without backing down despite not having any experience or training, he had even risked getting expelled by standing up against Cardin.
Jaune was no coward and yet this Night Haunter terrified him.
"There, there. It's over now. That was in the past, if even that. He is probably long dead by now. I don't know during what part of Remnant's past you lived your previous life but surely it must have been over thousands of years ago, maybe even before the moon was shattered."
"Well, I never saw it shatter." Jaune said.
He didn't have the heart to tell her that he had not lived on Remnant, not yet. One day he would.
"But that's the thing. He might just still be alive."
"What!?" This time it was Ren who shouted.
"How can that be?"
"When I last saw my brother I showed him into a stasis unit and showed him into the void to await his fate. Millennia might pass but he would still be as he was."
And just as mad and vindictive.
Once again Pyrrha comforted him.
"Jaune, I'm pretty sure people would have noticed if this guy had returned from this 'void'."
"You're right, Pyr. You're right, as usual."
Yes, what would the odds be for Curze to land on this planet? Close to zero, really.
"Well, this certainly has been informative." said Ren and got up and actually scribbled down what he had learned into Jaune's journal.
"Devices that could defy time. People conquering cities on their own. I say, you certainly have interesting dreams."
"You have no idea, Ren. You have no idea."
"Well, as interesting as it may be it is time to get some sleep. There will be an assembly tomorrow so let's rest up."
"Okay Renny." said Nora and put her head to her pillow.
The instant her head made contact with it she fell asleep like someone had turned off a switch in her head.
Ren soon followed his partner's example. He was the sloth king for a reason.
"We should go to sleep as well." said Jaune and got up, albeit reluctantly. He had gotten rather comfortable with Pyrrha.
"Sleep well."
"Thanks. Oh, and Pyr?"
"Yes?"
"If I end up waking you with my nightmares tonight, I'm sorry?"
"Do you think you will have nightmares tonight?"
"I spoke of Konrad. I'm sure I will."
"Was he really such a bad person?"
"Yes and no." Jaune shook his head.
"Pyr, please, do not make me speak of him anymore now."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know his memory bothers you so. If you don't want to have more nightmares because of the memory then I won't push it."
Jaune gave her a smile and took her hand and gave it a light squeeze.
"Pyr, I don't want to talk about him because I don't want You to have nightmares about him."
Pyrrha gave him a grateful smile and pulled away the top sheets on her bed. She gestured for him to get in. She believed that he didn't have such bad dreams when they were together. That, and she liked snuggling.
"Then why don't you make it easier on us both and join me now?"
"Are you okay with this?"
"Well, isn't sleeping together something couples are supposed to do?"
"Thank you." He said and quickly grabbed a spare pillow from his bed.
Soon they were nestled down together.
He did end up having nightmare of his brother but they were not as bad as they could have been. For all he knew, Konrad was still going through the void in stasis or had already met his fate at their Father's assassin.
Let the Night Haunter haunt the void, for this was one night he would not haunt.
Later
It was nighttime.
Jaune was dreaming again. It was the same dream that he had been having these last few days.
He was dreaming again of flying in downtown Vale. He now recognized the buildings and the stores he was seeing in his dream.
He fought grimm alongside his team and others.
Then the dream shifted. Soon he was in the air and moving fast towards the ground.
*BEEP*
Before he could land there was a beeping.
*BEEP!*
That had not been part of the dream before.
Jaune somehow stopped mid air and looked around.
He knew this was a dream as he now simply stoop in the air as if he was on the ground. There was nothing there that could have made the noise. The beeping kept getting louder and more familiar.
*BEEP*
It was kinda like his scroll.
Curiously, he put his hand in his pocket and felt his scroll. It was ringing.
But even as his hand grasped the scroll, he realized that it was not in his pocket at all.
*BEEP*
He opened his eyes and saw his hand stretched over to the nightstand, grasping his scroll.
*BEEP*
Groaning he tapped the screen to see who was ringing at this hour. It was Ruby.
'Something must be wrong. Not even Ruby would call at this hour.'
He accepted the call and carefully brought the scroll to his ear. There was only static and soon the call died. He looked at the screen, trying to learn anything useful. There was nothing.
"Hmmm, turn off light." murmured Pyrrha, burying her face down in to his neck to escape the light. She was still nestled up close to him.
He obliged her request and put the scroll away.
Whatever Ruby wanted would have to wait until tomorrow.
Team JNPR was tired and needed their rest. They would not be of much help now. Better to rest and set out in the morning.
Jaune shifted slightly in his bed, relieving some pressure from the stumps on his back. More than just making him more comfortable it let him snuggle up to Pyrrha a bit better.
He had never figured Pyrrha for a cuddler.
Before they got together he had just figured that she wanted got get away from the constant feeling of cold.
Now he knew better. Not that he complained as it turned out he was a cuddler as well.
He gently let his fingers go through her hair, careful not to wake her. He would hate himself if he did now that she looked so peaceful and happy.
