So, this mini-segment wasn't actually in the original plan (the whole sea Grimm thing), but I felt it needed to be added for some lore reasons, and also to highlight some things. As such, it was a sudden addition and College Fool had no idea of it but for a hasty PM. Also didn't get to see this chapter as a result, so any mistakes made are mine.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Dishwasher1910
Book 4: Chapter 5
There was no time to think as it came in, or even to wonder what kind of bizarre Grimm it was. Its conical-shaped head darted in towards us and it was all I could do to throw myself to the side, armour striking the wooden deck as I scrambled for safety.
"Don't fall into the water," Qrow yelled. "Stay on the deck!"
I doubted there was a single one of us who had planned otherwise, but I nodded anyway and readied Crocea Mors – the new Crocea Mors. Her blade shone in the midday sun, but a lightshow was all it was. The Grimm had pulled back once it struck no one, and was now poised once more with its body a good six or so metres from the hull. Its tentacles, still only two, weaved back and forth on either side of it, almost like a snake's tongue flickering to taste the air. Its jaw, split on either side like a dolphin's, opened wide, revealing thousands of tiny teeth. They were nothing like the large fangs of a Beowolf, but I held no doubt they'd be just as deadly with the force of those giant jaws behind them.
A fireball arched through the air, cutting a direct path from the ship to the monster's scaly hide as Weiss took advantage of the time available. As ever, she was the only one with any ranged capability, and Weiss seemed determined to use it to great effect. The fire exploded and splashed against what might have been the creature's chest, heat washing over its form in rippling waves of air. It screeched angrily – the sound a mix between a bird and a snake, and loud enough to make my ears ring. Behind us, I heard the sailors on the other ship cry out and clutch their skulls in pain. It affected all of us too, but we knew better than to take our attention of the tentacles. The previous sailors had made that mistake, and I could well imagine the fate that befell them.
"Attack it when it comes in," Qrow instructed, again somewhat needlessly since it was our only option anyway. "Mage, keep blasting it if it tries to stay out there, but everyone else focus on those tentacles. If we can cut them off, it'll have to bring its head in."
"Can't you cast any combat spells?" I asked.
"They'd drain me more than they'd be worth. I'm more of a melee Druid."
"But you're still a Druid!" I pressed. He'd still have the same spells, in the same way that rapier or not, Weiss was still a Mage and didn't get saddled with a bunch of useless combat skills like some kind of discount Warrior.
"I'll explain when we get to shore," Qrow said, ending the discussion then and there. "Besides, most of my stuff relies on their being some kind of land beneath us. I can't exactly make vines entangle it when the nearest ones are about twenty nautical miles away, can I?"
Okay, that was a better point, even if it meant our Druid had essentially crippled himself by booking them a ship to Mistral. Either way, this wasn't supposed to be happening and there weren't meant to be any Grimm in the strait. If there had been, then far more ships would have been attacked, but we hadn't so much as heard of any but this one – and even the sailors we travelled with, who had more business than any, had no idea about it.
"It's coming in again!" Nora cried out in warning. One of the tentacles had risen into the air, building momentum for a blow. My legs bent, waiting for it to come down – but it did so far to my left, aiming for Ruby and Yang instead. The two were more than fast enough to avoid it, though Yang wasn't able to react in time to attack it before it began its sweep across the deck once more. The others managed with varying levels of success, mostly dependent on what weapons they had, but I narrowed my eyes and focused as it came towards me.
Jump first, I told myself, bending low. Survival was more important than damage in this case, and it would only take a bad blow to knock me off the ship. As the limb came hurtling across, I pushed up and off the deck, swinging down at the same time. My feet cleared it, though I still felt the air whistle underneath. I'd turned my body less like a Knight and more like a Lumberjack, swinging Crocea Mors down between my legs like I was trying to strike a log.
The blade hit the limb coming the other way, and the force behind it caused the cut to be far deeper than through my strength alone. Blood sprang into the air, but I was nearly torn from the ship entirely as the sword bit down and was dragged away. As it was, I managed to hold on and was rewarded when it shook loose, but any longer and I'd have been dragged away.
