Here we go.


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher910

Book 8: Chapter 2


Ellayne collapsed onto her hands and knees and panted harshly. Her sword fell from her grasp.

That was the signal to stop, I supposed, sheathing my own, new, sword at my side. It was Crocea Mors Mk… well, the number eluded me by now. Like all iterations before it, she wore the skin, weight and balance of my first sword.

"I-I can't go on…" Ellayne's shoulders shook and she looked for a moment like she might throw up into the grass. She collected herself a second later and rolled onto her back, staring up at the canopy above her and then, when he stepped to her side, his face. "Y-You're a monster, m-master."

"I've told you to call me Jaune."

"I'm not – hah – feeling – hah – that generous… right now…"

"Funny." I nudged her side with my foot, but she simply rolled onto her other side. Shaking my head, I knelt beside her. "You shouldn't lay down after that much exercise. Try to walk it off."

"Ugh…"

Maybe I'd gone a little too far with her this time. It was getting harder and harder to judge my abilities and hold back – especially since I'd gained around ten levels under Raven's care. With no real fights in between, I was still getting used to the sudden power boost.

Ellayne provided an outlet for that. I felt bad using her as an experiment, but better to bleed in peace than in war, or so the saying went. I'd been able to hold back from badly hurting her but had underestimated the difference between our respective Constitution.

"In a way, this is your fault. Why didn't you tell me you were this tired?"

Ellayne grumbled something into the grass.

"Silly girl." I wasn't sure if she'd kept going to impress me or because she really wanted to improve. One was flattering, the other inspiring. "Come on," I said, pulling her up. "I'll give you a lift home just this once. Wrap your arms around my neck."

It took a minute or so to get her in position on my back, her leg under my arms and her hands linked over my chest. I might have felt embarrassed about the position if it didn't remind me so much of giving Lavender and Amber piggy-back rides. Ellayne didn't seem to be in a position to make it anything more than that. She was just too exhausted.

Kicking up her sword, I caught it in hand and hooked it into my belt next to Crocea Mors, and then started to make my way back towards Beacon. We'd been training out in the Emerald Forest. Not far enough away to be swarmed by Grimm, but enough to avoid prying eyes.

It wasn't every day a first year was trained by someone older than them. People might get jealous.

"I can't catch up," Ellayne whispered into my ear, fatigue mixing with distress. "I thought when you got to a high level, you'd slow down and I could catch up, but the gap keeps getting bigger."

"I'm… I guess I'm an anomaly. You shouldn't worry about it."

"Have to catch up…"

"Why?"

Ellayne buried her face in the back of my neck and made a tired sound.

Another time I might have let it go, but something about what she'd said bothered me. I didn't know if it was because it reminded me of Raven or just because I didn't want her doing anything stupid and getting in danger like Ozpin said some students did. She was my student. My responsibility.

Coming to a stop, I lowered her down onto a fallen log, ignoring her questioning whine. Once she was down, I knelt in front of her, looking her in the eye.

"Why do you have to catch up?"

"H-Huh?" Ellayne blinked, confused.

"You said you had to catch up. That you needed to close the gap. I want to know why."

"Because I'm so far behind."

"What level are you? You can tell me."

Ellayne looked down at her feet. "Twenty-six…"

"Twenty-six? Ellayne, that's great. You're way ahead of schedule. Have you even done your Annual Quest yet?"

"No. We weren't allowed to while the war was happening."

"Then you're above level twenty-five before even doing your first proper Quest. That's fantastic. You should feel proud of that." I couldn't remember what level I'd been at the time. It all felt so long ago, but I knew she was doing well for her age. She was already above what most Labour Caste ever managed.

"But you're even higher," Ellayne whined. "You're above level forty!"

I didn't correct her. "You shouldn't be trying to judge yourself against me. I was dragged into a war. I had to fight against other Heroes, and it's not gotten better since then." Standing, I moved over to sit beside her. "Why do you want to catch up with me so much?"

Ellayne looked down with a sigh, fidgeting with her hands between her knees.

"Ellayne…"

"I want to help you," she said. Her shoulders tensed. "I want to be strong enough to help you. To go on Quests with you. To fight alongside you. Is that so wrong? No one knew what to do when you were kidnapped. No one could do anything. Everyone broke down and just sort of went looking for you across the city. Meanwhile, I sat here unable to do anything."

"You couldn't have fought Raven. None of us can."