In the dim light from the stars and the moon his enhanced sight could see her clearly. Sunshine or moonlight, it did not matter, she was still the most beautiful thing or person he had ever laid eyes on.
He wanted to keep drinking in the sight of her with his eyes but he did not allow himself that pleasure. He closed his eyes.
But as he did so there was still a feeling of unease. Why had Ruby called in the first place?
He would have to get up early in the morning and get ready to assist Ruby and her team. He had better get some sleep. He drifted of to dreamland again only this time he had a different dreams.
First he dreamt of him and her. Then the dream shifted and he found himself on Baal Secundus and the story went on from there...
Team JNPR woke up earlier in the morning than they usually did.
Jaune had roused them once he had woken up despite their protests.
After a while he made it clear for them that he was not going to let them get any more sleep for he seemed worked up. They all figured he was worked up for the mission.
Even so, Pyrrha was not happy to have her morning moment of happiness ended so abruptly. Jaune had practically torn himself from their embrace and out of bed. This earned him very angry looks until he reminded her that they had a mission.
That had gotten them up.
Jaune then proceeded to pick up his scroll to try to call Ruby. When he got no answer he worriedly told them of the call he had gotten during the night.
"Why do you think she called?"
"No clue. All we can do now is wait." said Ren.
"But right now we have to look after ourselves by having our most important meal of the day."
Their breakfast was hearty, if a bit hurried. Jaune just couldn't shake this feeling of unease. He was so on edge that he barely touched his burger. And why was he so hungry for burgers all of a sudden?
Like a wild animal expecting an earthquake of flood he was on edge and eager to move. His instincts were telling him something.
It eventually got to the point that Nora complained that Pyrrha had not "drained him enough" recently.
That made Jaune quiet down and Pyrrha blush. Nora just smirked at her own cleverness. Even so, Jaune remained worried.
Noticing that his team were getting tired of his worrying he proceeded to see if they couldn't get on their intended transport earlier than scheduled. Hopefully having something practical to do would take his mind of RWBY's situation.
They were all looking forward to go to the village outside of the kingdom so why not try to get there a bit earlier. He actually managed to get in touch with the pilot who really didn't have anything better to do then to wait for them.
The pilot simply told Jaune to fetch his team while he primed the engines.
Not many other teams were up and about this early as most had already departed for their missions yesterday. JNPR's departure was among the last ones of the day. As they waited for their transport to get ready did Jaune explain his concern for JNPR's fellow team once again.
"I'm sure they're fine." Pyrrha assured him. "Don't worry."
"You're sure?"
"It was probably just a butt dial…" said Nora as she watched one of the bullheads fly over them, to paying Jaune and his worries much mind.
"Team RWBY has always performed exceptionally in the field. What we should be doing is focusing on our own mission." pointed Ren out.
"I know. I just got this feeling... that something is about to happen."
Just then, something did happened.
*KABOOM*
Like thunder from a clear sky there was the sound of an explosion followed by the sound of alarms and smoke rising in downtown.
"Bet you 50 Lien that's them." said Jaune and got on the bullhead, he pressed a button letting him talk directly to the pilot.
"We have a new mission! Take us to the city!"
"Roger that!" came the answer.
The pilot had gotten the gist of the situation and he knew his duty.
"All on board!" ordered Jaune and his team followed his example.
"Our mission as deputies will have to wait for another day." he said and his teammates nodded. First thing first, after all.
Team JNPR did not notice Cinder Fall and her teammates looking at them as they headed off.
Emerald was worried while Mercury was indifferent as usual.
"It's happening already isn't it?"
"Looks like it." said Mercury unfaced.
"But it wasn't supposed to happen yet! There was still supposed to be time!"
Mercury shrugged. "Who cares? What do we do now?"
Cinder hesitated with her answer. This was going to require some adjustments of her plan.
She pulled out her scroll and typed in a command for her computer virus. It was a simple command really.
It would just delay the authorities' response time by a few minutes and make it seem like their systems were having reception problems.
It would mainly slow down the Atlesians but also the school's response would be slow.
Cinder was confident that her enemies had no idea of the virus' presence in the CCT so this would serve as a safe little test run.
Like clockwork the alarm went silent around them. In the distance one could hear the din of battle but it was faint and the smoke from the initial blast was thinning out.
It would take time until someone heeded the call for aid now.
This event, this breach, had not been intended to happen yet but Cinder had an idea of how to exploit it.
The name of her game was fear and terror.
The students were going to help out? Let them, she figured.
Let the student help while the Atlas military seemingly did nothing to help them.
The image of the brave students being laid low by the grimm would cause great unease and doubt among Vale's citizens.
The fact that Atlas, the strong and mighty protector, could do nothing to help, would simply add to the despair.
'Leeet theeem dieee.'
Once the school mobilized and the soldiers of Atlas moved in it would be far too late. There was only one team of huntsmen-in-training on their way and maybe one team was already at the site.
Even if the breach had been premature there should be enough grimm to lay the children low.
"Emerald, be a dear and hide us from prying eyes."
