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Tuesday Night…
Lieutenant Brand Ashens had always struck Jaune as a woman who had her life put together. Sure the woman might've had the look of a college student who was forced to pull an all-nighter every day of the week, but she never showed any kind of frustration while on duty. She always kept herself professional, so long as anyone might be looking.
Apparently that attitude only applied in the office.
"Come on in, but watch your step; if you feel something crunch, uh… just keep walking."
Papers covered nearly every surface in the two-bedroom apartment, almost none of them in anything close to a neat stack. Floor, couch, table, not even the vertical surfaces were safe; many more papers were pinned, taped, and stuck to the walls with various adhesive substances, most of these with pictures and handwritten signs peppered between them. There were only a few red strings in sight, but these were allocated to only one sector. Many signs around the room bore the name 'Church Of The Rose' in red ink.
"Doing some digging, are we?" said Jaune.
"That's putting it extremely simply," said Ashens as she came back into the room from her kitchen. Unlike the ever-professional Lieutenant, this version of Ashens wore baggy sweatpants and a t-shirt that Jaune wouldn't be caught dead in, even on laundry day when there was nothing left to wear. "I hope you're not… you know… gonna tell me to stop all this."
"That depends entirely on the next few minutes," Jaune tried his best to keep a hard edge to his voice. He crossed his arms and kept his gaze firmly on the erratic woman before him. "What exactly are you trying to do here, Lieutenant?"
The effect seemed to work; Ashens looked around nervously, shuffling her feet and wringing her hands. "I… uh… I'm looking for someone, sir… but there's no trail to follow. I'm just… trying to find… something."
"I don't have all night, Ashens. Who are you looking for?"
"…"
"Lieutenant-"
"It's my little brother, alright?!"
Jaune blinked, waiting for her to continue.
"A few years ago, my brother was… sent off to Elysium Academy. He was a first-year student at Haven, but I haven't heard anything at all from him since that day… and not one person will even let me call him, send him a letter, nothing! I can't… I can't deal with this! I have to know what they did with Ben!"
Her words and raw emotions were enough to stir Jaune's empathy, so much so that he nearly broke character. He took a moment to reinforce his mental state before speaking again, "Have you spoken with Ruby Rose yet? As I understand it, she's kind of in charge of the whole Elysium thing-"
"Of course I have! How careless do you think I am?!"
Jaune slowly let his gaze drift down her entire person.
"That doesn't count, Captain."
"Brand, if you could see and hear yourself from my point of view, you might be able to see how insane you look right now," said Jaune. "You say your brother was sent to a new Huntsman Academy, but from the way you're acting he may as well have been gutted and hung out to dry right before your eyes. What in the world could make you jump to such a negative mindset without any proof of wrongdoing?"
"I… I can't… I don't…"
"I've heard enough. Look, I'm sorry for your loss, but this has gone too far. Report to my office tomorrow morning and-"
"I can't sense him anymore!"
Jaune raised an eyebrow. "'Sense'?"
Ashens actually had tears in the corners of her eyes as she held her hands tightly against her chest. "Dammit. It's a… thing I can do. When I hold his… his marble… I used to be able to sense where he was. Now… now I can't…"
Jaune finally uncrossed his arms. "Could you show me?"
She nodded, then awkwardly pulled a small marble out of her pocket. It was a cheap little thing, just a dirty ball of colored glass. Ashens held it in the palm of her open hand and closed her eyes, concentrating.
A pale blue light engulfed the marble. It only lasted a moment before it went out.
"Still nothing," said Ashens. "It worked fine up until a week after he left. Now I can't find him at all."
"That… looked an awful lot like a Semblance," Jaune said in wonder.
The word made Ashens flinch. "I guess it does, doesn't it? My brother was all excited after his first week at Pharos, and he came home and did… something to me. Some kind of magic chant, he called it. Ever since then I could do… what you just saw. My 'trick.'"
"So you have your own Aura… and a Semblance that allows you to sense where your brother is-"
"It also works with other people." Ashens made a motion towards a box off to one side, and Jaune could see a wide assortment of odds and ends packed inside it. "If I hold an item that the missing person has an emotional attachment to, I can find them… although it's not very strong. Usually enough to lead me to the right area of town, but no closer."
"Son of a bitch." Jaune had to turn away and process what he'd just learned. His own Lieutenant had demonstrated a Semblance that was probably the single greatest ability any investigator could ever ask for. "Does it have a limit? A maximum range?"
"I haven't sensed anyone outside of Vale yet, but I-"
"Lieutenant, try it one more time."