"Then I could have at least helped you!" Ellayne cried. "You helped me, but I'm not allowed to help you back. I hate it. You saved Hazel and all I can do is thank you? I want to be able to pay you back."

"You don't have to."

"I want to." Ellayne glared at me, eyes watery. "I don't want to keep being useless. I want to be strong enough to make a difference. That's why I wanted to be a Hero; I wanted to have more control over my own destiny."

"It's not…" I ran a hand through my hair, unsure what to say. Unsure what I could say without sounding the hypocrite. Blake had been a far higher level than me and I'd done my best to catch up, so saying Ellayne shouldn't would be ridiculous. "Our situations are different," I eventually settled on. "We're in different years, different Guilds and the things we've been through; they're just not the same. You'll grow stronger, but you'll do it in your own way."

"There aren't any shortcuts," I lied, placing a hand on her shoulder. "The only way to get strong is to keep training, keep working and to look after your friends."

Or, alternatively, she could kill them all.

Damn you, Raven.

"Hard work is the only way," I repeated. Not just for her sake.

"I know that." Ellayne pushed my hand away and pouted. "That's why I'm sulking and not asking you to bend time and space. Am I not even allowed to feel bad now?"

I laughed. "You can. Sorry, I just wanted to help."

"Yeah, well…" She looked away. "Keep training me and I'll forgive you. One day I'll be strong enough to fight with you. I promise you that."

"And I believe you. It's just going to take time. Don't rush it. Don't try to rush it. You'll only end up miserable, and I can tell you now that my best moments in Beacon weren't spent fighting or growing stronger. They were the days in between, the days spent having fun with my friends."

"That's sappy."

"It is," I agreed, laughing, "But it's not untrue. Beacon is only four years so long as you pass each year. You've got the rest of your life to knuckle down and work yourself to death. Try and enjoy the years you have here."

"Hm. Alright…"

"Good." I rubbed her head and this time she didn't pull away. Stepping off the log, I knelt once again in front of her. "Now come on. Let's get you back before your friends send out a search party."

/-/

By the time we got back to Beacon, Ellayne had recovered enough of her stamina to walk on her own two legs and take her sword back. I wasn't sure if she'd noticed the Constitution Rune I'd placed on it or not, but she thanked me for the training session and, seeing one of her friends, ran off to spend some time with them, waving back at me as she did. It looked like she'd decided to take my lesson to heart.

A couple of my own were waiting for us, namely Ren and Nora.

"Hard day training?" Ren asked with a smile.

"Easier than when Pyrrha trained her, I bet," Nora added.

"I dunno. I pushed her a little further than I meant to. Had to give her a piggy back ride most of the way home."

"Pft. I had to carry her back to her Guild when Pyrrha got distracted and knocked her out."

Yikes. I hadn't thought leaving Ellayne with Pyrrha would lead to that. It must have been while I'd been kidnapped, likely with Pyrrha only paying half attention. Funny how neither had thought to tell me, but I imagined they were embarrassed about it.

"Okay. Maybe not as hard as Pyrrha."

"How was your control?" Ren asked.

"Better than I thought it would be. Apart from going on a little too long, I didn't hurt her. I'm not sure why, but all these levels were easier to acclimatise to than they used to be. I'm stronger and faster, but it doesn't feel that different."

"It's probably perspective. Ten level's worth of stats feels like a lot more when you're a lower level. The difference is greater. It's an obvious improvement now, but you're only gaining a fraction of your existing stats on top."

"Ten points is a lot to someone who only has twenty, while to someone who has a hundred, it's not as much?"

"Yes."

I guess that went some way to explaining it, and probably also explaining why Ruby lost herself and passed out when I attached the Cold Steel Rune to her armour, where I barely felt anything. All that Constitution going to her head hit her a lot harder because she was used to not having much to work with.

"Did your…" Ren trailed off, uncomfortable. "The urges…"

"Gone," I said, smiling genuinely. "I'm twitchy and a little jumpy, but it just felt like training."

Both Nora and Ren relaxed. "That's good."

"Ha! That stupid Knight though out Blacksmith would crack?" Nora laughed. "She doesn't know who she's dealing with." The Barbarian clapped my shoulder with all her strength, which, once upon a time, would have knocked me flying. "Guess that means you're over all the nasty stuff she put you through, right?"

Not entirely. I still had nightmares.

"Right." I said. "My Resilience helps."

"I suppose I never knew of the addiction to Exp myself," Ren said. "For once, my Passive comes in handy."

"And I just don't know…" Nora laughed nervously and rapped the side of her head. "I've always liked fighting. I think that's just a Barbarian thing."