Emerald nodded and began to shield them from the sight of any they came across. Soon no one at the landing area saw them anymore. No one to see them neglecting coming to the city's aid. No one to tell the truth about them.
As one they moved away in secret. They had a rescue to delay.
Jaune was looking out of the bullhead's windows to see what lay before him. They were still a bit away from the site of the action. Jaune did not know how many grimm there were, nor did he know how the civilians were faring.
He only had a vague idea and that was from his dreams.
'Not now, damn it!'
From the bullhead Jaune could guess were the fighting was taking place. It was around place were Siwan Tallien had his shop.
Jaune remembered how the area was made up. He knew the buildings and the roads. There were three roads going through the area, leading into the rest of Vale. If those paths were not held then Vale would be in real trouble.
There didn't seem to be anyone else coming to the city's aid. He did not understand why but he knew that this would be too much for JNPR and RWBY to handle on their own.
They needed backup.
"Nora, do you still have Coco's number?"
"Sure do."
"Call her. Ren, try to reach hail Beacon. Let the know of what's going on"
He held out his hand and took Nora's scroll.
"Coco, It's Jaune. We need help."
"What's going on? Velvet said something about the alarm going off but I don't hear it."
"Something has happened in the city and there are grimm there. We are on our way to help but we need backup."
"Got it! We are on our way. Where do we have to go?"
"Do you know of the tailor Siwan's shop?"
"I know where that is."
"Good. I'll need you to take your team and hold the road going north from there. My team will handle the south road. We have to keep the grimm from getting further into the city."
"What about the west road?"
"Team RWBY will handle that one once we get there. Until then it's still smaller than the others and will work as a bottleneck for the grimm."
"Sounds like a plan. We will see you there."
Jaune ended the call and handed Nora her scroll back.
"Shouldn't we try to reach Ruby?" she asked.
Jaune shook his head.
"They are probably in combat right now and can probably not answer. Trying to call them might distract them from the fight."
It RWBY had combeeds then he might have been willing to try.
Soon they could see the battlefield and the devastation brought on by the grimm.
Ruby and her team were not having a good time. They had not been having a good time for a while now.
The beginning of their mission with Oobleck had been decent enough, the profes- DOCTOR had been overjoyed to count Zwei among their ranks, stating that his keen nose would be of great help in their search.
Turns out Oobleck's real mission was the same as theirs: to find the enemy and figure out what they were up to.
The search had been exhausting. Professor Ozpin had not lied about the amount of Grimm in the area of Mountain Glenn. They had searched and fought grimm all while Oobleck kept asking them questions about why they were there, why they wanted to be huntresses.
The girls had found themselves very happy to set up camp for the night by a campfire. Ruby had taken first watch. She had been sitting by the fire when Zwei walked off. Ruby had worriedly followed and in a moment of stupidity had she left Crescent Rose by the fire.
Oh boy, did she come to regret that.
Following Zwei, she come across a pair of patrolling White Fang goons. Being unarmed she decide to hide rather than fight. She ended up falling through a hole in the ground.
Oobleck had told them that this region was host to many caves but she had not expected something like this.
She hadn't expected to be captured by Torchwick either.
Lesson of the day: quit not expecting stuff.
It hadn't taken too long until her team came for her and liberated her.
This unfortunately had the effect of Torchwick kicking off the next step of his "plan" and the White Fang goons had gotten a train moving.
Ruby had not know what was on the train but she, her team, Oobleck and Zwei all figured that it must not be allowed to reach its destination. She had tried to call for help and decided to reach Jaune but her call was terminated due to lack of signal.
Darn it!
It turned out the train was full of three things and three things only: White Fang, grimm in cages and bombs. Lots and lots of bombs.
It was Oobleck who had figured out what Roman was planning to do: to collapse the cave walls and let more grimm into the tunnel that supposedly lead to Vale.
If the train wasn't stopped the grimm would spill into the town and that was something they mustn't let happen.
The mega-bomb-train had to be destroyed, no matter the cost.
They had made good headway but had gotten split up as they moved forward and up the train cars, disconnecting them from the locomotive as they went. That didn't help. The bombs were set up with their own means of detonation. If a train car well too far behind its contents would explode, collapsing the cave wall and letting the grimm in.
All whilst they could hear Roman crackling like a madman.
"You can't stop the train!"
To make matters worse, their progress had been declining. They had still made headway forward but they got split up and their strength as a team diminished greatly. If they had been able to stay together they might have been able to stop the train but they didn't.
As Ruby had almost been about to stop the train had she seen the wall. The wall was made of concrete and marked the end of the line. Ruby had braced herself for the collision. Then there was a crash, explosions and pain.
Everything had gone dark.
Now Ruby was waking up from being knocked out from the collision.
Her ears were filled by a ringing sound caused by the last explosion. The ringing had faded away and been replaced by the sound of sirens.
She didn't know how long she had been out but it couldn't have been long.