Once the beast had its limb back beside it, the wound I'd caused didn't look nearly as impressive compared to its huge mass. The chances of it bleeding to death were slim. It would take days.
Still, we'd hit it. Not just me, but others too, and what we could hit, we could kill – given enough time. A quick scan over everyone showed that no one had taken any damage from it either. The odds were in our favour.
The Grimm seemed to realise that too.
Grimm weren't intelligent, at least not on the level of us humans, but neither were animals either and they still managed to learn and adapt, even adopting teamwork in some cases to bring down prey. Whatever counted for a brain inside the monster before us clearly realised its attempt to kill us with a single tentacle had failed. Instead of repeating that again, it raised both into the air instead and brought them down with a mighty crash.
This time, one of them came in my direction. I hesitated for half-a-second, a moment which stretched on as I tried to figure out whether I could hold up my sword and make it sever its own limb, before common sense won out and reminded me that this thing could split a wooden deck in two with a single blow. It might be injured, but my arms would be torn from my sockets instantly. I threw myself to the right, instead, pressing my body against one of the remaining masts. The other came down on Qrow, or would have if the Druid wasn't more than agile enough to get out the way. He scored a much bigger blow on the limb, causing it to actually rear back up and away instead of sweep him aside.
Weiss rushed up behind him and tried to encase the limb in ice, but it cracked and shattered as the prehensile limb undulated and twisted, breaking it off. She didn't give up, however, and instead launched another fireball at the main body.
"Coming our way!" Nora shouted again, drawing my attention back to the tentacle, the second one that hadn't retracted. It repeated the same motion, as did we the same result – but this time when Blake leapt into the air, the tentacle lifted off the deck to follow.
I had just the time to try and cry a warning before it struck, but Blake flashed away as a black shadow, dodging via the use of one of her Skills to appear behind it. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then it was my turn to get by. Rather than duck or jump, I instead scaled three or four metres up the ladder behind me, letting the limb pass below in search of Ren and Nora, neither of which it managed to hit.
The Grimm roared and flailed wildly – throwing aside its caution as it lashed out at the ship we were tethered to. I ducked under one blow and sliced upwards with both hands, cutting a small slice of meat from it, before I was knocked back as it swept across. Nora caught it on her hammer and tried to push it down to trap the limb, but its strength was more than she could manage. She might have fallen from the ship, had not Pyrrha offered her strength in aid, pushing the limb over the Barbarian and away.
We were holding our own and wounding it, but it didn't seem enough. Despite the myriad cuts, the beast wasn't bleeding very much, and definitely didn't look bothered by the damage. In fact, the only one to evoke any real response was Weiss, and only when she struck its body and head. That it was the weak point was obvious – the head was always a good target – but the Grimm was keeping it out to sea where they couldn't hope to reach it. Blake hadn't even bothered throwing her knives since she'd have only five or six shots before she ran out. Unless we could convince the head to come in close, we were in trouble.
Something wrapped around my foot from behind. I glanced back, heart leaping into my throat as I noticed a thinner tentacle having wrapped itself under the hull and come up between the two ships. It had my left foot.
"Behind!" I screamed right as it tugged my back. My face slammed into the deck, Crocea Mors scattering from my grip. My hands grasped for anything to keep hold of as it dragged me back, and Pyrrha hurtled across the deck, sliding on one leg to grasp my hand in hers.
"I've got you!" she hissed, slamming her sword through the wood to anchor her body. Her grip was strong on mine, but her fingers were wet from sea water, mine too, and I could feel them faltering. To my horror, the tentacle began to drag me back, slowly and inexorably, until my feet and legs were dangling off the edge of the ship. "Help!" Pyrrha cried. "Someone cut it! Someone get it off him!"
I didn't see who ran over, too busy trying to kick the limb off with my other foot. I hit it a few times but it was far too strong and spongy, my foot bouncing off uselessly. A sword slashed down – my own – as Ren used it to try and hack the offending tentacle off. He held it two-handed and slashed up and down with great, sweeping cuts. It weakened on the third, gave a solid tug that almost ripped me away on the fourth, but finally severed with a horrible popping sound on the fifth.