"Sticking to Class stereotypes, Nora?"

"Only when it benefits me!"

Ren and I shared a laugh, even if his was more affected than honest. The three of us made our way past the walls and into the Guild Village proper, where students hurried to and fro, many making their way up the long staircase towards the school itself. Lessons were still in effect, though I'd been granted time off to rest and recover.

As we walked, Ren continued to talk, "Do you think your forging helps sate the urges for Exp as well?"

"It might. It keeps my mind bust and it gives me a little Exp. More if I'm working on something big like this." I half drew Crocea Mors so they could see it. "Maybe being Labour Caste is helping in more ways than one."

"Yeah. Looks like it." Nora had bent over and was walking backwards, inspecting my sword. "I don't see a Rune on it."

"There isn't one."

"I'll pose the obvious question," Ren said, not bothering to say what the question was.

"I couldn't decide what Rune to use."

"Didn't Oobleck give you a whole book of them?"

"He did, and I'm still going through it." It was the closest thing I had to homework right now. "But that's the problem. Before, I always had so few Runes that deciding what to use was easy. Dexterity was my worst Stat and I couldn't hit beans without it. Now, with all these new Runes?"

"The perils of choice," Ren said, chuckling. "Give a man a choice between two options and he'll make his decision. Give him a hundred and he'll be paralysed by indecision."

"Pretty much. I'm spoiled for choice right now."

"Not just Stats?" Nora asked. "That's the obvious choice, right?"

"It is. But I'm thinking that might be a trap. I can make a Greater Rune of Dexterity now, and that's twelve points. It's a big difference. Problem is, it's not going to make a difference on what we're actually going up against."

Ren and Nora winced.

"I think you're correct there," Ren said. "As a team, we can likely deal with the Greycloaks – as long as they don't swarm us, and we can pick them off in smaller numbers – but Raven is completely out of our league."

"I've been looking at the elemental effects. Maybe something to slow her down."

"No `Rune of Kill Raven`?"

"I wish! I'm trying to find something that'll impede her on a scaling amount. Like a percentage. If I can half her speed, for instance, or even just take a quarter off…"

"It's a big difference for someone like her. I understand. Any luck so far?"

"Some. I haven't found one that does exactly what I want, but the Rune of Col- I gave Ruby a Rune in Vacuo," I explained, leaving out questions of why and Ruby's Class. "It slows people down when they hit her. I've not found anything like that which works on a weapon."

"Have you tried it on a weapon?"

"Yeah. Didn't work."

"Hm. Runes are specific to armour and weapons then."

"Seems it." I waved my hands as I spoke, getting into a topic I was genuinely interested in. "But that's the thing, the Runes are a language. I couldn't learn it before because I didn't have anything to go on, but with Oobleck's notes combined with my Runesight, I want to see if I can learn how to read and write it."

"Learn how to make your own," Ren finished, eyes lighting up. "Yes, I can see your angle now. You want to create a Rune specifically designed to counter Raven. I presume you'd be adding it to all of our weapons."

"That's the theory. Even better if I can make multiple of them, one to drain each stat."

"I'll happily offer my blades as experimentation," Ren said.

"Same for my hammer. Though, maybe you could test it on some crappy stuff first?" Nora stroked her hammer lovingly. "This wasn't cheap."

I know. I forged the damn thing.

"Don't worry. I'll test it on cutlery. I've already bought enough to outfit the Royal Palace."

Ren laughed. "I did wonder what all those packages were for."

We discussed Runes a little more. Or Ren and I did. Nora wasn't quite as interested but threw in her own ideas every now and then, mostly when it came to talking about what crazy things she would add to her weapon if she had the ability to do so. Most were ridiculous. One or two had promise and I kept those in mind.

My efforts to create a Rune hadn't yielded any great success so far, but I had technically made one of my own. It wasn't anything special. In fact, it was a bastardised version of the minor Intelligence Rune; one that gave two points of Intelligence and Wisdom instead of just four points of the former.

I hadn't had any luck scaling it up or adapting the same rules to the Dexterity and Agility ones, but that hadn't gotten me too down. The face I'd made the first proved it was possible, while the failures suggested my problem was a lack of understanding.

Initially, I'd tried to just smash the two Runes together and hope for the best.

That had been a rather explosive mistake.

Even if it was just one Rune, it didn't gel. I'd come to realise it was because I hadn't made a correct Rune at all, more a stupid squiggle imbued with power. After all, you couldn't just take the words `Intelligence` and `wisdom`, then smash them over the top of one another and call it `Intelli-Wis-igence`.