She looked around. Her teammates were there and they were all getting up. To Ruby's relief none of them seemed hurt but a bit dazed and tired.
She quickly checked her scroll. They were all running low on aura. The fighting and the crash had taken a lot out of them.
"Everyone okay?" She got groans and nods for answers.
"Do you still have dust on you?"
Ruby forced herself up from the ground, steading herself with her weapon and looked around. There were grimm everywhere and she swore that she could hear more coming from behind them.
"Running low." was the collective response from her battered teammates.
'Bugger.' thought Ruby.
They had a fight on their hands and they were low on aura, dust and were generally exhausted.
But that was not going to stop them from doing their duty.
She started to move, having her teammates to follow her example.
With as loud a voice as she could manage she shouted for the civilians to get away, to get indoors and to lock their doors.
She cut down a Beowolf and took a proper look at her surroundings. A few young Nevermore had survived the crash and were now taking off to the sky. The land bound grimm however were staying.
There were a lot of grimm and now even bigger variants were starting to reach the breach through the tunnel. A King Taijitu reared its head and was soon followed by a pack of Ursai.
"What do we do? We can't take on all of them." said Weiss and shared what little dust she had left on her.
Weiss was right. With their small numbers they couldn't take down all of the grimm nor contain them at the actual breach but damn if they wouldn't try to do it.
"We will hold them off as best we can until help arrives! I'm sure someone must have noticed this!"
Weiss, Blake and Yang nodded and began to take down as many grimm as they could while at the same time backing away from the source of grimm in order not to get overwhelmed.
It was an uphill battle. For every grimm they slew another would soon take its place and the grimm were starting to spread out. The grimm were going to get into the town!
Then, like gift from the heavens, came a bullhead. It did not even land to let out its passengers.
From an open door jumped a knight with blond hair straight onto a Beowulf, driving his sword through its skull and making a small crater in the process, letting his aura absorb the impact.
JNPR had arrived.
The new arrival began to clear up the street they had landed on and made their way into the plaza.
"Jaune! Glad you guys could make it!"
"Likewise!" shouted Jaune as he stabbed a Beowulf in the throat.
"Ruby, I need you guys to hold that road over there until reinforcements arrive! We will just try to box the grimm in for now!"
"Okay! You heard the man! Let's go!"
Ruby obeyed without question. It was not much as far as plans went but it was better than having no plan at all.
She was too tired to come up with a plan of her own and she and her team needed to catch their breath.
The plaza was a rather big place, several acres in fact. That was a lot of ground for the eight combatants to cover, especially as they had to focus on maintaining shoke points to keep the grimm contained.
Even then however, could they not just bunker down and wait the grimm out. If they did that the entire plaza would be filled to the brim with grimm until finally the teams would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Thus, Jaune gave the order for JNPR to go into the fray to thin the grimm out.
They ended up scattered away from each other. Even so, everything was going pretty well.
While Jaune was dealing with the smaller grimm like Beowolves and Ursai was the rest of his team dealing with the bigger ones. Even with the improvements he had made recently he was still not quite at the level of his teammates.
He wanted to be at the front and lead his team by example but that would put him at unnecessary risk. And that risk would affect his team as well.
Jaune was doing alright. Sure, he wasn't putting down any big threats at the moment, just small Ursai and the like. He couldn't help but feel a bit proud. When he entered Beacon even one of these grimm would have been too much for him.
Still, he remembered what had happened when he had allowed his pride to get the better of him. That time he had gone from beating Cardin to almost getting curb stomped by the rest of Team CRDL.
As Jaune dispatched another grimm he heard Nora shout something.
"Guys, we have a bug problem!"
Jaune turned around and saw what was worrying her, a Death Stalker.
A Death Stalker was emerging from the breach. That meant trouble.
The grimm was not an ancient one, but a Death Stalker is still a Death Stalker.
Team JNPR was now in a bind. They had beaten a Death Stalker before during the entrance exam but then they had exploited its injured stinger and limited space to move.
Also, they hadn't killed that one, per se. They had let the fall from a broken bridge do that for them.
The problem was the grimm's thick protective plating.
With their weapons they couldn't really harm it in a melee. As for their weapons' alternative modes, only Nora's grenades would have any hope of hurting the damn thing. No one else of them really had the ordinance needed to take on such a beast.
"Nora!" shouted Ren. "Do you have any grenades left?"
"Sorry Renny! I spent them all trying to collapse the hole, it only made it bigger. Hehe. sorry."
'That makes this a bit more difficult.'
But there might be a way….
He remembered some of professor Port's old stories about facing a Death Stalker. Their armour was tough but it had chinks, otherwise they would not be able to move at all.
He began to approach it slowly, trying to see how the plates were formed around the Grimm's body and how they moved.
"Jaune, what do we do?" asked Ren. They couldn't just leave this grimm alone.
"Leave it to me!" Jaune shouted and made for the Grimm.
"Wha- Jaune, Wait!"
Before Pyrrha could stop him was he in full run towards it.
"Trust me! I have a plan!"
