Chapter 71

OKAY FIRSTLY. I apologize that I haven't been posting, I've been working and working out a lot more and honestly I've been just sleeping at the end of the day. Also playing a lot of Div 2 and Tekken. I'M SORRY but as compensation I'm giving you three chapters today. PLEASE ENJOY I know lots of people hate this story (God only knows why) and I am trying my best to improve. I am but a humble child learning as I go.

'I can't believe it. You're the Grimm reaper. You were a legend… then you disappeared.'

The group watched the old lady quietly as she huddled at the back of the trailer. Wrapped in her shawl and hunched over her walking stick, she was far from the wondrous woman described in the legends passed down amongst the huntsmen for generations. Still, it explained a lot about her extensive knowledge, and Jaye kept his eyes tied to his gas meter as they continued to trundle along. Oscar cleared his throat.

'How exactly does a legend just disappear?' He asked, and Jaye shook his head.

'Same way I did.' The raven-haired boy said. 'Never use your name, never show your face. Stop doing anything and you'll drop off the face of the earth without a soul knowing why. Except, of course, for those that know the real you.'

'You say that like you're dead to the world.' Maria said, and Jaye immediately turned away from the old lady, whistling soundlessly as he observed the trees around them instead.

'Lots of us thought you were just laying low. Eventually we came to accept the fact that you were probably dead.' Qrow said. 'But the stories about you! I based my weapon off of yours; I wanted to be as good as the Grimm reaper.'

'Well I'm nothing but a disappointment so you're well on your way.' Maria said, shrugging her shawl tighter around her shoulders.

Blake shook her head from her spot on the trailer. 'How can you say that?'

'Child, a Huntress is supposed to protect others to the bitter end.' She said, turning helplessly to the group behind her. 'But after I lost my eyes I only ever looked after myself. Even after my surgery I was too afraid to fight; afraid someone would find me again, finish what the others started.' She returned her metallic gaze to the surrounding woodlands, watching nothing. 'You shouldn't aspire to be like me. Especially when some of you are clearly stronger already.'

All eyes unconsciously turned to Yang, her robotic arm whizzing quietly as she steered the bike, and the girl's eyes fell unconsciously to the appendage attached to her severed limb. Jaye coughed beside her, trying and failing to give her a comforting smile, and she giggled at his silly face of concern.

'It's comforting seeing that your generation seems up to the task of inheriting this world. I'm just sorry I didn't do more to leave it in better shape.' Maria said, and Jaye coughed uncomfortably. Weiss smirked at the boy.

'Well, unlike some people, at least you didn't make it worse.' She jabbed, smiling broadly at the boy's death glare across from her.

'Got something to say to me Schnee?'

'Already said it. You might want to get your ears checked; I think you're going deaf.'

'I just might be, considering how much you've been talking it's a wonder I can still hear at all.'

Maria raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the boy riding next to them.

'You know, this is just conjecture, but you seem to have a rather… peculiar skillset from what we've seen thus far.' She commented, and Jaye promptly turned away from the woman. 'Keen eye for tracking, keeping lockpicks on you for one, and not to mention seemingly familiar with toxins and dead bodies. What exactly did you do to obtain such knowledge and equipment before even graduating from your huntsmen academy?' She raised an eyebrow at the boy. 'Care to explain? We've got time.'

'Oh, would you look at that; snow! Let's pay attention to it.' The boy said, revving his bike up till he passed out of the reach of their conversation. They watched him go, bemused, with the look of suspicion still plastered across the old woman's face. Ruby cleared her throat.

'Well, maybe you can do something now.' She said, placing a hand over her chest. 'Teach me to use my powers the way you did.'

The woman stared at the girl quietly, as if contemplating her words, but any reply she had was cut off by a sudden vibration. Reaching into her pocket, Ruby pulled the scroll out with a gasp, face lighting up as she saw the contact beaming out of its front.

'It's Jaune!' She squealed, swiping on the accept button. Yang pulled the bike to a stop as she did so, turning back eagerly for the news. Jaune's voice rang out from the communication device.

'Ruby!' The blond's jubilant laughter poured out over the loudspeaker. 'Oh, thank you! I've been checking my scroll for your signal since we made it to the City!'

'The city?' Ruby said, glancing around with a bewildered look on her face. Waving the scroll in her hand, she gasped as the bars began to fill up on the signal range, finally pointing them in the direction of great stone arches that could only have been man made. They heard a faint "stupid-ass!" drift to them in the wind and squinted through the stone fixtures at the black motorcycle and the boy on top of it. Gesturing wildly in the direction behind him, the girls finally caught on to what he was saying, and Yang revved up her bike to meet him.

Trundling up the hill, they finally reached the point where Jaye was sitting, staring out over the landscape before them as he heaved a sigh. Yang's eyes widened in awe as her face lit up like the sun. Behind them, the setting sun painted the world a beautiful orange as their eyes alighted on the city of Argus in the distance, and Yang finally found her voice as she turned back to their motley crew.

'Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Argus.'