Or you could, but it wouldn't be a word. It wouldn't make sense written on a piece of paper.

It didn't make sense inscribed onto a weapon, either.

I had to find the right word. Find the phrasing – and that was the hard part. Runesight gave me a basic understanding of a concept. I could look at a Rune of Dexterity and see the words `Dexterity` and `Bolster`. That meant the single Rune was two words – or maybe even three. Maybe it read, "Bolster my Dexterity".

That was where the problem came in. Oobleck and my works had been focused on cause and effect. X Rune did this, so that meant it translated as Y. If Rune causes fire, Rune must mean fire.

But it didn't necessarily.

It could mean "strike with fire", "imbue with fire" or even just "causes sparks" and the fire was more a consequence of those sparks igniting with the air. One part of that Rune contained the meaning for the word `fire` while the rest was the… I supposed the best way to put it was the `controlling aspect` or maybe even the `condition` for use. The grammatical phrasing which gave it the power to do stuff and that didn't just leave your sword literally becoming fire in your hands.

It was complicated. Very complicated.

But I was making headway. That was all that mattered.

"I'm keeping Crocea Mors bare until I decide on the Rune to use. In the meantime, I've ben reading through Oobleck's book, experimenting and blowing up spoons and forks. During the day," I added quickly when Nora shot me a dirty look.

"Thank you."

"Has Ozpin-?"

"Nothing." I said. "Sorry."

"No news is good news. Perhaps…" Ren sighed.

It wasn't. Not in this case.

The Lodge rescued me from the awkward silence as it appeared in the distance, giving Nora a chance to whoop and dash ahead, and Ren and I the opportunity to sprint to catch up and forget about Raven, if only for a short while.

"Your cutlery for the day has arrived!" Nora said, hefting an actual barrel full of rattling metal. "You know, there's a Blacksmith in Vale who really likes you right now. He also has a whole lot of questions as to why one man needs this many spoons, forks and knives."

"Questions I'll never answer," I said, accepting it off her. "I'll let the poor bastard stew. Stew in the vast amounts of lien I'm paying him. The poor, wealthy, fool."

"Can't you make your own?" Ren asked.

"Yes, but I'd need the materials anyway. If I'm ordering metal, I might as well have someone handle the fiddly work of making it into cutlery for me. It's too low-key to give me any Exp." Plus, it would take hours. Hours and hours before I could even start to work with Runes.

Letting the two of them slip into the Lodge, I lugged the barrel around the side to the forge, sat down and uncorked it, pulling out the first fork and laying it down before me. From a little lockbox nearby, I drew forth my personal notes and got to work.

"Let's see. If I try this…"

The fork began to glow.

I tossed it into a pre-made metal box I'd forged just for such a purpose. The horrifying clang and ping-ping-ping of the pieces of metal slamming off the sides echoed across the forge. More than a few people walking nearby groaned and found other places to be.

As I reached for another fork, I had the unsettling feeling our neighbours hated me.

Placing the fork on my lap, I inspected the notes.

I wanted to slow Raven down specifically because that would give us the best chance on both attack and defence. It would make her less able to dodge and give us more time to dodge, so, if anything, I wanted to take down her Agility.

My first thought had been to try and reverse the Dexterity Rune. I'd tried it upside down with no effect and then inversed with no effect – or, by no effect, I meant explosions. Apparently, the ancient language wasn't quite as easy as that.

Time would have been nice, but, well, I'd not found any Runes that seemed to do that. Not to speed up time, slow it down or anything else.

Instead, I had a new idea in mind today.

Ice.

"Weiss would be pleased if nothing else." I pulled out a spoon, which somehow counted as a weapon, and held it between finger and thumb, turning the back edge towards me as I prepared to etch a Rune onto the spot. Looking down at the paper as I worked, I etched a Rune I knew for a fact had been on other weapons in the Vault.

My Runesight labelled it `Ice` and `Cold`.

On the spoon, it glowed the same way, translated directly into my head with those two concepts and the distant feeling of a mountain in Atlas, and the blizzard we'd experienced there. Even the spoon itself felt cold to the touch.

Taking it, I rapped it against my arm gently.

A crackling sound heralded some thin ice stretching over my arm, making my hairs stand on end. A little frosty mist pooled from it as well. I could still move my arm though, for all that it was uncomfortable doing so.