To say Jaune had a plan was a bit incorrect. He had an idea, an incredibly dangerous idea. He would have to get within spitting distance of the grimm, avoiding its massive claws and deadly stinger.
His sword wouldn't do anything against the grimm's armour but he didn't intend to strike at its armour.
He approached the grimm that now had noticed him and was getting ready to take him on. The grimm really looked like a giant scorpion.
From Sanguinius' memories Jaune could not help but feel that he had faced something like it before, before the entrance exam, back on Baal Secundus during his past life.
A Baalite Fire Scorpion - in his past life he had slewn something similar to the Death Stalker with his bare hands as a youth.
Jaune knew that he might not have the same might or speed as then but he did have a weapon and a shield.
He got closer.
The grimm tried to stab him with its stinger but he dodged it and put his sidewards momentum into rotating his body, glancing off the Stalker's right claw with his shield. It tried to pinch him again as he built up speed.
Jaune jumped over the claw and rolled down on its other side. Not wasting anytime he began to jab at the Grimm's eyes.
He didn't need to put any actual force into the blows. It was eyes he was stabbing at, they didn't need much trauma to break. Besides, putting more strength into his blows would slow him down and make him easier to hit.
Recoiling in pain, the Death Stalker began to back whilst trying to stab its attacker with its stinger and trashing madly with its claws.
Jaune followed after it carefully.
There was a spot that the Death Stalker couldn't reach with its claws, the area right next to its head, an area that Jaune's blows had made into a blind spot.
Making sure to avoid the stinger he followed it until it slowed down and quit trashing. It believed it had forced the offending party away. It let its guard and claws down.
It was now time for step two of his plan.
He took a leap up on its lowered clawed appendage and from there he jumped on to its back. The beast immediately realized that it had been tricked and tried to get him off its back. It made ready to get him with its stinger, certain that it knew exactly where he was on its back.
Of course it knew where he was. Jaune made sure of that by stomping on its back, letting it know where to sting.
"Come on! Bring it down!"
As the stinger came down he dodged and spun around. Crocea Mors bit into the grimm's tail. It was not enough to sever the stinger but it would hesitate to use it again for a short while.
That was all he needed.
The Death Stalker began to thrash around, trying desperately to get the human off its back. It could not kill him but he could not kill it. This was not the first time something had gotten on its back like this.
The trashing was to no use. Jaune had taken a firm hold of its armor plates and took his time placing Crocea Mors' blade between the armor plates.
Any other sword, less robust and less sturdy, would have given up and snapped, but not Crocea Mors. It had taken the great war to even put a gauge in it.
The sword went in easily and Jaune began to twist and turn it as much as he could. He didn't have enough strength to push it all the way but he didn't have to. Soon the grimm would provide him with that.
The Death Stalker had had enough. The annoying human was not getting off and was now poking at it like the human was a mosquito with its sharp stick.
And like a mosquito, the human was now firmly in place and its sharp stick was occupied and couldn't do anything to the grimm's still hurting tail.
It readied its tail and struck with as much force as it could muster from its injured body part.
Jaune saw the blow coming. This was what he had waited for.
Raising his aura he braced himself and raised his shield to take the blow.
The force of the impact travelled from the shield, through him and into the sword. The grimm's own might had delivered the blow that sent Crocea Mors into the grimm's neck.
The grimm stopped moving.
Jaune didn't have to pull out his sword from the grimm as it remains faded into nothing.
He was met by amazed looks from his team.
"Jaune, how did you...?"
"Well I did tell you that if you can accept me and all my additions then so can I." he said tapping his head, referring to his memories, and gave her a smile.
"Either that or all the asskickings you have been giving me are finally paying off."
"Oh you…"
"This isn't a date you two! We still have some grimm to deal with." shouted Nora and smashed in the head of a grimm.
Death was instant.
"Shall we?" asked Jaune and gestured towards the grimm, as if inviting her to a party.
"Let's." she nodded and headed back into the fray. There were still a lot of grimm to deal with.
It did not take long until Team CFVY showed up. They had taken their time getting there in order to gear up properly and had even had their bullhead fly around the battle in order to get a better idea of what they were dealing with. They set down by the road leading north from the plaza as they had agreed with Jaune before.
After cleaning house they made their way into the plaza. They were almost treating the event like a stroll in the park. Needless to say that their arrival and confident attitude were very much appreciated by RWBY and JNPR.
Both teams were running low on dust and the grimm showed no signs of stopping. Jaune gave RWBY the order to move over to the west road. If all the other roads were blocked then the grimm would head for it instead, bottleneck or not.
None from RWBY or JNPR had ever seen CFVY in action.
They didn't even know what weapons they really used. Yatsuhashi wielded a great sword and Fox had a pair of wrist mounted blades.
Coco and Velvet however? They came to the battlefield with only a handbag and a camera, respectively.
By this stage in their education, no one questioned this. It was commonly known that Team CFVY was one of Beacon's best.
"Sorry we are late, people. It took some time getting a lift here!"