Ashens gave him a confused look, but pulled out the marble anyway. Before she could focus on it this time, Jaune raised his hands and held them over hers, quickly drawing on his own Aura to amplify her ability. Their eyes met, and Jaune gave a nod.
This time, the blue light became a flare that drowned out all other light in the room.
"Holy shit," Ashens almost shouted, "I can… I can see so far…!"
"Is it working? Can you find him?" Jaune said.
Ashens paused for a moment, eyes closed, but only for a moment. She gripped the marble in a rage, snuffing out the blinding light, and growled as she turned to punch a wall. "Aargh! Still nothing!"
"Hey, don't give up yet," said Jaune with a touch more giddiness than he expected. "The fact I could amplify your ability at all proves it was a Semblance. Are there any other items you haven't been able to find the owners of? We could try another-"
"Ben is dead! I can't sense him because he's dead! WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT?!"
A heavy silence fell over the apartment, broken only by the labored breathing of its tenant. Jaune was usually pretty sensitive to the mood of any given room, at least more so than he was back in school, and he could feel the weight that must have been pressing down on her. He felt it in his soul.
Still, he couldn't just let this go. "…So you're giving up? After all this time, all your searching, that's it?"
Ashens looked over at him from the wall she punched, her eyes wet behind her glasses.
"If your resolve only goes this far, then I guess I misjudged you; the Brand Ashens I know wouldn't quit after one failed attempt, especially not when she has her Captain working alongside her."
His only reply was a few wet sniffles.
"Look, I don't know about what happened to your brother… whether he really is dead or not… nor do I have any idea if his disappearance has anything to do with Elysium Academy. All I know right now is that you have exactly what you need in order to find the truth. You have all the information you've gathered lying all around us, you have the ability to find anybody as long as you have something that belongs to them in your hand, and most important of all-"
Jaune carefully made his way through the debris to stand before his Lieutenant, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"You have my help."
Ashens wiped her eyes, trying not to cry. "Stop being so cool all the time," she muttered.
"Comes with the job. Now… as your Captain, I really should tell you to get this place cleaned up and get your life put back together."
"But…?
"But you need to get some rest. I'm honestly more afraid you're going to make yourself sick before we reach any kind of conclusions. Get some sleep tonight, come in to work in the morning only if you're up to it, and we can try this again tomorrow. We will find the truth. I promise."
"… … …Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Granted."
Rather than say anything, Ashens wrapped her arms around Jaune tightly. He only returned the hug after she held on for more than 10 seconds, hoping to cut it off before she got carried away.
Interestingly, having another woman hugging him only brought Pyrrha to his mind. Jaune decided then and there that he'd make an effort to pamper his wife once he got home tonight. She deserved it. She always deserved it.
"Thank you, sir," said Ashens after finally letting go of him. "I'll try not to let you down."
"You'll only let me down if you quit," said Jaune. He patted her shoulder as he turned to leave, "Once you get a good night's sleep, I think you'll have a clearer head. You'll see how much of this is just down to your imagination running away with itself."
"I… I hope you're right. I really do."
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"Are you still up?"
"Oh, uh… yeah… ggh …my back's been killing me all day. Can't even… ow… lay down right now."
"You want me to get you something?"
"Naw, man… just go back to sleep. I'll be alright."
"Adrian, I won't just sit back and ignore you if you're suffering like this. The inn's dining room is open all night, isn't it? I'll go boil some water and make you a cup of tea. It's the least I can do."
"Crim, I said I'm fine-"
"No arguments. Just sit tight, I'll be back before you know it."
…
…
Adrian liked to keep the window of their room cracked open overnight for some fresh air, and tonight he was serenaded by dozens of insects in the nearby trees. A faint breeze could be felt, and thankfully it wasn't hot. If not for his back pain, Adrian would certainly be enjoying the pleasant evening.
It wasn't the first time in his life he'd wished Uncle Jaune would just… appear in the room and do his hand thing to make it all better. He'd almost completely forgotten about his busted knee.
Valley Glenn only had one inn, and thankfully it was pretty nice – two floors, nearly two dozen rooms, and good access to the CCT for news and network access. The Town Hall was on the other side of town, but nowhere near far enough to be inconvenient. A five-minute walk, tops. All in all, team MOCA could have had far worse accommodations.
Adrian had been trying to occupy himself for the last hour by searching the CCT for information about Aura, specifically if there was anything that might give him clues in figuring out what Doctor Ren had said to him. There wasn't much available, and it was all the same things he'd learned earlier today anyway. Nothing new. He tucked his Scroll away with a sigh and tried not to pop his back as he stretched. He'd been trying to keep a little of his Aura focused on it ever since this afternoon, and he was exhausted.
