Chapter 64

Back in the house

'We need to take the relic to Atlas?'

'That's what Oz said.'

A week had passed since the attack on Haven, and the city had largely calmed down after the incident. The events that had transpired were covered up by the media, and a more acceptable version was sent out to the public after vetting by the Mistral Council. In spite of how he felt about fake news and false media, Jaye had to admit the calmness through the city at the moment was quite a difficult feat to achieve. Distracted for a moment, all eyes were turned to the heiress currently loading dust into her luggage. She made a face somewhere between surprised and done.

'You've got to be joking.' She huffed, face falling at the thought of going back to that stuffy kingdom. Nora raised a hand from her spot on the floor.

'I mean on the bright side, we finally get out of this house.' She said, and Weiss heaved a sigh. Jaye mirrored the movement, scratching his head.

'But I like this house.' He mumbled, setting his Katana down on the table. Qrow shook his head.

'Well trust me I'm not crazy about it either, but without the Spring Maiden here to seal the relic back in its vault it's our best option.' Qrow said, and the group sighed once more.

'Can't you and your sister just make up.' Jaye grumbled, sipping from his mug and kicking at the carpeting. Ren raised a hand in the air.

'Atlas may be the safest kingdom we have at the moment, but their borders are closed. General Ironwood called everyone back.' He pointed out, and Qrow pulled his scroll out of his pocket.

'Ehh, not everyone.' He activated a holographic display, pulling up a little map with an area highlighted in red. 'The city of Argus is a ways north of us, and it's the primary trading port between Anima and Solitas. They've got the largest Atlas military base outside of the kingdom; there's no way they'd leave it abandoned.' He grinned hopefully at the map. 'And if we play our cards right, I think there's a good chance we could convince them to escort us straight to Ironwood.'

'I mean we do have the missing heiress of the Schnee Dust Company.' Blake cut in, grinning at the girl.

'Ex-heiress actually.' She corrected, and Yang dropped her bag on the floor.

'True true, but if there's a chance for reward money I say we go for it.' Yang jested, and Weiss gave her an exasperated scoff. Jaye glanced at the boy who had limped his way down the stairs, waving a hand in greeting.

'Hopefully the first option will suffice.' Ozpin/Oscar said, leaning heavily on his cane as he limped his way to the couch. Qrow turned to assess the boy.

'Glad to see you're feeling better.' He said, and Ozpin/Oscar gave him a strained smiled in response.

'Likewise. While I'm sure we could all use more time to recover, I'm afraid time is of the essence.' He said, wincing as he put a little too much force on his bad leg. Blake glanced down to the floor.

'Right. As long as that thing's out in the open, its power could fall into the wrong hands.' She reasoned, and Jaune paused his sharpening for a moment.

'Speaking of, what does it do exactly?' He asked, dropping the whetstone into Jaye's outstretched hand. 'Qrow never really told us.'

The older man exchanged a glance with the boy, and Ozpin/Oscar nodded in response. He turned to face the group.

'Of course.' Ozpin/Oscar said, pulling the relic off his belt and holding it up to see. It grew slowly in size, rising to its full splendor as they watched. 'The relic of knowledge has a wonderful and incredibly dangerous ability. Its user can ask any question, and the lamp will provide an answer.'

He lowered the lamp to the table, where it floated just above the jade and wooden surface. Jaye raised an eyebrow at the item.

'What does a genie pop out of it or something?' Jaye scoffed, and he blanched at the deadpan look Ozpin/Oscar gave him. 'Wait seriously?'

'However, it's not without its drawbacks.' Ozpin/Oscar continued. 'The lamp cannot tell you of events that have yet to happen, and it will only ever answer three questions every 100 years.'

'Well, I guess that's not so bad.' Yang said, smiling at her lap. 'Adds a lot of pressure though.'

'Then let's put it to a vote!' Nora zipped around the room at lightning fast speed, and Jaye wondered why she never showed that impossible speed in battle. 'What should we ask first? Oh! Can we ask for more questions? CAN WE ASK FOR MORE QUESTIONS?!'

'They're not wishes.' Ren grumbled, slapping a hand into his face. Ozpin/Oscar chuckled weakly.