The top bit remained wrapped around my foot, but the rest of it disappeared back beneath the waves as the Grimm shrieked in fury and pain. The water roiled and bubbled where it descended, and I breathed out a sigh of utter relief, one hand still on the edge of the deck, the other in Pyrrha's.
"Thanks," I whispered. "You saved me…"
"Not yet." Pyrrha braced her feet and started to drag me up the side of the hull, my feet scrambling for purchase to help her. "Ren," she called. "Cover me in case it tries to sweep me off. Ugh, you're heavy!"
It was probably my armour more than anything. Pyrrha grunted as she dragged me higher, and once it was enough, I hooked a leg onto the deck so that I could pull myself the rest of the way. Pyrrha's hands transferred to my shoulders instead, trying to steady me. From that position, suspended horizontally and with my face pointed down towards the water, I saw the other tentacles come.
They struck between the two ships, wrapping under the hull of the ghost ship and violently rocking the entire thing. The force sent Pyrrha and Ren flying, and propelled me back off the hull as it crashed down into the waves. Pain flashed through me as my back hit the hull of the other ship, and the next thing I knew, all sound had been muted as I crashed down into the water.
The sudden rush of cold water against my face snapped me out of my shock. Up above, I could only make out the vaguest sound of raised voices, the rest drowned out by the rushing water and my own frantic attempts to catch my breath. My hands whirled as I fought to stay above, pushing my head up and taking a great gasp of air before another wave washed over and pushed me back down.
A whirling tentacle caught me in the chest, too. It didn't wrap around me – the beast wasn't even aware of me, too focused on the others – but it did propel me further down and away from the sunlight I could see glimmering above. I reached for it, one hand after another, trying to pull myself up through the water.
And yet it became ever more distant.
My armour was dragging me down. The breastplate was heavy, made even more so by all the additional weight I'd tacked onto it after the Lancer's spear had pierced through. That had been a good idea against Watts and the Grimm, but it would be my undoing now. All my Strength meant little in the water, and my heart raced.
Stay calm, I thought, fighting to ignore the burning in my lungs. I was sinking further, but the ocean floor wasn't that deep in the strait. Tearing off my gloves and letting them sink away, I started to frantically tug at the leather straps holding my armour in place. The water made it harder than it had to be, and my shaking probably didn't help, but I managed to snap one open and loosen one side. Already struggling to breathe, I didn't bother with the other, and instead wriggled out.
The breastplate sank like a stone as I kicked myself free. It kicked up a cloud of silt and dust below, but I was already drifting away. I bumped into something before I could go too far, and quickly grabbed onto it to steady myself. What little air I had streamed out in a muffled scream of bubbles and air.
It was a body.
A dead body.
No, it was many bodies – each of them secured to the floor by some piece of wreckage and then a rope tied about their person, left to float ten or so metres of the seabed like grotesque flowers. Their faces were bulbous and blue, yet frozen in terror. The one I had hold of was a young woman who couldn't have been older than me. In fright, I kicked it away, pushing myself back. What the fuck was going on here?
There wasn't time to figure it out. My lungs were burning, and since I'd exhaled all my air in panic, I had nothing left. I could already feel my vision dimming and a shadow washing over me – except that no, on second thought, that actually was a shadow. For a second, I imagined someone helping me, Blake or maybe Pyrrha diving in to find me.
The truth was far less kind. Blake didn't have teeth that large, nor so many set in multiple rows in a wide maw.
Sharks…
Not even Grimm sharks, but regular ones – which didn't exactly make them any less terrifying. And come to think of it, I was trapped in the middle of a garden of dead bodies on the bottom of the ocean, which might as well have been a shark all-you-can-eat buffet. There were at least ten or twenty, and that was only in the scant distance I could make out.
I couldn't afford to play it safe. My control was shot – my mouth opening to take a desperate gasp of air, despite knowing there was none. Water rushed in, filling my throat before I could stop it. One hand reached up towards the surface, but it was so far away. As my vision faded, I felt powerful jaws latch against my leg.
And nothing more…
/-/
Death wasn't quite what I imagined.