Crimson finally came back into the room with two steaming mugs, handed one to Adrian and took a seat on his bed with the other. A distinctly sweet smell reached Adrian's nose as he looked down and saw a dark brown color. "This doesn't look like tea."
"Even better," said Crim. "They had hot chocolate. I couldn't pass that up."
"Naturally."
Only the vanity light was left on, leaving most of the room in shadow, yet Crim's blonde hair shone brightly in the dim moonlight. It wasn't hard to imagine how he'd look if he let it get anywhere near the length of his sister's. Crimson took a few careful sips of his drink and sighed, "Ahh… that hits the spot."
"Indeed," said Adrian. He'd already taken one sip and could feel it warming him up from the inside. The sugar also helped his grogginess fade a bit. "Sorry again about keeping you up."
"I honestly don't mind," Crim said with a shake of his head. "I haven't had much of an opportunity to be your friend before now. Things got kind of crazy back at school."
"Don't I know it…"
"But I am glad you're looking better now. During this last week you looked like someone was standing on your grave."
"They kind of were."
"…Good point."
A beat of silence passed between them, the only sound the light slurping of their hot chocolate. Adrian thought back to his last week at Beacon, only a few days ago but it felt like a lifetime had passed. He had been on the very precipice of total defeat before Ruby snatched him back, keeping a firm hold and making sure he didn't fall again. It wasn't hard to believe that Adrian could never repay her kindness. He didn't just owe her a lot… he owed her everything.
"Whatcha thinking about?"
"Lots of things."
"Would one of those 'things' be our new friend Desi?"
"I could say no…"
"Just between us, maybe don't let her… flirt so openly. Misty was about to catch fire earlier today; I saw her reaching for her gun."
"Desi wasn't flirting, she's just friendly. And Misty's always like that around me, in case you haven't noticed. She kinda hates me."
"Is that what you really think?"
"Am I wrong?"
"Let's just say your… scope is a little too narrow. I know from experience that you're pretty good at reading people, so maybe don't judge her too harshly…?"
"…"
"All I'm asking is that you give her a chance. I think you'll be surprised if you can both calm down and finally talk it out like rational people."
"You're asking for a lot, you know."
"Asking for peace is never too much."
"I'll drink to that." Adrian raised his mug in a casual toast, then took another sip. It was cooling down enough that he didn't have to be too careful anymore.
Crimson smiled and mirrored the gesture. After a short pause he scooted back onto the bed and tucked his legs under his butt. "So what were you actually thinking about?"
"Miss Rose. Just… remembering what she did for me. What she keeps doing for me."
"Yeah, Aunt Ruby has always been amazing like that. For the most part, anyway; there was a time right after the War where she looked a bit like you did last week, just kinda dead on the inside. But she recovered from that and now look where she is. I know you can go just as far if you keep moving forward, Adrian."
"Well what do you think of all this, Crim? The teachers acting all weird, the Imu getting so damn popular with humanity, the mystery of Elysium Academy… doesn't any of it bother you?"
Crimson Scarlatina-Long blinked his big, brown eyes. "Why would it bother me?"
"Never mind. I forgot who I was talking to."
"Adrian, I can't say I know the teachers well enough to recognize if their behavior is unusual, I've long since accepted the Imu as a part of the world I live in, and I'm just as excited about Elysium as every other Huntsman. I think the bigger question is: why does it bother you?"
"You already know why."
"I know about your family history, yes, but I can safely say you've carried this hatred further than most people would ever dream of. You've made it personal. If anything's going to bother me, it's that."
"…"
"S-Sorry, I… I didn't mean to pry. I'm just worried."
"No, I… I'm not angry with you. I just… I don't wanna think about that stuff right now."
"Fair enough. In that case…" Crim tapped his chin before putting on a grin to match his sister's, "Wanna hear some stories of me and Opal growing up?"
Whether he wanted it or not, Adrian could feel his mouth curling into a smile. "Yeah, sure. Why not?" He shrugged as he finished the rest of his drink, then adjusted himself as Crim started recounting a few tales of his home life. And they were generally quite funny.
Odd… either the hot chocolate had more of a soothing effect than he expected, or Adrian was finally starting to relax.
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Wednesday Morning…
"Didn't think I'd find you here by yourself," said Desi as she popped her head in the door.
Adrian sat at a randomly selected table at the inn's otherwise empty dining area, quietly eating his breakfast. He waved at her, his mouth full.