"Are you all that's coming?" asked Jaune. He had hoped for more, a lot more.
"There's some problems with the CCT. The signal keeps dying and getting messages across is almost impossible. The teachers are trying to arrange transports in order to get the students here and Ironwood is trying to get his troops here but it will still take some time."
"Okay, we can work with that!"
The second years joined the fray. The team seemed to favour pure melee over ranged weaponry. To everyone's surprise was Coco's handbag quite formidable, capable of smashing in grimm-heads like Nora's Magnhild.
Velvet even didn't seem to use a weapon and kept punching and kicking the grimm into oblivion. When she tried to reach for her camera she was stopped by Coco.
"You built it all up last semester. Don't waste it here."
Then there was a shriek. An Ursa had broken a store window and was about to get to the store owner. Coco kicked a rock at the grimm to get its attention and walked up to it. The grimm approached, drawn to all the anger Coco was feeling.
"You just ruined my favorite clothing store. Get ready to die."
She opened up with a kick so savage to the place the grimm's crotch should have been that even the students felt it.
As the grimm bent over Coco pulverised its head into the ground with her bag.
She then changed her bag into a minigun and proceeded to lay down a brand new level of butthurt to the grimm.
A Death Stalker, just as big as Jaune had just put down tried to get to her but was torn to shreds along with its lesser brethren.
It was complete annihilation. She then started picking of grimm at her leisure, laughing madly as she did so.
"I am Coco! Leader of CFVY! Bringer of death, destroyer of grimm, and wrecker of your shit!"
"The hell, Coco!?" shouted Jaune over the sound of her gun. He was not happy with her and her current actions.
"What? I'm dominating them!"
"Why are you wasting your time with the small fry when you could keep them from emerging from the breach in the first place? Get on point! We will deal with the rest and cover you!"
Coco was taken aback for a moment. There were very few people that would order her around. There were even fewer that would do so when she had her weapon out and ready, and yet Arc was doing it.
Coco pondered the order and couldn't find any practical reason not to do as he said for his words made perfect sense from a strategic standpoint.
Refusing him would probably come back to bite her in the ass later.
"Roger that!"
Soon the flow of grimm slowed down and finally stopped altogether. With Coco keeping more grimm from joining the fray the only thing that remained was to take care of the stranglers.
It was almost too easy. It was only a few Beowolves and small Ursai.
Jaune looked around for a bit. It was almost like his dream. Grimm had come and they had beaten them.
The only difference between this and Jaune's dream was that he wasn't flying. And how could he? His wings did not even measure a foot each.
'Once again: suck it Curze.'
Jaune faced down a Boartusk. With what he had learned from professor Port's lectures it was an easy match.
Jaune promised that he would never scoff at the man's stories again. Fall asleep maybe, but not scoff.
Jaune planted his blade in the grimm's side and twisted it around, tearing up the grimm's insides. He straightened up only to feel a great pain in his back.
Was he hurt? Had a grimm snuck up on him?
No, it was his wings!
He turned his head only to see a beowolf headed straight towards him. Jaune strained himself to lift his weapon but he was too slow.
The grimm knocked him down on his back. The only thing separating Jaune from those teeth was his shield. The grimm trashed around as it tried to reach him, pressing him down at his hurting appendages. He had to end this quickly or else he would be a dead man, aura or not.
He somehow managed to lift his shield with the grimm on it enough to get a clear shot at it with his sword. With his current position it took him several blows before the creature was slain and that was because Pyrrha had shot its head off.
The pain in his back kept getting worse. It was not just the wings anymore. His entire back was hurting as he rolled onto his knees in pain. He bit back a scream of agony. If he began to scream now he would lose his hold on the pain.
It was like he had the mother of all growing pains festering in him. It was like someone had taken a life's worth of the stuff and stuffed it into a single part of his body and condensed it into a single moment.
He could feel the two protrusions press against his armor and bending for the solid metal. His flesh was protesting its confinement. It would get out or it would break, regardless of how much it hurt him.
Jaune looked around, trying to find help. He only saw another grimm and it was coming for him. He cried out for help to the one person he knew was around.
"Pyrrha!"
Pyrrha snapped around when she heard his cry for help. She had been dealing with a group of Ursai with the rest of her team while Jaune watched their backs.
"Go, P-girl, we got this." stated Nora and got ready to hold off the few grimm that remained.
Pyrrha raised Milo in its rifle form and shot the grimm dead. She hurried over to Jaune who was down on the ground in pain. She couldn't see any blood or signs of anything being broken. Then she saw his armour bulging at the back.
"Oh no! Jaune!"
"What the heck?" Shouted Velvet.
"I could have sworn that the grimm didn't even touch him!"
She hurried over to see what was happening. Jaune might not have been part of her team but he was a brother in arms.
She had some knowledge of first-aid so maybe she could help. Velvet gasped in shock as she saw his back twitching and bulging.
"What is going on? What grimm can cause that?"