This wouldn't lower her Agility, but if enough ice formed around her or one of her limbs, she'd be dragged down by it.

Curious, I hit myself harder with the spoon, and was rewarded with a little more ice. Not enough to cover my arm by any means, but enough to make it clear that the more force applied, the more ice it created.

The problem was that it came in two forms. Ice and also cold. The cool mist and the damage were nice, but not what I needed. I wanted just ice. Just a whole heap of ice, with no thought for it doing more or less damage at all.

As always, I started by pulling the Rune apart with charcoal and paper. I sketched the swirling outline first, engaged my Runesight and frowned when nothing came from it. The shapes weren't so convenient as to be a snowflake, more curved lines with crosses through, dots in places and long, looping tails.

Playing with them, I broke the Rune down into ten different iterations, and then twenty. Sometimes I would miss a dot out, other times I'd have the dots on their own – or just the dots and the tail. Or the tail and a flick and one dot, then the same and two dots.

It was a long and arduous process that involved more guesswork than not. To put it in terms of language, I was like someone writing down random letters in our own alphabet and hoping it somehow formed the word I wanted. There was a lot of trial and error, but, thankfully, my Runesight let me test it on paper first and not explosive metal.

That part came for when I got something that looked right and wanted to see what it did on a weapon. Even if I found `Ice` for instance, and it looked good on paper, I'd need to figure how to write `Turn to ice on strike` on the weapon, or it would just blow up.

Cold.

I paused.

I'd found cold.

Composed of two flicks, a dot and then a line through the first flick perpendicular to the other, I'd found one aspect of the previous Rune. Jotting that down, I hurried to place it on the spoon.

It began to glow.

"Nope."

In the box it went. Boom it went. Ruby had asked me before if I couldn't use that as a weapon of sorts and I had considered it, but the problem was that it went off too quickly. I didn't really have the time to aim, let alone the skill. It was also much too indiscriminate. Would have been nice if the explosion included the cold aspect as some kind of fog and smoke device, but it didn't. It just exploded with metal shrapnel.

This time, however, I was fortunate.

I knew I'd found Cold, but better than that, I'd found Cold without finding the application aspect of the previous Rune. That meant, in theory, that what remained if the Cold aspect was taken out was a Rune that read `When hit, make Ice` or something similar.

Carefully, I sketched the Rune down, ignoring the tail and dots that made up the `cold` aspect.

When it looked okay on the paper, I applied it to a fork.

The metal held.

"Nice!" I'd thought it would, seeing as how it did the first time and I'd only taken away a feature of the Rune, not its method. With growing excitement, I gently stabbed my arm with the fork, dimpling my skin slightly but not piercing flesh.

Ice spread out over my bicep.

It was… strange. Hard to explain. It was ice, and yet there was no temperature to it whatsoever. By taking out `cold` I'd created `Ice` that didn't fulfil its purpose as ice. I wasn't even sure how it remained in a solid state since it was genuinely room temperature. Or not even that. It was a little warm by the forge and the ice felt the exact same temperature.

"It doesn't have a temperature. Weird." I waved my arm, pleased to see that even though the numbing cold wasn't there, there was still some obstruction. Hot or cold, it was still solid water frozen onto my skin. It cracked when I flexed my muscle and was easily brushed off, but if I'd been caught by surprise, it might have impeded me.

Quickly, I etched the Rune onto Crocea Mors and brought the blade to my arm, ready to cut myself slightly. I spared a brief thought for whether that was safe at all but decided that freezing what little blood came out was probably safer for the fact it wouldn't be cold.

Drawing the sword over my arm, I watched as ice spread and crackled over my arm, reaching halfway towards my elbow before stopping.

I flexed my arm and it all shattered.

Damn it. There wasn't enough. I was about to hit myself harder when I thought better of it. Velvet would have a heart attack if she came out and found me missing an arm, frozen into a chunk of ice. Standing instead, I decided to go and test it on some trees on the outskirts.

/-/

"Ha!"

Crocea Mors struck the tree hard. Not as hard as I could have, but hard enough not to topple the whole thing and instead wedge the blade deep into the trunk. Bark splintered left and right, but it was the trunk itself I paid attention to as ice sprung out from the wound, creeping maybe two or three inches up the side in every direction.

It stopped there.

Pulling and twisting the sword out of the trunk, I leaned closer and tapped my finger against the ice. It came from the point of contact when the sword stopped moving. I wasn't sure why. That meant that if the wound bit deep, the ice would come out that deep, whereas a lighter blow on the side that didn't penetrate would let the ice creep further.