'I'm afraid you won't be able to ask it anything at the moment. The questions were used before I sealed it away.' He explained. A shadow passed across his face, and Jaye raised a suspicious eyebrow at the small boy. Jaye's expression was not missed by the other members of the group, and Yang gave the assassin a questioning look. Ruby leaned forwards onto her hands.

'Well, at least now we know what it is.' She said, staring at the still glowing lamp. 'And we'll be sure to keep it safe.'

That Evening

'And Jaye went; oh please Kamina-sama, won't you please help my dear sweet beloved Yang's partner Blake Belladonna with her faunus problem? That big, scaaary Adam is coming to hurt everyone!' Kamina cooed his recount of the tale to the group, and Jaye swore incessantly at him as he chased him around the room. Kamina vanished in flashes of light, porting into the various bedrooms and halls before popping back into the room they were in to continue his tale between jumps.

'That is NOT what happened!' Jaye swore, diving at the boy as he apparated again. Kamina vanished with a peal of laughter, reappearing on the other end of the room. 'How are you even teleporting out of the room anyway?! You can only teleport within line of sight!'

'And I went awwwww sweet baby, of course I'll help you! There's no way I could leave such a dear, important team member of yours to fend for herself!' Kamina screamed in laughter again, popping out of existence, and Jaye dashed out from the bedroom to track down the furry bastard. The group watched him go, his swearing growing softer as Kamina continued to run, and Artemis cleared her throat.

'Well, ignoring the heavy embellishment, Jaye really did ask for his help.' She explained, raising an eyebrow as a crash came from downstairs. 'I got a tip from a friend of ours, an information broker, about dissent amongst the faunus ranks and what Blake was doing over there. It helped us catch on to the White Fang's plans, and while Blake did a fabulous job of uniting the people of Menagerie, the message from Kamina helped quite a bit.'

'Kamina, the masked faunus, is a hero to our people. So you can imagine how shocked and excited I was when my mother received a video file containing a message from him.' Blake explained, jumping as Qrow's annoyed voice resounded from the floor below. 'He's done so much for faunus across the kingdoms that a word from him could move a mountain when we're concerned. It was nice to have something else backing me up when I essentially asked our people to fight their neighbors.'

'Malachite managed to tip us off to some of Adam's plans ahead of time, including the bombs.' Jaye appeared back in the doorway, flanked by Kamina who was still laughing. He punched the faunus boy in the stomach, swearing as Kamina popped to the other side of the room before his fist connected. 'Course Ilia spilled the beans too, plus she knew exactly where they were so that was a bust. I want my money back for that tidbit of info.'

'Well I hope you didn't pay much, because you're not getting anything from me.' Weiss said, and Jaye stared at her for a long moment. 'What?'

'You know I'm still wondering if there's reward money involved.'

'Ugh.'

1 Week Later At The Train Station

'Oh I can't believe we're taking the train to Argus!' Nora yelled, bouncing around the seats as she danced in a sort of weird stop motion manner. Jaye raised an eyebrow at the girl, rubbing his eyes as he wondered why she seemed to be moving at 5 frames per second. 'The beautiful northern coastline! You think it's too early for beach season?'

'Unfortunately.' Ren said as his imaginary beach ball popped. 'But we will be one step closer to Atlas.'

'Well I'm glad you're all excited, but I don't think you appreciate the trouble I went through to leave Atlas.' Weiss grumbled, flipping her luggage closed for the third time that morning. Ruby inched over to the girl.

'I know you're worried Weiss but trust us. Team RRWBY won't leave your side for a second! I promise.' Ruby reassured, smiling at the girl. Weiss returned the smile in a massive show of character development, but the happy moment was interrupted by an obnoxious voice cutting over the chatter. (No, it was not Jaye)

'No one's gotta be worried with us around.' A rather stupid sounding voice boasted, and Jaye followed the irritating noise to its owner, an equally stupid looking man. Two rather dim looking men approached the group, weapons slung over their shoulders and shit-eating grins on their faces. Jaye immediately felt a spike of annoyance run through him, and he wondered who the two reminded him of. Nora leaned forwards to stare at the two.