The glowing panel beeped as Yang locked it, patting the metal garage door appreciatively. They'd managed to find a rental garage near the city gates, stashing their bikes and the flatbed inside for the time being while they contacted the rest of their party. They'd tried to ditch the trailer before reaching the gates, but since the guards cussed them out about it, they'd been forced to bring it in with them to figure out what to do with. Jaye reasoned they could probably sell it off cheap to a merchant or transporter and agreed to find one when they had time. With a series of over-enthusiastic sounds, Nora appeared in the gap between the crowd of people surrounding them.

'CUTE BOY OZ!' She screamed. Oscar turned to face the sound, screaming in horror as she tackled him to the floor. 'OH, COME HERE!'

'Are you all okay?' Ren called, concerned, reaching his hands out to the blonde. 'We were so worried!'

'It's been kind of a crazy trip.' She said, embracing the emerald boy. Jaune looped an arm around Blake, smiling at Weiss as she approached him as well (character development yeah!). Nora finally got up from her spot snuggling Oscar, extending a questioning finger at Maria as she hobbled over, and Oscar rubbed his head with a groan.

'Understatement of the year.' Jaye chuckled, flinching as he heard a familiar howl from behind him. He turned to face the sound, coughing out a groan as he felt something large and furry crash into him. Kamina seemed to weigh more than he remembered, and quickly realized that Artemis was bundled into the mix as well. 'Whyyyyyyyyyyyy.'

'YOU CAME BACK!' Kamina wailed, slapping his palm straight into the centre of the boy's face. Jaye swore at the top of his lungs, death-glaring the boy through the gaps in his fingers, before feeling his lips sealed by an offending hand. Artemis joined in the wailing, singing her woes to the sky with Kamina as they continued to mount the assassin swearing into their hands beneath them. Jaye silently swore vengeance upon them, giving up for now and choosing to lie on the floor instead until it was over. Finally separating from the two girls, Jaune caught Ruby's shy gaze, standing awkwardly by herself in the middle of the reunion. He embraced the girl wordlessly, holding her tight to his chest for a long moment. Finally breaking apart, he attempted to smiled at the girl, before the tears welled up in his eyes. Ruby giggled at the boy.

'Hey.' She said, smiling tenderly at him. 'I promised, didn't I?'

'Yeah, you did.' He choked out, wiping the tears away from his eyes. 'It's good to see you guys.'

'It's a lot bigger than I thought it'd be.' Yang said, staring out of the railcar as they trundled over the stone-paved road. The surrounding streets were crowded, filled with people going about their daily business, and Jaye smiled at the cozy city that seemed to almost radiate happiness around them.

'It's actually one of the largest non-capital cities in all of Remnant.' Ren said, leaning against the railing of the car. Ruby let out an adorable gasp.

'No way! But wait, wouldn't it be hard to settle something this big away from the main kingdom?'

'Well it was, until Mantle showed up.' Jaune elaborated, feeling the breeze run through his hair. 'Early settlement attempts by Mistral didn't go well, but colonists from Mantle were able to help them brave the cold climate and return for goods that Solitas couldn't provide.'

'The two nations worked together to create a hybrid city.' Ren continued. 'While it still falls under Mistral domain, Atlas keeps a military presence here to help keep the people safe, and to keep trade between the two nations steady.'

'Well, until recently.' Nora added, and the group fell slightly somber at the reminder of the actions of General Ironwood after the Fall of Beacon. The embargo couldn't be good for anyone, and as a port city it was more than likely that Argus would be feeling the pressure just as badly as the people of Mantle. Thankfully the city seemed to still be self-sufficient, so there were no warning signs yet of damage caused by the General's rather extreme measure. The railcar slowed to a stop as it approached their stop, and the group alighted from the cabin.

Blake cleared her throat. 'We should probably start looking for a ship.'

'So where have you guys been staying?' Oscar asked, and Jaune chuckled nervously. The conductor sounded the whistle as the railcar moved off, and as if on cue a voice rang out from behind them.

'There you are!' A woman waved from across the street, exposed after the train left the stop. She balanced a toddler in her arm, hugging the dark-skinned child close to her chest. Jaune raised a nervous hand in greeting.

'Hey Saph.' He called in greeting, and Jaye raised an eyebrow at the nearly identical blond hair and blue eyes of the two. Ruby gasped in excitement as she spotted the child, and they crossed the street to meet her.

Inside her house

'I can't believe I'm meeting your sister! I have so many questions.' Ruby said, placing a melodramatic hand on her forehead. They'd been shepherded into the woman's home close to the railcar station, and Yang and Weiss were currently playing with the toddler on the floor. Not quite as comfortable as the others with meeting new people, Jaye had isolated himself in the side of the hall along with the other dark and gloomy people. Nora grinned from her seat on the couch.

'Oh I can give you the rundown later.' She winked at the girl, and Jaune groaned aloud at the pair.

'Will you guys knock it off?' He said, and the blonde woman, Saph, laughed at the pouting boy.

'What? I love telling stories about my baby brother.' She cooed, pinching the boy's cheeks as he folded his arms over his chest. He waved his hands comically at the woman, achieving smooth curvatures that no human arms should ever be able to conform to, and jabbed his thumb at himself.