I wasn't sure what to think of that.

On the one side, wounding Raven and freezing her internal organs sounded like a great way to kill her. Or, well, an effective way. It actually sounded like a horrible way to die. But if I could score a wound like this on Raven, I doubted I'd need the Rune at all. No way was I going to cut her in two anytime soon.

Honestly, I wasn't convinced I'd be able to hit her. My Dexterity was better now that I was a Swordmaster, but I'd still spent a long time with it as a D-Stat, so it was overall quite low. Maybe I shouldn't be thinking of applying this myself at all…

An explosion of dirt and rock off to the side caught my attention, especially when I recalled Nora saying the others were somewhere out this way. Hurrying over, I tracked the noise, then the smoke above the treetops and finally, the sound of Blake hacking and coughing.

And then Weiss.

"Too much! That was too much rock, Yang. How am I supposed to use it as a ramp if you keep making a wall!"

"Excuse me. This isn't exactly an exact science, you know. I'm hitting the ground and hoping the rock forms in a useful shape. Give me a break."

"Guys, guys," Ruby said, laughing. "We're all on the same side."

Blake continued to hack away.

The scene I came onto was… confusing to say the least. Ruby stood between Weiss and Yang, holding the two back from an imminent fight. Blake was a little further away, on the other side of several mounds of rubble looking like she'd been making dirt angels or something. She was covered head to toe in a thick layer of dust.

She was also rubbing it from her face and ears and coughing wildly.

"Are you-?"

Blake held out a hand, coughed some more and then blindly reached towards me, feeling around my chest area until she found my tunic, which she dragged closer to her and used as a cloth to wipe the dust from her face.

"You're welcome," I said, rolling my eyes.

Realising whose tunic she'd grabbed, Blake froze, and then cracked one eye open and let go. "Oops. Sorry."

"It's fine." I pulled off my thin, summer cloak and handed it to her, letting her rub herself down. "Dare I ask what you're doing?"

"I'm standing around and letting people blast me with various attacks," Blake griped, utterly offended at her role. "As for them, when they're not arguing, they're taking turns to blast me with said attacks. It's a wonderful bonding moment." The sarcasm was so thick it was almost choking.

"And… you're doing this… why?"

Sighing, Blake offered the cloak back and then, realising how soiled it was, winced and kept it. "I'll clean it later," she promised. "As for why, it's because Weiss had an idea for an attack that might be useful against Raven and the Greycloaks."

"That's good."

"Sadly, it requires Yang's help."

"And that's… bad?"

"It requires her to be able to form a perfect ramp for Weiss to launch an attack off at head height, and Yang has to do this by punching the ground with one of her Skills and perfectly matching both the force, angle and direction to make said ramp."

I winced. "Sounds hard."

"Yeah." Blake looked down at herself, covered in dust. "Tell me about it."

"Why are you the victim?"

"Someone has to be, and I'm the highest level here. We thought of using Ruby, but Weiss wanted to see if Ruby could then direct the attack by using her speed to create a wind vacuum." Seeing my confusion, Blake sighed. "It's basically an ice attack. She launches it forward, Yang makes the ramp, the ice shatters on it and makes millions of little chips of ice, which are launched up at head height blinding, disorienting and pelting the victims."

It sounded like an amazing attack, especially if it could be directed at our enemies. Blinding Raven might be another way to deal with her.

"And you've been taking this all day?"

"No. I've been taking the brunt of Yang's ramp going wrong all day. I've not even been hit by the ice yet. Though… it's gone over my head once or twice. I suppose that's some progress." Blake sighed. "Fair warning, if you get between me and the bath tonight, I will kill you."

I had to laugh. "Don't worry. I'll make sure it's run for you."

"Hmm. Thank you. Did you need something from us?"

"Ruby, actually," I said. "I want her help testing something and I need someone fast."

"I'm fast."

"You're also occupied."

"I could be unoccupied." Blake sounded a little too desperate. "Help me!"

"We'll try again," Weiss yelled. "Yang, get in position. Jaune. You might want to get out of position."

Mouthing `sorry`, I fled out the way as Blake sighed and brought my cloak up, wrapping it over her face so that she at least had some protection.

"Ready," she yelled, voice muffled by the fabric.

Eyes flashing, Yang slammed her fist into the ground.

Weiss pointed her rapier towards it.

Some ice shards made a valiant effort to hit the sun.

