As noted on other stories, I am having a week off this Christmas. Just noting it on each because some readers only read one or two stories, etc. The day that you will NOT get a Forged Destiny chapter is the 24th December. Updates will resume normally the week after.
If in doubt, always check the date at the bottom of an existing chapter.
Troll still impersonating people in reviews and making racist comments. Ignore.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Dishwasher1910
Book 7: Chapter 9
"This is what we're currently using as our meeting room," Lisa said, leading us into an open room with a few comfortable looking couches, replete with fur blankets and cushions. "Not exactly formal, but then neither are we. Please, take a seat. Would you like a drink? Ale, water?"
The thought of yet more ale was enough to make me shiver. "Water, please. This is a more open venue than I expected."
"We like to keep things out in the open," she said, pouring us each a glass from a single tankard. "Our goal is to be as public as possible, the better to catch the attention of the King and his Court. We're not criminals, so why should we hide in the shadows? Here."
"Thank you," I said, taking the drink. "And criminals or not, I'm surprised you'd feel comfortable enough to be so open. You must know the Nobles aren't going to like you for what you're suggesting. Aren't you worried they might take things into their own hands?"
"I suppose I am." Lisa's fingers drummed the side of her glass as she sat down. "If they were to send Assassins for me, I would have nowhere to hide. But then, if they were willing to go that far, what good would hiding do me?"
For a moment, she looked incredibly vulnerable – and she knew it. Her eyes were haunted, her hands quaking. With a purposeful motion, she quaffed her drink and slammed the glass down.
"But in the end, someone has to pay that price. Could I ask it to be someone else when it is I who desires change?" She shook her head. "How selfish. No, it has to be me. And if they wish me to die for my beliefs, so be it. The people can watch and see just how little the laws of this Kingdom protect those of the Labour Caste."
Lisa's plan was to be a martyr then. I could tell she didn't want that, to die, and in a way, she'd set martyrdom up as a way to protect her. By being in the open, she let the Nobles know that an Assassin's blade would only aid New Dawn's cause. It was a dangerous gamble. All it would take would be one person who didn't care enough about the consequences.
She knew it, too. There was no one else in Vale as vulnerable as she was now and being around me didn't help much. Unless she thought it might. I'd proven myself stronger than Cinder, though that was a technical thing more than anything else. In terms of Stats and Levels I'd been weaker, only winning out because my Blacksmith Skills countered hers so thoroughly.
Still, the average Assassin might hesitate to try their luck with me around.
She was passionate. I'd give her that. "You really believe in all this, don't you?"
"And you're not?" she replied. "I've seen the inequality from both sides. I have a unique perspective… or, I thought I did." Her eyes met mine. "You have the same thing, albeit from different Classes. Like me, you've seen how our Caste is seen, how they are used."
"I have…"
"It's not easy for others to feel the same. They experience the mistreatment, but they don't see the superiority that other Castes feel, the sheer prejudice that marks us as lesser citizens. I was cast away by my family and only a single man raised a hand to help! The laws that should have protected me did not. The stigma a parent should have felt for abandoning their child should have affected my father, but it did not. Because I am a Farmer. Because I am a worthless NPC, no one batted an eye. It's not fair."
It wasn't, I could agree with that. It wasn't fair for me to fight alongside the Guild in Vacuo, prove my worth, and then face expulsion from Beacon, either. It was one thing for Ozpin to try and hide my involvement to protect me, but a fairer world would have recognised my capability and let me stay at Beacon. Instead, I'd only been invited back because the words over my head sometimes became that of a Hero's.
"You said earlier that you didn't want revenge."
"I don't," Lisa argued, "But I won't lie and pretend I'm not affected by what happened. It gave my greater insight into affairs of the Kingdom. In the end, it doesn't matter. I don't want to go back to what I was, not knowing what I do now. I want to change things. I want to change laws, society, the way we're treated. I want to make things better."
Lisa looked up, her eyes meeting mine.
"And I would like to ask for your help."
Even though I'd known it was coming, the request still tore a hole through my stomach. It was bad enough she looked at me with such earnest eyes, but the fact I was working for the Nobles she had already been betrayed by once made it worse. I was working with the King and Ozpin, and even though it wasn't to stop New Dawn but the Greycloaks, it would mean little to Lisa Lavender. I'd still be lying to her, using her, and then leaving her behind.
In doing so, I wondered if I'd be any better than the bastard who had cast her out.
"I've also heard you've had… issues with your Guild."
