Here we go. I just did my car insurance today – bit of a pain in the ass, but always necessary to shop around and make sure you get the best deal. It's an absolute fallacy to stay with the same company and expect any degree of loyalty (at least in the UK). They wanted to increase my payments to £1150 a year!

I shopped around and got a competing offer for £385 a year.

It's a major pain to go through all the paperwork, but it's worth doing – and I reckon they make it such a complicated process in the hopes you'll just think "Oh, it's too much work…" and let them charge through the roof on you.


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher1910

Book 9: Chapter 23


Everything was agony.

I forced my eyes open, saw red through one and then closed it. My hand came up, wiping away blood that was either running down my face or the remains of my eye. I couldn't tell which; it was impossible to pinpoint where pain began or ended. An Ironwood tree had pinned me down, its trunk crushing me against the soft ground. If it weren't for the others criss-crossed above and below, one which supported it and stopped it coming down further, I wouldn't be alive at all.

"Ruby…"

With a grunt, I tried and failed to move the trunk – then realised blearily what I was and slapped a hand against it instead, stoking the forge. The tree's bark rippled and moulded, becoming molten hot but not harming me. I couldn't drag myself out and instead asked it to push me. Something hard nudged into my back and rolled me over, out from under it.

"Thanks," I mumbled, knowing it couldn't really hear or understand me. The different ways in which the Archmage and I used the Skill Ironwood Creation were vast, despite it being the same skill. I could still remember him saying he couldn't direct it, only create and feed, let it grow. That was why it took weeks for him to make the CCT, because he'd had to grow one section of wall at a time and just sort of hope it grew as he wanted to, removing the bits that didn't. Trial and error.

But I was a Blacksmith. I worked with metal. It was my domain. My life.

And now I had a Skill that created metal from nothing. It was hard to explain how big a deal that was. I could make fire with Stoke the Forge, metal with Ironwood Creation and could now shape it with Engraving and my usual forging process.

That made the Skill so much more versatile for me, enough that with a brief burst of concertation, a forked branch rumbled and cracked up from the ground, splaying left and right of my shoulders and pushing me up onto my feet. Staggering at the top, I held on and hooked my arm into the fork, instructing the Ironwood to thin and snap at the base, then stumbling forward using the branch as a crutch. Perhaps I could have even made it walk me if I had the stamina. I didn't.

Can't hear fighting. Have to find Ruby. In the distance, the bells of Vale were tolling. Horns sounded. Reinforcements were on the way. Just have to buy time. I stumbled, caught myself with one hand and gasped for breath. Come on. You can do it. One foot in front of the other. No thinking about what I'd do by the time I got there.

"Whatever I have to," I muttered. "The only thing I can do…"

The lack of noise worried me more than I cared to admit. The muscles in my legs protested as I moved faster, my right leg all but giving way. Leaning down heavily on my crutch, I dragged my sorry carcass on, ignoring the drip – drip of blood from one of a hundred wounds. There wasn't a single person in Vale not bleeding right now. I wouldn't be the first to give up. I refused.

Pushing on, the Ironwood trees began to thin out – or rather, lay flat. As I approached the epicentre, evidence of Salem's efforts to remove the trees that blocked her ability to take flight and escape became clear. They were tossed aside like twigs, broken and gutted with trunks standing up replete with jagged spikes of metal where her spell had shorn the tree away. All of them were facing outward, blown away by her power, and that led me to the centre, following one such fallen tree while leaning against the side of its trunk.

The trees thinned out, destroyed entirely. All that remained was a glade. A glade turned into a wasteland, no grass and no plant life. Only churned mud, torn up dirt and great grooves ripped through the ground. Despite that, it was curiously still and peaceful. Silver flowers glimmered and glinted everywhere I looked, until my vision cleared, and I realised they weren't flowers at all.

Scythes.

There were scythes stuck into the ground as far as the eye could see. How I'd mistaken them must have in part been due to their creation, which had been distant and rushed at best. As such, the shafts were misshapen and gnarled, some curved like bows and others with metallic vines wrapping around them, giving the appearance of saplings growing up a farm implement. A person would have been hard pressed to find any two the same.

I pushed through the outer edge, knocking scythes aside and down as I cut a path toward the centre, unable to see ahead because of everything in the way. Shards of metal crunched underfoot, digging into the mud as I stood on them, further evidence of a shattering effect only Ruby could cause. Battle had been done here. Knocking another scythe to the ground, I finally saw her.

"Ruby!"

The crutch was abandoned – and while I realised the mistake a second later and collapsed to one knee with a yelp, that didn't stop me crawling the rest of the way to her, dragging my leg behind. She was on her back, laid out flat with her hands at her side. I dragged myself past a body of black and white that looked the other way, puling up until I was leaning on my elbow next to her, the other arm thrown over her chest to grip her shoulder.

"Ruby," I gasped. "Can you hear me? Speak to me!"

Her face scrunched up, nose pinching. I could have cried in relief but held back as a single eye opened, flecks of silver visible through her thick, black lashes. Her lips parted, cracked and bloody with dirt smeared across them. Her voice was scratchy and thin, like reeds rattling.

"Is it over…? Did… Did I do it…?"

I looked back to the other body. Salem's head lay a few paces away from her body, thankfully facing the other way so I wouldn't have to see what expression she sported. The words that had once hovered over her head were gone, leaving her name and Class a mystery.

"You did it. It's over."

Ruby's smile grew wider, cracking her lips further. "I… I didn't let everyone down."

Anger rushed through me. There was so much I wanted to say but now wasn't the time for a lecture or a speech. I pressed my face against hers instead, cheek against cheek. "You didn't. You saved everyone. Good job, Ruby."

A soft and relieved breath escaped her, and the silver eyes closed once more. I could feel her heartbeat against my chest, knowing she wasn't dead. Exhausted, no doubt. I felt like falling asleep next to her, but if she'd pushed this far with her meagre Constitution, I couldn't do any less.

Gritting my teeth, I forced my feet under me. My Strength made lifting Ruby up a simple matter, though actually staying up after was anything but. I couldn't hope to carry her and instead supported her on my left, wrapping one arm under and over her shoulder and leaning her against my left side. The shift in balance almost cost me but I spread my right foot out to counter it, just about steadying her.

Which was typically when our reinforcements finally arrived, bursting through the ruined treeline on horse back and on foot, spilling from portals or otherwise rushing forward, spears, swords, maces and spells at the ready.

That was how they found us – both of us standing, though Ruby unconscious, Salem beheaded at our feet, stood in the centre of a glade brimming with silver scythes. Whether it was relief or awe that fuelled their shock didn't matter. Only that they stood still and stared at us, even as my legs wavered. They were all there – Yang, Pyrrha and the Guild, all the way through to Glynda and the Heroes of Vale, even a few Labour Caste remnants who had fought in the militia and survived it. Every man and woman stared at us.

All except for Ren, bless him, who using his Passive stepped through the scythes and hopped a trench, hurrying over just in time to catch both Ruby and I as my legs gave way. He caught one of us in each arm, propping us up with my chest resting against his elbow, head and hair spilling over his shoulder.

"Thanks," I muttered, too tired to do anything more.

"What are friends for?" He adjusted us against him, allowing me to let go with neither me nor Ruby falling to the floor again. The Monk supported us both. "It's over, Jaune. Let's go home. I don't know about you, but I could use a long rest."

At that moment, nothing had ever sounded more wonderful.

/-/

Vale lives. The Goddess is dead.

Those were the words sent out across Remnant, carried by messengers, Mages and traders from the city itself to the furthest reaches of Mistral, Atlas and Vacuo. While the city recovered and Mages from Atlas re-opened the portals and allowed the civilians to come home, the news spread, drawing promises of assistance and gifts of labour and supplies to help the city rebuild.

It would not be a quick or easy matter. The walls were in ruins in numerous places and despite our best hopes, the Grimm had not disappeared with Salem's death. Those within Vale were driven our and hunted down, but Remnant remained infested as it always had been and the negativity from the siege summoned more in droves.

With the support of Mistral, however, and the irregular troops from Ansel, who helped train the militia of Vale who had survived and wished to continue fighting in defence of their home, those small counter-attacks were held at bay. Despite calls to return home, Mercury and Emerald maintained Mistral's forces in the city, guarding its walls and protecting the people within, who were struggling to rebuild their lives in the face of the losses of homes, family and friends. With the immediate threat over, the grief and mourning of those lost could finally set in.

And there were many to mourn.

Archmage Ironwood. Headmaster Ozpin. Alchemist Oobleck. Cavalier Port. Sentinel Schnee. King Galan. His royal aide, Saren. The list of names went on, reaching almost seventy thousand in number. No Caste was spared. Not the Heroes who fought and died on the walls, the Soldiers who held the line to buy time as the Heroes fell, the Labour Caste who picked up runic weapons to fight and die, or the Nobles who had in many cases done the same.

I missed the mass funerals for all of those, much to my frustration. I didn't awake until two days after, with Pyrrha at my side to fill me in as she'd been doing for the last hour and a half. It was through her that I learned of everything that had happened.

"That's mostly everything," she said.

"I wanted to be there to send them off…"

"I know." Pyrrha smiled sympathetically. "We couldn't wait, though. Leaving aside the issue of the bodies rotting away, so many fell. Everyone wanted a chance to honour their sacrifices. And closure."

They couldn't wait for one man to wake up. "How was it?"

"Glorious. There was a huge bonfire, a feast and speeches. People danced, sung and played music – I've heard there are those suggesting it become an annual festival. It was heart-breaking, but also a celebration. I think they would have preferred it that way."

Some of them, certainly. Ozpin and Ironwood went out defending the city, Winter the same. There were many more who no doubt died cursing us for dragging them into this. I sighed, pushing such horrid thoughts away. There was enough work to be done without me borrowing trouble. The best we could do was move on and hope that was what they wanted. I'll have to see if they have graves. I'd want to say goodbye myself.

"What else is happening? Is Beacon being rebuilt?"

"The main academy building is mostly in one piece. As for the Guild village, there are definitely plans to do so but the city has to come first."

"Of course," I said, laid back in an unfamiliar yet comfortable bed in a huge room with long windows off to my left and numerous cabinets opposite the bed, a rich chocolate brown in colour. "Beacon can wait. The people without homes can't." I licked my lips, savouring the flavoured water she'd graced me with. "I guess they need to find new teachers, too. And a new headmaster." I shook my head. "And a new King. That's a lot of new things we need." Too many to consider right now. "Where are we? This isn't the Lodge."

"It burned down in the ambush. The Lodge is gone."

My eyes closed. I wasn't quite sure why that hurt, but it did. It had been our home. We'd worked, sweated and bled for that stupid place, and as ramshackle as it had once been, I'd loved it. It had become our little haven.

"I'll miss that place…"

"Me too." Pyrrha smiled sadly. "I like to think it took a few Grimm with it. Went out like a fighter."

That was a nice thought. The walls collapsing and trapping Grimm inside. Given how much the house had been a pain to us, I knew it wouldn't have gone down easy. We'll rebuild you, old friend. I promise.

"We're currently in the Royal Palace," Pyrrha said. "That's why you don't recognise the room. The King is dead and plenty of the Noble Caste died as well. With the Guild Village destroyed, the students have to stay somewhere. Most are in the barracks, but the wounded obviously need better lodging to help them recover, hence you living in the lap of luxury."

"Lucky me. Is Ruby okay?"

"Still unconscious but alive. The healers say she's resting and that they're keeping her under to ensure she gets the rest she needs. There's nothing to worry about there. Everyone else survived as well," she said, reading my mind. "Injuries here and there; Nora came out the worst with some facial scarring, but nobody lost anything."

"Thank the Gods…"

"No. Thank you and Ruby. Gods… well, they're not very popular in Vale right now." Pyrrha cracked a smile. "I can't imagine why."

I laughed and regretted it a moment later, hacking with a hand over my chest. She drew me up into a sitting position and patted my back until I'd cleared my lungs, spitting out saliva but thankfully no blood onto the sheets.

"No laughing," I wheezed. "Lesson learned."

"That's my fault. Sorry." Pyrrha puffed up the pillows behind me and leaned me back into them. "There are people who want to talk to you when you're up and about. They wanted to see you sooner, but we managed to hold them off Weiss could find a Priest to threaten them with death if they interrupted your healing."

"What about…?"

"I couldn't say. Salem, I'd assume. We only arrived in time to see her dead."

They must have confirmed it was her by now, but I supposed it made sense they'd want to ask someone how it happened. The whole world wanted to be sure that monster wasn't coming back. Or that there wouldn't be more of them out there. Could she really be the only one of her kind? There was just no way to be sure.

Take each problem as it comes, I told myself, pushing aside the mounting panic. There was no point adopting problems we didn't yet have. If there was a chance of them coming back, I'd just have to make sure everyone was prepared. Maybe I could write a book on Runes so if someone down the line picked up the Skill, they wouldn't be as confused as I'd been. At the very least, we could document how we defeated Salem.

"No more wishes," I said. "Strange as it sounds, I think I can get behind that…"

"Yes. You know, had Salem ever found her way to me, I can almost imagine myself falling for the same trick. A single wish without restraint." She sighed. "Before Beacon, I might have wished for real friends who loved me for who I am, not what I am."

"Everyone has something they want, Pyrrha. Nothing wrong with that."

"I suppose so. Temptation will never stop existing, but we can at least deal with those who would prey on it." Pyrrha shook her head. "I shouldn't be filling your head with such things, though. We've been holding shifts at your and Ruby's bedsides so someone would be there when you wake up. I should go tell the others you're up. Get some rest. We can handle things for now."

I tried to tell her I didn't need sleep, but my yawn betrayed me. Even if I'd only been awake for two hours, my body had decided that was two hours too long. Safe in the knowledge Vale was alive and that I could leave the defence of the city to those more qualified, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.

/-/

"They're still clamouring to talk to you."

I glanced at Blake, stood at my side and offering more than company, supporting my weight as I stood on the balcony looking out from the palace over the city. Thankfully, I hadn't fallen asleep for another set of days and had instead woken up the next morning to a few more familiar faces and a hearty breakfast cooked by Velvet, who had been sent with the refugees to Atlas but was now back and somehow still our Seneschal despite us not having a Guild House.

"Who are they?"

"Nobles mostly, but also Miss Goodwitch and Hazel Rainart. The latter are insistent they see you before the nobles do. I think you should talk to them."

"Then I will." If Blake thought it best, that was all that mattered. "Just give me a few minutes to catch my breath."

The Assassin nodded and stood there shouldering my weight. Standing on the balcony was the first bit of fresh air and direct sunlight I'd received in a week, and it was a balm on my weary soul. In the distance, I could make out the walls of Vale, still broken down in places but also in the process of being rebuilt.

"I could make that quicker," I pointed out. "A little bit of Ironwood and they'd be as good as new."

"A little bit of work and you'll be broken anew," she countered. "Save the thoughts of work until you can stand on your own, idiot." Her teasing smile softened the blow. "We're not in a rush anymore. There's no angry Goddess bearing down on us. If it takes a year or more to repair those walls, so be it. There's no great rush."

There wasn't…

What a strange feeling.

"I could still help with the building. After I recover," I added when her fingers dug painfully into my side. "I meant after!"

"Good." Blake looked away from me with a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied. "You really should speak with Miss Goodwitch and Hazel. Today, preferably. I know what they want and trust me, you'd be better off with them explaining it to you before anyone else does. This isn't something that can wait."

"Is it bad…?"

"Depends on your definition of the word." Seeing my worry, she added, "No one is dying, and Salem is gone. It's nothing inherently dangerous, but I don't think it can wait much longer. Or I don't think it should wait."

"Then it won't. Help me find something to wear?"

Blake did, pulling me back inside and sitting me down while she rummaged through the wardrobes. It wasn't my clothing – that having been destroyed with everyone else's in the fire, but apparently there were benefits to having Velvet on the payroll, and she had woven some garments for us all to keep herself busy.

Naturally, it wasn't armour. What Blake found for me was a set of trousers in a shade of white I'd never normally be found in and were more Ren's style, along with a rather form-fitting tunic with puffy sleeves in maroon. The combination was bright, jarring and sure to draw the eye.

"Velvet's working with what she has available," Blake explained. "Don't begrudge it. At least you're not wearing bright yellow like Yang is."