Blake peeked out from the cloak, covered in rock dust once more and with a little melted ice raining down on her.

"DAMN IT!" Weiss howled.

I took that as my chance to slide over to Ruby, who, showing more than a little wisdom, decided not to get between Yang and Weiss' argument. Neither did Blake, content that letting them argue was less annoying than being the reluctant guinea pig.

"Hey. Can I borrow you for a bit?" I asked, touching Ruby's arm.

"God. Yes. Please." Ruby whirled on my, eyes wide. "Save me from this nightmare."

"I'm borrowing Ruby!" I called to Weiss and Yang. Neither heard me. Blake made an okay symbol with her hands though, so I figured she'd tell them if they ever stopped arguing over whose fault it was everything wasn't lining up perfectly.

Ruby eagerly assisted in her abduction, dragging me physically away from the shouting until we'd found our own patch of forest a little quieter. A lizard Grimm leapt from the treetops, but I cut it down without really looking, just a casual swing backward and a splash of blood.

"What do you need me for?" Ruby asked, just as casually dodging the splatter.

"I've got this Rune I need to test out; something that might be useful against Raven. Problem is, I'm not getting the best results from it myself and I'm not sure I can actually hit her."

"Mhm. If she's over level one hundred, she's bound to be fast. Knights have Agility as a C-Skill, I think."

"Yeah. My Dex was D before I got my Swordmaster Class, and it's less than sixty right now."

"Ouch. How do you hit anything?"

A little red in the face, I glared back. "How do you take any hits?"

Grinning cheekily, Ruby danced back. "I don't."

"Smartass." I made a swipe for her which she effortlessly dodged. "Anyway, I'm not even sure Blake is going to be able to get a proper hit on her. If Blake's Dex is an A-Stat, she might have around two hundred by now, but Raven could have anywhere between three and four hundred Agility."

Ruby awkwardly rubbed her head. "Y-Yeah."

"So, I thought of you."

"Y-Yeah…"

"What's your Agility currently at?"

Ruby mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"F-Five hundred and six…"

The number boggled my mind. Five hundred…? I thought my Resilience was obscene at two-twenty, but Ruby was more than double that. Was this the power of an S-Stat? As the only person in the known world to have one, I couldn't say.

"Wow. Uh. Okay. So, you might actually be able to hold on against Raven."

"I don't think I can," Ruby said, shaking her head. "Knights have a Dex of B. Weiss was looking it up recently in case we have to fight her. I might be able to dodge her for a bit, but she's going to catch up sooner or later, and she can outlast me. My Constitution is still your Rune plus five." Ruby grimaced as she said it.

Damn. That was right…

And if Raven hit her, she was toast.

Though, to be fair, Raven was likely to one-shot any of us. I might be the only one capable of taking two hits, though I doubted it would be any more than that.

"But I could still be the delivery system," she said. "If you're looking for someone to hit her with a Rune, look no further. I'm not sure it'll do much damage, but-"

"No! That's perfect!"

Ruby blinked. "I-It is?"

"Your Class might be perfect for this. You have some way of converting your Agility into Dexterity, don't you? Something to do with your Passive." It was a guess on my part, but Ruby blinked and nodded. "I figured it out because you said your Dexterity was a D-Stat, yet you've never had a problem hitting people. I wasn't sure it was possible, but since Torchwick's Passive let him sub Charisma for Dex, I figured you might have the same."

"Y-Yeah. Kind of."

Pulling out my sword, I showed Ruby the Rune and explained what it did. She listened intently, nodding to show she understood the basic idea and what I was aiming for.

"And this is safe to put on Crescent Rose?" she asked.

"Actually, I was thinking of putting it on a short sword for you. Or even a knife."

Ruby blanched. "Ah. You do remember that I'm a mono-weapon Class, right?"

"That's what makes it perfect. I remember when you fought Russel without a scythe; you were able to hit him and you were still super-fast, but the strikes did no real damage due to your low Strength. That's what we need here."

"Because when you hit the tree, you did too much damage," she realised. "Oh. You want someone to hit Raven reliably, but not actually break her skin or armour. You want the ice to form outside the armour and freeze it in place!"

"Exactly. Freeze her armour, her clothing, anything we can get a hold of. The ice is formed depending on impact, not damage. The harder the hit, the more the damage. She's going to see you coming with your scythe and defend herself, but if you can slip in with a knife, you might be able to hit her. It won't even matter where you hit her."

"It'll still slow her down. That's great!" Ruby reached for his sword. "Can I test it?"