I'd never really thought about it at all, to be honest, but deep inside I didn't feel it would be like hair gently tickling my face, nor warm and soft lips against mine. My eyes opened hazily, noticing a face too close to focus on, just a shape of pale skin and black hair. Blake. I leaned into the kiss, deepening it without really thinking why or how. Just the fact she was there was enough.
Until suddenly, she wasn't – and had in fact torn her face from mine and started to splutter.
"He's alive!" someone – Ruby – crowed.
"And kicking," Yang added. "Or should that be kissing? Makes me wonder how our resident Assassin normally wakes her Knight up, hmm? Anything we should know, Blake?"
My girlfriend's response was typically short. "No."
It also, to my confusion, came from a ways off to my left. But hadn't she just been…? I opened my eyes, and then winced immediately when my head swam. At least it did a better job of that than my body had. "How…?" I whispered. "Who?"
"Who did you tongue?" an annoying voice cackled – Qrow's probably. "That would be him." He jerked a thumb to the side, where Ren was stood, rubbing his sleeve across his tongue with a grimace on his face.
I'd just tongued my best friend… against his will, no less.
The day hadn't started out well, and it didn't look like it was going to end any better. "I'm sorry," I wheezed.
"I'll forgive you," Nora answered.
Not quite what I was going for, but it didn't look like Ren was about to answer. Pyrrha had handed him a cup of something and he was busy downing it to try and wash the taste of me away. I wasn't sure whether I should be offended or not.
Before I could really think to be, my dizzy memories returned.
"What happened…?" I gasped.
"You just made out with-" Yang began.
"Not that. The Grimm… the fight – the ocean. I drowned…"
"You did drown," Blake said, coming over to sit down by my side. Her fingers touched my forehead, and it was only then that I realised how cold I was. Her skin was hot against mine and I leaned into it subconsciously. "Ren just finished working the water out of your lungs. You're lucky he knows first aid, and how to make someone breathe again."
So, I hadn't imagined it. I really had drowned. That was… that was terrifying, to be honest, but the fear was muted by sheer exhaustion. I tried to send Ren a look that conveyed my thanks, but he was still struggling over the less-than-appreciated gratitude I'd shown him.
"How did you find me?" I asked instead. "The last thing I remember was…" I shivered at the image of teeth and muscle. "I remember a shark biting me."
"But not it bringing you to the surface?" Pyrrha asked.
"The surface? Why would a shark…?" I trailed off, following the gaze of just about everyone as they looked to the older man in the cramped cabin. Qrow finished a swig from his hip flask and waved cheekily at me.
"Yo. You think the Class above my head was for show?"
"You… saved me?"
"I asked a shark to," he replied, stashing his drink away and sitting on a stool in a reverse posture, his legs on either side of the back. "Wait, you didn't realise?"
"Why would he?" Yang scoffed. "Most people don't see a shark coming and biting them as a good thing, let alone a rescue attempt."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I should have waited twenty minutes for a dolphin to swim by." Sarcasm dripped from his voice, even if he overdid it by rolling his eyes at the same time. "Honestly, you were lucky there were so many sharks around here, and that they weren't exactly hungry. I can only make suggestions to animals. If they'd wanted a snack, you'd have been food."
"We killed the Grimm," Ruby explained, reading my expression. "When Uncle Qrow noticed all the sharks, he asked them to attack its tentacles from below. Grimm don't normally fight animals, so it didn't even notice them until it was under attack. While that was happening, Weiss burned through the bottom of the mast and we dropped it on the monster's head."
"I was on the top of it," Nora boasted, as though riding a ship's mast down onto a murderous sea-creature was a life goal recently accomplished. "It was awesome. I even got to ride a shark back to the boat."
"Not to mention all the Experience," Pyrrha added. "That thing was huge. I actually gained enough for a level."
She had? I closed my eyes and concentrated, and was surprised to see that I had as well, despite being knocked out of the fight earlier. I'd still taken part, so it probably counted. I made a note to pay more attention to it later, and instead focused on the conversation above and around me.
"Once that was done, we fished you out of the water," Ruby said. "We brought you here and we're back on our way to Mistral. We left the other ship behind."