Word travelled quick, just as Ozpin said. I didn't know if it was the Greycloaks that told her or just rumours spreading from Beacon out over Vale, but she said it with the casual certainty of someone who had no reason to doubt her sources.
"You could say that."
"I can only begin to imagine what it must feel like. I don't like to assume, but… is it due to your Caste?"
"It's related."
"I see." Lisa nodded sympathetically. "I won't delve. If you would like somewhere to stay, I'd be happy to put you up for a while."
"Here?" I asked.
"Not here. This is more a place for us to meet and speak. I don't live far away, however."
Staying close to her would give me the best bet of catching her in contact with the Greycloaks. I didn't think asking straight out would be a good idea. I'd be missed at the Palace, but the King, Hazel and Saren knew what I was doing. One of them would no doubt cover for me, maybe even Saren slipping a body double into my room to make it look slept in.
"If that's okay with you, I'll accept. I… don't think I'm welcome at the Guild right now."
Lisa's smile was all the answer I needed.
I felt guilty even looking at it.
/-/
Lisa's home was, in fact, not her house. It was a large building which served as a home for many people – most of which made up the poorest and most destitute of Vale's citizens. One might have compared it to an orphanage for adults, with a centralised kitchen and common room, but each inhabitant essentially being limited to a single, small room with the barest of amenities. A bed, a wash pan, some small books stacked on a rickety wooden shelf and a few threadbare blankets.
I'd expected more – and then immediately felt terrible for thinking it.
"Well, here we are," Lisa said, with the kind of forced cheer only someone desperately trying to ignore an uncomfortable situation could muster. "Make yourself comfortable. I-I know there isn't much room, but home is where the heart is, huh?"
"It's nice." I said, the lie coming easily. "I've definitely seen worse places." And that wasn't necessarily untrue.
Lisa's relief was obvious. "I'm kinda glad. I wasn't exactly left with much when I was kicked out." She kicked off her boots and sat on the threadbare bed while I laid a blanket out on the floor. "Work isn't great around here for a Farmer. There are a couple of small farms outside the walls, but for the most part food is imported into Vale."
"I know. We had farmland back home. So, there's no work for a Farmer? Why stay?"
"Because Vale is my home. I was born here, I grew up here. My father may want me gone, but Vale is my home and I love it. I don't want to move away. Apart from the fact it would feel like letting him win, I don't think it's fair for certain Classes to have to leave."
I didn't have the same problem, being a Blacksmith. Production Classes fit everywhere, as long as there wasn't stiff competition. A Farmer like Lisa though, she'd have to go where the soil was fertile. Or do as she was now and go unemployed.
"Why not take donations from your followers? Surely, New Dawn can support you."
"All of New Dawn's support goes into the cause. I won't take any for myself."
"And how is the cause going?"
"It… It's going." She looked away, kicking her feet against one another. It was cramped in the room, uncomfortably so, and Lisa seemed to be… not regretting my presence, but wishing we were a little less pressed in. "The Nobles have started to take note of us, even if they're painting us as violent anarchists. Once more people hear our cause and join, we can push for concession. The Labour Caste may be weak individually, but we have numbers. If we cannot speak as well as the Nobles, then we shall speak louder."
"What about the protest at the Palace? I heard that went badly."
Lisa's smile fell. "Yes. I was not there, but I left the organising of it to someone I thought I could trust. I'm not sure if it was they who led it poorly or one idiot who threw the rock. It only takes one person, however…"
"Who was it you put in charge?" I asked, recalling the Greycloak.
"Someone I know," Lisa evaded. "A friend."
"Will I get a chance to meet them?"
"Perhaps." Lisa sighed and snuffed out the candle, leaving the room in darkness but for the moonlight streaming past the linen curtains. She laid back on her bed and drew the cover up. "I can't promise you will or won't. I don't make the decisions there."
I paused in bunking down. "I thought you were in charge of New Dawn?"
"I am the leader, but… it's not as simple as that. I lead New Dawn; they… they are more of a separate thing."
"You don't sound so certain."
"I am," she stammered, "It's… It's not something worth talking about. Maybe tomorrow. We can go and eat at a friend of mine's, I'm sure they'd be happy to serve us breakfast. From there, there are so many people I'd like you to meet. Like-minded individuals, those who want to see Vale do better, be better." Lisa's hesitation trailed off as the excitement kicked in once more.