'And you are?' She asked, and one of the men scoffed.

'Why Dee and Dudley of course. The Argus Limited's very own Huntsmen.' He introduced, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The two were similarly dressed, seeming to sport a liking for vests, and they couldn't tell if they were siblings or just weird about each other. 'We'll be keeping everyone safe as we pass through Grimm territory.'

The group exchanged worried glances as the two puffed their chests out, and Jaye raised an eyebrow at the two with ill-disguised skepticism. He caught Yang's eye, and she shrugged in response. Dudley stepped forward.

'Buuuuut for a generous tip, we can make sure your passenger car gets extra special attention.' He said, winking at the girls. 'Should things get…dangerous.'

The girls all immediately expressed their own individual versions of the "I'm so done with this" look, perking up as Qrow's voice rang out from the counter.

'I got a tip for you; buzz off.' He said, frowning heavily at the two. 'Looks like Mistral's really scarping the bottom of the barrel these days.'

Ruby and Yang stood behind their uncle, making comically static poses of mockery at the two supposed huntsmen, and Dee stepped forward in offense.

'Hey, you're talking to a-!'

'A professional huntsman, right?' Qrow held up his license with a deadpan face, and the smug looks left the two siblings/weirdabouteachother's faces as they realized their usual retort wasn't going to work. 'Well it seems like one of you heroes left the staff entrance to the caboose wide open. Be a shame to lose your job before it even started.'

The two huntsmen(?) turned to investigate the claim, bickering as they went, and Oscar heaved a sigh as they passed by him. He turned to the group.

'You know, sometimes the burden of saving the world feels overwhelming.' He said, giving them a small smile. 'But then people like that come along and make me grateful it's our job and not theirs.'

The group nodded their assent, and Jaye patted the boy on the shoulder as he prepared to load the bags onto the train. Qrow turned to the girls.

'You kids ready to go? Bikes all loaded up?'

'Yup.'

'Just waiting on Blake. As usual.' Weiss huffed, smiling up at the above walkway where the white-coated faunus girl was standing. Jaye raised an eyebrow as he spotted Neptune sauntering his flirtatious ass over to Ilia. He noted the usual wink and point that was the bread and butter of the boy's arsenal and shook his head at the exchange.

'That's not gonna end well. He's missing a few key components to play that game.' Kamina said, and Jaye nodded in agreement.

'And what components are those?' Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow at the pair.

'Boobs mostly.' Jaye answered, crossing his arms. 'A skirt would do wonders too.'

Weiss made a face of confusion as she pondered his answer, and Yang leaned over to explain in more detail. Her face turned to one of surprise and bashfulness as she began to comprehend the situation, revealing one of the rare moments that reminded everyone that she was, to a degree, a sheltered rich girl. Yang glanced up at the walkway, returning Sun's wave.

'Looks like they're almost done saying goodbye.' She said, turning back to her bags. 'We should start kissing the Mistral air goodbye too.'

As if struck with a moment of inspiration, Kamina whirled on Jaye, tears brimming in his eyes, and he made an incomprehensible choking noise as he seized the raven-haired boy by the shoulders. Jaye's deadpan expression turned momentarily to a look of shock as Kamina suddenly thrust his face towards his own, before almost immediately returning to his default "I'm so done with this" look.

'JAYE!' Kamina sobbed, tears spilling down the edges of his cheeks. 'Promise you'll remember me! Promise!' He covered his eyes with a hand, the other still firmly seized on Jaye's shoulder. 'Even though we might be apart, our souls will always stay together! We will never be alone, for we will always have each other.' He laid a hand over Jaye's chest, squeezing his pec gently. 'In here.'

'Kamina.' Jaye warned, staring at the fox boy quietly and swatting his hand away. He opened his mouth to continue but was cut off by said swatted hand. Kamina sobbed ever louder.

'No! Don't say it. To say it would be to accept it, but my heart can't take this right now!'

'Dude.'

'Don't!'

'Mate.'

'Please! Or I'll die!'

'Oh for the love of-!' Jaye pushed the fox boy away from him, the deadpan look still plastered to his face. 'We spent good money on your ticket. Stop being an idiot.'