"It's bound to sink in a few hours anyway," Blake said. She kept her hand on my forehead. "We did rescue your sword, but your armour was nowhere to be seen."
"I left it on the ocean floor," I croaked. "Too heavy."
She nodded to show she understood. I'd have to get some more later, but for now I was relieved to just be alive, let alone that I still had my brand new sword. Losing that would have been a problem, especially considering what lay ahead.
"No survivors and no explanation for the Grimm, though," Weiss said, sitting on a stool nearby. The Mage looked drained, likely due to the vast number of spells she'd been made to cast, all while ducking and diving over the various tentacles.
"The Captain will report it in Mistral," Qrow said. "They'll have the navy out to investigate, though I'd imagine that was a one-off thing, and it's not like it's a problem anymore. Still, you're not wrong. Something like that out here? It doesn't make sense. There wouldn't be enough negativity to spawn it, let alone draw it out from deeper waters."
A dead body floated in the air before me. I gagged.
"Jaune?" Blake shook me, suddenly worried. "What's wrong? Ren! Ren, there's something wrong!"
It wasn't. Not like that. I struggled against Blake's fierce grip and against Ren when he appeared at my side, a hand on my throat to check my windpipe. "I'm fine," I rasped. "It's not that. It's… the bodies."
"What?"
"Bodies in the water," I repeated, trying desperately to explain. Qrow motioned for everyone to be silent and to give me space. I explained as best I could, doing my best to cut out the parts about how close to death I'd been and focus instead on what exactly it was I'd bumped into. No one interrupted, though Ruby turned away with an expression caught between sorrow and disgust. Once I was done, we sat in silence, myself lying back as Blake's hand returned to brush my fevered brow.
"That would explain the sharks," Qrow finally said, breaking the silence. "I thought it odd, but there could have been a reef down below. How many were there?" he asked. "A ship like that would have had six, maybe eight crew tops."
"More than that. There were…" I sighed. I wanted to say hundreds, but that was a number pulled out of nowhere and it wasn't like I'd had all the time in the world to look around. My vision had been impeded by the water, but I'd seen shapes and shadows leading off into the distance. "There were more than eight," I said at last. "And some of them definitely weren't sailors. Not even close."
"Heroes?" Pyrrha asked. "Guards?"
I shook my head. "Children."
She looked away; eyes clenched shut as she thought to remain calm. The specific Class didn't matter. A child was a child.
"It sounds like they were killed purposefully," Qrow said. "No other reason to weigh them down like that, and in such numbers too. I guess it makes sense how something so big could spawn – the crushing fear of so many people…" The Druid trailed off, suddenly realising his audience and what effect his words were having on them. "Well, it looks like we have our explanation, and maybe also the answer to what happened to the residents kidnapped by the Greycloaks."
"You think they did this?" Yang asked angrily.
"I think it's as good an answer as any. Someone in Mistral would have noticed a sudden influx of new people, and we lost a lot of villagers. I… I've no idea why they would do this. I mean, what purpose would Grimm spawning in the strait serve anyone? But still, Mistral and Vale certainly wouldn't, nor would pirates or anyone else."
"It's an act of mindless cruelty," Weiss hissed.
"Not mindless," Blake countered. "There must be some reason to it."
"What possible reason, Blake!? Why would anyone do this?"
"Oi, calm down." Qrow's stern glare silenced Weiss before she could lose her temper. "She's right, harsh as it is to admit it. The Greycloaks must have a reason to have done this. The method is too specific. They could have just thrown people overboard and most would have died, but weighing them down and drowning them? That seems designed to do something more. What's the difference between tossing someone over and weighing them to the bottom?"
"They can't drift away," Ren answered. "It would keep the negativity concentrated to a specific area. Stronger swimmers, lucky currents or any other factor might spread the dying around if they were merely thrown to die."
"Good point. So, it looks like they had a clear plan with this. They wanted a Grimm in the strait, and more than that, they wanted one Grimm if possible. One, big, angry bastard." Qrow sighed. "Question still remains as to why, but I don't think we'll be able to figure that one out here. Maybe if we can catch one of them next time, I can find out." His hand tightening on the back of the chair hinted at what fate might befall such a prisoner. I couldn't bring myself to feel any pity, nor, apparently, could any of the others.