The dark-skinned girl smiled as she pranced into the inn and took a seat across from him. "Hail," she said.
Adrian finally swallowed his bite and replied, "Hail." Must be the local version of 'good morning,' as he'd heard it from a few other people in around here. Small town quirks.
"Where's the rest of your team?"
"Misty dragged the twins along with her to do one more sweep of the woods before things kick off tomorrow. I assume you also got the notice?"
"Yep. Just before sunrise. Rusty doesn't usually waste any time."
They had all been prepared to go into battle with the local Creatures of Grimm today, as per the request of Rusty Hamer, but those plans had been set back by the announcement that Doc's wife, Nora, had caught wind of the operation and demanded they wait until she got back into town so she could go along. Not one person in town raised an objection either, which was a little odd. Adrian was secretly relieved, as that would give him an extra day for his back to recover. The little he could see of it in the mirror this morning still showed some rather ugly black and blue welts.
"Any plans for today?" Desi's purple eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement. "I'm guessing you're grounded since they didn't bring you along on the field trip…"
"You would be correct," said Adrian with a slightly sour tone in his voice. "And no, I'm not doing anything today."
"Good. Then you and I can-"
"Let me repeat myself: I'm not doing anything today."
"Oh." That took the fire out of her, if only for a moment. "Your back?"
"Yep." As far as anyone else is concerned, that is.
"Hmmph… Rub it in, why doncha?" Desi pouted off to the side but kept one eye on him to see his reaction. He gave her none, choosing instead to continue eating. This place had fairly decent waffles, he had to admit. And if nothing else, it was lovely to finally have a meal where he didn't have to worry about someone coming along behind him and ruining the moment by teleporting his food under his butt.
Desi didn't seem comfortable with the long pause; after fidgeting for a few seconds, she pulled out her Scroll to act like she was checking a message and said, "Well unlike some people, I actually have things to do today. Any chance I'll see you at the Cock tonight?"
Adrian choked on his bite. It was safe to assume he'd never get used to the name of that tavern. After clearing his throat, he said, "I'll think about it."
"Good enough for me." Desi stood up to leave, then stopped at the door and turned to give him a wave goodbye… only to hold her hand flat, bend her first and middle finger in an odd way, and say, "Hail The Rose."
Adrian gave her a long, slow blink.
"Uhh…" Clearly she didn't expect this reaction; Desi's smile vanished like the morning fog. She started to mutter, "I… I thought you were… ah shit."
"Did I do something wrong?" said Adrian.
Her purple eyes studied him for a second before she closed them and sighed. Desi calmly walked back over to him, put her smile back where it came from, then moved behind him and draped her arms over his shoulders. Her bodily warmth was sudden, but not unpleasant. If anything, he quite liked it. She was wearing a light perfume, too.
Desi leaned close and muttered into his ear, "Could you be a sweetheart and… forget I said that? Hmm?" A 500-Lien card was casually dropped next to his plate.
"What are you-"
A finger on his lips cut off the question as Adrian looked into Desi's eyes far more closely than he had before. What he found in them was a hardness, a look that implied she not only wanted him to shut up, but also that she would make him suffer if he didn't. Misty often gave him the same look during class. He simply nodded.
"Good boy." The hardness in her eyes vanished. Desi smiled, stood up and quickly left the inn. Adrian stared after her, stared down at the Lien she left, stared at everything and nothing and just tried to maintain his grip on reality.
'Hail The Rose'? What the actual fuck was that about?
Adrian carefully pocketed the Lien and tried to put that weird farewell out of his mind. In all honesty, he likely would have forgotten she'd said that, but her actions afterward only served to burn it into his brain instead. His professional curiosity had been well and truly peaked, and Adrian made up his mind to track her down before they left town and clear up exactly what that phrase meant.
But probably not until after the battle tomorrow; no sense in making the resident Huntress mad at him right before they needed to work together.
Just like with Amy's locket, there was a good chance he was worrying over nothing. But it stayed in his head anyway.
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Wednesday Afternoon…
Jaune had dealt with a lot of oddball situations in his years as Captain of the VCPD. And this one was no exception.
"I say, old boy… *hic* …could you spare an old fool a bit of your time? You see I'm afraid I've gone and lost my bosom fr'r'r'riend… *hic* …and I don't know what's become of him."
The man speaking was obviously a drunken hobo – staggering, wearing little more than rags with an old top hat he likely found in a dumpster somewhere, and speaking in such an exaggerated accent it was hard to follow him. And he rolled his R's really hard. "Have you filed a report at the front desk?" Jaune said as professionally as he could stomach. The man had a stench about him that was starting to make his eyes water.