Kamina cried even harder, collapsing against the boy as he sang his woes to the glass ceiling of the train station. Fully intending not to catch him, Jaye let the fox bastard slide off him and onto the floor as he grumbled curses at the faunus. Kamina, unabashed, continued to sob incessantly against the ground. The twins gave Jaye a look of disgust as the fox faunus continued to sob dramatically against the concrete, shaking their heads judgmentally at the boy, and he promptly flipped them off. He glanced up as he noticed the chameleon faunus pass by, seemingly relieved from Neptune's clutches as she made for the exit of the station. He raised a hand in greeting.

'Gay-I mean hey Ilia, how's your day been? Good? Good. Now if you don't mind, would you be a dear and help me strangle this moron? I'd do it myself but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment.'

On the train

The train chugged peacefully along the tracks, the snow pattering against the window as they moved along. Jaye lay in his bed, reading a book on his scroll as the ground swayed comfortingly beneath him. He'd always loved trains; he had a habit of falling asleep on moving vehicles since the gentle sounds and motions were soothing for him. He'd also gotten used to being on the run a lot, so this was nothing new.

'Sorta strange being on the run in such cushy conditions.' Kamina voiced his exact thoughts, and Jaye nodded in agreement.

'Yeah, I've gotten so used to dingy bars and beat up inns that this is like I've died and gone to heaven right now.' He said, returning to his book. 'Though I'm pretty sure I'll never make it to Heaven.'

'Forget pretty sure, you're on a highway trip to down under.' Artemis scoffed, appearing at the door with her brother. 'Hell's probably got a fire pit reserved for you, and a spot in the hall of fame for condemned of the century.'

'Always nice to feel special; though I'm pretty sure that's the hall of infamy I'm due for.' Jaye laughed, putting away his scroll and flipping off the girl. 'Where've you two been?'

'Exploring.' Apollo said, gesturing down the hall. 'You know they've got the nicest restaurant here on board, and their cake is excellent.'

'Sounds like you tried it.'

'I did. I have no regrets.'

'Cool. Lead the way.' The boy dropped down from his bunk, stumbling as the train carriage rocked heavily. He exchanged a worried glance with the cat girl across from him, grabbing his swords and running for the door.

The four sort-of teammates made it onto the roof just as the Dee, one of the supposed huntsmen, was swept off the roof. Jaye barely spared the inconsequential side character a glance as he screamed his way down, focusing instead on the much larger grimm ahead of him. It was very clearly a boss fight, and he had no time to waste on the minions. Artemis made a sound of concern for the man being carried away, and she raised her bow in response. Kamina swatted her hand down.

'What's the big idea?!' She yelled, and Kamina shook his head as he extended his claws.

'I applaud the sentiment but shooting that grimm down right now is as good as spelling a death sentence for him.' The fox boy explained, turning the girl around to face the pack. 'Grimm vanish when they die, so no hope of a crash landing if you kill it at this height. Better for him to try to fend for himself; he's still got a fighting chance.'

Artemis nodded in response, focusing her bow on the pack before them. Apollo did the same, rocketing dust arrows into the pack and eliminating a number of targets. Jaye glanced behind them as the girls clambered onto the roof.

'Jaye! What's going on?!' Ruby called, and the boy unleashed a few waves of lighting at the pack, disintegrating a few smaller grimm.

'I don't know! Just got here!' He yelled back briefly, backing away from the pack as the larger grimm began to advance along the train carriages. They drew their weapons as they dashed forwards to group up, and Artemis growled at the approaching monsters.

'What's the plan Ruby?' Blake asked, drawing her sword, and the small red girl spun her scythe out.

'Don't let anyone else die!'

'...You know I'm aware that idiot got carried off by a mere minion, but thanks for the vote of confidence on his survival.'

I'm trying to make things a little more light-hearted now since the volumes themselves are starting to open back up into its original styles. The eye-catching color palettes and fabulous designs really hit home for this season, and I think it's been the best one yet, ignoring volume 7 since that's not done yet. Course the story only gets darker from here, so eh.