'I am not a baby!' He exclaimed, thrusting a finger out at the toddler sitting on the floor between the two girls. 'That, is a baby!'

The child folded his arms in mirror of the boy, pouting back, and the girls squealed at him as he continued to pout. Apollo and Kamina had gone outside to explore more of the city, and Artemis elbowed Jaye as he busied himself with his scroll. He glared at the girl, and she smirked at him as he continued to avoid social interaction like the plague. Blake's ears twitched in amusement.

'So, Saphron, you're the only Arc living here?' She asked, and the woman nodded with a smile.

'Yup! Moved the second I could.' She said, her hands coming off Jaune's cheeks with a very audible pop sound. Jaye wondered if that sound was made by his cheeks or her hands and swore to himself, he would reach the bottom of it by the end of the day. 'Jaune and I are the only two living away from home. I guess he just wanted to be like his big sis.'

'I…ugh.' Jaune stammered, and the woman snuggled up against him with a shit-eating grin that rivaled Kamina's.

'Awwwww, you didn't deny it!' She sang, giggling as Jaune slapped his hand into the middle of her face. The two began another animated sibling fight as the door opened, and a woman with identical dark skin to the toddler sitting in the room kicked it shut behind her, groceries bundled in her hands. Behind her, Kamina and Apollo touted a few more bags, presumably extra to feed the rest of them. Saphron's eyes lit up as she caught sight of the woman, and Jaye could already hazard a guess as to who she was. She looked up as Saphron spoke.

'Everyone, this is my wife Terra Cotta.' She introduced, and the party raised their hands in a chorus of greetings. Terra chuckled at the bunch.

'Why hello there! Wow, quite a party, you weren't kidding.' She turned to make her way to the kitchen. 'Hun, can I get some help please?'

The blonde jogged into the kitchen behind her wife, and Jaune followed behind soon after. Jaune, Ren and Nora stationed themselves in the kitchen making sandwiches for the group, excusing Terra out into the hall to meet the rest of the crew she hadn't seen yet. Jaye, missing his opportunity to escape, resigned himself to his fate as the two cat faunus held him down to prevent him from vanishing. Blake cleared her throat, giving Jaye a sideways glance as he glanced uncomfortably around the room again.

'And you're sure it's alright if we stay with you?' She asked, and Saphron waved a hand at the girl.

'Oh course! We're happy to house Huntsmen and Huntresses.' She said, taking Terra's hand. The dark-skinned woman nodded her assent.

'You all risk so much to keep people like us safe. It's the least we could do, especially for such an elite Huntsman like yourself.' She said, turning to Qrow. Motherly instincts kicking in, she raised a somewhat skeptical eyebrow as she noticed the number of teenagers around the room. 'Though I will say, I was surprised to learn you had students helping you. Is that even legal?'

Ruby elbowed the gruff man as he continued to sit in silence, and Qrow stammered his way into speech. 'Uh, of course. Think of it as an extended training mission. Trust me, I was a professor; even went to the same academy as them. Let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age. Well not better than me specifically, but a lot of students.'

'Shut up there's food!' Ruby yelled, thrusting a sandwich into her uncle's hands.

Now focused on eating, Jaye finally tucked himself under the table with Blake to swipe some of the sandwiches he could reach. Terra pulled her buzzing scroll from her pocket, handing her baby over to Saphron and excusing herself from the party to take the call. Blake watched her go, noting the exasperated sigh that followed answering the hailing.

'Is everything okay?' She asked.

'Oh yeah, it will be.' Saphron smiled to the girl. 'Terra's a technician for the town's relay tower. Unfortunately, the military's radar system is also housed there.' She smiled down at their child, bouncing him on her lap and cooing at him as he smiled in glee. 'Guess what's been on the fritz lately and who's getting falsely blamed.'

'Me!' Terra whispered from around the corner, and they chuckled as she resigned herself to the accusations on the other side of the line. Saphron addressed the group.

'So, what's your plan for tomorrow?' She asked, and Ruby attempted to response to the woman before realizing her mouth was full of the two sandwiches she had clutched in either hand.

'Well.' She swallowed, letting out a satisfied sigh. 'We're trying to make our way to Atlas. We'll probably start with the military base.'

The three remaining members of JNPR glanced across each other, and Jaune scratched the back of his head. 'So, we kind of already tried that, and it didn't go super great.'

'Come on, it couldn't be that bad.' Yang said, and Jaye shook his head in exasperation.

'Have you ever even seen the military? I'd be surprised if it wasn't worse.' He said, and Yang waved a dismissive hand at the boy.

Outside the base

The gates slid gracefully shut before their faces, locking them indisputably out. The guards on the other end black-eyed the group, and Jaye raised an eyebrow at the insufferably stuffy interior.

'Yeah, this is definitely worse than what I was expecting, so it's pretty much what I expected.' He said, glancing across the girls. 'Well that was a bust, so what now? I say we steal a ship.'

Artemis raised an exasperated eyebrow at the boy. 'We are not stealing a ship.'

'I can totally steal a ship.'

'We are not stealing a ship.'

'I'm stealing a ship.'

'JAYE NO!'

'JAYE YES!'