If we'd been uncertain about the Greycloaks before, this cemented our hate. They weren't just revolutionaries or traitors; they were monsters. Monsters worse than the Grimm – who needed to be stopped, killed. They needed to suffer like these poor people had. My eyes closed, but even that was no solace from the bloated, agonised face that haunted my thoughts.
Qrow must have noticed, for he took pity on me and quickly stood. "Alright, I think he's had enough excitement for today. Kid nearly drowns, then gets to make out with his friend-" Ren glared at Qrow. "-and that's bound to be enough to tucker him out. All of you out, yeah, even you, dark and glarey." He nodded pointedly at Blake, who was indeed glaring at him. "You can come and cuddle with your boyfriend later. He needs rest."
Despite some grumbling, the others slowly began to depart, each pausing to wish me well or smile in my direction – even Ren now that his initial disgust was gone. After a few moments, it was just me and Qrow, the two of us alone in a room I suddenly realised I didn't recognise.
"The Captain's quarters," Qrow said, reading my gaze. "After what happened, he was only too happy to offer its use to you. They'd all be shark food if it wasn't for us. You won't be disturbed here, even if I can't offer you the longest rest. We'll hit Mistral in a little under six hours."
I nodded, trying to shift myself into a sitting position but giving up when the effort proved too much. My chest still burned and I was taking in great gulps of air, but that must have been reflex. That or maybe some salt water had gotten into my lungs, making them itch. A puddle on the wooden floor nearby hinted that might have been the case and that Ren must have forced me to vomit it all up. I owed him my life, but he wasn't the only one.
"Thank you for saving me," I said. "If it wasn't for you, I'd have drowned."
"Heh, no problem, kid." Qrow dragged the seat across the floor and settled it by my left shoulder, sitting down on it again. "I'm not one to leave someone in trouble if I can help it, even if part of me wonders whether I put you in it in the first place."
"What do you mean…? It was the Captain's decision to investigate the ship."
"Not that." He sighed and waved his hand. "No matter, it's not really important. Short story is that you lived and I don't have to explain to Ozpin why one of his students died on my watch. Nor do I have to put up with Ruby and your girl trying to murder me." He grinned and poked my cheek. "Those two were really worried about you."
"I imagine everyone was," I croaked.
"True, but those two more than most. Ruby was on the verge of tears, and then actually did cry when you came back up not breathing – and then she cried some more when you started to breathe again."
I sighed and closed my eyes. "Ruby's a good friend. I'll have to say sorry."
"You really don't get it, do you?" Qrow sighed. "Don't say sorry, either. You apologise for living and she's like to cry again, or maybe just smack her scythe over your head for saying something so stupid. Trust me, if a girl is happy to see you're alive, you accept it and give her a hug. Don't try and say sorry or shit." He grinned after a second's thought. "And don't try to force your tongue down her throat, either. Or his."
"I'd hit you if I could move…"
"Well as your last-remaining doctor, I'd advise you don't. You'll be exhausted for a bit, but it'll wear off. Once we reach Mistral, we'll stay at an inn for the night. We'll need information before we move on anyway, and I'm not likely to get that until daybreak. You can get some more rest there. You'll also need some new armour, probably." He nodded to the sheets over me. "Your clothing is drying if you didn't realise. We had to strip you down."
I hadn't realised, and I peeked under the sheet, letting out a sigh of relief when I saw I had a clean and dry pair of underwear on. Ren must have raised my pack and clothed me – or at least I hoped it had been Ren or Qrow, and that none of the girls had been witness to my naked body being stripped. So distracted was I at the thought, that I didn't notice Qrow's hand until it was about my amulet.
"Interesting trinket…" He raised an eyebrow when I yanked it back quickly, enclosing my fist about it. "Important, I take it? Alright, I get it. No need to keep glaring at me. Not every day you see a magical amulet, though. Just looking at it, I can feel some unusual." He eyed me curiously, though without any suspicion. "You have any idea what it does? It might be a pretty handy trinket if you get someone to test it."
A handy trinket, indeed. It felt warm in my hand, but there was none of the magical energy he spoke of. Then again, I wasn't someone who could use it, so maybe it was something I couldn't sense. Was it possible that each and every magic user had been aware of what I had? Was it actually possible that Weiss knew…?
No, of course it wasn't. They'd have said something if they had, and Qrow's words implied he only knew it was magical, not what it did. Weiss must have been the same, and perhaps never brought it up because she didn't feel it any of her business. She'd had her elixir gifted by her sister, so it wasn't beyond reasoning that I might have my own little secret.
The question, of course, was what I could say to Qrow about it. He was watching me even now, his gaze sharp but not particularly challenging. I knew it would be different if he knew what I really was. Everyone's would be.
"It helps me out," I finally said, not quite confident enough to open my hand and reveal it lest he try and take it off me. Even if it was just to test it himself, it would be enough to expose me. "It gives me a little boost to my Dexterity. It's my weakest Stat."
"Your weakest? I would have thought that would be Resilience."
"My weakest combat Stat," I amended, recalling at the last second that my Stats weren't what a Knight's should have been.
"Eh, I'll buy it. Maybe it's that or maybe it's more. Maybe it's nothing but a family heirloom, certainly looks it from how hard you're guarding it." He smirked when I clutched it a little tighter. "None of my business, and I suppose you're not so bad after all."
"For a Knight?" I asked.
"For a Knight," he agreed, smiling. "Though I have to say, you remind me more of a Warrior I used to know. Not in looks or such – she was much prettier than you – but more in how often you get dragged into trouble. First Atlas, then the Greycloaks and now this? That's a lot for someone your age to be taking on. Anyone would think you'd done your best to seek out such things."
"Seek out…?" My eyes widened, and I sighed out loud. "Is that what you meant earlier? You thought I'd purposefully looked for all of that?"
Far from being apologetic, Qrow simply shrugged. "Maybe. To be fair, I didn't have much to go on, did I? Ruby was all keen to sprout your praises, but you know what she's like. Girl would probably befriend a blatant enemy, and then be surprised when they turned on her. All I saw was a group of people who had no right to be fighting such opponents, and the Knight who always seemed to be at the centre of it."
"Still," he continued, "Looks like I was wrong there, and I suppose I might as well say I've never been happier to be wrong. Forgive an uncle for worrying over his nieces, eh?"
"It's fine."
"Huh, really? Just like that?" Qrow laughed and leaned his elbow on one knee, planting his chin atop his hand. "You know, you could have done to extort something out of me as an apology. I might have been convinced to buy your forgiveness. Maybe a little rumour on Ruby or Yang – maybe even some advice for handling your girlfriend, or even some trinket to make you stronger."
"If you had something like that, I'd rather you give it to Ruby," I said. "She's always getting into trouble."
"That sounds like her. Yeah, I'd best to what an uncle has to do and look out for her. I guess that's more proof you're like my old friend, I guess. She always thought of others before herself – always the first to give up some item if she thought someone else would benefit more." He snorted out loud. "Even when sometimes she should have been a little more selfish."
I had no idea who he was talking about – maybe an old friend or Guild mate. Whoever it was, he regarded them favourably though, which probably meant I'd passed some kind of test. A part of me wanted to ask what the Knights were like, if only because this wasn't the first time I'd heard such disregard, and my own encounter with one was coloured with the memory of him saving my life, sacrificing his own at the same time.
"You're not totally like her, though," he said. "You've got a fierce survival instinct, kid. I like that. To have made it through all the things you have, I'd wonder if your Passive wasn't something related to that. `Never say die` or something. Am I close?"
"Not quite," I chuckled, voice a little weaker than I'd have liked. "I'm afraid that's just fear on my part. You'd be surprised how much being afraid has kept me out of trouble."
"Not as much as you'd expect, I imagine. Fear is a useful tool. It keeps us safe. You should keep hold of it, Jaune Arc. Master it if you will, but never think for a second of getting rid of it. It'll serve you well in the future. People say they love stories of heroics, but they like seeing their loved ones come home alive more. That survival instinct means Ruby gets to cry tears of relief and not grief. It means your girlfriend isn't mourning a lost lover, and the rest of your Guild can still smile and laugh about you tonguing your friend. None of that would be possible without fear."
"Your friend," I asked, afraid I already knew the answer. "What happened to her?"
"She wasn't afraid of anything. Not Grimm, not bandits, not even death. And so, one day, she died. She went out as unafraid as ever, and I can only imagine she got into something she couldn't handle, because like always, she wasn't afraid." He sighed. "Maybe she died unafraid, too. I've no idea. All I know is that we weren't the same. We suffered. We wept. It's always those left behind who do, which is why I'd rather Ruby trust her heart with someone keen to keep on coming back." Qrow clapped my shoulder lightly and rose to his feet. "Get some rest, kid. I dare say you've earned it after today."
Something clicked in my mind as he stood, and I struggled past my worn muscles to sit up on the bed. "That woman," I called, stopping him before he could leave.
"Hm?"
"That was Ruby's mother, wasn't it?"
Qrow let out a long sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, it was. A braver Warrior there never was, and not a better Hero either. Ruby takes after her, you know. That girl isn't afraid of anything."
And that was the problem. That was what Qrow was saying. That was why the Druid had taken such an immediate dislike to him, thinking that he'd maybe played on Ruby's lack of fear to convince her into all the dangerous Quests we'd been on. That maybe Yang had followed just to try and keep her sister safe. I let out a long sigh. "I'll keep her safe, Qrow. I promise."
"You and me both, kid. And Yang, too." He waved one hand, smiling at me as he made to leave. He paused at the door, however, and nodded back and to my side. "There's some hot soup there for you if you can get it down. I know it'll be tough, but you need the sustenance. Might want to finish it before the peanut gallery comes back in to make sure I haven't killed you or something. I can feel them hovering around outside and above."
He was probably right. Even Weiss would want to check on me. I made a mental note to slip back into a dry tunic when he left. For the moment, my stomach rumbled and I looked to the steaming bowl. "What is it?"
"Shark fin soup."
I stared at him.
He smiled back.
"Please don't tell me you killed the shark that saved my life…"
"Sure. I won't tell you." Qrow cackled and pushed the door open. "Later, kid."
I stared at the bowl once he'd left, hoping against all hope it was a lie, until my self-control finally gave and I picked it up off the desk to rest it on my knees. I took a tentative sip, eyes closed in apprehension.
It was beef and vegetable.
What an asshole.
And there we go for another chapter and some trouble on the high seas. Indeed, the Greycloaks have been busy, and not in a way any of the Guild expected. What is their plan? What do they hope to achieve? What will await our intrepid heroes in Mistral?
Will Ren get a chance to seal the deal with Jaune!?
Find out next time.
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Jaune Arc
Level 26 (+1)
Blacksmith
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Str: 68 (+4) (A)
Con: 54 (+2) (B)
Dex: 15 (+0) (D) (Rune: 19)
Agi: 25 (+1) (C)
Int: 35 (+3) (C)
Wis: 45 (+3) (B)
Cha: 13 (+1) (D)
Res: 70 (+5) (A)
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Passive Skill
-Fire from the Forge-
Immunity to heat, flames and associated damage caused from his forging process.
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Known Active Skills
-Stoke the Forge-
Generate intense heat in the hand for a short period of time, capable of super-heating metal to forging temperatures without the use of a forge.
-Quench-
Rapidly cool metal-based material to achieve a hardening effect during the forging process. Quench can only be used in metallurgy, as opposed to Stoke the Forge, which can generate heat in the hand irrespective of what it is then used on.
-Runesmithing-
The ability to etch Runes onto weapons, the effect of which is determined by the Rune itself. Limited to a single Rune per weapon.
-Runes-
Rune of Minor Dexterity - +4 to Dexterity
Rune of Minor Constitution - +4 to Constitution
I fixed the runes missing the Con one here. While it can obviously be inferred that this means there are minor and major for each, it's worth noting that Jaune is working from runes copied off some broken stone pillars he found. Knowing they exist doesn't mean he has them. He needs to find and decipher runes first.
Next Chapter: 30th October
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