"I've filed your bloody r'r'reports, I've done all that r'r'rot, but no one… *hic* aside from you, good sir, will even speak with me… *hic* …!"
"Well I'm sure there's nothing else we can do for you at the moment. My Lieutenant usually handles the missing persons cases, but she's not in today. Pretty sure she caught the flu or something."
"Oh, that's simply dr'r'r'readful. Mighty lethal, these modern diseases. *hic* Why, when I was just a lad-"
"I'll tell you what," Jaune said quickly as he moved to direct the man towards the door, "…I'll see what I can do about your missing friend if you'll go find the nearest homeless shelter and get yourself cleaned up. We've got flyers at the front desk with all the addresses you'll need. Deal?"
The man looked at him with a glimmer in his eyes, and Jaune was struck by how thin this guy looked – his skin hung loose around his face, like he'd recently lost a lot of weight. He tipped his hat and said, "You, good sir, are a sovereign and a saint. I shall do as you ask."
As the hobo started to stagger his way out, Jaune noticed that the rest of the man's body was like his face, skin hanging so loose that it was falling out from beneath his clothing. This guy was practically wasting away. "I didn't catch your name, sir," he suddenly realized.
"Oh, oh-ho-ho-ho of course, *hic* how silly of me!" The odd man turned and gave Jaune a bow straight out of classical theater, hat almost brushing the tile floor. "I am he who is called Sam Buca."
"And your lost friend?"
"The gr'r'r'reat and mighty Sam Gria, destroyer of a thousand pubs, r'r'r'ruiner of a thousand glorious nights, and all around swell chap. If you find him, you'll know it – *hic* - he smells worse than I do! Ho-ho-ho-ho! Now then, I bid you a good day, my fine fellow."
Jaune made his way back to his office in a state of wonder. Where do they dig these guys up? He eventually decided to leave this particular case alone – Ashens had enough to deal with as it was. Homeless guys vanished all the time, and while it was rare for any of them to come to the cops for help, Jaune simply couldn't spare the officers right now.
Hopefully Sam Buca wouldn't mind too much.
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…
"How can you not think Laz is the most adorable thing in the world?" said Misty.
"It's easier than you'd expect," said Adrian.
The pair was currently standing near the edge of Valley Glenn, near the old wall, watching the Imu pup doing its best imitation of 'frolicking.' Despite its appearance as a demon dog, the creature called Laz was yipping and chasing after a few butterflies as they flitted among the weeds and wildflowers, trying as hard as it could to act like a real doggo. Every so often it would make a leap at one of the bugs, miss, and go tumbling end over end into the grass. And every time it did that, Misty made a sound in her throat that Adrian had never heard before. A sound he didn't like.
"Oh gods, that is too cute!" Misty's eyes were practically sparkling.
Adrian scratched his neck, "Why'd you even bring me along?"
"Laz is part of our team now, and you need to get used to her. That and you need to get up and move around a little; I may have told you to take it easy, but I never said to just sit around all day and do nothing."
"Be a lot cooler if you did…" he muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothin."
Misty glared up at him but said no more. Instead she turned her attention back to Laz and gave a whistle – the little monster instantly perked up its ears and came bounding over, tongue lolling. They started walking again, Laz keeping right next to Misty's heels as Adrian gave them a wide berth.
"I know where you'd rather be, but I'm sure your girlfriend can be patient until tonight," said Misty.
Adrian bit his tongue.
"I mean, with how much that Desi bitch has been ogling you since we got here, I'm surprised she hasn't tried to sneak into your bed by now…"
"Knock it off."
"Hell, it's not like I can blame her. Most girls would be either gay or crazy to not take one look at you and… and… f-f-f-f-f-fghlkfhg…" The rest of her sentence was cut off as her mouth seemed to short-circuit.
Adrian blinked, curious, as Misty's red hair seemed to light up like a light bulb right before she bolted back into town. He could almost see a trail of steam coming off her head. All he could do was stare after her and sigh.
Is it just me, or is everybody starting to lose their minds around here?
Laz gave a confused mmrr? from the ground beside him.
Adrian looked down at her and tried not to snarl.
Gee, thanks Misty. Leave me alone with the Hellspawn that I'm not allowed to kill. Love you too, babe.~
Looking back over the next few minutes, Adrian would consider it a major accomplishment that he made it back to the inn without drop-kicking Laz over the town wall and laughing. It took a considerable amount of self control, you know. Instead he gritted his teeth and kept an even pace as he walked, making sure the thing was keeping up lest he earn the wrath of the women-folk. And she was keeping up fine; every so often he'd glance back and find her following, yet staying just out of range of his boots. If he gave her credit for nothing else, Adrian had to admit she was a smart little thing.
Before they made it back to the safety of his room, a group of older women passed them and stopped to lavish the Grimm with a disgusting amount of love and affection. Adrian tried not to throw up at their baby talk.
But then a couple of them turned their attention to the Imu's caretaker – they heaped words of praise on him for being such a 'good man' and having such a cute and obedient Imu (Why, she doesn't even need a leash!), along with pulling him lower so they could muss his hair and plant a few kisses on his cheek. By the time they left, Adrian was properly ruffled. He could feel his face getting hot, too. And dammit, his face was stuck in a goofy-ass grin he couldn't shake off.
From the ground beside him, Laz made a noise that was somewhere between growling and purring.
He glanced down at her and said, "This doesn't mean that I like you."
…
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Wednesday Evening…
Adrian sighed as he sat back on the bench, closing and stowing his Scroll. Learning that Ashens had brought his uncle onboard with her conspiracy was both good news and bad – bad in that her influence was turning out to be strong enough to pull in more people, but good in that if anybody could curb her more dangerous tendencies, it would be Sarge.
The Lieutenant still had no news on Amy, but she now had one possible lead. Hopefully it would produce a result.
Sunset was just getting underway in Valley Glenn, and it looked the same here as anywhere else; depressing. Adrian had and always would prefer watching the sun come up instead, as that was the time of day when new life was promised. Sunset only brought the darkness along with it. And he had enough darkness to deal with.
Adrian sat less than a minute's walk from the inn, on a park bench along the edge of the town's playground. A few kids had been playing when he got here, and they paid him no mind. Their laughing and shouting was a nice distraction from the grim reality he found himself in, and it helped remind him that there were still some good things in this world.
"Hey mister, you wanna play with us?"
Out of seemingly nowhere, the kids in the playground decided to come and say hi. One sat on the bench next to him, a girl, and the other two stood in front of him, one holding a ball and the other… an Imu.
This was the first time he'd gotten a good look at one, if you didn't count Laz. And now that he could see it up close and personal, the differences were startling – unlike Laz and her blue gemstone eyes, the normal Imu still had the eyes of the Grimm, burning red yet devoid of any spark of life. That and it moved in a way that just seemed… wrong. Somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but he didn't have a lot of time to study it.
Adrian thought of Misty's warning and tried as hard as he could to maintain his composure. "I, uh… sorry, no can do. This old man's got a bad back." He made a show of trying to pop his back with a twisting motion, but added a crrk sound with his throat for effect. This got the kids laughing at least.
"You're not that old," said the girl.
"He's older than Don," said one of the boys.
The other boy addressed Adrian directly, making it clear he was the de facto leader of their little group. "I'm Hue. That's Lou and Dew," he gestured to the other boy and the girl, respectively.
"Greetings, humans," said Adrian with a robotic tone of voice. "I am called Gigantor, destroyer of playgrounds." The kids giggled again, though one of the boys took a wary step back. "I'm kidding, chill," Adrian switched back to his normal voice. "Name's Adrian."
The second boy, Lou, said, "Can you play with us tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow I gotta go kill a bunch of Grimm in the woods. Tell ya what… if they don't rip me to pieces, then I'll play with you guys. Deal?"
Hue and Lou glanced at each other for a moment before Hue spat into his palm and said, "Deal." He held his hand out for a shake.
Well that takes me back. Adrian made a spitting motion into his own palm and accepted the handshake, which caused Dew to grimace in girly disgust. She made no attempt to leave his side, though.
Off in the distance, a voice could be heard calling their names. It sounded like an older man. Hue said, "That's our Uncle. We all live with him, us and Don."
Lou added, "Don's our big bro. Come one Dew, it's dinnertime." And with that the two boys took their ball and their Imu and made tracks.
Dew made a loud sighing noise before sliding off the bench and giving Adrian a wave goodbye. She giggled again when he waved back, finally scampering off to join the others. He watched them go, his spirits lifted for the first time in weeks; there was a good chance those 3 were the only kids in town, so they were likely quite close.
All of a sudden, Adrian felt a chin come down on top of his head. "Isn't she a bit young for you?" said Opal.
"To be my daughter? Not at all. I'm not old enough to be anyone's dad just yet."
"You know what I meant-"
"And I refuse to take our conversation down into the gutter." Adrian leaned back and looked up at his Faunus teammate. "Can I help you?"
"Replace 'help' with a few other verbs and I'll say yes," Opal grinned upside-down at him.
"'Avoid'? 'Ignore'?"
Opal flicked him in the back of the head for that. Hard. Adrian jerked forward, rubbing his skull. Opal just glared at him, "Jerk."
"I try."
Before either of them could say anything else, another citizen of Valley Glenn passed by, this one a lady jogger. While she wasn't anything close to old, Adrian guessed she was probably around Ruby's age. And she clearly took her exercising seriously, as she wore fancy running shoes, sweatpants and a matching sports bra.
Adrian took note of her… because she had a thin, perfectly straight line down the middle of her back. It was clearly visible with her choice of top.
"Another one?" Adrian muttered. "That's almost half the town."
"Another what?" said Opal.
"That line on her back," Adrian pointed but tried to keep his voice low. "I've been seeing them all over the place. It must be a local thing. A tattoo or something."
The first one he spotted right after breakfast today; a man had stepped out of the Town Hall and pulled up his shirt to clean his glasses, revealing his line from behind. After that, since the detail had been renewed in his mind, Adrian started noticing more and more people around Valley Glenn with those odd lines.
"Remember that dead man we found back in Vale? James?" said Adrian.
Opal cringed, "Kinda hard to forget that."
"Well he's… not quite as dead as we thought. After he and I talked for a bit, he turned to leave, and I saw one of those lines on him, too. I'd bet he's from around here."
"That is weird…" Opal muttered, her words trailing off as she looked in the direction of the jogger. She tapped her chin with one finger and said, "And one hell of a coincidence."
"Whaddya mean?"
"Oh, nothing important. Just that a few years back I got in trouble for allegedly drawing a line down Crim's back while he was asleep. It looked a lot like one of those. No one could prove I did it, but Mama still punished me for it. And I know it must have been a marker or something, cuz after a month it was just gone."
Adrian sat back on the bench and absorbed what he'd just learned. Yeah, it likely was just a coincidence… but somehow, that was an awful lot of coincidences all happening in rapid succession. Something about this didn't smell right-
*sniff* *sniff* *sniff-sniff-sniff*
"Um… Opal? You okay?"
The rabbit Faunus was, for some odd reason, leaning close and smelling Adrian. Almost like a dog that caught a strange scent. She stuck her face all over Adrian's hair, neck and shoulders.
"This scent is… *sniff* …that's not me, or Misty… *sniff-sniff* …or Crim…"
"I don't wanna know why you think I'd smell like your brother."
Opal moved with an almost feline grace as she climbed over the top of the bench, maneuvered her legs around Adrian's hips, grabbed his collar and stared directly into his soul with her blood-red eyes. And she was not smiling anymore. "Adrian Arc, are you cheating on me?!"
"Cheating would imply that I'm in a relationship, which I am not, so therefore my answer is no."
"Then why do I smell woman on you?"
"I was walking Laz earlier and we were stopped by a bunch of old ladies-"
"You would never walk Laz! You LIE!"
"I'm serious."
Opal refused to move after that, continuing her staring contest without letting go of his shirt. It was pretty clear she had no intention of letting up until she got the answer she was looking for. And there was no telling what she would do when she was this riled up. It was getting late, and Adrian only had one idea for a way to break the tension.
He leaned forward and lightly bit Opal's nose.
The reaction was as instant as it was bombastic; Opal flew backwards like she'd been shot at, swiping at her face like she was being assaulted by a giant, invisible hornet. She tumbled backwards into the grass, rolling for a moment while making a gurgling noise, before finally sitting upright. She swiped at her face a few more times, not fully convinced it was over, before slowly turning to regard Adrian with a look of pure shock/horror.
"You bit me!"
"You kind of asked for it."
"You BIT me!"
"… … …I'm sorry?"
"I… I…" Opal's mouth opened and closed several times, her brain clearly unable to process this turn of events. If not for the fact that she was one of the most terrifying second-years at Beacon, it would almost be funny.
"Are you calm now?"
Rather than answer, Opal shot out both arms and jutted her bottom lip as far as she could. "Carry me!" she whined.
"Wut?"
"Adrian Arc, you have caused me severe psychological trauma and I might never recover! If you're sorry, then carry me back to my room!"
"…"
"CaRrY mE oR I'Ll CrYyYyYyY!"
"Alright, alright…"
The sun had just reached the horizon as Adrian scooped up the wayward Faunus in a princess carry, lugging her back to the inn. Thankfully it was a short walk. He didn't need people staring. At least Opal had calmed down; in fact, now she seemed downright happy.
"Tonight we're all gonna watch Smackdown 3: Fists of Fugly. And you will be there."
"…That's one of your Mom's action movies, isn't it?"
"Yep!"
"It's not one where she gets a nude scene, is it?"
"Nope, that's Smackdown 2: The Smackening. Number 3 is safe. But if I ever find out you watched Smackdown 4: The Final Smack, I will personally claw one of your eyes out."
"I am aware of it; that one had her first mainstream sex scene, right? I've seen videos about in online, but none of them showed the scene itself."
"Good. You're not allowed to see anybody's tits until you see mine."
"…"
"What the hell was that look for?!"
"I dunno what you're talking about…"
"Adrian Arc…!"
…
…
…
…
"I think I've got something."
"Well good evening to you, too." Jaune had barely gotten in the door when Ashens bombarded him with what she clearly considered progress. "You think you do?"
"It's faint, so much that I can't be sure what I'm actually feeling, but it's stronger than any of the others," the woman held a locket in her hands. Jaune recognized it, of course; according to Adrian, it belonged to Amy Currant. He'd delivered the thing to Jaune personally only a few days ago, and from there it was brought to Ashens. "With your help, I can-"
"Say no more," Jaune properly shut the door behind him and went further into the apartment. It was much cleaner than last time, and somewhere along the line Ashens actually found her floor. He took a position near the middle of the room, raised his hands and said, "Whenever you're ready."
Ashens nodded, joined him and lifted the locket up to meet his hands. Together they focused their Auras. As before, the locket was engulfed in a blazing blue light that could no doubt be seen through all the windows.
"Found her!" Ashens suddenly cried out. "By the Brothers I've found her!"
Without any warning, she broke off the contact and darted over to her dining room table. A map of Remnant was spread across it, and without any time to consider, Ashens took a red pen and made a hard dot on the southern shore of Sanus.
"Right there."
Jaune leaned close, "That's Oyl City."
Ashens also leaned close, "It is, isn't it?"
Mountain Glenn may have been humanity's first major attempt at expanding beyond the borders of the capitol cities, but that didn't stop major businesses and enterprising individuals from making plans to try again. The moment the War was over, one such business moved to start the next settlement – Oyl Enterprises was the first to settle a major plot of land on Vale's southern coast, not far from the border with Vacuo. Over the years it grew into a city that nearly rivaled Vale itself, mainly due to their advanced defense systems but also from sheer money; anything that was wrecked by the Grimm was simply rebuilt within a month.
"Awesome," said Jaune. "See? I told you we'd find something."
"Do you think Elysium might be there?"
"It honestly wouldn't surprise me. I mean, Oyl was the first company to find the formula for dog food that Imu could eat, right? They make… what was it called? Kup O' Kibble. They're probably a major financier of the Academy."
"Actually… they're not connected at all."
"…What do you mean?"
Ashens began to rummage through a pile of nearby papers. "According to what I've dug up, the only names connected to Elysium, at least on a financial level, are fairly remote from one another. No major links between any of them. Except for one."
"Which is…?
Ashens paused, then looked Jaune right in the eyes. "All of them have links to the Crimson Cult."
Jaune blinked. "All of them?"
"Every last one."
"Ashens, the Church of the Rose is gone. You know that. They might have relations with the organization, but I'll wager 1,000 Lien that the people who've contributed to the Academy are doing it as some form of apology to Ruby. There's nothing to worry about."
"I'm not so sure…"
"I expected as much. Look…" Jaune sighed as he knuckled his back. "Oyl City isn't that far away. Since I know you're a stickler for avoiding the network right now, I won't insist that we simply make a few calls. I've got a bit of vacation time saved up, so let's just go there and see for ourselves."
"We can take my car."
"It would be faster in a Bullhead-"
"We can take my car, sir."
"…"
"Or your car, if you'd prefer."
"Do you have a problem with taking an airship?"
"…I'd rather not talk about it."
"Ashens."
"I will neither confirm nor deny that I might suffer from severe acrophobia. Sir."
"Whatever, we'll discuss this tomorrow. For now, I need to get home to my wife. Good night, Lieutenant. And have some faith – it'll all work out in the end."
"Good night, sir."
…
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Author's Note: Just as a quick FYI, 'Oyl' is meant to be pronounced the same as 'oil.'
Don't worry, I'm not planning to make Adrian any sort of harem lead. This isn't that kind of story. What it is is complex – I honestly don't know how long I'll have to go before I get to the end, but I hope you guys aren't getting too bored with all the talking. Mystery stories are hard.
=^..^=