Pyrrha knew better, this was no Grimm's doing.
Jaune twisted in pain on the ground. It felt like bones were about to break under his armor.
The others watched in horror as his back bulged and twisted. Pyrrah knelt next to him, sword in hand.
"I'm going to get your armor off to relieve the pressure. Try to keep it together."
She worked as fast as she could but her sword was not made for this. It was meant to punch through armor, not remove it. After cutting some of the straps she used her semblance and ripped off the metal over Jaune's back away.
Liberated from their hard shell, the wings sprang up from his back but were stopped by his hoodie.
Not having time to remove it the normal way Pyrrha kept cutting.
In her hurry she accidentally twisted one of the wings the wrong way, making Jaune howl in pain.
"Sorry!"
Her second attempt went better and soon a few feathers saw the light of day. Even as she began trying to free the second wing could she swear that they kept growing.
"Pyrrha, what is happening?" asked Ruby, having left her position to help her friend.
"His wings are growing!" shouted Pyrrha.
'Damn it, why did this have to happen now?'
"What!?"
"Pyrrha, please, let us help him." said Velvet and got down next to her hurting friend. She had tried to get a proper look of what was going on but all she had seen was something white on his back and all she had heard was Pyrrha trying to keep Jaune calm and breathing.
Then Jaune let out a howl unlike anything any of them had ever heard. As the things on his back twitched did his head shoot up to the sky howling only to come down to the ground again.
"Make it stop!" he said through clenched teeth.
Tears blurred his vision and any move he made only resulted in another spasm of pain going through his spine.
The wings began to grow unlike how they had ever grown before. All the others could only watch with a mixture of horror and amazement. Two great wings began to take proper form on their friend's back.
Mixed in with the white like drops of blood were some red feathers.
First the stumps had just bulged out from the hoodie and then they had begun to take proper shape.
Joints were formed in mere moments. Muscles developed alongside bone as the wings grew in size. They had flexed a bit, only to then keep growing.
Pyrrha was trying to get him to focus, telling him ways to block out the pain to keep the pain and keep it in check. She took his hand and told him to squeeze hers as hard as he could. He had to focus on something other than the pain.
"Oh, dust, why did they have to do this now of all times?" muttered Pyrrha as the wings were spreading out across the ground.
Jaune had told her that they were supposed to get bigger but why did they have to grow like this? Why now of all times?
"You knew about this? Why didn't you tell us?" asked Nora.
She looked in horror at what was happening to her friend. She couldn't help him. She couldn't just smash this problem until it went away.
"We wanted to! We just didn't know when to do it! We were worried about how you would react!" shouted Pyrrha.
The stress of the situation was getting to her. What was she supposed to do?
"It's okay. We understand."
Ren was more composed than his teammates and walked up to his leader to give what little help he could. If not to help Jaune, then to help Pyrrha deal with this.
They were a team, they would deal with this together.
After this he and Nora would have to let them know that they were already in on the secret of the Thirst.
"I'm sorry. He-, we were scared!" sniffled Pyrrha. All she and the other could do was to be there for him.
"What's going on? Is Jaune okay? Aaaah!"
Weiss had walked up to the group and was having a hard time believing what she saw. She couldn't look away. Even if it was horrifying, they were beautiful in a way.
Most of the others soon joined in, forming a ring around him, protecting him against any foolish grimm that dared to approach them instead of running into one of the shoke points. They did not know what was going on.
The wings kept on growing. Soon the huntsmen-in-training had o back away to make room for them. Their wingspan must have been over two meters long.
Finally Jaune let himself fall to the ground. The wings had finally stopped growing after what felt like an eternity.
They were twitching, like a hand flexing to get a glove to fit properly.
He felt weak. Breathing was a challenge and yet he could not get enough of it.
There were voices around him, his friends' voices. He tried to get up but he felt heavy, like something was weighing him down. He felt hand grasping and steadying him.
He could make out Ren's voice.
"Easy, Jaune. Breath. Focus on that."
"They seem to have stopped growing now." muttered Yatsuhashi and helped him sit up.
Yang just settled for something more crude.
"Holy shit! Vomit-boy is an angel!"
Jaune eventually managed to clear his head.
His back still hurt but nowhere near as bad as before. He wiped the tears from his eyes. He saw everyone looking at him. Some looked on in horror, others did so in confusion and some with concern.
"Take it easy, Jaune. Help is on its way."
He just nodded. Things were going to be alright, somehow.
There was a moment of calm. The only sound was that of Coco's minigun keeping back a handful of grimm trying to break through the breach.
"Mommy!"
The quiet was shattered by the cry of a small girl and the screech of a Nevermore.
"Oh no! I thought those things had made themselves scares!" said Ruby. She remembered seeing a few just after the breach.
This Nevermore, attracted by the child's fear, must have snatched the child away away when the students had their backs turned.
"They must have been hiding somewhere. Remember what Oobleck said: grimm can learn."
"What do we do?"
Ruby readied her sniper rifle but was stopped by Weiss.