"Sure."

I handed Crocea Mors over and watched Ruby adjust for its weight. Though she wasn't used to it, she clearly knew her weapons – or had seen me fight enough times to fall into a stance befitting a swordswoman. It might even have been Summer's influence. The sword was a little too big and heavy for her, but she flew towards the nearest tree with it trailing behind her. Darting past it, she didn't so much slash as let Crocea Mors impact it en route.

Ice exploded up the side of the tree, covering it a good three feet up and down from the point of impact. Six foot of solid ice encased one side of the trunk and had even begun to spread to the other before the Rune lost its impact.

Ruby looked thrilled. "I did it!"

"You sure did." I'd been right. Not power, not strength, but the impact itself. This way, Ruby wouldn't have to try and work her way through Raven's no-doubt ridiculous Constitution. Where her scythe might hit but do negligible damage, this might give us a chance to get our heavy hitters in.

Not even Raven would be able to take repeated hits from Nora, Yang, Pyrrha and I. Not if we hit her enough times and in vital areas. Sooner or later, she'd fall. And if I could put these Runes on everyone's weapons, we might be able to reapply and stack the effect…

Success.

It was a heady feeling.

"I'll make you a knife," I promised. "Multiple. We don't want to be screwed if you drop it and I've got the metal to spare. It doesn't even matter what I make it out of if it's the Rune doing all the work. We'll have to tell the others so they know what the plan is, but-"

"Do we have to tell them?"

Ruby shuffled nervously as I looked towards her. The Reaper had my sword in hand, but she was holding it awkwardly in front of her, trailing the tip into the grass.

"It's just… maybe we shouldn't, you know? If it works, it works, but we shouldn't get their hopes up for nothing."

"They need to know what we're doing, Ruby. They'll freak if they see you charge in with a knife. Yang or Weiss might stop you and get hurt in the process."

Ruby looked even more troubled.

"You… haven't told them," I realised. "You still haven't told them about your Class."

"I-It never came up."

I didn't buy that. "It didn't come up even after all the problems that appeared when they found out I'd been lying about my Class?"

"W-Well… I couldn't say it then, could I? Everyone was so confused and angry."

More like she couldn't bring herself to tell them. I could sympathise. I don't think I'd have had the strength. In fact, I hadn't. The only reason I'd come clean was because Salem exposed my secret to everyone.

"Ruby. I'm saying this as a friend, as someone who cares for you." I took a deep breath. "You really need to get your Class out into the open. As soon as possible. Tonight, even."

"It's easy for you to say that! You didn't tell anyone!" Ruby glared back at me, fear and panic driving her into a rage. "I had to figure it out myself!"

"And I paid the price for that!" I fired back, silencing her. "Ruby, do you want to go through all the shit I did? I know you don't. Your secret isn't even as bad as mine. Yes, you withheld the truth, but the King decided to let you try and become a Hero, so it's not like you outright lied about your Class like I did. You've never claimed to be something you're not."

"They'll still be angry…"

"They'll be shocked," I countered. "They'll only be angry if they find it out before you tell them. This way, you're showing trust in telling them the truth. That's the big mistake I made with Blake and I don't want you to make the same one. Raven, the Greycloaks… this is too big for any of us to be hiding things over. I think we need to know one another's capabilities fully." Seeing that she wasn't convinced, I added, "And if you're worried about them keeping you away, remember that this Rune is going to be as good as useless without you. Not even Blake is going to be able to approach Raven as fast as you can."

Ruby stared the grass down. Her knuckles were white.

"I don't want to push you, but…"

"I-It has to be done," she whispered. "I… I know…"

"You'll have both me and Yang with you. We can talk to her first and make sure she's ready to offer support." I laid a hand on her shoulder, smiling when she looked up at me with frightened eyes. "We'll be with you all the way, Ruby. You won't have to do this alone and, if I'm being honest, I think the others will accept it. The circumstances are different from mine. You never lied. You're a Reaper. You never once told them that your Stats were good or that you could do things you can't."

Nodding, Ruby stepped into me, laying her forehead on my chest and drawing in a shaky breath.

"Help me…?"

"Of course."


And don't I just know this moment of friendship with Ruby will draw shipping ire, just as the moment of casual conversation with Blake will do the same. We all know a character can't so much as pass the salt to another without it being a `doki-doki` moment.

There's actually a funny youtube video about that. It's called "Shipping characters" on youtube. Check it out. It's only 20 seconds long.


Next Chapter: 25th February

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur