Chapter 30: Song Of The Forlorn Son
"So echoes my tune through these darkling shaws. Above the frozen streams resounds my song. Only these sullen trees will hearken to me. Only snow-bound hills ever hear my call..."
Forever Fall.
Or at least, in theory.
More like Forever Fail.
Jaune Arc heaved and wrapped his arms around his stomach. A volley of forbidden projectiles spewed from his mouth, tracing an arc towards the forest floor. The one covered by a mat of spiky, red grass. Trails of pinkish sap dripped from the edges of his lips, dotted with specks of brown, grainy cereals, and who knows what else.
Nex patted Vomit Boy's back, cursing as his black boots failed to dodge the multi-coloured projectiles. More casualties on Vomit Boy's fearsome path of destruction.
Screw Yang.
Screw Yang and Nora.
The boisterous duo were off tapping the thick bark of the trees, as they were all tasked to—their final output for the first semester.
Ren paced around the clearing, supervising while their leader was off on another one of his Vomit Boy adventures.
Team SSBR minus him gathered their sap together with the remains of Team AXRN.
Their leader was dying.
Pareidolia could tell.
There was no way this amount of vomit could be caused by just a simple allergy—an adverse reaction to the sweet, cloying sap housed by the overgrown trees of Forever Fail. A delicacy, if the masses were to be believed, which Beacon Academy sold to the highest bidder—a supplement to its yearly budget according to Professor Peach.
"Nex," Ren said, his eyes fixed on his team's dying leader. "I have some medicine."
Nex shrugged, rubbing his fellow team leader's back. "If you can get it in his stomach, then by all means."
Ren frowned. "That would be difficult."
"No, I'm fine, really," Jaune said, smiling. He bent down and drew deep breaths, his hands pressing over his knees. "I think I'm—"
Nex sighed, lifting his sticky, red-stained boot out of the way. The rancid-red ichor splashed over an indent in the mud. His nose wrinkled.
Fuck.
Was it too much lien to buy a new pair of boots?
"Yep. You're totally fine," Nex said, rolling his eyes. "Want to take my place?"
Ren nodded as he dragged the retching blonde away. "Jaune's our leader. You have your own team to take care of."
It just so happened that the statement was true. And it was definitely not just a poor excuse.
Nex thanked the green-clothed ninja, shrinking away from the battle that raged behind. He was performing a tactical retreat for the sake of his premium Atlesian leather boots—an old birthday gift from Roman and Neo.
But still, poor Ren.
First, paired up with Nora. Second, stuck with Vomit Boy in Forever Fail. And who knows what else in the far future. Not even Pareidolia could extrapolate the extent of the stoic man's misfortune.
"Is Jaune okay?" Yang said as he stopped beside her, her hands twisting a drill into the bark. "Pinky swear. Nora and I didn't know."
"I think he's dying," Nex said, breathing a sigh. It was such a shame, too. Vomit Boy was shaping up in the art of sword and board. "A flying shame that one."
Yang chuckled, shaking her head. "That's not funny, Nex. You can see the future. You could be telling the truth."
Ugh.
Weiss should not have told them he could see the future.
For one, it was only a half-truth. Second, it was an awful oversimplification of Pareidolia. It did not give him prophecies or visions like what the seers saw in the fairy tales. It only allowed him to extrapolate events from data. Any analyst worth their lien could do what he did. His semblance just did it much more efficiently, and in a much shorter time when fed enough aura.
"I've already told you. That's a misunderstanding," Nex said, licking his dry lips. Did his partner bring some drinks in her pack? "My semblance predicts things. It doesn't give me visions or prophecies."
Still an oversimplification, but it was somehow more accurate.
Yang nodded, catching the droplets of pink sap with a jar. "So that's how you totally wrecked me. You saw all my punches coming."
"Yep. To be fair, I had you at a disadvantage," Nex said, shrugging. Nothing but the truth. "I had two swords to keep you away. And you're taller than me."
Being taller meant she had to hit a smaller target. Difficult, considering her smaller target planned to dodge all of her attacks. Neo-style, even. Just one step away from her particular brand of parasol-fu.
"Size is a liability, huh?" Yang said, quirking an eyebrow. She grinned. "But it's still shady you told me that in a bar, short-stuff."
Nex fixed her a deadpan stare. "Har-har. Just so you know, I'm not laughing because of you. I'm laughing at you."
Yang frowned, sealing her filled jar. The pink sap stuck to the glass like peanut butter. "I don't think I've ever heard you laugh, Broody Face. Never expected you to see the humour in my awesome jokes."
Come to think of it, she was right.
Laughter seldom came.
He chuckled, sure. Or maybe giggled. But never full-blown laughter—the kind that once left his chest weightless, like a feather drifting through the skies. Maybe he still needed to relearn how. Baby steps. Change did not come so easily. Certainly not when it was changing something he had since he was eight.
"You're right," Nex said, managing a smile. A smile like ash on his lips. "I've forgotten how to laugh."
Yang raised an eyebrow, smirking as she grabbed another empty jar. "And the edge lord is back. With lines like that, no wonder Weiss-queen's head over heels for you."
Said Weiss-queen was working with Ruby Rose at the other end of the wide clearing, sharing the same batch of trees.
Weiss was gathering his sap for him—the perks of being her boyfriend, her team leader, and Jaune's impromptu nursemaid. In that order, of course.
Blake sat under a nice tree, a filled jar and an open book sitting on her lap.
Nora was further away in the next clearing, holding an entire batch of trees hostage for her own consumption.
Poor Ren.
Oh, the poor, poor Ren.
The sap would turn the overactive bard into a force of nature—something the AX of their team would avoid by hanging out somewhere else. And more often than not, it was in his team's dorm playing with Ruby's fancy console, while he and Weiss pulled out their shared playlist. An amalgamation of his bangers, her classics, and some of her songs—mostly classical ballads.
"I say other things when we're alone," Nex said, brushing back his fringe. Cold sweat clung to his fingers, his waves hugging his neck. "But I don't think we're together-together because of that. I'm not very good with words."
His actions spoke louder than his awkward, stilted words or thoughts ever could—case in point.
Yang smirked, drilling into another tree. "I'll bet. You'd be surprised that the ice queen and the edge lord are mushy mush when they're together. How'd it happen?"
Nex quirked an eyebrow. "What what happened?"
"Oh, you know," Yang said, filling a second jar with sap. "Together-together? The whole shebang?"
"It just happened, I guess," Nex said, nodding to himself. "Why do you ask?"
Well, it did not just happen. But those events were practically ancient history. It would take an awful long time to explain.
"Nothing," Yang said, her second jar half-full. "Say, tell me about your family."
An odd switch of topic.
But still, there was nothing wrong with reciting what he always told people. Not as if he was keeping that part of his past a big secret. There were more immediate skeletons to hide. Skeletons to kill with a hatchet and bury with a shovel. Preferably forever and without any of his friends knowing.
"My mom was Amariss Shade, a huntress and graduate from Beacon," Nex said, humming as the blonde drilled another hole into the bark. "She died when I was seven or so. But I never knew my father, so I can't really tell you about him."
Yang smiled, more of the sap trickling into her second jar. It was probably her partner's. "You sure about that?"
Nex shrugged. Relatively. "Yep. Pretty sure about it."
"Heh. Guess I have to keep asking," Yang said, her smile slanting into a smirk. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh, cousin?"
Nex flinched. The blonde was definitely sharper than she seemed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
But still.
Why was she even asking?
His father made a choice.
The huntsman chose to walk out of his life. Spewing some bullshit about how he was smart enough to put on a fucking condom.
And at the end of the day—far be it from him to stop the man. Certainly not when he was unwanted. An unwanted son. The unlucky sperm that just so happened to win the demented race for his mother's egg.
A bastard son, even.
Well, nothing new there. He could live with it. Being the unwanted student at the corner of a classroom. A burden. The lone wolf. Dirty laundry no one wanted to air. It was practically the story of his entire life.
But there really was no point in thinking about any of it. And there was nothing left to do but to close his eyes and hope for a better future.
Screw all the fathers in the world, wherever his father was. Probably flying away and getting drunk in a bar somewhere.
Good for him then.
Maybe he could actually put on a condom while he was doing stuff to a serving girl.
Spare another forlorn son his existence.
And spare the world another mistake.
Yang sighed, placing the now-filled jar on the grass. Right beside hers. "Don't? Or won't?"
Fuck it.
Nex groaned, thorns stabbing his temple. "Look, Qrow Branwen made his choice."
And it was a choice both of them would have to live with.
Well, it was just how the world worked. People screwed over each other all the time.
"He walked out of your life, right?" Yang said, waving her right hand. "It's a twin thing, apparently. The whole walking away from their kid routine."
It did not take a genius to know what she was talking about.
One did not simply ask a stranger in a bar about some random woman—a woman who might as well have been a clone of Qrow.
"What's her name?" Nex said, crossing his arms. "Your mom's the one in the picture, right?"
Yang nodded. "Raven Branwen. Good thing we're not birds, huh?"
Gods forbid. It would have been probably Robin Shade or something. Or Peacock Shade.
Curse his brain.
Nex chuckled. "Don't tell anyone. Or Ruby."
No need to bring up the past.
"Already knows," Yang said. She huffed, shaking her head. "No one's as dense as you, edge lord."
Ugh.
But then again, he was probably the last one to know. Jacques definitely knew. And Mekel. Hell, even Weiss probably knew.
"Have you talked to him?" Yang said, her lips a flat line. "Talked to Drunkle Qrow about your, you know..."
There was no point. Not even in kicking him in the balls. Qrow Branwen would probably just drink it away. That is, if it even made a dent in his aura.
"Nope. He made his choice," Nex said, cracking his neck. "I've got my own life to live."
Yang sighed, her shoulders sagging. "I dunno. My mom never came back. Your dad did."
Yep. His father came back to drink. And to give him some advice and a birthday gift. It was painfully obvious why the huntsman did so. Textbook politics. Bribery, even. As if some words and a fancy bracer made up for ten years of his life. And taking his mother to die for the greater good.
"Whatever reasons he has for coming back," Nex said, his jaw clenching. "It's not for me. Hell, he doesn't even have the balls to be straight."
No balls to tell him about his lineage. No balls to tell him how exactly his mother died. And certainly no balls to stop drinking the rain clouds away.
And if not for that mirror, then he would probably have never known. His father certainly had no plans to tell him. Too drunk. Definitely too drunk to even notice that he, well, noticed.
Yang frowned, her foot tapping the dirt. "He's not that bad of an uncle. Minus the shaving and the drinking part."
Come to think of it, he could look almost exactly like his father if he cut his hair and wore some contacts. And foregone basic hygiene like shaving. Nope. Not going to happen.
Weiss would probably stuff him with soap if he tried.
"He's a crappy father then," Nex said, rolling his eyes. "But good for him."
Yang scowled, her boot tapping a jar. "Look, you should—"
"Weiss! Watch out!"
Pareidolia screamed.
Ruby Rose.
Nex spun. He gripped Hrunting and Vigilance.
Ember Celica clicked.
A jar of pink flew out of the bushes, colliding with a blur of red.
Ruby Rose blinked, pink sap and shards of glass splattered all over her gothic dress. She stood petrified in front of his partner, her eyes wide as dinner plates.
The sap would have been all over Weiss if Ruby did not shield her from the jar.
The only question was who had the balls to throw sap at any of them.
"What. The. Hell," Yang said, marching towards the duo. Her irises bled into crimson. "I'm going to send whoever threw that sap to the hospital."
"Leave some for me," Nex said, matching her pace. Grass crunched under his boots. "I'll send their remains to the morgue."
His wolf ears strained.
Thumps in the shadows. Heartbeats. Three of them.
Along with a familiar buzzing—insects that populated the forests of Mistral.
Insects that should not have been anywhere near Vale at all.
"Rapier wasps," Nex said, breaking into a dash. Too far away. He would not make it. Curse his inattention. And maybe his height. "Get away from the trees!"
Weiss grabbed Ruby's stiff arm and dragged her away from the treeline, jogging as fast as her legs could take her.
Blake closed her book. She sprung to her feet, leaping away with four jars cradled to her chest.
Black dots lanced through the bushes, flying too fast and too small for even Pareidolia to track.
They converged on one person.
And one person alone.
Ruby Rose flinched and pushed Weiss Schnee with her hands, shoving her a few feet away. The swarm buzzed around the silver-eyed girl, even as she tried to slap them out of the air. She fell, tumbling over the grass.
Insects and grass crunched under her flailing body.
But her assailants were too small. Too many for the girl in the red cloak to handle alone. Definitely too panicked and too taken by surprise to even think about using her semblance.
Weiss fumbled with Myrtenaster. A gout of flames wrapped around the swarm. Their husks fell towards the earth, crackling into embers. Like barbeque, even. If barbeque was made of insects instead of meat.
"Are you okay?" Weiss said, kneeling beside the downed girl.
Her fist tightened around Myrtenaster's hilt.
Ruby coughed, breaking into a grin as the ghost-ninja knelt beside his partner. "I'm okay. It just stings."
Ruby Rose was not okay. Her face was swollen pink, dotted with angry, red spots. Puncture-shaped holes littered her dress along with crystalline-white shards. And it was almost as if she just went through another round against his spear and shield.
Fuck. It was probably his fault.
He was their team leader, after all.
And he was distracted on such a routine mission.
Nex glared at the crimson trees. The heartbeats were fading. Trying to get away from the scene of their crime.
"Yang," Nex muttered, his calves tensing. "Whoever threw that sap's still around. I can hear them."
Yang growled, tearing her eyes away from her little sister. "We have to catch them."
The blonde sprinted into the red trees, her mane whipping against the sudden wind.
Nex glanced at his teammates. "Stay here. Wait for the others. We shouldn't get separated in Grimm territory."
The trio nodded.
Nex jogged after the definitely pissed-off big sister. Hrunting and Vigilance clicked. Ready to be deployed should any Grimm stand in their way.
No Grimm did.
Instead, Yang Xiao Long smashed into Cardin Dumbchester.
"You're going to pay for that," Yang said as she lifted the idiot a few centimetres from the dirt, armour and all. Her hands tightened around his neck. "After I'm done with you, you won't be able to lift your oversized mace."
Nex shrugged, smiling at Dumbchester's two cronies. "I wouldn't get in her way. Just my two pennies."
The two exchanged a look.
They fled, apparently deciding Dumbchester was not worth dying for.
Good for them.
Maybe the two other idiots actually had brains.
"Let go of me!" Dumbchester said, scowling. "I wasn't aiming at your sister!"
Yang snarled, shaking her captive. His armour clanked. "Then who were you aiming at?"
"The Schnee!" Dumbchester said, squirming like a worm. "I wanted to hit the Schnee!"
Yang shot him a red-eyed look, a grin on her face. "You're out of luck. That's no better at all."
Disappointing.
Nex clicked his tongue, wearing a saintly smile that just so happened to match her grin. "I think she's right. What are we going to do with him, cousin?"
"We should break an arm," Yang said, squeezing Dumbchester's neck. The idiot croaked. "Or maybe even a leg."
His brain spat out a better plan.
Inspiration.
Beyond just breaking his body, it would break Dumbchester's career. It might even get rid of the idiot for good. The only thing left to do was to act out the scheme.
"I have another solution. Why don't we let Weiss decide?" Nex said, waving a hand. "I'm sure she'll be eager to report him to Ozpin. If we act as witnesses, he might even get expelled."
A diversion.
Yang raised an eyebrow. "I didn't expect you to be a stickler for rules."
"I prefer permanent solutions. Short of killing him here," Nex said, smiling at their captive. "I think that's the best one we have. Any thoughts on that one, Cardin? Out here, no one would even know."
Hook.
Cardin stiffened, his eyes going wide. "No. Don't. I'm sorry. I'm not going to cause any more trouble."
Nex shrugged, drawing his longsword. Not good enough.
The barrels clicked, staring down Cardin's mug.
Yang brought their captive even closer to the sword—close enough that the tip poked his neck. There was that smirk on her face. She certainly never missed a social cue.
Line.
"I see. Then I understand you're going to drop out of Beacon?" Nex said, running his tongue over his canine. "The way I see it, the pressure is just too much for your skull. And I happen to have some medicine right here."
Sinker.
Cardin sniffled, tears bursting from his red-rimmed eyes. "Okay! I'll pack my bags. Just let me go. I'm sorry."
"Ewwwww," Yang said, smirking. A damp spot spread over her captive's crotch. "Losing control when a girl's just touching."
Yang dropped the baggage on the grass.
Cardin landed on his behind, paralyzed as Hrunting's barrels followed his face.
An insurance.
"Do pack your bags, Cardin. And don't even think about yapping. " Nex said, sheathing his longsword. Steel rasped against steel. "I have Jacques Schnee on speed-dial. Imagine if he found out about this little incident with his daughter?"
Everyone had a choice. Just like his father. But then again, choices also had consequences. He was just laying them out, crystal clear on the table. It would not be fair to do otherwise.
Cardin stared at the grass. Shivering. He scrambled to his feet, sprinting after his traitorous cronies.
The bully would leave come evening.
It was simply Cardin's type. Trapped by the arbitrary ladders of society, fearing those he saw above and preying upon those he saw below.
Foolish.
But his foolishness played to their favour.
"Well, that was a thing," Yang said, heaving a sigh. "He's going to leave, right?"
Nex shrugged, offering her a smile. "If he doesn't, I can still catch him in a locked room. Make good on my other offer."
It was simply business.
Nothing personal.
Yang grinned, her eyes fading into lilac. "You're terrible, cousin. We're both pissed and the scum deserves it, but..."
Lilac eyes met his.
Her breath hitched.
"Nope. Just wanted to scare him off," Nex said, smirking. "He's not worth the ammo."
The cons of killing Cardin far outweighed the pros.
Yang laughed, tearing her eyes away. "Of course not. You're an edge lord. Not a murderer. Let's go back to our friends."
She got one thing right.