"No, you dolt! You might hit the child!"
"Oh, please Weiss. I can make the shot blindfolded."
"And have the child to fall to her death?"
Ruby's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, crap baskets."
She looked around. None of the huntsmen could do anything. Shooting down the Nevermore would kill the child or the fall would from that height. None of them had a semblance that would guarantee the child's safety. Unless…
"Pyrrha, could you use your Polarity to lower the kid down on your shield?" asked Yang.
Pyrrha shook her head.
"No, it's too risky. A single mistake and she would fall off. I don't think I can keep up that level of control with my semblance long enough."
Winching, Jaune got up slowly.
He eyed the avian grimm and its prey. A young girl, no more than eight years old.
The grimm flew over them as if to mock their inability to touch it now.
He tried to move his wings.
They responded to his commands, if a bit slowly.
"Hey Yatsu, how is your throwing arm?"
Pyrrha rounded on him. Eyes wide with fear.
"What? Jaune, no!" she protested. He was still shaking, barely standing on his own.
"You can't"
Yatsuhashi eyed Jaune carefully.
"Are you sure?"
Jaune was still shaking but his eyes were filled with determination.
"Yes, we have to do something." Jaune tried to flap his wings and winced.
"But I don't have the strength to get airborne on my own, but I should be able to glide at least. That should be enough to get the child to safety."
Pyrrha grabbed hold of what remained of his hoodie.
"Jaune, you don't have to do this! We will find a way. There are three teams here. I'm sure we can come up with something."
He pulled her hands off him.
"I'm sorry Pyr, but we have to do this. If we wait any longer then it will be too late to save her. I have to try."
He swallowed hard.
"Or else I would never be able to look Vulkan in the eye again."
Jaune gave Yatsuhashi a nod. The time for waiting was over. Now was the time to act.
Jaune tucked his wings close to his body as the dark skinned giant grabbed hold of him.
Like he was throwing a hybrid of a discus and a javelin, Yatsuhashi threw Jaune into the air with a shout.
Like a feathery missile Jaune went through the air until he was at the right altitude. Then he spread his wings, catching a updraft from the city below. He was close to his quarry and was getting closer.
The Nevermore noticed him. Sensing a challenge to its rule over the sky it let's go of the child to face him.
In doing so it had let go of the one thing keeping it safe from the very angry, and very armed, humans below.
Shot clear, the hunters opened fire at the avian grimm, tearing it apart before it hit the ground.
"Go Jaune, hurry!" someone shouted.
Not that they needed to. Jaune was already speeding towards the child. Diving quickly he managed to catch the screaming girl. He adjusted his wings and turned around in air.
Realizing that she was not plummeting to her death anymore, the girl fell silent and just looked at the ground.
Jaune figured he was managing to glide quite well. There was a steady updraft from down below and as long as he didn't move too much the flight remained stable. He had not flown like this before in this life but he was managing to stay airborne long enough to get back to the others. He began to descend.
Then memories of his dream flashed through his mind again.
In the dream he had been headed for a window without control.
Jaune also remembered another little detail: he had only ever dreamt of flying, not landing.
He tried to make some final adjustments before landing but his wings were not obeying him properly. They were still new and their muscles still hadn't toned up properly yet. The ground was getting closer.
"Brace for impact!"
He hugged the child tight and wrapped his wings around her to protect her, his legs pulled up for the same reason. There was the feeling of hitting something and the sound of glass breaking.
Then there was pain. He felt himself slamming into more stuff until finally coming to a full stop.
Jaune must have taken the brunt of the crash. It felt like it.
His wings had not matured yet and were, for a lack of a better term, unhardened.
Jaune could feel a lot of pain in his right wing and it was getting worse.
He now realized why he had remembered Curze the other day. Like Curze had he used to have prophetic dreams in his past life. And they had all ended up coming true even as he had hoped that they were mere possibilities.
Jaune had been so naive as to think that his nightmares were just that, possibilities. He should have known better. He should have remembered Konrad's and Sanguinius' dreams and taken them as warnings.
Jaune could almost imagine Sanguinius' brother, dead or alive, grinning at his misfortune.
Jaune opened his eyes. He knew where he was. He was in Siwan Taillen's shop. And there was the tailor, staring at him.
"Mr. Arc, is that you? But how? What is going on? Are you alright? I heard screaming and then you come crashing through the window."
Jaune groaned. He could hardly hear the man due to the pain radiating from his wing. It was getting hard to think.
"Is the child okay?"
"Oh yes. Scared out of her mind but safe and sound." said Siwan.
"You saved her life, Mr. Arc. Mr. Arc?"
Jaune couldn't hear the tailor anymore. His mind was fading into unconsciousness. His body was tired. Sleep seemed nice. Rest sounded good. Jaune closed his eyes.
'Just gonna rest my eyes for a bit.'
A bit turned out to be a lot longer than he had intended.
He did not wake when his friends tried to rouse him or when he was put on a bullhead and taken to Beacon's infirmary.