Chapter 73

Jaune's fist crashed into the wall with a loud crack, the surprising force behind the blow leaving a webbed crack in the cement. The boy panted heavily, his anger and shock clearly overwhelming his usual benign self.

'Jaune!' Ruby exclaimed, reaching for the furious blond as he stalked off across the room.

'Everything we did was for nothing!' He yelled, and Blake raised a consoling hand to him.

'That's not true.' She said, and Nora raised her head out of her hands.

'Really? Cuz it sure does sound like it.' She said, and Ren shook his head.

'If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?' The silent boy voiced the question on everyone's minds. Jaune shook his head, the frustration of the revelation clearly caught up with his temper.

'Wow. Great plan everyone.' He huffed, turning his back on the group to stare out the window behind. Oscar stepped forwards tentatively.

'Look, none of this is great, we know. But we're not the bad guys here.'

'Are we sure about that?' All eyes turned to the blond as he spoke, and Jaye stood up a little straighter as he sensed an impending outburst from the armored boy.

'What?'

'He's in your head, isn't he? Did you already know about this?!' Jaune stalked angrily towards Oscar, increasing in speed as he made for the much smaller boy.

'He didn't know any of it!' Weiss said, gasping in shock as Jaune pushed past the heiress without a second thought. She stumbled backwards, and Jaye caught her before she fell. Seizing the farmhand by his collars, Jaune slammed the boy into the wall with an audible crack.

'How much longer can we even trust him? How do we even know it's really him? What if we've been talking to that liar this whole time!'

'Jaune!' The girls screamed, and the blond turned angrily to face them. Oscar raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, and the light glinted off the sheen of the blade Jaye held in his hand. Ruby glared defiantly at the blond boy, and Jaune, as if snapped out of a trance, slowly released the much smaller Oscar. His face screwed up into a mixture of guilt and anger, and he paced quietly up the staircase next to him. They heard the door on the floor above shut loudly, and the group watched him go quietly. Weiss placed a hand over Jaye's, giving him a dismissive look, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

'Is… he gonna be okay?' Yang asked, and Nora made a sound of anguish.

'I don't know!' She half-yelled, the anger clearly still pushing its way through her better judgement as she in turn stalked up the stairs. Ren, the more level-headed of the bunch, simply shook his head in response to the situation.

'I think it would be best if we had some time to ourselves.' He stated, joining his teammates upstairs. Blake stared down at the carpet.

'Maybe we could all use some space.'

Jaye let his head bump against the maroon stone floor behind him, feeling the snow drop lazily onto the top of his head. Lying across the roof of the house, he watched the snow gently descend into the vast white surrounding them, each snowflake disappearing into just another piece of a bigger whole. He reached out a hand, catching a snowflake in it and closing his fist around the natural phenomenon. He looked up as a rustling sound came from above him (or behind him), raising an eyebrow at the group who'd clambered up onto the roof to join him. He felt someone kick his thigh, glaring up at Kamina who shot him back his signature shit-eating grin. Jaye swore as someone kicked his other thigh, flipping off the offending cat girl as she mirrored the grin. Apollo snorted at the group, earning himself a third rude hand gesture from the raven-haired boy, placing a hand over his chest in mock offense and horror. Jaye swore aloud at the bunch, scratching his head in exasperation.

'You lot are clearly spending too much time with Kamina. Pretty soon I'm going to have three shit-eating morons bugging me instead of the usual two and a half.'

'Wait, who's the half? I mean I know you count for two but is there someone else here we're not seeing?' Artemis placed a finger on her chin, staring intensely at their surroundings as if searching for the supposed invisible person Jaye was referring to. The boy shook his head at the girl.

'You should try looking in the mirror, you'll see em there.'

'You'd know from experience huh?'

'Very funny.'

'I aim to please.' Artemis plopped down beside the boy, inverting her lying down position with Apollo taking the other side. She dropped her head onto Jaye's chest over his shoulder, invading his personal space and settling herself comfortably onto her spot, effectively turning them into human capital Y on the rooftop. Kamina, in all of his shit-eating glory, promptly took his spot on Jaye's stomach, spreading himself flat across the boy. Too exasperated to do anything about it, Jaye simply resigned himself to his fate as Kamina shifted around to find the most comfortable position in which to torture the disgruntled boy.

'Are you lot trying to create a new letter to add to the already expansive alphabet? Because it's not working and I am extremely uncomfortable.' Jaye muttered, attempting to turn his head to glare at the girl only to find it sandwiched between the twins'. Artemis shook her head, making sure to bump him in the chin as she did so.

'Nah, we're just changing to currency. We're ¥ now.' She said.

'You're missing a line.'

'What, you want another person on you?'

'No thanks I'm good.' Jaye grumbled, officially giving up on life and just trying his best to breathe normally with the fox boy draped over him. 'Why do you insist on doing this to me.'

'It's called bonding.' Apollo said.

'I call bullshit.'

'Hi bullshit, I'm dad.'

'Piss off shithead.'

'That's not a nice thing to say to your dad.' Kamina piped up, and Jaye kneed him in the rib. 'Ow.'

'So… doesn't seem like the three musketeers took the news very well.' Apollo said, twiddling his thumbs as he stared up at the slow clouds drifting by. Jaye sighed heavily.