"You got black," I pointed out petulantly.

"I didn't fall into a coma. First come, first served."

"I helped slay Salem."

"Technically, we all did." Blake turned with a smirk and a pair of black boots in hand, which she knelt and helped put on me. It would have been galling if I hadn't been so obviously too tired to do it myself. "When she fell, the Exp was shared between hundreds of us, maybe even thousands. Even then, it was monumental. I only gained two levels – more a level and a half - but there are students who gained five or six, and I've heard tales of those among the Labour Caste militia jumping from fifteen to thirty! It was practically a shockwave, knocking out those who gained the most levels."

What Level had Salem been? It was impossible to know now. After killing Raven and sharing her Exp with Ruby, she must have been well over a hundred – maybe even closer to two. If that Exp wasn't shared with everyone, it might have been even worse. Ruby and I would have jumped up way too much. Who even knows what would have happened?

I'd gained a single level.

It was honestly hilarious how Salem, the most dangerous monster we'd ever faced, had been reduced to a change from 75 to 76, a couple of points in my Stats and nothing more. The impact further down the Caste system would be much more jarring, with Labour Caste suddenly having levels unheard of before my own, and the same for the Soldiers. The Hero Caste wouldn't be affected much – though work might become easier with Labour Caste a little more capable of defending themselves. It was hard to say.

Once I was dressed, Blake drew out a pale grey cloak with a thick fur lining and tossed it over my shoulders like a mantle. "To hide me helping you," she explained, slipping into my side and half under the cloak in a way that would look like we were simple side by side, but in reality, was her holding an arm around my waist and half-carrying me. "No one wants to see the Hero of Vale crawling down the corridors."

I laughed at what I assumed was a jest, but that laugh soon died when Blake led me outside and I realised at last just how many people did want to see me. The corridors that should have been busy were lined with people who went silent as I approached, then descended into whispers at our passing. Nobles nodded their heads, Soldiers stood taller and fellow students looked proud as I was dragged by.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Blake as we passed yet another gaggle of Nobles who regarded me like I was a work of art.

"You slew Salem," she said. "Or you and Ruby did. We may all have played a part, but when the reinforcements came, they found you and Ruby stood above her dead body, surrounded by the scythes you made. The battlefield was torn to pieces, Ironwood trees fallen everywhere. Did you not think for a moment how that must have looked?"

"Like I was about to collapse? Like I was exhausted?"

Blake chuckled. "To us, maybe. We know you, Jaune, but there are so many others who only do by reputation or deed – and right now your `deeds` include slaying a Goddess with Ruby. You'll forgive them if they want to stop and stare."

I'd have to. There was no end of them, even when there should have been. While I liked to think it was an accident, I wouldn't put it past Blake to take me out to the main hall on purpose, bringing all the chatter to absolute silence as we walked across the second floor balcony, me looking doggedly ahead as everyone stared. The ostentatious clothes hadn't been an accident like I first assumed. I was being marched around like a peacock and Blake had dressed me as such.

"It's good for morale," she whispered. "They need to know you and Ruby aren't dead. There are already rumours – some as bad as saying we've killed you and are pretending you're still alive."

"You killed me?"

"Those in charge," she amended. "We as in the palace and everyone here." Her little shrug was all the apology I received. "News of you walking around will spread and hopefully do those rumours in. Bear with it for now."

"Guess I'll have to…"

The staring continued as we left the hall and made our way down another corridor, to what I could only assume was where Hazel and Glynda awaited. Guards in the palace were quick to open doors for us, a few even whispering their thanks to me as we passed, as if they themselves hadn't been in the final battle. I knew from the pitted armour that they had. A few looked shocked when I thanked them in turn, going white and then red in embarrassed pleasure.

"This is weird!" I whispered.

Blake shook her head. "It's about to get weirder. We're here."

The door opened into what was an office or administration room of sorts. Hazel and Glynda stood within, speaking over an open book and arguing with one another. That stopped the moment they heard the sound, and both abandoned the table to approach when they saw me. To my utmost relief, Glynda used one of her spectral chains to draw a couch over for me to fall into.

"You're well," Hazel said, taking a position standing before and to my side. "That's good to see. Ellayne will be pleased as well."

"Is she safe?"

"Alive. She took a nasty wound for her trouble, but I feel without your training, she may well have perished." Hazel bent knee. "Thank you. You have saved my life previously and enabled Ellayne to protect her own. The only way I can think to thank you is to offer my service to you and yours forevermore."

"L-Let's not get out of hand." I said. "Ellayne is my apprentice. It only makes sense I help her. You don't need to indenture yourself to me or something." The suggestion alone was ridiculous. What use would I have of a Noble? "Anyway, Blake said you wanted to speak with me. Something important by the sounds of it."

Glynda and Hazel exchanged long looks over my head. Blake took a spot behind me, not sitting despite the room on the couch. Given that I was the only one seated at all, it left me feeling out of place.

"I take it you've been filled in on the general state of the city," Glynda said.

"I've been receiving updates."

"Good." Glynda gestured to Hazel, who moved over to the table they'd been arguing at and picked up the large book on it. Glynda continued, "As you can imagine, Vale is in a state of uproar at the moment. The overall mood is positive, but cautiously so. Tens of thousands have died. Our treaties are in tatters. Our Hero and Soldier numbers are at a low not seen since before the Great War. Morale is faltering despite all the work we've done."

"It's that bad…?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so," Hazel replied. "Salem lays dead and everyone rejoices at that, but the sheer number of people we've lost has some questioning whether it's worth it to rebuild Vale at all. All in all, I'd say we have an eighth of the population we once did, though the census is yet to be completed. It's hard work with so many administrative staff lost."

"Add to that the risks involved in Grimm, the number of houses that need to be rebuilt and the walls having fallen, and you have many people suggesting Vale fold into Mistral, or even emigrate there. Naturally, the King of Mistral has offered our people sanctuary should we wish it. He will even swear them in as Mistral citizens with full rights and land granted to them."

"Generous of him."

"Not really." Glynda said. "What he is essentially suggesting is the annexation of Vale."

My breath came out in a rush, and it was tinted with fury. Was that why Mistral's soldiers were staying? They'd failed to conquer Vale in the war and the previous King paid the price for it. I'd always assumed that was the end of the matter, but who was to say they hadn't maintained their ambitions? Swooping in at the end to save us all, only to be heroes, then staying to defend us further. They were sure to be seen as heroic and honourable saviours. A perfectly calculated move.

"I can't believe this. They'd really start this all over again now when we're this weak?"

"What better time?" Hazel asked. "Mask it as kindness – and it is in a sense – and the people will love you. There's no arguing that much of what made Vale the Kingdom it was is dead. The King fell against Salem and while he'll be remembered for that sacrifice, he leaves no child behind since Lisa died."

Lisa Lavender, dying to protect people from Salem much like her father had.

It looked like the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"The Noble Caste is similarly gutted," he went on. "Those that chose to stay and fight for the most part died, and those that survived are rather annoyed at those who didn't stay and fight."

"Understandable. At least for those who could have stayed."

"Indeed. While no one faults the weak, elderly or young, there are plenty who could easily have swung a sword and chose not to. Those that did aren't about to let them into any positions of power."

"And rightly so," Glynda said. "If you will not bleed for Vale, you will not run it. Not under my watch."

"That's another matter," Hazel said. "Glynda is now locked into singlehandedly rebuilding and no doubt running Beacon since Ozpin fell."

"Ozpin left a lot of instructions behind him," she said, smiling fondly. "I don't know if he foresaw this eventuality or simply planned for everything. There are ideas on how to rebuild the school, run it and even how to secure Vale's future. The notes even go into long detail of who should be in charge of what, with lists of candidates in case the first choices perished."

The headmaster always had been one to think of the future. I could still remember him telling me that we would defeat Salem. I knew now it had been to keep my spirits high, but it appeared his words had become prophecy.

If nothing else, I knew Ozpin wouldn't regret his death if it led to this.

"What happens now, then?" I asked.

"That depends," Hazel said. "Do we want to allow Vale to be annexed? It's not ideal, I admit, but Mistral could help us rebuild and at the end of the day, we should be thinking of what is best for the people. Pride has no place here."

"I disagree," Glynda said. "Pride is important. Without pride, we forget that which we've sacrificed and bled to achieve. We defeated Salem. We protected our Kingdom. To see that give way to Mistral now is to spit on not only the people who died here, but those who died in the war only a year before. Ozpin entrusted me the protection of Vale. Not Mistral."

"I agree."

All eyes turned to me, Glynda with a pleased smile and Hazel not with any distress, but rather a simple nod, like he had no opinion either way and was only laying out the options.

"Mistral would be easier, but I don't want to see that happen. Like Glynda said, we all fought out there – and we didn't fight just to give our home up to another Kingdom." Cinder died to try and bring that to pass, and if it happened now then it would also be spitting on her death. On the deaths of everyone. "If the King wants to take us, remind him of what happened to the last King. Tell him I'm still here, and that I pushed the previous King back and can do it again if I have to."

Blake chuckled behind me.

Hazel and Glynda exchanged glance again, this time with Glynda wearing a satisfied smile. "I told you, Hazel. He's perfect."

"Not perfect," Hazel replied. "But adequate. Or so I hope. I believe we shall take you up on that offer, Jaune Arc."

"W-Wait, what? You want me to kill the King of Mistral? That was really more of a threat – I'm not going to stand along against their army."

"You wouldn't be alone if that came to pass," Glynda said. "I imagine if you were to march on him now, an army would swell up around you. You and Miss Rose killed Salem. The people here will not forget that, nor will they allow someone to stamp on such a feat. Luckily for you, we don't need you to march against Mistral. Only stand against them."

"Right now, he can barely stand," Blake mumbled.

My trembling legs proved her correct.

"I don't know what's going on here," I said. "You think you can explain for me instead of talking over my head?"

Blake chuckled.

Hazel did as well, though he also answered the question. "As Glynda eluded to, it's pride that makes Vale what it is. Without something to defend, there's no reason not to let Mistral sweep in and swallow us whole. The people want to stand tall but it's hard to find the spirit to do so when the work ahead of us is so great."

"It's a matter of morale," Glynda said. "Not desire. The city is all but in ruins and everyone desperately wants to believe there is a future for Vale. A legacy. They need someone they can look at and see as an immovable part of Vale's culture, something they'd lose if they allowed Mistral to take over."

I was beginning to panic, having the smallest suspicion as to what they were talking about. My head was already shaking from side to side, but it wasn't enough to stop any of them.

"Ozpin suggested as much and made it clear that we would need to move quickly. You were not at the top of the list," she admitted, "But you were closer than you might ever realise. Only two stood above you and those already lay dead – King Galan and Ozpin himself."

"The duty would fall to the next in line," Hazel said.

"You're insane," I whispered. "I've got no idea how to lead people…"

"Do you imagine that anyone does?" Hazel asked. "Do you think being born with `King` above your head makes you more suitable? We did, for the longest time – but then we also thought that being born with `Blacksmith` meant you should dedicate your life to a forge and never see combat." He inclined his head. "I think you have proven us all wrong there. Or do you disagree?"

I had no answer to that.

"The people need someone they can look up to," Glynda said. "Everyone saw you and Ruby standing above Salem's body. That scene is etched into their memories forever. If it's not you, it's her. Right now, no one else could hope to inspire the people enough to make the rebuilding of Vale a reality."

"It must be one or the other," Hazel said. "King Jaune Arc. Or Queen Ruby Rose."

"Or what…?" I rasped.

"Or Vale fades into the history books."


Oof.

No rest for the wicked, Jaune. Or the successful. It's probably hard to imagine, especially with population in our world being so high, but I'd liken this to a village of 1,000 people being razed down, with only about 150 remaining. Do you bother to repair and rebuild that village, or do you up and move elsewhere? It's a lot of work to repair it…

Kind of the same thing here. Vale is there and the people love it, etc, but with the sheer amount of work ahead of them and the city in absolute shambles, it might just be easier to take up Mistral's offer of peaceful annexation. Unless, of course, someone wants to fight against it and for Vale – but that would need to be someone pretty damn inspirational, and after a big battle like this, it'd usually be the general involved, or someone important in it – as seen through history.

Who other than one of the two who slew Salem?


Next Chapter: 2nd December

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