I couldn't blame her for it. I think that if I'd not been where I was, if I hadn't been a part of the Guild and determined to stop the Greycloaks, that I might honestly have set everything aside and followed her. I might have joined New Dawn and worked to make her vision a reality.
But I wasn't, and no matter how much I liked her vision, I didn't want to leave the Guild behind. We were fighting, but we were still family.
"Goodnight, Lisa," I said, rolling over to try and get comfortable on her cramped floor.
"Goodnight," she returned.
Outside the window, a crow cawed.
/-/
Floorboards creaked outside the door.
My breath caught as it had every time, but the footsteps passed on once more. It was late, Lisa fast asleep, and I couldn't quite manage the same. I was used to sleeping in tight confines in the Lodge, but this was so much worse. The walls were thin enough that I could hear someone snoring in the room to the left, the floorboards outside creaky enough that every step stretched on.
Another person walked by, a low thud-thud-thud and the occasional creak of wood bending. Occasionally, it was broken by a door opening and closing. The inhabitants tried to be quiet and never slammed their doors, but the structure itself was so old that it didn't matter. Lisa had obviously gotten used to it.
I hadn't.
It's like the communal dorms all over again, I thought. Those had been dire, even if Ren and I had only stayed in them for a little over a month. At least those were designed to be bad, to push students to start adventuring, farm lien in the Emerald Forest and gain the Exp they'd need to survive and graduate Beacon. This was supposed to be an actual home for people.
Were I in her shoes, I think I'd have left Vale by now and sought my fortune elsewhere.
Easy for me to say. I can't imagine my parents disowning me. Even at the hardest times, when they'd all been young, and no one could help Mom or Dad bring in money, there had been love. We'd tightened our belts and gratefully accepted the charity of our neighbours – all of which Mom and Dad paid back in time – but there had never been a moment where it felt like our parents regretted having us.
But Ansel had been a Labour Caste village at the end of the day. Six or seven people from the Soldier Caste to make up the militia, but that was it and they often changed on a rotation, so you didn't get used to the same people. It was why I'd been left so surprised when I'd come to Beacon and realised just how little things stood up to bedtime stories.
Heroes lived hard lives, they could fail – and Soldiers were the proof of that. When you were on the bottom rung of the ladder, anything above you look good. Living it, you got to see that life wasn't quite so simple.
New Dawn's ideas were attractive, I'd freely admit. A way to shorten the gap between those rungs, but I wasn't sure I saw it happening. It only worked in Vacuo because the land there was so barren and tortured that people couldn't afford to limit particular Classes to particular roles. Everyone had to carry their own weight.
It wouldn't have worked in Mistral either, with their rigid Caste system. Atlas? I couldn't say, but the Mages seemed to have an iron hold over the situation.
Vale was possible the most open place, and the one where it could more likely work, but knowing what I did about the King and the Nobles – and the willingness of the King to kill all of New Dawn if necessary to root out the Greycloaks, I couldn't see it lasting. I couldn't see change coming unless a King or Queen took power who wanted those changes.
The window clicked gently.
It was a quiet sound, near-silent, and I'd not have heard it if I wasn't already awake and hyper-sensitive to all the other noises going on. I kept still but angled my head in that direction. Was Qrow trying to get in or let me know about something?
The tap-tap continued but was followed by a click sound as the latch was opened.
I knew what it meant immediately. Someone was coming in the window – someone who shouldn't be. I was familiar with how the latches in Vale worked thanks not only to having a window in my room back at the Lodge, but also after inviting an Assassin to sneak through it on numerous occasions. Blake's approach was always discrete, but I'd grown used to catching it.
Further away, a crow cawed three times. The first time quiet, then louder, alarmed. The sound did not come from directly on the other side of the window.
Lisa shuffled on her bed but didn't wake up.
The window swung open quietly.
Had I not been listening, I'd have missed it.
The figure was too light to be Qrow, moved too softly. It swept its legs up over the window without making a noise, body contorting to fit through the small space. He was but a shadow silhouetted against the moonlight. An indistinct shape of a man or a woman, little more. He or she paused on the sill, no doubt looking over each of them. Surprised, perhaps, by the additional person in the room.
The figure pushed itself off the windowsill and fell quietly onto the floorboards, crouching with one hand down to soften the impact.
The second they touched down, I moved. My feet – boots still on – slammed out for its face.
The figure recoiled at the sudden assault. Arms came up to block its face and light glimmered off a dagger clutched in one hand. Even so, the impact struck and knocked him back, throwing the figure against the sill. His top half almost fell out, but he caught himself.
Flat on my back, unarmed, my sword by the door, I threw myself at the man before he could get into a better position. Lurching up left me vulnerable – something he might have taken advantage of – but the room was also cripplingly small. I'd managed to grab his left arm before he could do anything.
It didn't last. His right – the one with the dagger – rushed in for my throat. It bounced off my arm, the blade slicing a thin line across cloth and flesh but not puncturing. The sound of ripping fabric tore through Lisa's quiet snores, waking her immediately.
Seeing two people grappling at the end of her bed, her window open, she screamed.
I caught the assassin's eyes flick in her direction and then narrow. Their face rushed forward, forehead crashing against my chin. I let it knock my back but kept hold of their arm, knowing I couldn't let them have any distance.
In return, he shoved his hand into a pouch at his waist and tossed some herbs up towards my face. A faint hint of garlic and something else wafted by my nose.
Poison? I'd never worked with it before and Blake didn't use it. I held my breath regardless and closed my eyes as it hit, striking out with my free hand in the vague direction of their face. It hit something. There was a crunch and a muffled, masculine gasp.
Lisa screamed again, likely at the sight of the knife as it tore into my shoulder, digging through flesh.
I grunted and stumbled, surprised. The pain was there – burning hot – but I was used to it. The Assassin was obviously less used to his quarries having such endurance and tried to slip past, thinking me done.
"B-Back," Lisa wept. "Get back!" She went for my sword.
Bad move.
The Assassin would have had her there but for my shoulder hitting the back of his legs, carrying him down. We fell onto Lisa as she scrambled for Crocea Mors, the three of us tangling on the floor. She thrashed about wildly and to little avail, leaving me to wrestle one hand around the Assassin's knife hand and the other around his throat.
Something bit into my hip – another blade of some kind, smaller. I grunted and clenched my hand tighter, cutting off his air. All the while, my other hand kept the knife away from Lisa.
Footsteps echoed outside. Finally, someone was coming to investigate the noise.
Kicking off the ground, I rolled back, dragging my opponent with me, off Lisa's panicked body. In doing so, I was able to roll the smaller knife out my hip and trap his hand under my side.
Lisa reached Crocea Mors and slid it across the floor towards me, not even drawing it, she was so afraid. The Assassin's saw it and struggled harder, biting down on my wrist.
I ignored it and Crocea Mors. While the thought was there, the room was too cramped to properly use it, and Assassins specialised in getting in close, where a sword was more a liability than an asset. That meant my Swordmaster Class was equally useless, having not a single benefit over being a Blacksmith when I was unarmed. In fact, it was far weaker, having not a single Skill I could use.
Blacksmith Skills, though? Well, that was a different story.
"Sorry," I whispered to the man, bringing my hand off his neck and over his mouth. "This isn't going to be a nice way to go."
The advantage of having my hand over his mouth as I Stoked the Forge was that it cut off his screams. The disadvantage was that I felt every scream against my hand, his agony against my body as he bucked and writhed.
It was not a quick death, though I tried to make it so.
Lisa was sobbing when I was done, when he was done. His body fell limply to the floor, his face burned and mangled beyond all recognition. For her benefit, I drew the Assassin's hood up, hiding the mess. It wasn't someone I'd seen or recognised, and judging from the fact I didn't gain so much as half a level from him, he hadn't been as strong as I.
I had a moment to wonder when killing had become as blasé as that for me, a simple case of book-keeping, when the door was wrenched open.
Two guards stood there, Vale tabards marking them as the Night Guard, simply the local law enforcement when the sun went down, a rich blue tabard lined with white, designed to stand out as best any colour could in the moonlight. At the sight of them, Lisa let out a relieved cry and surged forward.
I caught her by the arm and dragged her back.
"It took you less than three minutes to get here," I said softly, eyes narrowed. "Three minutes for a cry to reach the street, for you to figure out which building it was, which room, and to make your way here. With reactions like that, you must be the most efficient guards in the Kingdom." I cracked a desperate, angry smile. "Or you knew this was going to happen."
Lisa flinched. "W-What?"
The `Guards` didn't say a word. Both surged forwards, drawing their weapons and making Lisa scream again in fright.
I cut her off by knocking her back, twisting to the side of a sword thrust and kicking Crocea Mors into the air. They were quick – but only that. Not fast like Blake, Pyrrha or Ruby. Lower level, I realised, catching the other's axe under the haft. My other hand gripped Crocea Mors but didn't draw it.
"You're a little outmatched here," I said, without a hint of arrogance. "How about you both back away and let us go. No one can blame you for being unable to beat a Hero."
They considered it. The woman looked to her companion, but he shook his head and hefted his axe a little higher. A true Barbarian, as per his Class. He roared and charged straight for me, looking to cut me down like a lumberjack might a tree.
I didn't have the time to waste. This stunk of a full-scale attack, and Qrow's absence only confirmed to me that something was going on outside. The Druid would have been here to help if he could. Drawing Crocea Mors, I caught and diverted his overhead attack to the side, brought the tip to his chest, then aimed and stabbed a little lower.
The Barbarian screamed as the sword went through his thigh, cutting through his padded quilt armour, flesh and muscle. It might have hit an artery; it was hard to tell. He dropped the axe and fell back, and his companion rushed to steady him.
That was our cue to leave. Turning, I scooped Lisa up in my arms, ignoring her startled gasp. The window was still open from the Assassin, so I leapt up onto it and briefly looed outside. There was a roof down below, one of those overhanging things by the front door – only about four feet of slate tiles or so, but enough to break our fall.
"W-Wait," Lisa yelled. "I can't survive that!"
"You'll be fine. Hold on."
Rather than give her time to doubt, I jumped out the window, grunting as her arms latched around my neck like a vice. We hit the slate hard and some gave way, shearing off the roof and down to the street below. I skidded and crouched low to try and limit the damage. Even so, we rolled off the edge and I had to get my feet beneath us as Lisa held on for dear life.
Luckily, the drop wasn't too bad. I made it with a grunt and a stumble, falling to one knee and placing Lisa down on the ground beside me. I had a feeling I'd pulled a muscle, but nothing too bad, which was lucky because more people dressed as the Night Guard were approaching.
"You know, the guards wouldn't patrol in such numbers," I pointed out tiredly. "And they certainly wouldn't have burning brands ready to set a fucking building on fire."
This time, Lisa didn't need me to point out the obvious. She scurried back against the wall, leaving me between her and the fifteen or so people. There had to be more inside, likely looking for us. I could only hope that now we were out, they wouldn't bother to torch the place with everyone else inside.
"So, are you going to explain why you're trying to kill us?" I asked.
Several of them raised their weapons.
"Tch. Guess not."
"Surrender her and you can go free," one of them said.
"Tempting. And what happens to her?"
The man's silence was telling. Soldier Caste, all of them. There was a good chance they were from the Night Guard, but they'd clearly been paid off here. That or they were mercenaries hired to do a job. I doubted the Greycloaks but couldn't dismiss it entirely. They wouldn't need to send amateurs to do their work, but at the same time they might have wanted it to be seen as amateur. Among the group before me was a spattering of Warriors, Fencers, Lancers and other melee Classes. I didn't see a Mage or Archer among them.
Mages tend to have an easier time becoming Heroes. They either sit behind melee in the First Quest or, if they are caught by Grimm, they die before they get a chance to be demoted to the Soldier Caste. Not a hard and fast rule, but one Weiss had told me that seemed to fit the bill here. One of them took a step forward but froze as Crocea Mors swept out and pointed toward them.
"My name is Jaune Arc, student of Beacon, Hero, killer of Cinder Fall." No matter how much I hated the last title, it still had weight, causing a few to flinch. They definitely knew who I was. "Back down now or I will attack."
They hesitated.
And then one brave fool opened his mouth. "He's only one man…"
I didn't wait for the rest to decide. Crocea Mors was in my hand, my sword, my eternal companion. Its blade shimmered as the words over my head changed, knowledge and power crashing into my mind.
Before they could cry out in warning, I was among them.
I was no faster as a Swordmaster, no stronger, no better than I was as a Blacksmith. And yet, in my strange Skills, as unusual as they were, there were options. Piercing Thrust was termed as a `mighty thrust that pierced the enemy's defences`. It was a thrusting attack that carried me a distance – and it cared nothing for my Dexterity. The moment I used it, I was moving, and at whatever speed the Skill dictated.
It was how I'd caught Cinder off-guard, and it worked just as well here, even if I turned my sword aside at the last second and drove my cross guard into the man's stomach instead. His iron-plated armour should have protected him, but my Skills didn't care for it. My blow pierced his defences, literally. The cross-guard cracked his armour and slammed into his gut, toppling him with a groan.
Spinning, I caught the approaching weapons of his allies with a Dividing Slash, `parting my foe`, though in this case – as Hazel had realised - `foe` did not mean bodies, but armour, weapons and equipment. Blades that ought to have stood up to mine shattered like glass. Twisting into the stunned and confused guards, I lashed out at undefended bodies, drawing blood and knocking them down one by one. The blows weren't aimed to kill, not against guards, but they were savage nonetheless and would require stitches.
"S-Stop him!" someone screamed. "Kill him!"
"Where is the Mage? Bring the Mage!"
"We can't! He was attacked!"
I hadn't taken out a Mage but could take a guess as to who had. I'd have liked to see the look on the bastard's face as a bird dove down on him. Still, that was a stroke of luck since the Skill that should have blocked magical attacks – Disdainful Stroke – did nothing of the sort. Despite the descriptor, it only removed enchantments and Runes, turning powerful weapons into their most basic form.
The Guards were in disarray. Trapped in such close quarters and with Lisa safely trapped behind me, they had no option but to fight, and it was clear they hadn't been expecting it. All they'd really had to do was stand guard while an Assassin did their job, and then burn down the building after, burying the evidence.
Leader of New Dawn dies in a fire. Tragic, but not unheard of in the poorer parts of the city. Her work would be undone, her words unheard.
"Rargh!" Anger surged through me. The next person unfortunate enough to get in front of me tasted four blows that struck faster than I could normally achieve. It didn't feel like flowering petals, certainly not to the woman who slumped with a groan, bleeding badly and with one hand severed. Stepping back to allow someone to drag her away, I faced the seven or so who remained. "Well? Who is next? Come on. There's only the one of me, isn't that what you said before?"
None of them moved.
I spat at their feet. "I see how it is. Easy when it's just a helpless girl or under-levelled Labour Caste. When it's an NPC, right? No problem. It's not like they can fight back anyway, so why not kill them? Well, what's the matter? I'm just an NPC as well." I let my Class switch back to Blacksmith to prove the point. "There's two of us, but that shouldn't matter. Two against fifteen. Good odds for you." I held my arms out. "Well? Who wants a shot?"
A few of them grit their teeth, but more backed away, shaking. They looked at me as if I was the monster, as if I was the horrifying beast that would attack an innocent woman for nothing more than money.
Covered in blood as I was, I must have looked it.
"Cowards," I spat, half-turning. I kept one eye on them even as I dismissed them, speaking to Lisa. "Get up. We're leaving."
Lisa was in full-blown tears now, crying fitfully. The brave words of martyrdom before had been just that, not that she could be blamed. It was a sorrowful person who could face their own death in so helpless a fashion and not be affected. To her credit, she stood quickly and hurried to stand behind me, her hand seeking comfort in mine.
With half my attention still on those watching, I dragged her away. "No games now," I called. "Follow or impede our path and I'll strike to kill. Go back to whomever hired you, to whomever bought your loyalty, and tell them that you've failed. Tell them exactly who you faced, and why they should be cautious to send more."
As Lisa and I hurried around a corner and away, not one of them made to follow. They were defeated, both physically and emotionally. We took another three turns, twisting deeper into Vale, and it was only after we were several streets away that I felt comfortable sheathing my weapon. I dragged my brown cloak up over my shoulder and tugged it off, using it to wipe the blood of my body, or at least as best I could. Turning it inside out, I tossed it in an alley, leaving it behind.
"Just like that," Lisa wheezed. "I-In the night. An Assassin, and then those guards. They… They were going to kill me and burn the building down. No one would have known. I'd have died for nothing."
"Yes," I said, because there was no way I could hide it.
"You saved my life…" Lisa looked at me with tears in her eyes. Her chest rose and fell as she gasped for breath. "You protected me…"
"For now." I looked around, considering every person who passed a threat. I couldn't take Lisa to the Guild because that would give the game away, even if we'd be safe there. The Greycloaks would drop her faster than a red-hot billet. The Palace was out for the same reason. The Quest was still on. "Do you have somewhere I can take you?" I asked. "Somewhere safe?"
"N-Nowhere I would feel safe hiding. It would just put others at risk…"
"Hm." I nodded, annoyed. "Then I might have an idea."
/-/
Blake felt sick, nauseous. She rose and swayed, such was her anger, and the action of slamming a fist down on the table was as much to balance herself as express her fury.
"You lost him!?"
"Miss Belladonna, please calm down," Ozpin said. Despite the request, Ozpin looked anything but calm and collected as he turned to the man beside him. "Qrow, tell us what happened. Why were you not able to keep up with him?"
"I was kept busy." The Druid favoured one leg over the other and looked more than a little worse for wear. "The Mage they sent after them wasn't an amateur and had someone to cover his back. They weren't Soldiers, Oz. Those two were Heroes."
"Who sent them?" Yang asked. "Greycloaks?"
"They weren't wearing any, and I doubt the Greycloaks would feel the need to attack someone working with them."
"You don't think Jaune was the target then," Ren said.
"No. Had he been, they'd have surely sent more experienced people to deal with him. I believe he was in a place to prevent an assassination."
"Who ordered it?"
"That, we do not know."
"But Uncle Qrow was kept busy until Jaune was already gone," Ruby said. "Did you beat the two?"
Qrow snorted. "Of course, but they were gone by the time I got back to them."
Pyrrha looked politely unimpressed. "You left them unattended?"
"Hey, my first job was to look after your guildmate. Would you rather I stay over their bodies and not even bother covering his ass?" When no one protested, he snorted. "Yeah, I thought not. The moment I'd dealt with them, I left them to try and find the kid. He was long gone, though. Probably taken the New Dawn girl and gone to hiding."
"I knew we shouldn't have let him do this alone," Yang said.
"Mr Arc is a skilled combatant and knows the-"
"It's not about skill or power," Blake snapped, patience gone. "We know he's strong enough to look out for himself, but that doesn't mean he should have to." She took a deep breath. "We're a Guild. We're supposed to have each other's backs. Even the strongest person can fall to numbers."
"I can understand your frustration, Miss Belladonna, but this was a delicate Quest. Mr Arc fit the specific requirements and did agree to take part."
"Jaune would agree to face Salem alone if you phrased it as him helping people. You don't get to hide behind that excuse!"
Ozpin held up his hands placatingly. "I am not hiding behind anything. We have made an error and been compromised, and the moment I knew this, I called you all here. Not to apportion blame or take fault with one another, but to decide on a course of action."
It didn't do much to calm her down, mostly because he looked too calm. Far too calm.
Weiss reached out and drew her back, however, shaking her head. "Calm down," she whispered. "You're not normally this quick to anger!"
"This is…" Blake bit back the complaint. "Fine. I'll listen."
"Good." Ozpin let it go, even if Qrow rolled his eyes and whispered something unflattering. "Suffice to say, the King and I were not involved in this attack. We cannot rule out Nobles within the Court, however, nor the Greycloaks."
"I thought you said they wouldn't attack their own people," Nora said.
"We cannot truly guess at their motives, Miss Valkyrie, but it may be that this attack was intended to fail, as a means of distancing Qrow from Mr Arc. It is a long shot and I do not believe it to be so, but it is a possibility. Either way, Mr Arc has been cut off from support. I believe he will continue to pursue the Quest's objectives, however."
Blake snorted. That much was a given.
"Well yeah, obviously," Ruby said. She blushed a moment later and stammered an apology.
"It's fine, Miss Rose." Ozpin sighed again. "Either way, we need to establish contact with him once more. The whole plan was that if he discovered the Greycloaks, he would signal Qrow. As it is, he would be faced with them lacking any support. That is where you all come in."
"The Whisper Stones," Ren noted. "You want us to use them across Vale."
"Yes. It should be a simple and relatively easy matter, taking only time. No one anticipates your interference, so I doubt you will be challenged. Simply spread out over the city until one of you is close enough to contact him. From there, try to establish a location and, if he is alone, meet with him. Find out what is happening."
"And if he's not alone?" Blake asked.
"Then decide a place that Qrow might be able to acquire contact with him again. Of course, if Mr Arc requires immediate aid, you are free to act as you wish. His security is more important than the Quest itself. We have… other means of dealing with the Greycloak threat."
There was a certain hesitation in his tone that Blake caught. The `means`, whatever they were, clearly marked a path Ozpin was reluctant to tread. The others either didn't notice or didn't bother reading into it, but Blake was just paranoid enough to do so. Risky, or he'd have tried it first. Bloodshed a high possibility. Assassins? No, that would be too easy, too clean.
Some kind of pitched battle, then. One with consequences. Blake had to assume Jaune knew what it was and that it had inspired his eagerness to take this Quest on his own, despite the high risks.
That Ozpin considered him worth more than the risk was good, but Blake had to wonder if he would have thought the same were it anyone else. On an emotional level perhaps, but not quite so rationally.
He wants Jaune in Beacon. Even when Jaune was expelled, he offered to make him Beacon's Blacksmith. Beacon doesn't have a dedicated Blacksmith, which means Ozpin was prepared to create the position specifically for Jaune.
Why?
A reward for loyalty, for helping end the war and gather the artefact in Vacuo for the peace festival? That didn't fit. Something else, then. Something specific to Jaune – and before he'd proven himself capable of switching between two Classes at once.
Purify…?
It was the only Skill Jaune had that stood out. His Runesmithing was impressive, but the Runes were themselves not that much better than what could be found in wild drops. Jaune could mass-produce high quality weapons, but that wouldn't be of much use when Beacon didn't have the numbers to benefit from them. Besides, Ozpin already had powerful weapons locked away in the school Vault. If he wanted weapons, he could draw from those first.
There's something more here. Something he's not fully explaining.
Looking to the others, Blake realised she was the only one to see it, and she'd likely be the only one to believe it so long as nothing untoward happened. Again, she felt a wave of nausea. She couldn't tell if it was her instincts running haywire or just her panic, but she felt sick to her stomach either way.
"We'll do it," Ruby said. "Do we go now? Can we go now?"
Hmph. Not like Ozpin could stop them considering it was out of school hours. They were free to go where they pleased.
"Yes, you may. I would advise you stick to pairs, even if splitting up further would allow you to cover more ground. While no one should be explicitly looking for you, there is no guarantee you will not be noticed. New Dawn is also unlikely to be co-operative, given your Caste."
"We'll manage," Weiss said, standing. "If we might be excused?"
Ozpin let them go.
Outside the headmaster's office, Weiss turned to them once more. "There's even of us, which marks three teams of two and one to go alone."
"I'm the highest level," Blake said. "I can go solo."
"Makes sense," Yang said. Ruby nodded along with it, but Weiss shook her head quickly.
"No! You're not going on your own." At the surprised looks she received, Weiss quickly said, "I think that Ruby will be best on her own. Remember, this isn't a combat task, so strength isn't necessary. Ruby is by far the fastest. She'd be slowed down travelling with a partner."
Yang looked concerned, but Ruby shrugged. "Makes sense," she said.
"If you find Jaune, find another team and bring us to your location. Don't go in alone unless it's literally life and death. Chances are, Jaune will just have taken the target somewhere to hide."
Blake remained silent as the teams were decided, her with Weiss, Yang with Pyrrha and Ren and Nora as the usual pair. Each chose their own section of Vale to search as well, though there would inevitably be some degree of wandering around involved. The Whisper Stones did not have the best range.
Once the others had left, Blake looked to Weiss. "You specifically didn't want me to go alone. Why?"
"Because I am not blind, even if the others are. You look terrible."
Blake scoffed and looked away, catching her reflection in a window as she did. Her skin was pale, her eyes just a little too heavy. The nausea kicked in again, though she rode it out with practiced ease. "I'm fine. It's just stress."
"We're all stressed, Blake. Not all of us look like we're about to be sick from it."
"I get it! It's fine."
There was no use arguing about it now. Blake bit back on her frustration and took a deep, calming breath. She wasn't used to getting angry so much, nor so easily. And Weiss hadn't done anything to deserve it.
"I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that."
"You're worried," Weiss said, unoffended. "We all are."
"Yes. Still, I shouldn't lash out." With a heavy sigh, Blake managed a smile. "Shall we go? Our Knight needs us, so I suppose we should bail him out of trouble again."
Weiss snorted, cracking a grin.
"I suppose we do owe him a save after what he accomplished in the arena. Let's go."
So, this is with the new format of having a third person PoV on the end. To note, I'm not really doing this because I have to so much as people enjoying the interlude. If you like (or dislike) having the third person segment, let me know.
Not much else to say here. Jaune uses a few of his Swordmaster Skills in combat, mostly to disarm people. There is more to the Swordmaster schtick obviously, but that'll be revealed in time. When describing Lisa's tiny room, I actually based it off my room in uni. It was literally just a single bed, a single dresser, a tiny desk with a chair and a sink. That was it.
The sink was what always confused me. Like, not even in a different room like a bathroom, and there wasn't even a toilet or a shower. It was just a sink, sat there on its own, in one corner of the room, like an architect had gotten halfway to making a bathroom and went "Ah, screw it."
Next Chapter: 10th December
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