'No, they did not. I can't entirely blame them though; this means a lot more to them than it does for me.' Jaye tried once more to stare at the twins, failing to turn his head before giving up on the action entirely. 'You lot clearly don't give a shit.'

'Yeah, we really don't; we're just here because we have nowhere to go. Whether this Salem bitch can be murdered or not really changes nothing for our communal lives.' Artemis said, wiggling her toes nonchalantly. 'My life was trash before she existed to me, and it's still just as trash now that she does. So, this whole schtick really just means a whole lot of absolutely nothing to me.'

'We twins exist for each other, so my thoughts are pretty much the same.' Apollo sighed. 'Though it was a little disconcerting to find out this is humanity's second time around. I bet I would've been good at magic.'

'Bull. You would've blown yourself up first chance you got.'

'You might be right.'

'I'm always right, what are you talking about?' Jaye chuckled, his face settling back into a thin line. 'Still, I guess it made me feel a little pissed off. After all, Damian was recruited by Salem, supposedly, and now I know that I'm never going to be able to kill that bitch for enabling him like she did.'

'Still, I can see why he'd join her.' Apollo said, flinching slightly as he realized how his words sounded out loud. 'Not that I would I mean, but you know, it makes sense. Aside from the fact that he was ape shit insane, I can kind of see the thought process.'

'Yeah, I get that.' Kamina mumbled, shifting around on Jaye's stomach. 'If she can't die, she can't be stopped. That means that given enough time, she'll win. And if she wins within this lifetime, I'm guaranteed a place in her world. And if you're good, which Damian was, you'd never really fail her. And your power and glory will come only sooner.'

'Yeah, makes sense. If we were who we were back when we were in the Faction, we might have taken her offer too.' Jaye grimaced. 'But I think we've changed for the better, and I have no regrets about it. If dying fighting Salem is what I'm destined to do, then at least I'll have somewhat made up for the lives I've taken with the lives I've saved.'

'Never took you for the kind who'd be trying to make up for his sins. Still, that's not what you're really after here is it?' Artemis asked, prodding the top of Jaye's head with her finger. 'I highly doubt you're working that hard.'

'Heh, you might be right.' The raven-haired boy stared for a long moment at the clouds passing by above them. 'I don't think I ever really thought about making up for my sins at the start; I left the Faction because I wanted to live a different life. I didn't try to erase my sins, I just tried to forget them. I was so happy to live as a new person, where no one knew who I was, and I could just live in a fake peace for as long as I lived.'

'How'd that work out for you?'

'Well I'm bloody stuck here on this roof, aren't I?' Jaye rolled his eyes. 'Of course, my sins caught back up with me. I should've known that they always would. And to a degree I'm thankful they did; I mean I got Mina back. But they still took too many things from me. They took her from me.'

'Which is why you're fighting now.' Kamina said, smiling lazily at the sun gently snow floating down on them. 'Fighting to make things better.'

'That's partially your fault you know.' Jaye said, and Kamina gave him the "surprised hamster look". 'Wipe that stupid look off your face. You started first; before either Indigo or I did. You always looked to free the faunus from slavery and abuse, and even when you got caught your spirit never died. You've always been my biggest inspiration, and even more so now that I'm trying to help people instead of just killing them all the time.'

'I'm so proud of you my son.'

'I thought Apollo was my dad?'

'AWWW GOOD BOY JAYE!' Apollo cooed, rubbing his palm against Jaye's hair. The raven-haired boy rolled his eyes, swatting the hand away.

'Piss off. Anyways, I'll give them some time to get over everything. To me, this is all just flavor text of a game; we'll find the true ending soon enough. I'm here to help people, regardless of what odds stand against us, and I'm just following her.'

'Her?'

'He means blondie.' Kamina said, earning him another knee to the ribs. 'Ow.'

'Well, you're not entirely wrong. But I was actually talking about Ruby.' Jaye said. 'Sure, I love Yang. But in truth Yang's following Ruby not just because they're sisters, but because Ruby very simply always seems to know the right thing to do. And to be honest, I agree with her. That girl always seems to be stable in her morals, no matter how ambiguous the situation, and I don't think anyone can ever shake her in that. So, I'll follow her, because whatever she decides to do is a cause I can fight for.'

'Well isn't that sweet.' Artemis gagged. 'I'm gonna die.'

'Be my guest.' Jaye scoffed, dropping his arms flat across her face and earning a spluttered curse from the cat girl. The group heard someone clear her throat from somewhere, and they glanced up to see Blake at the doorway to the roof. Jaye waved at her, and she waved back blankly.

'Hey Blake. Perfect timing, come lie beside me and we'll complete the ¥.' Kamina called.

'Don't you effing dare.'

'DO IT.'

'PISS OFF DOG SHIT.'

The twins got off the boy as he began to tussle with the fox boy, and Blake cleared her throat louder this time.

'Uhhh, I'm gonna pass on that, but we do need you downstairs, I think we've got a situation.' She said, and the boys immediately stopped their squabble and got to their feet. Jaye dusted the snow off his back, approaching the cat girl.

'What's going on?'

'It's Oscar. He's missing.'

The boy's glanced across each other, turning to the side of the roof. Jaye paced to the edge, placing his hands down on the ledge and staring out over the surprisingly vast city scape. He shook his head quietly.

'That damned kid. Well, I guess we'd better get searching.'